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.

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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.

SF2

Whenever we've gone to spend time in SF, we've tried to do something different each time. We've been to Alcatraz and Angel Island; we've hiked around the city; we've been in shops and sampled wonderful food at different eateries. This time we decided to go the Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf. Here are a few folks we met there.

In the hall of WWII leaders we ran into FDR and Harry Truman.

Of course, there was the coronation of the boy king of Egypt, King Tut.
I enjoyed a conversation with the guys who found the unspoiled tomb in 1926.
There were 3-D wax depictions of a number of famous pieces of art, including DaVinci's Last Supper.
Don't know if I'll ever visit the Wax Museum again or not, but it was definitely worth going once. It takes incredible talent to create all those figures, and I expected Yao Ming to stuff the basketball.

SF

Virginia and I are spending a couple of days in San Francisco using our "use it or lose it" time share points. Ruth dropped us at the Pittsburg BART station yesterday afternoon, and we relaxed on the train all the way to the Powell Street Station, a few short blocks from our hotel. We're staying at the Donatello near Union Square. It's a nice place, and we can walk almost everywhere we want to go. Today we relaxed early and headed out about noon, hiking the Powell Street hills over to Fisherman's Wharf. Here are a few pics of our adventures.

TransAmerica Tower from Powell Street on the way to Fisherman's Wharf.

Good shot of the Bay Bridge and East Bay. See Mt Diablo?

Peter and Paul Church, often used in movies.

Looking up Lombard Street from Mason. If you look really close, you can see cars on the switch-backs at the top.

Virginia wanted to get some footage of fog rolling in to use in video projects.

It was quite breezy and in the 60s, but it was really beautiful today. For the most part the air was crystal clear. I'll post more pics over the next couple of days.

God's Timing?

The Diane Ave Church of Christ is a relatively small African American church in our neighboring city, Pittsburg. They've been at their current location for about 60 years. The building has begun to deteriorate in recent years; they really can't afford to build at this time, and recently they've come to the conclusion that they can't grow at their current location. Their young minister, Lamont Francies, is doing a good job of helping them think outside the box, and that's where Eastside enters the picture.

We've offered to work out some sort of facility sharing arrangement at our place, and we had an initial "possibilities" meeting last week. The meeting went really well, and it looks like initially they will use our fellowship hall on Sundays for class and worship, and we'll do some joint fellowship activities... sort of a trial run with an evaluation in a few months.

I'm not sure how God will work in all of this, but my hope is that over time we can eventually become one congregation. What a blessing... what a demonstration of God's mercy and grace... what a testimony of unity to the world around us if something like that does come to pass. I'll post more later. Blessings!

Minister Search

Well, our minister search has moved back into high gear again. Many of you remember that last fall our initial conversation, before even posting the job, was with Brice Smith. Well, it seems as if we've come full circle. Here's what I wrote for today's bulletin.

As Brad Spainhower announced last Sunday, the elders met Sunday afternoon with Brice and Neisha Smith to further discuss the possibility of them joining our ministry team here at Eastside.

Many of you remember that Brice, Neisha and little Zeke were with us for a weekend last December, resulting in almost all of us believing they would be a good fit for us here at Eastside. Based on the church’s positive response, we offered them the job. After much prayer, they declined the offer, deciding there were too many unfinished issues in their current ministry setting. Over the past several months, things have developed that make it easier for them to be much more comfortable leaving Santa Rosa.

At our meeting last Sunday it was decided to have them come next Sunday, July 1st. During our combined adult class at 9:00 Brice will talk about their journey of the last few months and answer questions you may have. He will preach during our 10:00 worship assembly.As a church we have learned a new level of patience over the last ten months… always trusting God’s faithfulness… always wanting to be as close to the center of God’s will as we can be.

Part of discerning His will is listening to the Body, so please make plans to be here next Sunday so you can meaningfully participate when our elders seek your feedback. Also, please continue to pray for this process.

Please join us in praying that God is glorified in this process and is all we do.

Busy Weekend

Well, this weekend is ripping by, as is usually the case when there is a lot going on. Yesterday Virginia got off at 4:00 and we headed toward Vallejo to meet the Koonce family for dinner. It was Karen's b'day and we hadn't seen them in a while, so we met them at Olive Garden. From there we all headed over to the Fairfield Church of Christ for a Won By One concert. They're wrapping up their summer tour with some NoCal concerts, and they sound really good. They've had a good tour, and they're ready to be off the road for awhile. After they got their equipment packed up, we joined them at Mimi's Cafe to hear tour stories and sip coffee. It was fun!

This morning I met Randy and Jeff at the trail head for a run... it's been a while... a long while. I managed to run about 40 minutes, but I felt pretty bad... not my Achilles, but just being out of shape from resting my Achilles. :) Hopefully I can get back into it now.

I came home and showered, and VJ and I headed for Jack London Square in Oakland to meet an old family friend, Jim Elliott. Jim was in the Navy and stationed at Port Hueneme back in the late 60's and/or early 70's. We knew him from church where he was one of many military guys who were "adopted" by the Beans over the years. He's lived in Monterrey since 79, but we haven't seen him since before that. Jim bought us breakfast at Jack's Bistro, a nice place right on the water, and we enjoyed catching up.

This weekend is also the American Cancer Society Relay for Life, and VJ and I are walking with our church team. Click here if you want to learn more or make a donation through our Eastside Church of Christ team. Basically, it sort of a 24-hour relay and celebration all rolled into one, complete with food, music, and lots of people. This year it's at the Los Medanos College track in Pittsburg. Virginia and I are signed up to walk from 7:00 to 8:00 and 9:00 to 10:00. After that I'll be ready for bed!! Here are a couple of pics from last year.

Looking forward to being with our church family tomorrow. Don is preaching, and we'll be looking at how Jesus handled conflict. Maybe I'll see you then!!

Father's Day

Most of us have good memories of times with our dads. A few do not, and all of us remember experiences that let us know our dads are not perfect, but human beings who are subject to sin and failure just like the rest of us. Take a look at this passage from Luke 9:

The next day, Jesus, Peter, James, and John came down from the mountain. A large group of people met Jesus. A man in the group shouted to Jesus, "Teacher, please come and look at my son. He is the only child I have. An evil spirit {from the devil} comes into my son, and then he shouts. He loses control of himself and he foams from the mouth. The evil spirit continues to hurt him and almost never leaves him. I begged your followers to make the evil spirit leave my son, but they could not do it." Jesus answered, "You people that live now have no faith. Your lives are all wrong. How long must I be with you and be patient with you?" Then Jesus said to the man, "Bring your son here." While the boy was coming, the demon threw the boy to the ground. The boy lost control of himself. But Jesus gave a strong command to the evil spirit. Then the boy was healed. And Jesus gave the boy back to his father. All the people were amazed at the great power of God. The people were still amazed about all the things Jesus did.

It’s interesting, these men who had been with Jesus, experienced his teaching and witnessed miracles, who had performed some of their own, who had been with him at the transfiguration, failed in this opportunity… just as you and I and our dads do so often. Jesus was disappointed with them, but he didn’t give up on them. He knew who they could become in spite of their human weaknesses.

As we celebrate Father’s Day tomorrow, let’s each one give thanks for our dads at their best, when they have been like the dad in Luke 9 and the times they have been most like Jesus. Let’s also extend grace to our dads for the times they have failed. And let’s be thankful for a God who never gives up on any of us.

Mini Heat Wave

It has turned off hot the last few days... not as hot nor as long a heat wave as last summer, but 101 yesterday here in Antioch, warmest in the Bay area, and close to that today. We even lost power for about 30 minutes this afternoon. Was supposed to be a couple of hours, but they got the power back on pretty quick. My guess is that it was some sort of fuse or re-closer switch that blew instead of a transformer burning out... at least this time.

It's supposed to cool down to the lower 90s and even back into the 80s over the next few days. I guess we'll see. Those temps are really pretty close to normal around here for this time of year. It just seems hot because it's been cooler than normal in May and early June.

The garden looks pretty good. Beans and especially snap peas won't fair well if it get's too hot, but the tomatoes and squash seem to like the heat. And, of course, grilling is fun, no matter how hot it gets. Those pork chops tonight were really good!!

I guess all this means is that summer is here. Ah... at least it's a dry heat. :-)

Wedding Weekend Part 3

Here are a few more shots from the weekend.

Girls headed to the nail place.

Kaleb swimming with his cousins.
In Mom's hotel room with me cloned in.
Family with Kaleb the Cool
View of the Bay that sent us off and welcomed us home.

Wedding Weekend Part 2

Here are a few more pics, this time from the wedding itself. Like the rehearsal dinner, the wedding was also outside... and the weather cooperated with clear skies, not too much heat and comfortable humidity (especially for Nashville in June).

Grandmothers and part of the assembled friends and family.

Russell escorting Susan to the front row.
Amber and her dad.
Russell and Amber are moving so fast they blurred the shot.
Amber with most of her new Johnson/Bean family.

Wedding Weekend

What a great weekend! Wednesday we flew to Little Rock, then drove in Mom's car to Nashville for the wedding of Russell and Amber. Russell is my brother's (and VJ's sister's) oldest, and, yes, we now are blessed with two Ambers in the family.

All but one of Virginia's siblings were able to make it to Nashville with many of their kids as well. All of ours made it, Fok and Kaleb flying in Friday afternoon, Jen late Friday from a conference in Calgary, and Jeremy and Amber on Saturday after her final day at school on Friday.

It's always fun seeing all the in-laws (and cousins for the kids). Kaleb had a blast playing with Greg and Colt. The weekend was pretty hectic, but our moms did well, resting when they could and enjoying all the festivities.

Here are a few pics from the rehearsal dinner Friday. I'll post more about the weekend later.

Russell and Amber

Janet and Virginia
Ruby with Jim and Julie
Mom and me with Dan and his root beer
Some of the cousins

Special Olympic Torch Run

Some time back I became a chaplain with the Antioch PD... one way to get more involved in the community. Most of that work so far has been to be with family members when there has been a death. However, there are other things as well. Last week I got to help with a program called Every 15 Minutes, whose purpose is to discourage teen drinking and driving. It's a really well-done program.

Today I got to do another pretty cool thing. Our backyard neighbor, Art Acosta, is a sergeant with the Antioch PD, and each year he runs in the Torch Relay for Special Olympics. Officers from various agencies carry the torch from city to city in the Bay Area for a week or so until it winds up in Berkley for the Northern California Special Olympics. Well, Art asked me if I wanted to run with them this year (I think he just wanted another "old guy"), and I said sure... I guess I represented the Chaplain Corps.

The Oakley PD handed us the torch at the border of Oakley and Antioch, and we ran about 5 miles across town where we handed it to the Pittsburg PD. It was really cool, because they also had about 25 or so Police Academy Recruits who also ran with them in formation. Here are a few pics.

Here we see Art and me bringing up the rear.

Running in formation past Antioch HS. We had this cool motorcycle escort the whole way.

I got to take a turn leading with the torch as well.

After the hand off to Pittsburg.
And, my Achilles tendon seems to have survived just fine. Of course we were running a pretty slow pace, but I was just glad to be able to do it.

New Bike

Anyone who knows me very well knows that my preferred exercise routine is simply to lace up my running shoes and head out for a run. That experience has been enhanced here in Antioch by our proximity to the hills and trails of Contra Loma Regional Park and Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve. There are miles and miles of winding trials that traverse the valleys of these two wonderful preserves.

However, having run for over 40 years and all the hills have taken a toll on my right Achilles tendon... nothing major, but pretty sore off and on. Anyway, because of that I've been riding my bike a little more than usual. I often ride it into the office 2 to3 days a week, and I've recently added in some longer rides, especially when my Achilles is sore.

My bike is pretty old... bought it used in 1986 or '87. Not a bad bike, especially back then, but the technology has really changed over the years, so I decided to get a new one for my birthday-Father's Day-Anniversary present. :-) A friend works at a bike shop and Trek was running a sale, so I got a good deal on a Trek 1500 road bike, ordering it about a week ago. I picked it up yesterday, and it rides like a dream. The change in shifting technology alone is amazing. Here's a photo:

I'm looking forward to many blissful commutes and other miles. And just think of all the gas I'll be saving.