A dream come true!

Best of the Bay - Espetus San Francisco from Espetus.com on Vimeo.

Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 13:19
A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul...

Remember and be grateful...

After soliciting input about how to deal with a tight financial situation and strong desire to go snowboarding with my wife - 3 friends offered to provide $50 each! This might be a conspiracy of love...

I just want to be grateful for God's blessings on my friends, and moving their hearts to share those blessings with us! Because of God's Kingdom we are very rich indeed!

We will continue to ask God to honor his promise to Abraham for us as well:
Genesis 12:3
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Proverbs 11:25
A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.


Luke 16:9
I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.


Romans 13:8
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.

Tim(e) Well Spent

I took vacation time this past December for a couple reasons:

1. Help keep Jess out of the Darkness of a Deep Depression
2. Spend time with friends and family
3. Have a few adventures
4. Because I had to... work was closed (for 1 week)

I am happy to reflect on this time off as being well spent (as am I, after it all!)...

• Dec10 - Girls' 2 year birthday. Brought pizza and cupcakes to school and prepped the house for the party.
• Dec11 - Successful 2nd Bday Bash for the Babies... Zip line action, kids wielding plastic clubs against a volleyball-pinata, Noah's Ark cake. Good time. HUGE attendance, too many gifts, spoiled babies. But with so much food, fun, friends, and family - we're just really grateful to be so loved.
• Dec13 - Helped make the twins' two year check up with the doctor a (marginally) less difficult experience.
• Dec15 - Participated in Mirabel's goal-planning meeting at WeCare.
• Facilitated for MJ's first actual use of the toilet (miraculous milestone, as any parent will attest).
• Dec18 - Join Nate Cox on a missing car investigation... aiding him in the exploration of a deep ditch off of a deserted road, in the rain. Nice little adventure :-)
• Dec20+21 - got all my Christmas shopping done in 1 day, but went and scored $30 cash back by returning everything and applying coupons!
• Dec24 - Hosted Christmas Eve with the Littleton Family.
• Top gifts received: HDMI cable, Kirkwood snowboarding gift-cards, Munchking Expansions! 
• Dec25 - Attended Brunch with the Littletons, saw Jack & Mimi.
• Hosted Christmas with the Croses - Josh & Ivette made it over. Even Victor and Arica made it over for a surprise visit!
• Dec26 - Sandy & KC visit, and bring a demonic singing dog.
• Dec27 - Went to JumpSkyHigh and let the girls jump their silly little hearts out! Garrett Savage made a special appearance and hung out for the afternoon.
• Dec28 - Got my filling fixed (yay).
• Installed a pull-up bar that does double duty by supporting an indoor swing.
• Dec29 - Visited the Walters crew and played some Halo game.
• Dec30 - Took the girls to SuperFranks and burned them down over 3 hours and 3 different rooms!
• In-N-Out pig-out. Yum! 2 Double-Doubles went down all too easily.
• M.Allum came over, shared some stories, showed us some Adaptive Biblestudies, and proved to be quite a useful partner in New Super Mario Bros Wii.
• Dec31 - Matt Sustaita graced us with a Visit and babysat for us to have a quick date!
• Went to YogurtLand with my wifee to consume some pro-biotic goodness and read our Bibles and reconnect.
• Popped "fireworks" popcorn as a family for the girls' entertainment :-)
• Had AK+Cat, Jwong, and Garry "the Hulk" Hernandez over for some good grubbin', "Apples to Apples", Bomberman Blast, and ringing in the New Year! (and surprise: Jess participated in all of it!!!)
• Jan1 - Played Munchkin using my newly expanded gargantuan deck with J.Struwe and M.Allum.
• Watched "Twilight: Eclipse" with my wifee (the peaceful couch-time made up for the weak movie).
• Jan2 - Visited my Grandma June for lunch along with my parents.

I also...

• Went to at least 5 different parks with the kids to help burn off some toddler energy.
• Witnessed (and captured) many precious moments with my girls: around 40 new vids and a ton of pics generated.
• Finished the first Dexter book. Restarted The Shack.
• Discovered and completed the Trigun anime series (loved it!)

Writing all this out really helps me to think back gratefully on this time. Thanks to all who intersected my life at any point and made this vacation a good one!

Ecclesiastes 5:19 (New International Version, ©2010)

¹⁹ Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God.