Retirement

 It’s been 16 months since I retired. It all started out great, wonderful trip to Athens Greece, boarding the Sky Princess Cruise ship for its inaugural cruise (14 days) ending in Rome. Climbed the Mediterranean Steps to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar. Walked all over Rome, toured the Vatican, walked the Spanish Steps, and found a store called Castelli 

But that all ended with Covid 19, had two others vacations cancelled, Panama Canal and Alaska. Praying for 2021 to get back on track. 

Marathon

Heather did it!

We all knew she would!

Completed her commitment that she accepted at CIY in July!

Finished her first Marathon, raising funds for Play Pumps International!

4:30:36

That's right 4 Hours, 30 Minutes, 36 Seconds!

Heather is Awesome and yes I am Very Proud of Her!!

XOWii

A Once in a lifetime opportunity

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Admiration

One night a couple months ago I was asked who do I admire and why. My answer was my daughter, and the reason I gave was because of her love of for our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ and Heather’s dedication to serving Him wherever she is called.

This last Saturday I came to realize that there is much more to admire about Heather, let’s go back to July of this year when Heather was with the High School youth group from Rolling Hills Christian Church at CIY (Christ in Youth) in Southern California. Everyone who attended CIY was given an opportunity to take a commitment card, but if they took the commitment card they had to fulfill that commitment. The card Heather received was for her to run a marathon by the end of the year and to raise money for a cause she was passionate about.

Heather was serious about the commitment and she started training to run in the California International Marathon on December 6, 2009. The organization she is running for is PlayPumps International. PlayPumps is an amazing organization that installs some really cool water pumps in Africa.

Back to this last Saturday, I was out riding my new road bike on the bike paths around Lake Natomas and who should I pass but Heather, she was out running on her own putting in 20 miles in preparation for the marathon. Well I had to turn my bike around and for the next 3 hours I rode while Heather ran and we were able to spend some incredible quality time together.

So why else do I admire Heather, she is out to prove to the students that you can do anything you put your mind to and that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Phil. 4:13) and she is running to raise money for a project that has really been on her heart. http://andthishappens.blogspot.com/

Junior High Youth

Last night I had the opportunity to lead the Monday night swim and bible study with the Junior High students from Rolling Hills Christian Church. There were 17 young men and women who attended last night and they were without a doubt some of the most polite and respectful young people I have ever had the opportunity to spend time with.

When Matt and Heather invited me to be a leader in the youth group I was unsure of what I was getting myself into, but two years later there is no place I would rather be than leading, working, sharing, and growing spiritually with the youth of El Dorado Hills.

Unless you have had the opportunity to spend quality time with these young men and women you may not be able to understand what I am talking about. During the bible study time these young people are so insightful and they are eager to learn and share about what is going on in their lives.

Before the bible study time we were sitting around eating pizza and the discussions they were having were open and honest and they have so much to contribute that you just can't help but want to be involved in their lives and help them grow closer to God.

Next week I get to go to Junior High Summer Camp as one on the adult leaders and there will be approximately 80 students, I am so looking forward to it. Oh sure the 6th grade boys who will be in our Condo will push the limits, but that is their job, but for me I am excited for the opportunity to be part of their lives, to spend time in bible study and prayer with them, to cook and clean with them, and to get into a rousing game of dodge ball and capture the flag.

Life Happens when you let God take control.....

Service Projects - Thursday April 9th

Thursday, another rainy day, we were scheduled to work at two different elementary schools in the North Highlands area. When we gathered at the church, all 18 of us, I made an executive decision for all of us to work together so we headed to Sierra View Elementary School.

When we arrived we found the gentleman who was in charge of maintenance for the school and to say he was thrilled to see us is an understatement. He was ready for our group and proceeded to take us through the list of work that he had planned for the day.

While giving all of us instructions on what he needed us to do for the day he received a phone call from his wife. Seems that his wife wanted to take a shower that morning so she asked the teenage daughter to watch the 4 year-old for just a few minutes. Well of course the teenager did not watch the 4 year-old so the child decided to grab a marker and go about writing on top of a desk in their home office. The conversation was very sweet on his part, you could hear the love in his voice for his wife. Knowing that we would be there to do lots of maintenance for the day he was able to head home and address the situation.

We had our instructions so we divided into teams, washing windows, sweeping walkways (those which were undercover - as it was still raining), mopping floors in the lunchroom, leveling bark in the play areas and knocking down spider webs.

We worked at the school for 4 - 5 hours until our list was completed, we put our tools away and headed back to the church. It was a great feeling to know that again today we really helped out someone, the maintenance man told us that he just never has enough time to get everything done, and if we had not shown up it would have been months before he would have had a chance to get to the chores on his list.

Service Projects - Wednesday April 8th

The service projects for today was to work at two different Elementary Schools in Sacramento, were we assigned to work at Hagginwood Elementary School in Sacramento. We met at the church 9:30, a smaller group today than yesterday, probably due to the fact that it was a rainy day, but no matter there were 5 of us, all guys, and we don't mind getting a little wet.

We arrived at Hagginwood Elementary around 10:15 and located the maintenance guy who did not speak much English, shades of Tecate Mexico, we communicated to him who we were and why we were there and he immediately put us to work.

The weather was not cooperating very well especially since the work which was assigned to us was mostly gardening, racking up leaves, sweeping up fallen debris in the parking lot and walkways. We worked as quickly as possible, ever conscience of the ominous storm clouds above us.

Of course as soon as we had arranged the large piles of leaves and debris which we had raked up, the storm clouds opened and it poured and poured, creating huge puddles of water on the lawn and walkways. As soon as there was a break in the downpour we quickly picked up the piles of leaves and did our best to make it look like we had made a difference.

Returning our tools to the maintenance guy he decided to call it a day since the weather forecast was not getting any better and headed back to EDH. When it was all said and done the guys did a great job, no complaining, and another fabulous day of serving the Lord.

My thanks to Shane, Joe, Shane (yes 2 Shane's today), and Brandon, you guys are a great crew and I look forward to working and serving with you all in Mexico next year.