the unlikely orange

to: all of greg's readers from: the macaws of costa rica just wanted to let you know that greg and shannon are doing fine. they are loving their vacation, and enjoying some r and r. they promise they won't stay here forever, and will be back soon.

okay, so here's something crazy. my son - a child who entered the world with me in the room - has already finished his first year of preschool. how did that happen? he is almost 4 and a half already! where did that time go? now, it's not like they didn't warn me. "enjoy these moments," says every person who ever talks to me about kids. "soon they'll be in college." it has become a bit of a joke between shannon and i when we are cleaning vomit off the floor, or giving a child a timeout for trying to strangle his brother, that we look at each other with painted smiles and say with sarcasm, "enjoy these moments - they don't last forever." and yet, even though there are moments along the way that are difficult to appreciate, it is absolutely true that all the moments go by like comets, on their way to some other solar system where all mundane moments go to be barely remembered. life is just frustrating like that. it is precisely t...

just wanted to give you a little picture of where we'll be staying. we are on the pacific coast of costa rica, and the cool thing about the geography here is that the rain forest meets the beach. i don't know exactly what its going to look like when i finally see it (i'm writing this ahead of time), but i am imagining something like the island on 'lost.' we will be staying about a mile from the beach in a cabina, enjoying the lush rainforest. hopefully the mornings will be sunny enough that we will be able to enjoy the beautiful beach, too. don't worry, i'll take lots of pictures!

last night we (hopefully - i'm writing this ahead of time!) landed in san jose, costa rica, the capital of the country. we spent the night there and are headed out of town this morning, heading southwest. - here's the 10-Day Forecast: - High /Low (°F) Precip. % - Wed Jun 03 Scattered T-Storms 85°/63° 30 % - Thu Jun 04 Scattered T-Storms 86°/64° 50 % - Fri Jun 05 Scattered T-Storms 85°/64° 60 % - Sat Jun 06 Scattered T-Storms 85°/64° 30 % - Sun Jun 07 Scattered T-Storms 84°/64° 60 % - Mon Jun 08 Scattered T-Storms 85°/64° 60 % - Tue Jun 09 Scattered T-Storms 84°/64° 60 % - Wed Jun 10 Scattered T-Storms 84°/64° 60 % - you'll see that it will rain everyday, and we know that it will. heck, we are going to the RAINforest, after all. but it will likely be raining in the afternoon each day, so we plan on getting out to the beach in the morning, and then heading indoors during the rainy part of the day for some 'recreation' (remember that there will be no kids). sorry. ...

that's right. costa rica. that's where i'm headed today. me and shannon, without our children, are headed to the pacific shores of the central american nation to celebrate our 10 years of marriage. we are, of course, extremely excited to be taking this kid-less vacation in a new land, choosing our own adventures as we go. as far as the blog is concerned, feel free to keep checking in. i will have some posts prepared. nothing too exciting, i'm sure, but something to keep you checking back in. i'll check with you when i get back.

happy monday, friends. its been a great weekend for me, enjoying annual conference, celebrating pentecost, and attending (and leading) a retirement dinner for my senior pastor. - *big sigh of relief* - today is also a special day. for the past several months i've been participating in a little competition called "milinovich biggest loser," in which i have been competing against my mom and my two sisters to see who could lose the most weight. while i haven't been as intense about it as some of the other competitors, i have worked at it. and today is weigh-in day. i have already conceded victory to others, but i am very satisfied with my own progress: i have lost 20 pounds. - actually, what makes me most satisfied is that i lost that weight earlier in the competition, and then, over the last 6 weeks i have not been so intense about it. and yet i really didn't gain any weight. this shows me that i made some real sustainable change in my life. i have made s...

big news for me....check out this link: http://topsellingauthors.com/world/top_stories/1383/2397/g._milinovich