Worship

Woke up this morning and did our normal routine.


We went to church then after that we came home for lunch and naps all around. (Except for Jenny - she's been studying like crazy!) Her writing class is taking up a lot of her time.


Oh, one note on my schooling situation as well: I spoke with two Chinese teachers who both recommended I start out at the highest level Chinese class they offer at the University of Minnesota. That's a bit daunting, but I'm VERY excited about it. I'm just double checking at the moment to see if that specific Chinese degree will satisfy whatever language requirements school districts require if I were to apply as a Chinese teacher in the future. If the degree will hold up and get me a teaching job, I'll be enrolled this fall! I'm starting with my major i.e. Chinese, then when I finish that, I'll plow through my general ed classes online. I think I'll have around a year (?) of Chinese. I'm told I'll get credit for the other couple years I'm skipping, which is nice.


I worked out today. ChaLean Extreme Burn Circuit 3. Brutal! They are good shoulder and leg workouts though!


These days I'm reading a few books. I'm reading through PUSH by Chalene Johnson, Simply Christian by N.T. Wright, and re-reading Love Wins by Rob Bell.


Today I was reading Simply Christian and wanted to share something N.T. (can I call you N.T? Thanks) said in his chapter on Worship.

One of the main reasons theology (trying to think straight about who God is) matters is that we are called to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. It matters that we learn more about who God is so that we can praise him more appropriately.

 I believe so many people don't worship God because they are told by others that God is their enemy (unless they believe 100% what that person believes). Would you worship your enemy? Doesn't make sense. If only people knew who God truly was and how he really feels about his children.


I'm guessing with the rest of the day, we'll be watching the Packers/Giants game and will sleep at 8pm. We don't sleep like grandparents these days. We sleep like our grandparents' grandparents!

11/25/2011

It is great to have Friday off. I feel that I don't get much time with the boys so a morning with them outside the usual is fun. We played with some cars before breakfast.

When we finished eating, I went upstairs. Just me and the boys. All alone, I thought it'd be a great time to re-decorate the apartment. Thus:

Now, I can hear all the gasps yet, faintly, I can also hear the sound of applause. See the chair below? Useless! Goodbye sitting! You've been overtaken by your counterpart, standing! See how the height is just perfect for me? I know my wife is going to hate LOVE this. But, in my defense, SHE'S the one who left me alone without supervision.

Now I have to figure out what to do with a few lamps and picture frames which were once lonely atop a couple of end tables...

The boys watched a bit of Cars 2. I finished reading The Great Gatsby as a part of my attempt at reading 100 Must-Read books for men.

The boys and I played a type of monster game (I was the monster, who ate small nearby children. I just put a blanket over my head, which transforms me into a monster, for those of you who didn't know.) After that, we wrestled and threw pillows at each other. Then we ate.

Jenny got home from work at 1:00pm. Liam was napping and Levi was getting ready to go outside to play some baseball with his grandma. I cracked into Emotional Intelligence a bit, and found this interesting information from the subtitled section, "The Anatomy of Rage": When you get cut off by someone while driving down the road, do you jump to anger (or conclusions, rather) or do you try to assume the best in the situation i.e. "Perhaps he has an emergency?" If you allow yourself that initial bit of anger in the first place, it can get out of hand much quicker, but if you prevent and guard your mind from those initial angry thoughts, you can move on from the potential day-ruiner. The book quoted Benjamin Franklin as saying "Anger is never without a reason, but seldom a good one." Well said. They also mention in the book how perhaps the best way to stopping anger from rising is by stopping the negative thought process (or as they put it, "Undermine the convictions that are fueling anger in the first place). Tim Sanders seemed to echo this in his book I just finished reading.

After that, Jenny and I went on a date. We were going to go to see The Descendants but ended up seeing Hugo because the former movie was sold out when we got there. Hugo was pretty good! It was great to get some time with the wife.

Got home and played some video games with Aaron while Jenny slept. It was a good day!

11/20/2011

We went to church today at 9am. The service was great. There was a performance done which included a bunch of drums and a dance by a bunch of fifth graders. The main dancer girl was Asian which made Jenny and I sad because it made us miss China. The sermon was really good - it was on King Omri. The pastor talked about how King Omri was regarded as one of the greatest kings of Israel however he is only mentioned in the bible with 8 verses. The pastor asked "What do you consider to be the requirements of success?" King Omri was one of the most powerful kings Israel ever had but now, thousands of years later, he is reduced to only eights verses in the bible and, according to the bible, he was one of the most evil. He sought power and prestige over doing the right thing. After the sermon, we went out to the little cafe they have inside and chatted with some Chinese people that go there. We really hope to get a relationship going with these people so we can continue to have a relationship with the culture and people we fell in love with.


After church, we went to the library to return some books. We got home and then Levi and I replaced the wipers on our car as well as the headlights which burned out overnight. He was really eager to help and did a great job throwing away trash for me and screwing in some parts on the headlights.


Afterwards, we went inside to watch the gruesome and sad Vikings game.


I finished up The Likeability Factor, which was a great book. I'm now onto The Great Gatsby and Emotional Intelligence.


Jenny and I ran through a Financial Peace University course which was on purchasing.

Waking up at 5, I immediately began reading The Likeability Factor by Tim Sanders again. Did you know that while most parents insist they don't show favoritism, they frequently do, and it is their more highly likeable children who end up getting extra attention? This was revealed in a 2000 interview with Dr. Vera Rabie-Azoori. I will, as expected, assert that I do not show favoritism. After reading, I had some breakfast and got ready for work.


We had homemade chicken fettuccine Alfredo (thank you, Jenny!) for dinner. 


We went upstairs and I read the boys a few books we got from the library. I'll recommend one: Carolinda Clatter. It's really good. Super creative and different.


Jenny and I went through a course in Financial Peace University which was on credit sharks. Info of the day from FPU: Do you not like junk mail? Go to optoutprescreen.com! Do you not like telemarketers? Go to donotcall.gov!


Tomorrow is AWANA. We are looking forward to it!

Yes, I'd like to borrow 100 children's books, please.

After eating some Rhodes Caramel Rolls and watching some Word World, I hopped on Gmail Chat to talk to my brother (who is still in China). After that, we went to Plymouth Covenant Church to get our worship on.


The sermon was on King Uzziah and how his life was squandered by pride. Two phrases that may be a sign of pride are "I got this" and "I'm above the law". Pride can be so destructive; for the person and for those around him or her. 


After church we went home and watched some football while enjoying Solo's Pizza leftovers.


Jenny and Levi went to the library and got tons of books for the boys. Apparently you can rent 100 books at a time. Who has time for that, really? I also rented The Like Ability Factor by Tim Sanders, which I'm looking forward to. Tim Sanders is a really good author - I highly recommend his books to anyone out there reading this. My quote of the day from the book is:

"All in all, it became clear that unlikeable characteristics are a primary reason for failure, whereas improvements in likeability offer excellent explanations for breakthrough successes."

Also, did you know? (From the same book)

"A 2000 study by Yale University and the Center for Socialization and Development-Berlin concluded that 'people, unlike animals, gain success not by being aggressive but by being nice.'" 

Last, but not least... (From the same book)

"Easygoing, likeable people have one-half the divorce rate of the general population."

More football...


I played some Modern Warfare 3 with Aaron and his buddy, Josh.


After that, we had some dinner then the boys and I played some Super Mario Sluggers on the Wii. 


Levi cleaned up his room then the boys went to bed!


Jenny and I spent our time learning about Dumping Debt from Financial Peace University/Dave Ramsey. My truth from the day from Dave Ramsey is:

"When you use plastic instead of cash, you spend 12-18% more because spending cash hurts."

After that, Jenny and I watched a King of Queens marathon, which is a family favorite.


It was a good day. Tomorrow Jenny is working at 4am (at Caribou Coffee) and I'm heading to work at 6:30am.