Happy Anniversary!!!

Hello, friends!

Saturday will mark 6 years since I made the best decision of my life and married Meg. It's been one heck of a ride, with ups, downs, transitions, trials and triumphs. I couldn't imagine life without her and I'm so glad that I get to spend the rest my life with her.

To honor our 6 years together, I give you our lives, in 6 photos...

This is our garden. Well, honestly, it's Meg's garden. I have a little patch of soil where I grow some sunflower microgreens but the harvest you see below is all Meg's doing. In many ways, our marriage is about planting and growing stuff. We've planted ministries together, uprooted our family to put new roots down in Omaha, and seen our kids grow as well as our work with InterVarsity.

This is beef stew noodle soup, aka the greatest food known to man. Much like with gardening, I can do a little here or there but Meg is the real expert. Regardless of who's cooking though, our marriage has revolved around food in a lot of ways. We like trying out new recipes and eating delicious things. Here's to many more years of full stomachs.

These are our kids. We love our kids to death. Meg is a great mom and I at least try hard. =0). Seriously though, it's so great being married to a woman who genuinely loves her kids and wants to see them grow up to be a man and woman of God. We parent a little differently (ok, maybe a lot differently) but like we tell Ezra when he asks one of us for something after the other one already told him "no": Mommy and Daddy are on the same team. 

This is us hosting a dinner with students. To say that hosting is a part of our marital DNA would be like saying the St. Louis Cardinals are the best baseball team in the history of the world... Duh!!! Much like with parenting, Meg and I do it differently (read: she does it well and I try hard). We love having people over and love being able to serve folk by providing space for them to do whatever they need to do, whether it be sleep, eat, or just chill. 

This is our family. Well, it's Meg's parents from when they came to visit. One thing we both love is spending time with our families. Since we've moved to Omaha, we've probably crammed in 2-3 years' worth of visits to South Dakota into our time. We've also had my side of the family come out to visit too. A lot of nights throughout the week we're calling one family member or another for FaceTime or Google Hangout. It's so much fun being a part of a family that goes just beyond the 4 of us.

This is Ezra dancing. He's usually dancing. Thaliea spends a lot of time dancing. You'd better believe that Meg and I do our fair share of dancing too. I'm not saying that our house is Omaha Dance Party Central... I'm just saying that our house is Omaha Dance Party Central. I love being married to a woman who loves to have fun. It's way better than dancing with myself. 

BONUS PHOTO! I just really like this photo, that's all. Here's to (at least) 6 more years of marriage!!!

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

A "Normal" Week

Hello, friends!

We're just about 2 months into being back at work and I think I've finally found a work rhythm that works well for me. It's a huge blessing and one that is definitely needed.

As I've said many times before, I'm a rhythms and structures guy. I function best when I have my gameplan in front of me and things are predictable. Setting a schedule with what I'm going to be doing each day helps me focus and allows me to take on non-structured things better.

There are a lot of moving parts in my job now, which meant there were a lot of pieces that needed to be put in place in order to find my rhythm. I'm coaching 6 staff in their MPD so I needed to work with their schedules. I have supervisory meetings of my own and work with Asian American Ministries. I have small group and Rotary, which are immovable. There are also times when I'm taking care of the kids and taking them to daycare and such. We can't forget Sabbath and church either. There are a lot of moving parts.

But, we've got it figured out for the most part! It's a tight schedule but it gets the job done.

Monday: Sabbath. Thank you, LORD, for the goodness of rest.
Tuesday: Small Group @ 6:30, supervisory meetings from 9-11, lunch with my friend Eric (now we're looking for Omaha's best chicken wings!), and working on Regional and National stuff the rest of the day before cooking dinner.
Wednesday: Admin and MPD work until the Rotary meeting, then a supervisory meeting in the afternoon with more Admin and MPD work sprinkled in there when I have time.
Thursday: Taking the kids to school before diving into more supervisory meetings and again, spending the afternoon on Regional and National initiatives.
Friday: Watching the kids in the morning before working the rest of the day on Admin and spiritual formation.
Saturday and Sunday I'm trying to keep work free to spend time with the family.

It's not a perfect schedule but it gets the job done. Trying to cram 40 hours of work into 4 days instead of 5 makes things a little tougher but it's worth it to have weekends free with my family and a normal Sabbath with Jesus.

So, that's my rhythm. For now anyway. This will be enough to get me through the semester, when new responsibilities and such will arise. I'm thankful that I have a job that offers a certain amount of structure so I can do my best work in rhythm.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Kansas Bound!

Hello, friends!

Prior to Mizzou leaving the Big XII for the SEC in 2012, Mizzou's biggest rival was the University of Kansas, located in Lawrence, KS, about an hour west of Kansas City. Around Columbia, if you wanted to get the crowd really riled up, you wore the blue and red of KU in Black and Gold country. While we bested them in football, they have the basketball national championships to hold over Mizzou's collective head. It was a rivalry steeped in tradition, history, and some good, old fashioned, college hatred.

I've only been to Lawrence once. A group of KU students came to St. Louis one Spring Break to do an urban project. There, the idea was hatched to play some "friendly" basketball in Lawrence. Since Mizzou is on the way to KU from St. Louis, I grabbed my student who balled the most, hopped in the car, and played some hoops.

We won.

I haven't been back since.

UNTIL NOW!

Part of my job is doing training all across the Region (Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska) for staff teams. On Friday, I get to take my first trip as part of the job. I'll be heading to Lawrence to train the staff team on deepening their MPD networks. It'll be a short trip but it should be a good one.

The plan is pretty simple: I'll leave for Lawrence in the morning, do the training in the late morning. Possibly meet with some ministry partners in the afternoon and/or evening in Kansas City, and be home before I turn into a pumpkin late that night. Meg and the kids will be in SoDak visiting Grandma and Papa so I've got all the time in the world. I'm looking forward to visiting a staff team. I'm looking forward to eating something delicious in Kansas City. I'm looking forward to the audiobooks I'm going to be busting out on the road. I'm looking forward to my first travel trip.

Friends, if you have a moment on Friday, please be praying for me, particularly for journey's mercies. It's a pretty easy trip along the interstate but stuff happens.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Thoughts on Crazy Rich Asians...

Hello, friends!

A few months back, i was scrolling through Facebook and I saw a trailer for Crazy Rich Asians (CRA), a movie starring Constance Wu (of Fresh Off the Boat fame) based on a series of books by Kevin Kwan. If I could have, I would have bought the tickets right then and there for opening night. Alas, I had to wait and finally got around to watching it a few weeks ago.

Let me make one thing clear: CRA is not a perfect movie. The book was more a satire but the movie was definitely a rom-com, meaning a lot of the subtleties were missed and the "message" of the book got muddled a bit. There are legitimate concerns about the representation (or lack thereof) of other ethnic groups in Singapore beyond the Chinese. I preferred the book's version of Peik-Lin to Akwafina's portrayal (although, Akwafina totally nailed the version she was asked to do). I don't think it will be winning an Oscar this year. All I can speak to is my own experiences with watching the movie. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. There are 3 big reasons why.

1) The Black Panther-esque level of representation. Black Panther was amazing at least in part because it was a predominantly Black cast focusing on a Black superhero, totally crushing it in a genre that isn't exactly known for its diverse representation. In many ways, CRA was like that for Asian Americans. All the major characters were Asian or Asian American. American Romantic comedies don't usually feature Asian actors. With the success of Fresh Off the Boat, the inclusion of Kim's Convenience on Netflix, and now CRA, (with John Cho's "Searching" also out now), it really felt like a big moment in terms of breakthrough in mainstream media.

2) That soundtrack. "Material Girl" by Madonna. "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You" made famous by Elvis. "Yellow" by Coldplay. What do these songs have in common? They were all on the CRA soundtrack and there were all covered in Mandarin for the movie. Every time I heard a new cover of an "American" song in Mandarin, my heart swelled with pride and I giggled a little. Much of our (being America's) cultural history includes White folk borrowing from Asian cultures to make something "new." To see this in reverse was pretty entertaining. Also, the covers were really good.

3) There were moments where Constance Wu nailed it. There have been a few moments in entertainment when I really connected with a character. I remember having my lunch made fun of like Eddie on Fresh Off the Boat. I've had multiple occasions where I attempt to say something in Mandarin or Cantonese only for the native speaker to not understand me like Janet in Kim's Convenience. I felt that same connection at multiple points during CRA when Constance Wu's Rachel is reminded that she is a foreigner and that she doesn't belong. It was something about her eyes. There was a look in her eyes that I resonated with. It was subtle but it was there.

If you haven't seen CRA already, please go! Also, go see Searching (which looks great). Watch Kim's Convenience on Netflix and if you have Hulu, catch up on Fresh Off the Boat (at least season 1). Support Asian Americans in the entertainment industry! We're pretty great. =0).

Have an excellent day!

~Adam