Wednesday, June 27, 2007

On the road


We didn't get off quite as early as we had hoped, but as soon as I publish this post we will be pulling out of our driveway and heading for our first stop in Barstow. Won't that be exciting (some sarcasm). It will be great to be headed out.

Have a great July.

Sheryl

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Road Trip 2007

We will be hitting the road at the crack of dawn tomorrow. I am so excited to finally be heading out after months of planning. Jon and I first discussed the idea while he was still in Iraq. Joshua and I had seen and loved the movie "Cars" and so the idea was formed and has evolved into what I think will be an amazing adventure. If you want to know our plans, read on, otherwise -- have a great summer.

Sheryl

June 27
Drive San Juan Capistrano to Barstow and hop on route 66, spending the night in Kingman, AZ

June 28
Drive to the Grand Canyon Caverns, Meteor Crater and Petrified Forest, spending the night in Gallup, NM

June 29
Drive through Albuquerque and purchase first University T-shirt (Joshua wears a school uniform, but is allowed to wear college T-shirts or sweatshirts to promote getting a college education. We are hoping to collect various college/university shirts for Joshua on this trip.) We'll spend the night in Amarillo, TX.

June 30 - July 1
Get off route 66, drive to Wichita Falls and enjoy a water park before heading on to Dallas to spend the night and Sunday with friends.

July 2
Drive to Houston and spend the night with friends.

July 3 - 5
Drive to Longview, TX, and spend a couple days with Jon's sister and family.

July 6
Drive to Arkansas where we'll meet a college friend of mine for lunch and then camp in the eastern part of the state.

July 7 - 8
Drive to Memphis where we'll lunch with one of Jon's cousins and then on to Nashville to spend the evening with another one of Jon's cousins and the night with his grandpa. We'll see more cousins before we leave town on Monday.

July 9 - 13
Drive to Crossville, TN, to spend a few days with Jon's folks.

July 14
Drive to Louisville, KY, where we'll spend the night in the home of great friends who will be out of town. :(

July 15 - 16
Drive to Ft. Wayne, IN, to spend a couple days with Jon's brother and family.

July 17
Drive to South Bend, IN, to lunch with friends I've known for almost 40 years, then back to route 66 and on to Bloomington, IN, to visit a college friend.

July 18
Drive to St. Louis, MO, to spend the night with friends of Jon's from his Marine Security Guard days in West Africa.

July 19
Drive to Higginsville, MO, to see friends and then meander through some historic sights in the state before overnighting somewhere in Kansas.

July 20
Drive to Colorado where we'll miss some other good friends by a couple days.

July 21
Drive to Green River State Park, UT, where we'll camp.

July 22
Drive to Bryce Canyon, UT, to camp.

July 23 - 25
Drive to Zion National Park, UT, to camp, hike The Narrows and other great hikes.

July 26 - 27
Maybe drive to Hoover Dam and camp at Lake Meade or maybe head for home.

July 28
Plan to be home.

Friday, June 22, 2007

We have a second grader

School is over and Joshua has officially been promoted to 2nd grade. It was a great final week. On Monday the students had a field day and each grade level had an hour out on the field with some organized games. We have been having perfect weather so it was a lot of fun for them. Tuesday all of the 1st grade classes got to go on a beach field trip to Doheny State Beach. Our home is 2.5 miles from that beach with easy access by a bike trail, so I walked to the beach to meet the kids, teachers and parents. We all had a great time. The students have been studying marine life and we were fortunate to have another beautiful day with a low tide so we could walk in the tide pools and find hermit crabs, sea slugs, etc. Wednesday after school Joshua performed a musical theater number with about 20 other students. They had worked on it for a couple months as an after-school program. He had a couple lines, which he remembered and delivered just fine. The students were Kindergarten through 2nd grade, so you can imagine the performance, but the parents, siblings, friends, teachers and grandparents in attendance loved it. Thursday Joshua woke up at 5:00 a.m. and ran into my room to announce that it was the last day of school and they were going to get to do whatever they wanted that day. I mumbled something about sleeping in... After school we invited a few friends over to swim at our mobile home park's pool. It was a great way to end the year.

Unfortunately, Jon missed all the fun this week because the Marine Corps sent him to Tampa, Florida, for some meetings. He gets home this afternoon, so Joshua and I are planning a trip to the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park this morning on our way to pick him up.

Happy Summer!!!!

Sheryl

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Joshua and the San Juan Seniors

On Friday, June 15, Jon and I were able to celebrate a huge achievement of Joshua's and thank the San Juan Seniors for their support while Jon was deployed.

Joshua was honored by his teacher Mrs. Hamidi as the Star Reader for his class for the third trimester of school. The scholar awards ceremony was held with all of the 1st grade classes together. Each first grade teacher had four students who were honored. The principal invited the four students being honored up on the stage of the multipurpose room along with their parents. Then the teacher explained to everyone what the child was being honored for. The only down side is that since Joshua is in the 2-way immersion program, the teacher praised his reading in Spanish. Jon and I picked up some of it, but it didn't matter cause we knew what a great job he has done. He is reading chapter books now in Spanish. He has also taught himself to read in English and so reads simple books in English as well. Here we are with his teacher. What a great day.

After the morning awards ceremony Jon and I had arranged to meet some of the San Juan Seniors for lunch at the Community Center. There was a nice size group that day and they had a special father's day lunch along with a guest musician who played during the meal. It was great to see our friends again and thank them in person for their great care for us while Jon was deployed. Jon had a plaque made with our family picture, a I MEF coin and the Marine Corps logo. The Seniors were so touched by this gesture. Here we are pictured with the leaders. We have been so blessed by so many and it was our privilege to honor these friends in this small way.

Sheryl

Friday, June 01, 2007

Reading the Bible together

I have read through the Bible a few times in my life -- over a year or two -- but this week I participated with my church in reading the entire Bible in less than a week. Last Sunday the first verses of Genesis were read in our sanctuary at noon as the third worship service ended and the final verses of Revelations were read last night during a worship service where the leaders of our church made our commitments to be a part of the future of our congregation. What a powerful week.

Jon had Tuesday off and so he and I were able to read together. Our congregation read through the Chronological New Living Translation of the Bible, which was a first for me. This takes the entire Bible and puts it in order of when the stories happened, when the poems were written, when the prophecies were spoken. It was amazing. Jon and I read some great stories about King Saul and his son Jonathan. We were so moved by this experience that we decided to sacrifice a little sleep to join in again. We didn't quite calculate correctly the time it would take to read the Bible aloud while involving children, young adults, families, those new to the Scripture and those who have read it for 50+ years. So Wednesday night I volunteered to come in from 9:30 - 11:00 p.m. to fill a gap in the schedule. Amazingly about a dozen other folks showed up during that time and so I only read for about 15 minutes of that hour and a half. What a gift to sit and listen to the Scripture being read by brothers and sisters in Christ. Some voices were clear and strong, very familiar with the Gospels they were reading. Other voices were hesitant and stumbled over names, but continued on. All read and heard The Word of God. Our pastor reminded us that for centuries, until the printing press, this was the way that the Bible was passed on from generation to generation.

Jon helped fill the 4:00 - 6:00 a.m. gap Thursday morning. That meant he was up at 2:00 so he could do his morning work-out routine before heading to the church to sit and read through more of the Gospels with our pastor who joined him. Last night I was so moved to hear my friend Rosalis reading the second to last chapter of Revelations and finishing right at the strike of 7:00 p.m. when the final worship service was to be held. We heard the final chapter of the Bible read by four members -- a child, a young woman, Jon, and an 80 year old woman. All in attendance read the final verses responsively.

What a gift -- to share this Book with each other. All week I have heard and participated in conversations about stories we have read that week -- from the Bible. I have joined in conversations about theology and doctrine because so many of us had been diving into the Scriptures together. It took all of us to read through the Bible in 5 days and it takes all of us to live the Christian life every day.

Thank you, God, for calling me to the body of San Clemente Presbyterian Church, I am so blessed.

Sheryl