September Update

Our summer here, at least weather-wise, seems to have ended rather abruptly with temperatures dropping from the 80s to the 60s within a week.  But here’s the news from our last gasp of summer, so to speak.

Right after I wrote to you last, our family grew by a daughter and a cat.  Hannah and Kevin brought Abigail back to Brockport (sorry if you thought it was a new daughter—it was just the return home of an existing daughter).  Abigail had acquired a cat named Sirius while she was living in Texas, so we now have two cats and a dog in our small menagerie.  H&K had rented a U-Haul and brought most of their belongings up here at that time to put into storage because they are moving back to Brockport too!  More on that later, but then they flew back to Texas the next day to finish things up there.

On 8/22, Krista and I celebrated 34 years of marriage by being about 350 miles apart.  No, that’s not the key to a happy marriage; that’s what happens when kids go to college.  In this case, it was Cai who was starting at Cairn University in Philadelphia.  The night before, I taught a lesson at our CAP meeting, then Cai and I left right from there for Philly, while Zach stayed and finished the meeting and got a ride home from a friend.  The drive down was uneventful, and Carissa graciously waited up for us until almost 1AM to give us a place to sleep that night.

Then on 8/22 in the morning, we drove from her house over to Cairn and got Cai settled in his dorm.  I noticed when I started my car at Carissa’s house, that it sounded a little weak, but it started and ran fine over to Cairn.  So, after getting Cai all set, I was ready to leave for home at about 8:30AM, but when I tried to start my car, all I got was clicking.  Once again, I was very glad to be a AAA member!  I called them, and within about 20 minutes a truck was there.  He diagnosed my battery was dead, my alternator was fine, and he could replace my battery right then and there.  So, about an hour later and $100+ lighter in my bank account, I was really ready to go.

We had a wonderful fish fry that night to celebrate our anniversary and my safe arrival back home.

On 8/23, I remembered my Mom’s birthday 86 years ago.  Of course, now that she’s in heaven, I wonder if birthdays matter or are remembered at all.  Deep question for you all to ponder.

That afternoon our family went together to see the movie “When the Game Stands Tall.”  I think Amelia saw the previews of the movie first and thought we all would like it.  She was right.  It’s a very entertaining movie that also has a great message about priorities in life.

On 8/28 at our Civil Air Patrol meeting, Zach was promoted to Technical Sergeant.  He’s trying to move along quicker with his promotions than he did before, and he’s doing a great job so far.

Zach getting congratulated by our Squadron Commander

Over the Labor Day weekend, Zach and Abigail went camping with our Senior Pastor’s family in northern Pennsylvania.  They came home on 9/1 tired but happy.

I had to say “Senior Pastor” in that last paragraph because our church recently hired an Associate Pastor.  Matt Combs officially started this month, and he’s an energetic and passionate believer in Christ.  I’m excited to see how God uses him at our church!

Our Labor Day was very relaxing.  We just stayed home waiting for Abigail and Zach and doing stuff around our own house.  You call it boring—I call it relaxing.  Toe-may-toe/toe-mah-toe.

On 9/14 we celebrated our undefeated Buffalo Bills squishing of the fish when they beat the Miami Dolphins to go 2-0 on the season.  Most “experts” expected them to be 0-2 at this point, so we’re loving it.  I still am rooting for my hometown Mariners to hopefully make the playoffs this year, but their remaining schedule will not make it easy.  Go Mariners!

On 9/15, I remembered my Dad’s birthday 86 years ago.  Of course, now that he’s in heaven, I wonder if birthdays matter or are remembered at all.  Deep question for you all to ponder.  Wow, déjà vu.

Yesterday 9/17, our Awana year started up again.  We have a good group of boys in the T&T group I help lead (3rd – 6th grade).  It was a good night.  I also spent several minutes yesterday praying for my great-niece, Victoria (my brother Ken’s granddaughter and my nephew Chris’s daughter) as she had surgery on a cyst under her eye.  I trust that God guided the surgeon’s hands and that she is recovering well.  May all of you concerned for her have the peace of Jesus that passes understanding!

The big event of our past month was a wonderful vacation my family enjoyed at the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

We played in the waves, sat on the beach, visited nearby sand dunes, played board games, played pool (on a pool table), played in a pool in the back yard of the house we rented, ate wonderful meals that we all took turns preparing (there are a lot of good cooks in my family), took walks and runs, saw turtles, jellyfish, pelicans, sandpipers, a beautiful sunrise, and fighter jets, celebrated my son-in-law Mat’s birthday (on 9/12), watched movies in a theater room, and played a family version of The Mole that my son-in-law Cody worked up.  If you’re not familiar with that, it was a TV reality game show where the contestants work at challenges to earn money, but one of them is a “mole” who is secretly trying to sabotage the challenges to make them fail to earn the money.  Cody came up with the challenges, some of them based on the TV show, and some of them on his own.  At the end of each day, we took a quiz on who we thought the mole was, and the people with the lowest scores were eliminated.  Even though I was eliminated the first day, it was still fun to watch.  At the end of the week we found out that Carissa was the mole, and Abigail won the cash.  On the TV show, they win hundreds of thousands of dollars.  In our version, Abigail won $31.  OK, so we’re not big spenders.

Amelia at the dunes

At the dunes:  Ben and Caitlin off to the left, Kortney, Jemmie, Abigail, Zach, Levi, Carissa, Matt, Mat, Hannah, Ella

Can you see the message I wrote in the sand?

Playing in the sand at the dunes

Beautiful sunrise

Beautiful sunrise part 2

Enjoying the beach

Bellatrix walking Kevin

At the beach

Also at the beach

These turtles lived in a pond near the house we rented.  They all came swimming up when we stopped to look at them.  They must get fed a lot, although we disappointed them since we had nothing.

Solving puzzles during a Mole challenge

Our pool.  These guys had to tread water as long as they could.  As long as at least one of them was still going, the puzzle team could work on solving the puzzles.

This video is from one of the challenges.  There was an object in the room that Zach was supposed to pick up.  They could only direct him to that object by singing a song.  Here's what happened:

Playing board games

Oh yeah, we did puzzles too

Mat, looking cool in his shades.  Notice the Fantasy Football chart in the back.  Cody coordinated our family league draft while we were there.

Our kitchen and dining area

Kevin, Levi, and Zach playing pool

Playing in the game room

The view from Krista's and my room

Kortney and Mat ready to go out for his birthday

Saying goodbye to the ocean right before we left for home

I guess I should explain the “fighter jets” I threw in there.  It was only on 9/11, so maybe it had something to do with extra security that day, but two or three times that day we saw a jet fly up or down the coast.  There is a military base nearby so maybe it was just that, but our guess was that because of heightened security on 9/11, they were patrolling the coasts.  On the one hand, it’s sad that it is necessary for us to do that.  On the other hand, it’s good to know our military is on the watch and capable of defending us.

I gave the week 9 out of 10.  The only downsides for me were that the weather wasn't perfect (but it was still very good), and that Cai couldn't come.  As I said above, he had just started at Cairn, and it was too hard for him to miss school so soon.  We're already planning on going back, this time in May some year, so that he can come too.

This is who was there:  Krista and I, Carissa and her boyfriend Matt, Kortney and her husband Mat, Caitlin and (from Wednesday until we left) her boyfriend Ben, Hannah and her husband Kevin (and for one day, their dog Bellatrix), Ella and her husband Cody, Abigail, Amelia, Zach, Jemmie, and Levi.

After our Outer Banks vacation, Hannah and Kevin drove home with us and are now living with us while they find a home of their own.  So, since they have a dog, we now have two dogs and two cats at our house!  And their dog is a Rottweiler, so that’s a significant change from our little Havanese!  Bellatrix, their dog, is actually doing quite well adjusting to us and our somewhat tight living arrangements right now.  She’s still just a puppy, but already weighs 70 pounds on her way to probably 90-100.  You’ll see her in some of the pictures from Outer Banks because they had her boarded nearby while we were there and got her one day to spend the day with us.

So, life is, as always, exciting at our house.

Until October!

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!

Special Bulletin

Left are Ella’s keys, right are Cody’s keys.  Middle!

This is how they announced it to Cody’s parents.  Baby due early January.

July Update

Levi’s baseball season is over, and his and Jemmie’s soccer seasons are winding down.  His baseball team ended up with a winning record and was the fourth seed in the playoffs.  They were eliminated in the first round, but played well.

We had a busy Independence Day weekend.  On 7/3, I got up early and helped a family from our church (the Sells) whose daughter was getting married that Saturday to get chairs and tables from our church and take them to the reception site to set them up.  Our van holds a lot of cargo when all the seats are removed, and I think we saved them a couple of trips they would have otherwise had to take.  Dan Sell has helped me many times with things around the house since he is very knowledgeable in home repairs, and I am NOT.  So, it was good to give back to them a bit, although my arms felt it the next day from carrying all those chairs!

Then that night, our Civil Air Patrol Squadron provided the colors for the Star Spangled Banner at the beginning of the Batavia Muckdogs baseball game.  The Muckdogs are the Single A affiliate of the Miami Marlins.  Zach participated in that and looked sharp.  He also was recently promoted to Staff Sergeant.  We’re both looking forward to our New York Wing Encampment that starts this week.  I’ll tell you more about it next month, but I did find out at the second staff training I attended that I will be a Flight Training Officer as well as a Character Development Instructor at the encampment.  The FTO basically acts as chaperone to a flight of cadets, going to their drill and classes with them.  I’m excited about the opportunity to get to know a good group of cadets from all over New York State.

Zach receiving his Staff Sergeant promotion

Getting ready to present the colors

Zach is the one closest to the camera.  You know, the one who looks the best

Anyway, back to our holiday weekend.  We left the baseball game early since the Muckdogs were getting crushed, and we got to attend the town fireworks with our family, including Ella and Cody, and our Pastor and his family.  We’ve been attending the fireworks with them ever since they started at our church.

Then on 7/4, we went to the Rhodes family reunion that they hold each year (Krista’s Mom’s family).  They hold it at Krull Park in Olcott, NY, which is right on Lake Ontario.  I asked my kids and Krista if they wanted to take a walk down to the lake before we left, and foolishly invited Uncle Keith to go with us.  Well, he turned it into an hour long tour of Olcott!  It was really sort of fun, but more than I think my kids thought they were getting in to.

7/5 was Vanessa Sell’s wedding that I mentioned above.  We couldn’t go to the reception, but we let the Sells borrow our van to take things back afterwards.  They said they didn’t get done until about 2AM, but they were faithfully in church the next morning!  Very dedicated!

On 7/10, my brother, Gary, turned )(*&^#$%$@!$%.  Hmm.  Let’s try that again.  Gary turned %^#%%(*&*(*(&.  I guess Google blogs can’t enter numbers that large.  Well, I hope you had a good birthday anyway, Gary.

Also, on 7/10, Kortney (AKA The Bride—I guess she can keep that title for a while, unless someone else takes it) and Mat came to visit us.  Mat’s cousin (I think) got married in Syracuse on 7/12, so they came a few days early to spend time with us.  This is an excellent example to all of you reading this.  If your plans bring you anywhere near us, we’d love a visit!  Anyway, the family spent a good portion of the day Friday at Lake Ontario and playing games at home—well, the rest of them did.  I had to slave away at my job.  Hey, somebody’s got to do it.

Sunday, 7/13, was Hannah and Kevin’s one year anniversary!  Congratulations to you both!

That afternoon, we went to Krista’s sister, Conny’s, house for her family’s annual party.  It’s always good to see her kids and their families.  They were getting ready for family pictures as we left, and I was touched by how good God has been to them when I saw their beautiful family all together.

Caitlin is now in Africa!  She is working for a few months as a housekeeper with Mercy Ships on the M/V Africa Mercy.  Yes, for those who know, that’s the same ship on which Krista’s sister, Nanita, and her family are working, so they are all enjoying getting to see family.  Caitlin reports that she is doing well, and that Uncle Ray (Nanita’s husband) is doing a good job checking on her regularly.  Please keep her in your prayers!

If you would like email updates from her, please send me your email address, and I’ll forward it to her.

Talk to you all in August!

June Update

Here are the top stories of the month since my last update:

Levi and Jemmie’s sports teams are in full swing now.  They’ve both played several games and are doing well.  Levi’s baseball coach (Mark Holcomb from our church) told me he can count on him to get on base just about every time.  Both of their soccer teams are doing well.  Jemmie surprises me by how aggressive she is on the field, not in a bad way, but she’s so quiet normally but goes after the ball like a crazy woman.  She likes playing defense, thwarting the other team’s scoring opportunities.

 

Jemmie (#13) playing soccer

Levi (#15, behind #4) playing soccer

On May 18, I remembered that it had been three years since Mom was born into heaven.  Probably others of you remembered that too.  I know Ken did because he texted me about it.

Also that day, Krista and Ella returned from their Minnesota trip, and there was much rejoicing at our house and Ella’s house.  We all went to the airport to greet them.  No one else got as big a crowd, but that’s true just about whenever my family is involved in something.

Cai has finished his 2nd year at MCC, and I think he’s decided he is going to attend Cairn University (formerly Philadelphia Biblical University) in the fall.  The good part is he’ll be close to Carissa and Caitlin in Philly so he can sponge off them if needed.  I’m sure they’ll love being sisterly to him.

Cai’s had an exciting month.  He went with a team from our church to the Arabic conference in Pennsylvania over the Memorial Day weekend.  Our church has been providing a team to run a VBS for the Arabic Christians’ children there for over 25 years.  He team taught the older kids with another man from our church (Dave Miller, for those who know him).  Then he went to Awana Commander college over the 6/6-8 weekend to learn more about running Awana clubs, since his desire is to become an Awana missionary.  Now he’s off to the Seattle area working in a youth ministry there for a couple of months.  Hopefully, those of you in that area got a letter from him about that and know he’s there.  I don’t know what free time he will have to see relatives and friends there.

Zach and I marched with the Civil Air Patrol in Batavia’s Memorial Day parade again this year.  Then we spent the rest of the day celebrating with our small family (four kids), and Ella and Cody.

This summer, Zach and I will be attending the New York Wing Civil Air Patrol Encampment in Scotia, NY, at Stratton Air National Guard Base.  I will be serving as a Character Development Instructor there (which is what I also do at our local squadron in Batavia), and Zach will be an “in-flight” cadet.  Since I will be on senior member staff, I have to attend two training sessions, and the first of those was on 5/31.  It was fun to meet the other staff (cadet and senior) and learn a bit more about what I will be doing.  I drove out Friday night after work and spent the night in an unheated cabin with one other senior member and a bunch of cadets.  I thought I would be warm enough with the sleeping bag, winter pajamas, a fleece blanket, and my Seahawks hoodie, but no.  Scotia is in the hills near the Adirondack Mountains, and I wished I’d had one more thicker blanket.  I have another training session at the end of this month, and, although it should be warmer, I’m going to hopefully be better prepared.

We remembered Hannah’s birthday on June 6, even though she’s in Texas now, so it was another long distance celebration.

So, I guess that’s about it since the last update.

Just kidding!  Our biggest event of the last month was the wedding of our daughter, Kortney, to Mat Rhode.  Krista, Amelia, Zach, Jemmie, Levi, and I drove to Woodbury, Minnesota (near St. Paul), on Sunday, June 8.  It took us 18 hours from start to finish, but we were happy to see The Bride (as she called herself all week) when we arrived.  We spent the first couple of nights in The Bride’s apartment, then Krista, Zach, Levi, and I moved to a local hotel when more of our daughters started arriving.  Eventually, all of our children and sons-in-law were there, along with Carissa’s boyfriend, Matt, Krista’s sister Jolita and her family, her sister Conny and Conny’s husband Brian, and her brother Terrelle and his wife Lori.  It was a great family reunion too!

We did a little sightseeing early in the week, visiting Laura Ingalls Wilder’s museum and home in Pepin, Wisconsin, the Mall of America, the James J. Hill House, and the cathedral in St. Paul.  Our hotel had a nice big pool that the kids especially loved.

 

At Mall of America with The Bride

At James J. Hill House

At the cathedral

The latter part of the week was mostly spent in wedding preparation along with just enjoying each other’s company.  The wedding itself was Friday night, and it was gorgeous.  The weird thing for me was when I got choked up.  Not when giving away my beautiful daughter, but when I saw all my girls up front, before the ceremony, getting their pictures taken together.  I realized how very blessed I am, and it got to me.

 

The Bride dancing at her reception

The Bride and Groom

We drove home this past Sunday (yep, another 18 hour trek).  Now it’s back to normal life and work.

Until July!

May Update

We did our cantata on Easter Sunday morning, and it went really well.  God really blessed me, and many people said He did that for them too.  Praise His Name!

On Friday, April 25, Cai, Abigail, Zach, Levi, and I went to an Ernie Haase and Signature Sound concert.  We all loved it!  If you know them, you know they have a lot of fun in their concerts.  I brought a CD I had made of the two Kinsmen Quartet albums, and when I met Ernie before the concert (he was out schmoozing with people), I gave it to him.  Obviously, and I told him this, I wasn’t looking to have him promote them or anything since at least two of them (Dad and Lloyd Tremain), are already “singing with the saints,” and he couldn’t get them a better gig than that.  I just thought he might enjoy it as a fan of old time gospel quartets.  So, if you someday hear EHSS do an old Kinsmen Quartet song, I may have had something to do with that.

I recently started serving on the Deacon Board at our church again.  Our biggest task right now is looking for an Associate Pastor.  We’ve been taking applications and reviewing them, sending the applicants questionnaires to determine whether or not we’re a good fit for each other, and doing Skype interviews.  It’s taking a lot of time, but it’s also very interesting meeting these men and, in some cases, their wives.  Please pray that God would bring us just the right man He has for us!

When our kids graduate from high school, we take them and their next younger sibling out to dinner.  To show you how on top of things we are, a week or so ago, we took Cai and Abigail out for Cai’s graduation.  In case you lost track, he’s currently finishing up his 2^nd year of college.  BTW, please pray for him as he decides where God would have him go next, as he is finishing at his two-year community college.  He’s looking at three colleges (Cairn in Philadelphia, Moody in Chicago, and Baptist Bible in Clarks Summit, PA).  Anyway, that same week we took Abigail and Amelia out for Abigail’s graduation.

The reason we were forced into action on those is Abigail has moved to Texas (good thing or Cai might still be waiting).  She is living there now with Hannah and Kevin and looking for a job.  She’s planning on attending their local community college in the fall.

We celebrated Cai’s 20^th birthday on May 5.  One less teenager in our house!  And since we moved Abigail out, actually two less!  Hopefully, Krista and I won’t lose our “edge” in dealing with kids now that life is so much easier.  (I need to send Microsoft a suggestion to develop a sarcasm font.)  We celebrated Cai’s birthday with a delicious dinner and an amazing cake covered in fresh fruit.

Yes, it tasted as good as (or better than) it looks!  Krista made it

For the last few weeks, Cai has been going with me to our Friday morning Men’s Bible study.  We bring his bike along since I go right to work after it’s over, and he rides home.  A week ago, right as he was reaching the bottom of the large hill just north of our church, he wiped out.  He was wearing a helmet, and by God’s grace avoided major injuries, but he did get a nasty cut on his chin, lots of “road rash” on his arms and legs, and he broke a bone in his right hand.  So, he’s sort of limited in his activities as he heals.
 

Nasty gash

See how there's nothing between his other fingers?  But in the red circle, there is something that shouldn't be there

We celebrated Kevin’s birthday on May 14.  OK, we didn’t really have a celebration here since he’s in Texas, but we remembered him!  I’m so glad he’s now a part of my family!

Krista and Ella are currently in Minnesota visiting Kortney.  They were invited to attend her wedding shower there, and we all thought it would be a great mother/daughter/sister time.  It’s just a short trip (they left yesterday and will be back on Sunday).

Levi has started baseball this year.  This is his first year in a “kid pitch” league.  He is trying pitching, along with several other boys.  Since this is all of their first time pitching, there are a lot of walks and struck batters (good thing they don’t throw too hard yet).  So far they’ve just been practicing.  They were supposed to have their first game last night, but it was rained out.

Jemmie is playing soccer this year.  Sports isn’t super high on her list of loves, but she wanted to try it, and she’s on a team with two of her good friends from church (Aly and Hannah Holcomb), so she mostly enjoys it.  Their first game is yet to come.

Speaking of sports, living in New York, it’s a real pleasure to me when the Mariners stomp the Yankees.  So, thanks for that.

Talk to you in June!

April Update

Carissa celebrated her birthday on March 23.  We remembered her from afar.  OK, I guess Philadelphia isn’t that far from us, and I’m very grateful that we get to see them quite often especially with all these weddings lately!

Our church choir that I direct is preparing an Easter Cantata for this Sunday morning.  It is called “Jesus, Messiah,” and it’s full of powerful songs that clearly present the gospel.  Please pray with us that God will use it to His glory and to bring people closer to Him.  We’ve used accompaniment CDs in the past, but since we have such an amazing piano player now (Ella), she’s doing all the accompanying.  She says the piano parts as written are kind of dull, but she’s doing some “spicing up” to make it more interesting for her.  All I know is that it has sounded good in rehearsal!

I think I’ve mentioned before that as part of the Civil Air Patrol that Zach and I are in, he gets to do what they call “o-flights”, or orientation flights.  This past Saturday was his latest one, but before he went up in the real plane, he got to use a very realistic flight simulator at the airport.  It’s called a “Red Bird” and is a little cabin where he sits with a pilot who instructs him on what to do and how to fly it.  The cabin itself moves with your movements, and the screens look a lot like real windows in a plane.  He said it was really cool.

For the past few years, my family and I have had a sort of Seder (part of the Jewish Passover celebration) dinner during the week before Easter.  I saw an article a few years back in a Focus on the Family magazine, and I really like the meaning of the dinner—especially as it showed how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament Messianic prophecies.  We did it again last night, and Ella and Cody joined us for the dinner.  Krista did an amazing job on the food—everything was so delicious:  baked chicken, roasted potatoes, carrots, and wonderful chocolate torte for dessert.  I thought the article I used might be archived online somewhere, but I couldn’t find it when I looked just now.  I did find several similar articles by Googling “Christian Seder” however, in case anyone wants to look up ways to do it.

Talk to you in May!