2007 in Review

I've been wresting over some "top 10" kind of lists, but I doubt I can put any together. Erin and I simply don't see enough movies to compose a movie list...and most of the ones we see are ones we take Eli to. I'm very limited in my musical tastes, and I rarely buy new music. I don't read nearly enough, and when I do, it's mostly popular fiction.

So, I'm just going to list some stuff from 2007. Some movies. Some music. Some events. Some experiences. Some changes. Some of it may not actually "originate" from 2007, but they were meaningful to me somehow in this year. Without further adieu:

• Sicko, Stardust, Once, Bridge to Terabithia, Superbad, The Bourne Ultimatum, and Ratatouille are very worth seeing. Sicko made me mad. Once and Bridge to Terabitha made me cry. Stardust and Ratatouille made me smile. Superbad made me laugh...and feel guilty for watching it. And The Bourne Ultimatum just got me pumped up!
• Here's who I enjoyed listening to in '07, regardless of the album, song, or dates of release: Caedmon's Call, Kanye West, Rich Mullins, dc talk, Dixie Chicks, Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Passion Worship, Bob Dylan, Alanis Morrisette, and lots and lots of sports talk radio.
• We began attending Crossings in June. Since July I've had the privilege of being involved with the setup/productions team every week, including producing, setting up lights, running video and sound, and tearing down after the service.
• "Relative" freedom came in July, after 6 years of punishment.
• Erin & I took our first vacation ever as a couple - and the first real vacation for either us in about 6 years - when we went to Charleston for 4 1/2 days in early September.
• This blog began the first week of July. I'm not sure if I would consider it successful or not, because I don't know how to define the success of this blog. It's been fun to write, and I can tell there are at least 12-15 of you out there reading each week, so let's keep truckin.
• I became an uncle in September. My sister and brother-in-law had their first child, Grayson, and we've been fortunate enough to visit them 3 times since his birth.
• The month of April is host to my birthday, Eli's birthday, and our wedding anniversary. So April's always a good month, just in general.
• In September a good friend died. I didn't hear about it for over 3 months. I hope he's having fun in heaven.
• Around May-June, a friendship was rekindled with a truly great friend that I'd, for the most part, lost contact with for the last few years. I really needed it, and am very thankful.
• In February, Eli and I went sledding on about 1/4 inches of snow. You take what you can get around here.

I'm sure there's more, but this is the stuff that comes to mind. As life goes forward, I'm really just trying to live better, learn more, serve more faithfully, be more grateful, and realize that no matter what kind of crap may come, my life is far far better than I could ever deserve.