Flowers

As part of Jen's birthday surprise Fok sent her some flowers Monday. Quite pretty, eh? And here's the birthday girl in the back yard with her flowers.

Birthday Girl

Thirty years ago today our first born, Jennifer Michelle, made her appearance in this world. It's been a great 30 years. For the first time in a while she is with us on her birthday, so we took her out to eat and celebrated this evening with birthday crepes, including home whipped cream and fresh strawberries. She and we and Kaleb all had fun. Here are some shots to enjoy.

Jen with baby Claire growing inside.

Jen and Kaleb

Fixin' the crepes.

Singing Happy Birthday

OK, so the candles are not on a cake, but you can still blow them out.

Lake Walk

Tonight after supper Jennifer and I headed off on the 4-mile loop from our house, over the hill at one of the public access points, around the lake at Contra Loma, and back to the house. We started about 8:00 and got back around 9:00. Nanna and Kaleb stayed home and did a little sweeping and mopping. Jen and I just enjoyed the walk, the breeze and the conversation. I gotta say that she handled the hills and the distance well... my guess is much better than most ladies who are 8 months pregnant. She's in good shape. And I think Claire enjoyed the walk as well... at least I didn't hear any complaints.

Jen's Here

Well, Jen made it in last night pretty uneventfully. Her flight actually landed before 10:30, but they had to sit out on the tarmac for about 30 minutes waiting for a gate. So, she ended up heading for baggage claim about the time she would have if the plane was on time.

Baggage claim was interesting. In terminal 1 at Oakland there are 4 baggage carrousel's, and Jet Blue shares the 4th one with 3 other airlines. Apparently there were several flights using that carousel that had arrive about the same time because I've never seen even half that many people crowded around one baggage carousel at one time. Fortunately they decided to use American's carousel for Jen's flight, and more fortunate still, we noticed... announcements on the PA were pretty much garbbled.

We retrieved her bags, headed home, and got to bed around 1:00 I think. Kaleb had tried to stay awake to greet his mom, but it was just too late. She gave him a kiss, but the real greeting waited until this morning.

It's good to have her here. We had a good day. The one downside is that Fok couldn't come with her, needing to finish up work at Harvard and supervising the movers on the 7th before flying to Spokane on the 8th. We're all hoping little Claire holds off making her appearance until then.

It's time to wind down the day and think about sleep. See ya!

Murphy's Other 15 Laws

Someone sent these to me and I laughed. Thought I'd share.

1. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
2. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
3. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
4. A day without sunshine is like, well . . night.
5. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
6. Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.
7. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
8. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.
9. It is said that if you line up all the cars in the world end-to-end, someone would be stupid enough to try to pass them.
10. If the shoe fits, get another one just like it.
11. The things that come to those that wait may be the things left by those who got there first.
12. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day drinking beer.
13. Flashlight: A case for holding dead batteries.
14. The shin bone is a device for finding furniture in the dark.
15. When you go into court, you are putting yourself in the hands of twelve people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty.

New Pulpit Guy!

Our friend and former pulpit minister here at Eastside, Jarrod Robinson, left for another position in the Dallas area last September. Later that fall we began exploring possibilities with other guys, looking for the one who seemed to be the best fit for us here. Throughout the process we were blessed to talk with a lot of good guys, but we kept coming back to one.

It's now official. Brice and Neisha Smith have prayerfully accepted our invitation to come here with Brice as our pulpit guy. They won't actually move to Antioch until late September, but we and they are both excited about how God will bless and use this new relationship!! Please bathe us all in prayer, and I'll keep you posted. Thanks!

Harry Potter... the Read

My guess is that the image above will be characteristic of much of today and tomorrow. However, Kaleb reads so fast that he may devour the entire 759 pages before bedtime. When he talked to his parents this morning, he was already 40 pages ahead of them... and they're on Eastern time. As for Nanna and me? Well, we've only seen the first 5 movies (I know, I know)... so I guess I need to start looking for a copy of book 6. Sigh...

Harry Potter... The Event

We arrived at Barnes and Noble about 8:30, and found a line that stretched across the front of the store and all the way down the side to the back corner. This was the line for folks who had already reserved a book to wait to get their number. Sooo... we got in line and waited. After about 30 minutes Nanna and Kaleb went back into the store to check things out. They found out that, while one of us needed to stand in line, the others could go inside and enjoy some of the activities. I took the line and they went on in. They'd missed the costume contest, but there were other activities. Actually Kaleb found another book and started reading.



I finally made it into the store and got our wrist band with number 251 about 10:15. Really don't know why it all seemed to move so slowly... guess they were just being careful... security is important at such times, right?!?

Nanna headed home around 10:30. At 11:00 they started trying to organize people in the store... with an emphasis on trying rather than organize. At midnight they headed the first 50 folks toward the cash registers and attempted to herd the rest of us into lines snaking through different parts of the store, 50 at a time. It was helpful that everyone was pretty good-spirited about it all. Kaleb had finished his book by this time, so he just read several short ones as we waited. By 12:45 we had our book in hand and were headed toward the car. In addition to all those with numbers in the store, when we left there were probably 200 more who had not reserved books who were lined up outside waiting their turn to lay down some cash.

We pulled into the driveway at 1:05 and headed for bed. Kaleb had read the first 20 pages on the way home. I was having a hard enough time focusing on the road. Finally, before heading off to bed, Kaleb wanted to do two more things... eat a couple of fresh cherries... and give his Nanna a goodnight kiss.

Harry Potter... The Preparation

Historically Virginia and I are pretty close to the last ones to go to a special event and stand in a way-too-long line to be among the first to do anything. We never see a movie it's first weekend (usually not its first month)... we never are among the first to own new technology... and we've always been able to wait until another day to buy a clothing item or a book. However, it's funny how things change when a grandson is involved. Last night we were enthusiastic participants in the Harry Potter festivities at the local Barnes and Noble. OK, maybe the enthusiastic part wained a little by 1:00 a.m., but it was still fun. Here are some getting ready pics.

Kaleb as the evil Lord Voldemort

Nanna as Professor Minerva McGonagall

Yours truly as Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody

Dueling wizards.

Wacky Wednesday

Yesterday on the way home from Splash Camp, Kaleb told me today would be Wacky Wednesday. I asked him what that meant, and he said the kids were supposed to dress wacky in some way for Splash Camp. Well, we both forgot about it until this morning, so we ended up with a hard hat and an extra head. Not too bad for a last minute attempt to be wacky. Kaleb said that when the counselors judged everyone, he and one other kid got the loudest "whoas"... which he interpreted as being the wackiest. Anyway, they all had fun.

While Kaleb was enjoying Wacky Wednesday, the Zimmerman family was laying Elsie to rest, loving one another and enjoying the comfort of friends. The service was meaningful and he fellowship at the lunch was rich. In a way I believe Elsie's family had as much fun as Kaleb did... something I think Elsie would totally think was cool.

Elsie Zimmerman

Our church family and this world is a little less complete since about 4:30 Friday morning. Elsie Zimmerman... mother to more than her own, faithful believer, former church secretary, influence to many... left this life for the next. She's been sick for a long time, so her passing, as difficult as it is for her family, is also a blessing. However, she will be missed... by her husband, Bob, by her kids and grandkids and great grandkids, by many.

Tonight there was a "viewing" at the funeral home. It was more like a gathering of friends and family... almost a party... like Elsie would have wanted it to be.

Her memorial service is tomorrow.

********************************

Oh, the Jenga tower fell this morning. Sigh...

Splash Camp and Jinga

One of the things Kaleb is doing this week is Splash Camp at the Pruitt Family Water Park, a cool park run by the city. I took him at 9:00 this morning and picked him up at 3:00 this afternoon. He had a blast and is looking forward to tomorrow.


We've also been playing a little Jenga since Kaleb's arrival. Jenga is a game of pulling blocks out of a stack and putting them on top without making the stack fall. The pics below probably tell you more than the words above. Anyway, the shots below are the result of an unfinished game between Kaleb and Nanna tonight while I was at a meeting. I guess they thought it looked so precarious that they just decided to preserve it as it was rather than take one more turn and risk making it fall. Here it is at a point they were still playing.

And here it is as they decided to leave it. It's still stacked on the table, even as I write.

Jelly Belly

When Kaleb was visiting a couple of years back we visited the Jelly Belly Factory, taking the tour, enjoying the sights, and buying more candy than we needed. We made a second trip today, and it was as much or more fun than the first time. The tour is free, but the candy is not. :-) Anyway, here are a few pics from the trip.

Nanna had the camera, so she shot the guys at the entrance.

Looking at the entrance to the factory tour and shopping area.

Kaleb and a new buddie.

Cornfest Fireworks

We live at the edge of what is called the Delta, that area where the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers sort of mingle together before they flow as one out to the Bay. This area also merges with the Valley, one of the most fertile agricultural areas in the world.

Many towns in these agricultural areas have developed festivals over the years to highlight one or more of their best products. One of our neighboring cities is Brentwood (not the Hollywood version), and it's been a treasure trove of orchards, vineyards and crop fields since the Dust Bowl days in the 1930. Brentwood has grown rapidly over the last few... resulting in lots and lots of houses replaces agri space year after year. Actually, there's still plenty of farm land and orchards, they've just moved farther out.

One of Brentwood's top crops is wonderful sweet corn. They grow both yellow and white corn, and both varieties are great. Whether you boil the ears, pop them on the grill or cook them "husk on" in the microwave, when you bite into them the sweet kernels just pop off into your mouth. A little butter, salt, and pepper (or whatever your preference is) creates the perfect side dish... or maybe main dish if you're really trying to be corny.

All that to say that Brentwood has an annual Cornfest in July. We've never actually attended... probably lots more fun if you have kids (a day trip) or like to drink too much (some of the evening stuff). But, last night we took Kaleb over to Bruce and Sandy Welch's house, climbed through the trap door to the deck play house roof and enjoyed a fireworks show. Brentwood doesn't do fireworks on the 4th, since both Antioch and Oakley have them, saving their big show for Cornfest. It was fun! And, Kaleb got to jump on a trampoline and play with a new friend... Bandit the boxer. He was asleep by the time we got home.

Kaleb Has Arrived!

About 5:00 this morning eastern, Jen and Fok got Kaleb up and ready to head to Logan Airport in Boston. His flight left there about 8:00, and 6.5 hours later our "unaccompanied minor" and the rest of the passengers landed at Oakland.

I left the office at 9:30, and the usual hour was plenty to get me to the airport. After about 40 minutes of line-standing to get a gate pass and through security, I got to the gate about 20 minutes before Kaleb's flight pulled in. It was great to see him, and he apparently did well on the flight. I think it's helpful that Jet Blue has TV screens for every seat, but he also had his game player (forgot what it's called) and two books to read as well.

After settling in at the house and eating a nice homemade smoothie, we went to see Nanna at work, ran a couple of errands, stopped by the church building to do a couple of things, and made it back to the house where I whipped up an early supper for him. Actually, it was early here, but about 7:30 by his getting up time.

We thought he'd be too tired to go up to church tonight, but he said he was fine. We sang through praise team rehearsal and he seemed to enjoy the kids' class he went to. We headed home a bit early so he could get to bed, but he asked for a snack, so I popped some popcorn, which he and Nanna and I enjoyed. Then he finally headed off to bed about 8:30 our time. My guess is he'll sleep well tonight.

It feels really good to have Kaleb with us... we'll enjoy the next few weeks.

Sunday

What a good day today! The weather was beautiful... our church family seemed energized... we had several visitors... it was just a good day.

I preached about communication in marriage today and introduced a really cool new marriage enrichment tool called eHarmony Marriage. You should check it out. Hopefully some of our couples will.

One more thing. VJ and I went to Costco this afternoon, and I got one of their hand dipped chocolate covered ice cream bars. Far and away the best ice cream bar you'll ever eat... trust me!

Countdown

Today has been a good day. It's not nearly so hot as the last few days, and there's been a pretty good sea breeze... even here in Antioch. Didn't get up and out early... not running with the guys until my Achilles is better. Watched a little Wimbledon... thought through my sermon for tomorrow... went for a bike ride... repaired a little table with a broken leg. This evening we're going out to eat with Bruce and Sandy... looking forward to time with them.

As I was sitting here it dawned on me that Kaleb is coming this week. Wow!! We've been looking forward to his coming out, but now it's the "next thing" on the horizon. He'll arrive Wednesday, and there'll be plenty of fun time with Nanna and Papa!

Bay Area Weather

Our late spring and early summer has been pretty mild for the most part. We've had some pretty warm days but not too many until lately. Of course, when it's warm here in Antioch it's often quite cool closer to the ocean and its sea breeze... often called nature's air conditioning by the weather folks. This sea breeze and all the hills and valleys make for what they call micro-climates. Well, yesterday was a great example. Inland it was hot and at the coast it was cool thanks to a small low pressure system stirring up the sea breeze. Check out the map below. The high in Antioch yesterday was 105. The high in Pacifica was 61.

The sea breeze picked up quite a bit today so even here it was only in the low 90s today... and that pattern is supposed to continue for at least a week. It'll be warm here and probably only in the upper 50s in some coastal areas. Probably just the sort of pattern that once caused Mark Twain to write,

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.

Student Connections

The last weekend in September I plan to fly to Arkansas and drive with my Mom to Roosevelt, Oklahoma for the bi-annual town/school reunion. She will get to spend time with many former students from her years teaching and coaching at RHS back in the 40's and 50's. She really enjoys the time... her former students tell all sorts of stories... and I get to sort of listen in, almost like a window to the past.

Virginia and I have a few of our former students with whom we've kept in contact in a variety of ways over the years. One of those (Kristi Kenyon, Cabot class of '86 and 4 year French student of VJ) has been especially good at staying touch. She now lives in Wisconsin with her husband, Gary Wensing, and their two kids, Kenyon and Hannah. Her parents live near Sacramento, and her sister is getting married Sunday, so the family loaded up their mini-van for a trip west. She let Virginia know about the trip and they decided on a visit this afternoon.

It was really neat to catch up, see pictures, talk about the "old days" a bit, and just get reacquainted. It was also neat to meet Gary and the kids. We grilled a tri-tip, cooked up fresh green beans and Brentwood corn, added salad and some other things, stirred in some good conversation, and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and early evening. They left around 7:30 to get back to her folks. Don't know when or if our paths will cross again, but today was fun for sure.

Neither of us has taught high school students since the 80's, but we still cherish many of those memories and relationships... those intangible rewards of being a teacher.

Happy 4th of July!!

Hope everyone is having an enjoyable Independence Day! Additional things occurring on this date in history have been:

• The establishment of the US Military Academy at West Point in 1802
• Famous early American author, Nathaniel Hawethorne, was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804
• Cartoonist and illustrator, Rube Goldberg, was born in San Francisco, California in 1883
• Advice columnists Esther and Pauline Friedman, better known as Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren, were born in Sioux City, Iowa in 1918
• Pulitzer Prize winning screenwriter and playwright, Neil Simon born in The Bronx, New York, in 1927
• And on this date in 1997, the Pathfinder space vehicle landed on Mars

Sometime today pause and give thanks... heartfelt thanks for all the ways you are blessed.

HAPPY 4TH!!

Updates

Last Sunday and Monday I posted about our re-connecting with Brice and Neisha Smith about our pulpit minister position and our new conversation with the Diane Ave congregation about a facility sharing exploration. I guess it's time for updates.

Brice, Neisha and Zeke arrived at our place Saturday night, and we all headed off for a good nights sleep. They had been on a youth camp out the previous night, complete with loud peacocks and little sleep. Sunday went great. During a combined adult class, Brice talked about how God has led them through the last six months and why they're now ready to talk about coming here. He did a really good job of telling their story and responding to some questions. During our worship time Brice preached about the challenge of choosing to follow Jesus, and the reasons why Jesus calls us to do just that. We also prayed for and commissioned our Tuba City Mission Group. They leave early Saturday morning for a week serving on the Navajo reservation along side a group from Oregon. We finished off the morning with a great lunch at Bruce and Sandy Welch's house... the food was great, and Zeke kept things lively. Next Sunday we'll solicit feedback from the church about the Smith's coming.

Our initial stages with Diane Ave are off to a good start as well. Not sure what things will look like in a month... much less in six months or a year, but we've all committed to put our hands in the hand of Jesus as we explore the possibilities. More on that at things develop.

SF Final

Here are some parting shots from our SF getaway. The one above was shot from the end or Pier 45 (or maybe it was 46). Anyway, VJ wanted to get some video of water and fog and the Golden Gate Bridge, so after lunch we hiked out to the end of this working pier and had a wonderful panoramic view. The shot above is really 5 layers... the breakwater, a passing boat, Alcatraz, Angel Island behind it, and Marin County in the background. Pretty cool!

We ate lunch at the famous Boudin Bakery, the originators of the sour dough bread bowl with clam chowder. Yum!

We also took a little tour of the bakery... quite a wonderful process. Some of the finished product is in the shot below.
Here's a shot from that pier, looking back at the city. What a view!!

We stopped later in the day at The Cannery to sip a drink. I thought the bougainvillea was really amazing!
It was such a clear day on Friday. Hiking back to the hotel in the early evening I couldn't resist this shot down a side street with the Bay Bridge, East Bay, and even the tip of Mt Diablo in the background.