New Year


Happy 2005 Boys and Girls!


That's me, greeting my adoring fans from Indiana Dunes State Park, south of Chicago, north of Valparaiso.

I rang in the new year Indiana-style, with my friends Elizabeth:


and Julie:


who both studied in Germany with me junior year, and who I used to go drinking with at the American Legion when I lived in Valparaiso. Both Jules and Libby moved back to Germany after graduation, and are in general big fans of the German people, which is something I still find puzzling.

The party was good times, and brought back a lot of memories of both life in Indiana and life in Germany.
We lit some Schnapps on fire:

(ya can't see the flame on this but it was frickin' cool).

Libby also brought me back some yoghurt-chocolate and LISA magazine.

Helllll yeah, there really exists a cheesy German women's mag with my name on it. The collaging possibilities are endless!

But the picture I really want to share is of my nephew Owen, who is the king, around these parts, of hilarious facial expressions. Here he is giving me the ol' "I don't understand why you insist on speaking to me in baby language":



They left today. Aww... I'ma miss my little guy so much.
My family has been very blessed this past year, and we have a lot to look forward to this upcoming year. I have a lot to look forward to. Trips to Germany, San Diego, Prague, and Vienna. Publishing my first paper. Of course there's a lot more that I can't predict, and a lot of it might be really bad.
So I can't leave y'all without a new year's Bible verse, and I picked this one, because I think it sums the whole thing about grace and hope up pretty well.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:1-8

Posted: Sun - January 2, 2005 at 12:27 AM        

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