I love the expression that Joel had the entire time he was wearing that scarf on his head. He thought it was hilarious.
We had some friends over for some grilled food today. It was a good time.
We are thinking of heading out to the Levis Commons Art Festival when Joel wakes up.
Don't forget that the Black Swamp Arts Festival is coming up on Sept 8th.
Big acts for this year:
NOMO, Reverend Horton Heat, Richie Havens, The Fixx, and The English Beat. There are others who may be good too.
We will probably be down there Friday afternoon and Saturday night.

I went down to BG yesterday with Joel. We visited Gerry & Saranga. It was very refreshing.

Mars Hill in a bunny suit

What is cuter than getting a baby a bear larger than he is? How about a polar bear...wearing a bunny suit? I guess I don't understand the world sometimes.

We went to Mars Hill Bible Church this weekend with the Buckenmeyers (across the street). First, we went to Ikea, which was kind of neat to look at, but we did not get anything. Joel was incredibly happy there. After this, we stayed (midway) at the Wengers. It was good excuse to see them again. It was a fun (though short) visit.

The next morning, we went to Mars Hill. It is the church that we (and our neighbors, the Buckenmeyers...though they did this completely independently of us) have been "distant members" of through listening to the teachings every week for the past 2 or so years. It is a non-traditional, super-helpful, very challenging church that cuts through the junk and focuses on new and effective ways to fulfill the purposes of the church and teach people. It was good to see the people, the feel, the physical setup, and to hear the music. Speaking of which, the music was sweet. We went on "funk Sunday" though they have also had country, rock, and various other styles represented on other weeks.

The layout: They used the space VERY creatively....MH is an old mall. Think something like a small Southwyck. Anyway, the main area is a large square room. Everyone faces center, where there is a boxing ring-looking "stage." All the activity goes on in 360 degrees. All musicians face center. Everyone is talked to equally. There is no stage front or back. It worked really well. I took this before the service started.

Anyway, it was really neat to finally put a social and physical context on all of those teachings we have been listening to. The message was good, the people were nice, and it was nice to see that churches can absolutely work without anything "standardly churchy" about them. There was no bulletin, offering, stuff to sit mindlessly through, or time-wasters. Agenda: Music, 3 minutes of community announcements, teaching, leave/hang around to talk. Though we won't go back for a while) it is a hefty drive, it was great to see.

I am thinking of going to Haiti with the next medical crew from Grace/the NW Ohio area. It is a decent chunk of money, and I also want the dissertation done by then. Argh. So much to think about....

I know it is blurry, but it is for color, not clarity. Dave B (Jen's husband) and I actually went to a GWAR show last night. My clothes were completely white before I went. Wow! It was really stupid. What a fantastic art show they put on. It was interesting, to say the least. BTW, once long shower got all that stuff off me. They REALLY know how to do fake blood well.

This time of year is certainly busy. I think we have stuff going on every day for the next 4 or 5 weekends. The dissertation is still going too (lots of changes, but it looks good). Work is decent. I feel suddenly able to communicate with the client. That is a good feeling.

We went to a Haiti fundraiser at Grace last week and I feel like I should go there on the trip next spring. What a beautiful and tragic story Haiti is. I started listening to an audio-only Creole course.

Joel is great. He is getting even more curious and is crawling and walking (help with the walking). He likes going up the stairs (with a spotter) too. Joel started sleeping for 5 hours at a time! He will get up once a night...well, at least he did once or twice. I guess 3 or 4 is about par now.

Joel crawls all over the place now. He can even make it up the staircase (the big one, in addition to this "practice step").

I have been working on the dissertation a lot (there is a lot of difficult wording to change still). Anne made delicious tofu (before this, we were not sure tofu could be this good).

There was another door-to-door salesman, this time he was from "Go-Doers" of Washington D.C. (which I learned is a for-profit company). He made me feel awful to live where I do. "Alan" had obviously sold his soul to do whatever he could to make high-pressure magazine sales. He gave a stereotypical inner-city sob story (single father with three kids). He came into our neighborhood, asked what the "secret to our success" is (to try to flatter us into thinking that we have earned this life). Then he gave his story and told us how this company has him earn "points" for magazine sales (best I can tell, he needs to sell several hundred overpriced subscriptions). In the "sales pressure" moment, he made jokes and comments that made me embarrassed to be a human. He obviously had a sales strategy of stereotyping everyone in the neighborhood as a class-insensitive jerk. He said that this program lets him get off welfare and "you don't like paying taxes to support welfare, right?." That was awkward to hear a poor person (who also claimed to be on welfare) say. It was not the place for a political discussion, but I now wish I would have called him on that and let him know that there IS compassion in this neighborhood. He then made a Clinton joke...to show us what, that he is a Republican? What kind of fool would he have to be? I am offended that his experience shows him that such simple-minded tactics will work in my neighborhood. Do my neighbors really believe that junk? Do they really mentally justify having a middle-class lifestyle when there is poverty in the US by thinking of a protoytypical poor black man "pulling himself up by his bootstraps" and thus feeling as if they NEED to support this embodiment of everything that Rush Limbaugh said could happen in America?
I would hope that there is compassion and intelligence enough to say that "I got here because I was born into a good position, you are where you are because you were not born into a good position." I certainly felt dirty after he left. I don't know how I can feel less dirty. Maybe I SHOULD feel dirty. Afterall, what am I doing to strike at real poverty--I live in a suburban dream house. Maybe I will just turn a blind eye, create justifications that make little sense in reality and start handing out money to the only black people who may ever be in my neighborhood so I can justify the idea that the American dream is equally available to all people.

Joel is crawling fast, able to climb stairs, and stand up on his own. This was a lot for a week. Relatedly, he has been eating a lot.

I cannot remember all that I wanted to post, but I will give it a shot. Last weekend was a good time of having Randy and Casey over so we could play with Randy's 1998 Mustang. We replaced all 4 struts, 4 springs (3 were broken!), the oil, and the front pads and rotors. It went reasonably well, except we had to also replace a bad tie rod end and that experience took several hours of wrenching and head-scratching. We made a minor adjustment a few days later, and now all Randy has to do is worry about his camber, and the car should be fantastic for a long while.

That Sunday we went to Okemos, MI so we could be with Pastor Jim on his induction into Faith Lutheran. We also saw his sweet house and generally sat around and chatted. It was a good time, but I was super tired that whole day.

Anne's parents had been with us since Wednesday and they just left a few hours ago (Sat afternoon). It was a good time seeing them play with Joel. Anne and I actually went on a date! That was quite refreshing. We also all got together on the front room project. It is painted and re-situated. My parents gave us their old couches, which are very comfortable. It is like getting an addition on the house because that big room was a wasted space until now.

I took thursday afternoon and friday before noon off work so Nate Miller and I could go to the Flaming Lips, Death Cab for Cutie, Sonic Youth show at the Blossom Music Center near Cleveland. It had been forever since I have been anywhere other than Detroit. It was a beautiful and interesting venue, and the bands were decent (though perhaps a little too "programmed" feeling for my tastes). Flaming Lips had a good show--they have stage antics that made the show pretty cool. It was a very needed break, and I liked it a lot.

Today has been getting the front room in some order, grilling a little, seeing Anne's parents off, and lawn maintenance. I need to leave now to hit the Jr Grand Prix in downtown Toledo. Maritz should be hitting the championship race in a little bit.