I Miss You Guys!

Belgrade at its finest. We walked all over the city and I'm pretty sure we know it like we would know something we know very well.
A beautiful day at the Adriatic Sea. What the heck...it's weird to think I was all the way across the world only a short time ago. And where is my Danielle? Where have you gone to???
Autumn and Tim after the treacherous boat ride. We barely escaped with our lives. Here they recall how many times they puked.

I'm very slow at getting film developed. I have about 500 pics that need it. Currently I'm working on a little travel essay about our trip. Maybe I can post it when it's done.

T-Shirt Design

It'll say life after slavery, life after religion. Something to that affect. Proceeds will go toward friday night thing.

Black Makes me Laugh

Do you ever find yourself leaving a movie, still feeling like you're one of the characters and somehow a part of their world? Well, last night I saw Nacho Libre. And I definately did not feel like that after leaving this quirky comedy. My favorite part is Satan's Cavemen. Those little ankle biting gremlins had me laughing till my stomach couldn't take it anymore. The movie was out there, odd in a Napoleon Dynamite way...w/ some Wes Anderson nods ;) ;) that one was for you Kimbo. Jack Black brings another one home. So, for my pals that will remember this movie experience, a xxooXoXXO!

Tom Petty's Free Fallin'

So me and Keith had this idea to do this song soon for friday night. Only we'd have to change a few of the lines. But otherwise it would work well. So, give me opinions of ways we could alter some lyrics. Just whatever you think. Here's his song:

She's a good girl, loves her mama
Loves Jesus and America too
She's a good girl, crazy about Elvis
Loves horses and her boyfriend too
It's a long day living in Reseda
There's a freeway runnin through the yard
And I'm a bad boy cause I don't even miss her
I'm a bad boy for breakin her heart
And I'm free, free fallin
Yeah I'm free, free fallin
All the vampires walkin through the valley
Move west down ventura boulevard
And all the bad boys are standing in the shadows
All the good girls are home with broken hearts
And I'm free, free fallin'
Yeah I'm free, free fallin'
Free fallin', now I'm free fallin,' now I'm...
I wanna glide down over Mulholland
I wanna write her name in the sky
Gonna free fall out into nothin
Gonna leave this world for a while
And I'm free, free fallin'
Yeah I'm free, free fallin'

Psalm 29

Can we say russ? Is anyone else's blog acting stately? ;) Well, I was spending some time with the Lord one morning in Serbia and was reading through Psalm 29. So I worked some of the passages into lyrical form. Then, today I re-worked them to a melody I liked. It's a simple song, but lately I've been trying to get back to the simplicity of loving Jesus.

Psalm 29

Verse1:
F#m A D A
Your voice comes like the wind
F#m A D A
to a heart troubled again
F#m D A C#m
Nothing can keep You away
F#m D C#m D
No nothing can keep You away

Verse2:
F#m A D A
Your words burn with desire
F#m A D A
the dry and dross from my heart
F#m D A C#m
So I can love You again
F#m D C#m D
And I will love You again

Chorus:
E F#m D A
In Your house everything cries glory
In Your eyes we are, we are holy
In Your house everything cries glory
E F#m D E
In Your eyes we are, we are holy

Orson Scott Card

If ya've never read anything by him...do it. I've come to realize he is not only a Christian whose career has been primarily in the secular world, but his insight into the character of God and humankind is point blank. Here are some quotes that hit a chord in me. But read Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow and find them for yourself (and then on to Speaker for the Dead if so inclined). Warning: SPOILERS!

Bean's musings on Ender from Ender's Shadow: The important difference was in the way he led the others. He had their fierce devotion instead of the ever-so-slightly-resentful obedience Bean got from them, which helped from the start. But he also earned that devotion by noticing, not just what was going on in the battle, but what was going on in his commanders' minds. He was stern, sometimes even snappish, making it clear that he expected better than their best. And yet he had a way of giving an intonation to innocuous words, showing appreciation, admiration, closeness. They felt known by the one whose honor they needed.

Bean's thoughts in the last battle: There was no way, at the beginning of this battle, to predict that the Buggers would make such a mistake. Yet throughout history, great victories had come as much because of the losing army's errors as because of the winner's brilliance in battle. The Buggers have finally, finally learned that we humans value each and every individual human life. We don't throw our forces away because every soldier is the queen of a one-memeber hive. But they've learned this lesson just in time for it to be hopelessly wrong---for we humans do, when the cause is sufficient, spend our own lives. We throw ourselves onto the grenade to save our buddies in the foxhole. We rise out of the trenches and charge the entrenched enemy and die like maggots under a blowtorch. We strap bombs on our bodies and blow ourselves up in the midst of our enemies. We are, when the cause is sufficient, insane.

Description of grown Ender by his sister in Speaker for the Dead: Ender was quiet and unobtrusive, but he could not possibly conceal his brilliant understanding of human nature. The average students would overlook him, but the best of them, the ones she hoped would come up with original thought, would inevitably follow the subtle but powerful clues he would inevitably drop.

Ender's thoughts on the Mayor in Speaker for the Dead: He was used to the way religious people assumed their sacred stories must sound absurd to unbelievers. But Ender did not consider himself an unbeliever, and he had a keen sense of the sacredness of many tales. But he could not explain this to Bosquinha. She would have to change her assumptions about him over time. She was suspicious of him, but he believed she could be won; to be a good Mayor, she had to be skilled at seeing people for what they are, not for what they seem.

Orson Scott Card has also recently written "Sarah", "Rebekah", and "Rachel and Leah," fictional books about the lives of those women in Genesis. I've only read Rebekah but it was well written. This was really my first clue that he is not just a pronounced Christian but a man of Godly character and understanding. Ever since I've looked for the clues throughout his "secular" novels.

Trip Blips

Surgery went good yesterday. I've never had stitches before. To the right is Venice. The boat ride back was a story in of itself.


Christians at the coliseum, ready for martyrdom. Who says weren't giving our all? Just because we dress nice and bring our cameras doesn't mean we aren't ready to lay our lives down. Besides, dying's so much easier than living. ;)





This sea-side town was breathtaking. Once I sell a few thousands books, go platinum on a cd, I just might retire here.