Brother Sun, Sister Moon

For those who can watch the first 30 minutes or so of this film without turning it off there is in store a great reward. It is not at all that the first half hour is grusome or profane in anyway, it is just a little... well... a little 1973. But really, endure, because this is a beautiful film. The movie covers the early life of St. Francis (Francesco) and the struggle he feels between the life he is on track to lead (one of earthly success and normalcy) and the life he feels called and deparate to lead, a life following Christ. My advice: WATCH IT.

"A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master."

Matthew 10:24-25a

Religitics and Politigion

Jim Wallis and Jon Stewart discuss a new spiritual and political generation centered on a moral compass. Check it out!



Also, I found this other website that will let you compare Presidential Candidate's ideas on issues of social justice and poverty. ( http://www.onevote08.org/ontherecord/ ) Personally, I wish that government wasn't the one being sent to the front lines of these critical issues, but as long as they are taking in so much money... I would much rather see it sent to cure poverty and end social injustice rather than many other endeavors.

The Capitol

I am pretty sure I am proud to be an American, but I know that I am proud to be friends with Team Rose. A week ago Tuesday we received a radical invitation to join our dear friends in Washington D.C. for the long MLK weekend. So, thanks to the encouragement of those here and there, and largely thanks to AirTran's "Start the New Year in a New City" sale, we decided to spend recklessly and buy our way onto planes, trains, and automobiles to join the DC party!

Once there we found out that even though this was their idea, they hadn't done any research at all! But luckily Ang and I saved the day again and had a host of good ideas on how to efficiently see the city while having plenty of good food and good times. And of course Katy, the human compass, was extremely helpful as always (by the way be looking for the TV release of "Katy the Human Compass" on discovery... seriously... http://www.compasskaty.discovery.com/ it is kinda like SurvivorMan or Man vs. Wild) Kristian did not contribute.

Okay, so maybe about 25% of the above paragraph is true, but we did have an amazing time seeing the sights and soaking up the precious love graciously extended by dear dear friends! Here are some pics of what we saw! Oh... and also, we got to see Sarah Whiting (who lives on the Hill)!! It was wonderful to see her again too even though she did berate us for being tourists.

The National Cathedral

This place was amazing! Def. worth the mile and a half walk in the freezing temps!

Hanging out at the Mall

Ang and Sarah outside Old Ebbit's after a amazing meal we all shared.

THE ZOO!!

The National Zoo was a must see for us obviously!

We found Texas and Michigan right next to each other at the WW2 Memorial... so we took this nerdy pic.

Korean War Memorial

Ang and Kristian at the Museum of Natural History

Perhaps this one is better left unexplained

What a wonderful trip!!! For more great, and very similar pictures check out:

http://kristiankatyrose.blogspot.com/2008/01/district-of-columbia.html

How everyone wishes they would have spent their new year...

I don't know if it was the most exciting New Year's to date...but certainly memorable. Having family in town is always fantastic, and so we were excited to spend a fun day of opening presents (not a weird New Year's eve tradition, just Christmas a few days late), seeing a movie, and then maybe heading down to Victory Park for Dallas's new claim on New Year's - NYE in the Big D. It was a promising night. Now, most of those things did come true...we had a great day with family, appreciating the love and generousity of others, and saw The Great Debaters (great flick, by the way). But, that's when things changed...we're getting old. We came back to my brother's apartment...all started to get tired, and struggled through a game which was played purely to try and liven us all up. That didn't work too well, and at 11 Chris and Jen called it a night, so my parents, donald, and I made the return trip home. We didn't think we could make the Big D celebration, so we figured we could find a compromise by driving to the top of our parking garage and waiting for the fireworks. And right at midnight...no fireworks in sight, but we could hear them...and we did catch a pretty awesome spotlight. What a way to bring in 2008!

Regardless of how you spent your New Year's Eve, we hope that you had an evening that was filled with those you care about and love. May 2008 be a year that you feel God's love and grace over you and are aware of the beauty in your life.

Happy New Year!