Our Trinity Family

This Sunday Jon, Joshua and I had the experience of "going home." As you probably know, we moved to San Clemente and then San Juan Capistrano in October 2002 due to Jon's activation by the Marine Corps. Prior to that we had lived in Orange and had been members of Trinity United Presbyterian Church -- Jon for 10 years and me for 15. Jon worked at the church, we were married there and Joshua was baptized there. We were very involved and considered that church our family. We have been away for 4 1/2 years and so this Sunday it felt like coming home. We worshiped with friends we haven't seen for years and Jon was giving a standing ovation when introduced by the pastor. It was so touching.

After the worship service we enjoyed saying "Thank you" to many of our North Orange County friends who supported us during the deployment and the entire time that Jon has been activated. Here Jon is with George, the now retired pastor from Trinity. We celebrated at friends Karen and Victor's home in Tustin with many friends that we have not seen for a long time. We also met new friends from EV Free Hungtington Beach who prayed for us, sent Jon packages and letters because they new my parents.

We are so blessed by the love and care that we have received. God is definitely alive and at work through His Church!

Sheryl

Transition

Well, the transition back to being a family of three has been interesting, to say the least. There have been surprises for all of us, but we are handling it fairly well and enjoying each other.

Jon has been welcomed home by some groups, including our church. Last week he was welcomed home by the students of San Juan Elementary School, where Joshua attends. They took about 5 minutes of the Friday assembly to welcome Jon with banners and even let him make a speech. It was wonderful. Here are Jon and Joshua after it was over.

We would like to thank you all for your prayers and support this past year. We have scheduled our first "Thank You Gathering" for Sunday, March 18 from 12:30 - 3:30 at our friends Karen and Victor Ferguson's home in Tustin. This will be the gathering for those who can more easily get to North Orange County. If you did not receive an evite and would like to attend, please either send me an e-mail or post a comment on my blog with your contact information. We have not set the date for the gathering we will have in South Orange County, but that will be coming soon.

For those of you not in the area, I hope you know how much your prayers, thoughts, letters, packages, etc. have meant to all three of us.

Sheryl