Batman - DK Theatrical Trailer/Posters

Check out the newest official trailer for the "The Dark Knight", opening in theaters July 18!

Here are some of the posters that have surfaced so far

Farewell, Fogelberg

Sad to hear that Dan Fogelberg passed away early this morning following a three-year battle with advanced prostate cancer. He was only 56. In case you're not familiar with him, he rose to fame in the late 70's/early 80's and pioneered the "soft rock" genre. One of his biggest hits was the acoustic ballad, "Longer". I was strongly influenced by his music and I sang several of his songs during my coffee house/restaurant singing days in college. "Leader of the Band", "Longer", "Run for the Roses", "There's a Place In the World for a Gambler" and "These Days" were regulars on my set list.

Here's an article reporting his passing

His official website posted this today:

Sunday, December 16

Dear friends,

Dan left us this morning at 6:00am . He fought a brave battle with cancer and died peacefully at home in Maine with his wife Jean at his side. His strength, dignity, and grace in the face of the daunting challenges of this disease were an inspiration to all who knew him.

Works of Art

Phil Eagling has taken up painting as a means of relaxing. His love of barns (especially red ones) is reflected in many of his recent works. I thought you'd enjoy seeing some of his paintings.

If you've read some earlier posts, you already know that Eddie is an incredible craftsman. He made a lot of the furniture in their home. During the open house, I snapped a couple of photos of things he's made. Check these out.
He even made the communion trays for the church. Aren't they beautiful?

Australia Day 12 - Back to the Future

Up at 6:00 am. After a shower and final packing, everyone met at Phil and Sharon’s by 8:15 am. Ward pulled yet another all-nighter to finish the T-shirts he had designed and made. Here's what they look like. The front pocket area says, "I'm With the Band".


Ross, from the Charles Town church, used his day off to drive us to the airport. Stan drove Phil’s car to help transport the rest of our luggage and Tonja’s new shoe collection.

As we said our good-bye’s, hugs came easily and tears flowed freely. In 11 short days, we had become a close-knit family. We left for the Sydney airport at 9:30 am and arrived around 11:30. Pete gave each of us a handwritten thank-you note he had stayed up until 2:00 am writing. More tears. More hugs.

Chipper reading Pete's note

Sydney Airport

After checking our bags and clearing immigration, we grabbed a bite of lunch. We exchanged the last of our remaining currency and waited at our gate. The flight from Australia to L.A. was just like the first – completely full and shoulder to shoulder. For some reason, the return flight was much harder (physically) on both Lara and me. Maybe because we slept some on the first flight. Lara slept very little coming home, despite having taken two Benadryl. Jon got sick and it took several of the ‘ole technicolor yawns to help him feel better.

We arrived in L.A. at 9:55 am…on the SAME DAY we left Australia. Weird. So this is what Marty McFly felt like. We had to pick up our bags, clear customs, check our bags back in then go through security again. We departed for Dallas at 12:20, arrived 5:30 pm (with the time change). No meal on the flight, so we’re all hungry…except Jon. He’s still weak and has no appetite.

Along the way, several people asked questions about our shirts. Things like, "So, what band are you with"? It gave us a great opportunity to explain what we had been doing.

We think we spotted Howie from the Backstreet Boys. Not 100% sure.


Bad news at Dallas. Our 7:10 flight has been delayed. Now scheduled to leave at 8:20. Wait…delayed again for 8:39. At first, we fear the delay is weather related, which could mean another night in Dallas. Hold the phone…as it turns out, the delay is only the result of our plane being late leaving Phoenix.

8:40 pm. They’ve just informed us that our plane is here but now there is a mechanical problem. They have dispatched a crew to assess the situation and will keep us posted. Jon just ate a soft pretzel and is feeling some better. James, Lara and Donna hit the Starbuck’s for a cup of endurance. Chipper watches Monday Night Football hoping, for the sake of his Fantasy Football Team, that Drew Brees from New Orleans has a great night.

We just heard that our plane has been cleared. There’s an air of excitement among our group. As much as we have enjoyed this trip and our new friends, we are all looking forward to being home with our families. We lift off from the DFW airport at 9:20 pm and the captain says we should arrive in Nashville at 10:55 – exactly two hours behind schedule. We aren’t “wenging” (complaining), though. This is the first delay of any kind we have experienced on this trip. Thankfully, the flight to Nashville is not full so we have room to spread out.

As our plane cuts through the black night sky, I am grateful for so many things…
• For blessings received and blessings given
• For the gift of new friendships that will last into eternity
• For a perfect God who chooses to involve imperfect people to help build His kingdom
• For the joy of worshiping with fellow believers on the other side of the world
• For arriving as strangers and leaving as family
• For everyone who contributed prayers and finances to send us
• For family and friends who cared for our loved ones while we were away
• For safe travel
• For a lifetime of memories
• For a new appreciation for what God is doing in New South Wales through the Thornton Church of Christ.

10:58. We arrive in Nashville, but our luggage does not. The airline says another flight from Dallas is due to land in about 15 minutes. They assure us our bags will be on that flight, so we decide to wait.

All of our bags, with the exception of one of mine, were on the next flight from Dallas. The waiting paid off. One of our Elders, Tim Park, picked us up at the airport in one of our church shuttles. We arrived back at church at 12:30 am, got home by 1:30 and to bed at 3:20 am. It’s been a VERY LONG DAY. All told, we traveled for over 31 hours straight.

American Airlines delivered my bag to our home by 1:00 pm the next day.

Apart from one trip to Mexico with my parents when I was a young boy, this was my first taste of international travel. It was also my first missions trip. I’ve always heard that a missions trip will change your life. It’s true. I believe this one changed every member of our team.

The Eagling's are planning to visit the States again in Dec. '09.

Australia - Our Host Families

(Click on any photo to enlarge)

Clockwise: Donna (center), Janet, Karen, Rebecca

Chipper, Eddie and Moya

L-R: James, Pam, Stan, Jon

Lara and Rob with Phil, Sharon and Savannah Eagling

L-R: John, Kathy, Tonja and Ward

Australia Day 11 - Australiana BBQ

We led worship during the morning service. The people here have really embraced the Aaron Shust song, “My Savior, My God”. It was one of the songs we used that was new to them. They asked us to use that song at every service we did, except at Gloria Jean’s. Their zeal for that particular song has changed the way we view it. It will be hard to sing that song and NOT think of our Aussie family.

Eddie and Stan praying for Phil before the service

Gathering to pray before the service

Today we sang, “Blessed Be Your Name” (also new to them), “My Savior, My God”, “Joy to the World”, “Take My Life” (“Holiness, holiness is what I long for…”, requested by Phil to go along with the sermon) and “Sanctuary”.

Nigel and Erica surprised Tonja with a pair of shoes she had seen at a store earlier in the week. Tonja had debated between the blue and the black. She bought the black. Erica went to the store first thing Sunday morning and bought the blue pair as a surprise for Tonja.

We each had lunch one final time with our host families today. After lunch, Lara went to the grocery store with Sharon while Phil and I each took a “lie down” (a nap).

Janet took Donna to the beach one more time so she could spend a little more time with the ocean.

The Charles Town church has graciously granted us use of their bus to transport us to the airport on Monday.

Eddie and Moya hosted an open house for everyone today at 3:00 pm. He showed us some of the furniture and other items he made. He is an incredible craftsman.


At 5:30, we all met at the church for an “Australiana Night”. They had a traditional Barbie and put on a talent show for us, featuring:

• Australian folks songs
• The Traveling Dill-bury's (Phil, Stan, Graham and Eddie)
• A slide show with some of our photos and our celebrity look-a-likes. (Ward was Al Borland, I was a tie between the Australian Prime Minister and Drew Carey, Chipper was Mr. Bean, Tonja was Dolly Parton and James and Jon were Jeff Daniels in 'Dumb and Dumber').
• They taught Tonja to speak Australian
• Chipper won the Australian slang contest
• I won the vegemite eating contest! Ward almost spewed...
  

Chipper, James and Jon in an Aussie Slang contest

The Traveling Dill-bury's

They took turns thanking us for coming and sharing some very sweet words and even some gifts as a token of their thanks. It was unbelievably moving for all of us. Nigel and his family gave us each an Australian calendar. Kathy's dad is an artist so she gave each of us an original picture he either drew or painted. These were very close to her heart, which made them all the more special to us...and very poignant, since her dad recently suffered a stroke.

It's funny...you hope that by going on a trip like this you might be a blessing to someone and then you are the one who ends up being blessed beyond words. So much to write and so little time. We are going home sad because we are leaving family. It's time to pack up and get ready to leave. I'll write more details and post photos after I get home.

Australia Day 10 - Ward Rose Is...MacGyver!

James, Jon, Phil and I started our day at Gloria Jean’s. Lara, Donna and Tonja spent time with Sharon. Ward pulled an all-nighter with John (Cathy’s husband) at his place of work, trying to make some t-shirts. We met Ward at 11:30 am at an electronics store (very similar to Radio Shack) to purchase some lights for the church. Someone from the Thornton congregation donated $100 and FCC pitched in the rest to purchase five lights for the church. We also purchased a floor wedge so that the worship team will have a monitor.

This afternoon, Lara, Donna, Sharon and Phil put up the Christmas decorations in the church building.

We have burned several “Fletcher” CD’s (with their permission) and handed them out to folks in the congregation who have asked for them. Tonja has given out several of her CD’s as well.

Part of the reason Phil chose to settle in this area was because of over 9,800 people moving into Thornton North (a new estate). It’s the largest growing suburb in New South Wales. Thornton’s population is currently 3,000. In the near future, a shopping center down the street plans to expand to adjoin the church property.

We have another concert tonight at 6:30, so we rehearsed from 4:30-6:00 pm. During rehearsal, the sound system went down. Looks like we blew a fuse, probably due to adding the new monitor to the sound system. No worries, mate…Mr. Clutch (Ward) went out in search of some new fuses.

With God’s help, Ward (and James and Jon) fixed the sound system tonight in a way that would have made a MacGyver proud. Fashioning a new fuse out of only a paper clip and a wad of bubble gum……kidding. Seriously, though…we would have had no sound tonight without Ward’s creative and valiant efforts. We got started a little later than originally planned (began at 7:00 pm), but no one seemed to mind.

After the service, Phil invited everyone back to their house