Quote

There was a great quote in our church bulletin this past Sunday, and it really resonated with me and Paul. Hope it inspires you too

***************************************************

The love for equals is a human thing – of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.

The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing – the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.

The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing – to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints.

And then there is the love for the enemy – love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer. This is God’s love. It conquers the world.

Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat

- Veronica

The Glam Life

Check out Veronica’s post-work schedule last week:

Mon: dinner and show with girlfriends

Tues: friend’s birthday party

Wed: serving dinner at a shelter

Thu: Microsoft 7 release party in Cambridge

Fri: Geoffrey Canada talk at Harvard

I was there for about half of those,  but man, she was a woman about town last week.

Oh, and I forgot:

Sat 10am-2pm: Walk for Literacy

Sat 2pm-Present: Watching TV on her laptop

Fall Trip – Bolton Landing, NY 10/9-10/12

Posting some pics from an awesome weekend trip to upstate NY. Getu connected us with a friend who has a great, quirky little place near Lake George. An old barn converted to a summer home.

It was fun just hanging out, cooking breakfast…the guys put together a decent “frittata” (my catch-all for breakfast dishes involving eggs).

Went on a hike and there were many panoramas like these. Vern did a great job with pictures – fall is such a beautiful season out here.

Great group of people – that’s Amelia (not mine) in the carrier. She was leading the charge the whole way to the top, which is where we took this picture.

And just to round it out, the obligatory jumping in midair (check out the contortion going on, right front) and baby driving pics. Thanks guys!

- Paul

Community

It’s been about a year now since Veronica and I moved out to Boston, and looking back, the transition has been a lot smoother because of a special group of people:

We get together with these guys every Wednesday night for something called community group. We met at church, and in the year we’ve meeting, developed our closest friendships here in Boston.

Last night, there was something of a breakthrough. We decided to take a break from our usual Bible study and just talk about how we came to know Jesus. I don’t think anyone expected people to be so open and honest – I thought I knew this group of people, but now feel like I know them a little better because I understand where they come from. There’s something quietly powerful about vulnerability, trust and honesty. Long live the Coolidge Corner CG!

- Paul

Fun, first thing in the morning

One big difference about being married me and single me is that I get to interact with another human, Veronica, as soon as I wake up. It’s been hot recently in Boston, so we sleep with the windows and blinds open. The sun shines right into our bedroom in the morning, which is great, but this morning, Veronica wanted sleep, not sun.

So by now you know that Veronica is a different person when she’s half awake. And that’s the beauty of it – when she is waking up, she’s like an incarnate dream, a person with one foot in reality, the other in a land of wizards and mythology. So it’s natural that she asked me if I could “turn off the sun.”

How do I know I’m married? Without a word, I get up, close the blinds, and go right back to sleep.

Supersize Her

Veronica is a woman who knows what she wants. For the past two weeks, it’s been KFC.

At first, I thought it was just a passing thought. “OOh, I really want to eat KFC.” But it kept coming back, so today after church we Zipped it up and had a date with the Colonel:

Naturally, she wanted a little appetizer before our dinner. She suggested a hot fudge sundae with a side of cheese puffs, but I thought a popsicle would do the trick:

We ended up getting a 10 piece meal – way too much food for 2 people: spicy, original, and the new grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, biscuits…the whole cannoli. Here’s the before and after:

It was good, and so bad. We don’t want to see KFC for another 3 months – when we’ll be back for another splurge-a-thon.

But I like disgusting

Wednesday is great b/c not only do we get to hang out and fellowship with our community group, there’s always dinner provided. Yah! (And where there’s food, there’s Veronica) Uyen was generous enough to provide pizzas this past CG – the stuffed deep-dish Chicago-style kind with buttery crust, generous amounts of cheese, sausage and chunky tomatoes. The boxes were labeled for us, and we came across this:

Yum, makes me want it more.

- Veronica

Hello Amelia!

I’m so proud to call myself the “Crazy Korean” auntie to Amelia Younger, the new addition to our family group and the Younger clan. Mark and Ashley are one of the most adventurous, fun loving, genuine couples we know, and it has really been a joy to see them through this new adventure.  You guys are amazing and Amelia is beautiful!

Bensons and Kims visiting the Youngers

Welcome to this world Amelia!

- Veronica

Mr. and Mrs. Nerd

Veronica is going through some finance curriculum at work, and tonight, instead of watching one of our favorite TV shows, we went through 58 pages on private equity. And kinda liked it. Is that bad?

(Veronica when she was a student in Korea, with her ex-boyfriend)

On a more serious note, we are saddened by the swine flu pandemic, and want to see it not just for the inconvenience that it might be to us, but for the people who have been suffering directly because of it.

- Paul

Just Throwin’ this Out There

Okay, it’s been a while, but I’m back. Just a couple random thoughts I had tonight:

1. Have you ever been in a crowded room, general conversation noise in the air, and all of a sudden – silence. No coordination, no one trying to get everyone’s attention. Why does that happen?

2. I had an experience calling a customer service number this week, and when I was providing my account number (NBM85239585032) I did what I usually do – make it easier for them:

Me: “Hi, my account number is “N” like…uhh…”never.”

Them: “Excuse me?”

Me: “N.” “B” like “Bobby” (Bobby??)

Them: “Did you say ‘Bobby’?”

Me: “<Sigh>. I’m sorry.”

Please tell me this is common.

- Paul