New Photos on Phanfare

I added two new albums to our phanfare site this morning. Click through if you'd like to see us in action.

Click here to check out some pics from our great experience at the St. Louis Cardinals' game. Yeah...we were in a "sweet suite" for the game. Nothing like taking in a ball game from the comfort of an air-conditioned, catered box!

Click here to see a few pics from Ben's most recent baseball game. They didn't pull off a win...but they did have a great time!!

More Misc. Thoughts

After the other day's post about everything, I decided I liked that format. It's almost like my own form of mind-mapping...just spitting out and dealing with all of the major things going on at once. Brainstorm blogging.

• Celebrity Update. Michael Jackson could be married again. Some Disney singer has sold out her shows (in 5 minutes). Bill Clinton hasn't dated all of the eligible girls in Cincinnati (he actually said something like this in an interview!). Paris Hilton is going to Rwanda with designer frocks in tow. Aren't you enriched for knowing these things?

• Day in the life. I had this idea a few days ago that people could share a piece of their lives with the world by taking a picture of wherever they are each hour of a given day. You'd have to take your camera with you, obviously. But wouldn't it be interesting to take part in something like that? I'd love to have to take a break during a sermon to snap a shot of the congregation! I really think that could catch on. Haven't googled it to see if anyone else has beat me to the punch, though.

• Report cards. The kids brought home their progress reports. Keep in mind that these guys were doing less than stellar in Poland. Seriously, As were practically out of reach...Bs were much sought after but oftentimes unlikely. I'll have you know that these rats, who just entered this country a couple of months ago and began life in a whole new school system with a different language...they've endured hours and hours of homework without any breakdowns...etc etc. Can you believe that they have only As and Bs??!! These guys are amazing! Seriously amazing! We have been so impressed with their new work ethic and how they have taken responsibility for their work. It shows exactly what we thought about the Polish school system...that it does nothing to promote and ensure success of their students. You can't expect that kids will teach themselves and hold themselves accountable (for both work and behavior). It's so cool to see the kiddos realize that they are smart and capable...that we haven't been lying to them about those things!!

• Prayer meeting at 1st Baptist Ellisville. We're staying in a mission house owned by 1st Ellisville (about 100 yards from our front door). This church is such a huge encouragement and absolutely incredible example for other churches as they are so focused on missions (really at all Acts 1:8 levels). They invited me to speak at their prayer meeting this past Wednesday night and it was a truly great experience. It's always nice to be able to speak about what God is doing in our lives...and of course, in Poland. But it's all the better when the entire group to which you're speaking is completely interested. I get so energized speaking to groups that somehow connect and interact with you. Although the connecting and interacting might wane a bit, I feel like I could speak forever in such times. It was great to share with them about the present situation in Poland and answer their questions about life and ministry overseas.

That should do it for today. I need to go get my kiddos up for school. Have a great weekend!!

Catholic League Rep.

I just couldn't pass on this one. I'm sitting here this morning watching Fox & Friends. They had opposing views from a spokesperson for the Catholic League and another guy from who knows what (never saw it). The issue they were discussing is a controversial Miller beer commercial that has caught the wrath of the Catholic church in the states.

The thing that made me about run across the room and grab my laptop to write is this...Mr. Donahue, from the Catholic League, was given the last word on the show. The first thing he says is "Mr. ?, you should never be on TV again because you're a loser." One of the show hosts was heard saying softly, "that's not nice"...the other guy (the one called "loser") looked as if he'd been smacked upside the head (guess he was) and the C.L. guy just kept rolling about how they were going to win...how everyone would see.

Quickly before the end of the segment, the "other guy" asks, "so, is calling someone a loser one of your Catholic values?" To that Mr Donahue responded, "Yes. Catholics believe in the truth and that's the truth."

Unreal. I'm obviously not a Catholic but even I am offended. It is a tragedy when things like this happen. How many viewers thought "that is exactly why I don't have anything to do with organized religion"? I am sure that there were also a fair number that wrote the guy off as ridiculous. But still.

What a challenge to us to remember that wherever we are...on national television or at home with our families...we are called to be the visible image of the invisible God (as Paul wrote about Jesus in Col. 1:15...in fact I just spoke about this verse last night at a local church's prayer meeting).

Misc. thoughts

I've got a lot of things whirling around in my mind this morning. I thought it might be interesting to see what happens if I get them all down in "writing".

• College costs. Sitting here this morning, I hear on TV about how college costs are rising 7% per year...about how people should start saving immediately for their future kids' education right after they get married! Wow! Imagine that I've got two kids who will be heading off to the wonderful world of "higher learning" (as chronicled in the documentary "Animal House") in another 4 and 5 years. We are hosed, huh?! Since I don't have the cash flow to start saving now, maybe I'll begin praying daily for the financial aid that will support them! [Come on...Big money, big money...no whammies!]
• Celebrities. What is the deal in the US with celebrities? Seriously...this country is so fixated on everything they do. Can you believe that I've actually had a thought about constantly carrying my camera with me so that if the chance ever presented itself to snap a shot of some celebrity out in "the wild" I might be able to make a nice buck for the shot. It's ridiculous. Everything they do, not to mention say, is major news. Why do we take our cues from these people? They're paid to act...to entertain us...you know, kind of like organ-grinder monkeys. They're not there to be our moral or ethical centers. They're not elected to determine foreign or domestic policy. And they're certainly not called to be our spiritual leaders.
• My dad. I have spent about 10 hours in the hospital the past two days. The first day we thought he was having some big problems but it turned out that he was just experiencing effects from his brain surgery (seems you can't operate on the cerebellum w/o experiencing side effects). Yesterday we had three appointments with various doctors. It's ugly. It's tough. It will get uglier and tougher. I hurt for him and absolutely hate to see him scared about the future. He's doing well and now awaiting an operation to take out a large mass in his upper left lung (October 16).
• Life right now. Life is strange here. When we don't have speaking gigs (October will be super busy but it really hasn't been to this point) we are just professional parents. That's very difficult for us. We're used to working...accomplishing goals. And while we are accomplishing things with our family (and possibly personally), there is a certain level of professional frustration. Does that make sense?
• Book deal. No, I don't have one. But I do have an interesting idea. What do you think about a book called "When I grow up..." about how oftentimes our lives are vastly different from what we think they are going to look like when we're younger. Often that leads to frustration and disappointment...and can even lead to deep-rooted bitterness. The good news is that we are called by God to embrace the fullness of life that He has to offer as we learn to appreciate the context(s) we're in and how we can better serve Him there. I have this idea of having a companion website that would focus on forum-based discussion groups for people to talk about these issues together...maybe have some counselors that would be available from time to time to moderate the comments. Just an idea...what do you think?

Well that was fun. Obviously these are not in any kind of priority order...just the thoughts slamming around in my cranium this morning.

Happy Wednesday!

What's new

I have been doing a pretty poor job on keeping the blog updated lately. We have just been so stinkin' busy with...well, life that I simply haven't had the energy to write. I'm not going to write much today either (sorry) but I wanted to do the next best thing, if not better, and give you a couple of links for some pictures.

I spent awhile this morning uploading pictures from a bunch of different things that have been happening recently...several games (both from Ben and Rachel), a trip to the zoo, and various other images. There's not much of a better way to actually see what's happening.

This link will take you to our phanfare site. This is sort of a general photo "dump" where I've got a ton of pictures. I put almost everything there...not a lot of editing. You can check out the most recent albums and catch up on a ton.

This link is to my flickr feed. These are my more "artistic" pictures. This is where I put my better pictures (at least from my POV)...more editing, better lighting, effects, etc.

I did want to let you all know what is going on with my dad. He's feeling great and still waiting for the doctors to let him know what their plan of attack is going to be. They know that they will be starting radiation on his brain after a few more weeks. They are giving his brain time to heal after the surgery. But the jury is still out on his lung. We're supposed to have an appointment next Thursday with two doctors to hear more about their plan. I'll give another updated about him then.

I do have some things to write about...to discuss openly as I have here before so often. When I get the energy to tackle those topics I'll fill you in. Until then, we sincerely hope you all are doing great!

Why we don't get too excited

Somebody was asking me about this "hiccup" in the citizenship process for the kids on Sunday and I told him that I'm not too worked up about the whole thing because we've already seen too many HUGE challenges overcome in this long battle. I told him that we were just waiting to find out how this situation would be resolved. And I think we've about got our answer.

Well, we went downtown a couple days ago to visit the USCIS office in St. Louis. Paid stinkin' 6 bucks to park. Went through the hassle of finding the building, going through the security checkpoint (it is a federal building), searching for the office, and dealing with the "friendly" neighborhood immigration services worker. Actually he wasn't mean or anything...just bland, cut-and-draw, black-and-white...you know.

After explaining our situation we found that we had another supporter. "Yes, it seems like a mistake has been made," he agreed. "Yeah, so what do we do about it," I thought. To silly 'ole me it seemed that a quick phone call would do the trick. Change a few lines here...add an address there...and VOILA!...citizenship. However, I've obviously never been trained in the art of the federal runaround...a tactic widely employed to strike fear in the hearts of citizens around the nation.

We left the office, irritated that we would have to send a letter (along with multiple copies of this and that document) to their Buffalo, NY office. Could we call? NO! Could we fax? No! Did it feel like we were back in Poland? YES!!

Enter GOOGLE. Oh, sweet google. After talking to my mom a bit, she had the idea to try to look up the director of the Buffalo office. And as it turns out we found her telephone number...a number which they supposedly hold very closely to their chests so that no schlep can call them out of the blue. Oh...but how I called! You can't hold this schlep down!!

Yesterday I had a few wonderful phone calls with the Buffalo office. Those people are great...nice, helpful, warm. It was incredible. And would you believe that after explaining the situation to them I was told I just needed to fax (yeah fax!) a couple supporting documents to them and they would get the kids' certificates of citizenship out to us within a few days!! Unreal!

Obviously we just had to find the open door. As is always the case it does take a little searching. Even when God is at work in our lives, there is an expectation that we will also be working. And it's also cool how we're here to help each other out, right?! In our frustration I know we wouldn't have thought about googling that lady. We would have written the stupid letters, made the copies, etc....and waited eternally for the government to respond. So, at the end of the day (proverbially) we have found ourselves with yet another spiritual lesson...one in a VERY long line of lessons!

Thanks for praying with us for resolution to another issue in this epic journey!

Writing from the US...no, Poland...no...

Where am I? Looking around our house it sure seems that we're in the U.S. My family is all here. I see a million restaurants per city block. Has to be the U.S. So why is it that homeland security thinks we're in Poland? You got me.

That is the issue friends. Our government...you know, the one so famous for its intelligence services...has denied our kids' citizenship applications because they seem to think that we're not in fact here.

I spoke with someone from USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) this morning and she finally said, "yes, a mistake has been made." You can believe that I got her name and agent # (Tiffany - #G651670) before hanging up. But even though that is the case, it's still possible that we will have to file official appeals to this erroneous decision and pay whatever the fee is for the requisite documentation. Unbelievable.

I guess there is a silver lining to all of this. The most silver of all is that in all likelihood this will get straightened out without "too much" trouble and the kids will get squared away. The other thing is that we have learned that you don't get hosed by government only in Poland. There are ample things to frustrate the daylight out of you right here in the U-S-of-A.

Well, we'll see how it all goes. Just wanted to give you a little update on things. We're trying to get into see someone today at USCIS in downtown St. Louis. If we find something out I'll let y'all know.

What an adventure (how many times have I written that in the last 2 years??)!!

Things

Vicki, originally uploaded by Michael Shattuck.

Not that the image is relevant to the content of this post...but I liked it, and that's all that's necessary when I control the blog (hehe)! Aren't I blessed with some good lookin' models to shoot?!

I'm feeling better today. We had a great weekend. Got to spend a little (very little unfortunately) time with my sister-in-law Crissy, her husband Rick, and their little kiddo Carrigan. After eating ourselves BBQ crazy, we got some sleep and then got up to head back our way in time for Rachel's first volleyball game. Following her team's win (yeah!) I headed over to watch Ben's first soccer game (their outcome wasn't so great, sadly).

Have I mentioned that life is busy here?

My dad was released from the hospital Friday evening and seems to be doing alright. We still have not received the pathology report on the tumor that was removed from his brain. We're hopeful, though, that we'll get that news tomorrow or Tuesday. After that the docs will have to get together to figure out what to do about the mass that's in his lung. For now we just know that they will start radiation on the brain in a few weeks to make sure that everything has been taken care of there. Scary stuff.

We're quickly approaching our busiest time of speaking engagements. We're heading to Patterson, MO next weekend, Independence MO the first weekend of October, Temple TX Oct 10-14, and then to Richmond VA Oct 15-22. It will wear us out, for sure...but it will be good to be able to share with more folks about what has been going on in our lives and ministry in the Far East (or so it seems right now).

Well...just wanted to let you all know that my session of "ice watching" the other day helped...surely along with your prayers and God's meeting me in my time of need. We're doing ok...just taking things one day at a time. What more can we do, right?

Ice Watching

Rock Church, originally uploaded by Michael Shattuck.

When I was studying trombone in college, my teacher would take breaks now and then. I'd finish some exercise or whatever and he would just be looking out the window at the ice formations moving around Lake Michigan. He'd talk for a minute or so about the ice...how amazing it was to watch something so huge move all around the lake depending on wind direction. I later realized that he wasn't doing that to point out the "nomadic ice". He did that to give my mind (and "chops") a break from the intensity of whatever it was we were working on.

We need those kinds of things in our lives...the things that take our minds off of the intensity of whatever we're "working on". For me, as I'm sure you already know, that's photography. I can utterly escape behind the camera...as well as behind the computer as I work on an image, bringing it to a point I'm satisfied with. After this point, it's about equally soothing to revisit those images and see what new details I might find...think about ways to improve that particular image, my techniques, etc.

I love the warmth (even as B&W) of this image of the pipe organ at the devastated church we visited a couple of days ago. I really like the sunlight coming in through the window and how it appears as if that is what is lighting the pipes. Actually uncle Doug was holding one of my flashes on that side of the pipes and the light gently feathered over to the other side.

I needed to have this "nomadic ice" moment because there is a lot of tough stuff going on right now. Things don't look too good (in the long-run view) for my dad. We'll find out more today. That's a very difficult thing to deal with. We also got a letter from homeland security saying that since we don't live in the U.S. (WHAT??!!) the kids' applications for citizenship have been denied. However, we can file different applications and pay more money if we'd like to try again. Stress. We continue adjusting to life here...all evening homework...sports practices and games....not much time to just relax.

Life is just pretty odd. It's so different than we thought it was going to be when we were little...isn't it? We were so care-free. No worries. No problems. At least they didn't seem that big at the time. But as we get older, the curve balls begin their onslaught. Job issues. Financial issues. Family issues. More financial issues. Health...on and on and on. Odd.

I sort of broke for the first time last night. I think it all finally hit. I cried for a bit and just uttered to God those words that have been so familiar over the past couple of years, "God, I just can't do it"...my way of saying "please help. I need you." And He was there, reminding me of all the times He has held me and guided us through.

What I'm being reminded of: When you need a break, watch the ice. But know that you're not watching alone. The Teacher is there.

Yesterday...what a day

Rock Church, originally uploaded by Michael Shattuck.

The image you're looking at was taken at a lightning/fire-damaged church (The "Rock Church") in downtown St. Louis. My uncle, an architect with the firm handling the plans for the rebuild/restoration, took me down there yesterday to check out the damage and to take some pictures around the interior. It was incredibly beautiful, yet sad that we had the chance to take the photos only because it had been devastated by the fire...as well as by the process of putting said fire out.
This particular image is really interesting (at least to me). Turning that wheel would result in some windows opening up at the top of the "chapel" (don't know the correct word there)...a little "climate control" action.

There are several other images you can check out on my flickr feed if you're interested. Here's the link.

After getting home from our morning "photo shoot" I got a call from a nearby hospital and received news that my dad had been admitted into the ER. It turns out that he hadn't been feeling good for several days and that he'd had some terrible headaches. After some testing, they found that he had two cancer-like masses: one in his left lung and the other in a very dangerous area of his brain. The brain mass was putting pressure on his spinal column and causing spinal fluid to backup in his brain...causing his drowsiness, dizziness, and headaches. The short story was that without surgery he would die rather quickly.

So, we headed off to the hospital and stayed with him for several hours, waiting through the surgery, and then waiting awhile with him in the ICU. They told us that they were able to successfully remove the mass in his brain, thus relieving the pressure. He's doing very well this morning...waiting for the surgeon to make his rounds and give more information on the future.

The big question mark is the other mass in his lungs. He's a long-time smoker (40+ years) and the doctors are fairly certain that its lung cancer. The pathology report on the mass removed from his brain, along with the results of an impending biopsy on the lung, will tell us for sure what we're dealing with and give a better idea as to a prognosis.

Pretty surreal. I'm not really avoiding dealing with this new reality...I think I'm just waiting until we have 100% of the information we can get from the doctors/surgeons involved. We're so glad we've gotten back home so that we can go through this with him. I can't imagine getting this news in Poland, knowing that I wouldn't be able to be there.

Such a contrasting day yesterday. Great morning behind the camera...creative juices pumping. Awful, surreal night in an ICU waiting room, hoping that my dad pulls through a serious brain operation.

This is a pretty long post here...but as I've said before, it helps me process everything by writing. Pray for my dad, Tom, as he deals with the new revelation (he only found out yesterday morning). Pray that he draw near to the Lord for the support he needs.

Labor Day Weekend

Golf, originally uploaded by Michael Shattuck.

Our family was invited to stay at some friends' vacation house for the weekend and it's been incredible. Just take a peek at what's in their backyard! Yeah...that golf course is seriously in their backyard!! I sat out there yesterday afternoon for about an hour and a half with my camera "tripod'ed" beside my chair and just leisurely snapped some shots here and there. It's beautiful and super relaxing.

Friends and family are wonderful. Isn't it a great feeling to know that others care about you and love you? We're blessed to have that in our lives. For many of you reading, you are part of that blessing.

With all of the surroundings...the big houses, boats, infinity pools, etc...Rachel was walking with me yesterday talking about how incredible it is here but that we have it better than many of the folks that live in this area because we live "with God". That's definitely a beauty that can't be captured in a photo.