Goodnight, Tori.

Tonight we said goodnight to our last house guest. It feels weird to just have two of us again in our apartment... though, it is nice to not have to wear clothes.

So here's to our beloved Tori.

L'Abri Thanksgiving Reunion: The Wind-Down

Day 6 was the sad farewell that came all too quickly. Jared had been picked up the night before by his cousin. The carpool crew had to leave mid-morning and Elizabeth had a mid-day flight. Allison was picked up by a few friends and Tara left for her Aunt's. Thankfully, Deanna, Tori, Adrienne, and Gwen weren't ready to say goodbye (because we certainly weren't ready to say goodbye, either) right away.

Yes, Deanna and Gwen did leave Sunday, but Tori and Adrienne are still with us.

So, though Kay and I are back to the grind, we have our beloved girls (who have started calling us Mom and Dad) to welcome us home (dressed in our clothes and dancing around the apartment to Gnarl's Barkley) when we get home from work. It is definitely an instant release from the stresses of the work day.

This is their photo confession of going through our closet.

Evenings have been spent playing Nertz, talking, In-N-Out (complete with innuendo), episodes of Black Adder, and ice cream. It has been a very nice, needed ending to the week. Had everyone left at once, we would have felt lonely and sad far more so than we did. This way we able to slowly work back into normal daily life but still have evenings with beloved friends.

How's that, Tori?

L'Abri Thanksgiving Reunion: Day 5

Day 5 was beach day! We all went to Redondo Beach where Gwen lives and spent the afternoon at the beach... of course with plenty of frisbee, volleyball, walks along the shore, and lounging on blankets with the calming roar of the surf.

In the evening we grilled way to much food for dinner and then sat around telling stories and laughing into the night.

L'Abri Thanksgiving Reunion: Day 4

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

and... Happy 100th Post!!!

Today was a wonderful day with sooooo much good food, good wine, amazing desserts... and incredible friends.

We started cooking at 8:15 this morning, most of us just rolling out of bed and walking into the kitchen to start chopping vegetables. We all cooked until mid-day in our pajamas.

Here is Jared arriving this morning!

We did take a break from cooking to play football... a most uproarious sight: 13 people having no clue how to play football, and Coach Couvillon trying to help us all figure it out. It was mostly an excuse to roll around in the grass.


After our dinner we took a nice evening walk through the neighborhood. And then, we had a glorious dance party complete with dance circle, limbo, and air band.

Today's highlights include Jason's incredible one-handed, verticle, dive catch in the football game and fourteen people screaming out and dancing to Meatloaf's entire "I Would Do Anything For Love."

L'Abri Thanksgiving Reunion: Day 3

The first six of us had a nice relaxing morning. Jason and I went and picked up some chairs and a table ('cause we're gonna be needing them).

Eventually Kay, Jenny and Tori ran off to the store to do our final big grocery run while Jason, Marc and I drove to LAX to pick up Allison and Elizabeth.

And then Adrienne just showed up. We all screamed. (well, not me... I don't do that) She brought us fresh bread that she baked in Phoenix.

Once Gwen got off work, we had 11 in the apartment. Tonight we had a delicious meal for the masses of falafel.

Highlights for me today included trying to figure out where in the grocery story you find a Tofurky and Adrienne trying to ride my Piaggio scooter for the first time (wobbling like a 4-year-old riding a bike for the first time).

Tonight there's been a lot of story-telling, games (Farcle), and even a surprise phone call from Alex.

P.S. Coach Couvillion had a plane delay in Houston and is getting picked up right now by Gwen. We'll see him tomorrow.

L'Abri Thanksgiving Reunion: Day 2

We thought today was going to be our quiet evening to prep for crowds of people tomorrow.

Nope. :)

The road trip four (Marc, Jenny, Tori, and Jason) surprised up by showing up a night early. No worries... we were too anxious anyway. Plus, now we have help tomorrow as we start the prep.

Here's Jenny (knitting, of course) and Tori as we were all catching up.

And me and Jason (being ourselves, I guess)

Marc was exhausted from driving and the time change and was asleep already.

L'Abri Thanksgiving Reunion: Day 1

Exactly one year ago, we were living in Switzerland, celebrating the American holiday of Thanksgiving with 30+ dear friends (whom had only 3 months earlier been complete strangers).

A few months ago, Tori and Adrienne posed the idea of a Thanksgiving reunion at our place. That was all that had to be said.

This week, we have 13 of those friends from L'Abri traveling in from around the country to be together, to celebrate Thanksgiving... to have a reunion!

Monica from Australia is in route to Texas to spend Thanksgiving with Jeremy. She graced us with a layover so we could spend a day together. It was absolutely wonderful to see her after our farewell in Italy a year ago.

So, last night, we met up with Gwen and Tara (who flew to CA early to visit family) for dinner.


Then Katie came over and we all enjoyed delicious Australian wine and biscuits and Italian Limoncello.

Christians & Divorce

The sad state is that on many issues, Christians are no example for a lonely world seeking hope that love is real.

This is a quote from Time critiquing the latest controversy on divorce from a recent Christianity Today article.

Evangelicals define themselves as being tightly bound by scripture. But besides the humanitarian problem, there are some uncomfortable facts on the ground: The divorce rate among Evangelicals, which first became news after polls released by the Barna Research Group in 2001, has been as high or higher than the national average. The Evangelical movement has actually made tremendous accommodations given the strictures it lives under.

Here is the Time article.

Here is the original Christianity Today article. I affirm it's exegesis and application of some commonly abused scriptures. However, I'd argue his statement at the end that God "allows" divorce. I think God allows us to make our own decisions. Though divorce is not the ideal behind the design and principle of marriage, it is a decision we can make, and then we deal with whatever results/consequences it brings.

Finally, I'd be VERY interested to see a study done comparing the rate of divorce and abuse in egalitarian Christian marriages vs. complentarian Christian marriages.

the god's aren't angry

Part anthropology, part history, part deconstruction - exploring how humans invented religion to make themselves feel better.

We went to this last night.

Awesome!

Party Lines or Beliefs?

I usually like Roland Martin's CNN commentaries. I thought it coincidence that his latest expresses a sentiment JD and I were just discussing yesterday at lunch.

For years I have maintained that the focus of evangelicals was never really principles of the faith but the Republican Party. By aligning themselves with the GOP (reflecting on the Pat Robertson endorsement), they've put themselves in this position.

I'm Voting Republocrat

Pat Robertson is backing Rudy Giuliani. Bob Jones is supporting Mit Romney.

Is anyone else completely and utterly confused?

Read it here.

(Kay poses that they're all robots anyway. I think she's on to something.)

Halloween Fun

Left to right:
Church Lady, 70's tennis player, Hulk Hogan, and the lovely G0-Go dancer.
This year we celebrated Halloween with good friends, great old flicks, and sugar. Pierre and I barely had to change what we normally wear. Thanks Beth and Justin for a great party!

Bella

Last night we saw one of the most beautiful films we've ever seen. I even cried for the first time ever in a movie. If you like movies, we strongly recommend seeing this one!



Drew, we thank you so much for taking us!

P.S. And yes, part of my love stems from the main character's amazing beard! Call me superficial. :)

Meanwhile...

Thanks again to our good friend Alex, we have another hilarious image to post...

...though, I wouldn't say that's quite the image of Jesus I typically hold - him beating the snot out of a person (especially with a death grip on the neck). I fail to see a justifying example of that anywhere in the record of Jesus' ministry on earth.

It might also interest you to know that Darwin was not really the "father of evolution." He did not come up with the idea. He was just the first published on it (by a matter of a month or so... with the pressure and financial backing of a few key friends) and contributed the most comprehensive research on it in that day.

I might also interest you to know that Darwin NEVER was an atheist. He himself claims that at the end of his life.

If you've never read Darwin's autobiography (and if you have an interest in creation and evolution discussion) you really should. It's surprisingly easy to read, and you really see him as a normal person like you and me who struggled with correlating the idea of a sovereign, good God and the presence of human suffering and pain.

See also my previous post of May 19, 2007.