Alister Mcgrath: In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture
A great book about the Canonisation of books of the bible and how we ended up with the King James Bible
Ivan Mcleod: Hawkeye: The Rapid and Outrageous Life of the Australian Racing Driver Paul Hawkins
This book is about the life of my mums brother, my uncle - Paul Hawkins. He was a Formula 1 and Sports Car champion in the '60's and was tragically killed in 1969 at Oulton Park in England. He was a pretty rough Aussie but a good man with an unbelievable story. My middle name (Paul) is after him.
Bob Buford: Halftime: Changing Your Game Plan from Success to Significance
This was a real life changer for me. Bob talks about how to transition from the first half of our life where we seek success, to the second half where we seek significance.
Alan Axelrod: Profiles in Audacity: Great Decisions and How They Were Made
Outlines great people in History who have used the 'Rubicon Principle' to make decisions.....making some decision is always better than making no decision! Lots of short stories, easy reading.
Mark Batterson: In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars
This is a book that will keep your attention to the last paragraph....and it's worth the wait!
Jackie Stewart: A Restless Life
A great book about how to go from an ordinary kid to a multiple World Champion and then rise to teh very top in the business world. Not just for motor racing enthusiasts.
Watchman Nee: Sit Walk Stand
A great short book (70 odd pages) that outlines a 3 fold way to live our christian life - realise you can't do anything to earn God's grace (Sit), how to have a Walk that's worthy and how to Stand when we need to fight.
Donald J. Trump: Trump: How to Get Rich
This 1-page-at-a-time read will give you tips on everything from how to buy a good suit to how to pray (that's right, The Donald tells us to pray) for the best Personal Assistant (PA).
Rudolph Giuliani: Leadership
This is by far my pick for the best book on how to practically lead a group or an organisation on a day-by-day and year-by-year basis.
We went to watch the Edina parade today and it was a lot of fun. It was George's first Independence Day and seeing as he is an American we are taking seriously our role of raising him in his homeland (as strange as that feels sometimes). Emma was so excited and she judges how good a parade is by how much candy she comes home with....so from that I can deduce today was an absolute ripper!!!! Enjoy the pics.
We passed a George life-milestone tonight (that's right, that's how you spell it) when he sat up by himself for the first time. I must say I'm not one of those of those parents who's anxiously awaiting the milestones of sitting, crawling, walking etc. I mean, how many 21 year olds are complaining to their friends "Man, I just can't work out that whole sitting thing, never been able to do it." My thought is that all kids (without obvious disabilities) will work out when to do these things in their own time. Do you get annoyed by parents when your talking about this topic and they chime in and say "Oh, our child was walking at 9 months, she's exceptional." Show me a 9 month old that's potty trained, can clean the bathroom and make their own bed, now that's exceptional!
We had a great night tonight just walking around the neighbourhood and enjoying the beautiful sunshine. There's something about the sound of lawn sprinklers, the smell of fresh cut grass that just seems....LIKE IT SHOULD HAPPEN A LOT MORE THAN IT DOES. Ok, I feel better now. Seriously, I have to say I love the way America embraces the 4th of July, there is a real spirit everywhere where people just agree to slow down and appreciate the freedom of living in America....bring on the parades tomorrow. How many political stickers can I collect????
Emma's favourite show is this one and she just dances around non-stop for an hour and a half. The problem is that we are not allowed to watch the 'real' dancers on TV, we (and I mean Mandy, me & George!) must watch the real star - Emma Faith. So, we have to record it on the DVR and watch it later. So, Mandy & I have to watch it twice! It's good, but it's not always 'watch-it-twice' good. Having said that, I really don't think I could go back to life without a DVR...I mean how cool is it to pause, or even rewind live TV. This afternoon I looked out of our living room window because one of our neighbours kids was crying. I saw him lying on the ground so I instinctively went for the DVR remote to rewind to find out what happened to him.....then I realised "Hey this is real life stupid, you can't rewind real life!" mmmmm, I think there's something in that for everyone.................. (that's a famous Australian comedy line in case you're not reading that right).
I just decided to change the theme and design of my blog...just got bored of the other one I think. Anyway, tell me what you think.
Mandy's parents are leaving tomorrow am to head back to Australia so we've had a packed weekend. Although they'll be back in October the kids are always sad to see them go. Anyway, we had breakfast on Saturday at the Original Pancake House in Eden Prairie where Jannie had the famous Baked Apple & Cinnamon Pancake (don't know why but I always think Shazza would love this???). Then it was back home so Emma could wash Grandads car...no slave labour here just a kid who wants to do stuff...so nobody stopped her. Today, after a great morning at church, we had some lunch with Justin and Tara Mack where we heard some fantatsic stories about Justins recent Vietnam Global Team (RVC's version of a Mission Trip). Then we headed to the MOA for a nightmare couple of hours then it was back home to recover.
It's been great seeing 90+ degrees on my cars o/s temp gauage the last couple of days. I actually enjoyed drivivng with the windows down and warm air blasting around...just great. It's also been great having weather warm enough to get our Emma's new waterslide...she just absolutely loves it. Did I tell you I think she's just the most gorgeous little girl in the whole world??? Just a reminder then!
Normally Sundays are pretty relaxing once church is done in the morning but today was a busy day. After church we went to lunch with some friends and someone who just started attending River Valley. That was cool because we like to get to know new people and Sunday lunches are a good way to do that for us. Then I had to take Emma to a birthday party in Farmington which was fun, although she was wearing the same fairy dress as the birthday girl which wasn't initially well received by said birthday girl. After the 'dress shock' a good time was had by all and it was a lot of fun. After that I was then off to Emma's cousin Sam's birthday party in Edina for and a hour and a half. I then left for a dinner in Eagan. It was hosted by Ernie & Janet Holmquist who are part of our core Alpha leadership team at River Valley. It was great because most of the people had attended Alpha over the last 12 months so I was able to re-connect with some of them and have a luagh and some wonderful food. After that I came home where everybody was in bed so I watched the French Forumla 1 Grand Prix that I recorded earlier today. So I covered about 110 miles (about 170 kms for my Aussie friends) today but I had a fun time. Sorry I don't have any photos, I forgot to take my camera with me on my travels today.
I've had a great day today..packed a lot in. This morning I went to visit Scott & Sally Kasten who just had their new baby Stella. We have been praying for these guys for a while to have this child and to see her arrive is a real privilege. Then I did something I haven't done since 1983!!!! I went to a movie by myself. I watched Indiana Jones - very disappointing. Then I went and picked up Emma early to take her to Barnes & Noble to read some books which is her favourite thing to do. We read her favourite book - Fancy Nancy and had a 'coffee' together. Then this evening Emma's old nanny (Farrah) and her family (Travis & Marissa) came to visit us. They live in Maine now and it was great to catch up. Marissa and Emma are great pals and love hanging out and playing together. It's fun watching them grow up together. We had our famous pizza and waffles for dinner and watched Man vs Wild. Now, onto the weekend....
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