Christmas, New Years & Bday
Where does the time go? My parents, sister Laurel and brother Matthew drove up from Calif and braved the snowstorm coming up (I think it took them an extra 10 hours or so once they hit Oregon!...) But we had a great Christmas together and I'll need to get caught up and post some pictures. Little Jake and Will had a lot of fun, as did the adults. Two highlights for me were going to the Blazers game with Dad, Laurel, Melissa, Mark and Mark's dad and a few days later seeing what has become one of my favorite movies of all time: Slumdog Millionaire--about a poor kid in Mumbai. The story, photography and music were all brilliant. Someday Agi and I hope to visit India (won't be any time soon though).
We also enjoyed some bowling with the family one afternoon and the kids did some sledding! It was a bummer that our church service at Intown was cancelled prior to Christmas though due to the snow.
My parents gave me two great books and I recently finished one, which was superb: The Art of Learning, by Josh Waitzkin. I want to read it again as it's packed full of remarkable insights. Josh is a high achiever: a world-class chess champion and world champion martial artist. His writing style is accessible and he communicates like a helpful coach without being cocky.
We brought in 2009 with Melissa and Mark and amazingly enough I just turned 36 on Monday. Life is short and there's much to do.