Actually Donnie - I meant this...

(Update 6/14/08) This WAS a video of the fabulous Robert Murraine auditioning for so you think you can dance. The stinking punk quit after he made it to Vegas...ridiculous. Youtube apparently pulled down the video.

As promised - a video of Piper. She is very "talkative" these days. More-so than any of our video capabilities could capture. Enjoy.

Where to begin...

So we were invited out for a special dinner by one of my graduating student's families - Daniel Andrews. Daniel was born in Tokyo, Japan and loves all things Japanese so it was only natural for his parents to invite us to eat at Restaurant I - one of Charlotte's hidden gems.
Our food was prepared by this guy:

Chef Masa Kokubu is the talent in the kitchen. He works at the speed of light wielding a set of stainless steel chopsticks as if they were extensions of his nimble fingers. His eye for color, structure and creative presentation on the plate is outdone only by his talent for subtle and superb blending of flavors. Trained in both French and Japanese cuisine, Kokubu comes to Charlotte after 13 years at the Westin Hotel in Toronto. He is our very own IronChef - France.

Thanks to the Andrews Family we feasted on Beef Fondue au Shabu-Shabu - a thinly sliced beef that we cooked ourselves in a broth. It was amazing to say the least. I am really appreciative of this experience - but more appreciative of being able to be a part of Daniel's life.

A big thank you also goes out to Susan Williams who took great care of Piper and Sophia while we were out. We are so thankful to have someone like the William's family in our lives - they truly love our girls as was evidenced by Susan's bearing with a rather eventful evening.

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So I have a video of Piper "talking" to share - but google video is taking some time to process it and I would like to head to bed ASAP...so I will share this stuff instead:

Had we been keeping up with a blog in the past couple of weeks, this occurance would have been posted in "real time", but unfortunately we didn't - so it is going to have to happen all in one big bang: So - Mid-April - a bird built a nest in the wreath on our front door:

So. If anyone is reading this, I hope you were not eating while you were doing so. I promise a much cuter post will follow.

Two peanuts. Which one is which? Melody Hibbard and Tonya Nuzum told us last night at small group that the girls look a lot alike. There are some glaring similarities in these two pictures which prove that the gene pool in the fair/artino hybrid is strong. The thing that is yet to be seen is whether or not Sister Piper is going to have the same red hair that Sister Sophia does (and yes they are nuns, daddy has decided that for them). They could just blow us away and go down divergent look alike paths - who knows - but for now they look the same.

As a side note - we went to get Sophia's picture taken at the Picture People when she was 4 or 5 months old - after that point, it was all down hill. Her last picture sitting was at her one year - and it was the apocolypse. For some reason, whether it is the white background, the cheery photographer, or the glowing attention heaped upon her, Sophia doesn't like the picture place. We mentioned today that we wanted to go there and get her picture taken with Piper - and it was a resounding negatory. Not that we are ones to cave into 2 year old peer pressure - but a bad day is going to be a bad day and if we can avoid it - so be it. We'll take "Avoid the Public Meltdown" for $200 Alex...

Ahh Memorial Day - Some Lloyd's BBQ and Grilled Corn on the Cob are just around the corner.

I'm sure I am breaking some sort of unwritten blogger rules by posting twice in one day, or perhaps it is just the excitement - akin to that proverbial new car smell that is going to wear off. But I don't give a rip, I need to talk about stuff.

At church we are in the midst of a series called "Old Time Religion". The idea behind this series is simple: let's revisit some of the modes and ideas that got us where we are today. The set-up for the stage has been incredible - follow the links to Wade Joye's website if you want to see them. Last week was a great challenge from Pastor Furtick to come together as an Old and New Generation of Church goers for the purpose of the gospel. He referred to Ezra 3 when the new temple was built and the old generation lamented and wailed at the site of the temple because of what it used to be, but the new generation shouted for joy because they had never had anything like it. The problem, however, was that because both sides were so loud it was just noise to those that heard. Indistinguishable noise. The challenge was to come together and to stick to "what has been written" (a recurrent theme in Ezra 3) and to leave or be willing to leave other non-essential items such as how things are run.

Today was a continuation of the topic of sticking to what has been written. Clayton King took us to Acts 6 and spoke about the Place of Priority that Preaching should have in the church. I have several friends in the ministry whose congregations would do well to hear what Clayton had to say. But this passage lays out the idea that the Preaching of the Word should be the primary task of the Pastor (or elder) - and that other church tasks, while being important, can fall to someone else in the Church - in this case it was caring for widows (which Clayton did so well in laying out the context of this situation.

Clayton went on to point out the 3 Priorities of a Pastor
1. Get alone with God
2. Get a Word from God
3. Speak to the people of God on the behalf of God

When laid out like this - Ruth Graham's words to Billy become really apt: "When God has called you to be a preacher - you shouldn't stoop to be a King or a President". Thanks Clayton for really laying out and setting up for our church the way to view our pastor. Thanks for being honest in elevating (no pun intended) the pulpit and causing us to take a realistic look at what goes on during the rest of the week.

This is the obligatory first blog about blogging. Emily and I were in Sam's Club (which by the way is our theme park - they decorate for all seasons, have fun foods, and we have a season pass) and we started we talking about the funny things that Sophia, our two year old, is doing. Now I know that all two year olds are funny - but we really feel that Soph takes the cake.

The topic of this particular discussion was her referring to every bump and bruise that comes about on her body as a "Spider Bite". I asked her how she got a scratch on her neck while at Sam's and she at first said it was Piper, but quickly she told me that it was indeed another Spider Bite. Where she heard the term spider bite, I don't know - but it has stuck to the nth degree.

So Emily said that we need to be keeping track of all of these things - I suggested a blog. Emily said she feels really arrogant having a blog - like wondering why anyone would ever want to read it. I concur - we don't expect anyone to ever read our blog. The reason we are doing this thing is to keep track of all the little spider bites that Sophia and our life are throwing our way..