Robin Williams, wearing a shirt that says "I love New York" in Arabic.

I got this in an email today...

You gotta love Robin Williams...... Even if he's nuts! Leave it to Robin
Williams to come up with the perfect plan. What we need now is for our UN
Ambassador to stand up and repeat this message. Robin Williams's plan...(Hard to
argue with this logic!) "I see a lot of people yelling for peace, but I have not
heard of a plan for peace. So, here's one plan.

1) "The US will apologize to the world for our 'interference' in their
affairs, past & present. You know: Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo,
Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those 'good ole boys;' we will
never 'interfere' again.

2) "We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with
Germany, South Korea, the Middle East, and the Philippines. They don't want us
there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through
holes in the fence.

3) "All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and
leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days, the remainder will be
gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of who or where they are.
They're illegal!!! France will welcome them.

4) "All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days
unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed
in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum
would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11
cashiers.

5) "No foreign 'students' over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If
they don't attend classes, they get a D, and it's back home, baby.

6) "The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy-wise.
This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy, but will require
temporary drilling for oil in the Alaska wilderness. The caribou will have to
cope for a while.

7) "Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing countries $10 a barrel for
their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else. They can go somewhere
else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage
sites would be enough.)

8) "If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will
not 'interfere.' They can pray to Allah, or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement,
or whatever they need. Besides, most of what we give them is stolen or given to
the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

9) "Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don't need
the spies and fair-weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good
homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

10) "All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can
call us 'Ugly Americans' any longer. The language we speak is ENGLISH...learn
it...or LEAVE."

"Now, isn't that a winner of a plan?" "The Statue of Liberty is no longer
saying, 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.' She's got a
baseball bat, and she's yelling, 'You want a piece of me?' "

GOD BLESS AMERICA

5 years

Our oldest son Jason turned 5 last week. It's so strange how suddenly he seems and looks so much older! I'm doing much better now but have to say I was experiencing a mild depression over the whole thing. The last 5 years have gone so quickly and in the Fall he'll be going off to kindergarten... all day... 5 days a week. I'm sure I will get over it, but in the mean time have felt a sense of urgency to soak in every moment possible.

The party we had for him was super fun. We did a military theme and had a special appearance by our friend, Captain Clay Humphreys (Thanks Clay!). He was definitly the highlight, especially when the rain thwarted our plans for an obstacle course in the back yard. The rain broke just in time for the good Captain to run drills with the boys & Lily until they were worn out in time for cake and ice cream.

The night of Jason's birthday, we stayed up late watching Star Wars: A New Hope. Until his birthday, Star Wars was Jason's favorite movie he'd never seen. Finally after much anticipation, a promise was fulfilled and Jason was allowed to watch it on his fifth birthday. Through out the past week, he's been taking in the trilogy in stages and has been able to validate that Darth Vader is indeed, his favorite bad guy.

Cottage Businesses

Both of us have always had a desire to own a business some day. Because that's not a reality for us right now, I sort of live vicariously through others that do so. If we have a friend starting up a business, we like to do what we can to support their endeavor. If you look at our links to "fun stuff" you can see some of our friends that have stepped out to do this. Another way I live vicariously through people is with those who have the gift of creating beautiful, unusual, one of a kind items that they start small businesses. I came across this website Mommies with Style last night that has a collection of products offered by moms who are trying to start small businesses at home. You should check it out and see if you can find those Mother's Day gifts I know you have already begun shopping for!

Opening Day

Today was Jason's very first Opening Day of his Baseball career. It was really exciting on many levels. Baseball goes deep in the Lind family. It runs through the veins. He's been looking forward to playing baseball for quite some time now, but I don't think nearly as much as Steve has been looking forward to watching Jason play! The boys were so cute in their little uniforms getting ready for pictures. Silas was walking around the whole time carrying the baseball bat, saying "I want to play baseball!" It's hard to believe he's still two years away from swinging the bat officially. We've got a great team and a wonderful coach which makes the first season all the more great.

During the ceremony, it dawned on me once again what a blessing it has been for us to live in San Pedro. I've lived in the South Bay almost my entire life but never realized what a jewel in the crown San Pedro is. Families have lived here for generations. It's got that small town feel to it in that so many people know each other or know of each other. There are names that you hear every where you go (those usually ending with a vich, cich, etc!). People take pride in supporting local businesses as well as the sports.

When I am in situations like today's, it's hard for me not to want to pop my head in to every store front and introduce my family and try to establish an instant bond with the proprietors in an effort to feel as connected as these locals! However, I know these things take time and I'm actually very thankful for that.

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.