Bella

This time I, Heidi, am doing a movie review! I know, I know, we're switching things up a bit. Over the weekend, we rented the movie Bella. Wow, it was great. If you rent one movie all summer, I think it would do your soul well to rent this one. I think it's an independent film......I never remember director's names, but either way, it was a great film. It got a lot of press in Catholic circles for it's strong pro-life theme, and I believe it received good reviews as well. The story was touching, the acting was top-notch, and the message was solid. If you view life and family as precious, go see this movie. The main guy in the movie made it big in Central America as a soap star. He re-discovered his faith through the Catholic church and wanted to make a movie with a worthwhile message that was honoring to his faith. Mission accomplished. I almost want to say that if you didn't like this movie, something is wrong with you...but that's offensive. So I won't say it. :)

Just go rent the movie! Movies like this deserve our time and money. You're gonna rent a movie anyway, make it this one. More movies like this are certainly what we need these days!

It's getting hot out there. . .

We have entered the dog days of summer. I don't actually know what that means, but I think I sound smart when I say it. The next few days are supposed to be hot in MN. That means mid 90s with high humidity. It would not be so bad if either of our cars had working AC. The worst part of my day is driving home from work in traffic while sweating profusely. Heidi usually does not mind heat like that, but now that she is pregnant it bothers her. The ironic thing about this is that next month we are heading to Senegal to visit our team. In the hottest part of the year. We are so excited to see our team that I guess we will just find a way to deal with it. Details about the trip with be forthcoming, but we will be gone for almost 2 weeks. I just hope I don't melt.

Movie review: The Dark Knight

The new Batman movie came with a lot of hype. Is there any way that a movie with that much hype can live up to it? On Saturday afternoon, Heidi and I went to find out. In my humble opinion, it more than lived up to the hype. The Dark Knight is awesome. Comic book movies are seldom this smart and certainly not as well done. The entire film I was on the edge of my seat, caught up in the intensity. Just as a warning, it is dark and intense all the way through but the violence is bloodless and the scariest stuff is implied. Heath Ledger’s Joker was incredible. Denying the audience a back story on the Joker was a great move and made his character even more menacing. At two and a half hours, the movie could have been trimmed down a bit, but that is really the only thing I could find to complain about. Leave the kids at home for this one, but The Dark Knight is the best movie of the summer and possibly the best comic book film of all time.

Great scenes: The Joker ambushes the police caravan.
The Joker’s introduction to the mob bosses (the disappearing pencil trick).
Batman’s visit to Hong Kong.

Great line: Lucius Fox: Let me get this straight. You think that your employer, one of the richest men in the world, is spending his nights running around the city beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands? And your plan is to blackmail him? Good luck with that.

Rollergirls on the Greenway

On Tuesday night, Heidi and I took a walk on the Midtown Greenway. We often see unique/strange things while walking on the Greenway and Tuesday night was no different. The first odd thing was a group of Rollergirls. It was a group of women, and a man who appeared to be their coach, on old school rollerskates cruising down the Greenway in single file. They all had colorful clothing, 1980’s style tube socks, and moved at a pretty good pace. The next odd thing was a group of kids in their early teens that appeared to be acting out some kind of Fight Club. (If you’ve seen that movie, you can probably picture it.) There was no actual fighting, just boys talking big and challenging each other. When we walked back to where they had been, no one was there. We did not call the police since they seemed more intent on challenging each other than actually fighting. The last odd thing was a guy on a huge Unicycle. He was moving really fast and the wheel was about twice the size of a normal Unicycle. He appeared to be enjoying himself. Ah, the things we get to enjoy living in the city.

I played the new Disc Golf course at Minnehaha Falls yesterday with Nic, Jer, Peter, and Eric. It is the easiest course I have ever played, but we had fun. I had two terrible holes, but still finished at -2 after 20 holes. That’s how easy that course is. I would like to play it again.

Heidi and I were happy to welcome back our friend Peter Bodurtha (I may have spelled that wrong) back from his ten month stint in Russia. He and his fiancé, Julie Grazier, joined Heidi and I for Thai food last night. We went to Chai Thai, a tiny restaurant in the Cedar Riverside area, near the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The place was nice, the company was excellent and the food was good. In my quest to find the best Pad Thai in the Twin Cities, I give Chai Thai a slightly above average grade. The service was great, the food quality was good, but the amount of food versus the price was lacking. I don’t like feeling hungry when I finish my meal and that is what happened. No one else seemed to have that problem, so maybe I eat too much. Anyway, we are glad to have Peter and Julie (Petulie) back and are excited for what will surely be a memorable time when they get married next month.

Family Time

Once again, I am running a bit behind on posting pics of all our adventures, but here's a few to satisfy the masses or whoever it is that actually reads our blog!! Our nephew, Carver, in his clip-on tie for church!

Sadly, he took it off right before wegot to church.

Us at Minnehaha Falls. It was a beautiful day.

Here's my blog premier of wearing maternity clothes!!

Everyone who was visiting us :)

Tim and his sisters. The sibs.

We had a great time that day, got some Chipotle after church and everyone ate their ENTIRE burrito! It was a sight to behold. I was rueing that decision later on, but by then it was too late. We hiked around a bit at Minnehaha, got a bit muddy, but enjoyed the georgeous weather. Played at the park a bit and got ice cream for dinner :)

Intentional community and urban chickenry

Last night Heidi and I spent some time with our friends Andrew and Sarah and their cute, happy, baby, Ezekiel. They are friends from church who live in intentional community in a house not far from ours in South Minneapolis. They live with two single people and a married couple and are part of a loose association of other similar houses where people live in similar fashion. They see intentional community as more than simply living in a structure with people, but also sharing their lives with them. It is a counter cultural idea that goes against American ideals, but I like it. After dinner, we joined them at a meeting of other like minded people where there was fellowship and discussion about how to live and share lives with people in community. There were lots of dreadlocks, body piercings, and tattoos (making me feel very preppy in comparison) and we enjoyed our time with them. Most everyone lives in our neighborhood and it was great to know that there are people like them all around us. Many of them attend a church called the Salvage Yard, which I had never heard of before last night. We got some great ideas for our house and some fantastic leads on people to live in our place.

Right before dinner last night, Sarah went out in their back yard and returned with three eggs. Joking, I asked her if she had chickens in their back yard. She replied that, yes, there were four chickens in their yard. Of course, then I went out and saw them for myself. I am not used to seeing chickens in our neighborhood. Later, at the meeting, a woman offered to share her knowledge of “urban chickenry” to anyone who wants to learn. I guess it is what it sounds like. Maybe someday we will participate in “urban chickenry”.

Since this post is about living in community and how we plan to set that up for our house, it is probably clear that we are taking our house off the market. We did not want to go with property management, but selling our house involved losing a lot of money and that did not seem wise to us. We felt that the Lord released us from selling for the time being and are now actively seeking people to live with us until we depart for Africa. The downstairs tenants are moving out and we are moving downstairs. We intend to have a house where people desire to live in community and we will use a property management company when we leave for Africa. So, please send anyone our way who wants to live in community in the city.

Updates and random thoughts

I (Tim) played one of, if the not best, round of Disc Golf ever on Saturday morning. There were six of us that got up early and barely beat the rain at the Bethel University course. The players were Dan, Brian, Phil, Grant, Dave (my sister Amy’s fiancé), and myself. The scores were pretty tight until the end. On hole #9 I took a five and thought that my goose was cooked, however, two long par putts later and I found myself in the lead with four holes left. With some good fortune and a couple great drives I ended up winning the round. I never beat those guys, so it was particularly sweet.

We got in some good family time this weekend. On Saturday night we had both my sisters and staying at our house, which was a little tight. After church on Sunday, we all ate at Chipotle and spent some time at Minneahaha Falls. It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time. We will post the pictures later. It is good to be with family.

I finally joined Facebook. It is a good way to keep track of people and I have already made contact with people I have not seen in years. It is a slick site.

A couple weeks ago Heidi and I were in the mood for a fun movie, but instead ended up with Fool’s Gold. It is a forgettable movie where the previews showed all the funny parts. Seriously, there was not a single joke in the movie that was not already revealed in the preview. It was directed by the guy who made Hitch, but it was an inferior movie in every way.

I sure do love Heidi. Especially with her special glow.

Tim's niece made a new friend

My Niece, Christi “the” Mann, is spending the summer with her father in Nashville, TN. In the fall she will be a Junior at Grace College in northern Indiana. Since she does not know anyone in Nashville, and the church her Dad and Grandmother attend did not result in making new friends, she signed up for an Improv class. The first friend she made in the class was a woman who is a few years older than her named Rebecca. Christi’s new friend casually mentioned that she had moved to the U.S. from Australia when she was a teenager and has recorded a few Christian CDs. Since everyone in Nashville has recorded a few CDs, Christi did not think much of it. After a few weeks of performing in skits together and enjoying hanging out with her new friend, Christi decided that something seemed familiar about her. After checking the internet, she discovered that her new friend is Rebecca St. James, a well know Christian singer/songwriter. I give props to Rebecca St. James for being so friendly and sweet to a young woman who was new to town. I was already a fan of her music (I even gave Christi one of her CDs for Christmas a few years ago) and now I am a fan of her as a person.

Mpls in the summertime

One thing we love about living in South Mpls is the lakes. It is glorious being so close to the major lake chain: Isles, Calhoun, Harriet, and Nokomis. We walked a lake three times this week and it was wonderful. Tim and I have some of our best conversations when we walk, something about the fresh air and beautiful surroundings gets our mental juices flowing! This afternoon we did Nokomis and it was lovely. Perfect weather for trying out new sun hat. Caribou was giving out free drinks today from 3-4, but we didn't make it over there. Oh well.

Memorial Day Camping

I am a little behind on posting, but here are some pictures from our super fun camping trip to St. Croix State Park over the long weekend. The Watsons are from church and we became fast friends! Sadly, they are moving to Singapore tomorrow. We are really going to miss them!! Katie and Julia and our nephew, Carver

Chases and Watsons

Chases and Lundholms, Tim's sister

Lundholms and Watsons...it was a regular photo shoot!!

Sally got a ton of marshmellow smeared in her hair when she swatted at a mosquito not knowing the mallow was all over her hand. It was pretty funny. Sorry Sal! Obviously, this picture doesn't convey the real humor. It was funny. But if I have to tell you that, what's the point?

Phil and Amy frying up some tasty bacon for breaky!

Me and my girls!

Hanging out at the playground. The bugs were really bad that weekend, which was a big bummer. It was worth it though, to make some memories before they ship out! We're gonna miss you guys, see you at Christmas!

A sad post

Yesterday a dear friend of Heidi's family passed away. Don Swenson, who is survived by his wife, Angela, suffered heart failure at their home. I believe he was in his late 40s. He was a jovial man who provided Heidi and I with some great stories and he will be greatly missed. Please be in prayer for his wife and for Heidi and her family. They are taking this pretty hard. We are encouraged that we know that he is with Jesus, whom Don served his entire life. Welcome home, Don. We will miss you.

we love weddings!

In May, we were blessed to attend 2 weddings: Steve and Emily Mattson, friends from church and Joe and Julia Novik, a dear friend of mine from high school. Ju and I both went to the U and now they are both Dr.s in New York City.Me and Julia

Julia looking stunning in her gown. They had a lovely outdoor wedding at a great place in Stillwater.

Her very interesting cake decorated by another friend from high school. Yep, those are trout and cattails.

Enjoying our kiddie cocktails at Steve and Emily's wedding. I don't actually have any pictures of the happy couple.....We had a great time at this wedding and wooped it up on the dance floor.

Nate aka Jeff Foxworthy and his crazy 'stash.

Good times with friends.

Another newly wed couple, Ben and Brenda, having a ball!

Strange sights, summer in the city. . .

I have lived in the city long enough that not much surprises me. Every once in a while, though, I’ll look out the window and call Heidi over, saying, “you have to see this.” We had seen some kids earlier playing in a puddle on the edge of our driveway, right by the alley. It can be 3 or 4 inches deep after a heavy rain. The kids were riding their bikes through the puddle and washing their feet in it. A while after they got bored and moved on, I moved our trash bins and recycling containers into that spot for the next morning’s pickup. Not long after that, I heard the sound of kids playing again. This time they were using the puddle as a wading pool and had moved our trash cans and recycling bins into the middle of the alley. After coating themselves in mud and splashing each other, they headed back down the alley, leaving our stuff in the middle. As I again put the cans and bins in the proper place for the next morning, I thought about how people who live outside of the city never get to see things like this. They sure are missing out.

Now for some football news. Denver Broncos running back and father of nine children with nine women (none of whom he married), Travis Henry, has been released from the team. Last season it was hard to cheer for him knowing what kind of guy he was. Now I can cheer for the Broncos starting running back without that tinge of guilt. Good for Coach Shanahan for getting rid of the problem children and making room for the good guys.

Last week’s season finale of LOST was great. With LOST and The Office on summer break, there is officially nothing worth watching on TV, which is good, since our set is old and doesn’t work very well any more.

The weekend and Prince Caspian

Heidi and I had a great Memorial Day weekend by camping at St. Croix State Park with family and friends. We spent Friday night by ourselves and the Lundholms (my sister, Sally and her family) and the Watsons (friends from church) joined us from Saturday afternoon until Monday afternoon. The kids from both families played together and even let me play some Freeze Tag with them. The only bummer was the mosquitoes, which considered us a buffet all weekend. I have never seen bugs that bad. I am still scratching the bites two days later. We will post the pictures from the weekend soon.

I have been meaning to post a review of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, but have not had the chance. So, here is my official review: as a movie, it was awesome, but as a book adaption, it was terrible. The directing, photography, effects, and acting were all top notch. The pacing was solid and, overall, I enjoyed it a whole lot. However, they changed some things and added others that I found both unnecessary and irritating. As good as it was, the movie only partially captured the spirit of the book, which is a bummer. I hope the Dawn Treader is better. I love that book. Please leave comments with your thoughts on the movie.

Just for fun, here is a link to the Will Smith superhero movie, Hancock, due out in July: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809801452/video/7633208

I love my Heidi an awful lot.

Girls weekend up north

At the end of April/start of May, I skipped out on Tim a bit and went to Seattle and then right away up North with the girls. Poor guy, it was in that weekend that he broke the tip off his finger. Don't worry, he's ok and the finger is looking pretty good.

We had some great time of fellowship up at Candace's grandparents "cabin."A little hiking.

A little shooting! My first time. Check me out.

Here's the "cabin." HUGE! Good times. Lots of food, laughter, and fun.

Visit to Seattle

Here are some pictures from my visit to Seattle to see the Leberts.We went to Pike's Place Market about everyday!

After church at Mars Hill on Sunday. A very interesting church service....

The Fremont Troll! As seen in the movie Ten Things I Hate About You. Great flick.

We got dolled up in Amanda's clothes and went window shopping downtown. It's good to get in some girly time. This is at dinner that night with Ed. It was a great trip, lots of girl bonding. Plus, we're in Seattle! I love Seattle.

Prayer ministry and family time

Our church, Bethel Christian Fellowship (www.bcfnations.org) has a cool prayer ministry that I think has been mentioned before in this blog. Heidi got involved with it soon after we started attending BCF, but I always had an excuse why the Lord had not called me to that particular ministry. About a month or two ago I felt like it was time to get involved. There was no dramatic change in my heart, I guess I finally ran out of excuses and decided to obey. I am glad that I did. Over the past month I have been used by God to encourage several people and I feel that I received a blessing as well. I have been on the receiving end of these prayer appointments three times and was always blessed by the experience. If you feel that something like this would benefit you, then let Heidi and I know. It is not just for people from BCF. In fact, many appointments are for people from other churches. It is always confidential and encouraging.

Heidi and I had a lot of family time this past weekend. On Saturday we spent the day with some of my family. My former brother in law, Walter, drove up from Nashville with my niece, Christi, and picked up my nephew, Tim, and his wife, Amanda in Warsaw, IN on the way. We all met up in Dresser, WI, where my sister Sally and her family live. The visit was over way too fast, but we had a good time. My family is scattered pretty far, so it is great to see them. Then on Sunday, after breakfast with everyone and church, we spent the rest of the day with Heidi’s parents. They always spoil us with good food and Sunday was no different. We took a walk by the Mississippi River and mostly just hung out. The weather was not all that great on either day, but we had a good weekend.

Movie Review: Iron Man

Movies that are based on comic books are hit and miss. Some are terrible (Daredevil, Electra, Batman & Robin), some are mediocre (the Fantastic Four films and X-Men 3), and only a few are terrific (Spider-Man 2 and X-Men 2). Iron Man is outstanding, equal with Batman Begins in sheer awesomeness. Taking a second tier superhero and making one of the best comic book films of all time is an amazing feat. All the important factors are in place: good acting, a well paced, character driven story, and stuff blowing up. Unlike many super hero origin stories, (yes, Fantastic Four I mean you) where the heroes complain about how cursed they are, Tony Stark embraces his new power in a way that most people in the audience would. He also blows stuff up. I don’t ask for much with action movies and Iron Man more than delivers. Oh yeah, stick around for a great bonus scene after the end credits.

Best scenes: his escape from captivity, the first time he takes the armor into combat, and the final battle. (Pretty much the scenes where he blows up stuff.)

Best quote:
Soldier: Is it cool if I get a picture with you?
Tony Stark: Yes. Yes it's very cool. I don't wanna see this on your myspace page. Please, no gang signs. No, throw it up. I'm kidding.

An eventful last week

Last week Heidi and I attended the Annual Meetings for the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies, of which our church is a member. It went from Tuesday evening to Friday afternoon and was pretty packed the whole time. We were a part of the prayer ministry and spend the afternoons praying for pastors and missionaries, which was great. The speakers that came were outstanding. The highlight was Carter Conlon of Times Square Church in NYC. (The church started by David Wilkerson, famous for The Cross and the Switchblade.) Conlon’s talk was fantastic. We made some connections with churches in MN that we will visit and even got an invitation by a church in Seattle. This short summary did not do justice to how encouraging those few days were.

On Saturday Eric and I ventured out to Bethel University to play Disc Golf. We played the 9 hole course five times. The temperature was about 34 degrees, the wind was crazy strong, there was mud everywhere, and snow fell part of the time. Our scores were terrible, but we had a great time.

Later Saturday night I played Diaper Wars with Jer, Brian, Nate, and Grant. It was awesome. The only bummer was at one point I was trying to run, duck, and throw a diaper when I slammed my hand into a barrier. It hurt something fierce, but I played for a couple more hours. On Monday I got an X-ray and discovered that I fractured the bone in the fingertip of my right ring finger. Yesterday I saw a hand specialist who said that there is no tendon damage and it will fully heal in a month or so. That means no disc golf for a few weeks. Bummer.

The showings that I wrote about in a previous entry have not resulted in an offer yet. In fact, we have not heard anything since the showings. That is a little disappointing, but we still trust God to sell our house.

Heidi has been in Seattle since Saturday morning visiting Ed and Amanda and she is finally coming home this afternoon. I miss my Sweet Baboo and am excited for her return.

You'll never believe it

But I enjoyed a musical!!!! I know, I know, a miracle. Last weekend, Tim and I went with some friends to see Linsey in a wonderful rendition of Godspell that she was in. Anyone who knows me, knows I don't really care for theater productions unless they are really good. Otherwise, I find them ridiculously embarassing. But this one was really good and I really enjoyed it. Great job, Lins!

Yay, it's starting!

What a great show! Candace and I were there as well, but behind the camera