Saturday, April 29, 2006

Somebody Is Doing Something




The Global Night Commute is tonight. Folks all across the world are gathering to bring awareness to some HUGE issues in Africa. I just found out about this and I'm bummed that I can't be involved tonight in Seattle. Anyhow, check out the website.

Surfing The Web From Home

Yep, that's right folks...The cable dude just left the building. Now if I could just locate an xbox?

We spent the last few days hanging with Scott & Emma; these cats are so cool. It was great to see them and chat. We took them to the Fremont District for some yummy Thai food. Then we headed to Alki Beach. What a day, sand, snow-capped mountains and deep blue water; plus we ate at Alki Bakery, good stuff! After that, we headed down to Kirkland and took a walk along the waterfront, which was nice. (Except for the wanna be Paris Hilton chic walking around with her dog in hand, freaking lame, get a freaking life) Ok, time to calm down, but I HAD to RANT about that. :)

The next day we did our ferry-pilgrimage, picked up Scott & Emma and headed to The Original Pancake House. Yes, this place is soooo good. Of course, we also hung at Pike's Place; needless to say we had a blast. Scott, you need to start blogging bro.

Today we are just relaxing. Tomorrow...We head back to Seattle for church & lunch with a local pastor/blogger. Should be fun.

BTW-The Lakers are rolling baby...Since I do not have cable tv, I had to follow the game via the treo...Ya, that was like stressful. I hit refresh so many times, Necole almost took my treo from me. How mean!

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Ryan Van Sickle

Ryan Van Sickle is now blogging. Sweet, and how did I miss this???

Prayer Needs




One aspect I love about blogging is the sense of community that I feel. I know there are folks who are keeping up with my story...So, I see blogging as medium to communicate and share with other folks. It's also a two way street, I feel connected to my friends because of their blogs...For instance, I know what Ashdown is reading, Jeff had a new little girl, Ken is spiderman, Mark seems to be having all sorts of fun with the family, Jason is trying to figure out why we blog and Wahba is helping Jodi catch a cat.

So, that is why I think blogging is cool. Therefore, I thought I would use this blogging medium as a prayer tool for my family. Below, I'm going to list some specifics needs that we have, and I'm going to ask my global community to join me in praying for these needs. I think it's a tragedy how sometimes we can be so individualistic in our culture (church included). I do not want to be that way, I want to rely on my brothers & sisters to stand before God and my behalf, and I want to stand before God on their behalf. So here it goes:

-Pray that Necole would find a good paying job with full benefits quickly.
-Pray that I can sell at least 5 homes this summer.
-Pray that we find a good church home, were we can connect and give back.
-Pray that I can get a car to do Real Estate.
-Pray that we can find a baby-sitter/school for the girls.
-Pray that we can find a long-term place to live.
-Pray that the Lakers beat the Suns tonight.


Ok, just kidding on the last one, but hey, there you go & thanks for prayer.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Hello World

Sorry for the silence, call me a blog-slacker if you want. Anyhow, things are going pretty well in Seattle. We are truly loving the city and the weather has been great.

Looks like I'm going to be working for Keller Williams in downtown Bellevue. They have a nice office. Necole and I love the business activity. We can walk to multiple cafes, movie theatre's, shops, breweries, restaurants, and of course my gym is across the street. So that is cool.

Wanted to say happy b-day to Amanda, Kezia & Diana. Hope you special days went well. Now your older...Like me...Rock on!

Last but not least, congrats to Jeff and the birth of Abigail. I think we bloggers should unite and send Jeff some coffee, since he will not be getting much sleep for awhile :)

Back to work. Must sell home quickly...Or else, I will lose weight...Not by choice.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Hello

We arrived safely in Bremerton...No border problems. We caught the ferry and headed to our appointment.

Mad props to Abundant Life Foursquare Church in Bremerton, WA. They are allowing my family to stay in the Genesis House for the next 6 weeks till we settle in.

The house is great, it's clean & stocked with everything one needs...This ministry definitely has spirit of excellence. We are so grateful. They even let us snag some wireless from the church. Yippee!

It's going to feel nice to find a rhythm again. This road trip has brought so much healing to my soul. It feels good to be around folks who care, to see old friends and meet new ones. God is so good, we face many challenges, but the light is at the end of the tunnel sorta speak.

Our time is Canada was quick, but great. Ken & Brenda have AMAZING families. So much love and grace. We stayed at the house Brenda grew up in. Jerry & Diana Moore (Brenda parents) were telling Bailey that she was staying at the same house that Brenda lived in as a child. Of course, Bailey responded with the typical "Bailey" comeback; She threw her hands in the air, and told Jerry & Diana that she lived in many homes and many states, she could not believe that Brenda grew up in ONE house :)

It was also good to see Kezia. She turns 30 on Saturday, WOW. Looking forward to spending more time with her in the future.

Then we hung out with Gerald & Sue Nussbaum. (Ken's parents) They cooked us a delicious meal, and of course we drank about 6 cups of coffee. (I thought Ken was bad, I think his pops can take him any day) We had great conversations about life and ministry etc. I'm not sure if Ken & Brenda really know how excited their parents are that they are moving back to the Northwest.

Anyhow, I got to go. The road trip is now officially over. I will post some stats tomorrow.

Peace & Love from Seattle...Which is now home!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Do Your Part



Some nice practical tips on 50 Ways to Save the Planet.

HT: Jordan Cooper

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Mean Mean Mean

Well, we made it to Canada...Barely. We arrived at the border and the border dude was not so nice. We only had 3 birth certificates therefore the border guard guy made us go to immigration. Of course the immigration chic was also mean, she grilled us with the 20 question type of quiz...Question like, "why did you move to Seattle?" And, "how do we know if that 3 year old is truly yours and this social security card is not fake?" But, after 1/2 hour, they let us through. So, now we are relaxing at Brenda's parents place in Surrey.

Looking forward to hanging with Ken's parent tomorrow and also double agent kPaul in Vancouver. I also may have to find a little cigar shop with some real Cubans :)

We are off...

to Vancouver B.C. for a few days. We will be staying with Brenda's family. It will be nice to get to know them.

Also, Sunday...We where heading to Pathways Church. John Chandler who does TheoHacks podcast is on staff at Pathways, and since we do not have a church, and we do not know anyone, we thought we would check out Pathways. So, Necole was backing the van down the hill, she mis-judged a little and our back tire slid off into the cliff-yikes. I thought the van was going to flip over into the small ravine below. So, I had to get the family out before we all died on the day that Jesus lived. Then of course, I did the manly thing and tried to get the van out myself, which I only made the problem worse. Go figure.

We called our insurance company while we prayed the van would not slide down the cliff. The tow truck guy came and he looked at the van in disbelief. He tried to get the van un-stuck but he had no luck. So, he called a second tow truck to come help. Finally, they got the van out and we were worried that the gas tank or oil thingy was damaged...But, we were lucky and we had no damage.

Needless to say, we missed the service...Then the Nussbams called...Not Ken, but Ken's brother Tim. We headed out to Bremerton Island (via the ferry, which rocks) to hang with Tim & Rachel. We had a blast and we are looking forward to getting to know them more.

Anyhow, It's time to load the van and hit the road. Peace & Love!

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Update

I wanted to give a shout out to Wahba for showing the world my hidden hobby-cheerleading :)

So far Seattle has been fun, Necole and I are learning to take each day as they come, when we left NC we had no clue where we would end up...Although, we had a hunch it would be the great Northwest.

Anyhow, we were in Cali for a few days and we absolutely hated it...Just not our cup of tea. So, we left and headed north to the Rain City. We knew we had a place to stay for a few days...After that, we were not sure; we even thought we may buy a tent and crash in a state park or something. While we have enjoyed the journey, and God is teaching me a lot about life and trust, we also miss our rhythm that we so love and hate. Little things like beds, a kitchen and of course the greatness of the internet.

Our kids are getting a little ADD, and they are asking if we are going to find a "real" home sometime soon. Long story short the Nussbaums were working behind the scenes to try and find us a place to stay.

Well, today we got a call from a Foursquare Church that Ken's brother is a Youth Pastor at. They have a house called the Genesis House. This house is a transitional house...The church is close to a Navy base and I guess they use the home to bless the local military community and also missionaries.

They informed us that we can stay for free till mid-June. This is HUGE for us. So, sometime at the end of next week, we will be able to move in and relax for a bit. We hope to get our business going and find a church in the next few weeks.

Monday we leave for Canada to hang with Ken & Brenda's family for a few days. We also hope to hang with Kezia while we are there.

Seattle is a great place. I hope to post some pics soon.

Until then, the journey continues...

You have new Picture Mail!


You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by Ancientwalk.
Bailey is in a really good mood!

You have new Picture Mail!


You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by Ancientwalk.
Kenzie enjoying The Original Pancake House.....

Friday, April 14, 2006

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Seattle....Here we come

That's right, we are leaving early tomorrow morning...Necole has a job interview on Friday at 2PM, so please say a prayer. Also, we have a place to crash for the weekend. But, we may have a temporary place to stay for like a month. Which would be great.

We are sooooo stoked to land in the rain city and begin a new chapter of our life. I can see the mountains, the ferries, and the deep dark blue puget sound. So sweet...Peace and love from the road, the journey is almost over. :) :(

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Life is Good

Hanging at Cafe Flood in Sac-town. Cool place, great coffee, music, & vibe. This is nice cafe, they offer curb side coffee in the morning, so you can drive up in a car and they will bring your coffee to you, which of course, the Starbucks across the street is not doing that. So props to the "flood team" for being creative and what not. This cafe is also connected to the church, which is Flood Sacramento. However, once again they have done a great job in creating and independent vibe. Anyhow, cool stuff.

Necole and I are really pumped to move forward in our lives, to dig into a city, connect to a community and find folks to do life with. Please join us on our journey and pray for the following:

1. Jobs.
2. Real Estate will do well.
3. Place to live.
4. Church home.
5 Cash Flow.
6. Mission, how can we make the city a better place and allow the Kingdom of God to shine through our lives, etc.
7. Friends for Bailey & Kenzie.
8. Sunshine :)

Peace & Love from the road...

Monday, April 10, 2006

Seattle is Home




Well, after months of thinking, praying, debating...Necole and I have decided to call Seattle home. At the end of the day, we just love the city, we do not like Sacramento AT ALL. So, we head off to the great Northwest next Monday. We are pumped to live in such a great city and be close to the Nussbaum's. Peace & Love, and the road trip will end soon.

I need a cafe

Hanging at Starbucks, which is not good...I looked for an indy cafe and I finally found one in Folsom...So, I headed 20 minutes north up into the foothills and passed like 6 Starbucks on the way. When I arrived at the cafe (serves only organic coffee) I was pumped. Free wi-fi, good coffee and it's not Starbucks...So, I powered up the iBook and waited in great anticipation...Looking closely to see my airport bars come to life...But, their was nothing-nothing at all. So, I asked the lady behind the counter how to get on to the wi-fi network...She starred at me like I was nuts...So, I finally asked her if they had internet access for their customers...She said no! I was like shocked and amazed...I pick up my belonging to leave, as I was walking out the door she said, "great, I bet you he will go to Starbucks." I turned around and informed her that Starbucks has the internet, but I would prefer to support an indy cafe. She smiled, and I asked her if she could recommend one that has the internet. She frowned, I left, now I'm at Starbucks and I'm sad.

BTW- While I was on Scottsdale, I found and indy cafe with the internet that serves Blue Mountain Coffee by the cup. SWEET!

Sunday, April 09, 2006

You have new Picture Mail!


You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by Ancientwalk.
The driver...he had a huge bible. Crazy.

You have new Picture Mail!


You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by Ancientwalk.
Wow, you gotta love this!

Saturday, April 08, 2006

california

well, we made it to stockton, ca...btw-i hate this city...but i'm glad to be able to see my grandma. but, my lame cousin was just released from prison...i don't trust him, so i'm a little stressed. anyhow, tomorrow we head to sac...next monday we will go to seattle...and hopefully we will have a place to call home?

california

well, we made it to stockton, ca...btw-i hate this city...but i'm glad to be able to see my grandma. but, my lame cousin was just released from prison...i don't trust him, so i'm a little stressed. anyhow, tomorrow we head to sac...next monday we will go to seattle...and hopefully we will have a place to call home?

I HATE Stockon

We made it to Stockton, CA. My hometown sorta speak. It seems weird visiting a place that you grew up in. I've only been here like 3 times in 8 years...I wish I could say I like it, but I don't. Plus, my cousin just got out of prison, and he is staying at my grandma's house...So, it's time for us to jet to Sacto. Peace & Love from the road.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Thursday, April 06, 2006

I made it

We decided to forgo our tip to the Canyon & Vegas and head straight to Cali. Next week we will take a trip to San Francisco, then Yosemite and then head up to Seattle.

Also, I DID make it to the top of Camelback. Pics below, peace and goodnight!

Bailey resting.
The top, YES!!!!
Where it all started.

You have new Picture Mail!


You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by Ancientwalk.
Yes, this is not good...We almost lost two more tires in the middle of Sodona. We did make it tio Flagstaff...God has been good to us...Adventure continues...

You have new Picture Mail!


You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by Ancientwalk.
In Sodona National Park.

Camelback Mountain

We are leaving the Wahba's this morning. We had a great time here in Phoenix. We now off the the Grand Canyon. Should be a blast.

Well, I had this crazy idea to hike Camelback Mountain while in Phoenix. So yesterday we took our stab at the mountain. The trail is 1.75 miles to the summit. As we were marching up the mountain, going from switchbacks to switchback,Ii thought I was going to make it to the top...But, as always, things got a little difficult. I was quickly loosing my breath and my heart-rate was off the charts. (seems like I've done this kind of stuff before in NC) But we kept treking & treking & treking to the never ending trail...So, do you think I made it?

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Apple - Boot Camp - Public Beta

The rumors are true, finally I can run wondows on my Mac (if I have the new Macs with Intel). This is so cool, in real estate I had to use PC for much of my work, now, when I get the new Mac I can have the best of both worlds. SWEET!

Apple - Boot Camp

More Thoughts

Another amazing morning in the desert. I can honestly say I really like Phoenix, at least this time of the year. The articture is stunning, the city is filled with life. Right now I'm hanging at Coffee Plantation on Mill ST. (Think Franklin St or Berkeley) Wahba is a PA, and he worked until 3 AM this morning. Now, our little girls believe sleeping late is from Satan, so, we headed out early so Mr. Wahba could sleep more than 3 hours.

Being with Jodi & Wahba feels like home; they are very hospitable, which is nice. They have basically given up their house to the Marlow's for a few days, and for that we are truly grateful.

One thing we have noticed on our trip is how our kids connect with everyone on the way. It's good to see all of our friends who don't have little ones embrace ours. For instance the Wahba's had a gift bag full of toys and cookies waiting for our kids upon arrival. Mrs. Ashdown read stories to our kids for like an hour. Therefore, every time we leave a city Bailey & Kenzie try to convince us to stay. They want to live in Dallas, Houston, and now of course it's Phoenix. Then I tell them they won't see Ken, Brenda, or Sally (The Nussbaum's dog) and they break down. Bailey says its such a hard decision and why can't we all live together. Of course, Kenzie is focused...She is Seattle bound come hell or high-water...Because Sally is going to be in Seattle, therefore, Kenzie is also.

I've learned a lot about God on this trip. It seems awkward, so surreal, that we truly have no place to land or call home, and so far we are fine with that. But, now we are locked into seeking God's will and hearing His voice and finding out where he is leading us. It's important for us to "get there" quick so I can get real estate going and all.

Below are some pics of Arizona from the top of one of the local mountains. Also, today we are going to hike Camelback Mountain with the Wahbas. I hope I make it to the top, we may not be able to with the kids and all. I will let you know tonight.

Peace & Love from the road...Where life is free, community is deep and the road is open.



Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Thoughts from the road




What a morning, sunny & 70 degrees...I mean, is that wicked sick or what? The desert is unique, its a "dead-beauty" for sure. In the back of my mind, I'm waiting for a huge scorpion to roll up on me and "tail-snap me."

We had a some great conversation with the Wahba's last night. Good to see them, good to re-connect. Looking forward to hanging today.

Last night I was so exhausted, I good barely stay awake as I sucked down my milkshake from in & out. I thought, I was getting sick, so I went to bed early, like 10PM. I woke up this morning and I felt good, thank God.

Kenzie wants to go home, we told her our home is that white dirty bug splattered van and the open road. We have nowhere to call home...But, we have felt a great sense of community and we do life with friends and family across America.

Necole and I are trying to live day-to-day. We want to enjoy the journey and allow the presence of God to lead us to our final destination. Of course, it would be nice to have a place to land, to call home, to call our own...I'm sure that will be soon. In the meantime, we are relaxed, encouraged and peaceful...Even if our home is our car!

Monday, April 03, 2006

You have new Picture Mail!


You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by Ancientwalk.
There is a God, and he is so good :-D



We made it to Phoenix. Can't wait to hang with the Wahba's.

You have new Picture Mail!


You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by Ancientwalk.
Not sure if you can see the sign? But, we made it to New Mexico:-D

That was close

We made it to Van Horn, TX. This is a small rustic W. Texas desert town. Huge rock mountains and deep blue skies...Lovely place in its own right. We had an issue with the van, long story short, we almost blew a tire on a one lane freeway last night. We made it to the hotel, the steering on the van was harsh and I was worried. Next door to the hotel was mechanic shop, so this morning the mechanic fixed our tire. Thank God the tire did not blow on the freeway. Off to Phoenix, we should have a 10 hour trip.

Peace & Love from the road.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

You have new Picture Mail!


You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by sacred.
The marlows are hanging at the riverwalk :)

You have new Picture Mail!


You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by sacred.
We are on the road. It will take us 2 days to reach Phoenix. We had a great time with the Ashdowns. Say a prayer for us.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Thoughts from Bailey




So last night we are driving to the Ashdowns apt...The van is quiet and we are taking in all the new sights...Then Bailey decides to speak:

"Dad, it's freaking hot in this place."

Then, Kenzie decides to chime in:

"Ya Dad, it's freaking hot."


Total laughter filled the van...Not sure I want my little one using that type of language, but it was so funny.


Then, this morning we had round two.

Last night, Bailey went to bed and I was on my iBook. This morning when I woke up, I was also on my iBook looking for a local Starbucks. Bailey woke up and saw me on my comp, she screamed like a little girl:

"Dad, you've been on your computer all night? Oh my gosh, your crazy"


Life on the road is good.