August Update

Just after I wrote last month, Zach and I went to the Civil Air Patrol New York Wing Encampment at Stratton Air National Guard Base near Schenectady, NY.  We both had a great time!  I think Zach learned a lot, and he did very well there.  He won Honor Cadet for his flight (the cadets were all divided up into groups called flights) for getting the highest scores in General Knowledge and uniform inspections.  Zach was in Charlie flight, and I was the Flight Training Officer for Delta flight.  They paired two flights together for most of their activities, so since we were “sister flights,” I got to see and do a lot of things with him.  We both got to go up into a C-130 for a flight that was about an hour long and tons of fun.  He did physical training just about every morning, had classes, team building activities, and lots of marching drill.  I also was a Character Development Instructor for the encampment and did a little counseling through the week, and I helped the Chaplain with the Protestant worship service on the Sunday we were there by leading a song, reading Scripture, and closing in prayer.

Uniform inspection (Zach is in the middle)

Doing Physical Training (Zach is in the gray shirt)

Team building activity

My flight:  Delta Destroyers

The C-130

In the C-130

Zach getting his award.  The men facing him are the Encampment Deputy Commander, the Encampment Commander, the New York Wing Commander, and an Air Force Colonel who spoke at their encampment graduation

 The week we were gone, Jemmie went to summer camp at Bliss Summit Camp.  From what she said, she overall had a good time, even though there were some rough times of homesickness.  She got to do crafts, play games, and make new friends.

The week right after that (July 28 – August 1) was our church’s VBS, which we ran in the evenings.  All of us except Krista were involved in that.  I was in the skit (yes, playing a bad guy again, after all it’s a Matthews men tradition), Amelia helped with a class, Zach did sound, and Jemmie and Levi were in classes.  A fun but tiring week.

My great-uncle, Dudley Parker, celebrated his 94th birthday on August 7!  Congratulations, Uncle Dudley!

On Saturday, August 9, we went to the Wilson family reunion at Barker Lighthouse Camp.  This is the annual reunion of Krista’s Dad’s family.  We had a very small window of time to be there after Krista worked in the morning and before we picked up Cai at the airport that night, but it is important to stay connected to family (which is also partly why I write these updates every month), so we took the trip.  It was great to see everyone, and I even meet some relatives I had never met and Krista hadn’t seen for many years.

As I said, that night, Cai came home from his mission trip to Washington State, where he’d been working for Youth Ministries International running camps at local churches out there, mostly south of Seattle.  He gave a report on his trip to our church last night.  It was very interesting and entertaining!  They used object lessons and sports illustrations to teach the kids about the gospel.  The best sports illustration was about overcoming doubt.  It used the biggest comeback in NFL history, when Frank Reich, the backup quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, led them back to beat the Houston Oilers in the playoffs after they were down 35-3 at the beginning of the 2nd half.  While he was out there, he got to spend part of the Independence Day weekend with his cousins Erica and Rachel, and their families, which was really cool because I don’t think he’d ever met them before.  He said they had a great time together.

This past Saturday, August 16, we celebrated Krista’s birthday.  Ella, Cody, and the kids made excellent white chili, and Krista made “fake” cheesecake.  All of her children and sons-in-law chipped it to get her clothes and cash to fix up some things at the house.  It was a great celebration.

We had a great visit with Krista’s brother, Terrelle, and his family this past Tuesday.  We got to spend the evening with them, introducing them to a Rochester food tradition (garbage plates), playing games, and just chatting.

Greg, Krista, Lori, Terrelle

Cousins!  Ella, Tamara, Zach, Stephanie, Amelia, Cai

That day, before the party, Zach and I volunteered with the Civil Air Patrol at the Rochester Air Show.  We mostly did crowd control, keeping people away from moving propellers and jet engine exhaust, and asking people to kindly not smoke around the jet fuel.  The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds were there and were impressive as usual.

Zach keeping people away while a jet is fueling

Well, that’s our busy month since I wrote last.  Until September!