Christmas Vacation Part 2

Wasn't there a McDonald's ad campaign a while back with the tagline "Food, Folks and Fun"? That probably sums up our Christmas trip. I talked a lot about going to some good restaurants in the last post, so I won't go on in too much more detail about the food part. Later in our trip we checked off a few more things on our "to-eat" list, including Whataburger and Greek food. And then there were plenty of homemade dishes that we scarfed up, like the Quans' jook and curry (not together); Poh-Poh's rainbow jello; Aunt Jean's "doong," cha siu baos and noodles (see below); and much more. WiiFit asked me why I gained 3 pounds and I said it was from eating too much.

One tasty treat

About the folks - as also mentioned earlier, we spent some great times catching up with family and friends. Cheesy as it sounds, I really was moved to tears on our last night as I thought about how many terrific people God has brought into our lives. And there were several more that we unfortunately didn't get to see at the time, but hopefully soon!

A semi Nurture Cell reunion

And the fun - this can be summed up in two words: Rock Band. We spent many hours playing at my parents' house and at our friend Brandon's house. I must say we have some very entertaining friends...but really, when it comes to Rock Band, almost anybody is entertaining.

This may have been Livin' on a Prayer...?

Ben brushes up on his drumming, sort of.

Christmas Vacation Part 1

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all! We are spending Christmas in Texas this year and have already gotten to spend some fun times with family and friends.

We've had a few people ask us lately why we haven't updated our blog in a while - so here you go. And thank you to those who do read it! :)

We are glad to be back and it was certainly worth the slight trouble we endured in getting here. A big snowstorm was predicted for - and happened on - the day we were to fly down. We were prepared for some delays and just wanted to get there safely. We drove to the airport in the snow, arrived at 4 pm, and spent the next eight hours waiting as our departure time got pushed later and later. First the delays were merely caused by the weather and the inability of flights to get to where they needed to be. We thought we might finally get out around 8 or 9 pm, only to find out that our plane had been diverted to Maine and would not get back to us for another 45 minutes to an hour. When our plane finally arrived, we learned that we still could not leave because one of our flight crew had to be replaced, as one of the current flight attendants had gone over her legally allowed duration of work time (due to the weather delays). Our replacement flight attendant was on another flight - which subsequently got diverted to Maine as well. We finally got another flight attendant whose flight came in earlier than the Maine one, and left at last around midnight. By that time, Ben and I were quite tired and had already watched Hancock and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 on our computer (yes, Ben has seen both Sisterhood movies - thanks, Ben).

So I wanted very badly to go to sleep on the flight - except that the plane was filled with several college students who were extremely excited to go home for the holidays, and were thus extremely chatty, along with a little boy (~ 2 years old) who screamed, "I want my pretzels!" about 25 times in a row and then intermittently throughout the flight. For some reason, when we finally landed, this same little boy had to be taken off the plane by paramedics, even though he looked fine and I thought he was just cranky during the flight. I don't know what was wrong. At any rate we finally got in at 4 am.

On our first full day we enjoyed some breakfast at IHOP, shopping at Target and a tasty family dinner at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants. A big, 9-course Chinese dinner is a rare treat for us since we don't have many people close by to share this with.

On Day 2, we went to our former church and reconnected with many more familiar faces. Unfortunately a lady fainted during the service and had to be taken away by paramedics (are we a curse?!). She was conscious when she left, so hopefully she's OK. You can pray for her. Later in the day we had lunch with friends, did a little caroling at the assisted living facility where my grandfather stays (and visited him), and ate another tasty meal with my parents, this time Tex-Mex.

Day 3 brought more shopping (the third Target in three days!), and a fun, yet very cold, family photo shoot. Thanks, Sharon, for doing a great job with that! We enjoyed some happy hour (i.e., inexpensive) sushi with friends followed by Scrabble and Rock Band.

More to come, hopefully including some photos!

Halloween in Salem

Well, we didn't actually spend Halloween in Salem (too crowded for our liking), but we were there the night before Halloween to see some of the festivities. Unfortunately the carnival that we wanted to go to was closed, but there were still some booths running with food, clothes and other novelties for sale, and things like "spiritual readings." There were also several haunted houses, but we weren't really into that. Lots of people were already in their costumes. Somehow it takes away from the scariness of your beastly, demonic mask when your friend has to tell you when to watch your step.

The more interesting things were 1) the guy with a sign that said "Jesus Saves," 2) the guy with a sign that said "Ask Me Why You Deserve Hell," and 3) the guy who unsuccessfully tried to scare me from behind. He came up behind me and screamed something, and I didn't react because I thought it was Ben (who had done that twice already that night). Anyway, I turned around, wearing my burnt orange Longhorn beanie, and he said, "Oh, that didn't scare her. She's from Texas." I felt proud.

Tired of Political Spin

Is anyone else tired of the caricaturizing, endless spin, half-truths and demonizing of the other side on BOTH sides of this year's presidential election?  I am.  This week's Time Magazine has agreat little chart, analyzing the truthfulness of the ads of both candidates.  Their conclusion: 

"Both candidates say they want to run a clean campaign.  In reality, they are tossing mud in every direction."  

Scot McKnight, a thoughtful theologian and cultural critic, posted a couple of very good analyses of both McCain and Obama -- some good things and bad things about both.  I highly recommend them.  McKnight's conclusion: 

"So, as I said about McCain. If Obama wins, there’ll be some things to like and some things to be concerned about. I think we’ll be able to work for the gospel under either President, and that is what matters most to me."    

"Neither Party Gets it Quite Right" -- Wall St. Journal

Some great insights from Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal:

Democrats in the end speak most of, and seem to hold the most sympathy for, the beset-upon single mother without medical coverage for her children, and the soldier back from the war who needs more help with post-traumatic stress disorder. They express the most sympathy for the needy, the yearning, the marginalized and unwell. For those, in short, who need more help from the government, meaning from the government's treasury, meaning the money got from taxpayers.

Who happen, also, to be a generally beset-upon group.

Democrats show little expressed sympathy for those who work to make the money the government taxes to help the beset-upon mother and the soldier and the kids. They express little sympathy for the middle-aged woman who owns a small dry cleaner and employs six people and is, actually, day to day, stressed and depressed from the burden of state, local and federal taxes, and regulations, and lawsuits, and meetings with the accountant, and complaints as to insufficient or incorrect efforts to meet guidelines regarding various employee/employer rules and regulations. At Republican conventions they express sympathy for this woman, as they do for those who are entrepreneurial, who start businesses and create jobs and build things. Republicans have, that is, sympathy for taxpayers. But they don't dwell all that much, or show much expressed sympathy for, the sick mother with the uninsured kids, and the soldier with the shot nerves.

Neither party ever gets it quite right, the balance between the taxed and the needy, the suffering of one sort and the suffering of another. You might say that in this both parties are equally cold and equally warm, only to two different classes of citizens.

Rick Warren on "Evangelical Politics"

I disagree with Rick Warren on some issues, but I just read a piece that the Wall Street Journal did on Warren's view of politics, and I think he said some pretty insightful things. He neither identifies with the Religious Right nor the "new" Evangelicals who seem to be pretty staunchly supportive of the Democratic party. While many accuse conservatives of "legislating" private morality -- things like gay marriage and abortion -- are the liberals really that different when they claim that the solution to poverty and other more corporate social ills are bigger government programs? Sounds like "legislating morality" to me, as well -- just a different set of moral beliefs (by the way, I think both sexual ethics and concern for the poor are biblical). Is it any wonder that both conservatives and liberals become very self-righteous when it comes to their "beliefs"? Perhaps the primary solution to both private and corporate moral problems is not legislation at all. Warren asserts that politics, in many ways, operates "downstream to culture." I agree.

Discerning your Idols

One of the things that has really transformed the way I look at life is a really honest realization of the things that enslave me -- my idols. And I think there are three "levels" of idolatry, and I think the deeper the level of idolatry you acknowledge, the more change in your life you see.

1. Shallow level: "External sins are idols." Getting drunk, lust, crude language, forgetting to read the bible and praying. Most of us know that these things are wrong and harmful, and sometimes we do them, and wish we didn't.

2. Deeper level: "Behind external sins are deeper idols." We realize that we can't break the pattern of laziness in our lives, or our pattern of anxiety, our our patterns of people-pleasing. And then we realize that behind our laziness, is a deep fear of failure -- we run away from hard challenges, because we hate feeling incompetent. Behind our anxiety is a deep fear of not being able to control our circumstances. Behind the people-pleasing is our deep desire to be loved and accepted. All our idols are an attempt to find some kind of self-worth.

3. Deepest level: "Even my goodness is an idol." Perhaps the hardest to acknowledge and the most important idol, is realizing that even our efforts at purging our idols, when we focus on our efforts to be good, are actually still turning away from God as our savior. We want to be our own saviors, by forcing God to bless us by our good behaviors. When our goodness is our idol, we become self-righteous, proud people.

In the end, all of life is seeing our idols, and turning from them to God. Because all of our idols are worthless -- approval from people and even our self-effort may temporarily give us comfort, but the end leave us empty and wanting more, like a cheap drug -- or like a wooden idol.

...the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, 'Deliver me, for you are my god!'...Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you, you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. (Isa. 44:17, 21)