Sunday, April 8

Easter sunrise service on the ocean

Happy Easter everyone!!!

This morning was a special Easter morning. Grandpa, Grandma, Alice, and I woke up early and went down the beach to attend a sunrise service. It was my first sunrise service, and it was wonderful! There was a small gathering of believers on the shore as the sun began rising. We joined hands, prayed, read from Matthew 3, then the paster waded into the water and began baptizing five people. For Florida, it was a chilly 56-degree morning, and the ocean wasn't very forgiving. It made their desire for baptism even more impressive. Here's a picture:


I felt like I was part of the song's lyrics, "I went down to the river to pray..."

Here's a short video I took from this morning, too:

Saturday, April 7

Florida adventures

Yesterday my 7-year-old cousin Alice and I did something I had never done before in my life: make Easter Eggs! Grandma hard boiled the eggs for us, then allowed us to dip the eggs into colored cups of vinegar to add color. The process was harder than I had anticipated! I used my hands, which was a mistake from the beginning. My Aunt Sally taught me how to use a crayon to write on the eggs, so I made one with HOPE and another with an M for Michigan (school appropriate colors were used, of course).


Today Alice had a grand adventure: Easter Egg Hunt! Hordes of kids, mostly tourists, traveled to Palm Beach Shores Annual Easter Egg Hunt. Alice was by far the most thorough and faithful egg hunter present. While the official hunt lasted for perhaps 150 seconds, Alice combed up and down the walkways in the park for well over 20 minutes searching for eggs others had missed. Her persistence paid off: she found several discarded eggs as well as one other filled one. I enjoyed watching so many kids and their parents come out from their condos and houses for the hunt.

My t-shirt of choice today is my green Fishtown shirt. While I was standing in line for ice cream at the egg hunt conclusion today, the lady serving asked me if the shirt meant Fishtown Pennsylvania. When I responded positively, she told me she was from Logan, just a bit north of Fishtown! Her demeanor changed from being pleasant to very interested in me and my shirt. The world continues to shrink.

Yesterday Grandpa and I went golfing. (yes, that makes twice in one week for me...a new record!) I think I could get better at golf if I did it more often: at one point yesterday I had 9 consecutive bogeys! For an experienced golfer, that's no big deal, but the consistency I showed really encouraged me.

The weather this morning was perfect for a run, and I took advantage of it! I ran for over 50 minutes, which is the longest I've ever run. I estimate that I ran 6 miles as well, which would also be a record for me. A soft breeze combined with 62 degree sunshine made the scenic jog fly by. No wonder the Florida teams are dominating college sports right now!

Communication with my folks has informed me that Holland has several inches of snow right now, which happens to be a quarter of the way through April. That's not so bad, except when you consider that my family just left 85 degree weather...

Have you heard of the book Freakonomics? Several people in different circles of my life mentioned it recently, so I borrowed it from a friend in homegroup. I finished the book this afternoon after starting it on my flight over here. Steve Levitt, the economist, brought up several controversial arguments regarding analysis of various issues. While I disagree with some of his numerical assertions, I very much enjoyed Levitt's style of writing and candid opinion. He doesn't have an agenda except to make connections and figure out how things work! Since I like learning about that kind of thing, I very much enjoyed the book.

Tomorrow morning we're all rising for a sunrise service on the beach! I'm very excited about this, since I've always heard my grandparents talking about how they see it every year. My flight leaves at 4:15 tomorrow afternoon, so depending on how Alice is feeling, we might catch two services. If all goes according to plan, I'll be back in Philadelphia by 9:40PM.

Friday, April 6

Do it in your sleeve

My Aunt Sally is in director of cancer monitoring for the state of Minnesota. She told me about this video that the department of health showed all their employees...I think it's great.

Wednesday, April 4

Beard and mustache competition

This is one event I'd like to attend, but can be content to see pictures from in the meantime.

World Beard and Mustache Competition.

Life in Florida

I am writing right now from grandpa and grandma Bushhouse's condo in sunny West Palm Beach, Florida. We're on a little island called Singer Island, which seems to be a bubble of ideal weather. Today was 84 degrees and brilliant Sunshine, which made me regret forgetting my sunglasses in Philadelphia. Fortunately, my dad and brother did too, so we all got some new ones together.

Dad, Grandpa, Jordan, and I went golfing this afternoon at Lone Pine Golf Course. I enjoy golfing, and I manage to get in a few games a year. There was no question that we were all rusty, but my dad managed to snag three pars (I got two). Jordan wasn't feeling 100%, so we opted to go for playing in golf carts. I felt so spoiled as we zipped around the course after our balls! The weather was perfect, with a nice breeze to keep us cool between shots.


Jordan opted for the unorthadox barefoot approach since his sandal inserts kept shifting around. It seemed to help his game, and his bunyons. =)

Monday, April 2

Opening day

Go Cubs! Today was the opening day for Major League Baseball teams across the country. There's nothing like it! Unfortunately, the Cubs lost to the Reds 5-1. Good thing there are 161 games left in the year!

Other news for the Cubs today included the sale of the team to a Chicago billionaire named Zell. He purchased the Tribune Corporation, who owns the Cubs. Zell said that he would sell the team next year, which analysts say should sell for over $600 million. Not bad considering the Tribune Co. bought the Cubs for $20 million in 1981...

I wore my jersey to school and after school (it hung on the back of my chair during classes). I'm making spaghetti and meatballs tonight for Scott, a friend from homegroup. We're going to catch the NCAA championship game tonight--a rematch of the college football final between Florida and Ohio State. My money (and bracket) is picking Florida to win; I might be biased since I'm leaving for Florida in less than 24 hours, too.

Sunday, April 1

April Fools...Google style

One thing I enjoy about Google is that every April Fools Day, they "create" a new service for people. Here's what they did this year as a joke:

Google TiSP
Google Paper

Okay, so it's an April Fools Day joke for the computer geeks out there, but I think it's pretty funny.