Church Activities

Praise the Lord, the Junior Choir Missions Program went well. All the children showed up--except for one who was sick--and did a great job singing and with their speaking parts as well. All the hard work and prayers paid off. Here I am with all of them afterwards.



Since I had my camera at church, I took a picture of some of the teen girls who come to my Bible study on Wednesday nights. We were sad that night because it was Carissa's (in the middle) last Sunday. Her family is moving to Texas. We are going to miss them a lot! Besides being having 9 fewer church members, we are lossing two adult choir members, a pianist, and I am loosing two Junior choir members too! We are praying that the Lord will use them in Texas as much as He has here.

Grand Canyon Pictures

Friday's sunset provided the most vivid colors we saw during our stay at the Grand Canyon.

Nazgul, Grandpa and I in front of the Desert View Tower.

Dad and Ryan pause along the Bright Angel Trail.

The evening shaddows enhance the beauty of the canyon, don't you think!?

Nazgul poses in the cool morning air.

We're back...safe and sound...

Praise the Lord! We had a lovely weekend at the Grand Canyon. God provided us with many happy memories there and safe traveling back and forth.

Our trip started out only 15 minutes later than planned and although we had a few unexpected stops along the way, we made it in time to check into our rooms and eat a delicious Thanksgiving dinner buffet just outside the Grand Canyon Park. Judging by the number of pictures we took in the lobby, rooms, etc... I think that Nazgul was impressed by American hotels. I do believe it was her first experience staying in one. Friday morning we met around 8:30 at the rim--my grandfather and brother stayed in a different hotel than the rest of us because we got his room later. We walked around the village and took pictures for about an hour and then headed out to do some exploring. After waiting for about a half of an hour for the free shuttle service--the only way to travel along the rim now--we were off. The shuttle travels long an 8 miles stretch of the rim and stops at various points where you can get off and take pictures and look at various monuments, historical markers, etc... We only stopped twice because each time you get off you have to wait another 15 min. for the next bus and hope there is room. I would have preferred walking the whole way myself, but deferred to others who couldn't or didn't want too. After eating our sack lunches, we decided to split up. My grandfather, mom and brother Brent stayed in the lodge while Dad, Ryan, Nazgul and I took a short hike down the canyon. I was beautiful and not as hard as I thought. I guess it helped that it was not very sunny or hot. I think we went about 2 miles down in about 45 minutes, and then turned around assuming that it would take us longer to come back. When we got to the top and checked the time we were surprised to discover that our time back up was faster than the trip down. My dad and I agreed that down was a lot harder on our knees and feet, although we got hotter on the way up. I was very impressed that Nazgul kept up with us. For one thing, she is quite a bit shorter, and also not as used to such physical activities. On the way out of the park we stopped at the desert view tower just as the sun was beginning to set and got some of our best pictures of the canyon. Unfortunately, it was overcast all day, so most of our pictures don't capture the vivid colors of the canyon. However, I will try to post some in the near future.

We spent Friday night in Flagstaff, AZ and woke up Saturday morning to a chilly 22 degrees and thick frost on our car. However, by the time we got to Phoenix to drop off Nazgul with Karen and her relatives, it was back up to 70 degrees. (Nazgul and Karen are staying in AZ until this Wednesday.)  The rest of the trip was quite uneventful. We arrived home around 5:00 last night--just in time for my brothers to watch the USC game and for me to prepare for the junior choir program tonight. We enjoyed a relaxing evening with just our family--something that hasn't happened since September.

 

 

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Thanksgiving at the Grand Canyon

Since we already had our family get-to-gether for thanksgiving, my family (Dad, Mom, me, Brent, Ryan, Grandpa and Nazgul) is going to the Grand Canyon during Thanksgiving break. The idea came up because we wanted to be able to show Nazgul something of the USA besides just San Diego and this is really our only chance. Then, my grandfather found out we were going and asked to go with us--he loves to travel. We are excited that he is going to be able to go with us--not knowing when his last trip will be.
Anyways, Brent is driving down tonight after his classes are done and we are all going to leave early in the morning. We are shooting for 5AM, but we'll see what really happens. We are planning to spend one night near the canyon and the next part-way home. We have responsibilities at church on Sunday morning and my Junior Choir is doing their program for the Sunday evening service, so we have to be back for that too. I'll try to post some pictures when we get back.

Women Counseling Women conference

Last week I attended a seminar with my Aunt Cheri at Ironwood--a camp near Barstow. Debi Pryde taught the three full days of classes introducing us to counseling from the Word of God. Having taken an introduction to counseling class at Northland, some of it was review for me. However, it was a good reminder and also added a lot of new information. My aunt had never been able to attend classes like this before, and really enjoyed it. It was a nice break for me from teaching piano and work at ICR, even though we had very little free time. God blessed me with some time alone in the Word and prayer out in the great outdoors too. (One of the great things about being at camp.) I think that it was a much-needed break for my dear aunt as well. She has lots of counseling opportunities at home raising 9 children as well as with other family members and people at church.

Here is the view from our little cabin on the way to the afternoon session.

Thanksgiving...a few weeks early...

My mom's side of the family has gotten together for Thanksgiving early for years to avoid the traffic in and around LA which occurs on the actual day. This year it worked out that the day most of the family members could do it was Nov. 4th. So, last weekend we headed up to my great-aunt's house in Redlands. This year we thought it was going to be the first time in 6 years that our entire family--Mom, Dad, Marcia, Brent, and Ryan--were going to be there. However, Brent got a flat tire and by the time he got it fixed, it wasn't worth the two hour drive out there for him. So, once again we were not all there. However, we did have a great time of fellowship with the 40 members of our extended family that were able to come. Nazgul also was able to come with us and participate in her first Thanksgiving celebration. She enjoyed talking to one of my second cousins who lived in her country for a year and spoke a little Russian. We also taught her to play monopoly. Here we are playing--I took the picture. Our game was interrupted for pie, however, and we never got back to it.

Just a few pictures from the last few weeks...

Two weeks ago my family--Dad, Mom and I--took Nazgul to Sea World. She really enjoyed seeing the shows--especially Shamu. She was also very game and tried everything from touching sea stars to her very first rollercoaster. It was a warm day, so we even took a ride down the rapids and got soaked--can you tell from the picture! :) She doesn't look very excited here, but we were just squinting from the bright sunlight.



















It has been so clear lately, we decided to take Nazgul to Point Loma and get some pictures back of the city. Itsn't it beautiful. I love San Diego!