A new website with brilliant photos has just been launched this week. That's right: my wife's photography website! Jess has had an interest in photography since college and has recently had the opportunity to explore and develop her talents in the creative and vast world of digital photography. Photography classes, books, websites, and conversations fill her free time as she intentionally creates photo opportunities for herself.

It's not uncommon for us to spend a day at the park, the river, the botanical gardens, or downtown in order to let Jess find some fresh shots. Flickr has quickly become her most visited website, photoshop and iphoto are always open, and she can talk for hours with her sister or my brother about photography terms that sound like Greek to me.

To encourage her passion and to give her an outlet to display her photos, I helped Jess publish her own website: www.JessicaWilliamsPhotography.com. There you can find some of her more recent and favorite pictures. Send her a quick e-mail when you visit the site and let her know which of her pictures is your favorite. You will also see a link from her site to my brother's photography website.

The past five days have been eventful and wonderful as we have had the privilege of enjoying some quality time with some great friends in extremely fun ways.
An incredible friend of mine, Chris Cox, came into town this past Friday from Austin with his wife, Kristin, and their adorable baby girl, Ryen. I lived in the Peruvian jungles for two years with Chris and haven't had the chance to see them in several months. They stayed with us the entire weekend, giving us the chance to catch-up, laugh, and reminisce. We spent the weekend together and with other friends from our team in Peru. Chris and Kristin also worshipped with us and our church, Body Life, on Sunday morning. I miss seeing Chris all the time and hope that we can live the mission together again one day.

On Saturday, Jess and I, along with Chris, Kristin & baby Ryen, hooked up with another Xtreme Team couple, our former strategy coordinators, Jeremy & Susan. They just had their first baby, a beautiful girl named Victory Sage. They still live in Peru, so it was a rare and blessed opportunity to get to see them here in the States. We all spent the day on the lake, grilling-out, jet skiing, and tubing. Being around so many friends all weekend who have the same vision and passion as we do, served to sharpen, encourage, and challenge our missionary hearts. Jess and I also spent some time with J & Susan on Sunday, following the wedding of yet another former Xtreme Team partner in the Gospel (congrats Andy!).

One of my best friends was in town for an Arkansas wedding last weekend, and Jess and I were fortunate enough to get to see Clint & Missy on Sunday night. They drove down to Ft. Worth and we showed them some of our favorite spots in Sundance Square downtown. We ate some deep-dish pizza at Uno's, walked the square, and then enjoyed a late-night dessert on the roof of Reata's. It was fun seeing Clint & Missy together and laughing non-stop. I always enjoy our time together and the edifying conversations that usually follow. We hope that a Colorado ski trip with them will come in the near future.

Today, Jess and I went to Hurricane Harbor. We both used to frequent this water park growing up, back when we knew it as Wet-n-Wild. Neither of us had been in years and we had never gone together, so we took the day to slide down fun, fast, steep, death-defying water slides. New rides, no long lines, great weather, classic slides like the Der Stuka, Geronimo, the Black Hole, and Kamikaze, and the obligatory Lemon Chill. We had a blast!

You know those pictures you see of the president when he first entered the White House next to a picture of him after 4 years of being president? They always show those two pictures side by side and talk about the stress of being president and how it makes them age quicker. So, instead of looking 4 years older after a full presidential term, they look 10 years older.

Well, I just saw pictures online projecting how McCain or Obama would look 4 years from now. This got me thinking about my aging process. So, I'm posting McCain and Obama's pictures and then two pictures of my own. One is of me and my brother from the summer of 2001, and the second is us just a few weeks ago, 7 years later, during the summer of 2008. So instead of 4 years, there's a 7 year progression.

Jess and I got home yesterday from a week-long vacation with my brother and his family in Florida. We spent the first part of the week at a hotel right on the beach with Brian, Brooke, Ainsley & Braxton, and then hung-out at their house for the rest of the trip. The picture page has a new album with several pictures and I've also updated the Niece & Nephews album.

We had a blast with Brian & Brooke, boggie boarding in the ocean, throwing the frisbee on the beach, playing spades, mixing it up with some 2-on-2 basketball, and just enjoying being able to see one another and talk and laugh and catch-up. We also were incredibly blessed to be able to play with our niece, Ainsley, who, at 2 years old, can carry on a conversation with the best of them. She's brilliant and funny and adorable and full of energy. This was also the first time we met our nephew Braxton. He's a strong baby who is full of joy. He never stops smiling and laughing and, despite the fact that he spit up on us about a dozen times, we never got tired of holding this little baby boy. I miss Ainsley & Braxton already.

One of the highlights of the trip came when Jess and I had our very first surf lesson. Both of us have always desired to learn how to surf, and this vacation provided the perfect chance. A guy named Marcello from Brazil met us on the beach outside our hotel and for the next 2 and a half hours, we were in the ocean paddling and catching waves and wiping out and just surfing. We both got up pretty quick and were able to enjoy riding waves for the rest of the afternoon. Hopefully we'll be able to surf again soon and get a little better. By the way, we did learn that surfing is exhausting--we both woke up sore the next morning.

Jess had the opportunity to practice her photography alot with Brian and got some great shots. We woke up one morning a little before 6 a.m. in order to capture some pictures of the sunrise. It was beautiful. We'll put some up on her new photography website soon, and you can see some of Brian's recent pictures here. We also got to worship with Brian & Brooke's church on Sunday morning. Brian leads worship at a new church plant, Heritage Community. It was fun having Brian lead us in worship again, as it was encouraging to be around another church plant that is on a similar journey as our church, Body Life.

Our trip to Florida was the perfect way to start the summer. I wish Brian & Brooke lived closer so that we could see them and Ainsley & Braxton more often, but I guess it's always good to have family close to the beach. We can't wait to go back!

I stumbled upon this article late last week. It tells the story of a recent sighting of an uncontacted native tribe in the Amazon Jungle near the Brazilian and Peruvian boarder. This, of course, was of special interest to me since I lived for two years among a native tribe in the Peruvian Amazon Jungle. The pictures are surprising clear and extremely revealing in terms of this people's way of life. It's also worth noting that the article states that more than half of the remaining uncontacted tribes left in the world today live in either Brazil or Peru. You can see more pictures and read the article here.