I know, I’m a day late. But it felt a little weird to miss this. Yesterday, we had a busy day. I woke up and worked on a friend’s website all morning. Kristen ran some errands. Before we knew it, it was time to go to the beach with our friends from community group. We went up to Torrey Pines, where we met our group along with our refugee family. How is it possible they had never been to the beach before? Not only that… but we were completely amazed at the kids language acquisition. Last Fall they barely spoke any English at all… now the kids feel mostly comfortable with English and mom and dad aren’t too far behind. That’s fun to see.

A lazy evening followed. This was capped off by the delivery of a brand new mattress. Since moving to this house Kristen and I have slept on a double size mattress on the floor. It was fine but excessively ghetto. On Friday, Kristen and I decided to finally solve this aching (literally) problem and headed to a furniture store in Kearney Mesa called “Real Deal.” Just like the reviews of the place promised, this was a great furniture store. Lots of choices and a friendly, no commission staff. Long story short, we got our long-awaited mattress delivered last night. We went from a double mattress on the floor to a massive king sized bed. We both slept like rocks last night. I went to bed about 10 minutes after Kristen last night and she was completely knocked out… that never happens.

Anyway, this morning is quiet. Kristen is off running a 5k and I am home with the kids before church. Here are the next 10 tunes I’m listening too. As always, these are completely random and my ratings are included.

#1 Night Drive by Jimmy Eat World ****

#2 Plain White Rapper by KJ-52 ***

#3 Waiting on the World to Change by John Mayer *****

#4 Sea of Love by Cat Power ***

#5 Nothing Left to Lose by Mat Kearney ****

#6 Enough by Chris Tomlin ***

#7 Filled With Your Glory by Starfield ****

#8 I Alone by Live

#9 A King A Kingdom by Derek Webb ****

#10 Lose Yourself by Eminem *****

Easter weekend 2009. As Kristen said on her blog, Easter is a completely different experience for us. For the first time in our kids lives we aren’t attached running around the church. The highlight of our Easter celebration, so far, was Thursday night’s Messianic Seder. If ever there was a kinesthetic learning time for a community group, this was it.

Yesterday I had the day off. Another first in my adult life! Kristen went to work in the morning and in the afternoon I drove up to LA to pick up Cathie, Patti‘s daughter. She is here this week thawing out from a long winter and helping us watch the kids on their Spring Break. A win-win! We got back about 8:30 and I think everyone had crashed out by 10:00. This morning, everyone… less Cathie… has crawled out of bed and is quietly going about their business. When Kristen gets back from her hike up Cowles Mountain I’ll be taking Stoney to dog beach for his weekly therepy of ocean and butt sniffing. I’m already looking forward to a great Easter service, a picnic with our refugee friends, and a great week next week.

So that’s my corner of the world this Saturday morning. Here are my next 10 tunes. As always, completely random… ratings included.

#1 Rain Down by David Crowder Band ****

#2 I Can’t Stop Loving You by Ray Charles *****

#3 Everything Glorious by David Crowder Band *****

#4 My Funny Valentine by Miles Davis *****

#5 Everything is Beautiful by Starfield ****

#6 This is Certain by Jake Smith ****

#7 Hollywood by Collective Soul *****

#8 All the Earth by Charlie Hall ***

#9 Elevation by U2 *****

#10 Slide by The Goo Goo Dolls *****

Just another lazy Saturday in McLane land. Other than taking Stoney over to dog beach to let him sniff butts and chase tennis balls, I don’t have plans for today. It’s kind of cold and wet here, so it’s not as if we’ll want to do much else.

Just like a typical Saturday morning, I’m getting it started with some Java (last of the Starbucks Christmas blend) and some headphone time. Here are the next 10 songs playing on my ipod. As always, totally random and my rating is included.

#1 Life is a Highway by Rascall Flatts ****

#2 Tell Me Something Good by P!nk ****

#3 God of this City by Chris Tomlin ****

#4 Head Over Heel by Sandra McCracken ***

#5 Georgia on my Mind by Ray Charles ****

#6 Hard Sun by Eddie Vedder *****

#7 Insane in the Brain by Cypress Hill *****

#8 Here With You by 3 Doors Down *****

#9 Obsession by Starfield ****

#10 Seven Bridges Road by The Eagles ****

Bonus! My buddy and worship leader at Stoneridge in Romeo, Jimmy Savage, has a song on iTunes. It’s a single off his upcoming album. I really like it, its called “Tonight.”

Kristen and I are feeling a bit post-party this morning. (I’ll create another post a little later about the YS Christmas party.) We don’t have anything on the agenda today. Seriously, other than picking-up Jonathan and taking him to the airport, I am not sure what we are doing with our day.

This morning is pancakes and chatting with our kids about last night. Megan and Paul had FOUR babysitters last night. Jon, Jenna, Paul, and Amy from our community group completely spoiled our kids last night with a holiday party of their own. They made gingerbread houses, played Christmas bingo, chubby bunny, and good cop/bad cop.

Anyway, as always music is a part of my morning. Here are the next ten tunes playing on my iPod. As always, I’m just hitting the shuffle songs button and recording what comes up. So this is completely random, no cheating, and my personal rankings are included.

#1 360 by Josh Hoge ****

#2 Night on Fire by VHS or Beta ****

#3 Take My Life by Chris Tomlin ****

#4 Falling Slowly by Glen Hansgard and Marketa Inglova *****

#5 Make a Joyful Noise by David Crowder Band ****

#6 Unforgettable by Natalie Cole ****

#7 Rock ‘n Roll All Night by Kiss ***** (Perfect considering my costume last night)

#8 Filled with Your Glory by Starfield ****

#9 We Won’t Be Quiet by David Crowder Band *****

#10 Africa Bamba by Santana *****

It’s been a recovery week for me. A lot of extra rest and a lot of extra time spent with Kristen. Today is a continuation of that. Kristen is going off with a friend to La Jolla for a meeting and I’m chillaxing at home with the short people in my life. If we get adventurous we may venture out, but I am thinking we’ll mostly just hang here.

As always, music is a big part of my day. Here are the next 10 tunes funneling from my ipod to my cranium. I’m sharing them with you completely at random, without cheating, and my ratings included.

#1 From the Inside Out by Hillsong United ****

#2 It’s Not My Time by 3 Doors Down *****

#3 Take My Life by Chris Tomlin ***

#4 Rise by Eddie Vedder *****

#5 360 by Josh Hoge ****

#6 My Generation by Starfield ***** (A NYWC favorite!)

#7 Vertigo by U2 *****

#8 Amazing Because it Is by The Almost ****

#9 The Warrier by Patty Smith ****

#10 Footloose by Kenny Loggins *****

Let’s see. I am home from my first NYWC as a staff member. Looking back over the weekend I have a lot of things floating around my head. Here are some quick reflections.

#1 People are people. This isn’t profound to me but I kept getting asked, “What is _____ like?” I don’t know a nicer way to say it than the obvious, people are people. I met tons of folks… both general session speakers and youth workers and they are all pretty much the same. Just normal folks.

#2 I told the truth. It’s a little weird being on staff at YS because people will flat out ask you for the world. And while my ministry with YS is to encourage and resource people while building community I simply am not able to do everything I get asked. Typically, I’m a people pleaser and I have a hard time saying no. But this weekend I made sure I didn’t commit to anything I didn’t actually have the ability to do or the desire to do. And since I was often out talking to people, when they asked questions that I knew the answer to, I just told them the plain truth. A few times that was “I’m really not able or qualified to talk about that.” But a few other times it was more like, “Let’s go check it out together.”

#3 I have all new respect for the events team. Wow. I mean WOW! I know that there were times when they were overloaded, but Tic’s team makes it look easy. I bow to Holli, Michelle, and Yost. On top of that there are the volunteers who pull off all the little details. Not only are they giving up their time, but they take so much ownership of the event. Plus, a lot of them are new friends of mine.

#4 This year was profound-er than ever. Tony Compolo laid a smack down on us last night. I think Andrew Marin is the sleeper for those going to Pittsburgh and Nashville. I don’t want to do any more spoilers than we had on the live blog.

#5 It’s weird being an insider. Yeah, that’s self-explanatory.

Not sure how I missed this the last few weeks. Ah well, here we are. It’s Saturday morning and the family is doing the family thing. Originally we planned on headed to Vegas to see mom this weekend… but I didn’t find the best deal on rental cars so that was out.

As usual, here are the next 10 songs I’m listening to this morning. No cheating, ratings included.

#1 Basket Case by Green Day *****

#2 What it Means by Jeremy Camp **

#3 I’m Shipping Up to Boston by The Dropkick Murphy’s *****

#4 Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2 *****

#5 Hosanna by Christy Nickels ***

#6 Great is the Lord by Starfield ****

#7 Earthquake by Family Force 5 ****

#8 Sister Rosetta by Noisettes ****

#9 Satellite by P.O.D. ****

#10 Rain Down by David Crowder Band ****

Saturday is here. We were supposed to be doing the last day of our garage sale… but neither Kristen nor I felt it was worth it. So if you are looking for a couple of furniture items just drop by and ask, OK?

With the moving truck coming on Monday and serious loading beginning on Tuesday, I think the best description we have for what’s going on here is “preparing.” There isn’t a ton left to do, but there is still stuff to get done. Oh, and we have a showing at lunch time. 

So, while I’m doing the Saturday thing… music is always going. Here are my next 10 tunes. As always this is completely random with ratings included. 

#1 Viva la Vida by Coldplay *****

#2 Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cindi Lauper ****

#3 Hollywood by Collective Soul *****

#4 Busted by Vetiver ****

#5 Take Me by Vineyard Generation ****

#6 Can I Stay Here Forever by Starfield ***

#7 Sleep by Kimya Dawson *****

#8 Plain White Rapper by KJ-52 ****

#9 We All Want the Same Thing by Kevin Michael ****

#10 You Were Meant for Me by Jewel

With the 4th behind us we are on the fast track to packing and trying to get this house sold. This morning I have some stuff to do around the yard while Kristen is busy with the boxes. Of course, as always, music is a big part of my Saturday. So as I’m off to Tractor Supply and chasing the mower here are the next 10 tunes I’m listening to. 

As always, this is completely random with ratings included.

1. Falling Slowing by Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova *****
2. Drifter by Decemberadio *****
3. My Heart Goes Out by Warren Barfield ****
4. The Solid Rock by Charlie Hall ****
5. Sending by Passion Worship Band ****
6. New Drug by Thousand Foot Krutch ****
7. Night Drive by Jimmy Eat World ****
8. You Were Meant for Me by Jewel ****
9. I Will Go by Starfield ****
10. Only Want to Be With You by Hootie & The Blowfish *****

Here we are with this weeks edition of the tunes. Kristen and I are holding a garage sale today. So far we’ve made about $30. So in our ample spare time, here are the next 10 tunes on tap. As always, totally random shuffle, no cheating, ratings included.

1. Glorious One by Steve Fee *****
2. Here With Me by Mercy Me ****
3. Island in the Sun by Weezer *****
4. He is the Love by David Crowder Band ****
5. The Warrior by Patty Smith ****
6. One Day at a Time by Jeremy Camp ****
7. Anyone Else But You by Michael Sera & Ellen Page *****
8. Filled With Your Glory by Starfield ****
9. Everything Glorious by David Crowder Band *****
10. Dirty and Left Out by The Almost ****

Looks like some good times are ahead. What are you listening to this morning?