Solitude

This is a devotional I wrote for a recent leadership meeting. I thought some of you might enjoy reading it.

Get in groups of three. Introduce yourselves to one another. Read the following scripture verse out loud.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." [Luke 10:38-42]

As a group, try to summarize the basic message of this scripture passage.

In his book, Making All Things New, Henri Nouwen suggests that occupation (being too busy with what we do) and preoccupation (busyness in our minds) are two of the biggest obstacles to God’s Spirit moving in us. For some of us, all we can remember about the past few weeks or months is that we were really busy, everything felt urgent, and we could hardly get it all done. Sometimes we are even so busy doing the work of God that we inhibit the work God wants to do in us.

Nouwen writes, “Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life. Solitude begins with a time and place for God, and him alone. If we really believe not only that God exists but also that he is actively present in our lives – healing, teaching, and guiding – we need to set aside a time and space to give him our undivided attention.”

1. What is your definition or understanding of solitude?
2. Why is it so important for us to spend time alone with God? How is that time related to our role as leaders?
3. How much time do you spend alone in silence? [Be specific in your answer]
4. What are one or two things you could cut out of your life to create time for solitude with God?

Spend about 3 minutes in silent prayer. Try to focus yourself on Christ – when other things come into your mind, refocus on Christ. Then prayer together for the following things:
- That Jesus will be empowering and energizing you as a leader
- That you will have healthy balance in your life
- That we will make time to be with God

*Please commit to spending time alone with God this week. Try practicing the discipline of solitude.

Who would have known?

When I was a photo assistant, I flooded the internet with my info to get work. Now that I'm no longer doing that I am now in the annoying process of getting rid of all of my photo assistant profiles. Well in the amidst of doing this cumbersome project, I've come across two really interesting websites.












There's another Jake and Tomi floating out there.
http://www.jakeandtomi.com/

Who would have know?





http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/node/4665
On our wedding day, while heading to Central Park for photos we came across a guy who wanted to take a photo of us. In our moment of happiness we oblige and as we continued on our way, Jacob mentioned our names and our target registry. That's how this guy was able to post our full names. Random, huh?

So does anyone have any crazy google stories?

Jacob and Tomi in DUMBO

Tomi and I went to Brooklyn for a photo shoot her friend asked her to help with (as the model) and then we went to this little park between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.

Independence Day

Today Nigeria celebrates 49 years of independent ruling from the British. 

Is it Fall already???

Good-bye summer; hello fall.

I know that it is not yet officially fall, but there air is cool and crisp, I’m back in school, and the fun is over! Just kidding, the fun will never be over.

Tomi and I had an amazing summer. We were able to come back to Buffalo in June for Emerson’s baptism (I am the godfather) and spend some quality suburban time at the park with Nate and Angie, Bob and Liz, and Dave Boyce. We went to Boston to visit Johnny Passanese and his girlfriend Juliet, which included a tour of Harvard and some pretty killer crepes. We took our first big vacation together to Spain for 10 days – who knew that so few people would speak English in Barcelona and Madrid? We saw all the historical sites, many of the museums, and of course took siestas and ate dinner at 10:00 or 11:00 pm. We also spent a lot of time together in Harlem, including a bike ride across the George Washington Bridge (check our flickr site for pics) and a trip to the giant public pool.

My trip to Uganda was unbelievable. I lead of team of fourteen on a ten-day trip to work with the students of the LEAD Uganda Program. It is hard for me to put into words just how significant the trip was to all of us who went. It is like we have a whole new family on the other side of the world. The love that was shared between the students and staff and all the people from Forefront Church was truly a remarkable and beautiful thing. I can’t wait to go back - although next time I am really hoping that Tomi can come.

Tomi started her new job last week, and so far it is going very well. It is definitely more in line with her long term career goals as well as here creative gifts and passions. Her new position, as a junior photo rep, allows her to work closely with photographers and agencies. It is a small and well-respected firm. I know she is going to do great!

I have finished all my required courses at Drew Theological, but I still need more credit hours. The great part about this scenario is that I can now take whatever I want. I am currently serving as a Teaching Assistant for two classes taught by Dr. Leonard Sweet, who is an acclaimed author and speaker. I am hoping that this semester will help me to determine if teaching is something I might want to do in the future.

So life is good here in the big apple. Tomi and I would love to hear from all of you. And if you are really feeling like going the extra mile… we LOVE to receive mail (19 East 128th Street #23, New York, NY, 10035).

Much love, Jacob & Tomi.

Cousins Galore!

(top: jacob with his cousin rachel. bottom: john (jacob's cousin, tomi and jacob)

The beginning part of summer was super busy with Jacob and I going away for many of the weekends. Two of our weekend trips were to Boston to visit John and Juliette and the second was to Grand Island to see the rest of the family. Check out pics here: www.flickr.com/photos/jacobandtomi

Another Day in the Office

Okay, everyone seriously needs to pick up the summer issue of Weddings magazine. Other than the amazing DIY section, you get to see me in the actual pages. Check out this link to sneak a peak here and here. Let me know what you think of the crazy high heels I'm wearing!

Omololu & Lange Dinner Menu

(top: indesign file of menu and on the bottom: menu on the side of our fridge).

Awhile back, a couple of friends made remarks on how cute our "omololu-lange weekly menu" was. It's such a fun idea that has been quite successful in our home. We have a rough system in play to make this work, so here it is. On the weekend, Jacob and I put together a meal list for that upcoming week. We double check to make sure we have all the ingredients and if not we go shopping. So by the start of Monday, we know what we'll have for lunch and dinner for that entire week. Seems simple enough, right?

Well, I love doing this for three reasons. The first is that Jacob and I get to share with each other our own favorite foods and in that process we are intentionally and thoughtfully learning (and respecting) our likes and dislikes. For example, Jacob is more of a fruit dessert person (peach cobbler, apple crisps, etc.) whereas I like chocolate base desserts (cookies, brownies, etc). Secondly, we live such busy lives that it's often difficult to just whip up an awesome meal without a plan. We just don't have that time and in many cases not all of the ingredients and so we result to eating not so exciting meals. The final reason is that it lets us map out and see how healthily we are eating. We can thoughtfully plan the week knowing how much pasta, poultry, veggies, etc we are putting into our bodies that week. That’s particularly useful to me because by default, I’ll munch on junk food and not eat a proper meal. Oh and one last aspect of the omololu-lange weekly menu card is that creating the document is really just another chance for me to play with type and design. As I said, it's been quite a success.

So what do you guys think? Do you have something similar in place? I'd like to know.

LEAD Uganda

One of the things I have been spending a lot of time and energy on over the past few month, and especially over the past few weeks, has been planning for our upcoming trip to Uganda. Unfortunately, Tomi will not be able to join us this year because she only gets 10 vacation days!!!

Last year, just four of us went for an "exploratory" trip. This year I am leading a team of 14 to experience some of the harsher realities of Uganda, and to teach educational seminars for the children in the LEAD Uganda Program (www.leaduganda.org). There are currently 75 kids in the program - former child soldiers, AIDS orphans, child laborers - who are now in some of the best schools in the country. The program is preparing them to become the future leaders of their own country.

Simply pumping foreign aid into developing countries is not a viable long term solution. Instead, the LEAD Uganda Program - Forefront has become a significant partner with the organization - equips gifted kids with the skills and abilites to forge a better future for the country.

It is quiet a challenge for me to plan and lead a trip of this caliber, but I am confident that it will be mutually beneficial for the students in the program as well as the people from Forefront coming on the trip. We will be in Uganda from August 18th to the 28th.

pele o!

(photo: left: my grandmother, my mother as a young
woman and my father as a young man)

Wanna learn yoruba? Here's a quick lesson for you.

Bawoni (Bah woah nee) How are you?
Daa daa ni (dah dah nee) Good
E she (eh shay) Thank you
E Kaabo (eh kabow) Welcome
Odaaro (oh dah row) Goodbye
Odabbo (oh dah boh) Goodnight


Wanna know what Yoruba music sounds like? From my parents generation sunny ade and from my generation styl-plus

birthday wellies

Who doesn't like a good surprise? Two weeks ago, i celebrated my 26th birthday. To keep it simple, I took a handful of friends to Atlantic City-I've never been before and thought why not. I had a great time and left thinking, my birthday turned out great. I wasn't expecting anything more but lo and behold, Jacob and Ferris had something else for me. On my actual birth date, they manage to get a handful of friends together, into my apartment for the surprise. Well the surprise was on them. For me, unexpectedly seeing 15 crowded friends in my living room had me in serious freak out mode. This in turn made everyone else scream. When I finally calmed down, I felt really honor to have all of those people in my life. Simply amazing people.Good times with good people. One sweet part were the wellies I got as a gift. I LOVE the color red and have been achin' for these for quite some time. This birthday was great and it was definitely one for the memory books.

Run! Skip! Hop! We got married!

We know, we know. You've been asking for these pictures for sometime now. Well now we have a flickr site you can check out to see those images. Check out flickr.com/photos/jacobandtomi and you'll see images from our wedding. Those images were used in a book Jacob and I made (via Blurb) for each member of our wedding party, our parents and grandparents. To give each book a unique twist, the last page included a scanned handwritten note, explaining how much we love them all. Okay, so click on our flickr link to see how that day unfolded from our point of view.

We must be compatible

It's been over 400 days of marriage. Oh, my, how time flies by! We hope you enjoy these quick snippets into our lives. Whether you live across the street, the country or even the world, we hope to share with you what we've been up to these past 400 odd some days.