Fallapalooza

Fallapalooza is a community event our church hosts at Halloween time to connect with the kids and families in our community.  In past years I've helped cook hotdogs (hundreds!) and do setup/teardown.  This year I got a chance to serve in the photo booth.  Our Creative Arts director (Kristi) made a futuristic, fanciful backdrop and my job was to get pictures of the kids and families.  We then print out the pictures and mail them to the families (they fill out a mailing label at our booth) as a thanks for coming and a reminder of their time at Fallapalooza. 

One thing Eileen (who was helping me in the booth!) and I noticed was that kids today have so many pictures taken of them that they seem to have a built-in 'photo smile'.  You know that canned 'go-to' smile.  So, I would usually start out by getting a picture of them doing that smile.  Then, I'd ask if they would be willing to do something more wild.  Most times that was a winner.

You won't know all these people and families.. especially you folks out East.. but just thought I would throw up a few of my favorite shots.  I've still got a lot to learn with my camera.  These pictures were taken at night, outside.  So, there were some challenges.  But, all in all I was pleased with the results.

This is Steve Joh.  Love the jacket.  Love the face.  Love the pose.

Could Daniel have picked a better costume to go with the backdrop?  Almost hurts to look at it!

OMG!!  This one made me sooooo think of Ryan!  How cute!!  and the next reminded me of Joel.  He soooo could have worn this as a kid.

This kid was hilarious! Check out the perfect hand position to squirt web from his wrists.  Hahaha!

Some more random pics...

Here's the Hammers (Jason, Tran, Evan (green) and Natalie) decked out for their first Halloween (oops.. Fallapalooza).  How cute!  Dzung (Tram's sister) seems hungry.

The Camps

The Rexford girls???  Joanne seems scared!

Eric.. this one's for you ;)  Use it wisely.

Extended family:

 This is Kristi (the organizer and creative mind behind Fallapalooza) and her husband.  Hold on Damian!!

The Band (of course we have live music at Fallapalooza!):

And the winner is.... 

I just LOVED this family!  Check out mom's eyes.  Those are prescription contact lens in green and yellow made just for this kind of thing!  I have no idea where you would buy the teeth.  It was actually difficult to get this cute little girl to pull her mom's hair and look manacing.  But, we finally got this photo! 

Grandpa Practice

Meet the Troika.  That's the nickname I gave Tram (momma) while she was going through pregnancy - carrying her twins. Tram and Jason are two of the wonderful people we have been blessed to have in our One Another Group (Bible Study Group).   It's been fun to have the chance to get to know them a little bit over the last year or so.  And, we certainly have been in a state of anticipation as their due date drew near.

Well, as you can see - the Troika are now Tram and her beautiful twins: Natalie and Evan.  This is Tram shortly after their birth (that's Evan with all the hair!).

When I saw Tram at church on Sunday I was really excited - because that meant that the babies were in the nursery!  I raced over to the nursery and was not disappointed.  There, in her mothers arms was lovely Natalie.  Tram was so thoughtful to let me hold Natalie and finish feeding her a bottle.  Sweet!!

Here's the amazing face that looked up at me as I held her.   What a privilege to get a little grandpa training in!  Thank you so much Tram (and Jason) for sharing your gift from God with me Sunday!  You are appreciated!

I'm getting practiced up for you Ryan!!

2009 Wiener Nationals

Last Sunday our church, the Highway Community, hosted its 6th Annual Wiener Nationals. This year we had 54 entrants.

Meet Abby - the Smith's elder dachshund and a past Wiener National Champion. She did well this year... but finished out of the money. That's Dean, the proud owner encouraging her at the finish.

This is the newest addition in the Smith household. Meet Hazel. She's a cutie. However, as Matt says 'she was pretty slow' in her first official year of competition.

The starting gate is where much of the action takes place!

The competition committee did not allow this racer to compete.

Here's a picture of the eventual winner in action.

My sister is in California and was anxious to see this prestigious event. Thanks Lurinda for sharing some of your pictures for this blog entry! It's fun to take pictures with you.

And this in one of the many competitors that hailed from outside our church. This event certainly is a memorable outreach to our immediate community.

Finally, here's Dean crowning the 2009 Champion!

Highway Family Camp - Friday

Okay... first off let me say that I understand that the proper name for last weekend's event was the Highway Camp Out. However, the Team Henderson committee decided that name was unacceptable and adopted the more meaningful Highway Family Camp.

Friday mid-morning we started our trek to Lake Tahoe and our old stomping grounds - Sugar Pine Point State Park. We convoyed with Tim on our way up. The weather was clear and we were greeted with breathtaking views of the lake as we arrived. We were also enthused as we made our way from Truckee town to Tahoma (SPP is in Tahoma) to view the beautiful Truckee river winding its way along the highway (or is it the other way around?). We also saw that there were TONS of people boating and floating along the Truckee! The water was up. Niiicceee.

We arrived mid afternoon and, reconnoitering Group Site 9, deciding to set up camp near our friends the Scotts on site #67. By early evening we were setup and enjoyed a blazing fire (it didn't take long to get that going!).















































Next on the agenda was a delicious mexican fiesta organized and professionally executed by the Scotts! Featuring meats from our favorite mexican grocery store - Chavez Supermarket - we definitely were living large our first meal. The sights and sounds of our festivities attracted members of the other families partaking in HFC. I'm not saying they were jealous.. but let's just say we started the weekend out strongly establishing ourselves as the group to beat. That's all I'm saying!

Newstalgia

Team Henderson embarks tomorrow morning to Sugar Pine Point campground for the 2009 Highway Camp Out. This is a highly anticipated return to the venue of our Family Camp outings of old.

From the moment we decided to attend this year there has been a buzz, an excitement shared amongst our family and friends. The old folks (parents) have very fond memories of our communal camping vacations. These experiences helped forge and reinforce the strong bonds between our families which have stood the test of time for decades (are we THAT old?).

Part of parenting is exposing your children to a wide variety of experiences. It is difficult, when the event is occurring, to get a real sense of the prolonged impact those events will have. Will they foment a love for the same experiences at adulthood? Or will you find out your kids were just indulging you all those years? At the time you simply do your best and hope that the combined experiences you share at least form warm memories.

And so it is the anticipation and excitement of returning to Sugar Pine Point expressed by our children that has been most compelling for me to observe. Listening to memories expressed from their point of view – and recognizing – a decade or more later – how meaningful and impactful those times were to them has filled me with … newstalgia.

It would be easy to fall into the grasp of nostalgia; the bittersweet longing for situations that have occurred in the past. And at first I was, indeed, feeling a bit nostalgic. Those thoughts became most pervasive when I realized that Joel would not be able to attend. How can you have Family Camp without Joel and Jon whittling? Without Becky getting there half a day early to reserve the very best sites (110 and 113 rock!)?

However, over time I have come to feel a true sense of newstalgia – a term I just made up – which I define as a longing for making new memories of present situations.

Our kids are fantastic and amazing and a joy to be around. I thoroughly enjoy getting to know them as adults. And they attract into our orbit spouses and friends that continue to enrich our community. Add to that we (the old folks) are growing and getting better and better ourselves (if I do say so!). Considering this – it makes me eager to experience Sugar Pine Point anew. What kind of fabulous new memories will we create this time around? Will it even feel the same? Will it be as exciting? Better?

Yes, as we go through the weekend I’m sure I’ll shed a private tear that some of the old regulars won’t be part of our community (Joel, Becky and others). A bit of nostalgia is okay. I am grateful that I have good enough memories about people that they can make me hurt from time to time.

However, I’m gearing up for a new adventure. Newstalgia! Bring it on!

Julie Month Kickoff

It's May and that means it's Julie Month! We're off to a fun start.

Friday we went on a date to 'the Gig'. The Gig is a musical talent competition promoted and sponsored by our church, The Highway Community, in support of local high school independent music. This year's Gig (the 5th annual) featured 5 high school bands from around the Bay Area competing for the grand prize: a 3 song demo recording at a professional recording studio.

Kids are fun and these kids were no different. There were 5 quite different bands!

Giacomo: this band was a brother/sister combo. The brother played guitar and sang. The sister was sweet and accompanied her brother on the keyboard. They did pretty good... especially under the pressure of having to go first.

New Year, New Love: this band featured one of Highway's own - Kyle S. He's an awesome musician who regularly plays keyboard during our Sunday morning services. New Year, New Love is a three man band featuring Kyle on the drums. They sang three songs and were quite good. I'm partial - but Kyle was the star of this band in my eyes (and ears).

Reptile Explosion: these folks were a heavy metal band from Lynbrook High School (San Jose). Let's see.. just how do I explain Reptile Explosion? Well, first off they were loud. Very loud. Which, actually we liked. It's exciting to see these young kids having a chance to play in front of a relatively big crowd. You can tell they love what they do. So, what do they do? Hmm... the plan seemed to be a) play some really loud music, b) bend your knees and lean over, c) swing your head in circles making the crowd think your head is going to pop off.. and d) have the lead singer bend over and scream un-intelligently into the mike. This went on for 3 songs. The funniest thing would be that these folks would just crank out this mind numbing loud noise... then the song would end and the lead singer would say, in a slightly high voice .. 'thank you'. It was just surreal and a lot of fun.

Alex and Kimiya: so, we've now heard two fairly loud rock bands and up come these two kids. Alex played accoustic guitar and Kimiya just sang. And sang they did. You could understand every word of every song.. and they played some beautiful original music as well as some well done covers. They were by far and away the best vocalists that night. A real pleasure.

Varada Niktu: The final band was a wonderful instrumental band. The lead guitarist did an amazing job - clearly the best musician of the evening. Very different from all the others. That's what made this such a fun evening.

And the winner was .... drum roll..... Alex and Kimiya... followed closely by Reptile Explosion!

We celebrated for Alex and Kimiya by having a Frozos! And we brought one home for our little invalid Hannah.


Saturday we both had to work.. but spent a few hours together in the afternoon taking a nice walk with Tim. We went over to Santa Clara University and walked through Mission Santa Clara. Oh.. and there was a side trip to Frozos thrown in! Saturday evening I got a nice chance to work with Hannah on some of her homework. She was feeling a lot better and it was great to have a chance to hang out with her.


Today: Julie stayed home from church to assist our little invalid in getting back to Berkeley. She's doing a lot better. Steroids really DO work. She was up and had energy and an appetite! She is doing so much better. I hope she hangs in there through finals. Please be in prayer for her. Later this afternoon (after naps).. we took the dogs and Tim out for a nice walk.. and then.. you guessed it.. headed to Frozos. I'm thinking Julie is thinking about going 31 for 31 at Frozos this month!


We hope you all had a great weekend. Enjoy your week!

Stations of the Cross

Friday night the Highway Community hosted the stations of the cross at our campus in Mountain View. The creative team at Highway assists the worshiper in focusing in on the Passion of Christ by integrating Scripture with audio/visual displays and activities that parallel the last week of Christ's life.

I greatly appreciate their efforts and to have an opportunity to start Easter weekend by remembering the sacrifice that Christ made for you and me so many years ago. It is challenging, at times, to stay connected to God due to the distractions of life. This was a very meaningful way to reconnect in a deep way with God as we headed into the weekend. I am so thankful for that.

Happy Easter! He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Strong Foreign Picture Submittal!

Folks, a strong Foreign Picture Submission has just been received by the home office and we are presenting it here for your viewing pleasure!

The one and only Michelle Bengtson - our One Another Group (OAG) leader - recently viewed our blog and immediately found that she was among friends. Among cohorts. Yes, among people that love jumping pictures!

Now, Julie and I have known Michelle since she was a wee little jumper - and her name was Michelle Buffum. In fact, we had the chance to reminisce with her father at FBCLA when we attended the Christmas program and discussed her now being our bible study leader. I'm a recent comer to the OAG and I have been very impressed with Michelle's leadership skills and insights into the Word. So, you can only imagine my excitement when I found that she also shares our love of jumping pictures!

To prove that, here's Michelle!




























Okay.. I'll be completely honest with you here. I know the Buffums and there isn't a second Michelle... so I'm going with she did some fancy photo editing to arrive at this really cool picture! So, folks - there is a strong contender our there in the foreign picture category. Watch out!

What Would You Do?

Update: Thank you to everyone who posted a comment or sent an email with your ideas. I appreciate it.

I posted this entry in an attempt to get people thinking and dialoging and sharing more about how to approach resolving dilemmas like making a choice between two worthwhile, good activities. I'd say there was a pretty even split between people that thought a) go to bible study, b) go to the game and c) think outside the box and figure a means of combining the two together in some way.

That was pretty interesting to me and shows how honest, good, trained, loving people can approach issues differently. I especially loved the responses that were in category c) because that is kind of what I was thinking.

To whit, here's how I decided to resolve this little, intsy conflict:

I decided to post a biblically based question on my blog and invite my OAG to dialog with me on it. So, by my way of thinking.. I participated in an OAG meeting this week: in the blog-o-space. So, that being done.. and having had a good chance to meditate and dialog on God's word... I'm off in a little bit to the game. Oh, and Diane the complete wonderful person that she is dropped of some cookies last night that I get to take to the game and share. Sweeet!!

Have a great dinner and discussion!

See you next week!

Proverbs 11:14: Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

Proverbs 15:22: "Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established."

You might be curious.. asking what do these verses have to do with me? Well, I was hoping I could solicit your counsel as I wrestle with a difficult decision. You game?

Here's the issue. There are two events tomorrow evening that I would love to participate in. However, they are overlapping in time and miles apart.. so a decision needs to be made. Where will I be spending my time?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Your wise counsel. What you would do?

Opportunity #1: One Another Group at the Smiths
This is a meeting of our group bible study that occurs every Wednesday evening.
Considerations:

• Mrs. Smith (Diane) cooks dinner for everyone.. and that woman can COOK!
• Need to stop eating like a pig and lose a few pounds!
• The distinct possibility is always present that Diane will make some of her world famous cookies!
• Opportunity to dig into God's word
• Opportunity to share what God is doing in other people's lives
• Many more Wednesdays in life
• The spiritual benefits of spending time in the Word!
• Screaming at people during the evening is strongly discouraged

Opportunity #2: Mitty vs. Bellarmine Basketball Game
This is a meeting of our favorite high school basketball team as they take on a difficult West Catholic league foe. Considerations:

• Consession stand food only (or none at all... probably better!)
• Brandon always scores 30 points when I am NOT there ;)
• Opportunity to show love and support for a dear set of friends
• Since Brandon's graduating this year.. there are precious few opportunities like this left in my lifetime
• Screaming at people is encouraged/expected
• Opportunity to apply what I have learned in bible study in real life
  

2008 Wiener Nationals

This morning our church, Highway Community - hosted our 5th annual Wiener Nationals - on this, National Mustard Day (seriously - google it!).











Wiener Nationals is just one of the creative outreach events our church sponsors in an attempt to connect to our community. WN starts with a scumptious barbeque - featuring specialty wieners and sausages! Here's one of our co-chefs, Peter, whom, as our only Chinese chef - we nominated to light this year's Olympic Charcoal.














Following these opening ceremonies.. we transition into the cooking of the meats. This year over 400 people attended the barbeque. That requires a lot of meat! However, our crack staff does a professional job (if we do say, ourselves).

Then, we get down to the races. The organizer and inspiration for the races is our senior pastor - Dean Smith. That's Dean manning the registration table this morning.

The next picture is his daugther Courtney and Abigail - a past National Champion.

As you can see from the pictures - the races are comprised of a series of heats with six athletes competing in each heat. The competitors don brightly colored jerseys as they prepare to vault from the shoot and race to their owners at the end of the race. As you've probably noticed at this point.. the WNs feature, exclusively, daucshunds! Yes, Wiener Dogs people!

This event has grown within the community to the point that this year over 50 competitors participated in the races. What's very good for our community is that many, many of the competitors come to the event through word of mouth and have had no previous exposure to Highway. So, we get a chance to put a fun, lighthearted and warm taste of Christ into their lives as they interact with our members and compete.

For a 'church in a box' - (note that we meet at Palo Alto High School and every week we set up and tear down our entire church!) - it's exciting to find interesting and compelling ways to draw people to us.. and hopefully to Christ!