Josh and Jesse go to the park

nowadays weekends really tend to make or break your attitude about the upcoming week. because once the week's started, you really only have enough time and energy to ride it out however it may be till the next weekend. so having a bad or busy weekend tends to put a damper on the next 3 or 4 days (in a sense). however, this weekend was a lot of fun (with just beautiful weather). jess and i hung out at my parents house friday night. this was fun for 3 reasons...

1) we had pizza for dinner
2) we got to watch the island (without using up a spot on our netflix queue)
3) my parents are not getting divorced

i think reason no.3 probably took the cake this past week all together. by the grace of God my mom has come out of whatever "influence" (i dont think anyone, including her, even knows) she was under. just talking to her she sounds like a different person. so i dont know what happened (and i dont really know what's going to happen) but i'm rather put at peace by the whole thing. i feel like i havent known my mom for a while now (i'd say almost for several years now). she's been ...not the mom i remember growing up with. but i'm terribly excited to see how things are going to go and how God's going to help her (and dad) turn this all around. ...the whole this is, well... i'm looking forward to it heading in the direction it seems to be going. thank you all so very much for any and every prayer.i hate that people have to experience really terrible things before they see the true glory and mercy in all of God's plans, but i guess the outcome just wouldn't have the same impact otherwise.



anywho, on top of all that we had a great time sunday. first we went to a pretty enjoyable church over in Antioch (enjoyable because no one shook or waved about during the service). then we went to centennial park and walked and laid around. and then went over to a place (Sam's) on 21st ave and split some nachos and beer. and finally, we watched Sword of Doom at the Belcourt's Samurai Festival. it was really good... well, the ending left a BIT to be desired. imagine you're watching Kill Bill and right as she's killing no.63 or 64 (of 88 in the Crazy 88) there's a freeze frame and the movie ends (with no part 2). that's kind of how the ending was. but tonight is Throne of Blood! so i'm looking forward to that. (man, how fun is wikipedia?)


if you've ever had a picture with jess in it you'll know how hard it is to catch her looking "normal". she seems to think that she has to do a facial trick for the camera or something. anywho, i was pleased with some of these. (seriously, she makes it so hard to take a good picture of her!)







sadly, jesse is not so good at climbing trees (even though she'll probably tell you otherwise)







†Success!




†success may or may not be due to my help.


oh, i forgot!

Lord of War - 7.6
this was an excellent movie. kind of sad and a bit frightening, but really good.

Beyond the Gates of Splendor - 8.5
this was a remarkable story. truly an amazing testament to God's glory.

It's All Gone Pete Tong - 8.3
this is a funny but somewhat disturbing at times film about this imensely popular DJ who goes deaf. it's done in a somewhat documentary type fashion, but mixed with a regular movie. i highly recommend checking it out.

Red Eye - 6.7
this was probably the best Wes Craven movie i've seen. it actually was quite thrilling, but also a bit like a typical horror film at times. that Cillian Murphy sure can play a creepy guy... always.


ALSO: i just walked in apt and was struck with a great sense of joy. and that joy was: when i leave work i dont have any more work until 7 am tomorrow. i dont have homework. i dont have a reading assignment. i can do whatever the crap i want to (assuming it doesn't displease jesse (too much) and it's monitarily feasible). how sweet is that? if there's something i'm excited about, i can stay excited about it because i dont have school work to dampen my joy. i love it.