De parte de la familia Park Maccubbin, les deseamos lo mejor para el 2007.

On behalf of the Park Maccubbin family,

all the best for 2007.

Yesterday evening we celebrated our Candlelight Christmas Eve Service at Church. There were over 50 people. :-) For the first time, Leslie and I served Communion together. Pretty Cool.

whew!
i didn't know if i should be worried as i was taking the test. (heeheehee!)

thanks Jay

You scored as Chalcedon compliant. You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you're not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451. Chalcedon compliant 100% Monophysitism 67% Modalism 58% Nestorianism 50% Adoptionist 17% Pelagianism 17% Monarchianism 8% Arianism 0% Apollanarian 0% Docetism 0% Gnosticism 0% Albigensianism 0% Socinianism 0% Donatism 0% Are you a heretic? created with QuizFarm.com

Hannah turned 11 last monday. yesterday we celebrated her with a birthday party at a local skating rink. we had a blast. she's turning into a beautiful young girl. she is kind, and thoughtful, and (most of the time) gentle ... and wants SO MUCH to care for people...

Scott and Becky and Breanna and Colin came up for the better part of the day, and that was fun as well.

Tomorrow is shaping up to be a fun day. The kids are out of school (Columbus Day, in-service day? not sure ... they had last monday off, and i thought THAT was for Columbus Day...) in any case, we're hosting a Rappahannock Baptist Association brotherhood meeting and dinner at Church ... Pork Loin, mashed potatoes, green beans, fruit cocktail, and apples and cinnamon ... we're expecting over a hundred people -- it's always ladie's night when they have these dinners ... so it should be a good turnout, mostly because Jerusalem is centrally located to the association. will post again tomorrow night... :-)

Back To Contacts

Had my eyes checked last week, and found that the glasses i've been wearing for about 8 years no longer fit the bill for what i need.

The exam was on Thursday, and I got the call from the Vision Center at Wal-Mart that the contacts were in on Monday. Pretty quick turnaround! Drove by to pick them up, and brought them home, soaked them overnight, and popped 'em in yesterday morning. Aside from initially feeling like I had put two SAUCERS in my eyes, I got over the initial discomfort and the rest of the day went well. Today is day 2. For what I have, nearsightedness plus astigmatism, (are those two the same thing??), Rigid Gas Permeable lenses do better at correcting the problem than soft lenses, which is fine, since that is what I've been wearing since I first got contacts in ... 19... 77? 78? (eek ... that's almost 30 years ago!)

oh well.

New glasses soon to follow. :-) yeah, they are different too. (stylewise)

grace & peace

Baptism

It was an incredibly sweet experience. Altogether, there were probably about 15 people here for the baptism. We sang 'At The Cross' after in invocation, then I spoke about what baptism means to baptists. I usually don't focus on differences, but on similarities we have with other denominations, but in this case it was, I think, appropriate to take the opportunity to explain our beliefs... we were both, I think, a little nervous. Alejandra for obvious reasons, me, because it was actually the first time I'd performed a baptism in spanish. We got through it. When Lexa came up out of the water, she just stood there with her hands covering her face and seemed to just ... soak in the moment. I don't think she was crying, but she was ... overcome. I just hugged her, and then spoke the benediction and commissioning over her -- which the picture caught.

grace & peace

Broadband

When we moved in, the parsonage had that old TV antenna sticking up there, even though it'd been a while since TVs were connected to it -- cable had been installed some time before. It's hard to tell from the picture, and I was still surprised by the size of the thing once it was down on the ground, but the guys that came and installed the wireless broadband antenna (below) took the old antenna down and replaced it with a fairly discreet one.

We had enjoyed cable access when we lived in Virginia Beach, before moving here, and it was at times more of an adjustment than I thought it would have been to go back to dial up access. In all honesty, we could probably have still made do with the dial up, but with Leslie taking an online class this semester at BTSR, we decided that if we both needed to be online at the same time, it would be worth the expense to get the broadband installed and connected. I'd purchased a wireless router after Christmas in the HOPE that we would sooner rather than later be getting a broadband connection ... we were actually hoping for cable access through our cable TV company, but being rural, and sparsely populated, we're not a priority area in which they are deploying that technology. :-(

So here we are, connected and THOROUGHLY enjoying it.

On Baptism

i'm sitting in the sanctuary, listening as the baptistry fills. Alejandra has asked to be baptized, and we're going to have a baptism service Friday evening. it's a big deal. it's the first baptism (by immersion) in the hispanic community ... probably since Berenice was baptized before we came to Emmerton.

we made an open invitation at the encuentro sunday night, for anyone who would like to come and affirm, celebrate, observe, etc. ... so it will be not only an opportunity to observe the ordinance of baptism, but it will also be a teaching moment -- to explain what baptism means to us as baptists.

funny ... before becoming a pastor, i never wondered about the nuts and bolts of a baptism -- i mean actually getting the baptistry READY for the event -- there's a whole procedure (at least there is with ours) of turning on the water, running it to a certain point, then turning on the heater, and letting THAT flush out ... to see if there is any rust or any critters in the lines, then turning THAT off, and running the water ... letting the baptistry fill (I'm struggling to not call it 'the tub') and THEN running the heater again ... we're actually just going to run the water today, let it sit for the next couple of days, let the ambient temperature of the sanctuary warm the water some before cranking up the heater and pump to let THEM heat the water more ... directly ...

the last baptism we held in the sanctuary was on Easter Sunday. the last baptisms we had as a CHURCH were in July at the river. (most folks prefer the river, critters and all -- so do i, for that matter!)

i'm sure there will be pictures ... i'll post them after.

The Wonders of the Internet

Over the last week or two, the traffic between my classmates from the Nido De Aguilas class of 1980 has been increasing exponentially, and it looks like there's a plan in the works to meet next year sometime in Santiago. I suspect (and hope) that the contacts that are being made in relation to THAT will spawn semi-reunions here in the states ... i know we've talked about doing one of those for the last couple of years at least, but hey, guys, let's REALLY try to do one this time! we're not that far from the DC area, Lolly is THERE, and there are probably more of us in the general area as well ... que les parece?

btw, the rest of the time with the grupo italiano went great. there were bumps, but that's okay. we didn't expect perfection ... :-)

Of Italians and the Grace of God

What an incredible week it's been ... actually, a little over a week - since Friday before last, when I drove to Lynchburg (well, NEAR Lynchburg), picked them up and drove back here. It is a group of youth who come from ... at least 3 churches, 3 different cities, and a Pastor, his wife, and their son (from yet ANOTHER town and church) (the youth come from Rome, Florence, and Milan).

They had spent the week that had just ended participating in family mission week at Eagle Eyrie, and had spent their time doing vacation bible schools, some home repairs and painting, and meeting and getting to know a slew of folks who went to the camp from all over virginia. The pastor is originally from Honduras, so when he first started working out the plans to come to Virginia, he asked about plugging into a Hispanic Ministry somewhere around the state . Their contact person and I served as journeymen together at the same time back in the mid-eighties, so he connected US, and it FINALLY happened ... they GOT here!

So it's been an interesting week and a half. right off the bat, the kids are ... kids. teenagers are not THAT different, at least from what i can tell between here and Italy. They like to joke and laugh and play, they still have a lot of the energy that children have, but they are also beginning to deal with issues that need to be considered as adults ... and they are straddling both worlds.

Jaime, the pastor, and his wife Barbara both speak spanish, as does their son, a couple of the kids speak enough english to be understood, and more of them understand enough spanish ... i think we ended up calling what we've been communicating in Itanglish ... or something like that ... no ... spangliano ... whatever ... whatever it IS, it's been infused with grace.

Last week we played. went to the river to swim -- if only part of us, if only for an hour or so. The week was partially dictated by a homegoing in our congregation and the ensuing visitation and funeral. We DID get to take them into Richmond to tour the VBMB, BTSR, and to do a little bit of shopping, and they DID get to go to Sandbridge, near Virginia Beach, on Friday, and I took them to DC to see some of the sights in the course of a few hours ... got an interesting lesson in what it is that the rest of the world (or at least these Italians) thought was worth seeing. Not a surprising one, just a sobering one. I realized how Americanized I've become.

This past Sunday, Jaime preached in Spanish and I translated into English. As daddy would say after a visiting mission team came through Santiago or somewhere in Chile and he served as interpreter, it was one of the best sermons I've preached. :-)

Yesterday afternoon, we gathered at the river and baptized three new members of our congregation -- at the conclusion of which, the Italian group broke into a song that both praised God for the gift of life, and asked for continued guidance ... (if i remember correctly ... that may be changed here in a bit) ...

Today we started the work part of their stay with us -- sports camps -- preschoolers in the mornings, and elementary aged kids through completed 6th grade in the afternoons. It started out a little awkward, with some issues with the language barrier, exacerbated by the fact that the OTHER youth group -- from our former church in Virginia Beach -- Thalia Lynn Baptist -- arrived at 8:15 to begin registration for the camps at 9:15. In two locations. Working with people they'd never met before. Who didn't speak the same language...

Well, SORTA didn't speak the same language.

You see, yeah, the words that came out of their mouths didn't sound very much alike, but the language that was coming from their hearts (mostly) was the same -- the language of love, and caring, and blessing. The language of fun, and laughter, and singing (I wish you could have heard the singing -- the combined, overlapped, intertwined and interwoven singing of the Psalm 100 praise chorus in Italian and in English.

So we get to bear witness to the Grace of God in our lives in yet another way -- through watching how these kids meet, work together, and get to know each other.

It's been amazing to watch -- and it's only the first day.

Cementerio De Los Disidentes


The first year we lived in Chile I lived maybe 5 miles from the ‘Cementerio De Los Disidentes’ (Dissidents’ Cemetery) in Valparaíso. We lived a couple of hills over in Viña Del Mar. Granted, we only lived there a year, and I was only two at the time, but over the ensuing 15 years, I visited ‘Viña’ and ‘Valpo’ many, many times, and had no idea that the place even existed. It was part of standard grade school curriculum to learn of the British influence on the formation of the Chilean navy, (as well as nationhood, since the father of the country was Bernard O’Higgins, the illegitimate son of an Irish father and a creole mother), so we were aware of that, but as a child, the thought never crossed my mind that there would be people who had died in battles and who were buried THERE, and not back in their home country.

That perception, or misperception, as the case may be, changed over the course of the years, but by then I had moved through high school and come back to the States for college, and my opportunities to return and explore the history that I neglected in my youth were few and far between. The times that I DID go back, I mostly concentrated on coming to terms with my own history and relationship with the country that WAS home to me growing up, and which still holds a large stake in my psyche as ‘mi patria querida’ (my beloved country).

So when I announced to my congregation that I would be traveling to Chile to perform my brother’s wedding, and Warren Potter approached me about trying to locate and take pictures of the marker for the crewmen of the first USS Essex, I (hesitantly) agreed, not having any idea of how difficult or easy it might be to locate and photograph the gravesite. Before leaving on the trip, I attempted a couple of internet searches to try to identify where I might find the marker, and came up basically empty-handed. I found references to the event – between the Essex, which engaged two British ships in the bay at Valparaiso and lost 89 of the 255 crewmen on board in a battle in March of 1814, during the War of 1812, but no reference as to where the remains of the sailors who were killed in the battle were buried.

On Palm Sunday, April 9th, 2006, a group of us – some family and some friends who had accompanied us for the wedding, drove over to Viña to try to visit with some friends and – if the opportunity presented itself – to look for the marker. As it turned out, we drove in two vans, and we got separated. By the time we got back together, it was night time, and all we had time to do was visit with a fellow missionary and the son of one of our extended Chilean family, and return to Santiago.

The next day was our next to the last day IN Chile before heading back to the States, and I decided that I would try again to find the marker. I rode the metro down to the bus station, hopped on a bus to Valparaiso, and headed out.

This day was important for a number of reasons, most of which I'll be figuring out over the next few months, if not years. Partially, I had promised one of my church members (Warren Potter) that I would look for the grave, and partially, I needed to go because I needed to prove to myself that I was able to DO that -- on my own, without any help from anyone ... and get there and back ... and it went perfectly well. This shot was from the bus on the way over -- vineyards between Santiago and Valparaiso.

A woman sat down next to me on the bus, just a few minutes before we pulled away from the curb. Being an introvert, most of the trip was spent in silence. I did finally strike up a conversation with her, and found out that she was on her way home – from running an errand for her company in Santiago. In the course of our conversation, I explained why I was going to Valparaiso, and asked if she might have any idea as to where I might find the marker. She thought a minute, and then said, half to herself, that the marker would have to be in one of the older cemeteries, not any of the newer ones. That narrowed it down to a couple of possibilities; Cemetery Number One or Cemetery Number Two, which, to her knowledge, were the only ones around that early in the city’s history. She explained to me how to get to them from the bus station, and helped me buy a map of the city inside, before we left the building. We looked it over, and she showed me what street to walk down and where to turn and what landmarks to look for. We parted and I thanked her and she wished me luck.

The day was bright and sunny in Santiago when I left, but as soon as we crossed the coastal mountain range, the clouds that they were holding back from the interior socked in with damp and cold and blocked the sunshine, but it was still daylight. I walked down into and through downtown (the old town part) of Valparaiso, and found the road that led up to the Cemeteries, and turned up it. The rise was steep, and as I came to the top of the hill, I could tell that there was one cemetery up against the brow of the hill – overlooking the downtown. When I came to a gate with multitudes of graves and markers behind it, I walked through, and noticed that there was a sign that stated that the closing time for the cemetery was 5 PM. It was shortly after 4. As I walked around, I knew there was little chance that I would find the marker on my own, even if I WAS in the right place. I found the caretaker of the cemetery, and explained the situation and my mission to him. He directed me to the other cemetery, the ‘Number Two’ Cemetery, the next one built, which was established about the time of the battle.

When I walked the few hundred yards over to it, and stood at the gated entrance, (this was the one I had actually seen from below. As I was climbing the hill) I again knew I’d need to find someone who might be familiar with the layout and where graves and markers were in order to find the one I was looking for. I stepped into the Cemetery, and off to the right saw two men conversing, one sitting inside a guardhouse, and the other standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorjamb. I approached, and introduced myself and again went through the explanation of why I was there and what I was looking for. The man immediately said ‘they would be in the ‘Dissidents’ Cemetery’, right across the way. I looked back through the gate I’d walked in, and across the street/alley separating the two was another cemetery. I had mistakenly assumed it was the back entrance to the first cemetery I’d gone into, but it was not. Chile, having been a Catholic Country for most of it’s history, has designated, consecrated plots of land for burial of those who have died in good standing with the Catholic Church (Tierra Santa – Holy Ground) – for those who have died whose status with the Church was understood to have been … at odds, or contrary, or unknown, provisions had to be made. Those provisions were in the form of ‘Dissident’ Cemeteries, where protestant or otherwise non-Catholic decedents could be laid to rest.

As I wandered around the Cemetery, I was amazed at the variety of names British, German, American, French, Swiss, South African, Russian; from countries all over the globe, whose inscriptions bore legends that told of family histories that linked as profoundly with Chile’s as my own family’s, if not more so, and spanned two full centuries of time. I realized that this was a memorial not only to THEIR mark on Chile, but perhaps more so, a memorial to Chile’s mark on THEM – on US. These were people who had chosen to live out their lives in Chile, to become Chilean, inasmuch as possible, and when it came their turn to loose the bonds of earth, they asked or chose to leave their remains in a land that welcomed them and gave them a home.

There were literally hundreds, if not thousands of markers to wander through, and I was running out of time. It was nearly five o’clock. I saw the caretaker walking down one walkway, and approached him. Again, I went through the explanation of whom and what I was looking for. He gestured over to the right side of the entrance, and said ‘that’s where some of the military markers are, it might be over there.” So I concentrated along that side for a few minutes. As I walked up and down the aisles, I grew more anxious at the fact that I seemed to be so close, and yet hadn’t been able to find the marker. As I walked past the front gate, the caretaker from the number two cemetery, who had directed me to the dissident cemetery, walked up to the gate from the outside. I stepped through the gate, preparing to head back down the hill, and looked at him and shrugged my shoulders, communicating that I had tried, but hadn’t had any luck finding the marker. He put his arm through the gate and pointed. There, literally less than twenty feet from the entrance, (it would make sense, being one of the earlier markers and gravesites to be dug in the cemetery) was the marker for the crewmen of the Essex. I couldn’t believe it. I walked over and put my hand on the stone. There was a bronze plaque at the foot of the marker, commemorating an anniversary of some sort – or an effort on behalf of the organization of veterans who’d served on the Essex through the years, to place the plaque – it was nearly impossible to read – it had faded and deteriorated so much – but the engraving on the stone of the marker itself was still clear. After asking permission from the caretaker (there were signs posted advising that pictures were not allowed) I took several pictures from all sides and several angles, to get not only the details of the text, but also to get a sense of the location – where in relation to the gate and the nearest edge of the cemetery that afforded a view of the bay in which the battle took place – of the marker.



Only SLIGHTLY awkward ... you don't really want to put your arm around a grave marker ... fortunately, there wasn't anyone around, so I just set the shot, and the timer, and walked back over to the marker and stood ... :-)

As I left the cemetery, I walked to the corner that was formed by the road that surrounded it, across which you could look out over the bay, and took some more pictures of the surroundings. I walked a little down the way, and came to a space between two buildings that had a stairway that went down between them – they are commonplace, since that is the only way to get up and down the hills of Valparaiso, unless you are in a car or on a trolley that rides up and down the incredibly steep tracks that go straight up and down the hills. I followed the steps all the way down. There was a closed door at the bottom. A couple of landings before I got down to the ground level, I passed a woman who was doing some cleaning on ‘her’ landing – and asked if the door was locked. She explained to me that I was on a private stairway and that she didn’t think it was locked, but that if it was, I could come back up and let her know and she would unlock it for me. I apologized for the intrusion, explained that I didn’t realize that was the case (there was no sign at the top of the stairs where I began the climb down). She smiled and said “it’s no problem.” I thanked her and walked the few dozen feet to the bottom of the stairs and opened the door and walked out onto the street I’d passed on my way up.

As I walked back towards the bus station, I realized that, although I had studied both, there is a lot of Chile’s history, and the history of the United States, that I have yet to familiarize myself with. I left with a spark of renewed interest in exploring both.

It made me realize that there are things worth fighting – and dying – for. I’ve lived a sheltered life in that respect. I’ve never had to make that choice, never had to face the reality of friends or family members going in harm’s way to secure a ‘right’ I take for granted. I wondered about the number of stories carried on each of the five ships named Essex, how many families; mothers, fathers, children, brothers and sisters awaited word of a crewmember’s whereabouts, of whether he or she was alive or dead, and when they arrived home, how many stories were shared around kitchen tables, and while the words flowed, the eyes gazed on the face of the loved one, occasionally brimming with tears, occasionally hardening at news of a particularly difficult moment, but always came back to simply gaze with love, and thanksgiving at their safe return.

Kenny Park
Warsaw, VA
June 25, 2006

These were the steps I walked down to get back down to the street that I had crossed over from the bus terminal on.

just SLIGHTLY awkward ... you don't really want to put your arm around a grave marker ... fortunately, there wasn't anyone around, so i just set the shot, and the timer, and walked back over to the marker and stood ... :-)

here is one view of the marker. i was able to take several pictures and print off a draft copy of them all and give them to the member who had asked me to see if i could track it down. it was pretty cool to be able to travel all that way and actually FIND what he asked me to look for.

This day was important for a number of reasons, most of which i'll be figuring out over the next few months, if not years. i decided to go back to Valparaiso on my own on Monday afternoon. Partially, I had promised one of my church members that I would look for the grave marker for the sailors from the first USS Essex, which engaged two British ships in the bay at Valparaiso and lost 89 of the 255 crewmen on board in a battle in March of 1814, during the War of 1812. Partially, I needed to go because I needed to prove to myself that I was able to DO that -- on my own, without any help from anyone ... and get there and back ... and it went perfectly well. This shot was from the bus on the way over -- vineyards between Santiago and Valparaiso.

Lolly and ERose on the beach. Lolly was in the middle of either playing with ERose or trying to reason with her to come along with the rest of the crew to grab a snack at a local cafe ... funny ... ERose was perfectly willing to stay and play by herself. :-)

Becky on the beach that night ... that circle in the middle is something with the camera, not a UFO.

the beach at night ... with Valparaiso in the background.

We got over to Vina del Mar on Sunday afternoon and evening, and managed to get together with Karen Wright, a missionary who lives there, and with Pablo Mussiett, the only sibling of the family who couldn't make it to the wedding. Had a great time reconnecting with him, and then drove down to the beach. Of course, it was already dusk, if not NIGHT, but Angela and Joey wanted to at least TOUCH the Pacific ... and guess what? The Pacific TOUCHED BACK ... with predictable results -- soaking wet clothes -- not ENTIRELY, fortunately, but still ... enough!

this was our first home in Chile. This was where, as a three-year- old, i rode my tricycle down the steps from the yard (uphill behind the house) downhill onto the patio IMMEDIATELY behind the house -- and have the scar from 7 stitches on the crown of my head to show for it.

Soozin took this picture last Saturday, while we were getting ready to celebrate the renewal of wedding vows for Jim and Mary Morgan -- it was a beautiful afternoon. (there was even some DANCING in the fellowship hall!!) :-)

see?? there i am! the one in the mirror! i really WAS there!!!

the house we lived in ... still belongs to the mission, but it looked like they were doing some work on it ... or something ...

interesting feeling ... going back to the place you lived ... not a BAD thing, just realized how important it is to BE from where you ARE.

reference why do YOU believe, Sunday, April 23rd, 2006, on emmertonmessages. (http://www.emmertonmessages.blogspot.com/)

momma, daddy, jorge, and dina, an adoptive aunt of their family, and dear friend of ours, hashing out most likely something to do with what happened at Third Church ... this was on Friday evening at the Mussietts, who put on a dinner for us ... de maravilla!

catedral de san francisco ... downtown santiago ... it's REALLY dark inside ... but it is the oldest ... uy ... not sure if in the city ... don't think in the country, though it MIGHT be ...

jimmy and his (now) father in law, Jorge.

pretty cool to think we are now related. :-)

these are the bell towers of the monastery ... at los dominicos ...

this is my current desktop picture. these are the mountains i grew up looking at. they helped remind me that there is something bigger than i am ... something bigger than 'man' in the corporate sense ... things we have to work around ... things we have to climb, things that will keep us from seeing what is beyond the horizon ... yada yada :-)

seriously.

mountains give you a sense of perspective that is hard to get from hills and trees.

this was my first afternoon there ... at Los Dominicos, a folk-art center, where i basically ended up sitting at an outside cafe table while everyone else came and went, or stopped for a snack or a drink or a sandwich ... that's most, if not all the group ... i hadn't slept since wednesday morning ... this was thursday afternoon ... :-)

jimmy's all 'when is this going to be OVER so we can get to the honeym ... the reception! yeah, that's the ticket, the RECEPTION'

apparently, what i'm seeing on my laptop isn't completely true to what is actually happening ... for example, right now, all i can see of the picture to the left is the top of the picture down to about my eyes ... everything else stops there.

so this is us ... Lolly, Karen, me and Becky, with jimmy and mane sitting, of course ... does the joy we feel come across in the picture??

aaargh .....

i'm at the library, and the broadband wireless is SUPPOSEDLY working ... and i've got the pictures loaded onto either the hard drive or on CD ... and i go through the steps ... and nothing ... can't get them uploaded ...

will keep trying ...

grace & (relative) peace

Kenny

addendum --

it posted! it posted! momma and daddy NEVER dance ... i suspect their laughter was at THEMSELVES as much as anything else ... but i LOVE this picture ... David Mussiett took it and sent it to me monday evening. what a blast.

Please read this:
If you want to read the blog the author keeps, go here:

Either way, I hope you won't be dissappointed ... I don't think you WILL be ...

grace & peace

Ash Wednesday

Drove into Richmond this morning to attend the chapel service at BTSR with Leslie. The Bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Richmond, Francis X. Dilorenzo (Most Reverend Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo, D.D. Bishop of Richmond, Cathedral of the Sacred Heart) came and spoke, and also did the imposition of ashes for those who came forward (along with a woman minister ... not sure who she was) ... but it was a neat service ... stayed and attended Dan Bagby's Pastoral Counseling class with Leslie, and ate lunch with her and then came on back ... this evening we wrapped up the study of the book of Hebrews, and segued (sp?) into the Lenten Season. I offered the imposition of ashes, and most everyone who was there came forward. it was neat to be able to share that.

grace & peace

spent the day in virginia beach ... or for a while, off the COAST of virginia beach. took a whale watching tour on a boat from rudee inlet ... windy ... cold ... sunny for the most part ... and angela ended up getting a little seasick ... but not much ... didn't see any whales :-( did see a bunch of seabirds ... then went back to CiCi's at Haygood to eat pizza (Scott, Becky and the kids came with us), then back to grana and graddaddy's for cake and ice cream. fun day. LONG day, but good, all around ...

grace & peace

'THE BIG SNOW'

well, kinda. the predictions were pretty dire. when we finally went to bed last night it was just getting started. still worked on the message, but wondered if it would be delivered ...

as it turned out, it was enough snow to call off the day's activities (we had an encuentro scheduled for this afternoon). the kids got out and played in the snow for a while this morning, and caleb stayed out and made a second snowman, then i joined him to build a third. FUN.

So we were only out for a few minutes, but just enough to get winded and cold ... and wet ... but still .... LOTS of fun.

we're going to need to run out and retrieve the caps and scarf here before too long.

Jimmy gave me the hat a couple of years ago ... and it really DOES make a difference - especially last night in the rain (before it turned into snow)

Come to think of it, i think it was lolly who gave me the hat.

quick update ... they moved into a house today. big house. lots of room. away from where they were. quiet.

not too terribly far from here. :-) and God was in it.

grace & peace

Kenny

another interesting couple of days ...

yesterday, Edith and family (pedro/mario, jose gaspar, luis & magdalena and a couple of as-yet unidentified housemates) moved in across the street. this is a good thing. hopefully it will get them out of the 'corridor' where the rougher crowd runs -- the ones who dedicate saturdays and sundays to BEING drunk ... and get them sobered up and ... well ... clean. this afternoon we had a memorial service for vivian (the woman who owned and shared her house with them). there were about 8 or 9 people there, including edith and luis (her son) ... the rest were co-workers and neighbors and friends. it was small, but relaxed and ...

Holy.

i robed, and Leslie brought her (only) stole in and draped it over my shoulders ... don't think the color goes with the season, but that's okay ... we're not that strictly following the church year anyway ... well, we're FOLLOWING it, but not to that degree ... colors come into play for the decorations in the sanctuary and things like that ... usually, if i wear the robe, it 's JUS T the robe.

after the memorial service, i ran up to montross to meet one of the women of the association with her son-in-law and a refrigerator in the back of their pickup and unloaded it at the trailer of a couple of couples who were in need of one, and will soon be in need of a couple of full size beds and a couple of twin sized beds ... i've got the twin sized bed lined up for pickup tomorrow afternoon... it should fit in the van without too much trouble.

this evening, we hosted a game night for the 'college and career' aged class -- Leslie and Jay teach it together. we played balderdash. had a LOT of fun. then, about 9 pm i got a call from jose and patricia ... they'd been broken into again ... (had their baby boy on the 3rd of december, and about two weeks later these boys tried to break in, but jose managed to scare them off ... this time they were a little more intentional. brought a shotgun and a gun ... they initially scared them off, but when they (the robbers) realized that jose and his brother in law didn't have anything to fire back at them with, they came back -- jose peeked out his window, and they saw each other at the same time ... he just managed to tuck his head back inside before the shotgun shot took out the window he had stuck his head through ...

long story short, we have 6 guests sleeping downstairs. 5 adults and an almost two-month old precious baby boy. When the call came in, Kelly and Steve and Anne and Jay were still here. they offered to help do whatever needed doing, and helped us get the downstairs straightened up and cleaned up so that they could come in and not have to climb over toys and stuff to get to their beds and the bathroom.

interesting the way things work out. this afternoon i got a call from another couple who were looking for a house to rent, and whom i'd put in contact with a man from northern virginia who had a couple of properties to look at ... they ended up renting a house in montross -- newly renovated -- and from the look of it, almost historic -- small (two bedroom) -- but quaint looking ... will be looking around for some living room furniture for them. that same couple had first called me about an ad they'd seen about an apartment for rent for $500/month. it turned out to be too far down THIS way for them to really be interested in it ... originally they were going to meet the landlord this morning at 9, but decided yesterday that they were just going to concentrate on what they could find in westmoreland.

with this being the second break-in attempt for jose and patricia and company, they are ready to be out of the house TOMORROW. so i called the other man, the one with the apartment, and have set up a meeting with him and them at the apartment at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon. the catch is this. i have already told a woman who has a twin bed for the two couples and the two single men (where we dropped off the refridgerator this afternoon) that i would be by HER house between 2 & 3. I may give her a call to see if i can swing by there earlier -- around 1, as soon as i can get away from church, to pick up the bed, then do the meet at the apartment, THEN deliver the bed, THEN ...

oh yes ... leslie is going to be teaching an ESL class tomorrow afternoon at 4. the kids and i are going to irvington church to share supper with them ... and to sit in for a few minutes on their business meeting ... i have NO idea why john (the pastor) wants me there ... but i figure, if he wanted me to bring the whole family it wouldn't be for a raking over the coals for something ... right? :-)

did i mention Leslie starts back to classes at BTSR this coming wednesday, and will be driving into richmond on wednesdays and fridays ... and I'M going to be taking two intensives at Leland as well -- 4 weekends spread out from the end of february to the end of march ... (24-25th, then 10-11th, 17-18th, then 31-1st (march-april) that means i go up on a thursday evening, attend class all day friday and all day saturday, do anticipatory reading and papers as needed both before, between and after ... then return ... in this case a month later for the first intensive (preaching) and the next week (for the christianity and culture class in the middle of march) ...

oh ... did i mention we will be presenting the RBA model at the 21-c conference at the beginning of february -- in fact --- NEXT SATURDAY OMG!!!! so i need to get the power point queen to working on that ... :-) or i guess i could ... but i'll be driving into richmond on thursday evening to be there for the conference to start on Friday morning --- bright and early.

that friday is also the court date for marie ... the young woman who landed her car in the front yard of the church last saturday ... hmmmm ... that makes two fairly exciting saturdays in a row!

life in the country ... so ... idyllic ...

yeah RIGHT!

:-)

one final note ... i don't have to prepare a message for tomorrow -- it's men's day at jerusalem!!! i DO, however, have to get up at O'dark thirty and get over to the fellowship hall to start the coffee percolating ... we're having a men's breakfast at 7:30 ... eek.

not that there's anything WRONG with that ... :-)

grace & peace

This was what was in our front yard looked like EARLY this morning. I dragged the Crepe Myrtle (sp?) off the driveway to let the tow truck pull in to load up the car last night ... it was squarely across the driveway after the car took it out... happened just before 1 AM, and thankfully both girls inside were fine. The car apparently slid across our front yard sideways, hit the crepe myrtle, and then when they hit the timber on the edge of the driveway it flipped -- missing both marker posts at the end of the driveway as well as the bucket o' flowers near the head of the driveway on the church side. The car ended up right side up, both front tires deflated, in reverse, engine running. The airbags deployed, and I THINK they were both wearing their seatbelts ...

(left) the car ended up in the background -- top right of the picture -- the dark patches in the grass -- nose down in the ditch, perpendicular to the road.

(right) I can't quite figure out how the two sets of tracks were made ... anyone got any ideas?

(below) The long shot -- from where the car first went off the road on the right side (seems there was some critter in the road that they tried to avoid hitting), overcorrected, and spun over onto the left side. Good thing nobody was coming in the other direction.

Of such things ...

Our children graced us with a "romantic evening dinner lunch" today. Caleb and Judson dressed up in white shirts and dark pants, (caleb wore a vest and was the cook), Hannah also dressed up as the hostess, and Judson provided the entertainment. the menu offered a wonderful selection -- PB&J with chips, Club sandwich with chips, turkey sandwich and chips, baloni [sic] and chips; snack special: flavored pretzels; drinks: milk, ice water, coca-cola, gingerale; Chips: BBQ chips, Corn chips; Deserts: Cookies.

They set up the living room as the dining room, the piano bench became an intimate little bistro table for two, two stools from the coffee table downstairs became our chairs ... and candles ... they set up a candle on the table, and beside the table another higher table with another bunch of candles on it.

Leslie selected the PB&J, I chose the sub sandwich with turkey and cheese and mayonnaise, and we both had barbeque chips. For refreshment, we selected the Emmerton Well '06 (chilled), but opted for no 'desert'.

During the meal, Hannah serenaded us with 'I'll Love You Forever', by Paul McCartney and John Lennon (I think), and Judson did a more dynamic performance which included a couple of flying leaps onto the couch (the second AFTER he'd been told not to do it again).

Oh. Did I mention both boys had mustaches? (They're coming off now ... they are both in the tub)

Of such things are precious memories made.

Oh God please help us not to forget them!

grace & peace

Hard to believe we're already two weeks into the new year.

Update since last post: Annie Lee Coates passed away on Thursday the 29th of December. We were in Kentucky on vacation, but in touch with the family. We had already planned on coming back to Virginia Beach on Friday to spend New Year's with Leslie and her family. Three other area Pastors were asked to lead the funeral, so I drove up for the visitation on Saturday evening, and then back down to Va Beach to ring in the new year with the family.

We went to Thalia Lynn on Sunday morning. It was good to see all the folks who helped form us and give us ministry experience (even though sometimes they didn't know it) :-). The message was good. I needed to hear it. About asking God, not being AFRAID to ask God for things. Need to remember that God is not only GOD, but Daddy as well.

While I was here on New Year's eve, I stopped to visit another member who'd been getting progressively worse over the last couple of months. I'm glad I did. I got the call Sunday morning from one of her sons letting me know that she'd passed away as well.

We got back late Sunday night, and Monday and Tuesday were spent working out the details and preparing for and carrying out her funeral. Wednesday we did a quick study in Philemon, and Thursday we had a Sunday School Council meeting as well as a Youth Committee meeting.

I'm sitting here putting down calendar events and not what I had hoped this would have been originally -reflections on events that happen. Celebrated communion this past Sunday, and took it to one of our shut-ins yesterday. There are a couple of others to whom I'll be taking it next week.

Oh! Caleb!

Caleb had a headache that started last friday, and it kept coming back and kept coming back... Monday Leslie took him to the Doctor, and she gave him a shot for the pain, and recommended that if the headache persisted we should take him to the hospital. It did, and we did, on Tuesday evening. He got a CT of his head, and discovered that his synuses (sp?) are small, and deep in his head, and filled with fluid ... apparently enough so as to cause the headaches. The Doctor said there was nothing that could be done for THAT directly, but to treat the symptoms. So we sent some children's motrin with him to school the next day, along with a permission slip so the nurse could give him some if he needed it. She DID give him some on both Wednesday and Thursday, and it DID stop the pain. I'm not looking forward to the bill from that CT. We HAVE insurance, but it's not very good... and we've just sent in the application to change it to what will hopefully prove to be a better provider.

more later.

grace & peace