Progressive Dinner!

Hello, friends! 

Last weekend we had the chance to participate in one of Nebraska InterVarsity's best student traditions: the Progressive Dinner! 

A Progressive Dinner works like this: Each course of the meal (appetizer, main, and dessert) is held at a different location. One house hosted the appetizer, a local church hosted the main course, and a few different houses hosted the desserts. Students got dressed up to the 9's, hopped in their cars, and drove all over Omaha for food, fun, and connection. 

Megan, as the interim Area Director for Nebraska, was one of the key organizer for the Progressive Dinner this year. She was recruiting students, making sure there was enough food, communicating with volunteers and staff, and she even cooked some gluten free food for some students. She was an absolute all-star. 

I had a much simpler role. I invited some of the Bellevue students and I made sure the kids ate their food. Hey, it's tough work, but somebody's got to do it. =0). 

Friends, I am going to call this year's Progressive Dinner another smashing success. Not only did we have over 100 students show up but there were specific students who where there who made my heart happy. One Bellevue student was there and had a blast making new friends and meeting people. She even connected with a Creighton student who will be transferring Bellevue next semester. Our church brought a handful of college and high school students, including some students who will be joining us at Urbana. It was a blast seeing them meet new folk. I talked to one dad on Sunday who said that his daughter had so much fun, she wants to do something like that every month. 

One thing that I love is a good tradition. We had to skip the Progressive Dinner the past few years because of the pandemic, so bringing it back last year and restarting the tradition is a huge blessing to students, staff, and ministry partners alike. These next few weeks will be busy for students as they prepare for finals and such but I'm glad they got a fun night out to eat and connect. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam 

Thanksgiving Loves...

Hello, friends! 

After an extended trip in California to see family for Thanksgiving, we're now back in beautiful Omaha, a little bit colder, a little bit fatter, and a little bit closer to Christmas! Here was our trip:

Monday: Fly out to California

Tuesday: Visit the Long Beach Aquarium with the entire family and enjoy dinner at my parent's place

Wednesday: Have a November Birthday Party for Jonah, my dad, and my niece, with another tasty dinner at home.

Thursday: Play football in the morning with friends and family over for a Thanksgiving feast in the evening.

Friday: Go to my brother's house to watch USA vs. England, then dinner at the Grand Central Market in Los Angeles 

Saturday: Hit the beach and bum around my parent's place with the entire family before going out to dinner with my parents and younger siblings

Sunday: Megan and I visited my old church, then had a lunch date with dinner out with Megan's uncle and family

Monday: We went to the Science Center in the morning, the older kids went to the beach with my mom while Megan and I ran errands, and we looked at the lights and had dinner at my younger sister's house

Tuesday: Flew home

Things I ate:

- Tommy's (the best chili burger in all the land)

- In-N-Out (a classic)

- Mandarin Noodle House (my jam!)

- Canaan (it's nice to eat some proper Chinese food)

- Kaju (Soon du bu; Megan's favorite meal of the trip)

- Korean BBQ (home cooked and delicious)

- Jook (my family may or may not have finished 2 pots of it)

- Various baked goods (is it just me, or do the donuts in Orange County just taste better?)

- LOTS of boba (the secret ingredient is real red bean)

- A Thanksgiving feast (the homemade cranberry sauce was a hit!)

Things I didn't eat this time:

- Dim sum (oops!)

- Del Taco and Jack in the Box (probably for the best...) 

I really loved my time in California. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. It's always good to see my siblings and my parents. The weather was perfect. It was a long trip but it was a trip well worth it. Even the kids did well on the planes (shout out to OPS for the free iPads!).

There was one moment that really stuck out to me from the trip. It was a small thing but a significant thing: There's a park not too far from my parent's place and we spent a fair number of mornings walking over there to play. There's a playground and a big field next to it where folk can run around or play soccer or something. My brother in law and I took Ezra and his son (same age) to the park on Friday to play. The boys were trying to figure out what game they wanted to play and my BIL and I decided to shag balls. It wasn't anything special. He would hit the ball, I would chase it down and throw it back, and we'd repeat the process. We didn't play for more than 5-7 minutes before the boys came over and we started doing something else. 

Friends, those 5-7 minutes were the most exhilarating of the entire trip for me. I'd forgotten how much I missed playing baseball. Chasing down a fly ball. Making a stab at a liner. Getting into position to field a grounder. Throwing a rope back to do it all over again. It's been years since I'd held a baseball that wasn't being used as a personal fidget spinner or a teaching tool for the kids' T-ball. I love watching soccer (got to see US vs. Iran on the flight home!) and I love curling (currently undefeated in our league) but baseball will always be my first love. 

This trip was an absolute blessing on all levels. I have a conference in Southern California in February and we have weddings in April and September of next year, so I'll get a few more chances to be out there. Still, there's nothing quite like Thanksgiving in Garden Grove. I love it! 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam 

Welcome to the Family!

Hello, friends! 

This past week or so has been a big one in the Leong household. Megan's parents came to visit, which gave us the manpower we needed to pain Ezra and Thaliea's room as well as bunk their beds. Thus far, times falling off the ladder have been minimal, so we're calling that a win. 

However, the BIGGEST news is that we now have a new addition to the family! I'm not entirely sure of how it happened but we got a fish! Friends, meet the newest member of the Leong Family, Fluffy!!!

We new we were going to get a pet at some point. Megan has wanted a dog and I want a tortoise but a fish was an unexpected development! So far, the kids have done a great job of making sure that Fluffy stays fed and that they don't tap the glass. We did have one moment where one of the kids took Fluffy out of his tank because our child wanted to make sure he had enough air to breathe, but Fluffy appears to have survived that ordeal. 

So, the next time you come to visit, you can meet Fluffy! He's already lasted longer than any indoor pet I've ever had, so there's that! Here's hoping he's a part of our family for many more years to come. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

Urbana Together

Hello, friends! 

Urbana is InterVarsity's Global Missions Conference, held every 3 years. Urbana was postponed last year due to COVID concerns but this year we are ON for Urbana in Indianapolis from December 28-31. 

We both had our lives significantly impacted by Urbana and are excited to see how God will move in the lives of students this year. We already have 30+ students from our Region signed up to go with a few more on the fence. 

One of the biggest barrier to students saying "yes" to attending Urbana is the cost. Between registration, hotel, travel, and food, it can easily cost between $1300-$1500 to attend, which is a lot! This year, to mitigate that cost, we started the Urbana Together program. Students who sign up for Urbana Together can go for just $100, granted that they fulfill all the requirements of the program. 

This sort of thing is right up my alley. I love marrying the student part of our mission with the MPD part of our mission. The opportunity to train our students in MPD and show them the a fuller picture of what we do is pretty great. 

Because of housing deadlines, today is the LAST DAY to sign up for Urbana Together. Students can sign up after today and still attend but their costs will be significantly higher. So, for our last day of URBANA TOGETHER registration, could you please be praying for our students? Here in Nebraska, we have a number of students who are on the fence and I know that if they miss the Urbana Together deadline, they will be WAY less likely to sign up for Urbana. 

Here are some specific ways you can be praying:              

• Saying "yes" to Urbana: Pray that students who are on the fence about attending Urbana will say "yes" today, believing that the experience will be worth the cost.            
• Saying "yes" to raising funds: Part of the Urbana Together program is asking people to help share the financial load of attending. This will be the first experience of doing fundraising for many students. Pray they will have the boldness to take risks.  
• Saying "yes" to giving: Our goal is to raise $10,000 by November 25. I'm confident that we'll be able to get the job done because we have so many generous people in our networks. Please pray that God will move in the hearts of those asked to give.

If you feel so inclined to give, you can use this ink. 100% of the proceeds will go towards making sure students can attend catalytic events like Urbana.

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam 

The Evolution of (Family) Sports...

Hello, friends! 

Last week, the careers of Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols unceremoniously ended when the St. Louis Cardinals were eliminated by the Philadelphia Phillies. It was an anti-climactic end to a magical season. As the last out was recorded, I thought about texting my dad and my brother, baseball fans through and through. At no point did I think to tell my kids and I'm not entirely sure that they know when baseball season actually is. 

Yesterday, while Megan was cooking dinner and I was putting away the dishes, I looked up to see that soccer was on TV. Ezra was watching highlights from Tottenham's 3-2 win over Frankfurt in the Champions League. 

Our family has become a soccer family...

Growing up, it seemed like most of the kids in my neighborhood picked either baseball or soccer. Some did both, but most did either one or the other. Being that my dad was born and raised in St. Louis during the time of Gibby, Brock, and a 1960's Cardinals team that went to 3 World Series before he had a driver's license, it was pretty clear that we were going to be a baseball family. I grew up on it and it's still very much my first love. Going to school in St. Louis (#GoBears!) and living in CoMO for a decade were great because the Cardinals were so close. I went downtown after the Cards won the 2006 World Series and there were plenty of Cardinals fans around to celebrate when they won again in 2011. I indoctrinated the kids early enough and when they see a Cardinal out in the wild, they're still inclined to call it a "Go Cardinal," which is pretty awesome. 

When we moved to Omaha, it meant we could see our family up in Sioux Falls more often, which meant we could see my nephew play soccer more. Since we had that as a template, it made sense for us to sign Ezra up for youth soccer, which he absolutely loved. When we also signed him up for baseball, he was fine but you could tell that he was really hooked on the beautiful game. When he's looking for sports highlights online, he's asking how Tottenham did, not how the Cardinals did. He wants to kick the ball around outside more than he wants to play catch. It's definitely in his blood. 

Soccer suits Ezra better. There's more running and more movement. There's a lot of activity, which is exactly what he wants. Thaliea is more of a baseball girl because there's less running and less activity but she's not really high on sports in general. We'll see about Jonah. 

I wanted to make sure that I stay involved with the kids as much as I can, so I'm coaching Ezra's soccer team. Do I know how to coach a soccer team? No, but thankfully at this level, you don't need to know much. It's about making sure the kids are moving in the right direction and that no one is kicking anyone else in the face. 

Honestly, I'm cool with it. Ezra loves soccer and that's OK. Thaliea doesn't have much of an interest in sports but likes other things, and that's OK too. We have no idea what Jonah will do and that's also OK. Whether or not my kids are devoted to one sport over the other, so long as they're happy and thriving, isn't my greatest concern. I'll become a soccer dad, or a dance dad, or a rugby dad, or whatever, and that'll be great. 

Just so long as they never root for the Cubs. =0). 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam 

Hello, Black Hills!

Hello, friends! 

Last week, our family took a little family vacation of sorts! My father-in-law wanted to do the Volksmarch, semi-annual hike up to the top of the Crazy Horse memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. This was actually a trip that we'd planned on doing in 2020, but, you know... #Pandemic

Since it's about an 8 hour drive out to the Black Hills, we really decided to go for it and try to see everything. This included:

- Wall Drug

- Mount Rushmore (twice)

- Crazy Horse

- The Mammoth Site

- Needles Highway

- Custer State Park

- The Badlands

- Cosmos

- A Gold mine

- Downtown Keystone and Hill City

- The Hotel pool (many times)

It was absolutely jam packed and a ton of fun. Here are my big takeaways: 

- The kids are growing! One of the things that has been great is seeing how much more independent the kids are as they get older. The older two did a great job of entertaining themselves on the long car rides and were able to play well with their cousins. If this trip had been done in 2020 like we'd planned, it would have been WAY more stressful, with three kids ages 5 and under. 

That being said, Jonah is also growing, developmentally, but also physically. The Volksmarch was a 6 mile hike up and back, and while Ezra walked the whole thing (what a champ!) and Thaliea walked most of it, Jonah spent most of his time on my shoulders. Friends, 6 miles, much of which is uphill, with an almost 3 year old on your shoulders is hard work! 

- The Badlands are awesome! It was the last stop on our trip (we caught them on the way home) and we didn't spend more than an hour there, but the Badlands were by far my favorite destination we saw. While not as deep as the Grand Canyon, the Badlands had much of the same features and also included some pretty cool rock formations. I could totally see myself spending a few days backpacking out there. I'll bet it's spectacular at night too. 

- History is complicated. Two of our stops have great historical significance. Mount Rushmore is a tribute to American Exceptionalism and I was a little uncomfortable with the deification of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln during the presentation we saw before the night time lighting of the faces. When you read about the history of how Mount Rushmore came to be, one has to hold both the beauty and the controversy in tension. 

Crazy Horse is also a monument carved in a mountain but with a very different history. Because no federal funds are being used in its construction, and the size of the project, I will almost certainly not see it being completed in my lifetime. Still, as I walked around the museum and learned the monuments history, I couldn't help but remember the fraught history of of broken treaties and broken relations between the United States and the First Nations. 

All in all, it was an amazing trip. Megan did most of the planning and she absolutely crushed it on the logistics side. This is definitely something I could see us doing again the future. 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam 

Here's to 10 Years of Memories!

Hello, friends!

Today is Megan and my anniversary! 10 years ago today, we got married in St. Louis, and it's been a whirlwind of a ride since then. 

Since 10 is a nice, round number, I thought it'd be fun to highlight my top 10 moments from marriage, one from each year.

2012: Our wedding. We were engaged in April, so we had about 6 months to put everything together. I remember us painting tree branches we found in the park for centerpieces. I remember being so nervous because I was going to try to play my guitar at the beginning of the wedding. I remember Megan looking amazing walking down the aisle, thinking I might cry, but then getting overcome with excitement and thinking, "this is so cool!" I remember a multinational feast for our reception and a Kelly Clarkson flash mob. It was pretty great.

2013 - Branson. A few days after Urbana, we decided to take a vacation to Branson, MO. I remember us getting tricked into listening to a timeshare presentation because we stopped at a place that said, "Free Popcorn." I remember Megan being so mad when the presenter insinuated that we "sell" Jesus and the look of dread on the presenter's face when she realized that she'd blown it. I remember watching Chinese acrobats in a half full theater. It was pretty great.

(Note: This second photo is from our trip to Memphis that was way better but also didn't include the timeshare story I really wanted to share.) =0). 

2014 - Cambodia. We led a group of students on a global project to Cambodia that summer. I remember lok lak and steamed buns. I remember tuk tuks and treating traffic like a river. I remember leading together and trying to manage everything, feeling overwhelmed but also thankful for the breakthroughs. I remember the fun and the drama we had as a team. 

2015 - Ezra. I remember you telling me to go back to sleep because this was going to take a while. I remember walking with one foot on the curb and one foot on the street because we thought it would bring Ezra along faster. I remember how my number one job was to make sure we stuck to the birth plan. I remember our nurse who stuck with us, even after her shift was over. I remember the US beating Japans 5-1 in the Women's World Cup Final. I remember all the nurses coming to visit because they didn't see too many natural births and thought Megan was an all-star. I remember seeing Ezra's hemangioma and mentally preparing a game plan for how to get him the Paralympics in case his leg needed to be cut off. That was a pretty good day. 

2016 - Vegas for Thanksgiving. I remember the cousins having matching pajamas. I remember going to a Celine Dion concert. I don't remember how much money I won or lost playing Blackjack...

2017 - Thaliea. I remember how quick this labor felt compared to Ezra. I remember trying to get you into the tub at the birthing center before it was too late. I remember wondering why this one time was so much quicker. I remember being smitten with both mother and daughter. 

2018 - Moving. I remember how we couldn't quite fit everything into the truck, so we had to leave some stuff for Danny. I remember all the friends and family who came to help us pack up and leave. I remember having friends in Omaha ready to greet us when we arrived. I remember eating really good Burmese food from a church fundraiser. I remember getting to our house with the moving truck before Megan and Aunt Judi came with the van, and the house keys, so I had to introduce myself to our neighbors by asking if I could use their bathroom. 

2019 - Jonah. I remember getting my mind prepared for switching from "man to man" to "zone defense." I remember the sense of peace around our biological family being complete. I remember cooking a turkey for Thanksgiving and totally messing up the rolls because yeast and I don't get along. I remember being really tired that week. 

2020 - Pandemic. I remember wiping down our groceries when they arrived via InstaCart. I remember trying to navigate work schedules with childcare schedules. I remember feeling like we turned a corner after the initial stress and how Megan and I communicated and partnered well.

2021 - Elders. I remember late nights working with other church folk to get a policy in place. I remember the pride I felt when our pastor asked Megan to be an Elder. I remember feeling like there was a shift in our family as we grew in our ownership of our church. 

(Note: this photo isn't of an Elders meeting but our pastor did give us a gift certificate, which we are using on this date, so it kind of counts...) =0). 

2022 - Orlando. I remember the matching shirts. I remember how much I hate roller coasters but how much Megan loves them. I remember getting to watch some really great shows while Megan rode on roller coasters. I remember running but not running through the park on our way to Harry Potter World as soon as it opened. I remember good Jamaican food, good Indian food, and even better company. 

So, here's to (at least) 10 more years of marriage! Every time I preach, I show a phot of our family and say that Megan makes me want to be a better person every day. No truer words have ever been spoken or ever will. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam