A Rare Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!

We had snow in the Portland area today!!! For a couple of hours, at least, it was snowing heavily across the whole metro region. The Oregonian says that the last time there was measurable snowfall on Christmas Day in Portland was 1937. Wow!
They say it may snow a couple of inches overnight, but we'll just wait and see.

Another rare thing on Christmas for us was that we got to be with Lani's mom (& her brother Brian's and sister Shauna's families) and later the same day with my parents too. We had a nice time opening presents in the morning with our kids, had a nice Christmas feast (shared with the Maki & Wagner families) and played cards tonight with the three grandparents all here. It was a blessed day!

Last night I sang with "Men in Black" for Christmas Eve services at Abundant Life Church (www.coolchurch.com). It was lovely. . . some acappella singing, candlelight, harp, a nice message. We also did the same thing in four services on Sunday. It made for a busy last couple of days (what with my last-minute shopping & wrapping to do to), but it was nice to be included there. Maybe we'll get to do it again sometime.

Blessings on you all!

A couple of pics from this week

Here are a couple of pictures from this week. The first is from last Saturday when we went to cut a Christmas tree (Finally! We're usually doing this on Thanksgiving weekend!)

The second is of "Tucker", the labradoodle boy puppy that we're still selling. Here he is on a red background on his 9-week birthday. He's all ready to go home with someone for Christmas!

Singing Opportunities!

Here are some fun singing opportunites I have coming up. Maybe you'd like to come hear one of these groups!

"Men in Black" just found out that we'll be singing on 104.1 "The Fish" for their Christmas show next Thursday, Dec. 20. We're the kick-off group at 6:00 a.m. (and have to be there at 5:30 -- whew!), so get up and tune in early to hear us sing. I think we get to do three songs on air!

Later that evening, we're singing a second time at the Grotto's "Festival of Lights". We got some rave reviews from our first performance there and they had an opening that they needed filled. One cool thing is that Hannah & Micah will be singing there right before us with the Gresham H.S. choirs. They sing at 8:00 p.m. and we sing at 9:00.

This weekend, Dec. 15 & 16, I'm singing with the Portland Symphonic Choir. This is our annual "Wintersong" concert and should be a great one to watch and hear (and I do have a solo in one piece!). You can get tickets at www.pschoir.org
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In other news, we sold two more puppies today and now just have one cute little guy left. He's a really nice one too, so I'll be surprised if he doesn't sell pretty quickly.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are my big thanks for this year:
Caleb's healing as his cancer was discovered and is now in remission!
Celebrating 20 years of marriage to my sweetheart, Lani!!!
Lani getting a full-time job (she has a great job as a TAG teacher!).
Singing opportunites -- with Portland Symphonic Choir & Men in Black.
Healthy, blessed children.
A nice job that I love.
Blessings of good friends and extended family.
Puppies! And my running partner and now mama dog, Molly.
And for the enduring love & mercy & care of God.

Labradoodle Puppy Pictures are Up!

Check out labradoodlesoregon.blogspot.com to see the pictures of my labradoodle puppies.

These puppies are Available for adoption to their new homes as soon as Dec. 7 (eight weeks old) or any time later in December including pick up on Christmas Eve!

Keywords: labradoodles, labradoodle, puppies for sale, Christmas puppies, Portland, Oregon, F1b labradoodles, labradoodle puppies

Christmas Labradoodle Puppies

Our labradoodle puppies will make great Christmas presents! If you know someone who'd like one, let us know.

I'll be posting individual pictures of the puppies this weekend. You can see them all at www.labradoodlesoregon.blogspot.com

In other news. . . Hannah & Micah are in the Gresham High School production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". Opening show last night went well. Next shows are tomorrow night (Sat.) and then Sunday afternoon; next week again on Thursday & Saturday nights and again on Sunday afternoon. Hannah is a "Narrator" and gets to sing quite a few solo parts! Micah is an Ishmealite (sp?) and wears a cool costume, long beard, and glasses.

Molly had her puppies!

Our beloved labradoodle, Molly, had seven healthy puppies last Friday night!

I've started a blog about her and her puppies at labradoodlesoregon.blogspot.com

I'll be posting info there about the puppies, pictures, etc. We hope to sell several of them in December.

Lots of singing!

Besides singing a lot every day with my elementary music classes, I'm also singing with the Portland Symphonic Choir and with a six-member ensemble we call "Men in Black". Monday nights it's PSC and Tuesdays it's MIB.

Last night the MIB group really started to sound like it's coming together. We're rehearsing a bunch a different stuff right now for December singing. We've got some pop, jazz, barbershop, and classical arrangements -- just a lot of variety and a lot of fun singing. So, if you're available on the Wednesday night after Thanksgiving (Nov. 28), come hear us at the Grotto's Festival of Lights. We're the 6:00 p.m. group that night!

As I've mentioned on here before, you can check out the Portland Symphonic Choir (view our performance schedule, buy tickets, or even find out how to join) at www.pschoir.org

Getting into the Fall season

OK, now we're all getting settled into our back-in-school, Fall schedules.

Lani and I are both teaching full-time, two kids are in high school, two go with me to Hollydale -- everyone is back to their own school/work routine.

I'm singing in two groups this year. Still a staff singer with the Portland Symphonic Choir (see www.pschoir.org) and singing in a small group we're calling "Men in Black". My good friend, Phill Hurley, actually started up this group awhile back to sing a couple of times at church; toward the end of Summer he asked several of us if we'd be interested in singing together and so the group was resurrected. We currently have six guys singing, but may look to add a couple more. We are booked to sing at the Grotto's "Festival of Lights" at 6:00 p.m. on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving.

Caleb and Levi were both playing Gresham Youth Football, but Caleb had to drop out after his skin got some kind of infection/condition. His dermatologist thinks it's something different than the cancer, and is trying to clear it up with a steroid cream (and it looks WAY better since he began using the cream and stopped football about 10 days ago). Levi is working hard in his first year of tackle football, practicing three days a week and then playing games on Saturdays.

Hannah and Micah both tried out for the musical at Gresham HS. Lani and I were surprised that Micah tried out! He's coming out of his shell! Neither one got the big parts that they might have liked, but both have small roles. They'll be performing in November in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat".

So, there's a little update on our current activities!

Summer's over. . .

Summer is over for Lani and me. Today we both returned to our teaching jobs and went through inservice activities and getting our rooms ready. Lani found out that she'll teach TAG three days per week (2nd, 3rd, and a mixed 4th/5th group) and have two days to "prep" (I told her she has a GREAT job!).

Now to get used to going to bed earlier and getting up on time! Ugh. . .
Summer is definitely over.

I'm probably feeling more tired because we were awakened during the middle of the night to see the lunar eclipse (Hannah and three friends were up watching it and their voices woke both Lani and I). I got up around 3:00 and took a look. Kind of interesting, but not worth staying up most of the night to see was my thought. I noticed that two neighbors were outside across the street watching it too.

Fishing (but no catching!)

Caleb & Levi went fishing with me on Thursday. We tried several locations all over the Mt. Hood Forest, but never caught a single fish. We first headed for the Barlow Crossing campground on the White River (heading up Hwy 26, then on 35, then on Forest Service road 48). I've had some luck there in the past (years ago), but we found the water to be really murky with silt and sand and so we left and headed for Timothy Lake. However, not knowing any better, we detoured a bit and checked out Clear Lake. I'm not sure if they catch much there or not, but we had a hard time fishing from the banks (we did see two boats of fishermen out in the middle). So, on to Timothy Lake. I had read on the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife site that this is a top option for sure-fire trout fishing in the state, and they even pointed us toward the south shore and the dam. So we parked by the dam and tried our luck for a couple of hours, but again didn't ever even get a nibble. BTW, we had to pay to park anywhere near the dam too! Well, I really prefer stream fishing to lake-bank fishing, so we headed down the gravel road from Timothy, following the Oak Grove branch of the Clackamas River. Here we stopped several times to try nice-looking holes. Finally we had some action! This water was clear and cold -- coming right out of the lake -- and this should be good for trout. We found some holes where our bait finally got struck! This was fun, but yielded no catches. Either we were poor catchers or rather what I suspect is that there were a lot of little fish just striking our bait, but none big enough to gulp it down. Eventually we gave up there and headed down to where we ran into Hwy 224 and joined the main Clackamas River. We stopped at a really promising stretch of water with deep holes and put in our lines, but never had any action. So. . . lots of nice water, gorgeous scenery, but no fish! Still, you know what they say, "A day fishing -- even with no fish -- is better than a day someplace else." As we left our last spot on the Clackamas, both boys were asking if we could come right back here the next time!
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Other news:
Today is Caleb's 11th birthday! Tomorrow we're having a party for him at the Gresham HS pool. Should be a fun time with a bunch of boys!

Caleb's lightbox treatments continue to be going well, as far as we know. We're looking forward to meeting with his doctor on Sept. 6.

Caleb & Levi are both playing football for the first time. They're working hard (four practices a week for 2+ hours each time). Both are linemen, of course!

Lani & I are counting the last few days of our Summer vacations. We both officially report back on Tuesday, Aug. 29 (though I'm sure we'll be in our rooms before then).

Cool Computers

Have you seen the new iMac? Yesterday Apple announced their latest iMac models and a very-nicely revised set of applications called "iLife '08" I've been taking tech classes all this week (offered free through my school district) and so there was quite a buzz there as these products were announced by Steve Jobs in Cupertino yesterday.

I've taken classes in digital storytelling/portfolios, an overview of the iLife package, a class in "web authoring", and today 8 hours of iMovie. Tomorrow I take an Excell class. The coolest thing is that not only are these offered free by my district's tech department, but they also offer incentive points based on how many classes you take; these points can then be redeemed for cool products like digital cameras, DV recorders, iPods, projectors, SmartBoards, etc. I'm going to have enough points to get a video iPod!

Levi and Caleb are in their second week of football conditioning/practice. Tomorrow and Friday they find out which team they are on (and whether they are on the same team with any friends!). They're some of the biggest guys in their age groups, but not very aggressive -- yet!

Caleb's UV treatments are still going, of course. We don't see the doctor again until Sept. 6, but we think things are progressing well. After that appointment we may know if it seems to be in "remission", whether we continue three-times-a-week treatments, etc. Thanks for all the prayers on his behalf.

End of July update

Wow, it's hard to believe that July is nearly over! Of course, this means that Summer is 2/3 over too!

Caleb's UV treatments seem to be going well. Dr. Kang is encouraged that the spots appear to be responding and is optimistic that the cancer will be in remission by the time school starts. PTL!

Caleb and Levi went to "Rip City Basketball Camp" last week at Concordia University. It's run by Brad Barbarick, Concordia's head coach and someone I played college ball with. They had a good week. This week they have swimming lessons and start football conditioning camp on Wednesday.

Hannah and Micah are at Houseboats Camp all week down in Northern California on Lake Shasta. It sounds like a great experience!

And I'm building a deck for a guy this week. It's going to be a nice, TimberTech (composite) deck going around a hot tub. Not huge (18x20), but made with really nice materials.

Caleb update & more of life

Here's a picture of Caleb (in the foreground) along with Levi & Micah and some of his cousins. This was taken on our recent trip to Glacier Park in Montana.

So, last week he started his UV light treatments. He is treated three times per week. The treatments themselves are really quick! He started at about 30 seconds of exposure and they've upped it a few seconds each time; I think by the end it may get up to 10 minutes or more. It takes alot longer to get ready (strip down, rub on a skin lotion EVERYWHERE, put sunblock on his face, put on goggles, etc.) than the actual treatments. They also did some blood work this week to establish a baseline of where he's at with the mycosis fungoides.

Thanks for all the prayers offered in Caleb's behalf. We trust God to be at work through all this and have already seen His blessings.

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This last week was really busy for all of us. My good friend, Paul McDonald, reroofed his house and I ended up helping him nearly every day. First we did a complete tear-off of three layers and then put new tar-paper and composition shingles. Of course, we had the hottest week of the year with record highs twice and temps cracking 100 two or three times! Whew!!! My nephews, Orion and Jaden Maki, were over here all week from Montana and so we had extra kids and activities all week. Then my folks came over from Meridian, Idaho on Wednesday. We had a memorial service and family dinner on Friday for my great aunt, Louetta Humble. Lani's mom came over from Missoula on Thursday and went back home today (with Orion and Jaden). Oh yeah, we also bought a new (to us, anyway) fridge on Craigslist and then moved it one hot afternoon; Saturday I spent several hours - with help from my dad - running a line for the ice-maker (working up in my hot attic!). Today. . . I rested. Church, lunch at Chevy's, and then just taking it easy the rest of the day.

There you have it. Just a busy summer week!
This next week we have VBS at church. It's "Avalanche Ranch", a popular one all over this year. Our church is planning for about about 1000 kids and Lani & I are just two of over 450 volunteers! I'm also helping my brother paint his house and Micah is at band camp.

Oh, I almost forgot another blessing! Lani got offered another 1/2 time TAG job, so now she is a full-time TAG teacher for this coming year!

Snowballs in July!

Today I had snowballs thrown at me by Levi & Caleb! In July!!!

We are in Montana for the 4th of July week and went up to visit Glacier National Park -- see their website here. What beautiful country we saw today! It was fantastic weather (just a few fluffy clouds here and there and highs up in the mountains just over 70) and it was the first full day that the "Going to the Sun Highway" through Glacier was fully open. We saw one scenic vista after another and at the top of the pass we walked up a mile or so on a trail and were actually on glacial snow and ice.

We went with Lani's mom and her brother, Brian, and his two boys, Orion and Jaden (we also have my nephew, Cole Wagner, with us too). We got six disposable cameras and gave my three boys plus the three nephews each a camera to photograph whatever they wanted. That was fun! Besides snowy peaks, glacial valleys, pristine lakes, and cascading rivers, we saw a bunch of deer, several mountain goats, chipmunks, and even one badger!
We'll have to post some pictures later!
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Here are some pics I'm adding the next day. For a bunch more photos from our trip, click on my flickr.com photo bar on the right side of my blog.

Here is a shot I took in the clearing above the Logan Pass Visitors' Center.

And this is Lani in that same beautiful clearing.
And here is our family group at a scenic viewpoint along the way.

Check out the rest of the pictures; there are some awesome scenes.

Mycosis Fungoides

Unless you know someone with this condition, you're probably thinking, "What???"

Yesterday we learned that our son, Caleb (who is 10), has a rare cancer called "mycosis fungoides". He's had skin irritation, rash, and occasional infections for 2-3 years, but only now has a doctor figured out what it is. He will begin ultraviolet light treatments 3x-a-week starting on July 9 and they hope to have it in "remission" before school starts.

Here are some praises to go with this prayer request:
First, the median time from first skin symptoms until diagnosis is six years. While we could be frustrated that our pediatricians over the last 2-3 years never figured out what this was, the dermatologist we're working with now, Dr. Kang, told us that most pediatricians would never see a case of this in children and it would be normal to just treat the symptoms. So, we're thankful that this was identified in less than half the typical time.

How did they find it? Well, that's another praise. We were blessed to get referred to Dr. Kang, a dermatologist with Kaiser Permanente, who also participates one day a week with a group of doctors at Oregon Health Sciences University. After Dr. Kang did a biopsy from a patch on Caleb's back and then wasn't sure about the test results, he set us up to bring Caleb to OHSU to a weekly consultation/study group in which he participates. Caleb (and Lani) went there last Wednesday at 7:00 a.m. and had about 40 doctors and specialists examine him in groups of about four at a time. Out of that collaboration came the diagnosis. This is not only a rare cancer, but is exceedingly rare in children. So again, we're thankful that this has now been identified and treatment can begin.

Dr. Kang warned us to be careful about reading about mycosis fungoides on the web because he knew that it sounds very dire out there. He is quite hopeful that with this early detection and with Caleb's age, that this can be quickly put in remission. Still, there is a lot that we don't know about it yet. We've written out a bunch of questions to ask the doctors when we do our "orientation" appointment week after next.

Here are some sites that provide information about mycosis fungoides. Be warned that this sounds really bad. We don't know yet what all this means in Caleb's case.
rarediseases.about.com/od/rarediseases1/a/101004.htm
emedicine.com/med/topic1541.htm
answers.com/topic/mycosis-fungoides?cat+health
webbmd.com (search results for "mycosis fungoides")
clfoundation.org

Please lift us all up in your prayers. I feel like we just started a journey down a long and unknown road. I know God will be with us all the way, but I just don't know where we're going! (Isn't that true about all of life!)

Bike Riding Family

We live really near this awesome trail, the "Springwater Trail Corridor", but we've hardly ridden our bikes on it since moving here last August. I love to take Molly for runs on it, but we just hadn't biked. . . until now.

This last week, now that we're all on Summer break, we started getting bikes and equipment all ready for our family to ride. I picked up a pair of mountain bikes on Craigslist for a great price and then fixed flat tires on two bikes this week, got a super-soft seat for Lani, a new helmet for Micah, and lubed and adjusted all the bikes to fit our current sizes. I'm still watching for a different bike for Hannah because one of the Schwinns that we've had for awhile is a little under-sized and also in need of lots of adjusting to really run well.

Last night and then again tonight, we all took a ride on the trail. So far, it's been fun and a good family thing. We went east last night and west tonight on the trail and got to see a little more of it in each direction than any of us had seen on walks or runs. We've seen scores of rabbits (and mosquitos!), several deer, and lots of beautiful scenery. I'll have to take some pictures and post them in the near future.

A new first for me

Last night I sang two Beethoven works with the Portland Symphonic Choir (along with the Portland Chamber Orchestra). We did his "Choral Fantasy" and then the infamous "Symphony No. 9" It's almost embarrassing to admit as a chorister that I had never done the 9th Symphony before (seems like most of my fellow choir members had done it three or four times). Anyway, now I can say that I've had that experience! It went quite well with the audience giving us a long, rousing, standing ovation. And when the maestro extended his hand toward the choir for our acknowledgement, it was like a huge surge of cheers and applause, so we must have done well (we'll have to see what the critics write in the local papers -- probably coming out tomorrow). It was difficult to sing because of the high range and loud dynamics, but it sure was exciting. And now it won't be long until the next time I sing it because our choir is scheduled to do it with the Bend Chamber Orchestra in Bend on August 25.

You can always check out the Portland Symphonic Choir at www.pschoir.org

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Only four more days with students this school year (and then two work days). Summer is nearly here!!!

Memorial Day

Just a few end of the day thoughts. . .

I don't personally know many people who have served in the military -- whether living now or passed on -- but I know today was special for many touched by the loss of a loved one who served as a soldier. Today I did reflect on some of those I love who have already passed on; mostly I recall with fondness my grandparents on the Dalzell side. I do miss them a lot.

Today I went fishing with my boys and a good friend, Paul. And that's all it was for most of us: fishing. Not catching. Paul did catch one small trout, but none of the rest of us got anything (except wet feet, smelly hand, and sunburns!). But, it was nice to be out casting a line on a beautiful day here. There was an hour -- or probably more like 40 minutes -- where a guy not twenty feet from us on the bank pulled out his limit of five fish (all decent, plump trout too!). It's hard to figure how that happens. He was catching fish while folks on both sides of him got nothing. There's a special skill or one of life's mysteries there or something.

I also was thinking this holiday weekend about how a year ago at this time our kids had just finished the school year, we were packing things up for a move, and we were pretty unsettled about jobs, where to live, etc. I feel blessed to be where I am today! I'm also praying for a blessing on friends far and near who stood by us, supported us, prayed for us, helped move us, and so much more. May God bless you all as you have blessed us.

My Rant Against Gas & Oil Companies

Outrageous! Unbelievable! Gas prices are out of control and nothing seems to be getting any better. Gas is now $3.38 a gallon in Oregon and rising. The price has gone up .88 cents per gallon since the beginning of the year! Hmm. . . no natural disasters, no oil fields blown up, no pipelines shut down. What's up???? Here are my main reasons why I think something is wrong here:

Lack of competition. Our free-market, capitalist system is not operating correctly; supply and demand are not regulating prices. Why? We have too much of a monopoly in the oil business. If this wasn't true then why wouldn't some company say, "hey, we are willing to ONLY make a couple billion dollars this quarter, so we'll undersell these other greedy companies that are making multiple billions." There just isn't any competition to lower prices (or any incentive by the few big companies left -- heck, their boards & CEOs are happy to be raking in the billions and billions). I think that the huge oil companies need to be broken up.

Lack of new refineries. Some may point to supply issues, but I think the big companies keep manipulating prices by claiming they have a lack of refinery capacity. So, they rotate shutting down refineries for "maintenence" and claim that they always have supply problems when doing the annual switching over between summer and winter blends. This is all bogus, of course. They know every year exactly when they'll have to switch blends and they know just when they'll need to do any maintenence. Also, though it really is going to be difficult (read "expensive") with new environmental regulations to open any new refineries, you can't tell me that with all the billions and billions coming in as profits in each of the last several quarters that they don't have the capital to make some new refineries a reality! (Back to my first argument though; with no real competition why should they? They're making way more now than ever before!)

Greed. Simply put: big oil is making lots of money and they don't want to back down. They want to make more and more. Greed. They don't care that the average American is getting killed on their gas and oil expenses. They don't care that companies that have big travel or transportation costs are either going out of business or else having to hike up their prices to all the rest of us. They don't care that these costs are starting to have a huge effect on our economy and on individual families financial well-being. They have tasted big profits and they just want more and more and more. . . My rant is not just against the big boys here either; many of the suppliers and local station owners are profiting too as prices seem to jump up overnight, but never seem to go back down. I heard a commentator a few months back saying that OPEC had set some goals (this would have been 2-3 years ago) for supply levels that they would be happy with if oil was only in the $30-something per barrel cost. So, when the market went crazy and climbed rapidly up into the 50s, 60s, and higher per barrel, their original price expectations and production levels were all shook up. Now, would OPEC be willing to sell oil at only $30 a barrel? Would American and other world suppliers ever go for those old prices? They could still make lots of money, but greed keeps them from ever lowering the prices back down once it has come up. There may have been some reasons (hurricanes, for example) that caused some (though certainly not ALL) of the price hikes a couple of years ago; but once these causes were gone, the prices just don't ever go back down. Greed!

Futures trading. This is actually just more greed. There are people that are making money by playing the market and they want prices to go up. And stay up. And go higher. This is not in the best interest of anyone except those making money trading. More greed.

Is there anything wrong with a company making money? Nope. A well-managed company that supplies a quality product or delivers good service should make a profit. But what we have going on right now is unconscionable (sp?) and perhaps could be criminal; at the least it seems to be based on low ethical and moral standards. Are we -- the average American people -- outraged enough yet? We have a system where we are all trapped by our reliance on fossil-fuels for personal and commerce transportation, for heating, and for much electrical energy production. How can our big suppliers with any small measure of conscience keep raising the prices for all of us and then quarter after quarter declare record profits? We're being robbed!!! I guess we either have to have a revolt or the government has to step in.

I'm sure I could think of some more arguements, but that's probably enough for now. Still, I'm burning about this issue a little bit every day. Especially when almost every night there's a story about new record prices. We've paid over $80 the last two times we filled our Yukon XL (yes, it's a big gas-guzzling SUV, but I don't have the capital to switch vehicles right now and need something to travel in as a family of six); even our Toyota Camry is killing us as it topped 50 bucks for a fill the other day. You know, if gas prices go up by just .01 cent a gallon and you multiply that out by the gallons sold across the country on a given day, that's a HUGE profit jump. So, what's happening when prices are jumping 5, 6, 7, or 8 cents a gallon on a given day? Unreal!

I walk to work every day and I've told my two oldest kids to look for summer jobs at nearby business places that they can ride their bikes to. When electric cars get more common, efficient, and affordable, I'm right there! I wish I had one now. We're going to have to quit paying these oil bandits by weaning ourselves off of their products. But since that won't happen overnight, something's going to have to change now to bring relief.

Earth Day & Enterpraise

Yesterday the entire school I work at celebrated Earth Day by going out and doing service projects in our community. Some walked to a senior center and worked on their grounds, some walked to the Gresham Main City Park and mulched (& other stuff), and I went with a group that went to Butler Creek Park and then worked on the trail from there down toward the Springwater Trail Corridor (one of my favorite destinations to run to from my house). It was a gorgeous day with sunshine and highs in the 60s -- just perfect for our work. The group I was with (we had classrooms of kids from 1st through 5th graders, plus staff members and parents) probably did the hardest actual work and I'm sore today from it. We were asked to remove ivy and holly from the trail area. Both are highly invasive -- and non-native -- species that crowd and choke out other plants. We worked hard and pulled and cut and chopped lots of plants and created piles and piles of stuff along about a mile-long section of the trail. The last half-hour or so, we moved down near Binford Lake and tackled a thick band of blackberries that have taken over the west bank. From that work I got lots of pokes and scratches, even through my sweatshirt and leather gloves. I was proud of how hard our kids (& adults) worked! (Note to Texas friends: Earth Day is a MUCH bigger deal here in Oregon!)

Last night, we went to hear Enterpraise (www.enterpraise.com, but this is mostly a placeholder right now) do a "practice program" at the Metro Church of Christ. They are heading down to Pepperdine this coming week to sing at the Lectures there. Lani's sister, Shauna, sings with them and had invited us to attend. It was great to see and hear them all (and sing along in worship too).

Tonight Hannah goes to the prom. So we've been hearing about and her life has been focused around this for most of the last week or so.

Happy Easter!!!

He is risen! Hallelujah!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday and remembered what a hope we have because of Jesus' resurrection!

Lani commented this afternoon that this was a busy day (we had eight other people join us for Easter dinner), but not nearly as busy as the last thirteen or fourteen years (or is it more?) when I've led Easter worship services. True. But I kind of miss it. OK, at times I really miss it. I love the preparation and build up and investing of my energy in celebrating the biggest of God's miracles in Jesus' resurrection. We celebrated in worship at Abundant Life Church here, and there were lots of guests (which is cool, in a genuine, significant way), but it is different for me to not be making choices and be involved in the whole thing.

It was a glorious morning here. I got up early and saw a bright, sunny sky. I decided to take a run and went up a mountainous trail to Butler Creek Park. It was so nice out and there were lots of other people (and dogs! my dog, Molly, was with me) out walking, riding bikes, and running. I greeted most everyone we passed with a cheery "Happy Easter Morning!" and nearly all smiled and returned a similar greeting. I was singing all kinds of Easter songs in my head as I ran and totally enjoying the experience (well, maybe not the huffing and puffing on some of the hills). Back at home, we had cinnamon rolls as a special treat and the kids looked through their Easter baskets as Lani and I got some food prep for our special dinner done in the kitchen.

May you be filled with a full measure of the hope that is ours because of God's victory through Jesus' resurrection!

Big PHAT Band!

Last night, thanks to my son, Micah, who bought me a ticket, I got to go to a concert of Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. Although I'd not heard of them before this (which proves that I'm not really up with the current jazz scene), they were one really hot, tight, talented jazz/big band.

You can check them out at www.bigphatband.com

Growing Boys!

Well, I've been cleaning up and organizing my garage during Spring Break and today one thing I did was put up our well-worn and traveled height-measuring chart. It has been hung in our last three houses and documents how our kids have grown over the years with lots of marks and then the name, date, and age at the time. It's kind of fun to compare how tall our kids are in comparison to each other when they are the same age.

So, after carefully measuring and taping it up in our garage, I measured our three boys (Hannah is still in Mexico and Lani declined to be measured!). Levi is now 4' 8", Caleb is 5' 4", and Micah is up to 6' 2.5"! All have grown quite a bit since their last measurement! Lani and I were laughing as she imagined eventually having to look WAY UP at all her guys!
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We all watched "The Pursuit of Happyness" tonight. That's a good movie! A touching story of character and persistance. It makes me wonder if I could make it through such dire times. It also reminded me how blessed I am.

Spring Break!

Spring Break began for me and all my family yesterday (Friday, Mar. 23)!!! It was so nice this morning to not set an alarm and not have anything we HAD to do today. This is the first Saturday in a looooooong time that there wasn't even one scheduled thing we had to do (no basketball games, no meetings to attend, no rehearsals, nothing!).

So, I enjoyed a lazy morning and read most of the paper and then worked most of the rest of the day on painting and putting up shelving and peg board in my garage. The garage is still needing lots of work, but I reduced a lot of the piles of stuff today, so that it's only about half full of stuff on the floor (now. . . what to do with the remaining stuff. . . hmm. . .).

Hannah left yesterday with about 120 or so teens and chaperones from Abundant Life Church to do a Mission Trip in Mexico, near Ensenado. They all rode the train from here to L.A. -- about a 30-hour ride -- and now should be off the train (they rented about a dozen or so vans) and ready to enter Mexico tomorrow morning. They are supposed to post updates at www.coolchurchyouth.com

Lani's mom is in town, so we're enjoying hanging out in the evenings, and the cousins playing together during the daytime. We played "farkle" tonight and Lani was the winner.

Go Ducks! Beat Florida tomorrow. Quack, quack!! It was fun to see UCLA beat Kansas in a good game. Go Pac-10. USC sure looked good yesterday until they just ran out of steam against N. Carolina. March Madness rolls on.

What a beautiful Spring day!

Today was warm, sunny, a Friday -- just a gorgeous day! We went over 70 (I think for the second time this Spring) and trees and flowers are "bustin' out all over". Only stressful thing was that grades were due for me today at school, so there was extra work last night and during breaks and lunch today and after school until they were all done.

I didn't get to watch it, due to work and the aforementioned grades to finish after school, but I saw that Oregon eeked out a first-round win in the Big Dance today. Glancing at the box score, I see that they were way off on their 3's; they can be the hottest team around when those long shots are falling, but when they go cold then there's not much else to do. Hopefully the hot Oregon team will show back up in their next game against Winthrop.

God bless you wherever you are!

1 week's worth or so of thoughts. . .

Once upon a time I was a fresh new blogger and enjoyed posting every day. These days a week or two can slide by and I may have hardly visited my site (or my friends' pages either). Life just keeps moving.

Last night we hosted a bunch of Hannah's friends here at our home for a surprise 17th birthday party (for Hannah, whose actual birthday is this Sunday). One of her friends had talked to Lani about doing something either at our house or somewhere else -- and we'd been thinking about doing something like this on Saturday night -- so we thought it would be fun. I'm thankful for Hannah's life, for her gifts and talents, and for the quality friends she has made here. We had a house-full and they were all really nice kids!

How about Oregon's men's basketball team? So far they've won two games in the Pac-10 tourney and they sure look strong in doing it. I hope this is a sign that they've got in going for the "big dance". I love college basketball and am eager to watch and follow the NCAA tournament coming up! (One recent year I gave up watching TV for Lent, but stated one exception to my TV fast: I could still watch the March Madness games. Ha!)

We had a couple of days this week that slipped up into the 60's, though it was cooler today. All my 300 or so bulbs I planted are sprouting up and should burst out in beautiful, brilliant colors soon!

I noticed that the berries and bushes and trees along my favorite running trail -- the Springwater Corridor -- are all budding or just starting to leaf out. There's such a joy in the renewal of Spring after the cold, dull months of Winter.

Our Spring Break here is still two weeks away (I saw on a couple of other blogs that I follow where they were starting their break now). We'll have our week off during the final week of March. Seems like a good time for working on projects, sprucing up the yard, and watching good college basketball games!

A few updates

Haven't stopped to blog for a bit. . .

Last weekend when my folks were here, Dad and I put down the laminate floor in our kitchen. I've just about finished doing all the final cabinet trim boards and baseboards/quarter-round now. It's really nice to have it done and it matches the existing dining & living room flooring to a "T"!

Hannah sang at her District Solo Contest yesterday. I thought she sounded pretty good, but her judge gave her a "2" (personally, I thought it sounded like a "1-" or perhaps "2+". Hannah was down about it and Lani and I too. It's hard to know what to say. She really is making improvements in her sound and did a nice job. The girl after her was cracking all the time, couldn't produce a nice, legato tone, and scowled the whole time, yet she got a "2" also. Doesn't seem right to me!

We watched the Academy Awards show tonight. I hadn't really seen many of the nominated movies, but it was a fun broadcast. We kept a pad and pencil handy to write down movies we should rent and ended up with about ten on our list. A lot of the commercials were fun too. Seems like it's almost like you're getting the Superbowl-level commercials for this event.

Valentine's Week

Well, I realized a few days ago that I didn't really have a single free evening this week due to choir rehearsals, kids' basketball practices, games, and pictures, and such, so Lani and I went out to dinner last night.

We went to Red Robin, one of our long-standing favorite places (we actually went there for dinner on our wedding night, instead of the nicer place we had originally planned on!). It had been awhile since just Lani and I went out by ourselves for dinner, so that was nice.

Lani subbed in an elementary music position today for our friend, Phill. Turns out she'll be back there again tomorrow. Interesting that we're both teaching elementary music for these days!

My folks come to visit for this weekend. They'll get to see and hear Hannah sing in the All-N.W. Choir as they perform this weekend! Dad and I may also get a chance to put in our new kitchen floor.

Happy Valentine's Day to you and your special someone!

Sick day

I took a "sick day" today to try to get over a nagging cold. I've had a mild cold for just over a week, but yesterday my throat started to feel more sore and I was sounding stuffed up (people asking all day, "do you have a cold?"). So. . . I figured a day of rest was called for. It was nice to have almost a solid day of vocal rest (except for a phone call or two; my buddy, Willie, called from Tomball).

This is about the least excited I've been about watching the Superbowl since I don't know when. No one has invited us over for any parties or anything and I don't care much about which team wins. I'll probably watch the game; if for no other reason than getting to see how good the commercials are.

Hannah does well at the One-Acts!

Tonight we went to watch "One Act Plays" at Gresham H.S. There were five of them and they were all pretty good (but we, in our unbiased way, thought the one she was in was maybe the best). We were impressed with the acting all around and the student directors.

At the end of the night, they gave out awards (they had six judges). The gave out about 8 or so awards for honorable mention actors and then five or six "Superior Actor" awards for the night and Hannah got one of these! We were so proud! There were lots of talented kids -- probably about 70 or so total actors -- and this was kind of a first real acting role for Hannah. They gave one overall top actor and one top actress award (which one of her friends got). Anyway, it was a fun night of performances and a special honor for Hannah!

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In other news, Lani and I were finally able to go to the "Membership Class" at Abundant Life Church and so now I guess we are real, full-fledged members. There were about 75 people at this class -- lots of new folks coming all the time.

Also, I coached Caleb's YMCA team in their first game today. Caleb had fun and got several rebounds and shots (but no points). We lost the game 10 to 12, but it wasn't too bad for our first outing. I got to see who the "gamers" are and what we need to work on in practice this week.

What a week!

We had a holiday Monday for Martin Luther King Day, then out of school on Tuesday and Wednesday for snow days, then a 2-hour late start on Thursday. . . finally yesterday we had to get up and go to work & school on time!

Today the cold weather has left and we're in the upper 40's. More snow would be nice, but they're forecasting highs in the mid and upper 40's for the next 10 days.

I'm coaching both Levi and Caleb's YMCA basketball teams and this morning had my first practices with both of them. Seemed like a lot of nice kids. I have no idea how skilled we are compared to other teams, but it should be fun for my kids and everyone. We get one more practice and then have our first game! I'll let you know how things go.

Snow play!

Here are some pictures of all our boys and Molly playing in the snow this morning at Hollydale Elementary School. There were 25-30 people there all the time we were playing, with some leaving and more coming all the time. Fun, fun, fun!






There are more pictures downloaded to my Flickr Photo page too!

Snow day!

Hey! It snowed this morning -- and is still snowing pretty hard as I type this! There wasn't a single flake at 6:00 when I first looked out and so most schools were going ahead with plans to open. Then within a half-hour it started snowing and has just kept going. My district finally called at about 7:40 to say that we were going to open 2 hours late (and many teachers and some students were already at school); then, within 15-20 minutes they decided to just close for the day (along with almost every district in the Portland metro area).

Here are a few pictures looking out our windows a few minutes ago:



Maybe I can post some more pics later after we go play outside!

Snow!

So, my phone rang at 6:10 this morning and it was part of our school "phone tree" calling to tell me that my district was on a 2-hour late start. Yea! I reset my alarm and went back to bed (after looking out the window and not seeing any snow, however). Then when I got up around 8:00, it was really snowing hard. Within a half-hour my district decided to just stay closed for the day! Woo-hoo!!! So I had a nice day, getting to read the whole paper, do the crossword, clean up some of my garage, do a couple of little home projects, and go for a nice run in the afternoon.

Levi is feeling better, but still on meds. We'll see if he goes back to school or not in the morning. Caleb, on the other hand, is still not well at all and was still throwing up and feverish tonight. I guess we'll take him to the doctor tomorrow.

Lani's mom, Gladys, got here tonight -- coming over from Montana. She said there were a few slick patches, but no major problems.

Hannah goes to All-State Choir tomorrow. We had eight of the girls at our home tonight and I rehearsed their music with them (they get tested in quartets when they arrive there tomorrow).

Well, I guess I'll probably have to go to work tomorrow, so I'd better head off to bed! :~)

Ups & Downs today

Up: It was supposed to snow today, so everyone was kind of excited!
Down: Mostly, it never happened.

Up: While eating dinner tonight, we looked out the back patio door to see HUGE white flakes coming down! It looked cool!
Down: It only lasted about 10 minutes, leaving just a trace amount on everything.

Up: I stayed home from work today.
Down: It was because Caleb & Levi are both sick. Both are running some fever (101-102). Levi has conjunctivitus (pink eye) and impatigo (like staph in his nose) and is on antibiotics and eye drops; Caleb threw up in our room last night, necessitating a 4-something a.m. cleaning of a dresser, carpets, and most of the bathroom floor and fixtures.

Up: Lani gets to stay home tomorrow.
Down: It's because the guys are still sick.

Up: It's finally getting a little wintery!
Down: It doesn't appear that there's enough snow or ice to close schools! (although maybe something could happen overnight)

Up: Lani's mom is coming tomorrow from Missoula.
Down: The roads may be bad, so pray for her safe trip.

Up: I'm going to sign off and hop in bed by 11:00 (a rare occurence indeed!)
Down: I'm exhausted and have an official "observation" tomorrow.

First Week of January thoughts

Lots of interesting things this week. . .

Sunday at Abundant Life Church we must have had about 50 baptisms! The first Sunday of every month is always a "Baptism Sunday" and there were probably a dozen or so of these planned ones, but then after both the 2nd & 3rd services there was just a spontaneous response to the lesson and invitation and people just kept coming and coming! It was exciting (and also threw the schedule way off!)!

I signed Caleb & Levi up for YMCA basketball and indicated that I'd be willing to be a head coach. So, last Friday in the mail I got a letter saying I needed to show up Saturday for a mandatory coaches meeting. Turns out that I'm head coach for both of their teams. Should be a busy and fun season coming up!

Tonight it was back to regular rehearsals for Portland Symphonic Choir. I've been carpooling with my friend Phill Hurley and tonight we added another former college friend to our carpool as Lois Maxwell auditioned and made the choir. Hey, I know some more of you singers out there that might enjoy doing this too! A select group of us (32 of the 120) are singing this Monday for a special MLK community event. This should be a good experience.

The hopefull buzz in the area among kids (& teachers!) is that we might get some snow here this week! Who knows, really, but we'll all be watching the weather and the skies starting tomorrow night and all day Wednesday!

OK, sports fans. Anyone see this coming? In football, Florida totally spanks Ohio State! Sorry to my Texas friends, Rick & Dawn, who are huge Buckeye fans and were at the game. Hmm. . . that means that Boise St. is the only undefeated Div. I team! And way to go Oregon Ducks in knocking off #1 UCLA on Saturday in college basketball; if they only hadn't lost to USC two days earlier. Then there were the Cowboys blowing the game against the Seahawks; those are my two favorite NFL teams, so I guess I'm happy with either one winning, but Tony Romo will probably have a long off-season thinking about what could have been.

Well, that's enough for now. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

2007 Resolutions

Here are things I'd like to do this year:

Read the Word daily.
Invest time with my kids -- daily, if possible.
Sleep when I should! At least seven hours nightly on weekdays.
Exercise at least three times each week.
Be a servant and encourager to those I work with and live by.
Manage my finances better.

I could list more, but some of these are biggies for me.

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And now for a sports note: How about those NW college football teams?!!!
It was thrilling the other day to see Oregon St. win their game with the gutsy 2-pt. conversion, but then tonight's Boise St. win over Oklahoma was just incredible!

Happy New Year!

Just thought I'd make my first post of 2007 and wish you all a Happy New Year!

I'm thinking some of my goals/resolutions for 2007, but don't think I'll take time to list them right now -- except that one goal for certain is to get back into regular Bible reading. More later. . .

We enjoyed a nice evening out with friends and family members - eating, playing games (I even played Pinochle for the first time in a long time), visiting, and toasting the new year!