Four Months Old!

Our precious little boy is four months old today! It's hard to remember what life was like before he entered our world. He grows more fun to be around every day, and we sure are enjoying life with this gift from God!

Brennan's Likes:

Sitting in his bouncer
Playing with the fish on his activity gym
Mornings
Smiling
People
Being kissed
Watching TV (yikes!)
Elmo

Brennan's Dislikes:

Being awake and alone (when we don't get him quickly enough after naptime)
Being in his car seat for extended periods of time

Formal Family Fotos

Yes, I know. "Photos" is spelled with a "Ph". But who can pass up the FFF triple combo?

Here's what a (semi-) professional can do...

Brennan Does Minnesota

Brennan enjoyed a visit to Minnesota last week, during which he got to meet lots of relatives and attend his first baseball game. In other words, he had lots of new faces around him and new people holding him, had his picture taken 387 times (evidence is below) and had his nap disturbed several times by annoying people who kept yelling every time someone hit a ball with a piece of wood. He also spent long stretches of time strapped into his car seat as we carted him from Richmond to Washington to Minneapolis to Rochester, back to Minneapolis, back to Rochester, to Preston, to Rochester, to Minneapolis, to Washington and back to Richmond (with a sizable delay thanks to a dead car battery). That's a lot of miles! He was pretty cranky on Thursday, his first full day back home. He's better now thankfully, and we won't be taking him on any big trips again for a while we hope.

So, here we go... here are some pics.

Family photo (with rogue sofa cushion in background)

Brennan with 3 of his 4 living great-grandparents

Brennan with his Mom, Grandmother and Great-Grandmother

Brennan with his Dad, Grandfather and Great-Grandfather

Naomi with her parents, brother and niece.

Cousins -- Brennan and Grace

Brennan with his "Auntie" Sara

Dad and Brennan at his first baseball game! Dad consented to allow Brennan to wear Twins gear since it was a Twins game. Red Sox indoctrination will commence shortly.

Brennan "enjoying" his first baseball game.

The Twins fans posing together.

Brennan's first driving lesson.

Brennan with his Justin Morneau bear, which he loves. Brennan says that Morneau is his favorite player.

And now, some bonus pictures...

Brennan rockin' his cowboy outfit, thanks to Miss Crystal! Yeehaw!

Back in Richmond (w/ bonus Brennan pics!)

After 9 years away, I'm living in Richmond again. And it feels a bit odd. I don't know how exactly I fit in. Who are my people? What circles will Naomi and I run in? How will I pursue relationships?

When I moved away in the summer 0f 1999 I was just a year out of college. Now I have my 10 year reunion to look forward to in about two weeks. Many of my college friends were still around and I was heavily involved in the high school group at Third, my church here. My college friends have dispersed for the most part, though many still live in Virginia. The ones still in Richmond have families, jobs and other friends. Will I be able to reignite those relationships?

The bulk of the people I know in Richmond are people who've supported me and followed me through my years of ministry in Austria and Orlando. Most of them I got to know at Third, but they've scattered over the years and attend a variety of churches. Very few of them are peers, in the sense that they are close in age and have spouses and small children.

Over the last 9 years my visits to Richmond have been quick trips filled with appointments -- trying to catch up with as many people as possible in a short amount of time. How do I approach those relationships now that I'm here to stay? If I'm not conscientious about this I could wind up seeing some of these folks less now than when I lived in another state or country. There was an intentionality in my visits. Can I maintain that intentionality while living here -- balancing a job, a family and the challenge of having the people I care about not linked by anything other than that they know me!?!?

This has been on my mind a lot lately, even as Naomi and I have been concentrating on settling in, looking for long-term housing and learning (or re-learning) our way around town. We are eager to find some normalcy and then get about building deep, consistent relationships.

Now, on to some recent Brennan pics... he is, after all, the star of the show!

Easter @ Southeast

I'm really not sure about this whole "dress me up like the Easter Bunny thing". But everyone else thinks I'm adorable.

Happy Boy!

What's this look all about?!?!

Back to Happy!

More Brennan pictures

He's now 11 weeks old and discovering his voice and hands. So much fun (but a little loud at times)!

Grab that fish!

Please excuse this face, I just woke up. :-s

Big smile!

Is that a yawn or is he posing for Edvard Munch?

Two hands: one to hold the panda, one to stick in my mouth.

Big, round baby belly!

Our little monk.

Now he's posing for Botticelli.

Rockin' the double chin!

Give me the camera! I want to try!

Something's happening over there and I'm missing it.

Happy Boy!

Story #3: Meet Me in Warsaw (April 2006)

In the Spring of 2006 I took a trip through Eastern Europe visiting a number of our PIONEERS teams, learning about what they were doing, asking them what type of people they wanted to join their team and just trying to encourage them as much as I could. After stops in Austria, Slovenia and Montenegro my last leg was going to be in Poland. Our team leader in Lublin (whom I'd never met) recommended I fly in and out of Warsaw, as it was simpler and cheaper than going direct to their city. So I booked my flights and emailed him my itinerary. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot in the way of communication after that and despite my strong desire to have all the details worked out prior to starting a trip, I got on the plane leaving Vienna without knowing what I'd do once I got to Warsaw.

When I arrived, there was no one there to meet me. I waited around for 10 or 15 minutes and called the team leader's home phone number. No answer. Then I decided to look into bus and train options. I got some information from a woman who spoke English and went outside to the bus terminal to discover that I'd just missed a bus to Lublin five minutes earlier. The next one didn't leave for another hour and a half. I went back inside to look up the train schedule but discovered it wasn't much better and I'd need to go to a different part of Warsaw to catch it. So I went back outside to wait by the bus stop. After another 15 minutes or so I decided to go back inside. There was no reason to do so, but I just felt like I should -- at worst it'd kill some time. Inside I milled about a bit and then passed a man in a Chicago Cubs hat looking rather frantic. With a spark of hope I stopped, turned around and called out the team leader's name. What a relief it was when he responded!

He and his family had driven up from Lublin to pick me up, but had arrived after my flight had landed. If I'd caught that first bus I would have wound up in Lublin hours ahead of them and had nowhere to go and no one to get a hold of. If I hadn't felt the Spirit move me to go back inside the terminal I might have missed them there too. But the Lord made it happen, got us together and we wound up having a great afternoon exploring a bit of Warsaw, dining on sushi at a shopping mall and talking during the two hour drive down to Lublin.

Story #2: Seliman's Savior (July 2002)

Seliman's Savior (July 2002)
I came back from my Spring 2002 home assignment as on fire for God as I've ever been, thanks in large part to two weeks participating in a small group that was going through a curriculum called "Sonship". In my first few months back in Austria the Spirit's presence with me was stronger than it had ever been. That was evident when the Lord used me to lead a young Bosnian teen to Christ and even more so a few weeks later at another teen program meeting. I was giving the talk that night and throughout my presentation I could tell that a young Chechnyan boy was paying close attention as my words were translated into Russian. As I finished I felt a strong impression that I needed to speak to him about what I had been sharing. It was if the Spirit was saying, "the time is now for this one. Go to him." That impression would have been enough -- it never occurred to me not to obey -- but when my teammate approached me and said that she thought I ought to go speak to him more about what I had been sharing I was even more sure this was from the Lord. Well, sure enough, I grabbed the translator and sat down with Seliman and explained the Gospel to him using blocks from the game Jenga. Within a half hour or so the three of us were in a back room praying together for Seliman's salvation. I can say for certain that there's nothing better in life than having an irresistable leading from the Holy Spirit. To know exactly what the Lord wants you to do in a given moment is such a joy and brings with it such a feeling of intimacy with Him.

God has moved...

I recently went through a support raising seminar that challenged me to think through stories ... stories of God's faithfulness and intervention over the years of my ministry. This was good to do, and by God's grace I was able to come up with a few instances in which He truly did show up. These may be familiar to some of you, but the refresher can't hurt. We'll start with one and add on over the next couple of days. To God be the glory...

A Physical Manifestation of Spiritual Warfare (February-July 2000)
I took some pride in the fact that I rarely ever got hurt or sick growing up. When I left for Austria the worst I'd had it was the flu in middle school, pneumonia in high school and a broken nose and big toe in college. That was about the extent of it. Then after my first month in language school in Germany I got a tear in my Achilles tendon moving into a new flat. Six weeks later, when I was sufficiently recovered to play some ultimate frisbee, I laid out for one throw in the endzone. I caught it, which was good, but I landed on my head and shoulder, which was not good. I knew right away I'd hurt myself badly. X-rays the next day revealed a torn ligament in my left shoulder (which is a big problem for a lefty). About two months after that I broke my other big toe and bruised my knee playing soccer at my best friend's bachelor party. Shortly after returning to Austria I got bronchitis. It was then that I realized something was up. This was an unnatural sequence of accidents and illnesses. I began to wonder if the Enemy wasn't attacking me in an area that had been a strength for me up til that point. To test my theory I asked my supporters to pray for protection on my health, and I prayed likewise. It worked. Although I got sick more in Austria over the next two years than I did when I lived in the States, I never suffered any more major injuries and the illnesses were spaced apart. Spiritual warfare can take many forms ... we must be wise to identify it and diligent in opposing it with all the weapons available to us (Ephesians 6).

Recent Brennan Pics

Sir Brennan

Up close and personal

Enjoying his new toy...

Getting ready for baseball season (Go Twins/Red Sox!)

Visitors from afar...Brennan enjoyed meeting (and being spoiled by!) his honorary Auntie Mary (from Minnesota) and Auntie Catherine (from North Dakota).

Another family pic...

Mama and Brennan enjoying some quality bonding time.

Launch!

After nearly five years here, we finally managed to get a picture of a space shuttle launch. Atlantis lifted off February 7, and we got a picture from right around the corner of our house. Pretty amazing we can see it so clearly when it lifts off from about 50 miles away!