Hannah at 8 weeks old tells a story to Mommy.

Hannah tells a story from Ben Lowe on Vimeo.

But they are very good.

Sister Winter by Sufjan Stevens
Plant a Little Fir Tree by Half-handed Cloud

  
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Sister Winter.mp3 (7233 KB)

Plant A Little Fir Tree by Half – Handed Cloud  
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Plant A Little Fir Tree.mp3 (2620 KB)

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(Note: This is my (Ben) first post on our combined blog. Cheryl has been getting after me to get something on it, so I decided to connect it with my posterous blog and thus share a few things from time to time. Sorry for the delay.)

So I thought I would share a bit. The last few months have been a little crazy. The dust is finally starting to settle though, just in time for the busy holidays!

In October, we had a Boy's Camp-out for Mission: Possible as the second half of our Fall Retreat. The Girl's Camp-out was earlier in September. Both went pretty well, and it looks like a good option for the future, as it immediately takes away the distraction of the other gender, giving the time a more personal and one-on-one feeling.

Cheryl finished her last month of pregnancy (woo-hoo!!) in October as well. Our little girl Hannah came just a few days after the due date on October 26th, and we're so glad she's here! We've been taking the last four weeks getting to know our little girl, as well as learning to operate on a lot less sleep, how to deal with diapers, visitors, animals, and all those times where everything seems to be a priority and has to get done right away. It's been tiring but oh so wonderful. It has been so great to share this little one with friends and family, and we look forward to many more people meeting her as time allows.

My little collection of little musical instruments has been growing, as I now own a toy accordion, an inverse ocarina and a stylophone. I also managed to snag a little 4-track cassette recorder off of ebay for $20 so I'm convinced that I'll be able to pull together my bunch of disparate instruments and sounds together to form some amazing original songs… (Ukulele + stylophone anyone?) It's primarily a hobby of course, but I'm convinced that Hannah will be able to play some strange instrument by at least two…

This month I have tackled NaNoWriMo again. For those of you that don't know about it, it stands for National Novel Writing Month, and the idea is to write a whole novel in a single month. The "winning" word count is 50,000 words. So far I'm at 36,000 and climbing. A little more behind than I'd like, but I'm really going to try and win this year.

I have been drinking a lot of tea recently. It is good weather to drink tea! (I've recently discovered Pu Erh and man it is good. Smells like a barnyard, but for some reason it is really enjoyable to drink.)

Our little apartment is really taking shape and feels very much like home. The incoming cooler weather is a welcome change for Cheryl and I as we head into the winter and the holidays. We feel so very blessed to be in a place so close to our friends and family. We are also so thankful for the evident and moving hand of the Lord in our lives. We pray that we would continue to heed his call!

I decided to throw a few pictures into the mix as well. Here they are:

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I have found myself more and more interested in using twitter and social media to help with branding and marketing online. The idea of social media as an actual “social” arena seems bizarre to me, but to use as a tool for finding good information as well as disseminating it to the masses makes me excited.

I find the Frozen Peak organic oolong I got from Tea Embassy to be much better than the Ti Quan Yin I got from specialteas.com. I’ll have to do a post on the tea samples I got sometime.

Today I took a trip with some friends to the Tea Embassy for the first time. It is a little shop in downtown Austin off of 9th and Rio Grande. They sell loose leaf teas from all around the world, and today they had a special on oolong tea and related products. We sampled four different oolongs, and witnessed a demonstration of the Gong Fu method.

I got to speak with Jonathan, one of the owners, for some time. He was very kind and told me about himself, the shop, and teas. I ended up buying some Frozen Peak Organic Oolong that came from Taiwan. I also bought a little teapot, which I believe is called a Gaibei. I will use it almost exclusively for oolong tea, and will be able to do the Gong Fu method with it.

The Gong Fu method basically consists of steeping the tea multiple times, with each successive infusion lasting longer than the previous one. The different complexities of the tea can be tasted with each infusion and it is quite a wonderful experience.

I will definitely be going back to the Tea Embassy soon. If you’re in the Austin area you should check them out. They also have an online store at TeaTreasures.com.

I may be going down to the Tea Embassy today. Apparently they have a deal on monkey picked oolong (which is really good stuff.) I’m excited because I haven’t been down there yet.

Every year, the Nikos Camping ministry at Mission:Possible! has a Spring Retreat that happens during the first weekend of Spring Break. The campers came this year on Saturday morning, with most of the leaders arriving the day before. Camp extended through the weekend, ending on Monday just after lunch. Because of the cold weather and rain, there were several campers that didn’t come, but we had a few last minute children that came in their stead. We also had an overwhelming turnout of volunteer leaders this year, making the ratio of leaders to campers very good. This allowed the leaders to devote individual time to each camper and made the first step in building relationships a little bit easier.

The theme for camp this year was the “Nikos Olympics.” We talked about running the race for the Lord, and the campers were able to participate in a lot of fun activities that revolved around the theme. We even had a closing ceremony that the campers were able to perform a “movement” routine to music that they really enjoyed.

The Lord’s hand was evident as the leaders and campers interacted throughout the camp, and God provided just the right amount of adults to run games, activities, and serve food throughout the weekend. It was an exciting and praise filled weekend that all involved will not soon forget.