An Advance showing of "The Nativity Story"

Garhett won a "family 4 pack" of tickets from the FISH to see the advance screening of the New Line Cinema's "The Nativity Story".

Our whole family trucked out to the Irvine Spectrum to see the movie tonight. We went to dinner at Red Robin first, then went to get our passes and enter the theatre - the PACKED theatre. Apparently when they do advance screenings they over sell the theater (to make it look full). So we had to sit separate (Ash & Dawn sat together and Garhett & I). Other than that, the experience was great.

The movie is definately worth seeing. Very little 'license' was taken. We found ourselves chuckling at the fact the movie opens with the same scripture Pastor Dave spoke on this past Sunday - of course the visual of Zachariah being struck mute was quite the opposite of the one Dave displayed at church - but the message was the same nonetheless.

What I really enjoyed about the movie is that there weren't any typical Hollywood types made up to look the part - these folks really made you feel the struggles that went on at the time. The cinematography was striking and the story was pretty spot on. Of course there are humorous parts. However, I was a bit dumbfounded at some of the parts people were laughing at - - they weren't meant to be funny - - yet our society found the truth of scripture humorous... hmmm... puzzling!

Yes, of course there were tears. I found myself wanting to stand on my seat and yell, "That's Jesus being born people. Savior, Lord, King of Kings! That's Jesus people". From that point on in the movie emotions were spewing all over the place... Joy, with the Magi presenting their gifts; Anger, with Herod thinking he could just end the prophecy; Frustration that no one would open their doors for pregnant Mary. Oh, this is a good movie. Everyone should see it.

View the trailer here.

OH, BTW - 24 fans.... The woman who plays Elizabeth is Shohreh Aghdashloo - of Dina Araz!

Yo, yo... got my 'blingage'....

While we were decorating the house for Christmas I was goofing around with an ornament my son got from his Aunt Di. I put the crome cross on a dog choke chain and Dawn did some fancy magic chain tying and then snapped a photo of me wearing some cheap 'blingage'... or is it more accurate to say, "Flossin". We all thought is was fun and games until they couldn't get the darn thing untied... first Dawn, then Mike, then Garhett and finally I asked my son's friend Janice if she is good at untangling things and thankfully she was able to untie it - I couldnt bring myself to actually go to church tomorrow wearing that silly thing - - - oh, the worse part, Dawn got a call from our friend Michelle Lasch who happended to hear the whole thing going on - - - now how am I going to live that down!

Thanksgiving with the In-Laws

The Bambricks headed north to Palmdale CA for Thanksgiving this year. We were invited to Dawn's father and his wife's house, and were joined by her sister Diane, her husband Jim and son Liam. We were also entertained with Dawn's brother Fred, his fiance' Monique and her two children, Darius and Nicolette. It was a great day - we took our 5th wheel up and stayed in that for 3 nights.

Dawn's dad does a great job preparing the feast and surprisingly - all three of the siblings got along the entire time!

On Friday we went to see "The Santa Clause III" and shot this photo of our children in the hallway of the theater, with their namesakes... Rhett/Garhett and Scarlett/Ashley Scarlett.

We came home today and decided to "deck the halls" and start spreading the Christmas cheer in our neighborhood by turning on the Christmas lights that I hung the weekend before we left and adding a boat load of newer stuff too.

What a busy holiday this was!

Toys for Tots rejects Jesus!

Found this story on CNN.COM today.... quite disturbing; but not unexpected.

Toys for Tots rejects talking Jesus dolls


POSTED: 12:04 p.m. EST, November 15, 2006

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A talking Jesus doll has been turned down by the Marine Reserves' Toys for Tots program.

A Los Angeles company offered to donate 4,000 of the 1-foot-tall dolls, which quote Bible verses, for distribution to needy children this holiday season.

The battery-powered Jesus is one of several dolls manufactured by one2believe, a division of the Valencia-based Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Co., based on biblical figures. (Watch to see and hear the Bible-quoting dolls -- 1:52)

But the charity balked because of the dolls' religious nature.

Toys are donated to kids based on financial need and "we don't know anything about their background, their religious affiliations," said Bill Grein, vice president of Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, in Quantico, Virginia.

As a government entity, Marines "don't profess one religion over another," Grein said Tuesday. "We can't take a chance on sending a talking Jesus doll to a Jewish family or a Muslim family."
Michael La Roe, director of business development for both companies, said the charity's decision left him "surprised and disappointed."

"The idea was for them to be three-dimensional teaching tools for kids," La Roe said. "I believe as a churchgoing person, anyone can benefit from hearing the words of the Bible."

According to the company's Web site, the button-activated, bearded Jesus, dressed in hand-sewn cloth outfits and sandals, recites Scripture such as "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." It has a $20 retail value.

Grein questioned whether children would welcome a gift designed for religious instruction.
"Kids want a gift for the holiday season that is fun," he said.

The program distributed 18 million stuffed animals, games, toy trucks and other gifts to children in 2005.

The company that sells these dolls is One2Believe.

Huntington Beach mini vacation

Last week the family packed up the 5th wheel and headed to Huntington Beach for a mini-vacation and spent 5 days at Sunset Vista campground... ok, it really is the parking lot just south of the Huntington Beach Pier... but it was a time away from home for re-creation.

I went to work every day and the kids and Dawn got to hang and do whatever they felt like - we picked the best week - if you remember it was in the 90's for three of the days! Wow, only in CA can you go tanning at the beach in NOVEMBER!.

I took Wednesday off and while Dawn ran some errands, I hung with the kids and caught some rays at the waters edge. I snapped thid with my new phone... Kinda fun!

Can*dian Joke

Someone who knows exactly how I feel about Canadians sent me this... I laughed for 15 minutes...


An American, a Scot and a Canuk were in a terrible car accident.

They were all brought to the same emergency room, but all three of them died before they arrived. Just as they were about to put the toe tag on the American, he stirred and opened his eyes. Astonished, the doctors and nurses present asked him what happened.

"Well," said the American, "I remember the crash, and then there was a beautiful light, and then the Canadian and the Scot and I were standing at the gates of heaven. St. Peter approached us and said that we were all too young to die, and that for a donation of $100, we could return to the earth."

He continued, " So of course, I pulled out my wallet and gave him the $100, and the next thing I knew I was back here.""That's amazing!" said one of the doctors, "But what happened to the other two?""Last I saw them," replied the American, "the Scot was haggling over the price and the Canadian was waiting for the government to pay for his."

More Bug-a-Boo

Since I already posted a photo of my beautiful daughter, the Snow Princess. I thought I would also post a photo of my handsome son, "Goku" from Dragonball Z... Yes, I made this outfit as well. I actually made it for last year, but I had to remake the boots this year!

I was pleased to see it held up during my son's attempt at eating one of the most disgusting foods on the planet. HOT DOGS.

Bug-a-boo wackyness

My wife and I, along with my brother and his family, Johnny and Jeannie and her son, worked the food concession at Revolution's annual "Bug a Boo" event, and had a great time.

We met all sorts of characters and had a great time talking with many, many adults and kids - - and some adults who act like kids...

Like our Lead Paster, Dave....

You see he was short a few cents for his bag of popcorn (he only had a $20 for a $.50 cent bag of popcorn) and when a friend helped him out with a couple of quarters, Dave thought it would be funny to stuff them into his eye sockets.

Of course, the moment he did I whipped out my daughters digital camera and snapped a shot! It isn't a great photo - but if you look close you can see the quarters in his eyes...

The he demonstrated how they fall out - when again, I shot this photo.

Revolution church is a great place. You can truely be "just who you are"...

The Snow Princess

Ashley wanted to be a "Snow Princess" for Halloween - so we searched at all the stores and even rather tasteless "Halloween Spirit Store" (bleeeeech!) for a costume that was appropriate and met her standards (and our pocketbook). None were found - so I got out my stapler, glue gun and duct tape... and viola! I created a floor length crush velour (blue) princess gown with gold and fur lined trim, a 'fellowship' cloak of contrasting white crushed velour with fur trim and gold braiding, topped it off with a white 'mink' muffler (had warmer) and there you have it. Mom added the blue crushed velour covered candy bucket - and we have our snow princess!

This just in...

I have always teased about using duct tape as an aid for babysitting... but who would have thought some knucklehead would actually try it!

This was posted on CNN.com todaya at 10:50am

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP) -- A woman accused of duct-taping her two children
together and leaving them home alone has been charged with child abuse, the
sheriff's office said.

Agla Nadia Vincent, 25, was arrested Monday following a seven-month investigation into whether she left her two boys, then aged 2 and 3, taped to each other while she went to work, said Lt. Annie Smith of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

Vincent was a four-year naval officer at the time and worked at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station. She completed her service and was discharged in August, naval base spokesman Rick Cruz said.In March, a witness heard the children crying and called the police. When military police arrived, they found the children taped in a bedroom with feces and cereal
scattered on play mats on the floor, investigators said.

The children were taken into custody by the Florida Department of Children & Families and
Vincent was free pending an investigation. An officer who arrested Vincent said she denied leaving the children home alone all day.

Vincent was being held Tuesday on a $5,000 bond, the Florida Times-Union reported for Wednesday's editions. It was not clear whether she had an attorney.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

'Q' has arrived!

No, you Star Trek Dork... not him....

The phone!

My lovely wife finally permitted me to purchase a new cell phone. I have been struggling between two phones for the longest time - until I saw them in action - then I knew I had to have something different.

I need a phone that will help me organize my time, now that I am finding it harder and harder to book things without having to call home and have the 'master calendar' checked... I also need a phone that I can recieve email with - I am constantly having email sent while at work and I can't read it due to 'filtering'.... arrrrgh! I also wanted to be able to type on the darn thing because trying to use that I-tap method for txt'ing is really difficult... I also need the ability to load MicroSoft based software on the phone to use for real estate appraising... so....

I have added the Motorola Q phone to my electronic arsenal - which is kinda funny - because, at lunch the other day a friend of mine was saying that he has the cheapest, old school, freebie phone he could get and was teasing about the people who have the fancy-shmanzy state of the art phones.... wait till he sees this one - he is going to want it BAD.

These are the phones I was considering....

But, I couldnt resist this offer....

So you will have to excuse me if you call and I struggle with taking the call... I am still trying to get a handle on all the new features.

This phone ROCKS!

Desmond goes to the groomer!

Ain't he lovely!

(note: the name on the tag "Lexington" has officially been changed to "Desmond" courtesy of "Lost"...)

BELLFLOWER PARADE !!

My family (minus Garhett) joined up with the Street Team and some of the Bellflower Scouting Team to pass out water at the Bellflower Parade.

We had a fantastic time! We passed out all the water and stickers we could in less than an hour and a half!

It was great getting to meet alot of the people who live in Bellflower. Here are some of my favorite pictures of some Bellflower folks sporting the "I love Bellflower" stickers we handed out!

On a side note:
I really enjoyed the Palmdale High band playing the USC fight song!

Mike "Sturdy" is in San Mateo

At 8:00PM this evening Mike arrived at the San Mateo Marriott. This will be Mike's home as he begins his new job with Plante's Hotel Renovations. Mike said to let everyone know he made it with no problems. He took the scenic trip up the 101 to San Mateo. This is the furthest Mike has ever been away from home. Keep praying for his success!

To the Glory of Christ... The Marriage of John & Breanna

My family attended the wedding of John Joseph Bellino to Breanna Jean Fry. Breanna is Garhett's piano and bass guitar teacher. This was the most interesting wedding I have ever attended. The ceremony was a mixture of traditional Hebrew customs with traditional Christian ceremony. Both John and Breanna are long time Christians.

The ceremony took an hour and a half and here is how it went.

The bride and groom wore traditional symbolic clothing; he wore a "Kittle" the traditional Hebrew garment worn by every man attending a wedding. (It was white). She wore a traditional white wedding gown. The pastor wore a white robe with a stole.

In a traditional Hebrew wedding in preparation for the betrothal ceremony, both the groom and the bride were to separately take a ritual immersion in water as a symbol of spiritual cleansing.

The bridegroom's entrance was done by a groomsman sounding the 'shofar' (rams horn) and vocally announcing "Behold, the Bridegroom comes!". Then the processional began. The Pastor was first, followed by torch bearers, then flower girls, then the best men, then the maid's of honor (who were carrying oil lanterns according to Hebrew custom, that light the way for the groom) and finally the groom entered. A song of ascent was sung and then the Bride entered. She was beautiful! The procession was a feast of tradition and reverence!

The ceremony continued with another song, an invocation that involved a responsive reading for confession and absolution prayer then another song and two scripture readings; first the parable of the Ten Virgins, then the parable of the Wedding Banquet. At this point the sister of the bride read a passage from "Treaties on Christian Freedom" by Martin Luther (one of my favorites!). Another song, then the pastor lead a sermon on the parable of the Wedding Banquet (Matt. 22:1-24). I was very pleased to see that a bridal couple was focusing on our LORD and not on themselves!

Following the sermon and another song the congregation responsively read the Apostles' Creed. At this point the groom surprised the bride with a song he wrote for her as the wedding party signed the "Ketubah" (wedding contract), sealed the covenant with a communal cup of wine. At this point the pastor declared them husband and wife and the now married couple kissed for the first time! Yep, these two Christians, who have known each other for 8 years and were courting for the last 5 saved their first kiss for their wedding day. It was a joyous moment for the large gathering as everyone in attendance knew this! The couple then received an Aaronic Blessing (Num. 6:24-26) wrapped themselves in a Tallit which was imprinted with the symbols of the 12 tribes of Israel and the recessional began.

WOW, was this an event. Combining traditional Hebrew customs and Christian tradition was incredible, powerful and overwhelming - and that was just the ceremony. The reception afterwards was just as exciting. The most emotional part for me was when Mike (the father of the bride) and Breanna had their 'father / daughter' dance. I kept imagining how I will feel when Ashley and I have that dance - knowing her, and her love for dancing shows on TV, she is going to have us take dancing classes! The reception began at 3pm and by 7pm, when we had to leave, they hadn't even gotten to the cake! I have saved the wedding program to remind both of my children of this event when the glorious time comes for God to join them in matrimony.

I was very moved by this experience - especially the fact that these two role models saved themselves for their wedding day and shared their first kiss with over 200 people in front of God. What a fantastic gift to each other!

Way to go John and Breanna!!!

Goodbye to Mike "Sturdy" Martinez

Last night we had an impromptu good bye party for Mike. We invited some of his friends to come by for a BBQ and boy was Mike happy.

When we moved into our home 15 years ago we met this kooky character who was living in a travel trailer in his parents driveway. Little did we know the wild ride his life would embark upon nor would we know the depth that God would use our family to walk with him to a life of sobriety and finally a life as a devoted Christ follower.

Mike has enjoyed becoming a part of the Revolution Church family and recently was working at Sturdy Furniture where he as had the opportunity to meet and greet and pray and love on many, many people. Some of whom were at our home last night - returning the favor.

We owe a great thanks to Mike for being a great neighbor, who used to lead the neighborhood watch from his car, while he slept in it every night... We owe Mike a great thanks for helping us when we first moved in to our home - he was the first person to welcome us to the neighborhood.

Mike has touched many people with his outward focused life, his love for Christ and his willingness to be there whenever a friend is needed.

Mike will be taking a new job working as the "FFE guy" for Plante's hotel renovations. He will be going to San Mateo on Tuesday morning where he will begin a new chapter in his life. We all wish him well.

God Bless you on your journey Mike. We can't wait for you to come back for two weeks during the Christmas/New Year holiday and tell us of all your experiences.

More pictures from the BBQ

More photos from the BBQ for Mike

LOST has returned!

Last night was the premiere of the 3rd season of Lost - the second best show on TV. Our home hosted a Lost dinner which featured:

• Appetizers of Jun's fresh sushi
• Sun's fresh tropical fruit, Island green beans and toss mixed greens
• Charlie's Poppy seed rolls
• Hurley's fried chicken
• Claire's peanut butter cookies (made by Dawn)

I even had some gingerbread 'polar bear' cookies for the girls to make - but they were too busy playing - so we never got those made... bummer...

Our good friends Tim and Michelle Lasch joined us with their daughters - it was great fun. We previewed the hour long 'recap' first, to catch Dawn up to speed and then watched the premiere, "A Tale of Two cities".

If you missed the show you can catch highlights and maybe download the podcast online at http://www.lostblog.net

Well we did it!

Over the past few weeks I have been on a search to find a new pet for our household. Against all the advice to the contrary, not to mention my better judgement, I located a new puppy for my children.

Welcome 'no name' to our family. He is a 1 year old tri-colored cocker spaniel that we rescued from the Orange County Animal Care Center. We haven't fully settled on a name for him yet - although we do have a tag made with the name Lexington. Although, after watching Lost last night I am growing fond of calling him Desmond. Who knows maybe Lexmond... Desington...

Well, all that aside, he is quite active and loveable. Garhett and Ashley really love him and enjoy having a young guy to play with. The downside is he is not that trained yet - we were really spoiled with Buddy, and he really hates Ashley's bunnies.