I'm looking at my arms right now and the word "lobster" comes to mind.

Yesterday (Saturday) Carey and I went to the Huntington Beach surf competition. Apparently, this is one of the premiere surfing events in the United States. I have to confess that I'm not entirely sure how one judges a surfing competition (duration? wave selection? trickiness? board design?), but you have to respect anyone who has the gumption to make a career out of hanging ten. These surfers made their craft appear effortless.

We were invited to the show by a good friend of our dear old pastor back in Hilliard, Tom Bennardo. Tom hooked us up with a tremendous chap by the name of Michael Bischof, an Orange County pastor and church-planter, and his family. Michael was kind enough to take us to lunch and give us the skinny on his current masterpiece: a cell-based church plant here in So-Cal. After chili-fries and vanilla cokes on the Huntington Beach pier, we checked out the surfing competitions and strolled the boardwalk.

This place was insane. As far as California surf culture goes... believe the hype, baby. The entire beach was a living, breathing, MTV-spring-break-grind-dance-n-surf-party-bonanza. Shake your money-maker till dawn. Both Carey and I were pretty awed by the whole display. "Wait, so, we live here? Is that the story? This is our home?"

At the end of the day, we were fried in every sense of the word. Most immediately, our respective skins were burnt like summer brats. It was Aloe and early bedtimes all 'round, but, make no mistake: this is what we signed up for.

And you know? It was a lot of fun.
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So, we live near a Thai restaurant called "Phuket Thai". I'm not making this up. But, I digress.
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Our apartment is still a shambles. We're inching closer to having the place squared away, but it's taking time. It's strange: there's something about having a clean and organized casa that makes one feel as if they have more time for more important things. Even our respective job searches seem to be hindered by the Ragnarok state of every room in our home. But, we're getting there.
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Tonight, we attended Ekklesia (sp?). It's Michael Bischof's cell-church and I can honestly say that I've never met a warmer group of folks. Carey and I were heartily welcomed by these dear brothers and it's obvious that each and every member has a sincere heart for others.

Since this cell-church bit is a start-up, they were very interested in the details of our cell-church back in Hilliard. We told them what we could and filled them in on how, yes, a cell-group-based church really can work and let-me-just-tell-you-about-how-much-we-miss-our-own-group and on and on.

The group was very committed to praying for our transition and our job situations and, you know, it's really really great to have people that care about you when you're in a strange place alone.
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Still looking for work. Things are going all right on the freelance end, though, and I've met several people in my particular industry, so I hope we're on the cusp of something fabulous. Thanks again for the prayers.
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Oh, and Wednesday is the big day. I'll finally be able to reply to emails and, oh, all sorts of wonderful things because, hurrah, we'll finally be connected to the internet. It's been a long time coming and the hour is finally very nearly here. Again: thanks for your email. I really will reply soon.