A Few Photos

I keep intending to write something on here, but between studying, spending time with Torrey and attempting to finish some projects I am in the middle of, I haven't been able to get around to it. So in the meantime, here are a few photos. These were taken on a camping trip to Andrew Molera State Park in the Big Sur area last new year.

Townsend's Warbler



These little guys were all over the campground, so I took some time crawling through the grass to get close enough to capture this one.

Monarchs



There is a grove of eucalyptus trees at Andrew Molera, and when we were there the butterflies were in town, covering large portions of the trees in the park. Awesome.

Exciting News

Mark and Shelley are engaged! Saturday night, Mark Hopson got down on one knee and asked my sister to marry him. Quite plainly, she said yes. So now the wedding plans are under way. Congratulations, Mark and Shelley!

The following photos are from Tim and Lydia’s wedding several weeks ago. Shelley went to great lengths to ensure her position as the next bride-to-be, and although Mark also recruited help, Luke ended up being an obstacle instead of an aid. I’m still not sure how Mark managed to beat little Freddy to the garter…





And here is a picture of Mark and Shelley together:

Surfin' USA

When the summer began, Torrey and I began thinking that we really need to take advantage of our proximity to the beach by actually going from time to time. But somehow we got busy and spent very little time on the sand. So now we are making up for lost time, with four visits to the beach in the past eight days. Saturday morning we went surfing with Erik and Ryan Floyd, Luke Ardill and Dan Coombs. This was only my third time ever trying to surf, and my very first time to be out in the waves with other people. And there were in fact a lot of other people. When we arrived at the beach we looked across the water to find that there was a solid line of neoprene-clad figures sitting on surfboards, waiting for the next big one to come along. So we gathered up our things and headed out into the water to join the Labor Day weekend crowd. I quickly found that once I caught a wave, my board had a bad habit of nosing into the trough and dumping me into the frothing surf. So I improvised, and instead of catching waves head-on, I began catching them at an angle, which did indeed help me avoid tumbling in the waves, but also served to push me across the line of surfers. After several such attempts at catching waves, Erik cautioned me to be aware of those around me and to avoid cutting the other surfers off. A neighbor (one I had apparently unwittingly angered) quickly chimed in to lecture me about “surfers’ etiquette.” As I continued to battle the surf that day in my heightened awareness of the surfers around me, I slowly realized something about surfers’ etiquette. There really is no such thing. The ocean is just a big playground where the bully, the boldest, fastest guy out there gets his way, and the little guy, or in my case, the big guy who doesn’t know what he is doing, loses every time.

Back to the Books

So I don't actually have a photo that fits with this post... but since I am so hopelessly enamored with photography, I had to put up a picture anyway, and I happen to like this one a lot. Quite honestly, I'm very surprised that it came out as sharp as it did, since I was pretty antsy when I shot it. Just a few minutes earlier I had been following a butterfly as it fluttered around in search of a tasty Columbine, and when it settled on a flower, I sat down to get a better shot. Unfortunately, I failed to notice that the spot I was sitting on was covered with stinging nettles.

But that is completely off topic. This week my second-to-last semester of seminary began. I am really excited about (most of) the classes I am taking. My least exciting class (and it is possibly so simply because I don't know what to expect from it) is Introduction to Language and Linguistics. I am taking that class because I am seriously considering pursuing Bible translation after I am done at Talbot. Next I have Theology III: Christ, Salvation and the Holy Spirit, which I have heard is a really good class. It won't be the most exciting or engaging class I have taken, but the professor seems to have a sincere desire to see his students transformed as they encounter the uniqueness of the person and work of Jesus Christ, and I look forward to learning from him. Next in line is Hebrew I. After four semesters of Greek classes I am starting into Hebrew, and so far it looks pretty intimidating, particularly since the alphabet is so unfamiliar. That also means it will be a good challenge, though, and I am excited to see what I can learn as I apply myself to a new language. Finally, I will be excercising my Greek muscles a little more this semester in a Philippians Exegesis class. This one has me really excited. The content is great, I get to work with Greek every week, and the professor is an incredible man. His passion for preaching God's Word runs deep and spills over even into his scholarship, to the point that he is not concerned about where the content of his writing ends up or whether or not he gets credit for it, as long as it is being used to build up believers in their faith. That is rare, and I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to study under such a man. I will keep you posted on how the semester progresses.

Catching Up

Torrey and I just got back from vacation - well, it wasn't quite vacation, since the entire trip was consumed by interactions with other people, which means that we didn't really get to spend any time relaxing or alone. It was great to catch up with people we hadn't seen in a long time though. First we spent a few days in Waxhaw, NC with my old friends from Peru. The group above is a good portion of my class from Yarinacocha who showed up for our 10 year reunion. We were a very close group in Yarina, and it was great to see everyone again after such a long time apart.



After the reunion we went on Ventnor, NJ to spend a week with Torrey's family. There are some missionary homes just three blocks from the beach there, where the Bartons used to spend vacations when Torrey was little, and we were able to go back and enjoy that place once again.

So now we are home again and hitting the ground running. Work is back in full swing and school starts up again on Wednesday. Never a dull moment.

A Joyful Occasion

Tim and Lydia were married on Saturday!



That was Tim's expression as the pastor pronounced he and Lydia to be man and wife.

Torrey was privileged to be the maid (matron) of honor, and I was asked to take a few photos of the event. I must say that it was a joy to have been a part of it, and we wish Tim and Lydia the very best!

Working Away

I don't have a lot of time to work on this thing, so it has been sitting for a while as I ponder how I want the thing to look. Now that I have some time to put a little more effort into it, I am putting up another post just for my own purposes, as I work with formatting. But just for the fun of it, here is another photo for you to enjoy. This is from Machu Picchu in southern Peru, and I took this one on my honeymoon a few years back.