Awakenings get props

The Daily Breeze did a great story on our new favorite coffee joint. Check it out here

Nowruz

In case you didn't know, we are an international family. I was born in Iran and Steve is Italian/Danish/American. So, now we have these kids that are half Iranian and half EuroAmerican. Every now and then, someone will ask me a question like, "Do you speak Farsi to your kids?" The answer is no... Only because I don't really speak it much myself. I am almost fluent orally, however the only time I ever speak it is to certain family members. English was my first language, the one that comes naturally to me and the one I think in. It doesn't stop with the language though... Since I've not been back to the mother land after escaping the madness in 1979, I haven't done much to go back to the roots for myself, or my kids.

Lately, I've been inspired. Particularly by Fatemeh of gastronomie. I came across this blog while looking for a recipe for gormeh sabzi. While browsing this blog, Fatemeh had some photos and information about the upcoming holiday Nowruz or Nowrooz, (depending on how you choose to spell it) otherwise known as Persian New Year . Nowruz falls on the first day of spring (in Iran). This year, Los Angeles will celebrate it at 10:30am on Monday, March 20th. I have a lot of fond memories of this holiday. Mainly as a child, I looked forward to skipping school, being with my family and receiving monetary gifts. Another tradition that I loved, was the requirement to wear something new on that day. What young girl wouldn't love that tradition?! As I got older, I realized more and more that this holiday was the equivalent to Christmas in the western world in terms of uniting families and symbolism.

Like most holidays, Nowruz has a recongizable symbol which is called the haft sinn.

"Haft Sinn, the heart of the Persian New Year
Every tradition has a material
element that symbolizes that holiday to its followers. The Christmas Tree,
Easter Basket, Shamrock... you might even call them the very best marketing
icons around.
Well, for Persian people the world over, the Haft Sinn (or
"Haft Seen"), an "altar" of seven (haft) things starting with the Farsi letter
sinn, is the immutable, immediately recognizable symbol of Nowrooz."

Seeing this beautiful display on Fatemeh's blog has inspired me to do the same this year. I'm not sure how far I'll get, but I'm going to try. Look for photos and updates in future posts. Until then, you can work on practicing your greeting "Sal eh now mobarak!"

The Magic Kingdom

We recently went to Disneyland along with Gigi, Papa, Uncle Zach, Aunt Holly and Ava. It was a really good time. Nothing beats seeing the wonder in a child's eyes as they "experience the magic." My favorite part of the day had to be Star Tours with Jason and the Buzz Lightyear ride with Silas. Jason is completely enamored by anything star wars and Jason's favorite person of the moment is Buzz. It was so fun to see them enjoy their favorite characters and action come to life (sort of).

Awakening

We do a date night switch every Thursday with our friends, the Ludwigs. It's been a great thing for our marriage to have 2 nights a month that we for sure get some time out alone, without having to pay a babysitter! Plus, our kids love Lily and Sofia and it's a fun little tradition they'll have growing up together.

So last night, after dinner, we stopped by a new coffee house in Lomita called Awakenings. This proprietors fine establishment are some friends of ours who actually pastor a church, Vineyard Xtreme . They have a great kid's room that takes up half the square footage, stocked with chalk board, coloring supplies and toys. They also have wi fi and around 7 computer terminals set up with free internet access.

The Olsons had a twin purpose in opening the coffee house, not just for business, but also to use as a means for building a church outward to the community. VX meets at Awakenings, has all their various meetings there. It is truely an innovative way of doing church. The VX community not only has church there on Sundays, but they also hang out there throughout the week. Awakenings feature artists and musicians that draw people from the community from all different backgrounds. Not only does it create an environment in the city that is peaceful, tranquil and family friendly, it also provides a place for someone who may be curious about Jesus but doesn't particulary have a desire to go to "church."

We talked a lot last night about the concept of making disciples and spurring others on in the Christian life. VX has a sense of burden for not just saving the lost, but for leading others on to the path of Jesus. Teaching people how to leave their idols and surrender their lives to follow Christ and hear God. There is also a strong sense of wanting to be among the people and bridging the gap between church and city. It seems like if you are part of the VX community... church is basically a conversation, or experience that takes place in a coffee house. It's pretty cool. If you are local, you should check out Awakenings. They make really good chai lattes.

Christmas 2005

I almost lost complete sight of Christmas this year. For the few days leading up to the big day, I was very close to losing it... thinking about getting cards out, gifts bought and wrapped, the house organized, etc. My spirit was easily getting squashed when on Friday, I found out some friends of ours were going to shop for a family in town that needed some help. Rather than go last minute shopping for themselves, they wanted to stealthly drop a love gift off at this family's home so that THEY could go shopping for things they need. Suddenly, my attitude was turned around and everything changed. It's amazing how the commercialism and decentralization of Jesus can easily swallow us (or at least me) whole. These dear friends of ours have had quite a year in their own family. They have endured much anxiety, suffering and pain. However, they were able to step outside themselves and rather than spoil themselves because they felt they deserved it, took their resources and blessed another.

Psalm 34

Today I heard someone read an exerpt of Psalm 34 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2034&version=47. I ended up reading the Psalm in its entirety and have decided that it is now my favorite Psalm. It's so full of the important stuff and also reminded me of some key principles to teach my kids. But then, I was challenged by the fact that I'm never going to be able to teach this to my kids so that it is fully impressed in their souls unless I believe it myself. "Taste and see that the LORD is good..." Him alone. Not all the stuff that comes from Him. This is what my friend challenged me with today and it's been on my mind ever since. Do I try to follow Jesus because I want to make sure I go to heaven? Or is it because I think my life will be better? Sure, it will but better isn't always easier. I was reminded at how lame I am at just sitting with Jesus and savoring who He is rather that what He can do for me. It's not often that I sit at the throne and just praise Him for who He is and how much I love Him and how loved I am by Him. If He were in my actual physical/tangible presence, it would be easy, right? So, then it's faith that is spurred on by spirit that must lure me into the presence of God. So have I really and truely tasted and seen that the Lord is good? I think I have. It's just that sometimes you forget what something tastes like when you eat it too fast. When you are so busy and preoccupied with what else is going on, you don't actually stop and let your tastebuds absorb all the flavors of what you are tasting. I remember the first time I went wine tasting in Napa Valley. The vintners would tell us about the wines and describe them with such accuracy using words like "cedary, fruity, sweet, dry, full bodied." They would then talk about the grapes used to make each particular wine. It would be so amazing to consistently stop for a few moments with Jesus while savoring Him so well that I would be able to describe what I am tasting... the complexity of His love, the divine aroma, how graceful and hearty He is. Another verse that speaks volumes to me is verse 5: "Those who look to him are radiant and their faces shall never be ashamed." When we look at Jesus and our eyes are truely fixed on Him, the joy is so over flowing that our faces become unbelievably radiant in a way that anything and every sin we've commited fades away because of His brilliant, unmatched glory. It's pretty amazing. I could go on and on about this Psalm. Living a life in pursuit of peace, learning how to truely fear the Lord and finally "the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit." Praise Jesus.

Welcome to Hollywood

Our friend George Negrette, a retired LAFDhttp://lafd.org engineer invited our family to the Hollywood Christmas parade. It was very exciting to ride on the top of a fire truck through the parade. The boys did well and had a great time, but I think Steve and I got the full effect of how cool it was. It was a little strange to have people lined up in the streets and yelling "Thank you!" up at us as we are not fire fighters. But, it was a good reminder of how fire men truely are heroes in our community. Something that sadly was not emphasized as much before 9/11. All the men and women at Station 27 were so great to us and showed us a really memorable evening.

Ju Ju B

Judah has officially rolled over. Except for he gets one arm stuck at the end and it really bums him out!

A Day with Devlin

Our good friends, the Ott family, came for a visit a couple of weeks ago. Steve, Tim and Greta were roommates in San Francisco. Tim and Greta now have a beautiful daughter, Devlin and a new baby boy, Finn.

Just this week, Silas has crossed over into speaking in full sentences. His "mmhmm" when he means to say "yes," is now "yeahhhh" which is pretty darn cute.

Halloween 2005.... Dash and Superman and the great pumpkin! Jason tried on the old Liederhosen costume (courtesy of the Nugent family), however the super hero option prevailed. We went to Riviera Village along with some good friends and had a great time trick or treating in the shops.