Mr. and Mrs. Cain

Last weekend was Mike and Joni’s wedding, and it was so epic. 700 confirmed guests (though there was more like 750 there…), with volunteers cooking 400lbs of the best Hawaiian spare ribs ever tasted, several hundred bread roles and lbs of rice, hundreds of cupcakes, a 7-course Chinese dinner for the family after the reception, and 1 very very happy bride and groom.

Mike’s been an incredible friend and I couldn’t think more highly of Joni his wife. I’m so excited at what God will do through their marriage!

The Butler Legacy

Ahh the Butlers. Today they’re flying to Georgia to permanently take residence there and start an African American ministry in Athens.

I honestly can’t image the UofA ministry without them. Lori has been here since I set foot on the campus my freshman year as a student, and Dustin has been here since my junior year (though he was around a bit my sophomore year visiting). I’ve loved them as staff, and when I joined them their friendship to me and Ariel only increased.

I look forward to how God will use them in Georgia. God’s hand is clearly on their life and Ariel and I both dearly love them.

Dustin and Lori- we’ll miss you.

Yesterday we packed up their house into a Truck they rented. Everything in their entire house fit into an 8’x9’x9’ space, which is actually pretty incredible. Here’s some pics as proof.

 

Craigslist

A few weeks ago I completed my first post on Craigslist – A broken camera. Today, I received my first inquiry about it. I copied it below:

CALL ME
CHECK OUT.
275-5618
EDDIE
THANK YOU

Needless to say I will probably not be following it up.

What state am i in…?

Bug

Yesterday Bryce showed me how to change spark plugs. It was epic. And saved me almost $400.

Camelback

Last weekend we celebrated my dad’s 50th Birthday by hiking camelback mountain, playing 5 games of bowling, eating tons of food, and enjoying the hot tub with a slight drizzle. It was great!

Kevin joined us for the hike, but he didn’t need the 18 rest breaks me and my dad used…

Prayer blog updated

Updated my prayer blog. Check it: http://prayforuofa.blogspot.com/

When the Gnagey’s Come to Visit…

Klein Gnagey, Ariel’s bro, is visiting for the week. We all remember what happened the last time the Gnagey’s came:

This visit’s incident was confined to the face, and only involved a sharp rock.

But in all honesty, it’s been a really fun time having Klein here.

Top 10 Highlights from this past year

1. Getting Married

2. Having flexible jobs where, despite Ariel working nights for the year, we enjoyed time together and even a handful of great vacations together.

3. “Through the Bible in a Summer” ended up taking me 5 months, but getting hit with a whirlwind of Bible all at once was one of the most enjoyable and eye opening studies I’ve done.

4. Working with Reed and Micah this past semester, and becoming better friends with them. They’re two super enjoyable guys and it’s been fun to get more into their world.

5. Where things are at the end of this semester with the ministry. God' has brought in a great freshman class who are saying things like, “I want to pray for my hall and family over break,” “I’d be interested in memorizing scripture with you,” “Let’s next semester do something together to reach out to my floor.” I’m especially excited about one student I’m friends with whose grown up in the church and I’ve had the opportunity to share the Gospel with but is carefully considering how real he considers his faith. It excites me to see students who don’t take their faith for granted or who want to be lukewarm, but rather who are interested in all or nothing.

6. For my birthday Ariel took me up to Sedona. Sitting on a balcony at starbucks looking at the red rocks in the morning with a slight rain was one of my favorite times.

7. I got bit by a rattlesnake. It sucked, but really, how many people can say that?

8. We’re having a baby! just kidding… seriously though, not true.

9. Not passing out while giving my first Nav Night talk.

10. Despite all my close friends moving away after college, I was able to spend significant time with all of them. From visiting Kurt and Heather in CO, to seeing Thart at the Glen and vacationing in Hawaii with him Meaghan and Kmomo, seeing Scraw at Nav functions, watching Tim Lin get married, and sitting next to Mike on a 6 hour plane ride.

Tim Lin has a wife!

pictures from the trip:

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I love bugs

Upon arriving at home I realized Ariel’s bug battery was totally dead. Turns out it’s harder than I thought to find a set of jumper cables on Christmas day…

Circle K – Open, no jumper cables

Safeway – Open, no cables

Auto Zone – Closed

Target – Closed

Walgreens – Open, might be out of stock, associate looks, found! But I’m already heading in the wrong direction so I continue along until…

Cheveron – Open, LAST pair of jumper cables!

Hoorah!

Highlights from Hawaii

• Poke and Shave Ice with Mike and Joni when they picked us up from the airport (Poke is Ahi marinated sushi, and shave ice is like heaven).
• Staying in a fun hotel with Ariel
• Getting handed a buy one-get one free coupon booklet our first night in Honolulu. Which we used. A lot. :)
• Staying in a perfectly adequate hotel with our friends
• Walking to, hiking, and walking back from Diamond Head (total: 8miles)
• Actually being there for John Armstrong’s post about being a real surfer. I too never got up and was on a little 6’ short board.
• Seeing Tim Lin’s intense glare through the entire wedding ceremony. He did break into a smile once :). I think he was really concentrating.
• Steven’s “second best speech ever” that most of the people couldn’t hear because the speaker wasn’t loud enough.
• Leonard’s malasadas (a freshly baked filled donut with macadamian nut goodness. I imagine this is what was hanging on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden, and that’s why Eve couldn’t resist.)
• Driving back from the North Shore on the Windward side and enjoying the most fun dinner ever with all our friends, eating an incredible pork sandwich, watching the sun set over the ocean, listening to our monotone waitress say “sure” like a dozen times.

Cam-bowl(s)!!

Today was the inaugural Mullet vs. Soups house football throw down. It was epic. Score: Mullet 40ish, Soups 7.

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December 1st

In honor of the first day of December Ariel and I celebrated by turning our heater on to 65.

A bit more celebratory was our first annual watching of White Christmas with peppermint hot chocolate while wrapping the presents we bought on black Friday. :)

Birthday Week

For my birthday my wonderful wife took me to Sedona for 2 days of rest and relaxation. It was the perfect vacation-hiking, great weather, starbucks in walking distance from the hotel, great food, and time catching up with Ariel after she worked 5 out of the last 6 days.

Collegiate Staff Conference

A lot of work went into this staff conference.  525 Collegiate Navigators staff embers flew to Florida all last week for a time of refreshment, encouraging speakers, and friends.  I was able to reconnect with my good friends Mike and Tim from University of Hawaii, as well as Scraw from UC Long Beach.

Praise God Ariel was able to join me for all 8 days of the conference.  It was so encouraging being able to experience this with her!!!  She was able to really connect with a handful of other staff members in our same EDGE class and really had a great time.

One of our highlights was being able to interact with other couples our age who are on staff.  It’s been difficult to find fellowship in Tucson with other young couples. It seems my EDGE class has the most married couples in it yet (almost more than single staffers actually…) and we enjoyed living with 2 other couples and sharing meals with several throughout the conference.

Jerry Bridges (author of several books) shared devotionals with us every morning over the Greatness of God, the Holiness of God, and the Love of God. They were some of my favorite times of the conference. Also a highlight was Mike Jordahl (former president of collegiate navs) sharing on the simplicity of a passion for Jesus.  He challenged us to not allow anything to take that place, whether good or bad. Not other ministry related things, busyness, time constraints, or results. Both Ariel and I fell blessed, cared for, encouraged and refreshed as a result of this time.

Mulleteers

Trick or Treat from the guys at the Mullet.

Through the Bible in an [extended] Summer

Today marks a significant day for me as I actually finished a goal I had previously set!  That’s pretty rare in my life…

5 months, 14 days, 4 hours and 30 minutes ago I set off to read through the Bible chronologically looking at some specific questions. I am looking forward to reviewing my notes and sorting out what I felt like God was showing me through this time.

Deb Masshoff, a NavRep who leads our bi-weekly staff Bible Study in California, keeps reiterating that the entire Bible is a story about God working through Jesus Christ.  I’ve never found that more true than now. God’s the main character. Not us.

Learning Experience…

Last night I made Oyakudon.  It was good. I nearly set off the fire alarm twice and spent 3 hours from start to finish.

San Diego but not really

Highlights from the Beach Camping trip this last weekend:

- At least a dozen students asked why we were taking I-10 instead of I-8 if we were going to San Diego.  “easy” I said, “because we’re not going to San Diego. We’re going to south LA.” The irony?  My caravan took the 8 :).

- A car of all guys from our caravan (which I won’t identify) somehow made it through border patrol not wearing any pants.

- Dustin and Bryce sumo-ing on the beach

- Richie and his bro Steven also sumo-ing in a Moreno throw-down

- Edwardo’s car breaking down at the meeting point before leaving and a group of guys pushing his car into a parking spot, with all the students staring asking themselves “…who’s going to have to ride in that car?”

- Asking the famous Scraw camping trip question to a tent full of freshman guys.

Statistics:

• 80 People
• 18 Cars
• 792 gallons of gas consumed
• 1 stingray attack
• 2 blown tires
• 8 vehicles that tried to find the beach by going east (needless to say, they got lost)
• 11 hours of sleep
• 14 hours on the beach
• 18 hours of driving
• 1000+ pictures and counting
• 2 students who were really, really, really sunburnt.