Weird Wedding Tradisitons

So Christine, a former 2100 intern, posted this not to long ago and I found it rather amusing. All I can say is that Matt and I totally missed out...and Christine...you should go for it!
How to invite the pope to your wedding

National Political Conventions

I'm grateful that the powers at be decided to schedule the national political conventions the weeks following the Olympics. As the Olympics were drawing to a close, I had some concerns about what I would do with an extra 4 hours at night. But thanks to PBS...I that void has been filled. Thank you Jim Lehrer!

Minnesota

Having grown up in churches where 85% of the pastors hailed from Minnesota, it was great to finally visit what they always refered to as "God's Land." We spent a weekend about 20 minutes north of Minneapolis so Matt could photograph a wedding. Best part of the weekend was sitting along the banks of the Mississippi river for the first time. (Made me want to build a raft and go Huck Finn on life)

Funniest part of the weekend was trying to get out of the city and missing half the exits, getting on the wrong freeways and spending about a hour making u turns and nearly circling the entire city. It's like we've forgotten what freeways are!

Olympic sayings

Thank you Olympic commentators for contributing to our household phraseology. Some of our favorite new phrases so far are:
"silly strong"
"fairy tail good"
"crazy hard"
"scary good"
"I think my grandma could anchor this race"

I'm not sure what I like better, the competition or the commentators.

Memories

I stumbled upon this the other day from a post from Kim N. It brought back many memories and made me quite happy. THE EVOLUTION OF DANCE (http://www.theevolutionofdance.com)

finger lickin' stickyness good

An advantage (among many) to the Midwest is that we are that much closer to real BBQ. On my recent trip to North Carolina I was introduced to the beauty of real BBQ. I have learned that what we call BBQ in California is just grilling on an open flame, and I still love and miss that, but real BBQ is slow cook with great sauces. Also a classic BBQ place needs to conform to several rules that are better explained by on a co-worker on his blog here. Sarah and I visited one of Madison many BBQ places this past weekend and although it was not the best we have consumed it was sure good for the BELLY.

It's a Wisconsin Thing

Walking tacos. What is that you might ask?
Some sort of bag that is filled with frito lay's chips and then has taco meat (or chili) dumped on them sprinkled with cheese. I understand the walking part. Still working on the taco part.

The Key to My Neighbor's House: Seeking Justice in Bosnia and Rawanda

After having spent time in Sarajevo, Bosnia, I came home wanting to know more about the history and culture of that region. I remember challenging myself to read 1 book about Bosnia a year. While it has now been about 3 years since I have been in Bosnia, I finally got around to picking up a book about Bosnia. Better late than never I guess. There are many books out there about Bosnia and the war and I randomly chose one based on the title. It proved a lot more powerful than I thought it would be.

The book "The Key's to My Neighbor's House: Seeking Justice in Bosnia and Rawanda" broaches the topic of what does it realistically look like to seek justice in the aftermath of human suffering and wrongs. As a Christian it left me wondering if justice really is something attainable this side of heaven or something that an earthly court can bring about. The author, Elizabeth Neuffer, did not shy away from the complexities of war's aftermath particularly in today's global society and gave me a much better understanding of the UN and evolution of war tribunals.

It's a very real and stark look at how war and war tribunals opperate in todays world. It's a challenging read and definatly not one for the faint of heart...but I would highly recommend it as it's left me with many more questions than answers (something which I appreciate).

Because of that, I'm highly looking forward to reading Gary Haugen's new book next entitled "Just Courage". I'm hoping he can bring a bit of the Christian perspective back in the fight for justice.

Things that make me smile

Rediscovering, cooking and then eating grammy's berry cobbler recipe:

Mix 1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder

Add 1/2 cup milk
1 heaping Tbsp melted butter
Pour mixture into a greased pan or bowl.

Spread 1 pint of berries over the top (I used 1 bag of frozen black berries slightly thawed)
Sprinkle 3/4 cup sugar over berries.

Pour 1 cup boiling water over the top of the berries/sugar.

Bake at 350 for about 40-60 minutes

I'm always surprised by this recipe in that it seems backwards and pouring boiling water over everything seems strange....but the result is worth the weirdness.

July Prayer letter

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