I was into this really underground indie band from the pacific northwest called Death Cab, and when I told people what bands I like, I would intentionally omit this band becuase people assumed I was into deathmetal.

There was a crappy attack on NYC, and I halfway thought I might get drafted into the military.

There was this cool new store called Amber-cromber and Finch. They sold some sweet velor tracksuits. It was giving Structure a run for its money because their pants were more cargo-y and their male models didn't wear shirts, even in the snow. Thankfully I shopped at the gap, and can still wear those clothes because plaid and slogan tees are neither cool or uncool ever.

There was a cool retro-flashback show on VH1- who never played rap or hip hop-- called I Love the 80's.

Ozzy was the king of reality TV.

The Motorola razor was king of the rest...because it was good for this new things like phone-email called texting.

Hummers were obnoxious. (some things never change)

Pliez were paper, and fifty cents was a soda.

This Aptow guy showed promise.

Moby spent 15 minutes in the spotlight, then quickly returned to his studio apartment full of synthesizers.

And I got married.

In our eight years of marriage we have had some good times, bad times, and just times. We've been through a couple of situations so intensely personal that I can't post about them. We do some weird / fun things too. One fun thing was from a game called "the Sims" (you may have heard of it) we started to leave each othe notes that said "Wubby Dub".... rarely one will still surface. But here's the bullet points from eight years for those out of the loop....and for those in the loop..maybe you can say "oh! I remember that!"

Surprise! You're having a baby!

Congrads Joel--you finished college.

Awww man... we lost a baby.

Joel, Kristin-- would you like to do worship music at a church for the poor in a rich land?

Joel, are you sure you should spend a thousand bucks on RC cars?

Congrads Joel, you got a promotion.

Let's try and different church...and then you can immediately be overwhelmed with youth group stuff.

Shoot your leg with a roofing nailer.

Lose some weight.

Complete triathlon

Gain weight

lose weight

Complete triathlon

Gain weight

Aww man...we lost another baby.

Lose job.

Brokenness. Reliance on God.

God provides

Working in a great place, serving God like never before.

Baby turns into little boy

Struggling with no baby, enjoying Luke

Boy goes to kindergarden

Joel goes to grad school.

Loving life, worrying too much, enjoying Luke and Kristin. Learning to ignore the uncertainty and trust God more.

Though I'm fairly sure Kristin's highlight reel would be different, she was present in mine completely. If not for her the reel doesn't exist. Not only is there no one else I would rather gog through all this with, there is no one else I would have made it through all this with.

I've enjoyed the adventure, grown through the struggles, and look forward to the next 40 years or so.

PS. Thanks for the coffee pot.