Book Review: The Alphabet of Grace

On the flight home from California, I read The Alphabet of Grace by Frederick Buechner. This was a good read that looks at grace and love through the course of one day.
Buechner walks through a typical day in his life and unpacks how God's grace can be seen in even the smallest details. In his morning routine of waking up, getting breakfast ready, waking up his kids for school and heading out to work. He explains that even in waking up to a new morning, we receive God's grace so we can live a new day. This book is a good reminder of how truly blessed we are and how God's grace seeps into every facet of our lives.
I will say this book has some interesting twists that I didn't expect. He has dialog with his inner monologue, it both surprises and delights while teaching as well. A few times I was very confused, but as I kept reading, it was clear what Buechner was point is.
Buechner presents a 3-part series of reflections that dig into the innermost mysteries of life. He presents the significance of occurrences, both monumental and seemingly trivial, with a wealth of personal, biblical and spiritual insights.
I really enjoyed this book and I would suggest it for anyone. It is a great encouragement and a good picture of how God works in the daily interactions and routines.

Book Review: In the Name of Jesus

On the way to California I read the book In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen. I really enjoyed this book, it was a short and quick read but full of wisdom regarding Christian leadership.
He starts off the book by unpacking a big change in his own life. After 20 years in the academic world as a teacher of pastoral psychology, theology and Christian spirituality, he began to experience deep inner longer for a change. He explains that he was living in a very dark place feeling burned out, a convenient psychological translation for a spiritual death. The change came from a move from Harvard to L'Arche, L'Arche communities for mentally handicapped people. He felt God's voice say to him "Go and live among the poor in spirit, and they will heal you." Henri then unpacked how he had created a life for himself around the success that he had found in the world, the books that he had written, the classes that he taught, all of that changed.
In sharing his reflections he also guided the reader through two stories from the Gospel: the story of Jesus' temptation in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11) and the story of Peter's call to be a shepherd (John 21:15-19).
He then starts to unpack the temptations that Jesus faced in the desert and how those same temptations impact us today. The first he addressed was the temptation to be relevant in the world. He makes this statement that really stuck out to me "The leaders of the future will be those who dare to claim their irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation that allows them to enter into a deep solidarity with the anguish underlying all the glitter of success, and to bring the light of Jesus there."
He also brings up the point that the basis of any ministry should be love. Looking at Peter's call, Peter was first asked three times by Jesus "Do you love me?" Henri then reminds us that we shouldn't be asking ourselves: How many people take you seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show some results? Instead we should ask: Are you in love with Jesus? In our world of loneliness and despair, there is an enormous need for men and women who know the heart of God, a heart that forgives, cares, reaches out and wants to heal.
He reminds us that when we are called to ministry, we shouldn't go into ministry alone. Jesus sent out twelve in pairs. We are called to proclaim the Gospel together, in community.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It is very challenging and asks a lot of great questions regarding leadership and ministry. Henri Nouwen does a good job at challenging the reader but also giving examples from his own life. I would highly recommend this book, with over 100 pages, it is a quick read but a good read!

Headed Home

All good things must come to an end...
We had such a blast in California, lots of laughs, lots of good food, lots of good shopping. Big thanks to Sue and Jim for opening up their wonderful home and letting us stay!
We flew home Tuesday and our first layover was in Las Vegas, Heather has never pulled the handle on a slot machine, so we thought now was the time!
She put in a dollar, pulled the arm...
...and won $10!

She tried once more and then cashed out with $10, enough to pay for lunch!

After Las Vegas, we flew to Denver for another stop and then finally to Des Moines...we had plenty of fun in the airport!

...and the vote was that Derek looked like an informal business man with his mini-briefcase!

Again, we had a great time. It was a lot of fun traveling with the Pine's! Again, big thanks to Jim and Sue, you guys are awesome! Thanks to Ann and Andy for spending some time with us, it was tons of fun and lots of laughs. Thanks to Jason and Emily for having us over for the day, it was great to catch up with you guys! Thanks to Tori Spelling and Jeff Lewis for making Heather and I famous for 15 minutes! Heather and I can't wait for the next Pine/Comfort vacation...stay tuned!

Brush with fame...

Monday morning we headed to the taping of the Price is Right, we got "tickets" ahead of time and they instructed us that screening starts at 8:30...in the fine print it also stated that these "tickets" were not a guarantee that we would be on the show. We got to the studio around 8:45 and realized we were very late. This first taping (12:30) was already filled but we could have a place ticket to hold our spot in line for the 4:00 taping, we were 145-149 in line. We also had tickets to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, so we planned on going to that. The studio is right next to The Grove, a fun outdoor shopping center with another enormous real Christmas tree!
While we were shopping, there was a camera crew setting up to tape the show Extra, with Mario Lopez (also know as A.C. Slater)!

Derek and Joni wanted to stop in the American Girl store, so Heather and I walked up the street to get a pretzel. That is when Megan approached us and asked if we wanted to be on TV. She introduced us to the Mark and he explained that we would be interviewed...

...for a new show that Tori Spelling and Jeff Lewis are hosting.

So we were interviewed by Tori Spelling and Jeff Lewis and asked questions about holiday stress...

...it was crazy to have a camera crew all around us!

Joni was super excited that her friends and now become "famous"

Here is a shot of all the people it takes to pull off a talk show.

After that, we headed over to Burbank for the taping of the Tonight Show!

We ended up getting awesome seats, second row! Bill Cosby was the guest and he was hilarious. If you watch the show from Monday, November 29th, you can see us in the crowd as Jay greets the audience! Here is a link to NBC's website for that show: Click Here to Watch

The CA sights...

Saturday morning we headed to the swap meet in Orange County. Derek and I go to flea markets and garage sales every Friday over lunch, so I was looking forward to a swap meet. I will have to say that the Orange County Swap Meet is very much different from Iowa swap meets. Over 1,000 vendors and you can buy anything from socks and sunglasses to a new bedroom set or a new car! This giant chair was ridiculously awesome!
After the swap meet, we headed to Pasadena to meet up with our friends Ann and Andy for lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. We hung out and got to see all the sights of Pasadena!

Sunday, Heather and I headed to Paramount to go to Emmanuel Reformed Church. Our good friends, the Browns, live there and Jason works for the church. We had a great time catching up with the Browns and where life has them right now.

Sunday evening, we meet back up with Derek, Joni, Sue and Jim and headed to Downtown Disney for supper. We didn't go into the actual park, but there are a lot of fun things to see and lots of restaurants!

It was getting dark, but the "CALIFORNIA" in the background has candy cane stripes for Christmas!

Heather and I with Mickey!

Derek and Joni...

...and Sue and Jim!

Then we got one big family shot!

The front entrance to Disney all lit up with lights!

While we were waiting to get into the restaurant, Derek and I ventured down to the Lego store, "Howdy Partner"

"Derek....I am your father"

It wouldn't be a pit stop at Disney without the classic Mickey Mouse ears!

Derek and Joni are enjoying the magic of Disney!

After Disney, Jim took us on a tour of Christmas lights, we headed to the City of Brea and there is one neighborhood that goes all out...Griswold style, it was amazing. Big thanks to Jim and Sue, you guys are awesome!

California

We got into LAX airport around 2:30 on Thanksgiving day and made our way to Alamo car rental. We got a free upgrade and drove away in a new Kia Sorento. We made our way to Anaheim to Joni's Aunt Sue and Uncle Jim's place. They have a beautiful home and made us feel like part of the family! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving diner with all the fixin's, it was outstanding!
Friday morning, we headed out for some shopping, not as early as most years, but we still got some good Black Friday shopping in. Our first stop was Fashion Island in Newport Beach.

Fashion Island is home to the tallest Christmas tree in the U.S. reaching over 100 feet tall. This tree comes from northern California's Mt. Shasta, the tree features 17,000 lights and ornaments and weights approximately 20,000 lbs. It requires a 10-man crew approximately two weeks to decorate this giant beauty.

Fashion Island works closely with Victor's Strictly Custom Christmas Trees and the U.S. Foresty Service to find the perfect tree each year. Victor's replants an average of 10 trees for every one tree harvested and the trees are removed from specific areas that will have no detrimental impact on the environment. The tree is also recycled into mulch after the holidays.

Derek, Joni, Heather and I in front of the giant tree!

After Fashion Island, we drove around a bit. We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway and along the beach. We stopped for lunch at our favorite In-N-Out Burger! We then made our way to the City of Orange, California to shop around their plaza. It had the feel of Valley Junction here in West Des Moines but on a bigger scale! Lots of fun little shops and antique stores.

We stopped into The Perfect Circle Cupcake, it was a fun little cupcake store...and the cupcakes were amazing!

Heather and Joni were inspired and I think they want to open up a similar store in Des Moines!

We had a ton of fun shopping all over LA on black Friday, it was filled with plenty of laughs!

California...here we go!!!

This Thanksgiving, the Pine's and the Comfort's flew to sunny California for a 5 day vacation! Joni's Aunt Sue and Uncle Jim live in Anaheim and they opened up the home to us for our stay, we just needed to get there. Our flight out to LA went from Des Moines to Chicago and then Chicago to LAX. Joni and Heather were super excited when we landed in Chicago!
It was a little strange to get off the plane outside and walk into the terminal and Chicago this time of year is not too warm...but despite that Joni and Derek are all smiles.

Heather was freezing but we managed to snap a picture before she ran inside to warm up.

The best and unexpected part of the Chicago airport...Garrett's Popcorn! If you have never enjoyed Garrett's Popcorn I would strongly recommend the Chicago mix (half cheese and half Carmel corn) it is so good!

...and finally we are off to CA!