new photos

here are some photos that Ken Kienow (kenkienow.com) recently took.

Rock for Water - SLO

Check out this event coming up on Saturday Night. All the proceeds go to digging wells in Southern Sudan. To preview the bands, check out their MySpace sites.

When: Saturday, March 8th
What time: 7:30 doors open
Where: Calvary's Grand Location (115 Grand Avenue | San Luis Obispo, CA)
Cost: $5 at the door
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http://www.myspace.com/johnmarkmcmillan

http://www.myspace.com/aaronstrumpel

http://www.myspace.com/travisaicklen

1 year old

We just celebrated Judah's first birthday. Here is the video to drop into his digital time capsule.

It's been an amazing year to say the least!

bath time

Judah loves bath time. This is our time together (Judah & daddy), my favorite time of the day with him. He loves to swim, splash, and especially DRINK the bath water. I am not sure if that is bad for him or not, but he loves it so much I can't seem to tell him "no". Our good friends Ken & Courtney Kienow came over for dinner this week, so ken snapped these photos. Ken has recently started doing events/weddings/portraits, etc. He is very talented, check out his site www.kenkienow.com

Yule Blog

I like it when the bible says about the birth of Jesus, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to all men” – and so this is the time of year when we “celebrate” that. As best we can we try to integrate that into our festivities & traditions, but if you’re like me, you quickly forget, or don’t necessarily know how to do that. I easily get distracted by iTunes and surfboards, and my own wish list, more like a grown up toy list: D-SLR Camera, and a GPS Navigation system, etc. Before Christmas I went to Best Buy pretending to shop for Katie, but I was really there looking at toys for myself. Stuff. We want stuff, so we convince ourselves that want is an understatement, we say we need it. Whatever it is, can leave you bankrupt once you get it, because it didn’t deliver the ultimate. After a couple of minutes, or days, or months, the shine wears off and you need something shinier.

So we come back to Christ and His birth. The ultimate Gift that delivers; in Him there is no letdown or disappointment. If there can be Peace on this earth, if we can walk with our Savior, if we can know Him, and experience His shine, a shine that doesn’t fade, then there is a God to give Glory to.

Some things we give Glory to God for:

::a healthy & happy family. We are enjoying a sweet season of life (with the addition of our son Judah), blessed with God’s great provision & love for our family.

::hope & peace – life can throw curve balls and stress is real (those aren't blond highlights in my hair), but there is always hope & peace in our Lord now and in the life to come.

::My wife & son - I don't deserve either of them. In them is a display of God's grace for my life.

::His Son. the sacrifice in sending His Son, we can never fully grasp its weight. I now have a son, and my mind CANNOT conceive of giving him up for anyone, let alone the undeserving.

- joey

Kissing, clapping and biting...

This morning the three of us were lying in bed, Joey and I trying to coax Judah back to sleep for just 10 more minutes. Historically this only leads to a super early family play session, but it's worth a try for the slight chance that he can snuggle up and go back to sleep. I finally decided to get up as he's basically hanging from our head board, talking his head off. While I was getting a sweatshirt on Joey told Judah to clap, and he did. He's never done that on command before. He also gives kisses (open mouth, teeth and all) when asked. Now, clapping is no event to devote an entire blog to, but what I'm so stoked about is that we're starting to communicate. He's understanding more and more of what we say to him. The thing that bewilders me though is that we clap together maybe 3 times a day, whereas I tell him NO like a broken record and he looks at me like I'm an alien. He soo busted now, no more Mr. Niceguy. Especially as he's going through yet another phase of biting everything and everyone. Somehow biting has become an expression of excitement. The unfortunate part of teaching him not to bite is that I can't remember what to say to him consistently as he's gnawing on one of my limbs. Sometimes it's "no biting", "don't bite me", "stop biting", or my favorite, "holy crap that hurt". The cat's out of the bag Judah... I know you're teachable now.

Elmo Adventures...

Joey's been working a ton lately, so a Saturday family date was in order. With a baby it's hard to find fun things to do as a family. I love hiking, but Joey's never really taken to it, so I was excited when we came to an agreement on hiking Madonna Mt. after a light lunch at Subway. I had to run a quick errand so I sent Joey to Long's to get a birthday card for my dad. Once there, Joey proceeded to buy Judah a $7.00 Elmo balloon. No surprise as anytime I take Joey to the grocery store we end up with a bill big enough to pay the mortgage. When we get to Madonna Mt. Joey insists on bringing Elmo along for the ride. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. Judah loves being outside and riding on daddy's back was a bonus. Unfortunately, Elmo had a run-in with some wild, bushy sticks and didn't make it back to the car in one piece. All in all, the day was wonderful and we really got some good quality time. Love my boys!