My cousin Eric flew in from California yesterday afternoon, and I picked him up at the airport. It isn’t terribly strange for me to think about him living in California since he’s lived all over the country. With that said though, it was fun to catch up with him, at least a little bit.

The odd part about it though was chatting about our family. Hearing how other members are doing was a lot of fun. But it is strange to think that some of them that I remember as rambunctious trouble makers are now grown up, or are growing up. Some of them are in college. Some of them are getting ready for high school. And they definitely have their own personality and views on things.

While it is crazy to see how the lives of my extended family is changing, I cannot begin to imagine what it would be like to watch my own children grow and mature into adulthood.

In a lot of ways nostalgia can take hold of my thoughts if I am not diligent. But I also do not want to forget the past and where I’ve come from. There is a balance - like in many things - that requires me to look ahead while not forgetting where I’ve been, or where I’m at right now.

What sorts of changes have you guys experienced? What thoughts have you had about it?

Okay, some of you think I’m nuts. Sadly for you, you’re just crazy. If you’ve never read Calvin and Hobbes before, I pity you. It is downright hilarious. It’s easily one of the best comic strips I’ve ever read in my life, and I think that everyone should at least try reading it. Now then, here is one of those clips that shows why Calvin and Hobbes is so hilarious….

© Universal Press Syndicate

Now, I’m curious, what do you guys think about Calvin and Hobbes? Any other really great comic strips out there that I’m missing?

This weekend was the Fall Retreat for Grace’s youth group. So all of the guys got up on Saturday morning, piled into a cargo van, and headed off to the north-east corner of the state to go to a camp. Once we pulled in, we unloaded our stuff and went to eat at the dining hall. After that we had a big amount of free time, so we geared up and played some flag football. After that PJ, Austin, Nick, Josh and I went over to the zip-line to give it a go. Then Austin, PJ and I headed over to the climbing wall to test our mettle. I did the rope climb while they did the wall climb. It was really hard, but I made it half way up with arms only, and the rest of the way up using my legs as well.

After that we showered and had the evening meeting and small groups. Then we had the night game. All of the adult leaders dressed up in black and went out to a huge field (it used to be a golf course). There we had three bases that the students tried to get into to get letters to spell “BOB”. Each time they spelled “BOB” they got a point. Our job was to tag them prior to them getting into the bases. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun. Running around when it is really dark out with a bunch of students. That’ll make you tired - believe you me.

Sunday we got up around 7 and went to breakfast once everyone was ready. Then we had our morning session and small group time. Then we had lunch. After that we piled into the vans and headed out, thereby ending the retreat.

I, however, rode back with Blake since he had to drive up separate because of work. We had some really good conversations, and I’m definitely glad that I had the opportunity to ride back with him. We chatted about my situation and he told me about he and Cassie. After hearing him talk, I felt really encouraged about the decision I’m making.

After that Clupper came over and we watched “Pan’s Labyrinth”. That was such a strange movie. However, if you know me at all, that means I really enjoyed it :-D. I didn’t give it a lot of thought just yet, and I may just keep it as a weird movie that I enjoyed. But if you don’t mind having to read subtitles (it is in Spanish) and you don’t mind the craziness that is strange movies, you should check it out. It got an “R” rating, largely in part because of some of the creatures and mostly because of some of the violence (part of the setting is in a war).

For those of my more techy readers, I have RSS enabled on my site. You can now see an RSS feed icon in the upper-right side of the home page that indicates this. The actual URL is http://www.fiestachickens.com/feed.

If you don’t know how to use an RSS feed, you can try google reader. You can search for my blog by typing in “fiestachickens” into the search box. There are also a variety of RSS feed readers (many, many are free) that are application based, if you’d prefer that approach. Some browsers also support subscription to RSS feeds.

Feel free to use any approach you want - this just means that you won’t have to come back to the site to check out what sorts of trouble I’m causing. ‘Course you’re welcome to come anyhow!

So lately I haven’t posted up a lot about what is going on in my own life (largely in part because I find it to be moderately boring to write about my life).

Most of my free time goes to being social in various forms - Wednesday nights I have Youth Group. Thursday nights is bowling. My weekends get sucked up very quickly, often times in ways that surprise me. Monday nights are usually unscheduled, but get consumed. Tuesday I will be starting accountability meetings with my good buddy Blake.

It amazes me to think that over a year has passed since I graduated college. My life isn’t exactly what I thought it would be, but then again, I don’t know if I really had any idea how it would be. Time is going so quickly that I can hardly believe fall is already here. I remember fall last year in Indy, and now it is time for another!

Further, it amazes me how much God blesses me. The friends that I have are incredible. Living with Marcus is very good. Youth Group is an incredible blessing. I’ve met new people in strange and interesting ways. I’ve been going to a few places in the country without my family.

Even now I realize that I am not the person I was in high school, in college, or even last year. I am growing and maturing and my views and outlooks are changing.

Sometimes it is important to sit back and look at where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going. It can be immensely humbling to realize how much God has taken us from where we were to where we are now. Life is constantly changing, but God is good. And the way He changes us (if we allow Him) can also be incredibly good.