Some Reasons To Love Blacksburg

When I lived in Philadelphia there were certain things I would rave about regarding the wonderful state of Virginia and the town known as Blacksburg. One of those simply put is that I believe Virginia to be "the earthly promised land." And with that in mind check out these pics below to prove it!

Mill Mountain, one of the local coffee shops-the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted

the Cascades-Nic & I hiked this past Saturday for two miles to see this beauty, with all the greenery it looked like a postcard

Passion: DC

This past weekend, April and I went down to Northern VA for the Passion regional conference that was held at George Mason University's Patriot Center. Passion is a movement of college students around the world for the glory of God on college campuses. We took four students from our church down there for what turned out to be a fun and exhausting weekend.

We left Philly at about 2:30 on Friday. We had our biggest snowstorm of the winter the night before, leaving a couple of inches of snow on the roads. April and I were a little afraid that the trip down there would be painful when considering a typical Friday afternoon rush combined with bad driving weather, but we made great time and arrived in plenty of time to register and get dinner before the conference started.

I took the guys to go sleep at my good friend Micah and his lovely wife Jess's apartment Friday night. We had some Ting soda, got a little sleep, did some Gospelrobics, then were treated to a feast of a breakfast the next morning including eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, grits (none for me though - I don't know why people like that stuff), fruit, and coffee. Micah is undoubtedly one of the most generous people I've ever met, and it was a blessing to be able to hang out with him for a while and experience some true hospitality from him and his wife.

The conference itself was a bit overwhelming (we spent about 10 of the 30 hours we were in Virginia inside the Patriot Center), but inspiring and significant for everybody. We prayed, sang, danced a little bit, and heard some great stories and encouraging words about living fully in God's love and plan for us. For me, it was a much needed opportunity to meet with God and hear encouragement from him about my life.

We got back to Philly at about 2:30am Sunday, and I had to get up at 7 to be at church on time that morning, so I pretty much slept the whole day Sunday, waking up just long enough to fix the headlights on my car (which both somehow managed to burn out this weekend, forcing me to drive around with my brights on at night and anger countless motorists) and go to ShopRite for groceries. Although it was an exhausting weekend, there is nothing like the fun of a road trip and the joy of getting to know people better and experience intimacy with God together.

Some photos from our trip:


The students in our group.













April and I at one of the sessions.
















A view of the stage during worship.

Holiday Time

We just got back from a nice long Thanksgiving weekend down in Chatham, VA with April's parents. It was great to escape the city, enjoy a delicious home-cooked Thanksgiving meal thanks to April's grandparents, and spend some quality time with the family. Even Mabel enjoyed having some open space to run and getting spoiled by the Travises. Another highlight of the weekend was watching the Hokies beat up on UVA on Ronald's beautiful HD-LCD-TV while enjoying the company of Megan Redd perhaps one last time before she moves to California (like everybody else we know, it seems).

After a surprisingly easy drive up through VA and then up 95, we got back, unpacked, cleaned up a little bit, then didn't waste any more time before putting up the Christmas decorations. This was of course accompanied by listening to the two greatest Christmas albums ever created, "Snow Angels" by Over the Rhine, and the Beach Boys Christmas Album (I still know about 90% of the words to this album from the millions of times the record was played in my house in my childhood Christmases). I've always said that you need to wait until at least after Thanksgiving to start putting up Christmas decorations, listening to Christmas music, and getting in the Christmas mood, so the timing was perfect tonight. Here's a shot of our tree and stockings in the living room:

Wedding Season

A couple of weekends ago, April and I traveled down to Winchester, VA, to see my old roommate Steve marry his beautiful bride Mallory. This is a picture of us from the event. We ended up driving a total of 8 hours in one day to spend about 4 hours at the wedding and reception, but it was definitely worth the effort. Not only did we get to celebrate Steve and Mallory, but we got to see a lot of my old friends from my days of living in Fairfax, VA. I lived down there for almost two years after I graduated from college (while April was still at VT).

Steve was a part of a Bible study group through McLean Bible Church of about 10-12 single guys that I was involved in while I lived there. I had moved to the area after graduation with two of my friends from college (Todd and Micah), but I didn't know a single other person in the entire Washington DC metropolitan area. We started hosting a Bible study at our townhouse soon, and the guys that came quickly became great friends. I was dating April then, but most of the guys were single and very eligible bachelors, so there were many attempts at hanging out with groups of girls and dates and so on. Stories of dinners and coffee and late night talks and break-ups and "DTR"s were often part of our weekly meetings. These guys were the ones who helped me pray about, plan, and execute my engagement to April. Three of them were groomsmen in my wedding, and many of the rest came down to Danville to celebrate with us.

When I moved to Philadelphia in March 2006, there were maybe two guys with steady girlfriends. Five are now getting married this year. I'd like to think that I was a leader and I inspired the rest of the guys, but I'm pretty sure they would have gotten along just fine without my example. What it all really means for me is a busy wedding season that will take me (if I can afford it all) to Ohio, Delaware, Virginia, and even Alabama to celebrate with these guys. So Steve, Nathan, John, Micah, and Steven, God bless you guys and your weddings and marriages, and thanks for all of the chances for reunion parties this summer!