Baby Boy Fitz Is Growing Up

So the doctors tell us that the boy is looking good, that he has a beautiful heart, and that he has long fingers and toes (wide receiver? power forward? pianist?)...the first thing I noticed was that he doesn't look like a gummi bear anymore; he actually looks like a human being!...and because of his size and progression, they moved his due date up to April 1st...yes, that is April Fool's Day...this boy is in trouble from his dad if he is born on that day...he'll never hear the end of it...

Prayer Retreat

A couple of weekends ago, I took some of our youth on a prayer retreat to the YMCA Camp Lakewood in Potosi, MO...man, what a good weekend!...the centerpiece of the weekend was a prayer labyrinth that we set up for them, thanks in large part to John, Joyce, Barry, Mandi, Carrie, and Kim...it was cool to watch the students be affected in so many different ways, from letting go of their troubles, to recognizing their selfishness, to struggling with trying to forgive people that had hurt them...it was also fun getting to know some more students, including one that had never come to our youth group before...it was like he had been coming for years - much fun!...anyway, just thought I'd give you a brief update (especially since Jory gave me a hard time for not blogging about it yet)...oh, and by the way, if you see Jen or Brittney, tell them thanks from me for the abusive lip sync they directed at me :-)...it was pretty funny...

If you want to see what a labyrinth is like, check out this online version...

Youth Specialties

I'm writing this from the National Youth Workers Convention that Youth Specialties puts on every year...I'm in Nashville, specifically, standing at the digital lounge that they set up for such souls such as me that are unfortunate enough to not have their own laptop...I am here with 7,500 other youth workers from across the country and world, the biggest convention they have ever done...it's pretty amazing!...YS does such a top-notch job with this gig, and it's gets beter every year...each day has a couple of general sessions in the Gaylord Entertainment Center that feature some comedian or skit group (including The Skit Guys!), worship (which has been led up to this point by the David Crowder Band - WOW!!!), and a main speaker...there are also tons of seminars to chose from each day, but if you don't feel like going to one, you don't (like right now)...anyway, it's a load of fun, very renewing to my spirit, and it's good to connect with friends and family...and to let myself go like I have during the worship sessions just feels good...maybe I will have pictures to show you in the future...we'll see...just wanted to get y'all caught up...

Leaves...and other stuff

I love autumn...it is by far my favorite season...the cooler air is invigorating...Halloween, my favorite holiday, is in autumn...the scent and the visual display of the changing leaves is one of my most favoritest things ever...football season is in full-swing which, for a Browns fan, should be a depressing thing, but it still makes me happy...I love autumn...

But as much as I love the changing leaves, one thing I don't like is the fact that they actually fall from the tree, forcing me to remove them from my yard...this involves much raking, especially since our yard is longish...fortunately, on Monday, when I started raking, my 93 year-old next door neighbor popped his head out his door and asked me if I wanted to use his leaf-blower...I knew I liked Harley...

As I raked and blew the leaves, I started thinking about how so many people like spring as their favorite season...a good number of them seem to like that spring represents new life, starting over...but what about fall?...is it only about death and dying?...and if so, is that such a bad thing?...Jesus told us that we need to die to ourselves and to our desires...in order to receive the new life he offers, we need to die to our selfishness, and our greed, and our lust, and our idolatry, and our (fill in your vice here)...we need to let go of those leaves on a daily basis before we can hope to have new life and godly desires take their places...and maybe the coolest part is that we don't have to rake them up - it's taken care of...I love autumn...

A couple of other notes:

• We're having a boy...just thought you'd like to know
• What better way to screw up a kid for life than how UNICEF recently chose to advertise fundraising efforts for ex-child soldiers in Africa
• I still think Bud Selig is a horrible Commissioner of Major League Baseball and that my cousin's husband Stephan is the perfect choice to replace him, but I like what Selig got done on the issue of steroids: 50 games for a first offense, 100 for the second, and lifetime ban for a third
• Can't wait for this weekend...I am going to Nashville for the Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Convention...I'll get to hear great speakers and check out lots of seminars, I'll get to hear David Crowder and Chris Tomlin, and I'll get to hang out with my cousin Scott and lots of friends
• How in the HECK did Arrested Development get cancelled?!?...sign this petition if you're ticked off like me...now, if Prison Break goes anywhere, I might just get rid of my TV...not really
  
• Go Lebron James!
  

Vacation Update, Final Report

OK, the two or three of you that actually read my blog are probably getting sick of hearing about my vacation...fortunately for you, this will be my last report on it (there was much rejoicing - yay...)...we took a couple of days while we were away to get away by ourselves to go up to Victoria, British Columbia (that's in Canada, they tell me)...we had to take a couple of ferries to get there, which was kind of cool, especially the first one because it was so darn foggy that it felt like a cool horror movie...I half expected something to jump out of the fog at us with a machete or something...when we finally got there, we were verbally assaulted by the customs agent at the dock...OK, that is probably an overstatement, but he was very good at his job - very intimidating...he started firing questions at me, and when he found out that we were driving a car that neither of us owned - it belonged to Amber - we thought he was going to stop us right then and there...he wanted to see a letter from Amber saying we could use her car, which we didn't have...he explained that, as far as he was concerned, the car could be stolen...but he ended up letting us go anyway, maybe because I told him I was a youth pastor (I knew that would come in handy someday)...Victoria is a very nice city...it felt more European than the US does (not that I've ever been to Europe) and had a diverse population, or at least a diverse cross-section of visitors...we saw a lot of Japanese tourists, heard countless varieties of accents, and saw many Mediterranean restaurants...we stayed at the English Inn and Resort, which we got a great deal on through Hotels.com...here you can see our room:


You have already read about our food excursions in Victoria...we didn't only eat while there - really!...we also did a couple of fun things:

Butchart Gardens
These gardens are one of the big things to do while in Victoria...what started as a quarry site, Jennie Butchart turned into a series of beautiful gardens, starting in the early 20th century...they are a national hitorical site now, and well-deserved...while not everything was in full-bloom, thanks to us visiting in the fall, it was still quite stunning...the highlight was turning a corner and seeing the sunken garden spread out below us...it was quite a site!...the Japanese garden was also very beautiful...I can't imagine the amount of work that goes into the upkeep of the gardens...I have a hard time just mowing my lawn!...


Craigdarroch Castle
This was the other big thing we did while in Victoria...it is a castle built in the late 1800s by a wealthy coal guy, Robert Dunsmuir...the central focus of the castle is the staircase, which rises 87 steps up through the center of the castle...when you walk in, they make you look up the center of the staircase (which, by the way, is much better than looking down - queasy!)...the self-guided tour takes you through the 20,000 square feet of space and allows you to see how the rooms were decorated back in the day...the thing that stood out to me was the crazy amount of wood that was used in everything...the tour guide told us that five freight cars full of wood were used to build the inside of the house...that's a lot of wood!...while Butchart Gardens were a 30-minute drive from downtown, you could walk to Craigdarroch Castle from the harbour...do it, if you go...

Empress Hotel
This is a shwanky hotel, right on the harbour...we would have stayed here, but I'm not Bill Gates...we were going to do high tea here, but we couldn't afford it, and I don't own the right clothes...but at least we walked through it, and looked down our nose at the rich people...this is a pic of the Empress from the ferry...

A couple other observations about Victoria:

• There was lots of foot and bike and scooter traffic all the time, day and night...Marcy's comment was, "Does anyone work around here?"
• The city mostly shuts down at around 6pm...there are many cool stores in the downtown area, but if you want to shop after dinner, good luck finding anything open...this was surprising for such a tourist town...
• Smart cars...you thought the Mini Coopers were small...we saw many of these around town...they probably get great gas mileage, if they even use gas...wish I had one...when I wasn't using it, I could carry it around in my pocket...wonder if they'll be in the US soon...

That's enough of my vacation for you...thank you for putting up with the tedium...but if you ever head up to this area, you can thank me...

Vacation Update, Part 3

OK, now that you have digested what all we ate (nice play on words, eh?) while in the great northwest - or southwest, if you're looking at the Canada part of our trip - what did we do besides eat, you ask?...that's a fine question, so here you go:

The Underground Tour
If you go to Seattle, I highly recommend this tour...it is a history of Seattle told by some creative storytellers (if you can, request Gael as your guide - she is the poster child for ADD, and hilarious), but it isn't your everyday history lesson...they get into more of the seedy side of the history that maybe the visitor's bureau would shy away from...for example, the city was originally built lower that it is currently (that's why the tour is "underground"), but had to be built up, because every time the tide came in, it would wash throughout the city everything that was in everyone's outhouses...or, that much of the revenue in the city's early days came from taxing the "sewers" (code word for prostitutes)...it was very interesting, and very fun...you'll need to set aside about an hour and a half of your time...

Pike Place Market
This is an outdoor (under tents) market down on the waterfront...notable items were the abundance of flowers (and cheap!) and the throwing of fish...that's what the market is famous for...apparently, when you choose a fish from the ice up front, they pitch it to the back where it is wrapped and weighed, with lots of shouting back and forth...interesting...

Starbucks
Yep, the original one was here at the Market...'nuff said...

Microsoft
Since Amber & Jeff both work at Microsoft, we got to go there...it's huge and sprawling...we went to the Microsoft store and loaded up on software for the church (they have ridiculous deals there)...plus, I got to play the new Xbox 360...I was King Kong that kept getting mauled by a T-Rex (OK, so I'm no good at video games)...


Space Needle
You can't go to Seattle and not experience this...it was somewhat cloudy when we finally go to go up, but we could still make out the faint image of Mount Ranier in the distance...I was surprised to discover that the observation deck was only 100' higher than the tallest roller coaster at Cedar Point, the Top Thrill Dragster (man, I need to ride that coaster!)...

Without having my notebook in front of me, that sort of exhausts what I can remember about the entertainment options we experienced...if I come up with more, you will probably read about them here...boy, I hope you people are more creative with your comments this time around...