suburban hobos

It’s been too long since I’ve posted something new.  My excuse?  10 days in Colorado taking two classes and this past week spent preparing for our church plant’s first preview service tomorrow.  Our church website is now live and will give you a pretty good idea about the things that matter to us: http://thenewcom.com/bronzeville/

On another note, Eliot continues to be great.

We got a few inches of snow this week and on Friday Maggie took Eliot out for his first experience with the white stuff.  We think he likes it.

After a night in San Francisco we arrived home on Thursday afternoon.  All that remains of Taiwan is the jet lag.  And the good memories.  Anne Marie and Tony are exceptionally generous hosts and we had such a good time exploring parts of their world.

If you’re interested in a few additional photos you can view our Taiwan web album.

Yesterday, New Years Day, we had dinner with Michael and Dawn and some of Michael’s family.  They cooked a feast; my contribution was a chocolate cake that you should try someday soon.  This morning we’re meeting our friend Jeff for breakfast before he heads back to his work in Ecuador.  We last saw Jeff in July when he first met Eliot.

We expect the next few weeks to be particularly busy.  Maggie begins her two-afternoons-a-week job with Girls in the Game and continues rehearsals for her role as “the fool” in an upcoming Hyde Park Community Theater production.  I’m preaching a week from Sunday and have a lot of church plant work to do before leaving later this month for 10 days in Colorado for denominational classes.  Thankfully Maggie’s mom will be traveling up from Tennessee to spend time with Maggie and Eliot while I’m away.

Despite the busyness, we’re grateful for the work we’ve been given.  Happy 2010!

We continue to enjoy our time in Taiwan; it’s hard to believe that we begin our trip home on Wednesday.  Our friend Kate who currently lives in Hong Kong joined us for a few days.  We’ve explored, eaten a lot, and met many of Anne Marie and Tony’s friends.

Hold your mouse over a photo for a short description, or click for a larger view.

The past few days have been a jet-lagged blur.  We left Chicago on Wednesday afternoon, spent the night in San Francisco, and on Thursday afternoon began the long flight to Taiwan with my parents.  Hold your cursor over the photos for a short description and click for a larger view

We get to spend two weeks here with Anne Marie and Tony.  We’re looking forward to plenty of new adventures along with some anticipated rest.

Is Eliot’s hair going to eventually be curly…

…or straight?

We sure don’t know.  We’re in the final few days before we take Eliot on his first trip out of the country.  On Wednesday we fly to San Francisco and then on to Taiwan with my parents on Thursday.  We’ll be spending about two weeks with my sister and brother-in-law in their home in Taipei.

There are two questions we cannot answer about this trip.  What will Eliot think of the 14 hour flight?  How will or sleep-loving child respond to massive jet lag?

We’ll let you know when we find out.

Our Christmas letter was dropped in the mail a few days ago but I know there are always a few people we miss.  So, if you’re interested, you can download our letter (including the first Swanson Christmas photo with Eliot!) here: Swanson Christmas Letter 2009 (PDF).  And if you’d like to send us your Christmas letter but don’t have our new address just leave a comment.

Last week Maggie and I spent a few days in Phoenix as part of our denomination’s church planters assessment center.  Basically, we were observed, questioned, poked, and prodded for 4 days to assess our ability to be church planters.  It was a long few days, though not without its good moments.  It was particularly difficult to be apart from Eliot for four nights even though he was so well taken care of by my parents.

We had two things we were looking forward to on Saturday at the conclusion of the assessment center.  The first was lunch at In-N-Out Burger which was, handily enough, walking distance from our hotel.

Even better than a delicious lunch was spending the remainder of the day with our good friends Michelle and Mike who moved from Illinois to Prescott, AZ a couple of years back.  They took us on a great hike outside of Phoenix and then to a delicious dinner at a great Mexican restaurant.  We generally only get to see these guys at Christmas so this was a bonus visit.  They sent us home with some great outfits for Eliot.

Speaking of Eliot, it was awesome to reconnect with him on Sunday evening when we got home.  I’m sure he was glad to see us, though he clearly had a great time with his grandparents.

On Monday afternoon the three of us drove to be with the Draheims in Iowa.  I’ve had to do a bit of sermon work the past couple of days, but otherwise we’ve been enjoying our usual relaxed time with our family.  We may get the first snow of the year tonight, which would be a nice Thanksgiving day detail.

From us to you, have a great Thanksgiving.

Can you guess what animal Eliot is dressed up as?

Check out the web album for the answer and more photos.

On Halloween Eliot’s birth mother and grandparents came in for an afternoon visit.  We always have a great time together and this time they brought Eliot his first costume.

Yesterday evening Eliot wore his costume to our church plant meeting and someone thought he was dressed up as a carrot.  A carrot?  Clearly my son is a jack-o-lantern.

Speaking of costumes, one of Eliot’s warm outfits has a hood with some ears on top.  These days, as the weather turns chilly, we get to push our little bear around our new neighborhood in his stroller.

We just learned that my parents will be coming out to be with Eliot while we’re away at a church planting event in a few weeks.  They’ll get lots of opportunities to bundle Eliot up in his bear suit for walks through the neighborhood and along the lake.