Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

• I don't think I'll ever eat a foot long sub sandwich again… too much. #
• Going to make this my inspiration for the day, not much, but a lot all at once. http://twitpic.com/167tim #
• Earthquake causes shorter days ahead? http://bit.ly/ciunrm #
• Goodbye 11 hour day. #
• Feeling the love today! First day of my 29th year. #
• I love people watching, there's a lot to learn and be humble about when you simply pay attention to people around you. #
• Both of my girls, sleeping in the car before church. http://twitpic.com/1728gu & http://twitpic.com/1728l7 #

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

• God's is incomprehensible, good, and so amazingly wonderful. So much love and support. The church being family! Amen! And thanks! #
• Life is beautiful, not clean, not perfect, but beautiful none the less; when life is anchored on the big picture and victory is already won. #
• Wake up O sleeper…. #
• Go for the victory we already have. #
• The ability to not just do something for someone, but rather help them to help themselves, is an art. #
• Feels good to pay off the government… kinda… Oregon you're welcome. #

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

• Cannon Beach, who knew spontaneous trip to the coast would have sun! http://twitpic.com/139zp4 #
• Sweet, eh? http://twitpic.com/13a3j6 #
• I really should just go to bed when I'm tired – otherwise the humanity gets really ugly (read: I'm just a grumpy jerk). #
• Waking up in the middle of REM sleep not recommended for attempting to work. #
• The day flew by, but is long from over. #
• When working late at night from home, nothing should go wrong b/c it can turn the best nights into very bad ones #
• Yeah.. stop now. Change course, go, stop, decisions, plans, and all the work that comes with any of it. Exciting and tiring. #
• Please be praying for Alexis and I & how to deal with the hardest family issue ever. Our stress level is at max. Details can't be shared. #
• We can be so focused on pinning blame on humanity, that we forget there is an enemy who destroys, and who steals forgiveness and victory. #
• Though I and my family have been violated & used, we have chosen the life that grace filled forgiveness brings. Bitterness won't destroy us. #

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

• Wish I had a camera with me, it is beautiful downtown Portland, the sun's angle this morning was perfect! #
• I can see the light at the end,of the tunnel! #
• Enemy-occupied territory that is what this world is. C.S. Lewis I'm learning more and more the full picture. #
• Need coffe to counteract; don't eat fancy green olives before getting on a nearly hour long bus ride. #
• No complaints. #
• Feeling a Blog post bubbling in my mind. Just need some time to compose it. #
• Oregon needs much more stable tax infrastructure. Three areas which should never be cut: education, public safety, public transit. #
• Simply tired. #
• I wish I could take a week to do all the little things, tasks, planning, and dreaming for the future. Yeah, that would be nice… #
• I do not have a choice but to see people through the eyes of my God, who is love. Including those that make offensive/rude comments/acts. #
• Oh how I love working late a on Friday… but I'm done now, 3 day weekend ahead! #
• Taxes DONE – and we come out ahead for the first time in 5 years! Although barely, no thanks to Oregon income tax! #
• At seaside, oh so happy http://twitpic.com/138p4r #
• Yes there is sun at the Oregon coast! http://twitpic.com/138q9m #
• http://yfrog.us/eu5gxz #
• Watchout for the sneaker waves! http://yfrog.us/eu5gxz #

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

This caught my eye while browsing my blog/news subscriptions today and so I thought I’d share it:

 

at breakfast, meshach asked what bug she should be. {i call them big bug, doodle bug and lady bug.}  he came up with honey bee and called her that sporadically throughout the day.  )

 

  

  

  

  

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

Some thoughts from my Monday morning commute on the TriMet number 9 bus… mobile post, might not make any sense.

Do you have memories of things you’ve done or said that make you cringe? Maybe it’s just me that thinks back on the pas sometimes and wishes I could just erase some of these things. I know that it is these things which make me who I am, so in the end I’m ok with it. Although some of the following memories have some strong emotions of embarrassment, I’m listing them anyway because these are in the past and I need to just lay it down and be who o know I am, whether or not I’m embarrassed. Most of these things are little, but for some reason or another they have or do provoke some feelings that made/make me cringe.

2nd grade – kicking my desk when I got frustrated with math.

2nd grade – lying to a teacher about a jump rope being stolen, getting another (“popular”) classmate in trouble.

5th grade – Not understanding my math homework, and then getting a “white slip”, which was the highest in fraction, for not completing it.

6th grade – Crying after my English teacher mistakenly accused me of lying about finishing a book when indeed I had.

7th grade – being told by one of my best friends “to away, don’t sit here” at lunch on the first day of school and my very emotional response.

In more recent years it’s been a number of speaking opportunities that have haunted me, one was just last spring, mostly because I didn’t receive any productive feedback nor has anyone offered to have me speak again, total insecurity here, I know I need to just askand learn.

I always cringe when I don’t follow up on things I’m leading, I hate it when I fail in my own values, I know I’m just human In a mesed up world.

Love overcomes performance, that’s the bottom line, live it, think it, speak it.

Reach Polska Blog, Donate to REACH Polska, Alexis’ Blog, Emma’s Blog.

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

• Relaxing today… and Emma is such a good little girl #
• How am I always on a MAX behind a train with "mechanical" problems, never mine. Sure seems to be happening more often. But I save $$, so #
• On my way to pick Emma up, how shall we spend the evening? Hmmm #
• Tonight consisted of watching Sleeping Beauty (this is the 2nd time this week now) w/ Emma, followed by snuggling b/c her tooth hurt #
• Beautiful day in Portland! The Northwest is incredible! http://twitpic.com/1118n4 and http://twitpic.com/1118qj #
• CAN'T WAIT FOR LOST TONIGHT! Am I really that excited??? YES #
• Peeps in Time Zones east of Pacific, please no LOST spoilers! Can the Internet be quiet? #
• I blame LOST on my late running morning. And the theory of the domino effect. #
• Sweet onion teriyaki, random drink, coffee, I think I can complete the day on time and pick up Emma in time too! #
• Don't let rushing get ya down! #
• Problem! Need someone(s) to watch Emma tomorrow and Friday! #
• THANK you Jesus for the @easthillfamily coming through! Emma problem resolved by 3 awesome peeps! #
• Man, I have sympathy for single parents, always have, but now I have much more! #
• I hate when good gifts get broken or lost. JawBone headset, missing. Amazon Kindle broken. At least the Kindle is under warranty! #
• Can't believe we've been back for a week now! So much to do!! And so much to share! #
• Really missing Alexis right now. #

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

I have a lot of principles, values, and priorities that I like to tell myself I live by.  Things like honesty, loving others, being a good listener, integrity, authenticity, etc.  Many of which are of course motivated by my relationship with God.  However, I can say and proclaim as many of these things as I want until I’m blue in the face… none of it matters.  None of it matters unless I’m actually doing these things, being true to them.. Now this sounds pretty harsh, even borderline religious or legalistic.

I don’t like lying to myself, I don’t like saying I am one thing, when really I am not.  I’ll go as far as to say, if you call yourself a Christian, if you have a relationship with Jesus, and you’re not living out your values… then you’re probably experiencing some fairly stressful feelings and situations.  I say this because every time I do something against what I value, I feel it, I feel the stress of being at odds with myself (normally by being grumpy, rude, mean to my wife).  So, this is why I actually schedule my values into my calendar, so that I can live out my priorities, and nurture my values.  In this structure I experience life, fellowship, friendship, love, knowledge, family, and all within balance.  It’s freedom, even though at first it’s discipline, but discipline leads to freedom, trust me, I’ve lived it.  Don’t lie to yourself.

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

Nike got it right with “just do it” – I think the most effective way of learning (once given some proper guidance and with good caring mentorship) is to “just do it”.  With the proper support, love, care, it’s okay to just do it – without fear of devastating failure, why not?  I also believe (and from my own experience) just doing it/something is one of the best ways to re-train our minds (what Paul in the book of Romans refers to as “the renewing of the mind”).

I really can not recall a time where I “just did it” and regretted the learning outcome, I honestly can’t.  Each time I have been rewarded with the fantastic feeling of overcoming fears, more confidence, and just good warm fuzzies.  Of course having a good coach and cheerleader behind you is key to the success of “just do it”.  Sometimes (just as Alexis) I find myself saying JUST DO IT without the encouragement and support that I have been given…. um don’t do that to others, and don’t let yourself be in that place… it’s not fun, for either party.

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

I was just listening to “stop and stare” by OneRepublic, it’s the first time I’ve really listened to it closely. The line that catches my attention is “You start to wonder why you’re here not there”. My interpretation of this is similar to what I was thinking about earlier.

A lot of time, at least for me, is thinking about how I want to be “there” weather that’s about how people perceive me, how I’m performing, or even as vain as how I look, there’s always more… Sometimes I need to just stop and stare, realize what I’ve got is incredible blessings, promises, opportunities, and love around just about every corner!

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

One would hope that after being on this planet for nearly 30 years I would be comfortable being myself… but for whatever reasons stupid insecurities still creep up, and it drives me fricken crazy.  It’s always silly stuff too, but I realize it’s always the things that haunted me as a grade schooler as well… the same feelings.  So, I can either just accept this, as part of who I am and really just be okay with it, or I can continue to be distracted and held back by it.

I want to just be ok, but it’s a matter of retraining my head to match my heart, and both of them to match reality/truth – no one really cares about the things that I feel embarrassed/insecure about.  It’s ok!  The thoughts in my head are always whispering about what people think of me… and I’m here to say the truth – people like me!  It’s been hard enough to get where I am, I don’t need to keep on “working” at it.  This is one thing that I think I’m okay with saying “I’ve arrived” – now get off the plane and see reality for what it’s always been.

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

After yesterday’s little post about small talk, I think I might change the name of this blog… while “Living as a foreigner” has obvious meaning… well obvious to the Bible peeps… it doesn’t really reflect what I want this blog to be about.  Looking at some of my first years I noticed this blog was about me… what a concept… a “Web Log” about the author!  Somewhere along the lines I got distracted, sorry.

So, I’m trying to decide between the original name “Food for fish” (when I used Blogger “fishfood.blogspot.com” was taken, so I took “foodforfish.blogspot.com”) – but I’m kind of leaning towards “I hate small talk… and food for fish” – just thinking.

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

This post isn’t prompted by anything, well I guess it kind of is, but nothing specific, and not b/c of any recent conversation.  One of the reasons I have not been posting as often, is the thought that I need to entertain, write something very interesting, or I have such a passionate thing to write but feel like no one really cares… all of this is just my stupid performance complex, and it doesn’t really matter.  I like to write, I like to talk about all kinds of things, but I don’t like small talk.  I don’t like conversations that have sentences ending with “um yeah”, or “anyways”, or “and so, yeah, how about them Mariners?”

Life means a lot to me, yet I don’t really talk about why so much these days… except with the “safe” people at Church, but so many of “them” are to busy doing something to actually go beyond small talk.  So I end up not being satisfied with many of my conversations… but I don’t blame anyone, a little bit of my self, but I know I’m only human so I don’t beat myself up too badly.  Well enough of this small talk, let’s move forward, ok?

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

• On the train back to Krakòw, had a fantastic time in Wrocław! http://twitpic.com/zp89j #
• Well, it's currently -5 degrees F (-20 C), thankfully we are warm in our flat, earlier was another story (being outside, not recommended) #
• We're all packed up, taxi will be here at 5am, plane to Warsaw at 6, then layover, and at noon CET we fly back to Chicago, then PDX. #
• At the Warsaw airport, hope we are not delayed! http://twitpic.com/104mkt #
• Plane delayed by an hour, hope we can still make our connection in Chicago! #
• Yahoo! We're boarding! Might make the connection, it's tight though! #
• Back in the USA, flight was late so we missed our connection, but United Airlines automatically confirmed us on the next flight, go #United! #
• Next stop PDX. #
• Feels like the Bahamas in Portland, 8 C/47 F, ride to work on MAX – normal. Laughed at the Old Town stop, Old City of Krakòw born circa 1200 #
• Jet lag + 10.5 hours at work = cranky zombie #
• I get all week with just Emma and I… looking forward to it, and keeping a good attitude! #
• I'm worthless trying to make food on my own… at least I fed Emma! I have my lunch planned and dinner too! Yes I'm a big boy now! #

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• So far we've only found one radio station in Krakòw which plays something other than dance or techno music. #
• At a mall catching a little WiFi. http://twitpic.com/yxjf3 #
• Goodnight, dobranoc, from Krakòw. Full day ahead tomorrow. #
• The living room and dining area in our rented flat, at night. Just. Finished studying a lot of Polish, brains fried! http://twitpic.com/yzc #
• The living room and dining area in our rented flat, at night. Goodnight! http://twitpic.com/yzc #
• In Wrocław and it is 3 degrees Fahrenheit, and windy, um cold? Yes! But the sun was out and made the city look fantastic! #
• The view from our host family's flat: http://twitpic.com/zj234 , http://twitpic.com/zj278 , http://twitpic.com/zj28r #

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• Bye bye Seattle! Finally on our way home! #
• Just finished reading "a thousand splendid suns" – a must read! An amazingly moving story! Now what to read for next week's plane trip? #
• I need a "make me feel energized, well rested, and cought up" shot, drink, pill, or something. #
• RT @fox12oregon: Video from TriMet shows man fall off platform, lay on tracks under MAX train as it passes. http://bit.ly/52EWvS #
• Mmmm power out in our office building and 25 percent of downtown PDX not good! http://twitpic.com/x2ada #
• Still no power at 10th and stark, Pittock Building in blackness… @MayorSamAdams #PDX Update??? #
• Wow, time flies when your forced to work in a strange environment, a different computer, and have generators blaring. #
• Back to normal and with full power! #
• Oh view how I missed you. http://twitpic.com/x3yrz #
• Um, I missed the memo… what's with all these peeps posting the name of colors all over the social-sphere? #
• Ok creepy older guy and hot shot young guy stop trying to hit on the girl who just told you she's in high school! And stop competing! #trime #
• First the creeps on the bus, and now my oatmeal exploded in the microwave #
• Working on the equivalent of our TPS report… At least it has a point! #
• Okay dude who is shining powerful green laser light onto our neighbors across the way, not cool! #
• It is done! Now we go! Teraz idziemy! #
• This thing is freaking unbelievable! RT @spoon16: Airnergy WiFi power system gives RCA a reason to exist (video) http://bit.ly/7xK6Zq #
• Good night world! #
• A little chill time, some planning, last minute emails, all we have to pack are the bathroom things, then in the morning we fly out! #
• Ready to go! On the plane! http://twitpic.com/xoam4 #
• On the trainat Chicago. http://twitpic.com/xpfpu #
• Plane number 2 to Krakòw, one tired girl, one hot mamma http://twitpic.com/xpynu #
• We are here! So far no WiFi, just my phone and a prepaid phone card that at least has some internet access, but not much. #
• In Nowy Targ 2 hours south of Krakòw. http://twitpic.com/ybpij #
• Wow do you think he's cold!? http://twitpic.com/ybps3 #
• Our friend Krzysziek and Narnia (well sorta), near Nowy Targ. http://twitpic.com/ybqxb #

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• The end of vacation… #
• Working remotely in Seattle this week, then New Years in Seattle – fun! #
• It's snowing in Portland, notta here in Seattle. #
• It's very hard to work when Emma wont' stop yelling "DADDY!!!" Hence why I'm still working until 7pm… It's all good though! #
• Happy New Year from Seattle! #
• New years at the space needle! http://twitpic.com/w703u #
• Emma likes music and found the headphones! http://twitpic.com/wa7rb #

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

This caught my eye while browsing my blog/news subscriptions today and so I thought I’d share it:

Shared by TravisM

I feel the same way – social justice is fantastic, great, wonderful. But as soon as we begin to talk about creating communities (churches) to cultivate these ideas and fellowship with Jesus – then the sexiness goes away…

Poland missions… not sexy. It’s not Africa, it’s not China, it’s not social justice (although it will be cultivated), and it’s not tangibly building church buildings… so what is it?? That’s a blog post to come.

In the mean time read about Soul City Church, b/c those ideals are ideals that I (and Alexis) certainly have in common. And give you feel lead, we’re all about expanding all part of the Church world wide.

Here’s the deal.
Social Justice is sexy.
Just ask GAP, Bono, Angelina, and the slew of others who have decided to give back.
I am all about the sexiness because it opens peoples eyes to the needs of this world.
Giving to help children across the world makes peoples hearts full.
And it should.
I sponsor 3 kids through Compassion International and their lives are changing every day.

What isn’t sexy?
Giving to a church in downtown Chicago who will soon preach a story of transformation to the hustlers that live there.
So I’m going to simply ask.
Would you pray about giving to my new church?
Soul City Church
We are slowly trickling into the city of Chicago over the next few months and need all the help we can get.
No it’s not sexy.
But it is a need and I’m not ashamed to ask on behalf of my church family that you pray and if you feel led…
Give Here.
10 bucks. 25 bucks. Whatever you have.

Thanks Ragamuffins for contributing to lives changed in the city of Chicago
Los

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Travis wrote the following on his blog, Living as a foreigner . To comment and read his original post Click here.

This caught my eye while browsing my blog/news subscriptions today and so I thought I’d share it:

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