Lecrae concert

I am waiting for the Lecrae concert to start. Woohoo!

Dinner for the preggers

I had the opportunity to make Natalie a fresh Chicken Tika Masala dinner the other night.

These included chicken, coconut milk (not water), fresh roasted almond slivers, fresh ginger, garlic cloves, red onions, fresh cilantro, basmati rice, ground turmeric, natural yogurt, garam masala, tikka masala curry paste, a lemon, and some diced tomatoes. It was quite a learning experience for me. I had trouble on my first go around with the onion and cilantro being overpowering (no one sell "medium" onions, so I ended up with extra large ones).

Anyway, included are a few shots just for the fun of it.

Sept. 11, 2011

In remembrance of 9/11.

See Natalie standing at the bottom of the flag post? We found the biggest half-mast flag we could.

Watermelon smuggling

Can you find the two watermelons?

Dinner for Two

Since I am still in-between jobs and functioning as a "stay at home dad" in between my "stay-cation" duties (hanging at the beach, with friends, napping, etc.) I figured I should do a dinner for Natalie. Well, I got a little ambitious tonight, and I decided to try a parmesan asparagus risotto.

You can see the fresh ingredients I am getting here (except for the pre-prepared pesto sauce).

I also felt that it would be good to set the ambiance. On the table you see some sparkling limeade from Trader Joes (We don't usually like limeade - but that

stuff is pretty great), the top to a fresh pineapple I just cut up, some fresh shredded Parmesan cheese, and pesto sauce. There are no plates, because they're in the oven keeping warm, and the food is still keeping warm on the stove.

The food turned out pretty great. Property prepared Risotto soaks up all of the juices and flavors from the veggies. Keeping it nice and warm without drying it out was tricky since Natalie got held up at work, but adding a touch of heated water lets the Risotto soak up some extra moisture and retain its flavor. I think this is one I will have to try again!

Home again

Home again.

Maui

Natalie and I are about half way through our Hawaii vacation, and we just got done with snorkling and are enjoying another great Maui sunset. Using my modified GoPro, I got some great underwater fish footage that I will try and share here later.

Maui, Hawaii trip

Natalie and I are booked and about to head to Maui. We have a little condo in Lahaina. I am currently modifying my GoPro video camera to get good quality footage when snorkeling, and we will post pictures and videos here.

Robert's New Job

This Friday (July 15th) is my last day at Ancra International. After a couple weeks break, I will start my new job at Aero Worx. It is located in Torrance, CA - near the Torrance airport. This is the address here. I will have the title of the Manager of QC and Engineering, and it is a great opportunity for me. I am very excited and looking forward to helping this small company grow.

In the days between jobs, I am going to be really busy.

• Natalie and Robert are debating going to the L.A. Galaxy vs Real Madrid soccer game in USC's Coliseum.
• They will be visiting the Hollywood Bowl
  
• They are going to spend a few days in Maui, Hawaii
• They are going to enjoy a "stay-cation" when our really good friends, Rich and Beth Geliske visit us from their new home in Michigan. It will be nice for Robert to have a bit of time at home during the week without having to work. Beach anyone?

Hopefully we will get to document it all with our camera and our new

HD waterproof camera that I got at the REI used gear sale. Although it comes with a super durable and waterproof case - it is not designed to be used underwater (it is waterproof in case you're surfing or kayaking). Therefore, I have a project to modify a case so that it will take better quality images for when Natalie and Robert snorkel in HI.

Boy Parts

Confirmation that he is a boy, in case anyone needed further evidence. This is a shot looking up, with his two legs and manhood in the middle.

It's a boy

Well, it is a boy! This picture doesn't do the well-endowment justice (can't see it here), but there is no doubt.

Investment Opportunity

I am very excited. Today, I finally updated my Real Estate Website. It has been up for a while, but has not received an update in quite some time.

I added a new section, entitled "Investment Opportunity." Feel free to check it out.

I have been doing Real Estate related stuff for a while now, and finally have an opportunity to include friends and family.

P.S. I realize that this is sort of a sales pitch, but check out how my Rate of Return compares to major savings accounts. Nice huh? The numbers reflect a $5,000 investment for 120 days.

Burned at the Stake

This past week I read through all of Foxe's 200 pages in his book entitled "Foxe's Book of Martyrs." It was very inspiring for me, and very sobering. I also found it very interesting what issues the Protestants were willing to lay down their lives for, and what issues they were willing to confirm with their blood.

One of the most repeated issues that the Protestants were burned and otherwise tortured for under the reign of "Bloody Mary" through the influence of the Catholic Church was whether or not the communion bread and wine were literally the body and blood of Christ.

As the Protestants said, Christ was sacrificed once-for-all. There is no need, as the Catholics believed, to re-sacrifice the Savior.

In my reading, I came across a story of a martyr named "Robert Smith." I wanted to share his story with you. He was martyred around the year 1555:

"Warne, Tankervil, and Others

“After this came the persecution of ten other true servants and saints of the Lord. Not saints that the pope made or those mentioned in The Legend of the Saints or in The Lives of the Fathers, but those spoken of in Revelation: “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” In a way, the pope did make these people saints, for if he had not killed them, they would not be martyrs.

“The ten were: Elizabeth Warne, George Tankervil, Robert Smith, Stephen Harwood, Thomas Fust, William Hall, Thomas Leyes, George King, John Wade, and Joan Lashford.

“Now that the prisons of London were full and more prisoners were still arriving, the council and commissioners sent these ten people to Bonner at once, to make room for others.

…

“Robert Smith was brought to Newgate on November 5. He was a tall, slender man, active in many things, especially painting, which he found relaxing. Once he was converted by the preaching and reading of Mr. Turner and others, he was very fervent in his religion. When Queen Mary came to the throne, Smith was fired from his clerkship in Windsor College, arrested, and brought before Bishop Bonner. Smith saw Bonner four times, answering all his questions boldly, arguing theology without fear – perhaps even a little rashly – until Bonner realized he would get nowhere and condemned him on July 12.

“While in prison, Smith had been used by God to comfort those suffering with him. At the stake on August 8, he determined to do the same, telling everyone present he was sure his body would rise again. ‘And,’ he added, ‘I’m sure God will show you some sign of that.’ By the time he was nearly half burned and black from the fire, everyone thought Smith was dead, but he suddenly rose upright, lifted the stumps of his arms, and clapped them together joyfully before sinking back into the flames.”

From Foxe’s Christian Martyrs, published by Barbour Publishing, Inc. Used by permission. P140-143

A Day at the Beach...in January

It is the middle of January, and most of North America (and a significant part of Europe from what I hear) is buried in the snow. Natalie and I visited the beach. It was a perfect beach day.

Facebook post

I have posted some very witty and some very insightful and some very inspiring things on Facebook this year. Really, I have been on my "A" game.

That is why it cracks me up that this one has the most comments so far...

2010 Christmas Review

I had a few spare moments tonight to review some of the fun pictures form 2010. I thought I'd share them with you.

Natalie helping abate the amount of snow hitting the ground, by eating it!

The family on a Tahoe hike

Serene Rancho Murieta

Christmas Lights at Tahoe

The Beginning of another new Blog

Okay, so I realize that everyone (and their mother's) have a blog, but here I am with my own. Part of the reason is because I dislike Facebook, and part of the reason is because I want to remember my own thoughts from this upcoming year.

To begin, I would like to write about the things that I have seen God bless me with in 2010. I begun the year with a "book club". We covered such titles as Piper's Spectacular Sins, and MacArthur's Right Thinking in a World Gone Wrong. That was a great experience with some great friends. I really enjoyed the conversations that we shared and the deep thinking and meditation on practical aspects of God's word I was able to partake in.

I also begun reading through the whole Bible in 2010, a task I have yet to complete. I will be continuing my reading, since I was unable to finish in 1 year, like my goal stipulated. Nevertheless, I will still be able to finish, and I have still been learning and growing a lot in what I have read so far. Although this is not my first time reading through the whole Bible, I have been growing and learning a lot. In particular, I have been learning and growing in my realization that God does not want us reading and listening to sermons with the goal of "what we can DO for God", but rather how can we KNOW God better. To know God is to obey Him, but with a much deeper obedience than a legalistic approach can ever muster.

Another big event for Natalie and I this year was our trip to Europe. Since one of my goals with this blog, it is to post photos, here are my favorite 197 pictures from my Europe trip. http://picasaweb.google.com/ElJefeCP/FromEurope?authkey=Gv1sRgCMCp75aDhJjz4AE&feat=directlink I love how well they print out. Although 14 MP is too many, it allows them to be be scaled up and down easily.