Coollege Retreat

That's right. This past weekend Cory and I ventured up to the Crestline area for some good old fashioned college winter retreat.

We stayed in a really cool cabin that a family in the church (the Pate's) let us use! Who knew John Pate was friends with Jay Leno?

We had to move some things around to get the large TV in the living room for some serious Wii action! Jay thought that the counter in the kitchen would be a good spot for the smaller TV. It wasn't.

Had some good talks with the man, the myth, the legend Ken Flower while we were up there.

It wouldn't have been possible without Scott Burns organizing the posse and getting us up there. And for shoveling the snow to make room for a parking spot.

Driving up the mountain it was apparent just how much smog we breathe in every day. But up in the mountains-blue skies!

We only had one parking spot right at the cabin so Ken and Beth's jeep was the shuttle so that we could get around and go to the village. Nice to have a Jeep in the mountains.

Our speaker was Steve Balentine, head pastor of San Gabriel Union Church. He refreshed us with the gospel and was really gracious to spend the time with us and bring his family.

They enjoyed the Wii as well. Jonathan came pretty close to beating me at Wii baseball but I don't think he counted on the fact that I had been taking Wii 'roids. Oh, I have to go, Congress is calling...

We had some time to take some photos of Grace before the camp ended.

College camp was a great time to be refreshed and I actually felt refreshed rather than tired after coming back from the camp! Thanks Burns and Vinoj and the Balentines for putting it all together! And Staci for cooking some mean grub!

B & C

Some of the fam

While in San Antonio this weekend, we went downtown and walked around were able to get some fun shots.

Tyler and the Ladies.

Tyler wasn't so sure about me getting the individual portrait of him. He gave me the number of his agent.

Here is one of Bobby, Christa and Tyler. Vertical.

Here is the horizontal shot in the same location. Which do you guys like better?

Tyler. What a little dude.

San Antonio

Currently, Cory and I are deep in the heart of Texas. That's right. Texas. A few months ago Kelly Langenberg (see some of their family pictures here) called and asked if we would be willing to fly to San Antonio for free to surprise my parents at my dad's re-installation service. My parents have recently moved back to San Antonio to return as Pastor and Pastor's wife of Believer's Fellowship Church in San Antonio. Of course, we were happy to oblige!

The Church has been airing some radio ads about the event. Nothing like the line out the door on a Friday night at church! It was really cool to see and feel the sense of excitement that the people had!

This site- the site of some of my triumphs and defeats from my senior of highschool basketball was quite spruced up for the event. I can remember from my senior year how we called it the "icebox" because it had no heat and was only a concrete slab with four walls and a roof (talk about homecourt advantage). It was awesome to see it revamped for this event so that it could fit the nearly 700 people who came!

It has been really cool to get to have my brothers here as well (whom I don't get to see as often as I would like). It is also awesome to see the "little dude"-my nephew Tyler. He is hilarious. I just heard him say my name from the other room. That's pretty cool.

Possibly the coolest thing about the trip is how the church and us were able to keep our coming a TOTAL surprise from my parents. They had no idea! 2 Tickets to San Antonio- Free. Seeing that look on your mom's face-priceless.

Here is Cory, my mom and the instigator of us coming out there- Kelly Langenberg.

Dad (the insallee) gave the intro for Dr. MacArthur. It was really cool to hear just how God had used him in my Dad's life.

Then Dr. MacArthur spoke and he talked about how as Christians we are to be literally slaves of Christ. While that sounds really intense, it is true and it was awesome to think about how I am ok with that because of how great a Master I serve! He works everything together for my good (not necessarily my comfort), promises total satisfaction and desires for me to see the fullness of how great He is! I was stoked about the message even though we had spent almost the entire day flying!

This banner, now hanging up in the gym, originally was strung from two poles set in cement-filled tires on the slab of what is now the "Family Life Center." I can remember it being up for quite a while on the slab and it was a great reminder how everything we do is for the Lord. This weekend has been a great reminder for me how joyous it is to do everything for God's glory with fellow believers!!!

It's a small world after all...

And no, I am not talking about the ride at Disneyland. I share my grandfather's disaffinity for any ride where you hear the same song on repeat for three minutes. And that's not even to mention the times that it breaks down.

However, I do enjoy the fact that I am constantly reminded that it is a small world. A few weeks ago I was in Santa Clarita home of my alma mater The Master's College, helping my friend Shay photographing a wedding. It was sweet! (I'll blog more on that later). Beforehand, however I got to hang hout with my good friend and the man who photographed my wedding, Matt Floreen. He is a stud photographer who is soon to be married himself and I am so thankful for him and for how much I have learned from him both in life and photography. We had coffee at Starbucks on Lyons Avenue and talked about photography and his upcoming wedding. It was a sweet time. He asked me to prepare a wedding reception mix which I am pretty excited about. He also invited me along on a family photoshoot that he was doing that morning.

We got to a park nearby and the family pulled up and I was hit with the "smallness" of the world. It was the Beck Family. Nikki and her daughter Taylor (which used to be pronounced Taaaaay-laaaawww) had gone to our church in San Antonio and then had moved to California and met and married Roger! It was great to see them again and we had a really fun time doing their photo shoot! I decided to post a few of the kids but check out Matt's Blog to see some of the rest!

We decided to do a goofy face picture.