Take a break Thursday, December 21, 2006

It's a busy time of year for all of us. So, I'm taking a break from work and everything else to write a quick blog. I don't really have anything major that I want to talk about, I just needed a break.

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...still sitting here [blank stare]...

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Well, that was nice. I was thinking about homies. I've got a few around my desk at work. What were you thinking about?

Good Friends Friday, November 24, 2006

Ali is my hero. She drove all the way over to Knox-Vegas from Searcy this past weekend to visit us! Then, we all went to North Carolina to spend some time with Will, Shawna, and Gaines. It was a quick trip, but it was good for the soul. We soak up every moment we get to spend with these special friends.

Will is the youth minister for a church in Hendersonville, NC. On Sunday, they asked Erik and I to speak to their youth group about our relationship and Erik's journey of faith and how he accepted Christ when he was in college. It was very interesting talking to a group of high school kids. It was hard to tell if they were listening or if they were even interested in what we were saying, but Will assured us that they actually were interested (he could tell by their body language!) It kind of made me feel old :) Anyway, we prayed that we would be able to encourage them in thier own journeys of faith as they begin to break away from parents and hopefully begin a relationship with Jesus based on intrinsic motivation instead of being dragged to church, or told how to believe. We're so proud of Will and Shawna and the amazing work they're doing with that church.

Whoa...does anyone see anything wrong with this picture?!

A Weekend in the Smoky Mountains Monday, November 13, 2006

I love living in East Tennessee! These mountains have become part of my soul...I never get tired of visiting them and marveling at the beauty of God's creation. Erik and I spent last weekend in a cabin with some friends from church. It rained ALL day Saturday, but I took these pics before the clouds rolled in. This was the view off our balconey.

Good thing the guys were feeling photogenic, because the ladies definitely were NOT! This was the last morning we were there, 3 of the couples had already left, so these were the lucky ones to make it into the photo (sorry it's so dark).

This was the cabin we stayed in. Oops, is that a trash bag under the stairs?!

Derek Webb In Concert Monday, November 06, 2006

This past Friday night I went to the New City Cafe with Kevin and Chris to see Derek Webb. It was an incredible show! Even Sean McConnell, the opening act was amazing. I just wish we would have arrived a little earlier to see more of him.

Derek played a bunch of songs from his new album, Mockingbird, as well as some old stuff from the Caedmon's Call album 40 Acres. He has a lot to say about how we should live if we truly want to live like Christ has called us to. His lyrics, though sometimes cynical, really strike at the heart of what it means to be a Christ follower and not just a Christian in name only.

After the show, I got the opportunity to meet Derek and I must say, he was extremely kind and I was impressed at how he seemed to genuinely enjoy talking to each person that came up to him after the show. After everybody was done talking with him, I approached him and told him about how his music has had a lasting effect on me, but even more so on my brother, Mark. He once told me about how Derek's music made such a profound impact on his life and how it was a conduit in helping him come to a faith and love for Jesus that he hadn't yet known. I just wanted Derek to know that God was using him, through his music, to bring people to Jesus. He was quite humbled and very appreciative of the comment. Here's a picture that Kevin took with my cell phone. Sorry for the poor quality and the crazy guy in the background!

Speed Blog #4 - Chimney Tops Saturday, October 28, 2006

Saturday was big day. After the race for the cure, Sonya and I went hiking with Renee and Amber in the Smokies. We climbed the Chimney Tops trail and it was incredible. The trail was rediculously strenuous. At times, you had to use your hands to help pull yourself up to the next step. It was worse than climbing the stairs of a skyscraper, but worth every step. Just to be out in such beauty really makes you think about God and how BIG He really is. He created this world for us to enjoy while we are here doing His work...and man, did we enjoy it. Check out some of these pictures...

Speed Blog #3 - Race For The Cure Saturday, October 28, 2006

Sony and I ran in the race for the cure this past Saturday. This was a 5K race in downtown Knoxville, where funds and awareness are raised for breast cancer research. I ran under my goal of 30 minutes and came in at 29:29. Sonya totally schooled me and ran it in 26:35! You should've seen her pushing all of these little kids out of the way at the start. Heheh!! Actually, I never saw her do this, but what I did see was a guy puking his guts out a little before the finish. I almost lost it myself.


There were a bunch of teams at the race that all had their special shirts. The hospital that sonya works at also sponsored a team, which is who we ran with. Here's a picture of Sonya with her friend Renee, from work.

Speed Blog #2 - Men's Gathering Monday, October 23, 2006

I spent this past weekend at Moon Shadow Lodge, in the Smoky Mountains for a men's gathering. At our church, we call them "gatherings" instead of "retreats", since men aren't supposed to retreat. Heheh! Anyways, we had an amazing time and God showed up in a major way. Lives were changed and hearts were turned towards God. The picture above is from the back porch of the lodge and the picture below is just some of the guys eating dinner.

Here's a picture with a few guys before we left on Sunday morning. This was right after Danny (red & black jacket) became my brother in Christ by accepting Jesus into his life. It was an incredible weekend and God had been doing some major work in Danny for the past couple of weeks and he realized his need for Jesus after this weekend. His story was powerful and he was such an encouragement to many of the other guys at the gathering. I also snapped a shot of his baptism at church that morning. Praise God for the hearts that he is turning towards Him and the work that is being done to bring more people into a love relationship with Jesus.

Speed Blog #1 - Greek Fest Thursday, October 12, 2006

Sonya and I met up with some friends from Farragut at Greek Fest in downtown K-town. We ate all sorts of incredible Greek food and tried 5 different kinds of desserts. It was delicious. One of Sonya's co-workers, Vicky, also came with her husband Jimmy. We checked out the inside of the Greek Orthodox church and it was beautiful. Here's a picture of the ceiling, which was a mosaic. Mad props to whomever made this picture of Jesus out of little colored squares.

Zoe Conference Weekend Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Long overdue, is this post. On the first weekend of October Sonya and I went to the ZOE conference in Nashville with a bunch of peeps from Farragut. This has been a highlight of our year for the past three times that we've been. The Conference has 2 parts to it; Leadership and Worship. The worship part of the conference is coordinated and led by The ZOE Group, from the Otter Creek Church. It was an incredible conference and God is doing some incredible things through His church.

Below, is a picture of a painting that was done during one of the speaker's presentations. It depicts the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel. In this story, Jacob's name is changed to Israel, because he has fought with God and men and had won. He names the place Peniel, which translates to "Face of God", because he saw the face of God and lived. (*Pictures were taken from the ZOE Group blog as ours were accidentally deleted.)


This sculpture was created by Jack Maxwell, the same artist that painted the above picture. The sculpture is called "Jacob's Dream" and was inspired by the story of the same name from Genesis 28. This is actually only a model of the massive sculpture that was erected this past year. Find out more about the sculpture here.


After the conference, Sony and I traveled to West Nashville to spend the afternoon with our dear friends Elijah and Andrea Manor. They have a beautiful little girl, Abby. This was the first time we had met her and we had a wonderful time. The Manor's were very close friends at Harding and we sort-of lost touch over the years as we moved to Michigan, then Tennessee and they moved from Arkansas to Tennessee. Now, we're only separated by about 3 hours of road and we look forward to seeing more of them. Here's a picture of us on their front porch.

Free Derek Webb Tuesday, October 03, 2006

WARNING...Read This First before you continue.

Alright...so, in case you haven't heard, Derek Webb (singer for Caedmon's Call) has a new CD out.  And guess what...it's FREE!  Oh yeah...you heard me.  Well...it's not totally free.  You see, you have to provide 5 of your friend's Email addresses in order to download it.  Thanks for the heads-up, Curtis!  Click on the album artwork below to visit his site and download the album.

I'm not a big fan of MySpace, but Sara Groves keeps a blog on there that we get updates on.  She had a post a little while back about Derek Web and this album, which is where I first heard of it.  Check out her blog here.  Also, read this to learn why Derek is giving away this album.

Once you download it and give it a serious listening to, let me know what your favorite song is.  I don't want to sway your pick, but my favorite is Rich Young Ruler, which I believe is track #5.

Lake Junaluska Thursday, September 28, 2006

This past weekend I was blessed to attend a Ladies Retreat with my friend Kristen at Lake Junaluska (near Asheville, NC). It's only an hour and 1/2 from Knoxville. We drove over on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday morning. It was such a wonderful time of renewal and praise to God. The lake and surrounding area was just beautiful!

The big white building in the background of the picture below is where all of the sessions for the retreat were held. Each morning, Kristen and I would go running along the lake and through the neighborhoods. It was so peaceful and beautiful!

This was a wonderful opportunity to get to know Kristen better. She and her husband and little girl just moved to Knoxville from San Antonio, TX. We had so much fun together!

On Saturday, we had a few hours of free time, so we headed into Asheville for some shopping! Shawna and Gaines were able to meet us in town to hang out for a while (they live in nearby Hendersonville, NC). It was so good to spend some time with her again! It's amazing to me how much Gaines is growing. He is such a precious boy, it's always a blessing to be able to spend some time with them.

Getting Past The Exterior Wednesday, September 20, 2006

As a devoted Microsoft Windows apostle, I used to preach it's superiority over that of the Mac, it's arch-nemesis. I had devoted my life to learning Windows on the PC and had mastered many intricacies and so-called "features". Me and Dell were like this (crosses fingers with teeth biting lower lip).

It was only this past Monday where I was forced to wage war against my enemy. In an epic battle that would determine the course of my future, I was hypnotized by the sleek and sexy lines of my opponent. But that was no match for me! I grabbed my mouse of a sword and started my attack. I cursed the MacBook Pro after unanswered questions like "why can't you be more like a PC?", "Where the heck did you put that file?!" and "where's the Start button?!!".

And then, all of a sudden, something happened. I was able to look beyond my years of training and see the beauty and creativity in my foe. Sitting there, weak in it's presence, I caressed the Bluetooth, white-on-acrylic keyboard and stroked these keys..."⌘N". I was instantly presented with a gift. A window, which would allow me to navigate through my files and applications. In an instant, I was a changed man. I made an oath, which forged my newly found friendship as I pledged my loyalty to the Mac.

Some of you may shudder at the thought, but let me remind you of another who wasn't partial to only one crowd. He crossed over many barriers to befriend those who were "different". Jesus is His name and, like Him, I am being all-inclusive. May we all be like Jesus, in that we don't discredit or belittle anyone, as we have not walked in their shoes. We are all pretty much the same...made of similar parts, can store data and process things, and even function the same as a whole. We are also entirely useless until we are touched by our creator and brought to life/powered on by His hand. May you look past the external differences of the people you meet and treat them as Jesus would treat you.

UT Vols...fans? Thursday, September 14, 2006

Last weekend we went to a UT football game (UT vs. Air Force). Everyone thought this game was in the bag, but it ended up being really close. We ALMOST lost, which made it exciting to watch. Only one word can describe the experience. CRAZY! We got some tickets from our friends Kyle & Julie...in the student section! Oh yes, that's right. We were right there in the thick of it. These first few pics are of the "Vol Walk" which happens outside of the stadium about 2 hours before game time. Notice the sea of orange!

We had to stop by Chris' shop (Houndogs) before the game because neither of us owned anything remotely orange enough for this event.

The camera ran out of batteries right as we got in to the stadium, so this last pic is from my cell phone! Not too bad...

Labor Day Fun Thursday, September 07, 2006

We spent a lovely weekend with Erik's parents this Labor Day. It got off to a great start of under-cooked canellini beans and then progressed into mal-formed no-bake cookies! Basically, everything I cooked went wrong in some way, so we ended the weekend by eating out at the Mellow Mushroom (pizza place). Finally, some good food! :) It actually wasn't as bad as it sounds, we did have a huge pot of Rice Krispy treats that we ate fresh out of the pan. Oooey goooey goodness!

Much of the rest of our time was spent KNITTING! (The men looked at cars, napped, and took the Patriot's to the Superbowl via ESPN NFL 2K5) Linda taught me to knit, and now I am obsessed with it. It's so much fun. I even finished my first project. "Knit, purl, knit, purl..."

Here we are, hard at work. It takes major concentration so that you don't drop a stitch!

I told Erik I was going to knit him a tie and he was like, "Heck no you're not!" Oh well, maybe a sweater, or some undies!

This Blog's For You Tuesday, September 05, 2006

It has come to our attention that there are many more people that read our blog than leave comments. So...in an effort to see who in the world is keeping up on the life and times of Erik & Sonya, I'm writing this blog. Leave us a comment! It doesn't have to be anything profound, we just want to hear from you.

If you're at a loss for something to say, start with this...

"Right now, your blog is more interesting than...(whatever you're supposed to be doing right now)"

Nursing Buddies in St. Louis Friday, August 25, 2006

This past weekend I met up with my girls from nursing school for our annual reunion.  Everyone flew in to St. Louis from their respective places of habitation:  Alisha- Virginia, Suzanne- Texas, Jessicca- California, Wendi- Alabama, and Maurine hosted us in St. Louis!  I was the only weirdo who DROVE, but what would we have done without the van?!  We always have so much fun together, catching up on each other's lives and laughing our butt's off.  I love these girls so much and I'm so blessed by their friendships.

We visited the Botanical Gardens on Sunday, where we surprised Jessicca's Dad for his birthday!  (He didn't know she was in town!)

This is me with Alisha and her little boy Noah.  He's looking at me like, "Who on Earth are YOU?"

This is Maurine and her little girl Hannah, who was only 10 days old!

Of course we visited "The Arch" downtown St. Louis.  Suz, I'm sure your Dad was proud of us!

Ok, I just had to add this picture to show everyone the sheer magnitude of this cat. Wow Gibbs, you rock.