Kevin & Julie graduating

My dear friend Julie (or as we like to call her now, Dr. J) graduated from medical school from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill.

In the same day, and only an hour apart, her hubby Kevin graduated from Duke Divinity school with a master in divinity. In the picture you can see Todd helping hood Kevin during the ceremony. It was such a fun day even with the downpour.

We love you Kevin & Julie, and miss you so much, even though it's only been 5 days :-( since you left to move to California. Can't wait to see you again.

Monique's Baby Shower

Monique's baby shower was awesome, here are some pictures from it. WE LOVE YOU MONIQUE!

ps the one with Marcia, Adam, & Les having "yuck" face is them trying without looking, just tasting gross baby food flavors.

The Shack by William Young

Well, my friend Erin (thanks Erin!) mailed me a copy of this book as a gift, and I was excited because so many people have read it & loved it. I've had a few friends not like it also.

I really enjoyed it and each night as I was going to bed, I was excited to read & find out what was going to happen next. I was a very refreshing way to think about God, it broke some molds that I have in my head--to make me think, why couldn't God come in the form of a funny African American woman? --God can do anything. It was very relational, loving, forgiving, & merciful look at how God is.

My heart was warmed and it really made me think that I want to suggest it to people who are grieving or need a new look at God because the one they see not they don't like/agree with.

The Call To Converstion by Jim Wallis

This book was years in the making for me reading it. When we first got married (2003), Todd really wanted me to read this book, but I just wasn't there in my understanding or caring about these things.

So I picked it back up again a few months ago and have finished it. I really enjoyed. It certainly did a great job messing with me and what I have always found to be true about what it means to be a Christian.

After reading different books by Shane Claiborne, Rob Bell, & others, I was interested and eager to learn what Jim Wallis had to say. Wallis is a pretty great leader, he's been doing this for 30 some years, and helped found the community Sojourners. He's written many books like God's Politics, Waging Peace and Peacemakers, and The Ministers Manual. He is all about social equality, ending poverty, living in community, and ending war.

Here is a foretaste of this awesome, life changing book:
"Jesus talked more about wealth and poverty than almost any other subject, including heaven and hell, sexual morality, the law, or violence. One out of every ten verses in the Synoptic Gospels is about the rich and the poor; in Luke, the ratio is one our of seven. Thus , the subject of money, possessions, and the poor is hardly a casual concern or passing interest to the biblical writers. The Bible is literally filled with it. In the midst of our study, we began to wonder why the topic had been so completely ignored in all of our church upbringings."