Kontakion

Its been quite a while now since I have last posted. Since then I have been in Turkey for 2 weeks, Lebannon for 1 week, and have begun classes. The trip was excellent and served to put a face not only on some of the biblical and classical scenary that I have so often read, but also put a face upon the people I hear so often in the news. For me there were two important sights that I saw. The first was at the archeological dig of Ephesus. I got to stand in the place where the apostle Paul stood and was put on trial. I have never been a huge fan of Paul, but seeing that place sparked a new life within me regarding the biblical text. The other important sight was seeing, and actually touching the Mediterranean Sea. I have never been an ocean person but to actually touch the sea that so influenced the lives of numerous writers and the course of western civilization. In other news Olivia has begun to take steps in between Katie and I, so with the increased mobility we have begun the fateful ...

I am obvious not as good a blogger as other people, in stead of taking time to blog about the holidays, I went and enjoyed them with my wife and daughter. It's late on Tuesday the 27th and I'm am taking time to finally catch all of you up on what I've been doing, getting, and thinking about during this holiday season. We've just spent three very hecktic days traveling around the country side visiting family and friends. Olivia was completely worn out by the time we arrived home at midnight last night, so we had to put off opening the presents we got for each other until the morning. I feel like I made out like a bandit. I recived so many wonderful and thoughtful gifts that I almost choked up several times in the process of opening them. The list runs from a dvd of U2's Virtigo tour, hard back copies of "Walden," and "Time Machine," a cast iron Duch Oven, saucier, new kitchen knife, and yes my most prized gift from my wife and daughter, a cas...

Well here in Pa. on the 8th it snowed. Not a huge amount only about 4-5 inches but the big deal with this snow is that it is the first major snow that we have had as a family. Katie dressed Olivia up as a little pink snow monster then we went out and just jumped into the snow. I of course have no problem just getting down into the snow, Katie on the other hand prefered kneeling, poor Olivia could bearly move if she wanted to. Friday the 9th was the best. Katie normally works at the school that day so since school was cancelled we spent time relaxing. Katie played Christmas songs on the piano while Olivia played in her walker and I did the dishes. Suprisingly over all it was very relaxing. Here some pics from that day it will be a memory I will always treasure. This pic is of our third day eating cereal. Katie caught it, I was in class, she said everytime Olivia ate a bite she would look up and smile ...

Well we finally did it we dectorated our home for christmas. What started it off was the snow we found on the ground this morning. This was my daughters first real snow so what you see here is my wife and her playing happily in it. We're actually supposed to get more snow on tuesday so I'll have even more pictures come on that score. The next picture is Olivia hanging her first ornament on our tree. It was really exciting to realize that now we will have 3 people's ornaments going on the tree every year. The final picture is of Katie, Olivia's and my first year christmas ornaments. Katies is the 1980 one Olivia's is second and mine is last. Mine of course looks the worst having survived several tree related disastors over the years at my parents home. Well more pics will come as I get them for now enjoy this holiday time while you have it :)

Recently because of hours being cut at Lenscrafters (which is where I work) I've had to find another job. The job that I landed was actually on Lancaster campus painting hallway's in the apartment buildings. I have never been one to look down my nose at what may seem a menial task so as alwasy I began looking for the positive in spending 12-14 hours a week painting. What I decided to do is use the time while painting to listen to music (on my wonderful ipod that my wife got me for my first fathers day) and take the time to think and reflect. Now I do think of serious and important things while painting but today I found myself wondering if my life was made into a film what would be the various songs that are played. The reason I thought of this is because I was listening to the Beatles, one of my most favorite groups, and I just began to wonder what would my sound track be and of course with that what would be my theme song. This I feel has also developed out of working over my...

Its actually been quite sometime since I finished a personal reading book. Unfortunatly about a month and a half ago I started reading Siddhartha by Herman Hesse in my own personal attempt to broaden my understanding of other religions. While my undergraduate program was excellent for studying christianity (even if it was one sided) looking at other religions for the sake of understanding not conversion wasn't somthing that was valued. I read this particular book and found it extreamly thought provoking. I am still mulling over some of the ideas that were brought forth as well as some of the scenes particularly those that are involved with the river, but for now here are some of the quotes I liked the best. "Writing is good, thinking is better. Cleverness is good, patience is better." "Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it."

Well I've done something tonight that I never thought I would do...I moved some of my books into storage. I couldn't sleep tonight because I was thinking about my family and my future, and as I sat in my office I looked at my crowded bookshelves and saw there were exceptional amount of books that I don't use now or that have no meaning to me. So I bit the bullet and started packing quietly, which is not an easy thing to do at midnight with a baby sleeping near by, not to mention my wife. As I was cleaning my bookshelves I decided I would either only keep books that ment something to me, look good, something I could use, or something I enjoyed reading. It was quite interesting what took shape. The majority of my books were from my undergraduate and I had been leaving them there as a reminder of who I was and where I had come from. The majority of those books were packed away in fact the only books left to remind me of my past are some "Christian Theology" books tha...