I'm proud of Bill

Bill received an award last week at Talbot. I wanted to show it off...
It also came with a $300 scholarship towards next semester!

Let the favor of the Lord be upon us...

This morning, God brought these two psalms to mind:

Psalm 90:17

"Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish the work of our hands upon us;

yes, establish the work of our hands!"

Psalm 127:1-2

"Unless the LORD builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the LORD watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

for he gives to his beloved sleep."

It made me think ahead to our planned ministry this summer with STEP (Summer Team Evangelism Preparation). There is much to be done in preparing for the team's arrival and the outreach events we'd like to see happen. I was convicted about fretting too much and striving to work it out in my own strength. These Psalms remind me that it must be God's work through us. He is the One who changes hearts and causes all things to work together for good. Yes, we must be diligent and obedient to the tasks at hand, but not excessively - sleep is allowed and is a blessing!
Please pray along with us that God would establish the work of our hands and be the builder of and guardian over our feeble efforts in reaching the world for Christ.

Wedding

Here are my parents and the Lopez' having an enjoyable time at a wedding we all went to last weekend. I "forgot" to get pictures taken of Bill and I. The girl getting married is from our church and she and her family are close family friends of ours. It was a Samoan-American wedding, so it was fun to see some of their traditions!

Stray Cat

Two views of the stray cat.

It seems we've been adopted by this little guy, he's lived on our doorstep for the past 3 days. A very friendly little kitten - I'll be sad when he gets "found". (Spotsie has been territorial though, and probably will be glad to see him gone!)

Spotsie (our cat) sits inside the screen door longing to go outside, while Stray sits on the doormat longing to come in! There must be a spiritual lesson on contentment to be observed here.

My cute cat...

Last night we had the family over for a pizza "farewell" dinner, since the parents are leaving for Colombia later this week. After dinner Bill put on a nature documentary that was very cool and we all enjoyed, including Spotsie. She perked up when the snow leopard came on screen and was eager to watch, so rather than have her block our view we parked her on the stool and she watched that entire segment of the video!

Museum: Getty Villa

Yesterday we visited the Getty Villa with Shawn and Dawnita:

It was a beautiful experience to walk through the gardens, around the fountains with the fog rolling in from the ocean (the museum is located on a hill above the Malibu coastline).

As far as the works from antiquity... here are a few of my favorites (please excuse the poor quality of photography! "No flash photography.")

Polyhymnia: one of nine Muses, she was the Muse of mime - meant to inspire the poets and philosophers, but probably worshiped as a goddess. Roman A.D. 200.

Spouted Horn with a Stag - I love the intricate detail on this silver horn. It dates back to Parthian 50 B.C. - 50 A.D.

Griffen head: used by the Greeks as a guardian of valuable things, 650 B.C. (the Harry Potter books have quite a bit of Griffen imagery woven into the story - symbolic of the good guys and loyalty.)

As a math teacher I've used dice a lot in lessons to discuss probability etc. It was fun to see such an ancient pair of dice!

Note: to see an image closer up (larger) just click (or double-click) on it.

Before & After

Here's the official before and after pictures from our roommate reunion at the end of last summer:

Birthday Party Pictures

A couple of months ago we had a birthday party for my mum :) - I just discovered that Dad had pictures in his camera and so now you get to enjoy the festivities too! We had our L.A. family and a friend from Scotland/NZ, Wilma, at the party (unfortunately her husband, Stan, was sick in bed!).

Where have we been?

Since I last posted we began a new semester of studies at

TALBOT SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

and of teaching classes at

BIOLA UNIVERSITY.

I've also had a birthday - but it was celebrated in short bursts of activity and so there are no pictures of the big:

3 - 5

One of the things that has been challenging to me so far this semester is on the topic of prayer. A question that was presented to me a couple of weeks ago and one that I've been thinking about every since is:

When I take a "posture of prayer" do I really talk to God as a person - or do I go through the motions as a ritual without much thought at all?

May prayer not become an empty habit, but may it be an ongoing, moment by moment conversation with my Lord!

Beach Vacation

Last week we were able to get away for a few days - it was wonderful to have a vacation where all we had to do was eat, sleep, read, walk & talk! We were able to find a place that is rented out to people in ministry at a low price and yet great location - we walked out of the back door onto the sand! The views were amazing. It was a great way to rest up before starting a new semester of classes.

Walking & Bird-watching.

Views from the porch.

Happy New Year!

The Letkeman-Loudon-Howell Family picture....

More L.A. Tourism...

Eating authentic Colombian Food in Pico Rivera: Playing in the surf and sand at Hermosa Beach:

Vacation Days

Some of us are enjoying these Christmas vacation days...

Matty, Lindsay & Daniel playing at Seal Beach

Ethan at the park

While others are not...

Bill & Susan at the Dr's Office (green hues added by Pange)

Pictures...

Ethan & Matty

Feeding the Ducks!

Mark & Ethan

Dad & Matty

Family Here For Christmas!

I hope to post some Christmas-time pictures here one of these days, but for now if you are interested you can read the Letkemans' blog about their time here in California. Susan is Bill's sister, she and Ron with their three kids, Daniel, Lindsay & Matthew are here. So are Ann (Bill's other sister), Mark & Ethan.
www.letkeman.blogspot.com

Christmas Lights

Our humble little Christmas tree.

Each year that we've been married, Bill and I have picked out an ornament with which to remember that year. I made several of them, others were things we bought together. Today it was fun to reminisce as we unpacked them and put them on our 1.5 ft high tree!

I love Christmas lights!

Bocadillo

I was happily doing my grocery shopping last week in my favorite place - Trader Joe's - and I bumped into a very familiar product, but one that I'd never seen sold in the USA. We call it Bocadillo in Colombia. I am sure you can find it in other Latin American countries, but the what I found is actually from Colombia, and cheap at $1.29 for 10 pieces. Very cool.

Life recently...

... has been full!
We had a great Thanksgiving weekend with our family and friends. I forgot to take pictures, but here are some from the Talbot Student Holiday lunch with Julian, Diana and Vivi Gutierrez:

... we are wrapping up the semester, just two weeks till the end - here are a couple of pictures of Biola life:

Some of my statistics students doing homework.

Fountain with Jesus mural in background

Sunday School

This year I started helping out with a preschool Sunday school class! It has been a bit of a challenge to figure out how to impart a little knowledge of God to these hyperactive boys! I only have pictures of two of them... we have 3 regular boys and several others (only 1 girl) that visit from time to time. I don't know what I'd do if there were more!!

Oak Glen

Last month Bill and I went for a drive up to a nearby apple orchard in the mountains beyond Riverside. It was a beautiful day and great to get away from the city! We forgot to take pictures of the apple trees - but here's one of a raspberry patch and "fall" tree to illustrate "autumn" in southern California. In the month since we visited the area they've had fires and we've all enjoyed 80+ degree weather. It seems we've settled back in the 70s, but it definitely doesn't feel like autumn.