Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008 has come and gone already! It came quickly this year. Our family had a wonderful time yesterday with Christmas. We had everyone home for the day to celebrate together the reason for the season, The Birth of Our Savior - Jesus Christ.

Before we started opening presents in the morning, I read from Luke Chapter 2 about the birth of Jesus. I then read the commentary from the new Bible I had bought from the Fuller Book Store. It is the Renovare Bible. The commentary spoke about the messiness of Jesus birth and how God used it to bring our Savior into the world. Even the birth of Jesus was messy so it is the same in our own lives. Our lives are messy and out of that messiness God brings forth his deliverance.

After the opening of the gifts we had a time of fellowship, nerf gun battles, nap time, and then the cooking of the meal. We had prime rib, twice baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, fresh cranberry sauce, green beans, and rolls. For desert, we had a wonderful apple pie baked by Rachel and a pecan pie provided by Bristol Farms.

We had the opportunity to share Christmas this year with Brian F, Matt K, and Paul S.

May the Lord and Creator of the universe bless your Christmas Season this year!

Valencia

For the past 3 weeks, I have been focusing on helping with the Grand Opening of the newest Bristol Farms in Valencia. It is a beautiful store. I have spent the past 3 weeks working 6 days a week and sometimes working 12 hours a day.

On Saturday morning, I woke to fires out of control in Sylmar which is on the route I take to Valencia. 2 of the freeways I take to get to the store were closed. This meant I had to drive 85 miles to get to the store. It took 3 hours in the morning to get there. I left the store at 12:30 to deliver a cake to our store in South Pasadena. It took me 5 hours to get there in the afternoon. My commute that day was 8 hours in the car! What joy!

I can't believe this year is almost over. It has gone by so fast, too fast.

Anniversary

Well, with it being October 4th this is my calendar anniversary date but it actually occurred Thursday evening a year ago. It was at this time last year, I had a beautiful view of the mountains from my hospital window!

I was admitted to the hospital in order to undergo further tests where it was revealed I had a "minor" stroke. If you can call a stroke "minor!" I spent the next 4 days in the hospital hooked up to an IV and undergoing tests. With a MRI, the neurologist found a minor blood clot in the upper left hand corner of my frontal lobe. For a few minutes on Thursday evening, I could not put together words longer than a syllable. I could think the thoughts but could not express them.

Through the grace of God and the prayers of my friends, I am where I am today. It is truly amazing! I am truly blessed. I don't know what more to say other than to think about the goodness of God! He is truly amazing! His love amazes me!

I think a lot more now about life and family and how precious each of those are. Jesus reminds me through incidents like this just how precious each and every one of us is.

LA County Fair

Well, it is finally almost here, Fall is just right around the corner. In Southern California, the leaves may not be changing but the LA County Fair is happening for almost the entire month of September. This gives at least me the sense of Fall is just right around the corner. It doesn't quite have the feel of the Aspen turning in Colorado but hey when the leaves turn here around January it at least gives the sense of the seasons changing.

We had a great time at the Fair. It is an annual event for the family, which is dwindling as our older children are working and no longer attend with us. We buy our kettle corn, cotton candy, honey stix, view all the animals, milk a goat, and of course ride the rides.

Another traditional Fall event for the family is our annual pilgrimmage to Apple Country in Oak Glen. I can't wait to get back up there with the family buy a fresh crop of apples, apple cider, and of course a fresh baked apple pie from Laws.

Tomorrow, it will be a hike up to Hoegees Campground for Josiah's Eagle Project.

Vigil

I had a great time this past weekend. I spent Friday through Sunday at Holcombe Valley Scout Ranch near Big Bear, California.

We had our OA Fellowship there. On Saturday evening, our Lodge, Ta Tanka had it's Vigil Ceremony. This was a proud moment for me as a Father because my son, Josiah, was inducted as a Vigil Honor in Order of the Arrow! This is quite an honor as a scout because one must be selected by his fellow peers in the Order of the Arrow, Boy Scouts National Honor Society. It has been a great scouting summer for Josiah, Philmont, Cub Camp at Cherry Valley on Catalina, and now Vigil Honor. He is a "young" Vigil by being inducted when he was 15! Me, I was 48 when I was inducted.

Treasure Island

I had the opportunity to work as camp staff for 9 days in August for a Cub Scout camp on Catalina. I worked as kitchen staff at Cherry Valley. It was a lot of fun even though it was hard work. I worked 9 hours a day in the kitchen, all of this while I was on "vacation!"

I was able to bring along Josiah who worked on Junior Staff for camp. He worked as a den chief, in the archery range, and in the handicraft department. Caleb was able to come along as a staff kid. This was his first and last opportunity to attend a resident cub camp. Next year, he has the opportunity to go as junior staff as he moves up from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. Caleb's favorite activity was archery where he shot 140 bull's eyes for the week. If you wanted to know where Caleb was, you could find him at the archery range.

The theme of the camp was all about pirates. There were 300 people attending each session of Cub Camp. There were 2 sessions for the week. Next year, I will have the chance to bring along another son, Benjamin, to attend camp. He will become a Bear Cub Scout next year so he will have the opportunity to attend as a staff kid. He should have a lot of fun as his older brother, Caleb, did.

ZZ TOP

Jacob and I went to a concert last night at the Glen Helen Pavilion in San Bernardino. It was a great show. Rodney Atkins opened up the show with some great tunes. This is the first time I have heard of him.

The next person on the ticket was Brooks and Dunn. This is also the first time I have ever become acquainted with them. They were great. I have heard of one tune which they have recorded, My Maria. They got a star today on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

What can I say about ZZ Top? I have been listening to them since 1975, my senior year of high school. They bring back many memories of a youth now lost in time. But they brought back a sense of having a good time and not taking myself so seriously. Most of the time I can be so serious so it was good have a good time with ZZ Top!

I have found some new music to listen to in Brooks and Dunn and Rodney Atkins. They were a great team with ZZ Top.