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In my sermon yesterday I spoke of Millard Fuller's comments at the recent General Assembly. Here is a link to where the talk is posted by the PCUSA Media Department. Click here for the link (it won't download but you can listen or you can add it to your hard drive to listen to later). He has a good word for all, especially for those of us who live in South Orange County.
As you may have heard our family spent a week at Lake Mead on a houseboat. This picture does not include the other four passengers who were with us for the first half the week. The maximum number of people we had on the boat at one time was 16. According to the literature the boat sleeps 13 comfortably (yeah, it was a little cramped but it was fun). All in all, it was a great week.
Unfortunately, the big bummer of the week came on Sunday, the day we left Echo Bay for the open waters of Lake Mead. The lake is down about 60 feet and so parts of the lake could be pretty treacherous. We found out just how low the lake was when our ski boat hit a submerged rock. Everyone in the boat was okay but the boat was hit pretty hard. It was a difficult reality to face on Day One of our adventure: the ski boat was out of commission for the week. We quickly found a good cove for the houseboat and set up camp for the night. My step-father, Ian, and my step-brother, Justin, did what they could to try to fix the boat but the damage was too severe. All of the adults were pretty down at dinner that night but we determined to make the best of the situation.
We spent most Day Two cooling off in the water while the kids played on the beach. They didn't even seem to notice the lack of the ski boat. They had fun playing games, digging in the mud and kicking around on their bodyboards. I think it's great the way kids instinctively know how to play. We took our cue from the kids on Day Two and it was a great day. It was a good reminder for us that being together as a family was the ultimate goal of our adventure and we could do it with or without a ski boat (though next time I'd like to see how we do with it).
There's more to come on our Lake Mead adventures in the days ahead so stay tuned.
Today it's back to school for the students at Chaparral in Ladera Ranch and it's back to a regular routine for me. Joy's classes at Cal State Fullerton started on Monday but Mackenzie won't be back to school until mid-September (she'll be attending preschool at Church of the Master).
Our vacation was wonderful. The last time we had this much time together as a family was August 2001. In '02 our summer fun was moving to Ladera Ranch. In '03 we had just started worship services at Village Pres on Sunday mornings and so getting away was nearly impossible. This year we were determined to carve out a few weeks just to be together as a family. In the coming days I'll give a full report of our Lake Mead adventures and some of the other events of the past few weeks.
Well, that's all for now. At least I've got one check on my "things to do" list for the day.
We're on vacation for a few weeks. I'll be blogging again as soon as I return.
I want to thank the regular readers of "porch pondering" for being patient with me. For the past few days our family has been gearing up for a trip to Lake Mead and so I haven't had time to blog. I know for sure I'll be doing more wake boarding than blogging in the days ahead. The break should be good for me and I hope it will inspire more thoughtful blogs in the future. I know that writing is good for me but I don't want to get in a rut. Ruts don't make for interesting reading either.
One last thing as long as I'm taking a few minutes to say something. Last week the boys had their final swim meet of the season for the Ladera Liquids. Here's a picture of Matthew enjoying a snow cone after completing his events. We're proud that he improved all of his times this season.
And my favorite picture of the day is this one of Andrew getting little encouragement from Mackenzie. Andy also had a great season. He continues to excel at the backstroke. And both boys are beginning to get the butterfly (no pictures yet).
The Awards Banquet was a blast last Saturday night with good food, good friends and good music. This is a picture of Matthew and Andrew with Coach Carly, Coach Summer and Coach Kelly. These coaches did an outstanding job this season!
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