Just a Few Christmas Pictures

Merry Christmas, everyone! We had a quiet Christmas morning here at Shomo Southeast. Well, not completely quiet, as Cullen played with a rather loud train that his grandma and grandpa sent his way. It may not look loud, but it is!

Some more pictures...

Cullen's Recent Adventures

Some recent pictures of Cullen. He's getting pretty big...


While he likes his firetruck, we also catch him watching TV once in a while. He deserves a little down time... but it's purely educational programming!

He likes to draw with his Magna Doodle. He's getting pretty good at it!

He's actually keeping quite busy these days. These were just a few pictures we were able to squeeze in, since he's usually on the go!

Thanksgiving 2009

Happy Thanksgiving from the Shomos!



Cullen has a variety of reasons to smile...



Sadly, he can't eat this, but we will help him out:



Thank you, Lord, for our family...





...and for your gracious work in our lives.

Visitation Rights

Did you know that Cullen's Uncle Jim visited a couple months ago? This marked his first visit since we've been in Virginia... in fact, I think it marks his first visit since we've been married... perhaps even since I moved out of the house at age 18. Anyway, here he is with his nephew:

I'll let you decide what Cullen's expression means...

But speaking of Cullen having a ball, here's a picture you may enjoy.

Well, when Uncle Jim came down to Virginia he noted that many things were broken. Our van was broken, our DVD player was broken, etc. But that didn't come close to matching Aunt Lisa's visit these last few days!

Lisa arrived on Wednesday from beautiful, sunny Michigan. She arrived to storms, winds, floods, and general destruction.

The power went out on Thursday evening, as it did for (allegedly) 350,000 others in our metro area.

Fortunately, it was back on by Saturday afternoon (!). This was perfect, giving Lisa the ability to see what she was doing as she packed her bags to leave!

However, she didn't leave before she blessed her nephew with this brand new keyboard! Here he is, having a great time and perhaps even showing off...

Thanks for visiting, Jimmy and Lisa!

Why Blogs Die (and, My Continuing Education)

Why do blogs die? I believe the a consistent commitment to writing is difficult because it requires time, focus, and honesty. The first two requirements are obvious. Regarding honesty, I'm not saying that dis-honesty kills blogs necessarily; but sometimes it is inappropriate to share with the whole world one's current, deepest thoughts.

It's kind of like any relationship, I suppose.

The first blog I started was Bible in the Basement and, way back in the day, I was pretty regular about writing on it and was surprised at how many people read it. I had expected zero, and the number edged above that. However, time commitments radically changed due to pregnancy, sickeness, and moving, and that blog had to retire its jersey. Smarty experienced similar upheaval.

Lately, it's been hard to write because I've been embroiled in continuing education classes that have taken a toll on my resources. Not much extra time. Very little mental and emotional energy remaining. And, to be honest...well, I probably shouldn't share that.

So, I thought that for the time being I'd share the classes I've been taking over the last year. They include:

1. Christianity 101
2. Pastoral Leadership Revisited
3. How to Preach To Self and Others
4. Spiritual Gifts Assessment
5. Christianity 101 (had to audit this one again)
6. The Discipling Pastor
7. EmoHealth

And a few others in the marriage & family category, too.

So, I've been learning a lot and I'd like to be able to share some of what I've learned sometime soon.

Uh oh, gotta go.

Ready... Get (Art) Set... Go!

As seen on my mom's blog, she is currently on site and visiting Cullen (and us)! This is part of Amazing Race Virginia Beach '09, in which a variety of contestants seek to visit us before year's end. Cheryl's parents followed the clues, passed the survival skills test, and made it here last month. Now Mom & Wayne.

Karen and Lisa are representing Howell, MI, and have forwarded along a great gift! Cullen loves this art table!

Here are some "outtakes" - behind the scenes pictures of all of us banding together to complete this week's skills challenge: putting together the art table.

Cullen added his help, since he was so eager to get drawing...

Stay tuned...

Cullen's Coupe

On the way back from vacation, we stopped to look at a new used car for Cullen. We saw it for sale at the side of the road. It was something he had always wanted, ever since he saw one when he was (where else?) at his Uncle Norm's house.

It was kind of humorous. Jim (Cullen's grandpa) and I were looking over the car to see if it was in acceptable condition. We checked out the tires, examined whether the horn worked, noted the overall condition... finally I realized, you know, we're talking about a kid's toy here.

Cullen took the whole thing just as seriously, however. In true Uncle Norm style, he even got underneath and checked it out himself!

It's a good thing we bought the car, too. This past week our van died. So reassuring to know that we have a second vehicle!

Outer Banks, Part Two: Cullen Was There Too!

Yes, Cullen was present and accounted for at the Outer Banks! He enjoyed his moment in the sun...


And we enjoyed him!

The Shomos including Cullen especially enjoyed Roanoke Island/Manteo. We found a little restaurant along the bay.

Cullen's grandparents were there, too. In fact, they were a pretty important piece of the pie...

We including Cullen are back now, although we would appreciate another vacation sometime soon!

Outer Banks, Part One: Making the Climb

So we went to North Carolina's Outer Banks. People there like to surf, ride bikes, walk along the beach, and generally enjoy life at sea level.

To celebrate, I wore my South Carolina flip flops. (Thanks, jandatell!) Those flip flops ended up doing a lot of unexpected climbing, however...

For example. On Wednesday we drove to Corolla where the highlight was the Currituck lighthouse.



For the low price of $7/person you could climb the stairs to the top. Great view!


Below: Same great view, but with me photoshopped in. (Easy way to photoshop yourself into a picture: take two pictures, one with you in it.)


Cheryl climbed with me.


We were given stickers.


(Notice the famed flip flop?)

On Thursday we drove the opposite direction. The tallest lighthouse in the country is apparently this one, located on Cape Hatteras:


More climbing!


Friday I visited the Wright Brothers memorial with my father-in-law Jim. In the picture below, we are standing at the first airplane's take off point, and the white stones in the background mark how far the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th flights went.



I was pretty impressed with Wilbur and Orville, these guys invented motorized flight and documented it with photos back in the day before cameras were a common companion--industrious, intelligent, tech-savvy, revolutionary guys. (I never met them--this is just my impression.)

And lo and behold... another climb awaited me. This time, to the top of the hill that the Wright brothers used for hang gliding in their spare time.



Here's a picture of the Wright brothers' plane, and that same hill in the background.



Here's a closeup of the memorial on top of the hill...






And the view from the top. You can see those white stones again, and the Wright brothers' hanger and hangout.



And for the Shomo family: See the rentals and the ocean in the distance? You could be staying there Summer 2010! Bring flip flops!