Deep Breaths

Photo Spread

Hello everyone. Here are those pictures we promised. First up: the new youth room.

So... this was basically a large-ish Sunday school room before, with plain white walls. With the help of our kids, Leia and I chose a paint scheme consisting of silvery gray, coffee brown, and Nanking Blue (tm). Over the course of several long and messy nights, we managed to repaint the whole thing so that it doesn't look half bad (if we do say so ourselves). This is one end of the room, where many an epic ping pong battle has already taken place.

This is one of the side walls looking toward the other end. The little white bookcase contains books, music, and DVDs that the kids can borrow, and some board games they can enjoy in the room.

And this is the other side wall, looking toward the entrance from the hallway. Our eventual plan is to use stencils to cover these two brown walls with Scriptures/poems/art in silver paint. We've also been given two couches and two armchairs that will fill up some of the empty space once we have them re-covered. We're basically going for an informal living room type vibe for our Bible discussions. This way we can do the fun and games and the more explicitly spiritual stuff all in one space.

Here, Anna Maria and Teresa are engaged in a friendly game of chess atop one of our stylish and cleverly color- coordinated bar tables, while Stephanie and Martha provide an enthusiastic audience.

And these are a couple of the older kids playing Battleship. Doesn't Leia look like she's trying to figure out a way to cheat? You'll be happy to know that it didn't work.

This is our new car, fresh off a ship from the UK. The model is Zafira. Apparently the make is Vauxhall in England and Opel everywhere else. Go figure. It's a legitimate seven-seater, which is cool for youth pastors (no, we're not intending to fill it with our own children anytime soon). *Waits for the frustrated exclamations from the disappointed grandparents- and great-grandparents-to-be to die down, then continues.* It has "modern luxuries" (like power steering and air conditioning) that our previous car did not. It doesn't have a CD player, but luckily we have one of those tape player to Discman adaptor thingies, so we're good.

And these are the shots of our new apartment, or if you prefer, our flat. N. T. Wright (one of my favorite theologians and a very bright guy) rightly notes that, depending on whether you’re American or British, the sentence “I’m mad about my flat” either means “I’m angry about my punctured tire” or “I’m happy about my apartment.” Well, we’re the latter (happy that is . . . not British . . . at least not entirely). This is the front door and the entertainment center. DVDs are to the left of the TV, CDs to the right of the picture. We like to keep all the essentials close at hand.

This is the seating area opposite the entrance, along with one of our many bookcases. We definitely feed each other’s reading addiction in a way that’s probably not entirely healthy . . . but we both feel like we can stop whenever we want to. We just don’t want to.

So if you’re facing those couches and take a left, you come to the kitchen/ dining area. Because of the clever shopping of the previous tenants, we basically have all the gadgets and appliances we could want in there, along with a nice supply of cereals and cookies. Thanks Chris, Eric, and Nadia.

This is the veranda off the kitchen, a nice place to sit and read. Or just watch the traffic. Or practice your spitting skills.

On the other side of the living area from the kitchen are the bedrooms. This is the master bedroom, complete with our comforter and sheets from Target. And there’s Leia’s dressing table . . . and some more books. Seriously, we can stop any time.

And this is the guest room. For my male friends who may want to come and stay with us at some point: I resisted the purple bedspread. Really, I did. But ultimately, you just don’t want to go up against your wife in a battle over interior design. Anyway, rest assured that you’re welcome to sleep on the couch instead. Yes, that’s another bookcase in the corner. And yes, that’s a Family Guy poster (featuring Stewie) on the wall. Thank you to my friends who gave me that as a “leaving the country” present . . . and to Leia for agreeing to let me hang it up. See? She gets the purple bedspread, I get the Stewie poster – compromise. This is how marriage works.

The guest room also doubles as our office. This is the computer where I eke out a living as a writer by day and play Space Cadet Pinball by night. Internet access is supposedly coming soon. Yes, yes, yes, more books. But those are Bibles and Bible reference stuff, so you can’t really count those. I promise, we don’t have a problem!

Anyway, we hope you enjoyed the virtual tour. Please come visit us any time. We miss you all. Drop us a line when you get the chance.

–John

posted by John and Leia @ 9:02 AM