Sky High

On the 26th of September we took 17 Farm Drive neighborhood kids and 11 leaders to Sky High which is a trampoline paradise. Patty and I forgot to take our cameras so we have no pictures. Sorry. We could have taken a lot of great pictures but then again we were so busy running and jumping around we would have forgot! So from the picture above you can see it is an area of solid trampolines... even walls of trampolines. They also have an area for dodgeball and another area where you can jump into a pit of foam squares. It was a lot of sweaty fun!

Afterwards we went to McDonalds and had ice cream. That was a lot of fun too, just hanging with the kids.

p.s. This was a group of "mixed" kids. Those that attend activities in the Center on a regular basis and those who don't but just live in the hood. To me as one who lives here and really didn't pay attention to that fact, I really didn't notice anything different. But someone who helped with us noticed the difference in behavior. Those that attend the Center were better behaved and had better language. Is the Center making that kind of difference or are these kids well behaved anyway because of their upbringing? I'm pretty sure I know the answer but it did make me think.

Children, God's Gift

Our daughter moved this pass weekend to Los Angeles. Obviouisly it was hard emotionally as a chapter of our lives justed ended after 22 years. So we are officially now "empty nesters" as both of our children are living on their own.



Jessica moved into a brand new apartment on Wilshire Blvd. On the way we we drove by Hollywood and Vine. Below is pictures looking out her 4th floor window. Notice in the 2nd picture is a Bob's Big Boy restuarant. They closed down in San Jose a few years ago and excited (?) that there was one there. (You may have to click on the photo to enlarge it to see it).

We moved Jessica in on Friday and then went shopping for stuff for the apartment on Saturday. It poured on Saturday and were we thankful it did not do that on Friday. For dinner on Friday we went out do dinner with a nephew and his wife and his brother and son. (that would make him a nephew too.) It was good to see them.

Yes, children are a gift from God. They are a real joy and blessing. We will miss not having them around every day.

The other day a customer at work asked me if I had any children. I told him I have 2 plus another 50-70? He of course looked at me funny as I then explained what Patty and I are doing. That is how Patty and I feel about those we come in contact with at Farm Drive. We are not their parents but we love them as if they were.

We opened the Center (Patty wants me to capitlize Center) on Sunday evening and one of the kids came by and asked for help with homework. Not my speciality this day and age. I almost said come back on Monday for homework assistance but I thought better. Fortunately it was on the metric system of measuring and I could help. But I had to spend some time trying to figure out what she knew and what the teacher had taught them so far. I know how I would figure the problem but it might not help the student. She went from not really having a clue to "oh yeah, now I remember". I felt good that I was able to help her and I'm sure she felt good understanding and getting her homework done. It would have been easier to do it for her or said good luck with that! But that is not the best for her.

Are we not really empty nesters!?

Open House

On sunday, a busy weekend, we opened up the Center and invited both friends and neighbors in for an open house. It was more for our move to the new apartment but provided an opportunity to show what we are doing here and what Farm Drive is all about. Below are Daniel and Ruben cooking up the dogs.
An old friend of ours showed up, Goyo. He probably wouldn't like the old part. He used to be a teacher at Terrel Elementary School which is where the kids used to go to school before rezoning. Some of the kids who used to go there recognized him.

As you can see below we have quite a few bikes (13!) that have been donated from Hillside people. Along with some inline blades, they will be giving them away to kids involved in the KidTrek program in a drawing this next week. I'll have more pics on this in a later post. A very big thank you to those who donated bikes and skates. They are very much appreciated and the kids will be extemely excited to receive them.

Sarah and our new pastor's wife Tricia and their kids enjoying our patio. We like it too.

A couple of pictures of people enjoying the open house.

And we just found out that Robbie and Stacy have found an apartment in the hood and will be moving in in October! This is great news as we will have someone to partner with us! They found an apartment down the street from us. This is a God-thing for sure!

Jessica's Going Away Party

This past Friday nite we had a going away party for Jessica our oldest daughter. She is moving to Los Angeles this coming weekend. So we invited some friends over for a BBQ. It is kinda of nice having a party at the center, plenty of tables and chairs, pool table, and a little basketball. Did not get the tetherball out though.
We also pulled out the fire pit to enjoy the rest of the evening and even roasted some marshmellows to make smores. Do most people know why they are called smores? Of course it is simple - I want some more.

A few of Jessica's friends.

This will officially make us empty nesters. Do I need to change the name of the blog?

Big Basin

This past weekend, September 7-9, we took 16 kids along with 9 staff people to Big Basin State Campground near Boulder Creek. It was mostly a relaxing weekend that we just focused on relationships. Betty had dinner ready for us Friday night and the Addington's brought up dinner for us on Saturday night. Thanks to both for this. It was great not having to deal with making and cleaning up both dinners. But we did do a big breakfast on Saturday and had bacon and chocolate chip pancakes (eck!) Patty shared 4 times during the weekend from the Beatitudes and the kids had lots of questions. The kids loved singing camp songs they learned from camp May Mac plus of course doing S'mores and Doughboys. They never seem to have enough sugar!

I asked a number of the kids their favorite part of the weekend and for a lot of them, it was the little hike we took Saturday afternoon. We found a nice little trail that followed the creek. At one point I had to stop and wait for some people that had to go back. As the kids kept on going, I could hear them singing camp songs for quite awhile as they went down the trail. Below is a picture of some of them enjoying the hike.

We also brought cards for them to play with but the real hit was the fingernail polish. Many of the girls enjoyed doing their nails and also enjoyed doing each others nails. (Make sure you never doze off for a little nap while they are doing nails as seen below).

Another hit was the creek walking that some of the kids did. Well it wasn't much walking, more just playing in the water. Nearby was a rope swing hanging from the tree. That was a blast!

Overall we had a great time. Below is the whole gang.

A Scary Moment

Last night I had a scary moment. We had opened up the center for about an hour last night and Patty asked me to take a little boy to the bathroom. So I opened up one of the lower rooms and turned on the lights and asked him if he needed any help. He said yes. I said to myself oh-oh. How much help does he need. My butt wiping days I thought were supposed to be behind me (no pun intended!) Maybe he just needs to pee. He sat down. Not a good move. Then he starts to pee. Whew! Then he poops. ugh! I hope he doesn't hop of the toilet and reach for his ankles. But I needed to be brave and ask the question. "Do you need help wiping?" To my relief he said no. He grabbed the toilet paper and wiped himself and flushed the toilet. I helped him reach the sink to wash his hands.

Sorry in the delay in posting more. We had a great weekend at Big Basin camping and I will do a post with lots of pictures real soon.

Farm Drive Prayer Request

Here is an email that went out from Betty the Farm Drive Director. It is a request for help. I thought I would add it here so you can get a feel for what goes on and for the needs of the Center:

Greetings praying friends,
I am asking that you pray for the following kids who are registered and anxiously awaiting news that they have a leader – otherwise they will remain on a waiting list indefinitely and may never be able to be a part of KidTrek (fall after school program). I don’t believe that is part of God’s plan for these “eager beavers”. Pray for 3 more leaders.

1) We need a Co-leader for a Monday and Wednesday group that meets from 2:30-5:00. Five little boys who are hoping to be a part of KidTrek. They are Jacob, Erick, Jorge, Romello and Juan. These little 3rd grade boys need two leaders to work with them and at this point we only have one.

2) Third grade girls Aleyda, Cynthia, Maria and Marcela need a leader also. They have no leader at all and can’t believe that they might not be able to come to KidTrek. You should have seen the disappointed faces when I told them they could not start unless we got another leader. This group also meets Monday and Wednesday from 2:30-5:00.

3) Pre-Kinders Anthony, Sara, Samantha, Roselyn, Miguel, Alejandro and Angel are also awaiting a leader. This group will not begin until October 16th and will meet on either Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 10am – Noon (or Monday and Wednesday mornings from 10am – Noon to accommodate leaders schedule). Precious kids every one of them.

I know God has someone to love them. Please pray with me for the Lord to prompt the hearts of those He wants here with us.

We have 54 kids registered and ready to go. Thanks for praying and responding promptly if God is nudging your heart.

Blessings, Betty

Betty Watson, Director
Friends of Farm Drive Community Center
A Ministry of Hillside Church

An Interesting Dichotomy

It's been an interesting last couple of days. On Wednesday nite, Patty and I went over to Oakridge Mall to help man/run the "God Talk" kiosk that Hillside Church was helping run this past week. It is a kiosk in the mall that a guy in San Jose is renting to have a spot where shoppers can come ask questions about God. Different churches come help run the kiosk so Patty and I decided to help out. We were both a little apprehensive in doing this style of evangelism but they needed help.

So for 3 hours we tried to engage people in conversation about anything actually. We had candy set out on the counter (free of course), in hopes of bringing people over to the kiosk to talk. Tried to make a lot of eye contact and say friendly hellos. It was actually harder than I thought to get people to stop. There was a survey we could use to help start spiritual conversations since it asked questions about attending church, believing in God, and being sure about going to heaven.

Patty had a nice conversation with one high school girl who attended church with her parents but was not involved in any other way with church kids. She admitted she makes bad choices while her father was standing there! She shared that she hoped she'd go to heaven. Patty told her that we all make mistakes/bad choices (that's human) and encouraged her to get involved with other kids her own age at the church. Good friends could help her make good choices.

I had a talk with a father who engaged me with some questions about a pastor at a church he used to attend. But when I asked him questions about what he is involved in now, he left the kiosk.

One of the other guys in the booth was able to talk to a young man for 30 minutes or so about God. He was an atheist and it seemed they had a very good conversation that was positive.

Supposedly 50 plus people made commitments to follow Jesus during the week that Hillside Church was there. But what now? There was encouragement to attend a church and learn more. There will be followup letters going out but something is missing here. There is no personal contact, a relationship of someone coming alongside and leading them to the next level. I guess Jesus and his disciples did this kind of thing; met people, asked them to follow Him and then Jesus and His disciples would leave town. Very interesting.

I compare all of this to what happened Friday (last) night. We went to a babtism held at church by the spanish church, Iglesia Libre. A couple was getting babtised that lives in our neighborhood and their kids are involved in the Center. I guess because of their kids being involved in the Center and some things going on in their lives (the mom was dealing with cancer), God was tugging on their hearts. A few of the people from the Iglesis Libre came alongside them in their time of need and the couple decided to follow Jesus and trust Him during this time of struggle. The whole family now is involved in the spanish church and the parents publicly confessed their beliefs last nite. This is how a church should work. Christians pouring their lives into relationships with others and the Spirit moves and uses others to also come alongside to change peoples lives!

Here is the family. We had pictures from the babtism but they didn't turn out well.

I am not so excited about the first method I talked about above, but God can use many different ways to reach people to hear the message that HE loves them and we all need to be obedient and ready to share that love to all!

P.S. A couple of kids from the hood wanted to go last night so we took them with us. Also Betty (Director at the Center) picked up one of the single moms in the hood and took her and her 6 year old little boy and a freind of his with her to the baptism. All of them were exposed to the good news and to a church of people who love the Lord and show it!

Movie Night

This past Sunday night we had a movie night. We opened up the Center for a couple of hours to play pool, rollerblade, ride bikes and play dodgeball. Then we set up a sound system and using a video projector we watched the movie "Hook". We were outside in the driveway area that is used for street hockey, dodgeball, basketball, and teatherball. We projected it up on the wall above the garage doors. We had about 40 kids but maybe only 10 or so really watched it. It is hard for kids to sit still for 2 hours when there are so many friends and other play options available. One kid was riding his bike around and I stopped him and asked why he wasn't watching the movie. He said he was bored!

We also made popcorn and had other snacks which ended up all over the place! Here are a few enjoying the evening show. School starts this week!

I decided to add this picture of Ronnie. Call it a self portrait.