small one

Hooray! Great news! My brother's baby was delivered, safe and sound! Her name is Gabrielle Mariah

Isn't she cute? She's my first niece

So precious. I think I'll use the caption my brother wrote for this photo

The real  "sleeping beauty"  

Congrats to my brother. Thank God that mother and child are both in great health.
Thank God for the safe delivery. I can't wait to see her or my brother again... in a while, of course. In a while

This Is Life

The crowd roars around me; they are loud and filled with drunken laughter. Their clamor even dares to rival the music that blasts around us, with more than enough to bass to literally cause the ground to shake. I'm invisible to them, tough, as I sit here enjoying the night sky. Every once in a while I feel a little bit lonely, but sitting here alone right now is not one those times. This solitude, like viewing the night sky from this (or any) land, is welcomed.

"They" say a picture is worth a thousand words. Please enjoy my 5,000 word essay on my recent weeks past below. 

fellow sailor and I cruising 

there's a falcon on my arm

me

us not pointing our weapons at other country's tanks

this probably shouldn't have made it in the album but it's the world largest mall and honestly the part horse part fish i thought was pretty cool

farewell

There’s a reason why every post I post is fairly dated. But currently, I would like to say farewell. And since I can’t really for the current reason, I’ll refer to another farewell.

Farewells. Nah, they’re see you laters!

Prelude to 27: Thanksgiving

Arriving home is always a nice feeling. Arriving home to friends and family is even better.

Me and my brother and my suddenly camera-shy cousin

But before I go to grandma's house, I need to cook cakeballs. Quick: Assemble a cakeball making team of wonderful people ASAP!!!

red velvet cake with creme frosting, white chocolate coating, chocolate sprinkle: if sugar can kill, were dying tonite

gloves? really? people cook with gloves or mitts?

Coolest crew ever!

Oh, wait, I need to jump in a picture and pretend to be cooking as well

Okay, cool. Cakeballs made. Let's go to grandma's!

The Granddaughters

this is my absolute fav picture of Dante. Too bad I know what he's laughing at, tho

Prelude to 27: Part 3

Thanksgiving's Eve 11

Driving 7 hours to Aletheia Springs without checking on the amount of my anti-freeze proved to be folly. That was an interesting start to an all too short day, to say the least. Car problem notwithstanding ( or is it "withstanding"...never did understand that word), we ventured to the Mitchel's house. (Fantastic people live in that place.)  So, we got there, and it's Colt's Birthday, that was a great time to be there. We talked, laughed, play a few rounds of Clue and eat some freshly popped popcorn from one of those theater-type kettle machines things. But good times go by fast, and so I headed home

The birthday boy and his newly acquired weapon of no destruction

Clue! Who's taking the picture? It is the birthday boy? On his birthday? excluded from the game?

Strider and I. Or, at least I think that's Strider. Can't see without my glasses....where are they?

Prelude: Part 2

Psalms 42: 5, 11

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Sunday before Thanksgiving 11

My little cousin, taking a picture of herself, which she does a lot

A friend from long ago. While she is smaller than me, it's not quite the David and Goliath difference that my camera makes it seem.

My brother, cooking.

Really didn't know this picture was being taken. Would have put down a longer word for the camera.

Brother's meal. Super yummy.

Okay, now that I brought me a car (and not at those crazy California prices),  so it's road trip time. But I haven't been to my home assembly in a while, so Silver's maiden voyage can wait until after I have some Christian fellowship and worship and remembrance. Received an invite the day before to my brother for dinner, so after the afternoon meeting,  I grabbed my little second cousin ('little' as in younger, she's quite tall and even picked me up last year), and we checked out his new place, ('new' to us, at least), played games, ate and meet some new friends.  (Someone commented that they liked the pictures on my "prelude" post, so this entry is fulled with them.)

3 Fs: Family and Friends and Food.

---

Monday Before Thanksgiving 11

So in VA, there's this wonderful place called Aletheia Springs CEC (Christian Education Center,  Doc and Judy hate it when people call it a camp.) As children, Tyler and I would go there every summer. As we grew up, we didn't leave it behind. However, while I only volunteer to  be a counselor, Tyler has dedicated himself fully to work. (His local assembly even commissioned him to that ministry. America needs missionaries too, right?)

So for my vacation I helped him out some. Work ain't really work if your enjoying it with some good friends.

Tyler and I, posing in the middle of the work day.

One of Tyler's younger brother. He was really short at 15. He grew so much in the year and the half since I saw him. That's one thing about my job. I now go a long time without seeing certain people.

Tyler stacking some of the wood we collected and carried, after they chopped it and it dried earlier

Tuesday Before Thanksgiving
So Doc and Judy have this old, old radio. Like the kinds you see in museums. So cool. Doesn't really work (although it will pick up random, bizarre stations), but it does light up when you plug it in. So Tyler hooked up his iPod and it's little speaker behind it to give the illusion it worked. He played old music (like old hymns  and songs recorded in 40's or so), so it really did apparent to function. So our guests came over and we're all having fun until we hear this little "boom" followed by this "flo-osh" sound. We're like "Did something just catch on fire?" Then we notice the radio started smoking.

Good thing Tyler had a working fire extinguisher. (Seriously, I didn't know people actually keep those in their houses.)
So we put the fire out (by we, I mean Tyler. I just grabbed my camera and took pictures) and it would've been all laughs after the fire was out, but it wasn't our radio to begin with...and we didn't really ask permission to use it, and there's some doubts as to how assuming Doc and Judy will find it that we blew up their antique radio for what was essentially entertainment.

Fire, beware!

Can you see the smoke?

The radio was against the wall when the radio blew or sparked or whatever it did, and left a little black smoke/ash spot on the wall.