You Got Served!

"What," you say? Our Mexico team's slogan for this year by popular demand and democratic vote is You Got Served.

Hopefully the trip won't come off as arrogant as the slogan. ;)

But in all seriousness, I won't be blogging as often as I usually do...uh wait...I don't usually blog that often.

So, If I can, I'll text some photos to the blog and see what happens.

Check out our trip here, and even find some prayer requests: http://www.180students.com/mexico06.

Hot Cat

During our days of 100+ degree weather, Ali and I found many things to do: Sit in front of the fan, go to the pool and then sit in front of the fan, go out to eat, and go shopping.

Our cat is not so fortuante to have a car or permission to take a dip in the pool, but she did find one spot to call home for a few days...right between the toilet and the tub!

Myspace Mayhem

I thought it was pretty cool when movie ads started putting the movie website at the end of their commercials, but the new movie Step Up has made shake my head.

Their website? myspace.com/stepupmovie

Where is society headed?

Tetanus

So I last had a tetanus shot when I was 15—that's 12 years ago. Heading to Mexico in just 3 days, I felt the need to re-up my immunity to the fun bacteria.

Because I'm a procrastinator, I didn't get to a 'regular doctor' in time, which forced me to call up the travel clinic. I found out that for the tetanus shot and doctor's visit combined, it would have cost me over $170! Yikes!!!

On the wisdom of my wife who thought there would have to be some kind of county clinic, I called around and found the Multnomah County Health Department. Can you guess how much it cost there? $15. Yup According to my elementary math,

 170
- 15
$155

That's almost as good as Gieco!

Thank you Alison, thank you God.

Dental Irritation

I have bad teeth—I am ashamed to say...but I have a great dentist, Alison's Uncle. God has sure provided for me in that area with great dental care from him. By the way, if you're in the Newberg area and need a dentist, talk to me.

Friday I had the wonderful experience of getting 5 crowns. That's right, 4 hours of fun in the chair, mouth open wide, numbed up for hours. Besides the occasional gagging, it really wasn't that bad. In fact I almost drifted off to sleep while they were making the temporary crowns!

At the dentist's office, there is satellite TV in every room, so I watched a little of the Tour De France, followed by war coverage on CNN.

The worst part of the whole day was the new annoying commercial for "Head-on." It's too annoying to actually be on my blog, but I'll put the link here. The gal in the commercial says, "Head-on—apply directly to the forehead." 3 times in a row in a very irritating tone of voice. The worst part was that I saw this commercial about 9 times during my 4 hour visit. Ugh.

While the Head-on product is stuck in my head, their advertisers have persuaded me to stick with Advil^©.

B-town Kids

In the words of U2, It's a beautiful day...or at least it was.

At a high of 80 on the Fahrenheit scale today, it's supposed to rise 10 degrees per day the next 2 days, topping at 102—or so. I know I shouldn't complain, the rest of the country has had the heat already, and now it's our turn. I guess it's back to putting the air conditioner in the back door and letting the spiders crawl over our walls.

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Bridgetown
Like I said in my post yesterday, our youth group got the chance to participate in a church-wide outreach time to the local neighborhood.

After meeting and praying, we set up tables with lemonade, chips, cookies and the fixins' for burgers. B-town Kids set up shop on our sloped lawn and I got to play dodge ball with a few of the neighbor kids.

After game time, B-town had sno cones, some fun songs, up-front games, and then a short message that sin is gross. It was a great time, and I think a few neighbors are even going to come this Sunday. You never know.

A great summer

Out of all the summers in my life, this one has got to be in the top 5. Of course the number one summer would be the last one, in which I became officially and legally taken. Oh, if only I could have another honeymoon to relax and vacate! The summer at Camp Harlow, on the road with family, and when Ali and I went to the Bay Area make the list as well.

But this summer has been great, and it's still going!

Alison & I celebrated our 1 year anniversary! I am so glad that she is my wife! We celebrated by going to McMenamins Edgefield out in Troutdale, and then up to Larch Mountain for an amazing view of Mt. Hood and the Columbia Gorge. You can see the pictures here.

Four weeks ago I got to be a groomsmen in my brother-in-law's wedding. It was an awesome weekend as I added more people to my family.

Since then, it has been major prep time for my sister's wedding. While I didn't do nearly as much as Annie, mom, or dad, it was busy! From putting in/fixing walkways in the front yard to helping build benches and setting up for the wedding itself...whew!

The rehearsal dinner was out at Ponzi Vineyards which has Oregon's oldest grapevines. Besides the usual dinner and hang out time you find with a rehearsal dinner, we enjoyed a wine tasting tour, bocce ball, and a deer wandering the vineyards! Good times.

The wedding was wonderful! I've got a copy of the audio, and listen to the prelude music - that my Uncle John played - while at work. AJ and I got to play Be Thou My Vision, which was an honor. I'm glad to have Matt as a brother now. He and Annie are great together.

But one of the coolest parts about the wedding was that all of my mom's relatives were able to come into town! Being scattered across the country - and at times the world - we don't get to see them often. So it was a great joy to spend days and weeks with them.

Just this past Tuesday, our youth group went white water rafting on the Deschutes river in Maupin, OR. We had a blast! It wasn't too hot to where it was uncomfortable, but hot enough to make the frigid water refreshing. One of the highlights is the "swimmer's rapids," where you can actually get out of the raft and ride the rapids in your life jacket. The rapids form here not from rocks in the river bed, but a narrowing of the river. Always a blast, and face full of water, the most impressive part was that all 21 members of our group floated the rapid! I have never seen that happen before!

Tomorrow our church and Bridgetown are hosting a BBQ for the neighboring apartments. I admit that I am nervous and excited. I am excited and praying that this would be a big chance for people to see God's love.

Well, Ali and I head off for Mexico next Thursday. I can't wait!!! Training started today, which we began with authentic Mexican pastries from the local panderia. Please check out the web site so you know where we are and how to pray for us.

Hope your summer is going great as well!

Aaron

Wedding Day

Congratulations to my sister Annie! She is getting married today to Matt Beghtel and will be living 2 blocks away from Alison and I.

She is getting her picture taken with my mom and dad right now. They look great.