Cookie Commotion

Post written by Bridget Strub.

photo courtesy of Link576

Each year around Christmas time I set some pretty lofty goals for myself that involve Christmas cards arriving in people’s homes by the third week of December, having all my gifts purchased and wrapped before Thanksgiving, and decorating the house from top to bottom on Black Friday – after I’ve spent the morning bargain hunting for the cheapest prices of the season of course. Here I sit at the end of the first weekend in December and I’ve not purchased the cards yet or even attempted to search through the attic for our Christmas decorations. I have started my shopping, but am sure the rest of it will be done with minutes to spare on the 23rd. That just seems to be the way it goes each year. Each year since I’ve been married I’ve set those ambitions for myself and each year I’m let down as the month slips by and my goals get shoved into the background. Last year we didn’t even buy a tree! There is one tradition, though, that was established my first year of marriage and I’ve cherished it ever since.

Pete’s family has a rich history of recipes passed from generation to generation. It’s not unusual to see recipe cards with handwriting from my mother-in-law’s grandmother or recipes with titles of Aunts or Uncles names in it. Each Strub family get-together is marked by a hearty main course, savory side dishes, and baked goods to die for. Christmas is no exception in the Strub household. Each year Pete and I get together with his parents and sister or sisters to make not one, not two, but six different kinds of Christmas cookies. It is an all day occasion filled with hot, hard work, but the memories I have as a result of those days with my family is priceless.

Just today Pete and I spent close to seven hours mixing, measuring and frosting cookies. In the midst of those hours though I was able to share life with people I love. I got to play hide and seek, tickle fight and some other games I didn’t really understand with my four year old nephew. I heard the incredible heart of my father-in-law as we shared a conversation about the world. I learned from the wisdom of my mother-in-law and shared laughs with my sister-in-law. All of these moments, though easily taken for granted, were priceless. I won’t get that time back.

As I left the house exhausted, arms full of sweet goodies, I realized how much I appreciate the excuse food provides to get people together. We use the excuse to catch up with old friends over coffee and a pastry. We use the excuse to get to know a significant other more intimately over a meal. We use food as an excuse, or opportunity rather, to share life, love, and community with those around us whom we hope to learn from. Food is unique in that way. It’s really one of the only things in the worlds that brings people together no matter how far apart they are.

While Christmas cookie making is not the healthiest of the holiday traditions to uphold, the company shared in that time is invaluable. I’ll sacrifice the health of my body a little in order to connect with my family every day. Now, if I could just figure out those Christmas cards and decorations…

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Get Outta Town!

Post written by Bridget Strub.

photo courtesy of Joiseyshowaa

For the four years Pete and I have been married, we’ve made it a habit to go away for a night every three months or so. You might be wondering how we can afford weekly date nights and nights away every three months. This type of behavior doesn’t fit in to our normal spending behaviors. For a couple who slept on a ten year old mattress for the first four years of marriage, counts every dollar each month in a strict budget, and lives in a $60,000 home, you wouldn’t think we’d live extravagantly enough to sleep in a hotel every three months. The truth of the matter is, though, we can’t afford not to do these things. Our weekly date nights help keep us connected with each other from crazy week to crazy week. But, some of the most pivotal moments of our marriage have occurred while we were away from our regular setting and able to relax in an out of routine sort of way.

When we get away, we’re able to step back from the inevitable funk that accumulates in our everyday life and reassess where we’re at as individuals and as a couple. We’ve stuck to this pattern pretty much since our first day of marriage. I attribute the fact that our love still feels new and exciting to this tradition. If we hadn’t taken the time to do these things, I’m convinced our relationship would be at a very different place than it is today. When we’re able to shut out the rest of the world and look at each other as the people we fell in love with five years ago, the world seems to set itself right. We’re able to work out the little things that creep in where they shouldn’t. We can dig up the underlying junk that’s been lying hidden for a while. After all that, we’re able to just breathe a little and dream about where we’re going in the future.

If you’re married and haven’t taken the time to get away on a semi-regular basis, my advice to you is as simple as the Nike motto. Just do it. There are plenty of hotels, bed and breakfasts, or inns that offer a one night’s stay with a hot breakfast for little over a hundred dollars. We’ve become pretty partial to hotels like Wingate by Wyndam and Homewood Suites. They have an indoor pool and hot tub that help speed up the relaxation process, and the guessing game with room quality and cleanliness is taken out of the equation.

The one variable that we encounter with each stay is where we’ll eat dinner. We’re typically at the mercy of the location of our hotel and what we can find near it. This week, our hotel was in the middle of a field, kind of creepy, and right next to a Quaker Steak & Lube. I have a fundamental problem with Quaker Steak & Lube simply based on the fact that its name and logo is so closely associated to a car oil company. The thought of eating food from there kind of creeps me out, even if they do have some of the best wings around, or so I’ve heard. I thought we’d be stuck there, but we were miraculously saved by an incredible suggestion to try Coppertop Tavern in North Syracuse, NY.

I didn’t let myself get my hopes up as we drove through Syracuse in pursuit of our dinner. I’d been burned before by the seemingly unique restaurants, and was a little nervous this would be another experience like that. This experience was immensely different though. I immediately fell in love with it as we sat in the corner booth of the old-fashioned tavern and read through the menu. There were plenty of mouth-watering options ranging from hefty burgers, crispy pizza baked in a stone hearth, creative salads, and other tavern favorites. Our expectations were high as we ordered. We thought that if they could pull through with good food we would have the perfect restaurant experience. We were not disappointed.

Pete chose Chicken DaVinci, a huge pasta dish with two full chicken breasts smothered in pesto and mozzarella and a side of three servings of pasta. I decided on the Italian Chopped Salad, a mound of lettuce with all of my favorite salad toppings; artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, pepperoni kalamata olives, garbanzo beans, banana peppers, and tomato bruschetta that soaked everything with the perfect blend of seasoning and juice so that I didn’t even have to use the dressing that came on the side. In addition to all of that, we received a basket of warm garlic bread made in the stone hearth.

Our dinner was absolutely delicious. Flavors did the fox trot in my mouth as I crunched through my salad. We both had portions left over that we were able to eat for lunch the next day. That’s no surprise for me, but it says a lot that Pete couldn’t finish his meal. Our bill came to $30.45, tax and tip included. And that definitely set the tone for a great rest of our get away!

If you ever find yourself in North Syracuse, maybe on a getaway with your special someone, make sure you stop in to try the Coppertop Tavern, it’s well worth the drive!

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Adventures in Awful: Ditching People for Tools

Post written by Pete Strub.

photo courtesy of thisisbossi

I ditched you last Thursday. But you shouldn’t feel bad: you’re not alone. I ditched my friends on a cider-making date; I ditched friends on our football watching the following day; I ditched friends going to the movies. I ditched church; I ditched my diet (not that I normally eat well, but I survived the last 2 weeks on a straight Mountain Dew diet); I ditched things that I’d rather not report publicly; and I even ditched Bridget (but not in the “I’m leaving you” way, just in the “I’m not spending quality time with you” way). Clearly, you are in good company because God, Bridget, friends, and football are some of the most important things in my life. So do you feel better about being ditched yet? Probably not because being ditched stinks and I realize that, and it’s something I tend to do a little too frequently. Therefore, this week’s Adventure in Awful is my bad habit of ditching people.

Before we start, you need to know what causes these sprees of irresponsible and inconsiderate behavior. The first cause is that I tend to overestimate my ability to finish things quickly, especially house projects. The second cause is that once I start something, I have to finish it before I can move on with the rest of my life. Last February, for example, my wife and I decided we would remodel our bathroom. I estimated that we should be able to finish the project (which included a new tub with plumbing, a tile floor, removing wallpaper, painting, a new vanity, a new toilet, a new exhaust fan, new lighting, refinishing a door, new molding, and hanging new décor) over the course of February break – one week. Needless to say the project wasn’t finished until April and it hung over my head like a gray winter sky for the entire two months I was working on it. No matter what I was doing, all I could think about was finishing the bathroom project. As a result, I became quite irresponsible with relationships and responsibilities for those two months. You would think after this experience that I would have been better prepared to deal with this during my most recent remodeling project, our bedroom, but I must not have learned anything.

On October 24th, I decided that I was going to remodel our bedroom for Bridget’s birthday, which was November 3rd, a mere 10 days later. I figured that removing wallpaper, painting, new lighting, buying new bedding and curtains, and fixing the door would only take a couple of days, so I decided to make a bed while I was at it because how hard could that be? Let’s just say that if I was a contractor for a construction company who had to estimate times for project completion, I would drive the company into bankruptcy within a year, guaranteed. Anyway, that first day, October 24th should have been a clue that the project would not be so quick and easy because I spent the entire day shopping for the bedding, area rug, curtains, and paint. Who knew color coordination could be so hard?

Over the next week, I worked on removing wallpaper and cursing the idiot who invented that awful stuff. Before I knew it, I had already used seven of my ten days and had almost nothing accomplished. This is when my need to finish the project began to kick in. When I go into this mode, everything takes a back seat to whatever I am focusing on. I wrote ninety percent of my college essays in this mode, usually at three or four o’clock in the morning. That next weekend, Halloween weekend, I began ditching everything and everyone. I skipped church, skipped out on two different hang out times with friends that I had already agreed to, and said no to a chance to go to the movies on Monday. It was all downhill from there. At work I began operating at about fifty percent capacity. At home I ignored piles of laundry and dishes (normally things I wouldn’t let slide). I stopped praying and reading my Bible for a couple of days. I avoided my phone even more than I normally do, and when Wednesday night rolled around, I was polyurethaning the wood for the bed when I was supposed to be writing an article for you.

This past weekend, I pulled an all-nighter and finished up the project, even painting an extra room (ah, ambition) while I was at it. In the end, I was pretty happy with the results, but I also knew that I had a lot of fixing to do at work, with God, with friends, and with Bridget because of my complete focus on the project. I really wasn’t quite sure what to make of the whole thing. Is it good that I have the ability to focus and work hard at something for that long, or is it bad because I put the project before people and things in my life that are more important? Predictably, the answer is probably a little bit of both. Being able to focus and work hard on something is probably a good quality, but I realized that the way I ditch everything else in my life is probably a result of pride or self-reliance – my desire to accomplish things on my own apart from God or anyone else. Self-reliance and pride are dangerous and sneaky. They are destructive things that pretend to be good. They can help people accomplish great and remarkable things, but they have a high cost. For my part, I know I need to trust that, even when I’m working on a project, I need to keep doing the important things in my life, like building relationships, praying, and eating something other than Reeses and soda.

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There’s no I in TEAM

Post written by Fred Reed.

photo courtesy of shortiestar3000

There is no I in Team.

Most of us have heard this statement before particularly those of us who have participate in some sort of a team event. But this also holds true in marriage. The Bible tells us that “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and become united to his wife and the two shall become one flesh”(Ephesians 5:31). We have all at one point or another come across this verse. Think about the last few words “the two shall become one flesh” to me this says that both husband and wife have to have an active roll in becoming one. This is not just up to the husband nor is this just up to the wife but we both have a responsibility in the oneness roll. Marriage is a partnership of two individuals with different styles, backgrounds and personalities.

None of us were given a “Complete Guide to Being Married” handbook and so we have had to do things thru trial and error. Hopefully, the few errors we have the better it is. In marriage we can become a bit self-centered especially if you were an individual used to doing things for yourself. But marriage is really about being selfless it’s about putting your spouse first. I know, I know, I hear the grumblings already. Man, what in the world are you talking about putting my spouse first. You have to be kidding me. No, I am not kidding you. We as a society have been so condition to take care of ourselves first. Phrases like “You Deserve it” or “Have it your way” just to name a few, inspire us to take care of ourselves. And yes you need to take care of yourself, you have to take care of yourself. If you don’t take care of yourself you can fall into a space of resentment. Ask yourselves this, when was the last time you’ve asked your spouse if there was anything that you could do to help their day. Or, how about the dreams and goals that they may have and how you could help them pursue their goals/dreams or a simple “How is your day sweetie?.” You see if you don’t have any idea what your spouse’s goals are and all you talk about is what you want to accomplish or if you have even gone as far as two develop a plan for your goals but never seeking the opinion of your spouse, then I would say that you have become a bit self-centered. My wife is the most important person in my life. My hierarchy is : God, My Wife(notice the uppercase W) and then myself. Yes, I said it, I consider my Wife to be more important than myself. She is my queen. Now that doesn’t mean that I completely neglect myself. Marriage isn’t always about who is right and who was wrong, to me it’s about the marriage winning.

I’ll leave you with this thought, think about being in a 3-legged race. You and your spouse have your legs tied together. You hold one another because it provides stability, you don’t try outrun one another because it can cause you to fall and lose the race. You have to work together both with different physical attributes for the Good of the team. If I try to win it has a negative impact on the team success and if my spouse tries to win that can have a negative impact as well. Are you willing to win the race as a TEAM?

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Adventures of a Tech Jock

Post written by Steve Otto. Follow me on Twitter.

photo courtesy of bfishadow

The Golden Years When I was in Elementary and Junior High School I was your typical dorky adolescent. I remember hanging out with some of the more goofy kids (which I fit into that category perfectly) who played Dungeons & Dragons and had collections of Star Wars figures and Radio Controlled Cars. I didn’t really fit into the ‘cool group’ at that point, but as I came into High School I started excelling in sports and shedding some of that goofy and awkward layer I carried around for years. Being in a small school with a graduating class of about 65, it was actually possible to know nearly everyone in my High School. That became a goal of mine. I knew what it was like to be part of the goofy group – you know the band geeks or A/V kids in your High School. But I also enjoyed becoming part of the popular crowd. At one point I even had possibly the most attractive girl in our High School longing to date me but at the time I had my heart set on another girl in my church youth group. Thank goodness neither of those worked out.

A new term I remember at one point in my High School Years when a female friend of mine was complimenting me on my skills. I had found some loophole in the system where I was really good at computers and gadgets but didn’t fit the personality profile of most of the A/V guys. I didn’t have a pocket protector or coke bottle glasses and I was actually coordinated. So she gave me a new label – “Tech Jock”. I fit in with the coolness of the Jocks (evening earning Athlete of the Year my Senior Year) while still enjoying my passion for gadgets (and we’re not talking all the cool gadgets like we have now – we are talking gadgets like the Commodore 64 here).

For my peeps So for all those guys out there that have a passion for Audio and Visual goodness but were shunned from the cool group, being called a computer nerd or other debilitating names – this column is for you. You can enjoy A/V and still be cool. You too, can be a Tech Jock.

Of more importance So Technology is of course one of my passions, but I also have a few other roles that outrank the Tech Jock Label. Husband, Father, and a Follower of Jesus. I am absolutely blessed by my marriage to my wife Amy. She is my best friend and we have a lot of fun navigating through life together. Which brings me to our kids – Hannah and Jacob. Life is never boring in our house, and I look forward to sharing some of those adventures with you. Finally, through all of this, my love for Christ is a part of everything I’m involved in. I’m sure I’ll be sprinkling stories in which God is working in my life here in there, because that is always exciting as well.

So I hope you enjoy my weekly column here on Sundays and I want to leave you with one recent story of our 4 year old Jacob.

A Parenting Ubermoment I recently came across the iPhone app called Joost which allows me to watch old TV episodes right on my iPhone. While I was browsing through the retro animated cartoons I came across my absolute favorite: G.I.Joe. My brothers and I were such big G.I.Joe fans that between the three of us we honestly owned about 400 figures and over 100 vehicles. It’s no wonder that all three of us eventually joined the Army Reserves. I was thrilled to share these episodes with Jacob and hoped he would enjoy them as much as I. It wasn’t long before Jacob was cheering on Snake Eyes and fearing Storm Shadow. The episodes are terrific because there are no cartoons, but they do show the commercial brake. It’s kind of entertaining. At the end of an action sequence the G.I.Joe logo comes on and the narrator states “G.I.Joe will return after these messages.” The screen goes black for a second and then the narrator comes back on and continues, “And now back to G.I.Joe”. Well after watching nearly all of the 20 or so episodes and having a half dozen commercial brakes for each episode, it wasn’t long before we found Jacob repeating this. The way he shares this is adorable and a little intriguing. Jacob will recite the narrators comments word for word and then close his eyes for a second or two before coming back with the phrase, “and now back to G.I.Joe”. You gotta see it to see how cute it is…

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YouTube Direkt

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Fridays with Fred

Post written by Fred Reed.

photo courtesy of apdk

Hello to all ~
My name is Fred Reed and I am excited about being able to share with
All of who are willing to listen, regarding the subject on marriage. I have been
Married for over 21 years to a very wonderful woman. In today’s time 21 years may be considered by most to be somewhat of a relic. I am not a professional by any means nor am I “Doctor Phil” but I do have a passion for marriage and have a great deal of respect for it. You may disagree with some things and agree with others and this is all fine. I am
Not a “know-it-all” and welcome any insight that some of you will have. Again, I look forward to sharing with you in the upcoming weeks.

Fred Reed

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Comfortable

Post written by Steve Otto. Follow me on Twitter.

Jake in the chair at Sal’s Barber Shop

I’ve been giving our son his haircuts pretty much since he’s been born and each haircut proves to be quite an adventure. The routine is pretty much the same every time. Place a stool about four feet in front of the TV. Turn on a video or cartoon he likes. Have about four lollipops ready for him to cycle through. And then for the next hour, yes its usually about a full hour, I go to battle with Jake over his hair.

He hates the razor so I try to use the scissors on as much of his hair as possible. Anytime the razor gets close, his shoulders instantly come up to his ears protecting his neck and ears from the funny tickle it gives. I usually try to get his hair slightly damp, because its easy to cut, but if a drop of water or a clump of hair happens to fall on his lap, he screams bloody murder.

The climax of our dual is the point when I try to trim the hair on the back of his neck. I’ve tried so many bribes that if Jake actually accepted them, he’d be driving a Bentley right now and I’d be his butler. The battle usually ends with either Amy holding Jake’s head down while he screams and cries and I quickly shear as much as I can, or he walks around with a mane on the back of his head and wears collared shirts for the next month.

A few days ago I was on my way to my thrweekly (every three weeks) hair appointment and Amy said to check if Sal, my authentic Italian Barber, had an opening after me for Jake. We weren’t sure this would be worth the money if Jake gave the same resistance to Sal as he does to me. Not only would this be embarrassing, but I pictured Jake coming home with a half-shaved head, full price haircut, with me finishing the job with an even more frustrated Dad and Son. It was worth a try, we thought.

Amy arrived a little before Sal was finished with me and Jake and Hannah sat and watched as Sal so easily performed his craft, that I tried to mimic at home with Jake. I could hear Amy whispering to Jake to take note of how still Daddy was sitting as well as the other patrons. I could see Jacob’s bright little face in the mirror as I sat and we smiled back and forth. Then came time for Jacob to take the chair. This was the moment of truth.

Sal placed the booster seat on top and as Jacob sat down, he floated the cloth cape over top of him and powered the seat up another foot, giving Jacob a quick ride. Jacob must of appreciated this experience right from the beginning as this was a certain step up from the crappy stool and trash bag Dad uses at home.

For the next twenty minutes Amy and I sat in awe as Jacob was a perfect statue. He sat so still, in fact, that Sal informed me he was better behaved than I normally am. It was amazing and it was well worth any amount of money to not have to face our blood boiling battle that Jake and I face every so often. As a bonus, Jake’s hair has never looked better. No straggly hair on the back of his next and around his ears. No ‘homejob’ style haircut, but rather a nice looking style. And two proud parents.

After watching those twenty minutes of magic, I recognized something that happens very often in families. We get comfortable with each other. When we deal with other people – the people we work with, our friends at church, people around town – we give them our best. But its easy to get home and be a little too comfortable with our family. We say things we are thinking that we would never say to someone we see once a week. We forgive really quickly those at work, but hold our spouse and children to the highest of standards. In some ways, this being comfortable is a good thing. We need to be completely transparent with our spouse and family. We need to be totally open and honest. But at the same time we need to give them the same respect that we give our church friends or coworkers. We should be much quicker to forgive the person you vowed to spend the rest of your life with, than the person who sits four cubes down.

So I’m going to make an effort to get comfortable in my love and openness with my family, but become uncomfortable with my criticism and judgment. It’s no easy task – facing years of bad habits and human nature, but I owe them my best.

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4 Weddings in 8 Days

Post written by Steve Otto. Follow me on Twitter.

photo courtesy of SimonShaw

Amy and I just finished one of the busiest weeks of our lives. We have had a few weddings here and there already this year, but our busy wedding season went into full swing these past two weekends. Two weekends ago we had a wedding on Saturday and Sunday. This past weekend we had a wedding on Friday and Saturday. Things were a whirlwind. Add to that, our church’s VBS program happened to be fall on this week and I had three planning meetings that middle week as well. Did I mention I also worked at my full-time job this week as well?

Well we survived and we somehow managed to complete everything with excellence. You may have been wondering why Ubervice wasn’t updated over the last several days. I apologize, but something had to give. But seriously, I hope you understand how crazy our lives really were. Many of our meals turned from home cooked to fast food. We ate while watching the clock. We only focused on what was going on the next day, and sometimes we could only focus on the next hour. Each wedding brought us home sometime between 12:30am and 2:00am. Due to some of our wedding clients living out of town, we were unable to have their last planning meeting days before their wedding (which we usually meet a full month before). We forgot we had a cat. Monster (energy) drinks were coveted and often traded in our families black market. We never once sat in front of the TV to relax, which is almost like going without food for us.

There are a few things we learned during these eight days of chaos.

1. Going through this brought us closer. As Amy and I sat on our beloved chair and a half in front of the television last evening with our two rugrats snuggled up in our arms, we thought back through what we had just been through. And we both realized how close we felt. Going through something like that together certainly made us appreciate each other more. If you want to strengthen your marriage, do something big together. Train for a 5K together. Work in a ministry program together. Whatever it is, you’ll find that the more intense it is, and the more you really on and support each other, the closer you will grow.

2. How often we misjudge people. Three out of the four weddings we did were new venues or catering companies to us. Two of them treated us at the beginning as if we had leprosy. One in fact, in our pre-site visit, continually referred to me as “DJ Steve” (in the cheesiest voice you could muster) in order to put me in my place. Our services are much different than other DJs, and at the end of each night these same vendors were blown away with our professionalism and entertainment abilities. We know that because they specifically told us that at the end of the night. I understand that many of these vendors experience uncaring, unprofessional DJs week after week who make their venue look bad. But it still hurt to be treated in such a way, which was assumed right from the beginning. I wonder how often I look down on someone for their position or how they look or for whatever reason, and I misjudge them. This was a great lesson for me to see the best in people and not to judge them.

3. People want you to succeed, but not be successful. One thing that struck me funny in a conversation with a friend, was how people want you to succeed when you are working hard towards something, but on the other hand, once you are successful, people are almost against you. Think about it for a minute. What do you think of when you think of Bill Gates? Are you happy for him? Would you like to see him earn more money? Now picture someone like my brother-in-law who is spending a lot of time trying to create his own recipe software. We would love to see him finish it and actually have people start purchase his software.

But the funny thing is, I think if his software ended up being a gold mine, people might actually not enjoy seeing him succeed so well. Let’s say in six months, he was earning about $40,000 a month off of his software sales, I think he would start to hear criticism about how much time he was spending working on his software. Why is he trying to develop new software, is $40K a month not enough for him, Jeez? Maybe he should spend more time volunteering at church. Maybe he should spend more time on his marriage.

Even if he was spending the same amount of time after his huge success as before, he would hear criticism only after the success came. Why is that. What makes us want people to succeed, but not be successful?

4. When someone needs help, offer help. Very similar to number 3, and maybe even related to the success thing, was during our very busy week when we were in a little over our heads, we got criticism on doing so many weddings. We had only done two weddings in a weekend a few times before this, and never for two weekends in a row. Also, we never had so many last minute tasks to do, due to last minute meetings with our out of town clients. We were surprised to find that we actually were criticized during this time when what we needed was help. I imagine I make the same mistake. Someone finds themselves in a difficult situation and I tell them, “Well if you had planned better, this wouldn’t have happened.” This reminded me to simply offer help when someone needs it. We all find ourselves in situations like these (well, maybe not so much like this one, but you know what I mean), so instead of lecturing, offer help.

5. Perception is very interesting. Okay, here is my last negative lesson we learned – I promise. Doing a wedding on a weekend night is for some reason seen as a bad thing. Again, I think this is slightly related to the success thing. My wife works two days a week. Many friends we know choose to work full time, but what works best for our family is for Amy to be at home most of the time). But for some reason, doing two weddings on the weekend, makes her a neglectful parent. Despite the time being the same amount of hours as a shift at the hospital, it is slightly implied that our kids are not well taken care of. If Amy decided to work an extra two days at the hospital, that would be no big deal. But two weddings in a weekend in which we are paid much higher than her hospital salary, well then, we are being greedy and neglecting our children. It’s not that bad, but I’m trying to make a point here. What’s interesting, is that if she had planned a weekend golfing with the girls, or gone shopping with friends, that wouldn’t have been seen as bad parenting. But making a decent amount of money. Well then, that is bad. Amy cut back her hours this week, and I only worked a three day week so we would have more family time. And think about it, would you rather work 8 hours for $150 or 8 hours for $2600? The latter obviously makes more sense, but for some reason making a lot of money brings with it comments that you should not worry so much about money and spend more time with your kids.

6. Weddings are sacred. I also was reminded of why we do weddings. Several times throughout both weekends, Amy and I looked at each other after an incredible moment and whispered, this is why we do this. After moments like hearing the wedding party read some incredible (and prophetic) comments of love from the yearbook of one bride and groom who were high school sweethearts. After standing next to a groom with tears streaming down his face as he watched his new bride dance with her father. After seeing a bride dance with her grandparents who had been married for 61 years, and just given the advice to enjoy everyday of their marriage as much as they have enjoyed this (their wedding) day. After watching a Christian Bride & Groom who couldn’t wait to start their honeymoon, practically run out of the building, after ending their reception 45 minutes early. Treated as if we were actually family from parents and getting so many hugs for helping to make someone’s day so special. And watching as a bride and groom stare into each others eyes during their first dance in such a way that shows a glimpse of their hearts becoming one. Weddings are sacred. Marriage is sacred. I believe they are one of the most meaningful things to glad and its an honor to be a part of them.

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The Peasant Princess Pt 5: My Beloved, My Friend

This is the fifth in sermon series that Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill church is doing on the book of Song of Solomon in the Bible. The sermon series explores what the Bible says about Dating, Sex, Romance and Intimacy. Pastor Mark does an incredible job of diving into the text and his words will certainly help encourage you on how to wait for and experience an amazing marriage.

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The Peasant Princess Pt 4: His Garden

This is the fourth in sermon series that Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill church is doing on the book of Song of Solomon in the Bible. The sermon series explores what the Bible says about Dating, Sex, Romance and Intimacy. Pastor Mark does an incredible job of diving into the text and his words will certainly help encourage you on how to wait for and experience an amazing marriage.

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Plan a Power Outage

Post written by Steve Otto. Follow me on Twitter.

photo courtesy of aussiegall

I love thunderstorms. We seem to get a fantastic storm about every two years. I’m talking about a thunderstorm where lighting lights up the sky so much it’s almost like you turned on that strobe light you used to have in your college dorm room (or still do). The lightning is beautiful, but the thunder is what really makes you respect the storm. Especially when it’s close. There are a few different types of thunder. One roll of thunder seems to build as it bounces off the corners of the sky, but I love the rolls of thunder that deliver a huge crack. It’s the same sound you hear at a rodeo when the big burly guy with the horseshoe mustache backs down an angry bull.

Another part I love about thunderstorms is when they are severe enough to disable an entire town from any use of electric. Perhaps this joy comes from childhood wishes that the power wouldn’t return for school to start the next day, or as I grew older, that work would somehow remain closed without any power. Although my particular company would find some way to keep their employees busy despite a lack of power even if it meant us taking turns running on a human size hamster wheel to power our computers.

As a kid, when we lost power, we would all huddle into one room – especially if it was in the winter time, and would fill the house with oil lamps that my Mom collected. She no longer collects them because she received so many of them for birthday and Christmas presents, as they happened to be priced perfectly for a teenagers budget and still look like an expensive gift. So it’s a popular gift from a Mother of four. Once the lamps and all the candles we could possibly find were lit, we dusted off games that haven’t been played since the last power outage. The playing cards were the first to come out and as we’d try to make out our cards by a flickering light, we’d catch up on life. And that was where the magic came in. Sitting there together as a family with no noise. No television that was left on because, well, tv’s are meant to be on. No phone calls. No hum from the computer fan. Not even the occasional sound of the fridge kicking on.

Instead those sounds were replaced with a relaxed chatting. Time was no longer an issue. In fact time became non-existent. Rather than our schedule being dictated by the clock, our actions were now based on how we felt. We’d stay up talking and sharing until slowly, one by one, we would drift off to sleep. But during that time of connection, we would gain back a little ground on what technology seems to slowly take away from us each day. We would look at each other face to face, rather than receive brief updates as the tv stole our eyes. Our conversations would go much deeper because there was no agenda, no what’s next, no where-to-now’s. Just the hope that this pause in time would last as long as possible.

As a kid those are my memories of thunderstorms. And now as a husband and a parent, I find they don’t occur nearly enough. However, I can catch a glimpse of that special time together as a family by creating my own power outage. I’m reminded of a time a while back, when my wife I and planned a power outage as we got back home from an outing. It actually just sort of happened as we were messing with our kid’s heads, as good parents should do, and trying to convince them that we lost power. When we walked into the house from our garage, we failed to reach for any light switches. “Oh no kids, the power’s out!” we told them as they clung tightly to our legs for fear of the dark. Despite the eerie green glow from the digital clock on the microwave, they were buying it. But before long they would catch onto our scheme if I didn’t take precautions. So I quickly made my way down to the old gray panel in our basement and reached for the breaker labeled main. You could almost hear the house itself shut down as every electronic unit powered down simultaneously.

photo courtesy of bardgabbard

For the next several hours we went through the familiar process. Gathering all of our candles. Trying to remember where the matches or lighters were at, and wishing we had put them in a more prominent place when we did have light. And then grabbing pillows and blankets and snuggling up in front of a wood fire in our living room. And just as sure as the sunset, the magic happened. We connected. We connected much deeper than our normally busy schedules allowed. We looked at each others eyes as we caught up on life, rather than getting our updates by scanning our eyes across the words in an email or facebook status or twitter, ummm, tweet. We talked and played until we were tired instead of when the clock told us to go to bed. And as the kid’s eyes became heavy and they snuggled into their warm beds, my wife and I continued this deep connection over some wine and another log on the fire. This was surely family at its best and I look forward to our next power outage, either planned or unplanned.

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The Peasant Princess Pt 3: The Little Foxes

This is the third in sermon series that Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill church is doing on the book of Song of Solomon in the Bible. The sermon series explores what the Bible says about Dating, Sex, Romance and Intimacy. Pastor Mark does an incredible job of diving into the text and his words will certainly help encourage you on how to wait for and experience an amazing marriage.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!