[christmas at pepperdine] on Vimeo

[christmas at pepperdine] on Vimeo

[christmas at pepperdine] from JJ Starr on Vimeo.

We had a wonderful tree-lighting ceremony at Pepperdine a week ago. Madison was one of the readers and she was caught on video here dancing with a friend. Such fun!

Marcus is 7

Marcus is 7
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

Here are some photos of Marcus' 7th Birthday party. It was a monster theme and a lot of fun. http://tr.im/FDI2

My first visit to China

Hutong Cafe
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

I had a wonderful time in China last week. Highlights include a trip to the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, Tienanmen Square, the Olympic Village, and the wonderful shopping and dining in Beijing.

I also met with four of our second-year students from Pepperdine who are studying in Beijing this fall. They graciously showed me around the city and took me to lunch at this delightful hole-in-the-wall in a hutong (alley). The food was amazing, and I felt so generous when I picked up the entire tab for lunch at 28RMB (about $7). Notice we're all still in our coats because it was about 35 degrees in the restaurant (and about 25 outside!).

Indian with DC Friends

Indian with DC Friends
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

The Kirby's came to town for a one-day surfing lesson. We were able to get together with them and the Crowe/Warfords for dinner at a local Indian place. A wonderful evening of fun and fabulous food.

Literally? Give to the poor? Really?

My good friend Rich Beck had this on his blog last week. Funny stuff...

Play-doh creations

Play-doh creations
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

Marcus and I spent the morning making fall-themed play-doh creations before school. Here are two candy corns, a car, bat, turkey, corn, and snowman. While the snowman is not exactly fall themed, it's a mythical creature in LA so we can make it whenever we want.

Marcus' homework...

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

I was going over Marcus' homework today and found this. In case you can't read it...
"The worst thing about TV is dad is an NFL fan. NO!"

Why am I the only sports-fan in four generations of Williams?

2009 Halloween Costumes

2009 Halloween Costumes
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

Here they are for the 2009 edition...

Pumpkins with friends

Pumpkins with friends
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

2009 Halloween Costumes

 

Unfortunately, Matt didn't make this photos because he's in bed with the flu. :-(

Two quick Marcus stories...

1) This morning when he woke up, first thing he said was

"i just remembered...you guys owe me a lot of money!"

Why is that?

Because every time you let me buy something, you keep the change!

2) Last night he and I stayed home to watch the terrible Redskins lose another game. While we were there he said,

"Dad, I'm gonna build a website."

OK.

So, he got started. Here is what he has so far...

Let's Squish our fruit together...

Another new musical from ImprovEverywhere. Good stuff...

Rehearsing for an audition...

#1 Son is auditioning for the middle-school musical this week. It's been fun watching him learn a monologue, practice some dance moves, and sing "Footloose". In fairness, I have to say "Footloose" has to be the most difficult song I've ever tried to sing. It's in funny register, has no real melody besides the endless repetition of "Footloose". I wish he had chosen to sing something else...oh well.

One more thing...I've never seen Footloose. When I was a kid I somehow thought it was an immoral movie. I honestly don't know why...I was OK with dancing and my folks let me go to school dances. Who knows the mind of a teenager...

Bengals and steelers at church

Bengals and steelers at church
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

Our annual Oktoberfest Root Beer Festival at Conejo Church brings out the best in everyone...even Steelers & Bengals fans.

Marcus' New Tie

Marcus' New Tie
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

Marcus has been wanting a bow tie for months (since July I'd say). This week his Mimi and a neighbor both sent him bowties! He is in heaven. Here he is wearing the one from Mimi. You can see his proud smile just glowing.

Does this sound familiar?

It's hard to believe this rose to the level of a lead national story at Yahoo! News today.  Quite sad...


Hundreds leave pioneering Fla. megachurch - Yahoo! News

Lunch w/ George Clooney

Today I took a colleague out to lunch at a favorite Malibu dive.  About 10-minutes into lunch a trio of bikers pulled up, dismounted, and took the table next to us.  Among them...George Clooney.  The first time I've seen him in my 5+ years in the Bu.  Nice.

The Center for Faith and Learning

Pepperdine University this week announced that I will be the Interim Associate Director for the Center for Faith & Learning over the next academic year. The Director is in Germany this year and the Associate Director is on sabbatical.

The announcement was accompanied by a spot on the PU home page and a press release and podcast interview. I'm looking forward to the challenges and opportunities this will bring.

Sacred Doubt...

I preach at our home church once or twice a year and I greatly enjoy it. Like playing guitar, I get much more pleasure from the process than my limited skills reveal. I agreed to preach the last Sunday in August way back in March and I've been thinking about it for some time. Mostly my sermon dealt with my summer reading.

This summer I read Voltaire's Candide and Dawkins' The God Delusion and together they pushed me to think much more deeply about my faith and to wrestle more intensely with some of my intellectual doubts. After completing them both I found myself in quite a spiritual funk for several weeks. Seeking some intellectual comfort, I found Tim Keller's Reason for God. I found it encouraging and helpful for addressing many of the intellecutal and philosophical quandaries raised by Voltaire and Dawkins. The first half of RfG is a philosophical response to athiesm and the second half is a basic introduction to the theological pillars of orthodox Christianity.

Given the contours of my spiritual journey over the past eight weeks it seemed appropriate that I would talk about doubt. So, here it is...I don't know if there will be an audio version available or not. If you don't have time to read it I will summarize with this quote from Tennyson,

There is more faith in sincere doubt than in all your creeds.

Enjoy, and my God grant you mercy in your journey.

A great week at camp

We just returned from a wonderful week at King's Kamp. Too much fun!

Lunch at Air & Space Museum

Another great day in DC.

Cafe Acropolis

Dinner in Summersville WV after 10 hrs of riding. What a day.

Great riding in WV

We are who knows where in central Appalachia riding through some
beautiful land. So far it's dry.

Day one on the Buell

I rented a Buell for the week. Today Dad, Roger, Mark & I rode around
Md & Va. Thus pic is from White's Ferry across the Potomac.

Lobster pound in Bar Harbor

We just arrived in Bar Harbor. First stop is for Lobster!

Hampton Beach NH

On our way to Maine we made a short stop in New Hampshire to play.
Next stop- Bangor, ME!

Playing in Hyannis

In front of the JFK Memorial on the Cape.

The Mayflower

In front of the Mayflower in Plymouth

Samuel Adams

At Quincy Narket in Boston.

Best Jersey pizza

My favorite pizza place in Hackettstown-enzo's.

The world's largest Crayola

15 ft long and 16 inches in diameter. Cool.

Crayon Heaven

At the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA.

On our way

Our first stop towards Boston for Sakai09 was Amish Country
Intercourse, PA.

The Walls take Washington!

CIMG9077
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

We met the Wall family on the mall in Washington to watch the fireworks on July 4th. A great show, and wonderful times. We two families will actually be traveling similar iteneraries over the next week, but this may be the only time we get to see one another. :-)

Kids tables

Kids tables
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

Not to be left out...here are the kids from the Hopper's dinner.

Dinner with friends

Dinner with friends
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

The Hoppers had us and the Portzels over for dinner the other night. Such fun to be with good friends.

Eating like a Hoosier at Pink's

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Hot dogs at Pink's

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One of my favorite girls was the first awake.

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I go to Joshua Tree every year. I hike with Dad.

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Father's Day with Friends

Father's day with friends sleeping in the sun. Nice.

Is this another media build-up?

This article scares the pidudy out of me because it reminds me of the media hype 18-24 months before the Iraq invasion.  Do you think this is the beginning of a Korean invasion?  

Joshua Tree Sunrise

Here are some photos of a beautiful sunrise at Joshua Tree NP.

A human bridge

A human bridge
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

This is the only shot I got of Matt. The rest of the time he was out playing with his friends and I barely saw him. We all had a blast though. We went on one hike together and had a great time. It was funny hearing Matt worry about Marcus ("Careful Marcus... I don't think you can make this step, you have to be big like me for that one...")

They do grow up fast...

Our first summit

Our first summit
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

With overlooks and dropoffs like this, you can see why Michelle is happy she doesn't come to this annual camping trip. She would probably freak out with fear.

Cave + Tunnel = Cunnel

Cave + Tunnel = Cunnel
Originally uploaded by 5 Ms In SoCal

We found lots of these on our recent trip to Joshua Tree. We had a blast, the only thing missing was a photo of all three of us together. Doh!

Tonight's entertainment. Courtesy of Dr. Griffin. Nice.

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The Malibu Phillies take Dodger's stadium

I coached Tater's Tball team this year. We were the Phillies (don't ask me why!) So, when the Phillies came to town, we took our kids to the game. We had a great time and saw Andre Ethier hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 12th. Such a great game!

Enjoying a Dodgers dog at the big game.

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