The final push...

There isn't much time left in the Twins season. With the football season kicking in Meg and I thought we should take a final opportunity (only our second time of the year) to catch our favorite baseball team live in action.

Keep an eye open for us if you watch the game tonight...we'll be cheering loudly for our favorite team that is just barely hanging in there for the division. We are excited for the game, this will be Addison's second game and she's MUCH older this time so hopefully she'll enjoy it! Its going to be late night though...

Quick update

Man...its been tough to get out here to update lately. I was just in California for work...my first trip there in months. Though I don't mind traveling for work, its certainly less enjoyable when you have a baby back home that you miss! This weekend is Addison's dedication at church. My family is in town starting tonight so they can be there for it. Coincidentally, Patrick and Susan are here from the UK too so almost everyone on both sides will be here for it, how fun! Tonight we are going to Buca di Beppo or as my dad calls it, "The Italian place where you can walk through the kitchen". Tomorrow night Meg and I have to make a steak dinner for the family which was part of an arrangement we made after entering a baseball pool with the family. My dad paid our admission fees with the stipulation that if we won, we have to do dinner for the family. Well we won ($500+) so now its time to make good on the arrangement. We have some really tasty looking Filet Mignons in the fridge from Costco...can't wait for tomorrow night! Good thing I got a new BIGGER grill!

Issuing a Challenge...

to myself (Trevor). At Eagle Brook last night it was Bob's first weekend back after taking some time off to get refreshed, work on his book, and come up with some new ideas/material. For those of you that have not attended EBC in the past, Bob is a tremendously gifted speaker, and once you leave the church you realize just how inspiring his speaking and topics is. They are wrapping up the John's Best Friend series that has been going on all summer. We've missed a lot of it due to being out of town or just being busy...something I am sad about. How is it that summers get SO busy anyway.

This weekends sermon was about the Holy Spirit and how vital it is to our faith and how we can get it to move more in our own lives. I came to realize sitting there that I don't allow time for God to speak to me. I have filled my life with activity and noise and it drowned the voice of God out. Having an infant in your life makes you change your priorities but sadly I think in changing mine I've cut out a few areas that I shouldn't have and allowed other areas to stay that aren't needed. I rarely found the time to get into God's word in 2009 (it was good at times and embarrassingly poor at others). Its sad to admit that, but its the honest truth. I love God, I know he's working in my life but I don't give him the kind of time needed to have a real relationship with him.

I am going to challenge myself to get back in the word again though...no more excuses. I am sick of being ill-equipped to handle Satan's attacks. I've found a change in my attitude and clearly a change in my priorities and I am working to change that starting today. It probably means sacrificing some sleep in the mornings but change requires some sacrifice. I am taking a few days away from facebook as well to help me figure out my priorities better. Honestly I just need to use my time better and put the big rocks in the jar before the little pebbles. My big rocks are my faith/relationship with God, my wife, my daughter, my extended family and friendships, and my job. I wanted to put this out there so that its not just in my head...if others know about it I am more prone to follow through! Thanks for listening!!

Oh and for those that like pictures...here is the cutest one of Addison to date. At the park on the swing:

Back on our own...

Well the craziness has started to settle down. In the past 3 months we've had a HUGE rollercoaster of craziness that has kept us SO busy we didn't know what free time was. In that time we:
- Lost our renters in IL (spent thousands redoing inside due to their damage)
- Bought a new house in MN
- Found new renters in IL (signed the up to a 2 year contract...thank you Jesus)
- Moved into new MN house
- Spent weeks getting new house livable (it was a foreclosure)
- Work/vacation trip to Paris and London
- Lost renters in Rochester (We'll miss you Bristol's)
- Found new renters in Rochester (1 year contract, hopefully there for 2)
- Plus tried to maintain somewhat of a social life

Now with all that behind us we finally feel like we can take a breath and enjoy life again. We have a weekend camping trip (in a cabin...not trying camping with a 9 month old) at the end of the month that should provide some much needed relaxation time. While we just had a long vacation in Paris and London, we spent so much time sightseeing that we didn't get to really relax much. We are really looking forward to meeting Addison's newest cousin who should be born in the next month (to Krista and Bill, my sister and brother in law). And then after that its the start of the football season which should bring a lot of excitement for us like it always does. The rest of the summer and fall promise to be lots of fun and relaxation. We are so thankful to be where we are and even though its been a crazy summer, our God has taken great care of us and we know he'll continue it.

London Blitz

This is a blog Meghan wrote for Patrick and Susan's blog, but it really summed up the second half of our trip nicely so I am going to put it on our site as well. I added additional details about our day trip to Brighton:

Seeing London in five days means that you see many sites in a little amount of time. Our family planned a ten-day European getaway, first to Paris for five days and then to London for another five days. We left Paris and arrived in London on Thursday night via the Eurostar train. Patrick was kind enough to meet us at the train station to help us navigate our way to their place and to help haul our two big suitcases, two backpacks, a small duffel bag, a stroller, and a car seat. Addison was excited to finally get to meet her Uncle Patrick and Auntie Susan.

On Friday, our first blitz of London included the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben/House of Parliament. We made it home in time for dinner—our first experience with Indian food. We could not come to London where the best, most authentic Indian food is made (besides India) without trying it for the first time. It was some good stuff.

Saturday we decided to take the bus to Harrod’s where I was wowed by the monstrosity of a single store. We then took a stroll in Hyde Park and stopped at Blockbuster on our way home to get some movies for the evenings.

On Sunday we took a day trip to Brighton where we had a picnic on the beach and spent a few hours on the pier where we indulged in guiltless pleasures. (Written by Trevor) A couple very interesting things about Brighton: 1) The entire beach was made of stones, not a morsel of sand to be seen, 2) Brighton has a great pier kind of like Santa Monica, and 3) I can ride a bull for 35 seconds! We had a blast though. The coolest part we found was that one of the arcades had lots of 2 and 10 pence games...and they were the kinds of games where you could actually win money back. In the US those games would give out tickets for some lame prizes but out in England, they actually let you have the coins. It really makes the money last a lot longer which was a lot of fun!! To read more about our time in Brighton, you can see Patrick and Susan's blog where they did an entire blog about our day in Brighton. (End Trevor)

On Monday, Trevor, Addison, and I blitzed through Buckingham Palace, took a stroll by St. James’s Park, visited the Horse Guards, journeyed into Trafalgar Square, saw the National Gallery, walked through Leister Square, headed on up to the Piccadilly Circus, and from there also went into the British Museum until finally ending our day there and catching the tube back to Patrick and Susan’s flat for some dinner and a movie.

On our last full day, Patrick lead us through our final blitz of London. We visited the Somerset House, St. Clement Danes (the Royal Air Force church), and walked up Fleet Street to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese where Susan met us for some lunch where I had my first meal of fish and chips. After lunch Patrick brought us by St. Paul’s Cathedral where we then continued on our way across the Millennium Bridge to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. We finished up our day by taking the tube to the Imperial War Museum.

We spent Wednesday morning packing and had to leave the flat at 11:30 for our long flight home. I think in order to fully take in London (at least all the major attractions), you need at the very least a week there. We loved every day we were able to spend there. We saw a good majority of the major attractions, though we went for quantity, not quality.