Mark Scandrette

1. Friday night dates with Lisa at our favorite Italian restaurant or French Cafe.
2. Completing “Bay to Breakers” with the guys from “running club.”
3. Working with a great team of people who give energy to ReIMAGINE.
4. Feasting and making a life with SEVEN, our new faith community.
5. Sabbath Retreats at the Dixon’s cabin.
6. Fifteen mile walks through the city with Noah and Isaiah.
7. Playing games at home for “Dad and kid night.”
8. Finishing my first full-length book project, SOUL GRAFFITI.
9. Traveling to Montreal to train & teach.
10. A sense of mystery and curiosity about how God is leading, guiding and providing for our family.

We are grateful for so many friends and companions on the journey to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our creator. MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!
—Mark & Lisa, Hailey, Noah & Isaiah

While in Seattle I’ve been in search of the best coffee. Today we went to Cafe Vivace. I had espresso and Lisa had a macchiato. It was really quite fabulous. I think from now on I might only drink espresso.

Today we also went to REI’s flagship store in Seattle. Hailey had a chance to climb a 5.7 route on the 65 foot freestanding pinnacle inside of the store. It was fun to watch her manuever up the face and from the top she had a spectacular view of downtown Seattle including the space needle. I hope we can do some climbing together back in San Francisco. She definately has the agility and confidence to be a great climber.

Today we went to the Seattle Glass blowing studio http://www.seattleglassblowing.com and watched Aaron Than Tate and several assistance work on a piece of glass sculpture. It was utterly amazing to watch the teamwork of these artisans work so elegantly with molten glass. No one wore gloves. They invited us right into the studio and we were able to stand within several feet of the work table and furnace. Hailey, Noah and Isaiah were quite mesmerized and were dissapointed when we had to drag them away after an hour. We watched the artist create a cracked silver leaf full-scale theatre mask. It was poetry in motion, with the glass workers carefully spinning the cone of molten glass at 2,000 degrees. Watching them made me want to work more with my hands. There is great dignity is such work and craftsmanship.