Leaving Town: Again!

Well, I have been doing some interviews of writers who have published and what their experience has been like. I have been so busy going to workshops, and learning new stuff, I have been squeezing in some writing, but expect this next workshop in New Mexico to help me focus now on writing, and I have planned to use the weeks after to write away. I dropped by the office today and it was good to see a few of the folks, I remebered how much I miss you! I am so grateful for this time and will give you more samples of writings as long as the internet holds up while in New mexico. Take care, Steve

Back Home Again!

I am back to Southern California, I see we had that water from the sky here as well! On the plane I finished the new Harry Potter book, so am ready to discuss this with others who have as well. We are all tired, and took a long nap this afternoon. We will be taking care of business, doctors appointments etc the next couple of days. The kids have a few days before Senior High Camp, to rest up. I will be getting ready for my writing seminar in New Mexico, I have been writing on and off, and look forward to being able to pick up some hints for directing the writing I have done, as well as stretch my wings in new directions! Blessings, Steve

What a weekend!

Hey everyone! Since my last post, I have been a bit busy. We finished helping my sister prepare for the wedding on Thursday and Friday, although we had quite a lot of rain, on Thursday, we managed to get her yard in shape for the reception that followed the baptism but I am getting ahead of myself. Anyhow, the rehersal went well, we met in the Liberty Church in Springfield. For those who might not know, my home church, Chicopee Falls UMC was yoked with Liberty UMC in my years growing up. However, in the last few years the two churches merged and formed the New Hope UMC but still shared a pastor with another church. It was decided to sell the Liberty property first because there was already a church who wanted to buy it, and have the new church meet in the Chicopee Falls church with the eventual goal of finding a property that was half way between the two properties. However last fall, a critical support beam exploded due to the weight of shake shingles that had been added in 1912 to the roof and was too heavy for the church. So the buidling was condemned. The cost of demolishing the building was high due to some toxic materials that needed to be removed. So the Baptist church across the street offered in exchange for demolishing the building, to be given the site for a badly needed parking lot for their church. So this winter a contractor salvage materials like the pews and boards, beams and even those heavy shingles and of course the Revere Bell, were removed. The New Hope church took certain items with them to incorporate to the new church buidling when it is built, however for now they are worshipping in the chapel of the Liberty Street Church, and will meet there even after that buildings sale is finalized, until they have time to plan for the future church. The Baptist church was gracious enough to allow them this space even though the New Hope Church had left it to worship at Chicopee. Anyhow, we were able to use the sanctuary for the wedding on Saturday. So the rehersal went well and then the wedding day arrived. The weather was mild and so those in Tux's and robes did not melt. We had perfect weather for outdoor photo's and then went to the Portugese -American Center in downtown Chicopee! We partied (should I mention we had great food, I of course had Scrod, broiled just right, and I got to sit at table number one! Usually us pastors are stuck in the back with the photographer! Anyhow, my Aunt Ann, my Mom and Dad, and my sister the proud mom, were at our table, and I talked for a long time with them, but my nieces wanted to dance so I did a little of that with them, and some with older family members as well. We went back to the hotel tired but with joy in our hearts. My neice and nephew spent the night with us, so we all could get up at 7:30 est to get ready for church and the baptism of the son of the newlyweds. Lucas Wesley (middle name is the same as my Dad's in his honor) was baptized and I gave the message, without slides but it went well anyhow. Afterwards off to my sisters and the baptism party which was great, the weather was perfect and we sat outside under the big Maple in the back yard and ate and talked and ate some more and talked some more finally packing it in about 8pm and checked in the hotel we are now in. Oh, and just for fun we stayed up on Friday night to purchase our Harry Potter books at the Barnes and Noble here in town. Amber was glad to get her book at the stroke of Midnight EST which is three hours ahead of any of her friends on the west coast, not that she would gloat or anything. At this post, Susy has finished the book, Amber is 50 pages away from finishing and I started today and have logged 200 pages. Tommorow is our last full day here, it is time for more lobster before flying home tuesday! Hope you are all well, thanks for your comments! Steve

Birthday

Did you know Nelson Mandella has the same birthday as I do? Anyhow, on my birthday, July 18 to be exact we spent on the road returning from our Boston Trip, it was raining off and on so we decided to spend some time relaxing in the am, had breakfast and then hit the road. The Mass Pike has some construction going on but we made it to my parents home in good time. We stopped there and had lunch, I had scrod another dish I love here, and then we went over to my sister's to see if we could help with plans for upcoming wedding. The rain was too heavy to do any work outdoors so we took my neice and nephew home and then came down to the hotel and checked in. We took a nice nap and then went out for dinner, I had a lobster roll and then on to my sister's. I was able to go over the wedding service with Stephanie and Jose and so will be typing that up today, the rehersal is on Friday and the Wedding is 2pm Saturday. We sat around and talked for a while and then we came home and picked up a cake so my family sang me happy birthday, and gave me a few gifts. I received a new tie, fisherman's platter, and a few other goodies. Thursday will be trying to get done the bullentin for the wedding and getting ready for baptism on Sunday am. I have been asked to preach for the service so will have to dust off my preaching skills! Hope you are all well! Steve

Boston

Greetings from Boston! We took the Beantown Trolley around town today and had a blast learning about some of the history of Boston. We also fed ourselves well, I had a lobster roll for lunch and scrod for dinner. My neice and nephew joined us and even though they have lived here in Massachusetts had never been on a tour, they had been to a few places, but that is all. One of my favorite spots was Old North church which has a plaque in it dedicated to Charles Wesley hanging up in the sanctuary on the wall. Does anyone know the fact about the one if by land two if by sea tale? I will give you a clue, Paul Revere did not successfully complete his ride but someone else did! Steve

Sunday Rainstorm

Howdy, greetings from Massachusetts!
Today we spent time up in Northampton at Look Park. We celebrated birthdays by having a BBQ and being in the great outdoors. Now the next part is really strange...it got dark, it got cloudy,,and then there was some loud noises, some called it thunder...then we all quickly packed up and this liquid came from the sky. I am told is called rain..living in Southern California, I have forgotten this strange sort of weather that takes place here...rain, thunder and lightening, hail...in the summer? I have forgotten this does take place. So we tried to wait out the storm but as I said it really got intense and so we gave up and went to the hotel and invited the clan to come to the hotel for cake and the continuing of the party. It took quite a while to make the journey because the storm dumped so much rain the highways were flooded and traffic was very backed up. So we finally got back on track a few hours later after quick stops to change into dry clothes, and we were able to sing happy birthday to Lucas my grand nephew who turned 1 on monday, we had cake and then went off to see the new Harry Potter film! It was great. Tommorow we head for Boston for a few days of sightseeing! Steve

Chicopee!

Here we are in Chicopee, Massachusetts. We went to a Jack and Jill shower for Jose and Stephanie, my niece and her fiance who will be getting married this Saturday. The weather has been terrific that last few days, mild and sunny, with white puffy clouds occassionally blowing by. I saw my sister who is busy getting ready for the wedding, my nephew Bryan and brother Gary, and his wife Beth. My parents and Linda, Susy and I came over together to the house. It is amazing that so many changes have taken place since being here last, new buildings being built, old places changing their face, and of course the trees are so green! There are flowers out everywhere, and I wish I knew the name of them all, but lily's, roses, are among the blooms! The rivers are full and the ponds are lovely. Amber arrived safely last night, fresh from Elementary Camp in Wrightwood. The camp went well, we are to see pictures later today. She arrived at 1am last night and we didn't get to sleep until after 2am. This is fine if you are on California time, but we are adjusting to east coast time, so I am a bit sleepy this morning. In a bit we are to go to Look Park for a joint birthday party, besides my birthday, it is my neice's, my grand nephew who just turned one and my brother's step daughter's. So we are having a big birthday party today at the park which has good sites, and a pool, paddle boats, basketball courts and is a pretty place to have a picnic. Take care, Steve

Moving right along!

As I checked the blog I found the last two posts did not make it. So I will try to catch you up, sorry, I was trying to keep you all up to date. We arrived back in Covina and then made final preperations to leave again to the East Coast. We arrived safely in Hartford Conn. at 1:00 am and then spent the night in a hotel that night. The next morning we drove up to Chicopee, Massachusetts and spent a few hours with my parents until we left for Plymouth, Massachusetts for the Chromosome 18 conference. Most of you know my daughter Susy has been diagnosed with a partial deletion of the 18th Chromosome. That particular Chromosome has a band that seperates the top 1/3 from the bottom 2/3rds. She has a deletion of the top so she is labeled as 18p-. Exactly how that manifests is different depending on what actual genes within the chromosome are missing. She is one of 53 children in the world that has this particular diagnosis. There are many more kids who have a partial deletion of the lower part of the 18th chromosome which is known as 18q-. In addition there are several even more rare types, of a ringed chromosome, and a third extra chromosome. So we go to the conference to see what research has taken place to teach us more about what challenges our children might face, and hear from experts about what therapy stragedies seem to work well, as well as just support one another. This year Susy became part of a young adult discussion group that met seperately from our main group. There is a group of about 15 older kids who come who are the first generation of those who have been diagnosed with a 18th Chromosome change. She also participated in a panel, which was designed to give them a chance to talk about what their experience was like growing up with this diagnosis. Since several are in college and high school, they had alot to talk about! Then the audience could ask them questions. Susy spoke in front of about 50 people with a microphone for the first time ever. She did great! Some of the younger parents with children who are just diagnosed asked the panel if they had any suggestions about what they as parents could do, Martin, a young man from Australia said, " Treat us as people first! Everyone has different abilities, those who are diagnosed and those who have no diagnosis, we are all differently abled!. What a great young man!
The conference ended on Wednesday night and so we traveled to Falmouth, Mass. to take a ride over to Martha's Vineyard to visit a friend and check up on a custom made weathervane which is being crafted by an artist for my wife's church. This artist started making custom weathervanes when the movie Jaws was being made and they needed a shark weathervane, and so that was the first of the company and since then they have been making beautiful works of art. So after we came back, we went down to Newport RI to see the old mansions that were built in the early 1900's. It was like being wisked back in time. Anyhow now we are in Providence RI preparing to go back to Chicopee and get ready for the wedding next week! Blessings to you all! Steve

Denver

Greetings from Denver! Linda and I are attending a smart marriages conference. There are people from all over the United States and several from other countries attending. We are a part of the largest conference in the 11 years of existence, over 2000 are attending. We have taken several workshops on subjects like: The 5 languages of love, Why talking is not enough 8 loving actions, wilderness training for marriage enrichment, and have heard from several national recognized speakers including Tony Robbins, last night. We have one more day before returning home. This has been an enriching experience for our ministry and our marriage. Next year the conference is in San Francisco and we are already planning to attend. I will be posting some more learnings in the next few days. Blessings, Pastor Steve