Marjorie Gaines and her friend Charlotte came by a short while ago with the school supplies they'd collected at Claybrook Church, one of the smaller churches in the association. 8 BACKPACKS AND SUPPLIES!!! that put us back over 50 backpacks available for distribution. Cecilia came by last night and i went with her to deliver 3 backpacks and meet a couple of families.  

L-R: Vanessa, Neli, Ruby, and Samantha

Sanjuana Cantú (back to the camera in the light blue T-shirt) and some of her extended family, decisions, decisions.  

Sanjuana and some of the kids.

some of the bags from Thalia Lynn - Sunday night, Dewey and Anne Davis are pictured, Barbara and Vince Gunn got the word out and publicized the project.  

BackPack Update

Thalia Lynn, our former church in Va Beach, ended up collecting 55 bookbags along with supplies. Monday we got back from visiting there wondering 'what in the world are we going to do with 101 bookbags??!!! We're going to have to hunt down people to give them to.'

Wednesday night was the first night of the county fair. I'd delivered 2 bookbags to a family that we'd had contact with earlier, and had 3 bags in the car when i got home. i brought them into the living room, and when Leslie and the kids and her parents got ready to head out to the fair (I had a meeting to go to... i'd be joining them later) i sort of offhandedly asked "why don't we throw them in the back of the van, and if you happen to run into anyone at the fair who might need one, let them have it."

shortly after the meeting started, Leslie called and left a voicemail on my cellphone: "bring as many as you can fit in the back of the escort - i've already met 2 families, and there are LOTS of people here who need them!"

So i loaded up the car, and took them over, went through them, came back to the house and loaded up a few more, took them back, and got rid of several of those as well. Ended up giving out 29 bookbags loaded with supplies that night. Yesterday I delivered another twenty, this afternoon another 19 at one place, 4 at another, and 7 at another. Here and there we've run into a family who only needs one or two.

Long story short, we've handed out about 90 of those book bags. One of the local associational pastors, Steve Taylor, came by this morning with the offering that the kids had collected a couple of weeks ago during their vacation bible school, and designated it for the Hispanic Ministry of the Rappahannock Baptist Association. $188.53. Leslie went out with her mom while i was delivering the backpacks and bought out the local rite-aid's supply of 35 backpacks. We've got supplies to go in them, but will need more before it is out.

sheesh.

Leslie asked me as we were unloading the car in Va Beach Sunday night (the bags can get pretty heavy after the 7th or 8th trip) "whose idea was it to ask churches to donate school supplies??!! (she brought it up back in June)"

I looked at her and said, "apparently, God's"

for letting us think your thoughts after you, we give you thanks, O God.

this evening ... on the way back from the Gathering that we had at Warsaw Baptist ... something about rainbows ... just something about rainbows ... hmmmm ...  

The Kenny and Leslie Park family clannette ... :-) 

the whole Ken and Divina Park clan, sans Jimmy, who is in Chile. Park Family Reunion, Kentucky Dam Village, August 14th, 2004.  

tonight was our last game of softball. it was our last because we lost - 13-1. Hunter made the one and only run for our team on his first at-bat, when he hit a home run. at the bottom of the ... 4th inning, was it? We had been up to bat, and had gone 3 up, 3 down, and were back out in the field. they hit, like, 4 or 5 balls out to me ... and i missed all but the last one -- it was a fly ball (the other were as well, just too far or too fast for me) ... and i happened to be at the right place at the right time, and caught the ball!!! it was for their third out. what a great feeling! then the same guy whose hit I caught caught MY hit at my last at-bat. turnabout is fair play. the picture is a recreation of the events for the sake of posterity ... i was MUCH further out in right field when the original event actually took place!  

we put out the word that we were collecting school supplies and bookbags for the hispanic ministry ... and clothes, as always, and food ... this is the section of our basement that has been designated as 'supply central' ... and Thalia Lynn in Va Beach is sending another 30 bookbags!!!! 

for some reason THIS is my favorite picture from the visit with Kirby and Ruthanne ... and HONESTLY, it's not because Kirby's face is cut off ...  

Kirby and Ruthanne and THEIR Aaron, who will become an older brother in ... november, i think ... stopped and visited with them on our way back - Kirby and I grew up together in Chile. Ruthanne's parents were missionaries in Israel.  

Aaron, Elizabeth's brother.  

that same evening, after the rain ... see the 2nd rainbow? 

my oldest nephew Jonathon Martin (Becky and Bill's). He is 6 months older than Hannah, and apparently into the whole hip-hop thing ... ;-)  

Momma and Daddy at the Highland Church picnic, at Cherokee Park (Flat Rock, to be exact), Louisville KY, August 11th, 2004.  

Lolly and Jacques' daughter Elizabeth Rose Kapuscinski. We took her to KY with us, and Lolly, Jacques and Aaron met us there Thursday night. She is precious. 

momma in her element.  

With Aunt Edith  

Leslie and Uncle John 

Uncle John Parker - in Lexington VA. He will be 90 in October. Aunt Ruby, his wife, and I shared a birthday. He is a dear, dear man. He's fighting cancer, and i think a host of other things. He's not doing well, but he was about as talkative as ever, and made the connection with who i was. we had a precious time with him and Aunt Edith (his new wife, of 81 months -- they got married about a year or so after Aunt Ruby passed away, and at their age, decided to celebrate their MONTHaversaries instead of the ANniversaries.) picture taken on Monday August 9th, 2004.

It's been interesting the way there's a seesaw rhythm sometimes.

Jessica was born, and Sam was killed. "Chunk" passed away, and Cristal Esmeralda was born. Brian and Katherine Hamrick welcomed Nathan James into their lives, and Rick & Carey Poe's baby's heart stopped beating the day before she was due for no immediately discernible reason.

I'm wrestling with Sunday's sermon ... The unexpected kingdom ... Jesus' parables describe it elliptically, he didn't come out and describe it in toto.

It's easy to call up images of the Kingdom with a couple who have a new baby in their lives, but where is the Kingdom to a couple who has just lost their long-expected baby? What can I say to them? it's true that, among other things, the kingdom can be characterized by the absence of tears and heartache ... but is that something that needs to be said to a couple traumatized right here and right now?

Last night at the game, we got whupped. however you look at it, by the 5th inning, we were just playing to be out on the field, it stopped being about trying to beat the other team. there was some grumbling and gloomy faces, but then something really cool happened.

Farnham (the other team) started to relax, laugh and smile, and so did we. The grandson of one of the players, who was decked out in his uniform, came out to swing his bat ... RJ, our pitcher, came up to within a few feet of home plate, and gently tossed the ball to the little boy. He was a little overwhelmed by the attention, and would have rather buried his face in his pappy's leg than swing again, but he did give it a try. With his grandfather's help, he did swing about 3 or 4 times. Then an older boy, probably 9 or 10, came up to bat. He got a base hit.

When it was our turn to come up to bat again, Leslie, who'd been cheering the team on, got a chance to bat and ALSO made a base hit. It turned into a relaxing evening. There were still some bruises and pulled muscles, and even, I’m afraid, one broken thumb. (Sorry Jay!)

The cool thing was this --

EVERYONE WAS CHEERING.

It wasn't about us and them anymore.

You could probably make a plausible argument for the fact that it stopped being about us and them when them's were the ones who had too many points for us to catch up, but looking at it another way, we could have stopped the game once we'd reached the point of no return - and emptied the field, made room for the other teams, and gone about our business. But somewhere around the 5th inning it started being about just being together and having fun. The night was cool, the sky was clear, and the sun had gone down.

Thanks be to God