purple-mouse!

over the past few months,
jane and i have become experts
on the local chuck e. cheese scene.
did you know that they are clean and nice now?
we’ve been to four and they are all super-clean.
which is really cool-
because when i went to chuck e. cheese
as a kid in modesto,
it was always dark and dirty everywhere.
did you know that chuck e. cheese
started right here in san jose?
did you know that the first owner
was the head of atari?
he wanted to have a place
where he could showcase all of his games.
back in the day,
the only place you could play videogames
was at 7-11- and they only had like 2 per store.
chuck e. cheese had all of them.
did you know that chuck USED to be a rat,
but now he’s a mouse?
i don’t see how either are kid-friendly,
but that the subject of a future blog:
“why are there so many mice in kid entertainment?”
also- did you know its free to get in?
did you know that every game is only 1 token?
that’s pretty rare-
when you consider
that the rides at the jungle are 2 tokens
and the rides at the mall are 3 quarters!
plus they give out double tokens in coupons
so we can take 5 bucks over there and play for hours.

anyhow-
we’ve been to the chuck e. cheese on kooser,
on the east side (its HUGE!)
the one in gilroy
and the one in cupertino.
today jane decided
that she likes the gilroy one the best.
my favorite is the big one on the east side.
yesterday we actually went to two different
chuck e. cheese’s.
i was afraid that they would think
that i was a kidnapper
because when we entered the second one,
we still had stamps on our hands from the first one!
this has been a fun little quest-
its fun for me to watch my kid run around and play
and its fun to remember doing that when i was younger
at chuck e. cheese.
today was a big highlight for us-
we got to MEET chuck e. cheese
AND give him a high five,
AND take a picture with him!
whoa!




now i think we need a little break.
we’ve gotten to the point where we can walk in,
see all of the lights and games,
hear all of the music and decide that we’re bored already.
we’ve become junior highers!

what do you wear?

a nittle happy

yesterday morning, janie was coughing.
i asked her
"janie- are you feeling ok?"
"are you feeling a little sick?"
she paused and answered
"feeling a nittle...happy."
(again we're working on that L-sound)
I said
"yeah...I'm feeling a little happy too."
I'm feeling a lot happy actually.

oh snap!

reality

a few weeks ago, my computer was having problems-
long story, short-
the hard drive was failing and needed to be replaced.
to save some serious money,
i asked the computer guys at church
to install my new hard drive
and re-install all of my old programs.

and yeah-
it didn’t cost me any money,
but it cost a lot of time.
the guy who installed it is a new guy.
he’s young and really into computers.
so while we waited for all of those programs to load,
we sat in my office
and he told me all i never wanted to know
about computers, the internet, and online games.
he’s really into online games.

he started telling me about this other reality-
an online reality-
where people can create a character
and live through them.
these characters make decisions,
they help each other,
they grow in power,
and they can die.

i started visualizing these powerful characters-
in reality- they aren’t powerful,
on the other side of the internet cable
is a nerd hoping for a real adventure
and real relationships, and real power.
they just appear powerful in this virtual reality.

after he left
i started thinking that maybe this virtual reality
isn’t far off from reality.
maybe life is like an online game-
we make decisions,
we help others and get help from others,
we look weak or powerful-
but is it who we really are?
or is it just the way that things appear.
we grow strong-
but do we have real power?
or do we just appear to have power?
are the powerful just weaklings in disguise?
or are they merely virtually-powerful?
are the one who appear weak
actually heroes in disguise?

when we die-
do we really die?
or is it just our character that we created?
when we die-
part of us dies-
and yet part of us lives.
maybe at that point we’ll see
the ultimate reality-
the way things really are.
and maybe we’ll see
that the life we have led,
and the decisions that we made,
and the outcomes that we have enjoyed
have all been in the hands
of the game’s Programmer-

and maybe its then that we’ll see reality-
that even though
we thought that life was just a game,
and life was all about us-
in reality-
it was always all about Him.

its time to stop living life through a character.
its time to recognize what’s really going on
in reality.
and its probably time
for me to learn to fix my computer myself!

“now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror;
then we shall see face to face.
now i know in part;
then i shall know fully,
even as i am fully known.”
-1 corinthians 12

i love elvis

i love elvis.
i've always loved elvis.
his story makes me sad,
but his music makes me happy-
especially this track:
for me,
it the king of rock in roll in a nutshell:

oh nook!

after dinner tonight,
janie wanted to watch a movie,
so i laid down on the sofa
while she watched the wiggles.
i must have been tired from work,
because i dozed off.
i was sort of half asleep- half awake.


but i woke up quickly when my girl
ran into my chest full speed
saying, “awake!”
i said “hey! who woke me up?!”
she said “asleep!”
(translation: pretend you’re asleep dad!)


so i closed my eyes-
and whack!
she ran into me again
saying,
“hey! who woke me up?!”
this happened about 20 times in a row-
“asleep!”
whack!
“hey! who woke me up?!”


finally, she laid her head on my chest
and said
“oh nook- he’s bree-ving…”
(translation: “oh look, he’s breathing.”)
(we're still working on a few sounds)
i thought to myself-
“what a tender moment”
“she’s resting on my chest
and feeling my lungs breathe”


she said it a few times-
“oh nook- he’s bree-ving…”


and then it hit me!
that’s a line from the little mermaid!
when ariel sees eric sleeping on the beach!





this wasn’t a tender moment!
this was janie impersonating ariel,
AGAIN!


ARIEL!!!


cute kid.
i don't mind acting out disney scenes
to get hugs from jane!

life lessons from the flea market

1. often-times the difference between
worthless and priceless
is a fresh pair of batteries
and a good cleaning.

2. if you walk into a new environment,
and you act like you know what you’re doing,
people will assume that you do.
there is a lot to be said for being socially relaxed.

3. everything (and everyone) deserves another chance.
everything (and everyone) can be redeemed.

4. the churros smell yummy,
but they’ll make you ill.
some things look tempting-
but they’re not good for you.

5. there are treasures to be found
if you’ll put in the effort to search for them.

6. value isn’t determined by the price-
its determined by the amount of joy that it will bring.
or- as the old saying goes:
“beauty is in the eye
of the Beholder.”

7. if you don’t find your treasure right away,
keep looking-
the stock is always being updated.

8. what most see as trash,
Someone will see as treasure.
the meeting of treasure-hunter and treasure
is a beautiful thing.

9. a lot of times the cost can be lowered,
if you’re just willing to ask.

10. no matter how much
or how little money you have,
you’re a lot richer than you think.

swings

i was on a walk
on one of my favorite walking trails
near my house,
the los alamitos creek trail-
i was close to the end of one of the sections,
when i discovered
a secret park!
it had all of the
things that my little girl would love:
stuff to climb on,
a slide, and most importantly,
swings for little kids!
my little girl LOVES the swings.
she could swing for hours if i let her.







so today, janie and i checked this place out.
it was great-
we had our snack out there,
she climbed, and slid down the slide-
and when it came time for the swings
i noticed that there were big swings
right next too the little swings!


so i pushed her on her swings
until she was really high,
and then i hopped onto the big swings
and swung next to her!
it was a crack up for both of us.


i kept having to stop swinging
every time her little swing
stopped swinging high.
so i thought about teaching her
the art of riding the swings.


i asked her
“who is pushing daddy? daddy can do it by himself!”
“look! when i go back i kick my feet back!”
“when i go forward i kick my feet forward!”
“can you do that?”
she kicked her feet wildly.
she wasn’t getting the concept.
i started calling out foot movements as we swung:
“feet back! feet front! feet back! feet front!”
it worked for a little bit-
mostly it just made my girl laugh at me.


i started thinking-
what if i didn’t know how to swing?
what if i as a grown man,
had to ask some jogger to stop and give me a push?
that would be weird!
but no-
I can swing!
I can swing so well- that i can push others!
i can teach them how to swing-


but janie- she is just learning to swing.
she needs help.
she can’t get into the seat-
she can’t go back and forth,
she can’t get out.
that’s ok for a little girl,
but it wouldn’t be ok for a grown-up like me.


i was thinking about my role
as a leader at church-
i help people to grow in christ
to be discipled, to mature as a believer.
its like i’ve learned how to swing-
and now i can push others
and teach others-
and someday- they can push others
and teach others.
but still we hear at church-
“i feel like i’m not being fed.”
and its awkward- because these are people
who are all grown up, so to speak-
they should have learned to swing by now-
they should be pushing others-
they should be teaching others-
they should be calling out-
“feet front! feet back!”
but they’re stuck and they say to others-
“push me! i need a boost!”
these folks who are “not being fed”
should have learned long ago
how to feed themselves-
when they come in,
it shouldn’t be about getting fed,
it should be about feeding others-
and teaching them to feed themselves.
but instead, they are like a grown-up,
sitting in the baby-swing,
asking for a push.


awkward!


“we have much to say about this,
but it is hard to explain
because you are slow to learn.
in fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers,
you need someone to teach you
the elementary truths of God's word all over again.
You need milk, not solid food!
anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant,
is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
But solid food is for the mature,
who by constant use have trained themselves
to distinguish good from evil.”
-hebrews 5


“we tell others about Christ,
warning everyone and teaching everyone
with all the wisdom God has given us.
We want to present them to God, perfect
in their relationship to Christ.”
-colossians 1 (nlt)

slow down jane!

at what point did my girl go from being this big



to being THIS BIG?!



"baby slow down,
the end is not as fun as the start,
please stay a child
somewhere in your heart..."
-U2; 'original of the species'