the unlikely orange

before i skip town, i thought i'd leave you with this family portrait that was taken for the church directory. it was a free 8x10 and we received it in the mail today. i'm rather fond of it...

happy day-after-memorial day! i feel like i say that in a way that i couldn't yesterday (by that i mean the 'happy' part - of course i couldn't say 'day-after-memorial day' yesterday since it was memorial day). anyway, memorial day is a strange holiday, to me. every year, right as spring fever has really hit its full stride and lawns need mowed and flowers need tending and barbeques need fired up, we hold this day that is intended as a kind of rememberance of those who have served in battle and lost their lives. yay, death! "let's go get a hot dog...." i think you see what i'm saying here. its hard for me to wake up on this day and roll over to my wife and say 'happy memorial day, honey.' it just doesn't feel right. it seems like we should be a bit more sad and somber. the day shouldn't just be an excuse to shop and eat, should it? but wait, there's more. this memorial day seemed a great deal harsher on my spirit than memor...

last night we went to a greek festival being held nearby. it is called opa! apparently, opa is a word that greeks shout out whenever they are happy. a quick word search online basically shows that it is a word that doesn't really have a meaning, other than to express happines or joy. we had jack shouting 'opa!' while we were there, and that made all the olive-skinned people there chowing down on lamb smile at us. shannon and i have always wanted to try greek food, so we went and sampled the gyros and souvlaki. we also watched some of the children do traditional greek dances in full costume. we had a good time, and jack enjoyed rocking the sunglasses. cade slept the entire time. we are getting ready to have burgers on the grill this evening. there is nothing quite like it. i've been quite under the weather this week. i had a cold, then i thought i had it beat the last couple of days, but it came back and bit me in the rear today. speaking of being bitten in the booty, th...

i finished reading this book this weekend, and it was a surprising gem. it was written by amy hollingsworth who used to work for cbn (the christian broadcasting network) and, on assignment from the 700 club once interviewed mr. rogers. (side note: once i found out about her connection to cbn and the 700 club, well, let's just say i almost didn't read the book. but i did. and i'm glad i did.) after interviewing him, she developed a relationship with him through letter-writing, mostly, but also over the phone. in this book she weaves stories about their letters and conversations, but it doesn't come across so much as, "look at me, i got to have this relationship with mr. rogers." instead, it is an amazing story of a man who tried to make sure that every day, every moment, every episode of his children's show, every visit to the land of make believe was used as an opportunity to preach the Gospel, and, if necessary, use words (St. Francis of Assisi). ...

welcome to my space. its my office, where i spend a significant amount of time. realizing that many of you have never been to clinton, nj, i thought i would give you a little 4-picture tour of the space that serves as my study, conference room, prayer closet, communications center, and sometimes (but not often enough) playroom. welcome. have a seat. if you come in the door to my office, my desk is immediately to your left. when i'm in my office, i'm normally at my desk. often on the computer. i've got some collages and a couple pictures of shannon on the wall behind me. i've got my coffee mug there on the desk (this is possibly the most important peice of 'office equipment' that i own). on the bulletin board above my desk is a 45 lp of the dave brubeck quartet's 'take five.' there are also pictures of aragorn, derek jeter, and ben roethlisberger. all of these serve as inspiration. here is my desk from another angle. one of my two bookshe...

it was green. it was pulsing with all that baseball blood, all that crack-of-the-bat beating rhythm. it was a blast. jack was so excited. he kept telling us that he was "so happy!" i think, though, that what he was so happy about was not the green grass. not the crack of the bat. not the bottom of the 6th 6-run comeback by the home team. not the thud of the fastball in the catcher's mitt. no, he was excited about two things, mostly: food (and lots of it) and shrek. yes, it was shrek night at the ballpark. it was the skinniest shrek i have ever seen (his ankles were the same diameter as my wrists!), but jack didn't care. he loved him. he wanted to watch him wherever he went. at least something green was attracting his attention. the other thing that held his attention was the food. hot dog. chicken strips. french fries. sprite (or 'tea' as he calls it). and cotton candy as a treat for being a good boy. and so we had a fun night at the ballpark, even if baseba...

its green like you've never imagined. until you've seen it. and then once you've seen it, it is often in your dreams and always in your memory. its greener than life, wider than you think, and perfectly flat like a tight canvas. its a baseball field, and all kinds of stories are painted in colorful strokes on them. its really the only thing i remember about my first professional baseball game. i know that it was three rivers stadium, but i don't know who the pirates played, who won, or even what summer it was. what i do remember is the moment that the cold grey confines of that stadium by the rivers gave way in my little line of sight to a panarama of the greatest and greenest green i had ever seen. i'm not sure what kind of a baseball fan i was at that time, but whatever my affections before that day in the 80's, i am certain what they were after: i was in love. as with so much childhood magic, this love affair could have easily reached irreconciable differen...