The Trip to the Island...

So last week I mentioned Jen and I went to beautiful Whidbey Island with our small group. Here are some pictures from the trip! It was so great, relaxing, and fun. Dean even took us out sailing! Great food, great fellowship, God's creation, what more could you ask for? Well the only thing missing was one family. Adam and Sara Haulter and there beautiful little girl Lola! But other than that...what more do you need! Hope you enjoy the pictures!















The Man in charge... Captain Dean Peterson















Zachary Patrick















Me and my beautiful wife Jen
















Christel Peterson & my wife Jen





















Todd & Jill Patrick and son Zachary















Darryl & Anne Brackett















Bryce & Rachel Schober

The DMB in the place to be!

The Red Sled, The Brown Bomb, and the Italian Stallion


The DMB from afar...


Dave up close and personal...


Me and my beautiful wife Jen...


The Gorge before the show and the sunset...


The Gorge at sunset...
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So after a great Sunday at church Jen and I were off on an other adventure this time to the Gorge in George Washington. This is about a 2 and 1/2 hour drive on 3+ if you are driving in my sweet old red sled [87 Subaru GL 4WD Wagon]. It was a gorgeous day and as we made our way the temperature continued to grow. Eastern Washington is HOT! We arrived at about 5pm set up our tent - which is Jen's parents old tent from like 1910. It is little, brown, beige, and has the old camping/campfire smell - but hey it works! After setting up, we packed our bags and made the walk to the amphitheatre. It takes about 30 minutes with all the crowds, security, and ticket checks, but once you get there you just set down your blanket, stake your spot, and get comfortable. Jen made pesto pasta with grilled veggies and chicken that was smashing. And we splurged and bought an enormous lemonade slurpy for dessert and to keep cool! Around 7pm the North Mississippi Allstars took the stage. They weren't my favorite, but were pretty cool, kind of a mix of styles from rock to funk and a little southern groove too! It was a great warm up to start the night! But we came to here Dave and Dave showed up! This is my 3rd time seeing the Dave Matthews Band and the second time at the Gorge and I must say it again. They know how to JAM!

Here is how the show went down...

Sunday - Aug 21 2005 Gorge Amphitheatre

Pantala Naga Pampa
Rapunzel
Dream Girl
Hello Again
Lover Lay Down
Bartender
Louisiana Bayou
Grey Street
Out Of My Hands
Say Goodbye
Drive In Drive Out
Hunger For The Great Light
Dancing Nancies
Warehouse
Blackbird
Dreaming Tree [tease]
All Along The Watchtower
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#40[Tease]
Crush
What You Are

Some of my favorites of the night were Drive in Drive out, Dream Girl, Hunger for the Great Light, Blackbird, and All Along the Watchtower. It was so beautiful out there. And the crowd was great minus the about 20,000,000 bowls of pot we second hand smoked or maybe that is why everything was so good : )

I BIG THANKS TO KMTT THE MOUNTAIN!!! For hooking us up with these tickets!

Seattle Summer Concert Scene!

So as stated in earlier posts I got the opportunity to go to Coldplay! It was wonderful. My love for the band and there music was lifted to an even higher level. My next concert event will occur on Sunday. We are going to the Gorge for the Dave Matthews Band concert! We won these tickets from a cd release party at Kells Irish Pub put on by KMTT the Mountain our favorite radio station! We can't wait! And then in a week or so BUMBERSHOOT! This is an event we look forward to every year. This year John Butler Trio, Marc Brussard, Maktub, Trey Anastasion, Citizen Pope, Digable Planets, Common, Ani Difranco, Talib Kweli, Hothouse Flowers, Dashboard Confessionals, and more! Oh how I love the summer concert scene in Seattle! Today I am off to Whidbey Island with my couples group to a friends cabin for some fun in the sun! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Fix You!

I LOVE THIS SONG!

"Fix You" by Coldplay

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

High up above or down below
when you too in love to let it go
If you never try you'll never know
Just what your worth

Lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears streaming down your face
I promise you will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face and

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Coldplay Concert!

So Jen and I were blessed to get to go see Coldplay in concert last night! And I have got to say that IT WAS AWESOME! I got some great pictures and some great videos. They ended the show with the song "Fix You" and Chris ended it with some special "Washington Lyrics" that were very cool. Once I figure out how to add videos I will share it with you. But for now here are some pictures for your imagination! Enjoy!

What is your model of church?

Ok so now that I am back I have had some time to catch up on some email and blogging. I was sent this quiz kind of like the theo-quiz I had posted earlier called "What's your theological worldview?" This one is for your model of church. And for someone like me who has worked in the church for about 12 years and has pondered the idea of planting a church I found this interesting. If you want to take the quiz yourself click here. QUIZ

Here are my results...

You scored as Sacrament model.

Your model of the church is Sacrament. The church is the effective sign of the revelation that is the person of Jesus Christ. Christians are transformed by Christ and then become a beacon of Christ wherever they go. This model has a remarkable capacity for integrating other models of the church.

Sacrament model 83%
Servant Model 72%
Herald Model 67%
Mystical Communion Model 67%
Institutional Model 33%

I have no idea what the "Herald Model" is but when I find out I will tell. If any of you know what it is let me know! I bet it is a lot like the DAAAVVVVVIIIIDDDDD model of church! :)

HOME SWEET HOME!

So after about 15 hours of flying and lots of really bad airplane food we made it home. We actually gained a night in our return, but we are so beat!

We had the opportunity of staying another night with free room and board, food, and $700 dollar plane vouchers for each of us because our flight from Rome was so full. We signed up for the deal, but unfortunately then didn't need that many seats. Oh well! It would have been really cool to get two $700 tickets and an extra night, but the comfort of our own bed was so night to come home to!

Thanks for all of your prayers for our trip! It was felt and appreciated! We can't wait to get together with you all and to share our stories and pictures!

Talk to you soon!

ROME, ORVIETO, AND CIVITA

So we have really loved Rome! It is an amazingly alive city especially at night! But our greatest adventure while in Rome actually came on our last day!

We decided to leave and go see another hill town. Much like our wine tour of Chianti we went to the town of Orvieto which is also a wine town. All I have to say is that you have to see the pictures, but from Orvieto we went to the small town of Civita.

This place is incredible. It has a population of 14! That's smaller than Eatonville! It is a place where the Etruscans lived in over 2500 years ago!!! You can only get there by walking up this long bridge. Picture the Grand Canyon in the middle of Tuscany. A little mountain with sharp cliffs surrounding it. It has a wall built all around it and the city is inside. We saw pictures of this town from when pictures were first available and it looks the same today! Anyways this was one of the coolest places we got to see! I can't wait to show you the pictures!

Venice Part 2, Brussels Belgium, and Rome!

Ok sorry for the blank blog from below. I ran out of time on the internet and it did not load up all that I wrote. SO yes Erika and others Venice was wonderful! So hear is the quick recap of Venice!

It is the most beautuful place ever! I never thought I could be more motivated to learn how to swim! Just kidding! We saw lots of statues, pigeons, tourists, paintings, gelato, pizza, vivaldi bands, sunsets, and rain! Yes we had rain and it was so refreshing! And it made all the tourists run for cover!!! We loved it! We also saw St Marks Basillica, the pallace of the Doge which is like a Duke, climbed some towers and saw incredible views. We purposely got lost and felt like a local which was really fun. We also saw the place in which they say the apostle Mark was burried and also saw artifacts that they say were from the days of Jesus! This is the very short version, I do not want a repeat of last time! I will share more later!

From Venice we headed off to Brussels Belgium!

This was incredible!

We stayed with my cousin Robin and her soon to be husband Alberto! Brussels is much like the northwest. It is green with lots of trees, hills, mountains, and parks. The people are very kind and the climate is very similar. We also got some rain Seattle style which again was very refreshing.

Basically while we were here we spent much time relaxing and catching up on relationships and sleep! We had frites, Belgian waffles, lots of mussels - to eat not mine, and great Beer! YUM YUM!!! We saw all the sights and we went to Bruge an incredibly beautiful medieval village kind of like Leavenworth but instead Belgian. They even have lots of canals like Venice! WE LOVED THIS PLACE!!! We were also treated to the most authentic Italian cooking by Alberto two of our nights which was very very good! We hated to leave, but Rome was calling!

AND THAT IS WHERE WE ARE NOW!

So far we have seen the Spanish steps which is blocks from our place, the Pantheon, the Colosseum, and the Roman Forum. We also saw Vatican City the home of the Pope and the incredible Vatican museum. And with this we saw St Peters Basillica and the Sistine Chapel. It is a crazy city but we have loved it so far. I got to run, but we will be home very soon!

Ciao for now!

AHHH VENICE!

Pisa, Cinque Terre, Florence, Siena, & Chianti...

Bonjourno & Ciao from Italy!

Oh my we love this country! So from Barcelona we left very early to Pisa alla airplane. We made it and saw the famous Leaning Tower. From there we headed by train to what very well could be the most beautiful place on earth. THE CINQUE TERRE! We stayed in a place called Vernazza. It is right on the Mediteranean Sea. Very small and completely gorgeous! We hiked we relaxed, we people watched, we saw the sights and learned the history. And of course we ate some of the best food of our lives! We even got treated to live music and incredible tango dancing!

From there we went to Florence by train and stayed with Marcella who is awesome - like Bertha Sclafani only she doesn't speak English. We saw DAAAAAVVVVIIIIDDD!!! And lots of other special paintings and sculptures by DaVinci, Michelanglo, and all the other big names!

Then from there we bused to Siena which has been more relaxed and beautiful. Our place has an incredible terrace that looks over the whole city. And our host plays the accordian to us! Today we took a trip to Chianti and sipped wine and saw Tuscany! It is so beautiful!

I am just about out of time on this email card! So gotta go!

Off to Venice tomorrow!

Love you all and will email again soon!

Ciao and Bouna Sera from Italy!