lilly's pad

pilgrimage to the big z!

finally! i a pilgrim site visited! i made to zondervan. i had a great lunch with john raymond today and saw the inner workings of mecca...john was nice enough to give me the tour  and now i really feel like an author!
the big z has an amazing building with a cafe, workout center and the most amazing warehouse where all those books are shipped safely to our favorite bookstores. it is a maze of personalized cubicles but i'm glad john has one with a great view! have a blast on spring break john and thanks again for lunch!

i also got to hang out with my other favorite zondervan friend, jamie hinojosa! jamie does all the marketing for youth specialties books and we had way too much fun during the conventions this past fall! jamie always inspires and encourages me so it was great to see her in her natural "work"habitat and interrupt her lunch for awhile! thanks for the new books too!

i am now inspired to get writing...(one of the main objectives of coming up to michigan for the break btw)
the deadline is now in stone and dan has just about finished with his other two, so we can get on with ours on experiential worship (which the world and marko have been waiting on forever!)
i can just picture a box full of books traveling down the long conveyor belt sometime in 07!

tomorrow's pilgrimage: ann arbor and the university of michigan...a college tour for capt.mac!

michigan at last!

after a week of illness, it took all of saturday and sunday to get organized to get out of dodge. all the fun stuff of laundry and packing and last minute "homework" to complete in order to leave for spring break. so we left yesterday(monday) instead of saturday as originally planned. mac and i hit the road two hours behind schedule so we missed his favorites on monday night tv (prison break and 24) but we made it to the cottage despite the late leaving and the rainy drive.  we are probably the only family in america who head north for spring break! but the lake is the lake even when it's cold and rainy! it's the vista that restores the soul! not too mention all the fun friends who live up here!

looking forward to seeing denise van eck and nick and the journey group crew sometime over the vacation.
congrats to randy, cathy, anna and jayden on the birth of baby nadia last night! the water's edge family just got bigger! hurray!
it seems like a lot longer than a month since we were hanging out in 16 inches of snow in dc/maryland!
hopefully we'll bring some sunshine to the great state of michigan while we're here! but we brought the boots and gortex just in case!

march madness ...a week later.

mlast friday we had a great gathering for st.patrick's day...corned beef sandwiches and crab corn chowder just to name some of the goodies. mostly cohort folks and my friends from the vineyard journaling group who are joining in the fun to work with a passage in isaiah.  after the gathering, we continued our spiritual side with a little march madness basketball. usually my favorite time of the year, especially since my carolina tarheels won it all last year. but sadly, last friday george mason sent the heels back to chapel hill. the freshmen just couldn't make it to the sweet sixteen. rob's washington huskies will have to keep us in the madness as they take on uconn tonight.

just when i thought i was done and not going to keep the madness going, the best march madness present  happened last night!

with enough excitement to get sick folk out of bed to scream at the tv. the great and powerful dookies went down! yea hah!
thank you, thank you LSU!
my new favorite team in the ncaa! a little sad for mr. redick since it was his final game and he is an amazing player. but the gang from lousianna played out of their minds and made the blue devils look sleepy!

so here's to the madness! the sick will bel coughing and feverish, but we'll be cheering through the kleenex tonight!

happy birthday!

the first day of spring, march 20th is also mac lewin's birthday. mac turned 17 on monday! another rite of passage for his mom and dad...17 is even harder than 16 and teaching him to drive!

now it's looking at colleges and knowing that he'll be off on his own adventures very soon.

time really does fly by.

congrats mac on turning 17 and finally getting those wheels you've been wanting and waiting for! praying "big angels" around you as you drive and for wisdom and direction for you in the months to come! love you! mom

getting caught up...

ok, the plan was to get back in the blogging saddle, not wait another three weeks to post something.
i had great plans to catch you up on all the cool things happening over the weekend.
and then the post for wishing you a happy spring
and  another post wishing mac a happy 17th birthday.

sadly the flu hit the lewin's hard this week, beginning with hudson late friday night..he developed a hacking cough and then a fever...that got steadily worse through sunday. after taking hudson to the doc on monday, i came home with the crud,  and rob came home from  mac's birthday dinner monday night with a fever and the cough. 

it's the good old fashioned flu...running a temperature, coughing, everything hurts even your big toe... going from freezing to sweating, and not wanting to move from the bed! lots of gatorade, orange juice, jello and popsicles have been consumed. nyquil and advil are our drugs of choice. and yes mom, next fall we will get in line with the other geezers for the famous flu shot...
never really thought of getting one before, but i haven't been this sick in years, so maybe it's time.

after waking at 2am with 101.9 temp feeling like dog poop, i am feeling much better this afternoon. i actually felt like checking email...it didn't hurt to walk up and down the stairs to get juice and i'm not counting the hours between doses of advil!
yeah!

so i'll do some retro posts this week.
and i'm off to michigan for spring break ...hopefully saturday march 25 for two weeks. so all my michigan friends check in! and i don't care if there's snow, i just want to see the big water!

happy st. patrick's day...

hey there! long time no blogging! i really didn't give up blogging for lent, even though it has been ages since i have posted! thanks to andrew and bobbie who actually noticed...
well, march has been really busy. i've been speaking a lot and creating worship for several folks. my consulting business has taken off. i've also been looking for a job with a steady paycheck and in the midst of that rob and i are both praying for the adventure that god has for us next!

we really know our dream and our calling....now it is the where that we're looking for and just who really wants it and wants us.
more on the dream tomorrow.

today, we are celebrating one of our favorite saints...st. patrick. he brought christianity to the celts of ireland and because of his work, we are able to worship jesus today.  if you're only knowledge of st. patrick is green beer and getting pinched if you forgot to wear green, the check out this article on the st. patrick you never knew for a little history on the real guy.  patrick is one of my heros because he utilized the culture of ireland to bring jesus to the people...he moved into the neighborhood...he wasn't afraid of their art, music, or their love of nature. instead he used these loves to tell the story of jesus. he built monastaries among the people not isolated away from the village, but within the tribes so they could experience the kingdom of god in action!
and actually that is part of our dream...to be monks in the midst of real life...to bring rhythm, relationship, and the reality of jesus into the suburbs or the city and help folks experience the kingdom.
and to help folks live the dream of god on a daily basis, not just sundays...and to help us live for the least of these, as st.patrick did!

so grab a guinness today and remember st.patrick...write or draw a picture of what god is doing and dreaming in your life...take a walk and celebrate the creative god of the universe who yells loudly of his glory in every tree and hill!

and if you live in cincinnati, come by tonight at 7pm for an evening of lectio divina and a little celtic worship on the side. email for more info!

and thanks again for noticing my absence in blogland.

prayer of st.patrick:
I take for my sureties:
The power of God to guide me,
The might of God to uphold me,
The wisdom of God to teach me,
The eye of God to watch over me,
The ear of God to hear me,

The word of God to give me speech,
The hand of God to protect me,
The way of God to go before me,
The shield of God to shelter me. ..

Christ be with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ within me,

Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ at my right,
Christ at my left,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.