jonathan’s blog

So why are my neighbors so antsy about clearing their driveways of snow?  I mean…some had their driveways cleared out the very next day!  Overachievers!  What’s the rush?  The snow is not going anywhere…

With John coming back, and the Exo-Crew coming in tomorrow and the next day…I thought I should begin clearing the driveway and walkway.  So…last night, I bundled up and went to work.  And now, after waking up with an extremely sore and exhausted body, I understand.  Snow is light.  Ice is not.  Snow is soft.  Ice is not.  Snow is easy.  Ice is NOT!  These past few days, as I lounged around and watched my neighbors hard at work clearing their snow…my snow was slowly turning into ice!  How was I supposed to know…it all looks the same!

It also doesn’t help that the way our house was positioned, we have 2 to 3 times more driveway than the usual.  I thought, great!…that means less lawn to mow.  No one ever mentioned that a long driveway also meant more snow to plow!  Anyways…reinforcements arrived today!  John drove through the snowstorm and arrived today.  He did more than 4000 miles of driving in one week!  He saw my predicament…and busted a VERY COOL Christmas gift for me.  An electric snow thrower!  Check it out, it’s very similar to a lawn mower, but instead of cutting grass, it chews up and spits out snow! 

So I went to work, plowing snow, blowing it out onto my neighbor’s driveway.  Just kidding…it was still landing on my patch of grass.  But it works great!  Thanks John, I love it! 

Oh…and that’s a Northface Windwall Fleece keeping me warm, a Christmas gift from Len/Liz.  Thanks guys!

admin The Midwest

Having fun in the snow!  Those little contraptions are “Perfect Snowball Makers”, and they do just as their names suggest, make perfect snowballs!  Kay and Bekah had a blast.  Noah, who hates the cold…also had a great time.

Here we are making use of the Costco sled we bought.  Our lot isn’t on that much of a slope…so it’s up to me to generate any real kind of speed.

That same sled!…right before I completely wiped out.

After playing in the snow, we strapped all the kids into the car and headed out.  Only to get stuck 200 feet from our home!  You can’t see it in this picture, but the other side of the car is jammed into 3 feet of snow!  Yup…me, the lame neighbor from LA drove into the snow bank.  How was I supposed to tell!…everything is white and looks the same!  Sheesh…we were STUCK.  I tried everything this car has got…Vehicle Skid Control, Low, High, 2nd Start, Locked Diff-4Wheel Drive…nothing, we were STUCK, all 4 tires spinning.  Anyways, my neighbor came out and helped us get un-stuck.  Here we are pushing, pulling, and rocking.  In the end, we had to bust out our snow shovels and dig out the whole front end.

Joy to the World!  I have been eyeing this thing ALL month.  How could I pass this up…it’s NOAH’s Ark!  It’s a blow up xmas decoration with built in lights AND movement…the Lions pop out every 30 seconds or so.  The only problem…it wasn’t cheap.  So I waited, hoping it would go on sale closer to xmas.  Went today and there were NONE left!  The only one was the floor sample…75% off!  Woohoo!  Joy to the World!

Thanks Leener for the pictures!  You are an incredible photographer!

admin My Family

Merry Christmas!  Can’t have a Christmas without spending some time remembering baby Jesus!  Here’s the nativity, done Little People style.

This is the home we woke up to.  Soft, blinding white snow was everywhere.  I’m sure the novelty of all this will soon wear off, to be replaced by the sheer inconvenience of living with snow…but for right now, it’s still such a cool crazy experience!  Forget the mustang.  No chance at all of getting that out of the driveway, onto the street, and onto the road.  The main roads get plowed…but the trick is getting to the main roads!  I said it last night, but I’ll say it again, having an SUV is perfect.  Not just any SUV…but Emily’s SUV is an offroading monster.  You can see the path we carved out from the garage.  We were bumping, slipping, and sliding all over the place as we made it to the main roads.  Lights were blinking, alarms were singing…there are SO MANY anti-slip/vehicle control/traction functions built in that were all going off, I had to get out the manual just to make sense of all that was happening!  In spite of all the cool bells and whistles…my favorite is what I call “tank mode”…where the computer shuts off all its fancy traction stuff and just locks the front and back wheels together.  We used this in our toughest spots, and still!…there were some parts we had to reverse out of.

There’s no way around getting to Lee’s Summit without going a bit off the beaten path.  Emily was so concerned about this one stretch of road that she thought was going to be trouble.  Lucky for us, when we got to that section…there were 3 snow plows clearing the path right in front of us!  Thanks God!

So what in the world were we doing out on the streets today?  Well…we had to grab Eileen from the airport today!  She came bearing gifts.  These scarves are actually from Eunice.  Thanks Eunice!

Noah actually really likes wearing scarves.  But I guess he’d had enough of the picture taking and wanted to be free to check out the other gifts.  Get this off of me!

Christmas dinner was great!  Cold outside.  Hot Pot inside!  Yum.  We did our own mixture of Chinese Fire Pot and Japanese Shabu Shabu.

After dinner festivities.  The girls + Noah baking.  I don’t think Noah was much help.

A special Christmas gift from me to myself!  I LOVE Hawaiian Hurricane Popcorn.  Thanks to the internet and the best mail system in the world, I had some delivered!  It came yesterday, but the mailbox was frozen shut and I couldn’t get to it.  I went out today with a squirt bottle of hot water and opened it up for my grub!

admin My Family, The Midwest

Merry Christmas!

But before we get to today…it’s been a busy couple of weeks!  Here’s a super quick recap…

Bekah had a school show…

And while I’m sure Noah loved his sister’s wonderful performance, here is what he really came for…

At Bekah’s school, there is a really beautiful statue of Jesus blessing little children.  Here are our children crowding around the Son of God!

Kay had a school show…

Which happened to be on the same day as Bekah’s show.  Yup…it was a FULL day.  So full, that we didn’t stay around for the refreshments at Kay’s show.  Sorry Noah!…no more M&M Cookies or Rice Crispy Treats.

No more school till next year.  Christmas vacation has officially begun!!!

I’m actually not really sure why they we so excited, or why they were jumping for joy for that matter.  We were outside, just enjoying the not so cold weather, when suddenly the air was filled with bird noises.  I’m not kidding…seriously filled!  It was SO LOUD, it sounded like we were being attacked by a mass of velociraptors from Jurassic Park!  We looked up, and there were HUNDREDS of geese flying in formation!  At the expense of looking like a total bonehead, I ran into the house to get my camera and take some pics.  I’m sure the neighbors were thinking…”There go those SoCal folk again…taking pictures of nothing…”

With Christmas just around the corner…and a REAL kitchen at our disposal, Emily baked some Christmas cookies with the girls.  Kay was so proud of her decorations, she insisted I take a picture of her creations.  Hard to tell in the pics, but they are Christmas stocking and Christmas tree cookies.

Which brings us to today, the main event!  Our first “White” Christmas!  It began to snow sometime in the afternoon…and then it really started dumping around dinner time.  Here is a picture of our street.  You can’t even make out where the street begins and ends!  It was crazy being on the freeway, not knowing where the lanes where, cutting a path through the snow and making a way.  SO FUN having an SUV in severe weather!

My mustang getting buried.  Not worth much in the snow.

It’s nice to be indoors with the heater on.  We spent the evening with just the five of us.  Coziest Christmas EVER!  The kids ate LingLing Costco Dumplings and Emily and I brought home this yummy Kalbi Soup.  Perfect for such a cold day!  We spent some family time in worship, remembering Jesus…and then dived into some gift opening.

Merry Christmas!!!

admin My Family, The Midwest

It’s snowing again!  Which means it’s really cold again!  Well…it never stopped being cold, but the sight of snow just makes it feel colder.  So this is how the kids spent their saturday morning.  Huddled close together in front of the TV, using Nemo as a pillow, sharing Bekah’s warm Hello Kitty blanket, watching Kids OnDemand.  That’s Bekah chatting away on the mobile with her Grandpa and Grandma.

admin My Family

Sometime in the middle of last week, I got a call from Kay’s school that they were closing shop early.  A water main broke, and there was no running water at the school.  Apparently that’s a health code violation, which means everyone has to go home!

I had heard that there was some exciting things going on at IHOP…the Holy Spirit falling and other such cool things, so I picked Kay up and headed over to the prayer room.  I got there sometime just after 11:00 AM…and as soon as I walked in, I was dumbstruck.  I stood there, just holding Noah with Kay at my side…completely overwhelmed with the sheer power, might, and majesty of God.  It was as if his tangible Glory had filled the room.  All around, people were just lost in his presence, taken up into worship.

I finally got my bearings and scooted Kay over to a couple of empty seats.  I started to explain to her that something special was going on…and that sometimes you can just tell that God is moving powerfully.  As I was talking to her, they started singing this simple chorus:

Just a little while longer and I’ll see you,
Just a little while longer and I’ll know you,
Just a little while longer and we’ll be together…

Since I was already in ‘explaining’ mode, I thought I’d continue explaining to Kay what they were all singing about.  I started to tell Kay that they were singing about Jesus’ return…and I just totally lost it!  It’s hard to explain, but as I heard the chorus being sung, over and over…I heard, and almost felt, an audible/spiritual “groan”.  The Holy Spirit was moving so powerfully, it was as if all of creation was groaning for his return.  It was like waves of God’s Spirit, in us, causing us to groan, yearn, long for his return.  I stopped explaining things to Kay, held Noah, and just stood there and wept uncontrollably…caught up with the rest of creation.

You can hear it here. (just a little while longer)  It’s not from the time I heard it, but it’s still totally powerful.  Sorry, it’s a HUGE file…I’m still learning how to use this compression program.

Romans 8:20-23 - Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

Update: 02/09/2010 - There have been a ton of people asking about this song.  If you want a copy of it for yourself, you can “right-click” on the link in the post or right here  (just a little while longer) and do a “Save Target As”…and it’ll download to your computer’s harddrive.  You can listen to it any time, or load it into your ipod, etc…

admin Reflections

What is this?  I mean seriously…what is this??  6 degrees?  Windchill and humidity makes it feel like -5 degrees?  Come on!

We picked up my parents from the airport yesterday.  Here they are with the grandkids and welcome to KC sign.

What exactly did we welcome them to?  Snow!  It started snowing in the evening.  This is probably a really lame post for some…but being a SoCal native, I’ve never lived in a place that actually gets snow!  I thought it was really beautiful.

The morning after…really early.  I woke up to check and see if Kay/Bekah would be having school today.  Nada!

Here is Grandpa getting a cold workout.  Noah is absent…he REALLY doesn’t like the cold.  He stood outside, all bundled up, for a few minutes.  Then just ran inside crying.  The two girls had a lot of fun in the snow.

Here is our snow covered home.  Yeah, I quit my job 2 weeks ago (Thank you God!) then went and bought myself a BMW M3.

No!  Totally kidding about the M3.  That’s John Cheng’s car…he’s going to be staying with us for a few months.  John, good luck with those racing tires in the snow!

Here is my crazy son…in yet another one of those moments of indecision.  Not his indecision…my indecision!  Undecided on whether I should run to protect him, get mad at him for climbing the stairs on the outside of the rail, or run and get my camera.  I think I did all three at some point…probably in reverse order of what I just listed.

Too cold and too crowded to go to the Student Awakening meetings.  But have faith!…we can still be blessed remotely, through the webstream.  Here, Kay and Emily are praying for themselves to catch the FIRE!

admin My Family, The Midwest

We’ve been coming out to these IHOP-KC conferences for several years now…and really early on Kay caught on to what God was doing.  It seemed like her spirit just clicked with God’s Spirit…and she began participating in ways that I don’t think she even fully understood.

As a parent…let me just say, it is absolutely AWESOME to watch your kids begin to interact with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. 

Every now and then, Bekah would give signs that she’s beginning to ‘get it’…and I was really excited to see what moving to IHOP-KC would do for her journey.

Well…the other night, I was telling the kids the Moses/Exodus story before putting them down to sleep.  And wow!…Bekah new so many of the details!  I guess they do a little of the story every day of her pre-school.  I was so proud of her.  And then…the other night, when the Awakening meetings started…Bekah started yelling out in the car, “God is coming down!”  And then she burst out into hysterical laughter for a few minutes.  I asked her what was going on…and she told me she didn’t know, and was now on the verge of tears!  I think she somehow briefly tapped into God’s power and presence! 

And now…just a couple of days ago, I was privy to a sister-to-sister theological discussion of Jesus, which I choose to stay totally out of.  Kay and Bekah were in the bathtub taking a bath…

Bekah:  Do you think Jesus has a butt?
Kay:  hahahaha!  Bekah, don’t ask those kinds of questions.
(a few moments of silence)
Kay:  Well…he probably does have a butt.

Wow.  What in the world goes through this little 4 year old’s mind?  Glad she has her big sister to bounce these kinds of questions off of!

Anyways, go Bekah!  May God continue to open your eyes and heart to more of him!

admin My Family

No more Lina.  For three fun filled weeks our kids got to tramp around Kansas City with their favorite cousin.  Last week that came to a sad and abrupt halt as Lina boarded a plane with her mommy and daddy to head back to LA.  It’s been almost a week since their departure and we are all still going through lina-withdrawals.  We miss you little girl!

Here are the cousins at Union Station.

During our Thanksgiving feast, a friend of ours told us about a train exhibit in Union Station.  We thought the kids would love to see this, so we made the trip out to downtown KC, Union Station.  Here is Noah, barely able to keep in the excitement!

I’m not much of a train person.  I don’t think I ever had a train type toy growing up.  But I must say, it was a pretty impressive display of model trains!

Here are the two buddies watching the train drive by.  I think Noah just loved having someone around his own size!

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Caramel Apples.  Yum.  I don’t even want to imagine the damage a sticky sugary substance like caramel does to our kid’s teeth…but it’s all good, we are on vacation!…kind of…

With Line gone, Noah and Bekah have to figure out new ways to have fun.

With Lina gone, Noah has to make new friends.  Here is one of his new good play buddies.  “No-man”…as Noah affectionately calls him.

With Lina gone, my daughters make funny faces at me before they go to sleep.

Come back soon Lina!

admin My Family

Awakening Meetings.  If you haven’t already heard, God has been doing some really amazing things here in Kansas City, at IHOP (International House of Prayer).  Starting a few weeks ago, God has been pouring out his Spirit in tangible and supernatural ways.  God has been moving, touching, healing, setting people free…it’s very exciting to see God powerfully changing all these lives.  He’s also ‘filling’ up his people, leaving many to appear drunk!…just as spectators in the book of Acts made the same comments about the Apostles.

Emily and I have been trying to go as much as we can…but it isn’t easy with three kids and freezing cold weather!  Today Leonard and Liz watched Noah, so Emily and I took the two girls and headed on over to see what God was doing…absolutely amazing testimonies!  God has been pouring out his Spirit…and this last week, with everyone going back home for Thanksgiving, they are taking the fire and power back to where they are from.  Family members getting healed and saved.  This one guy, was moved to start sharing the Gospel at a Walgreens where he was buying ice cream.  Before he knew it, he had a line of people wanting to hear the Gospel, some people weeping as God’s love was being poured out, and a couple others flat out on the floor under the power of the Holy Spirit…all at Walgreens!

We’ve seen a lot of these physical manifestations of God’s presence before…but there is something in the air here that is very different.  The majority of people involved are ‘kids’…in their early or mid 20’s.  They are here to attend IHOP-University…and so have already committed to be a part of this 24×7 house of prayer.  They have already decided to sacrifice so much to go deep with God.  They have already chosen to give it all for Passion for Jesus.  This current Awakening, as it is being called, is taking the passion that is ALREADY there, and just pouring more fire on it.

The focus really seems to be on Jesus.  Not the shaking, or falling down, or drunkenness in the spirit…or even the healings and deliverances!  It really does seem to be about God loving us, and us loving God.  It also really does feel like this is just the beginning.  I love that they have decided to call these meetings “Awakening” meetings…as it captures the idea that there is more to come, and at the same time draws back to our country’s history (First and Second Great Awakenings) while casting a vision for perhaps a Third (and final!?) Great Awakening.

Anyways…I cannot believe God would move us out here to KC, to be right in the middle of all of this.  We got here right in time!  I am so in awe of God’s timing, how gracious to us!  Here is a pic from tonight’s meeting.

admin Reflections