To California and back

Andy registered to attend Saddleback Church's worship conference and didn't want to go by himself. I was glad to accompany him. We left Tuesday morning and flew into Burbank by early afternoon. Google directions said it would take less than an hour to get to Lake Forest where the conference was. However, we were in California. Have you ever heard of the traffic jams on California freeways?
I didn't take this picture, but it was really this bad. The trip took an extra hour. We stayed in an extended stay hotel that had a small kitchen - only minutes from the church. After unpacking, we decided to check out the local Wal-Mart and get something to eat. We found a Red Robin restaurant, more common in the west, and ate there. I had a delicious salad which tasted especially good after not eating anything all day except packages of cheese and crackers on the plane.

On Wednesday morning, we registered at the conference and heard the first speaker, Francis Chan. Lunch was provided for. Then there were some workshops we attended in the afternoon. Andy and I both sat in on a panel of women, hosted by Debbie Rettino, which was very helpful. She and her husband wrote the Psalty children's musicals of 20 years ago that my kids enjoyed growing up. She is currently on staff at Saddleback and mentors young worship leaders and people going into the arts. Her panel discussion was very helpful as I am very interested and involved with the women's ministry in our church.

Some of the points I wrote down from this session:

1. It's not about me.
2. Leading is learning. If you're not learning, you're not leading.
3. Then what do you do with that learning? (pass it on)
4. Develop a ministry of encouragement.
5. Jesus was always interruptible.
6. A PERSON is never an interruption.
7. Give people a look, a word, a touch - this communicates their value to me.

After this session, we left and found a park and walked around a while. I was a little nervous when we saw the sign warning of mountain lions in the area. There was a list of things to do if you see one; number 1 is "Don't run!" Well, how about if we just don't hike on this trail???

When it was time to eat dinner, we decided to stop at Chipotle (another of our favorite places to eat - good AND cheap!). The one we stopped at was having a grand opening and everyone who came that day got their meals free! Talk about cheap -- if it's free, it's for me! Yeah! What a pleasant, unexpected surprise.There's no complaint about southern California weather. The nights were cool, the days were sunny and warm, with a cool breeze. There were flowers blooming everywhere, in all colors and shapes. The campus of Saddlebrook Church could be the Garden of Eden - it's that beautiful.On Thursday morning, we heard from Buddy Owens (he is a teaching pastor at Saddleback and his parents are Jimmy & Carol Owens who also wrote children's musicals - Antshillvania) and Dan Cathy, the CEO of Chick Fil-A. Both were very good speakers, but we especially appreciated Dan. It's exciting to hear his story of how God is using his company to minister and exemplify Christian principles in the workplace. And guess what we had for lunch that day? You're right - a chick-fil-a sandwich.

After lunch Andy and I went to one workshop then used the rest of the day to do our own thing. We found a couple of parks and explored them.
We ate dinner at Fuddrucker's. When we got back to the hotel, we noticed a path behind the hotel where people were jogging. That was a nice surprise. The trail meandered along a dry creek bed with beautiful foliage along it. It was probably a 2 mile walk on the Serrano Trail. There was another sign warning of mountain lions, but we decided to take the risk and fortunately, we didn't see any. Whew!

On Friday morning, Rick Warren spoke to us. He was excellent and well worth hearing. My tank is filled up again! Everything he said was good, but here are some of the notes I took:

1. worship is not music, but an attitude of loving God. In a word, worship is surrender.
2. Build your life around humility, generosity and integrity.
3. Satan is not creative in the way he tempts us. He uses the same old methods: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
4. The antidote to the lust of the flesh is to be integrous.
5. Humility is a choice - it's commanded. It is a declaration of dependence on God. "I'm willing to resign and do something harder! I belong to YOU...I am your servant."
6. the antidote to materialism (the lust of the eyes) is generosity. The answer to get, get, get is to give.
7. It's not about me - live for the Audience of One.
8. How to not get criticized: 1. say nothing, 2. do nothing, 3. be nothing

Good stuff - huh?

Well, all good things have to come to an end. After lunch on Friday, we left the conference. Since we were in southern California, we decided to look up my Aunt Becky, whom I hadn't seen in about 50 years (give or take a year or 2). She has lived in the San Diego area for a number of years, but in Colorado and California all her adult life.

We had to travel those California freeways again, but they weren't too bad this time since we were on our way by mid-afternoon. My aunt is married to Jimmy, who is Greek. They recently retired from the restaurant business, but for many years had owned and run restaurants in their area. So you can imagine the feast that was prepared for us: spanakopita, lamb, chicken and potatoes, chips and dip, a zucchini flower stuffed with rice and I'm not sure what else, gravies, baklava. She had made everything and it was outstanding.

Our niece and her family who live in Escondido joined us for dinner and it was good to be able to fellowship with them, too.

We had such a good time getting acquainted with my aunt - what a sweet lady and what a joy to get to know her. They have a beautiful home with lemon, orange, pepper trees in their yard. Her son, my cousin, were also there for dinner. I had never met him before, or his daughter. How fun.

Their back yard!

Aunt Becky and me

My cousin John, his girlfriend, Debbie and John's daughter, Aileen

Josh, Heidi and family with Aunt Becky and me

Becky gave me some lemons, tangerines and an orange to bring home with us. I don't think I've ever seen lemons as big as this.
It was a wonderful week - full of spiritual blessings at the conference and a bonus of getting to see and spend a little time with my aunt and family.

Father's Day and more birthdays

Friday morning when I looked out my kitchen window, there was a bit of drama going on. A chipmunk was in the bird feeder, running up and down, and I thought he was stuck in there. Somehow he got in, but couldn't get out. I went to work and told Andy. He just had to come home and "take care" of that little critter. But he said as soon as he got near the bird feeder, the chipmunk beat a hasty retreat.Last year when Grace turned 7 I told her she could come to our house and do whatever she wanted to do with just her and us. It must have been fun for her because this year she wanted to do it again. So this was the weekend to have her over. I left work early on Friday, quickly did an hour's worth of lawn mowing, then braved the traffic to go get her. And traffic was very bad on Friday. We finally made it home in time to make dinner of beef stroganoff (her request) while she played a computer game with Andy.

She's like me in that she likes to make lists. Here is her list of what she wanted to do this weekend with us:

1. play games

2. read stories

3. go to Jo-Ann Fabrics and get material to make doll clothes

4. go to the park

5. walk to the pond

We were unable to accomplish everything on the list because it rained all day. But we did read lots of stories and played lots of games. We also went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and picked out some very nice material to make a "work-out" outfit with fleece jacket and nylon windbreaker pants and a dressy outfit (skirt and top). I cut out both outfits but didn't want to spend the time at my sewing machine and miss out on playing and reading as much as we could. I will be sure to post pictures of the doll clothes when I finish them. I'm anticipating they'll turn out cute.

Of course, we had to have a treat of ice cream. And on Saturday night, I made pizza (another request). Grace did a couple of errands with Andy on Saturday afternoon and while they were gone, I made 2 salads to take along with us on Sunday for Chase & Joanna's birthday party.

We traveled up to Amy's for the birthday party on Sunday afternoon. That was really a lot of fun. Amy had outdone herself in planning a very nice party for the kids. I don't know how much they appreciated it, but the rest of us sure had a good time. She had one of her friends do face painting for the kids, she had a pinata that the kids whacked, but which did not open up until Amy put her muscle to it! She had done a fine job with making cupcakes and then decorating them with little animals. And she had party hats for all the kids, too. There was lots of food - all of it good. After we ate, the kids played with Chase's toys, held the puppies, played in the sand pit, etc. and the guys played ball in the yard.It was really a fun weekend. It was nice we could all be together on Father's Day. What a blessing family is.

Next adventure ~ California!

Wedding...Weeding

It wasn't supposed to rain on Saturday...at least that was the forecast earlier in the week. But on Saturday, it poured here around noon and when it was finished, there were 1.8 inches in the rain gauge. Andy and I mentioned that we hoped the rain was over and the evening wedding of our nephew would be dry.

The wedding of Jon and Sam(antha) was in a beautiful setting at a country club in southeast PA. Gray clouds loomed overhead, but occasionally a bit of blue sky peeked through. Andy officiated at the wedding which began a few minutes late (do weddings ever start on time?). As the ceremony progressed, the wind picked up a little and more gray clouds came rolling in. The bride and groom kept an eye on those clouds and everyone held their breaths that the rain would hold off just a little longer.

The wedding was over, pictures were being taken, then the heavens opened up and rain started pouring down. Fortunately, the reception was under cover - a canvas awning over the dock where we ate the delicious dinner.

The Country ClubWhere the ceremony took place
I hope it doesn't rain while we're still out here.
Dan's (Andy's brother) 5 sons

Parents of the groom, bride & groom

the wedding partycutting the cake

It was a lovely wedding and we enjoyed spending time with family and friends. Andy did a wonderful job with the wedding ceremony, making it special and meaningful and appropriate to Jon & Sam.

The next day was Sunday. We celebrated the Lord's Supper in the morning service. Pastor Mark preached from the Luke 9 text on denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Jesus. His 3 points were:
1. Determine to say "no" to self
2. Determine to identify with Christ
3. Determine to follow wherever Jesus leads
Even though the Christian life is lived by grace, there is still a responsibility to following Christ.

Sunday evening, we hosted our small group at our house and I made a summer dessert pizza for refreshments. It turned out pretty good - at least it was pretty!Then yesterday after work, Andy and I drove up to my Mother's to help her with her gardening. Andy cut out the grass around 4 of her trees and put mulch in. I helped her weed the front garden in front of her house, then we put some mulch in there, too.
We stopped working a little before it got dark, because we also wanted to pick some strawberries. My brother and his family are on vacation and told us to go to his strawberry patch and pick as much as we wanted. The season is nearly over, but we were able to get enough to go on the shortcake I made this afternoon. Ummm- yum!

To Do List

Early Tuesday morning, Andy and I drove up to C & C's so Andy could do some more work on their addition. He was able to put the closet doors on and get started on installing a storm door to their main entrance. The closet doors took longer than anticipated because he kept running into snags - to be expected when doing any projects on a very old house.

While Andy worked, I played with the kids. Here is Naomi's new tricycle that we gave her for her birthday.
I braided Grace's hair. (I really liked having 3 girls - Sunday morning French braiding 3 little blond heads!)All the kids were riding bikes for a while. Aiden practiced going really, really fast. And Grammy got to push Asher once down the hill and back up (all I could manage).Because of being away all day Tuesday, the rest of the week was spent in doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms and other household maintenance work.

I've always been much more productive when I work off a to do list. What a feeling of accomplishment to be able to check off chores as they are completed. We've been continuing to work at cleaning up the back yard from when all those trees were cut down. Andy hired a teen to help again for an hour this week and got another pile of branches and brush to the street for the township to pick up. (They've already picked up 2 piles.) All that was left to do was rake everything else up into piles and bag it up for trash.

So this morning after I exercised, but before I got my shower, I went out with rake and resolve to not come back into the house until the yard was clean. It took me 2 full hours of non-stop raking to get everything into piles, then another hour to get all those piles into trash bags and containers. It was so humid this morning it was like working in a sauna. Yuck! But I'm very happy to have that job done - cross that off the list. I got 2 trash containers and 4 trash bags full of little sticks, sawdust, and tree dirt.Another stroll around the yard afterward revealed more flowers in bloom. My goal when we moved here 17 years ago was to plant things so that there would always be something in bloom. Mission accomplished! From early spring, throughout the summer, into the fall and even all winter something is blooming. It reminds me of the hymn: For the Beauty of the Earth:

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.

Refrain

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour,
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light.

Spirea & abelia

Up close
LiliesEven the tomato plants are blooming!

So what's next?

This evening, we're going to our nephew's wedding. Andy is officiating.
Tomorrow evening we will be hosting our small group. I need to provide refreshments. First, I need to come up with an idea of what to serve, then make it.

On Monday afternoon, we're hoping to drive up to my Mother's and help her with her gardens. She wants to get some mulch around a number of her trees.

On Tuesday, I'll be cleaning and doing laundry again. Didn't I just do those chores??? If I have time, I hope to plant some lilac bushes that my Mother is giving me. I also plan to bake a cake for a staff birthday party on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Thursday & Friday I'll be at work, but hope to leave work early on Friday to go get Grace so she can spend the weekend with Grammy and PopPop.

No lack of places to go, people to see & things to do.

Birthday Weekend

On Saturday morning, Andy was able to work some more on the brush and branches on the back of our property. What a mess it is. We hired a teen to help him and they were able to get a lot of it done, but there is still a little more to do.

That evening, we went to a 50th birthday party for our sister-in-law, Cindi. She was surprised so that was good! And there was lots of good food there, and that was also good! (Hmmm...Do I know any adjectives besides "good?")
After church on Sunday, Andy and I drove the truck to C & C's with inside doors for their house project. They still need to put the doors on the closet in the hallway and a door on the laundry room. Andy and I are going up again tomorrow to do that work for them. On Sunday, though, we went up to celebrate Naomi's 4th birthday. That was quite fun. Andy and I had bought her a pretty snazzy tricycle. I didn't think of it until now - but I should have taken a picture of it:( There was quite a lot of food and it was fun being with everyone. Naomi got a harmonica from her Great Grandma and no other gift came close to getting the attention that gift did. We kept encouraging her to play it in the other room or outside, but she didn't seem to get the hint. She was very happy with her musical ability.

The Birthday GirlFilling up water balloonsHorse rides after the party

It was a beautiful day and so relaxing to sit in the shade, visit with family and watch the kids play.

Andy & I both worked today. We left a little early and went right to work at mowing the lawn. With both of us working at it, we can get it done in about an hour and a half. It looks so good right now because of all the rain we had last week. I thought it was supposed to rain again this evening, but it held off for us.Does anyone know what kind of bush this is? I bought it years ago as a little stick. It is doing well but I don't remember what it is. To this point, it has never bloomed, which would help a great deal in being able to identify it.
I would appreciate any help anyone can give me.