yesterday we went out and got a kite! we went to vasona park in los gatos, tied on our string and let it fly! jane is a natural kite-flyer! we had so much fun that we went 2 days in a row. a reporter from the san jose mercury news was walking by and snapped a few photos and they should be in the newspaper on May 31!
I've written a few broken bus stories on this blog- here is my latest:
last night the middle school ministry took the 8th graders to their annual goodbye party at the boardwalk in santa cruz. it was pretty much a perfect night. we had a good crowd of students, a good group of volunteers, the traffic was mellow, the boardwalk wasn’t crowded and the weather was perfect. I noticed that my cell phone battery was draining a lot faster than normal- and while we were at the boardwalk, it actually died (which is something that has never happened on a youth trip before.) I didn’t have a car charger and no one else had one that fit my phone.
after we went to the boardwalk, we went to seabright, where our high school team was waiting for us with a bbq and bonfire- again- everything was perfect. when it was time to leave, we got in the bus and drove off. while I was on HWY 17 I noticed that the power steering was a little stiff. I pulled over in Scotts Valley and could tell that we had lost it- and there was no way that I was going to take a bus full of students home on 17 with no power steering!
we called in the other cars who were with us and the high school team and got the students home safe. I stayed with the bus. dave called my favorite bus towing company, and they told me that they would be by in 45 minutes. so there I was, parked at a little church in scotts valley, waiting for a tow truck with just the bus and me and with no cell phone. I kind of started freaking out. something in me needed to have contact with the outside world! I saw a gas station over an overpass and thought they might have a car charger for my phone. I don’t really enjoy bridges, heights or edges- and especially when the go over HWY17 in the pitch black dark, but I went for it. I went to 2 gas stations, a grocery store and finally a quik stop to get this car charger. I was actually sprinting because I was afraid that the tow truck might come and I might miss it. they had the charger- I got it and sprinted back- all the way back to the overpass, over it, and back to the bus.
I started this year with several resolutions, and some of them have been going great, some not so much- so I'm going to do some mid-year tweaking.
I started off saying no candy or soda in 2011- and I ended up replacing candy with cookies and soda with sweet tea and starbucks mochas. not a big upgrade in nutritional value. so now I'm going to do the points system- or monitor and limit my calories. I've been doing this for a week, and I'm already down 8 pounds. I still want to avoid candy however. Instead of avoiding soda, I'm actually drinking only diet soda. so I still get all of that caffeine that I love, but not all the calories.
memorizing romans has been going along just fine. I'm excited that I now have 3 other friends from the middle school staff doing this with me. this has evolved into one of my favorite parts of this year so far. each morning I get up early (well, kind of early...) and go for a walk on either the Los Alamitos Creek Trail or the Los Gatos Creek trail with all of my flash cards and review paul's letter to the romans. this has become an exercise that centers me, prepares me, coaches me encourages me and rebukes me. lov it- can't wait to 2012 to learn some other books too.
we wanted to not use the credit card at all this year and that went pretty well until the cars broke. now its time to get back on the saddle.
its been a wild 6 months- lots of new students and volunteers at the church, lots of incredible camps and services-
like I said in my last post, jane is growing up way too fast and is absolutely loving her life.
I'm full of hope for the future.
here is a little blessing for you from the book of romans, chapter 5-
"since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through Whom we have gained access into this grace in which we now stand. and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character and character hope. and hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us. you see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, and for a good man someone might possibly dare to die- but God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
God is love.
-rev rob
I am super proud of both jane and deanna for completing their first year of home school. jane did a great job on all of her schoolwork, and deanna did an amazing job as her teacher. last night we went to a little ceremony for the local homeschoolers where they were able to get a certificate and show off their work. jane read her book, "amanda pig goes on a hike." after watching her do this, I think my face was literally glowing with pride. I was so impressed with my little girl.
