Baby Dreams

  
With lots of baby news in the family, I thought I'd share an interesting website that a mother has created taking pictures of her baby while asleep.

Watermelons

  
The 27th annual Carytown Watermelon Festival is this weekend, providing a fun, summer activity that will attract over 100,000 people to a small strip in Richmond.

Facial Hair Fanatics

  
During our roadtrip across the country, we tuned in to several podcasts, one of which described the festivities surrounding the World Beard & Moustache Championships and the Beard Team USA Nationals.

First Friday

For most people, Friday is a day that is highly anticipated throughout the week.  For the art community, the First Friday of each month brings even greater anticipation as downtown turns its spotlight to its art galleries and the local artists that have been busy at work.

Jason Reed Photography

  
One of our good friends from San Antonio, Jason Reed, recently just finished a photography exhibition at the UTSA Satellite Space titled Topophilia West.

Frog Bottom Farm

As you know, I like food.  I also appreciate the efforts of farmers who raise food, and we have gained an interest in finding ways to support our local farmers.

East End Charette

  

A couple weeks ago, if one had asked me if I would like to attend sessions of a charette process, I would have first asked, "What is a charette?"

A Piece of Greece

  
The 34th annual Greek festival was held this week, and we enjoyed the opportunity to partake in a small piece of this year's festivities.

Wycliffe Bible Translation

We had the privilege of hearing one of our fellow church members, Jay McGee, speak about his family's experiences working with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Jay and his wife Kristen spoke at a local coffee shop and provided a Powerpoint presentation on the subject, "Islam, Literacy, and the Gospel." Jay and Kristen have served in Indonesia working in Aceh and Jakarta. They are now working in Richmond, and Jay gave a fascinating presentation on his work in translating the Bible into the native language of the people of Aceh. He also shared his experiences learning about the Islamic faith of the people of Aceh as well as their incredible need for education and literacy.

During one striking moment of his presentation, Jay showed a picture he had taken of a group of boys in Aceh, with one wearing a shirt displaying a picture of Osama Bin Laden surrounded by children with the words, "Hope Care Attention," written above. As Christians, we carry the message of "Hope Care Attention" that is found, not in a political celebrity or world figure, but in Christ. Not only that, as Christians, we are charged to share that hope, care, and attention we have received from our Savior to those around us, and Jay hopes to bring that good news to the people of Aceh. Jay reminded us of the parable of the good Samaritan, and he made convincing parallels between how the Samaritans would have been perceived by Jews during Christ's teachings and how Christian Americans currently perceive Muslims throughout the world today. He made the important point that, just as Christ called us to love our "Samaritan" neighbors, we are called to love our Muslim neighbors as well. Our pastor concluded the evening by challenging us to think of creative ways to support those in our church who serve in ministries and missions, and it is a challenge that I've been continually pondering since Jay's presentation.

For more information about Wycliffe Bible Translators, visit www.wycliffe.org.

Monument 10K

For those who know me well, you'll understand that I am not a skilled or even enthusiastic runner, much less an athlete of any sort. However, I participated in an event here in Richmond called the "Monument Avenue 10K," which is an annual 10-kilometer race through a beautiful and historic avenue of Richmond. It is extremely well-attended, highly regarded, well-produced (with lots of cheering and encouraging spectators as well as lively bands to provide ample motivation), and very friendly to runners or joggers...or walkers...of all experience and talent levels. Best of all, the proceeds benefit cancer research at the Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center, so it is a great cause. Though we're sore and tired afterwards, we genuinely enjoyed the run, and I felt that one person's t-shirt summarized the event quite well: "6.2 miles never felt so good."

To learn more, check out this link.

Vancouver Stuff: Pt II

Another great spot in Vancouver that we enjoyed during our honeymoon is Granville Island. It's a fun, small island in Vancouver that is home to art and crafts vendors as well as an impressive market with lots of tasty foods. Our first meal in Vancouver was at Granville Island, and their website includes fun things to do there as well as some recipes (check out the Public Market page!) To learn more, click here.

Vancouver Stuff: Part I

With the Olympic Winter Games beginning this weekend in Vancouver, I find myself nostalgic for my honeymoon, when my wife and I had a wonderful time in beautiful British Columbia. On our first full day in Vancouver, we spent the entire day in Stanley Park, the largest city park in North America. We had a great time strolling through the forests, watching folks play cricket, tennis, and lawn bowling, and enjoying the sunshine and views as we walked along the seawall. To learn more about Stanley Park, check out its website.

Let's Rodeo San Antonio!

This February will mark the first year in nearly a decade that we do not have the chance to attend the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, an annual tradition that we always enjoyed as we would embrace the Texans in us and immerse ourselves in cowboy culture. San Antonio's rodeo comes once every year for almost three weeks in February, and it includes a live stockshow, a carnival, numerous exhibits and contests, and a daily rodeo with events such as bull riding, bronc riding, roping, barrel racing, and (our favorite) mutton bustin' to name a few. People with big belt buckles, blue jeans, cowboy hats and matching cowboy boots fit right in, and we always enjoyed having guests come in from out of town to experience a taste of Texas at the rodeo. While we'll miss the rodeo this year, we have already enjoyed sharing with our new friends in Virginia what a rodeo is...if you want to learn more, check out the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.

Photographing Africa

A member of our church in Richmond is a professional photographer who primarily focuses on documenting social issues - with an emphasis on raising poverty awareness - in sub-Saharan Africa. Jake spoke a couple of weeks ago at church about his upcoming return to Africa, and his words about poverty challenged me.

• How do I relate to money? Is it a precious commodity I hoard for myself, or is it a gift and blessing that I am charged to be a faithful steward of?
• Am I faithful with God's blessings given to me, so that I may be a blessing to others?
• Do I consider how my lifestyle and spending habits affect others around the world?
• Do I have concern for those around the world living in extreme poverty? Do I consider their needs and challenges? What can I do about it?

He has just left Richmond this week to return to work in Africa; I encourage you to check out his work and his blog at his website, JakeLyell.com.

Shay Clan

My family has updated its blog this year, with the highlight being "pictures of the week" that tell the story of what we're up to across the country. If you're a member of the family and haven't visited recently, check out - and even contribute - to the site at shayclan.blogspot.com.

South Texas Jazz

For the past couple years prior to leaving for Virginia, I had the wonderful opportunity of playing with my brother and some friends in a small jazz combo in San Antonio, Texas. We first played for some church gatherings, then on Wednesday nights in the summer at a small Italian restaurant, then at various wedding receptions, and even opening for a small combo of renowned jazz musicians John Patitucci, Ruth Naomi Floyd, and Jon Cowherd. Over that time the group has included various musicians here and there, and now they've got a website to promote their services. Even though I'm no longer in San Antonio, they were kind enough to include me on the site. If you live in south Texas and are interested in hiring a group of great jazz musicians (and great guys) for your upcoming event, please consider checking out this site: www.southtexasjazz.com.

The Advent Conspiracy

During this Christmas season I received a recommendation to check out a website called "The Advent Conspiracy," whose main message is to encourage others to: "Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All." In the midst of fighting crowds to buy gifts and being bombarded by Christmas-themed advertisements and promotions, it can be refreshing to be reminded of why we celebrate Christmas in the first place, and ways to make sure our Christmas celebrations are built around the right priorities. To read more, check out: http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

A Tisket, A Tasket

For a good portion of my life I have appreciated the creativity and beauty of unique car designs. This probably stems from the influence of one of my favorite teachers who I had in 5th grade who was himself a car enthusiast and surrounded his classroom with exotic car posters and models. I used to subscribe to Motor Trend just to look at unique car designs and then spend my free-time drawing (and tracing) what I thought would be cool cars. I even thought someday I'd work for a big automobile company designing new cars (that dream quickly gave way when I realized I wasn't good at drawing cars and I was not particularly gifted at calculus or physics).

Still to this day, however, I appreciate unique car designs. I came across the following link that includes pictures of a Daihatsu Basket, which is one of the more simple and basic car designs I have seen in a long time. It reminds me of the types of cars we would make with our Legos.

http://swipelife.com/2009/10/21/daihatsu-basket/

Intercollegiate Quidditch Association

Things have changed a lot since I last was in school. For example, GoogleBooks allows me to take a preview of a textbook to see if I would want to use it without having to search for the book in the library or even leave my desk. Another striking change that I just discovered this weekend is that my university has a quidditch team. What is quidditch? It is a unique game invented by author J.K. Rowling involving broomsticks, hoops, bats, and balls, and she created the fictitious sport for her characters to play in the Harry Potter novels. I suppose the game sounded like so much fun to play, students decided to take it up themselves in real life.

This weekend some college students will be gathering together to celebrate the performance of their football teams on massive scales, such as the Red River Rivalry in Dallas pitting the Texas Longhorns against the Oklahoma Sooners. In sharp contrast, others will gather together on a much smaller scale in a much more humble environment to watch a rousing game of quidditch. I came across a note on my school's calendar events heralding a quidditch match against the University of Richmond that was free and open to the public! Intrigued that this event existed at all, much less in an organized fashion, I did a quick search and came across the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association. You can learn more about the sport here: http://www.collegequidditch.com/.

You can also read about the local VCU and University of Richmond teams in these articles:
http://media.www.commonwealthtimes.com/media/storage/paper634/news/2008/05/01/News/Quidditch.Comes.To.Vcu-3361060.shtml
http://www.thecollegianur.com/2009/10/07/quidditch-team/

Richmond Baseball

Baseball is back!
Wait...aren't we just now starting the playoff season?
Well, yes, but in Richmond, the latest news is that a professional baseball team will be returning to the city after its previous AAA team, the Richmond Braves, vacated town in 2008 to Gwinnett, Georgia. The new team (formerly the Connecticut Defenders) will begin their season in 2010 as the AA-affiliate for the San Francisco Giants. Currently they do not have a team mascot, although the public is welcome to vote on the following six finalists (and I am not making these up!):

• Richmond Flatheads
• Richmond Flying Squirrels
• Richmond Hambones
• Richmond Rhinos
• Richmond Rock Hoppers
• Richmond Hush Puppies

Check out http://www.richmondprobaseball.com/.