The Faith to Persevere by Oswald Chambers

"Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, "I can’t take any more." Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" ( Job 13:15 ).

Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. And even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God."

Happy Valentine's Day!

Zach surprised me and took me for an early Valentine's date at Melting Pot.

(I love the smoke from the fondue pot in this picture. Thanks, Hostess, for taking a fun shot!)

The Val Nebbia Band

Last night The Val Nebbia Band played at Rams Head in Annapolis. What an amazing group of musicians!

Val Nebbia (live picture)


Nebbia sisters (professional)

Ruth's Chris during Restaurant Week

Sam and Tim


Seth and Victoria


Ann and Zach

Catching Up

So, I've missed a few updates. We celebrated Zach's birthday with some bowling. We bowled till they kicked us out at 1:15 a.m.




Then we celebrated Mom's birthday by going to Bodegas in Georgetown again. They changed the menu a bit, but still very yummy...and great Mojitos! Here are mom and dad as we walked around downtown.



Then a few weeks later we went on the 2nd annual October camping trip. We spent a beautiful weekend camping and hiking at Codorus State Park. Here is a picture of the boys in one of the trees along the path.



Then last weekend we went with Sarah and Demetri to Richmond to visit Taegan for her birthday. It was such a fun day!! But I forgot the camera, so no pictures of her very surprised face when we showed up at her door.

It's been a great few weeks...and I can't believe it is almost NOVEMBER!?!

Ocean City 2008

We went to Ocean City a few days before Hurricane Hanna hit. Here are some photos of the peaceful beach the day before.

Here is Zach building a three-tiered moat to keep the rising tide from soaking all of our stuff.






I thought the seagull was cool.


And then we got to celebrate Zach's birthday a little early...


All in all a fun weekend.

A day in Georgetown

So Ann's brother was in town and we went and spent an afternoon in Georgetown in DC. The weather was a beautiful 85 degrees (or there abouts). It was crowded but not in excess. A good time had be all. But generally not necessarily something I would rush home to write about. Except to tell you about where we ate for lun-ner (it was like 3:30...I don't know what meal that is). We ate at a place off M street called Bodega serving Spanish Tapas. We had narrowed it down to either Bodega's or a sandwich and burger place down the street. I can't believe we almost missed this place. Everything about it was superb. Starting off, the seats were extra comfortable. Ann and her parent's got to sit on against the wall on a couch like booth (as can be seen in photos 3-5). The atmosphere was nice. The decor was pleasant (and I don't notice or care about decor). "I like this place, and I haven't even tasted the food" was said before our food arrived by a member of our party. The service was fantastic. The waitress was responsive, attentive, and precognitive (impressive). The bar tender made some pretty solid drinks, one of which was a Mojito. I've never had a Mojito, but I drank and enjoyed it, and Jeff and Ann both said it was the best they'd ever had. And THEN the food started coming out. And without going into too much detail there...we will just say that everything was great. The food was all perfectly seasoned and cooked. The sauces the food came in were amazing. And when you ate the food, it wasn't like you tasted meat with sauce on it. The whole thing had one taste...and that taste was goodness (if that made sense). Our favorites were the sauteed shrimp in a garlic, pepper sauce (I just could not stop dipping my bread in the sauce. It was tasty!), and the scallops in a lemon sauce. I've watch Gordan Ramsey on Kitchen Nightmares complain over and over again about restaurant's frozen or poorly cooked scallops, and I've never really known which I had been eating. When I go out, am I experiencing the good stuff, or the bad stuff? I was content with not knowing. Alas, my contentment was shattered, as surely what we had were "good scallops". They were large, tender and juicy without tasting fishy, raw, or spongy. And I can't imagine that you can get it to taste like that if they weren't even remotely fresh. This was pretty typical of their food. I had a bite of a sausage, and it was the first time I had ever described a sausage as tender and juicy. Nothing tasted bad. Everything just tasted "not as good" or "better" than something else on the table.

Are you hungry yet?

Needless to say we will be making trips to Georgetown just to eat there. It's a new favorite. And interestingly is a new place in general. They were on their 3rd month being opened. So go make reservations (if I haven't set expectations too high) and order the shrimp! Then let us know what you thought.

Enjoy!