5.6 Earthquake

We had an earthquake last night in the South Bay. It meausred 5.6 on the Richter Scale and was centered in the Alum Rock area. It was the first earthquake I have felt since the Loma Prieta quake back in 1989. I was in a meeting at church and the first thing you think about after you realize it is an earthquake is how big is it going to be and should I do something. Everybody at the meeting went under the tables except me. I'm really cool so I didn't. (or stupid!). Then you wonder if you are near the epicenter or far away from a really big one.
When I got home I turned on the TV to see how big it was and where it was centered. On the news station people were sending in photos of the damage from their homes to the station and they were showing them on the air. I went to the website and tried to download some of them, but I was not able to. I just remember one picture of home office that had stuff all over the place. I was wondering if that was caused by the quake or the guy is just messy! "My desk is not messy, the quake did this!". So anyway here are the photos I was going to send in to the station:

On the air they said their were no injuries, but we had one. We lost a turtle. It is a really sad day at the Havens household.

This is a picture of Patty's knick knacks that fell of the wall. (yeah, yeah, you can all sing along, "knick knack, Patty whack, give the dog a bone!") These came from Africa.

Oh did I mention that the turtle is ceramic and fell off a pot in the window sill.

Random Thoughts 2

I came home the other night and a young girl we know was looking at a flyer and couldn't understand it. It was in Spanish and I asked her if she could read spanish and she said no. She is bilingual but learned to read only English in school. So I read it out loud in Spanish to her (the best I could!) and she translated it back to me in Spanish! I thought that was cool! (I actually understood the gist of the flyer.)

Later that evening I did one of the best parts of being an elder. A few of us went over to the house of an elderly couple to pray for them. They are dealing with some health issues and wanted the elders to come and pray for them. These moments are real special to be able to interecede for them before our Creator. We even brought communion and took it together. There is really something special to break bread together with some of God's faithful and longtime servants. These people had been through a lot but there was so much joy in their hearts for what God has done for them. And they still share God's love with the people they come in contact with! They were constantly smiling and laughing even though they were in such physical pain. I hope that I will be like that when I get older!

I work with college age students and I love their passion and enthusism to learn about God and learn what their role is in this world. Then to see seniors/older people who still have that passion and enthusism as they near the end of their journey and have learned what their role is, is awesome! The wife was asking why God still had her on this earth since all of her sisters have gone home. She must still have something to do.

On the way back home after that great experience, I was riding with a couple of elders who are in the retirement age of their life. They were talking how they have no plans to retire. Why would they stop working to sit at home and play golf at a reduced income? That would mean that their tithe would go down and they would rather keep working so that the things that God is doing can still be financed by them! All believers should think this way!

Random Thoughts

Patty hurt her back the other day and it is taking quite a while to heal. But being the slave driver I am, I made her go to the grocery store with me. (I believe excercise, moving around is better to heal a back rather than sitting and laying around doing nothing). On the way into the store we were stopped by a guy asking for a couple of bucks. I said I'm sorry all I have is a $10 will he take that instead? (I'm such a troublemaker). So I was interested in his story so I asked him. Boy, I couldn't get him to stop after that! His name was Joe and he had got laid off at a local car dealer. He was looking for more work, (using Craig's list!) but most jobs had tons of people applying for work. He said he got around with a monthy bus pass so he was able to do 2-3 job applications a day instead of more if he owned a car. He also uses a church in Los Gatos as his contact place. I found that interesting. He lives underneath hwy 280. I asked him if there was anything I could get him and he gave us a short grocery list. We went inside and purchased his list and ours and came out and gave him his groceries. He was very appreciative and said God bless you and asked if we'd pray for him to get a job. So please pray for Joe.

My thoughts were many after that exchange. As we drove away he hid the groceries under his coat so he could continue asking for money. Is this form of begging more productive than getting a job? Why don't more people stop to help out? If 10% of San Jose attends church on a regular basis that means there is about 95,00o people who could be helping the homeless and poor. Plus people who don't go to church that feel compelled to help those who are in need, are also helping. Shouldn't this problem be eliminated?

I remember years ago that I couldn't wait to move out of San Jose. I wanted to move to an area that was a lot cheaper to live. We always struggled to make ends meet. And it almost happened once about 12 years ago but it fell apart at the last minute. But now I don't want to move. I love the city of San Jose. God has really given me a passion for this place. My eyes are now beginning to see what God sees so why would I leave when there is so much to be done here? I feel compelled now to "invest" my (oops!) God's dollars here with the local economy. I frequent the farmer's market as much as possible. I frequent local retailers instead of the big corporate stores. (This is hard to do and not having much luck!). Patty and I went to a local theatre to see Guy's and Doll's instead of going to San Franscico. We have been looking for local resturants to go out to instead of going to the corporate types. We are here and we need to support and pray for here, the city of San Jose!

DOOF

On Saturday we took about 27 kids to Doof-A-Palooza, held at Google. Doof (food backwards) is a show bound for PBS. This was a food fair with many booths geared for kids to expose them to healthy foods. There were a lot of booths that had different things going on. For example, how to make spring rolls, how to make butter, how to make pies, pizza, etc. Below is a picture of Sarah Kompelien a friend and chef at Google, and some of the girls making pizza dough.

Joey Altman, who has his own tv show, Bay Cafe, (on Kron4 on Sundays) did food shows with the kids. You signed up and then at different times you go in and tape your show. Most all of our kids signed up and were able to be on Joey's show. Below is one group of our girls making a salad with Joey. This was recorded like a real segment and they all got DVD copies of their show. Joey did a great job with all of the kids.

This was my group of boys for the day.

One of the booths was to paint pumpkins. These are some of Patty's girls for the day.

Here is the entire group. All the kids had a great time. Some of the different comments on what they liked best was making pizza, doing the Joey Altman show and kicking the butter ball around. My group liked making the spring rolls. They made a special extra large one for me to eat that was along the lines of a Dos Manos burrito!

Going to Google was also quite an experience to expose the kids to. They were amazed at seeing a company like this and this day made for discussions about how to work in a company like Google. Staying in school and getting good grades. Then going to college and getting a degree that opens doors to work at a place like Google. There are opportunities that are available to them if they work at it and not make the same mistakes their parents made. All in all, it was a great day for kids and the leaders!

Cupcakes on a Friday afternoon

Yesterday, the kids didn't have school. I opened the Center and had kids here all afternoon. They played football, some of the guys took a bike ride with Robbie (newest Hillside couple, he and Stacy, to move into the neighborhood), some played pool and a bunch of girls came upstairs to our apt. because 2 of the older girls wanted to bake cupcakes. Here we are enjoying the cupcakes and the leftover frosting. Yum! It was a fun afternoon. I'm so glad we have a good, safe, fun, clean place for the kids to come to when school is out.

Spanish Parties are the Best!

A couple of weeks ago, I Patty, went to a birthday for 2 girls that go to KidTrek, our after school program. I have known both of them for several years. What fun we had! Several kids and I walked down the street to their apt. 1 1/2 hours late but true to form, we weren't late at all. This first picture is of me and some of the kids in the bounce house and yes, I was achy the next day from all the bouncing! They love it when I get in the bounce house with them.

Here I am enjoying one of my favorite parts of the hispanic culture...their delicious food! Homemade tacos are the best and these are 2 of my favorite little girls!

This last picture is of the first (yes they had 2) pinata at the end when the candy came out. It was raining candy. The kids loved this! This party went till somewhere around 1 in the morning. They had music, LOUD music, delicious food, (tacos, salad, cake and pesole (sp?) and lots of family and friends. They really know how to party and I was honored to be invited!

Yellowstone

One of my suppliers from work went to Yellowstone this past week and it snowed the whole time he was there. He went to go fishing but it was too cold from him to do much. It's amazing that it was cold and snowy there and about another 1000 miles east of there it was 89 degrees with a very high humidity. They had to cancel a marathon in Chicago because it was so hot and humid. So he sent a few of the pictures he took so I thought I would share them with you all.

One of the upsides to snowy weather (besides the beautiful white snowscapes) is that it brings the wildlife out. So enjoy.

Tanzania and E-Waste

I am tired this morning. My body aches, my legs are tired, my back is sore, and I have a headache.

Why?

Last night Patty, 12 kids from the hood (ranging from 1st grade through 7 grade) and myself went and distributed a bunch of flyers for an E-Waste collection this coming Saturday. (more on that later) We walked about 4 different neighborhoods over a 2 hour period all around where we live. Must have distributed about 400 flyers. That was a lot of walking. Most of that time I had at least one kid hanging on me especially at the end as they were tired of walking! But I was real proud of them. I know of a lot of kids that would be excessively whining about the walking and maybe even sit down and give up. Maybe even expect me to carry them. But we all had a blast hanging out and taking Cosmo with us. Hopefully it will pay off with a few more people bringing their electronic waste this Saturday to Hillside Church.

So now to the details.

About 1o of us from the college group at Hillside are going to Tanzania next June to do a week long camp for Junior High and High School age students from Dar es Salaam. This trip will be expensive and we need to raise funds. So this Saturday the 13th of October we will have a bin available for people to bring their electronic junk to get recycled. We get a percentage based on the weight of what is brought in. We are also having a car wash at the same time...hot dogs too.

Patty and I have struggled about going on this trip. That's a lot of money to travel to the other side of the world. This trip will be 3 weeks and we struggle with leaving what we are doing here. But we feel God leading us to do this. We love taking people to other parts of the world to expose them to what else is going on in different cultures. We love to see what God is doing elsewhere and we can share with the kids at Farm Drive what we are doing and why.

Halloween

I was recently asked my opinion of Halloween and how Christians should handle this day that some refer to as a day that belongs to Satan. Here was my response:

To me Halloween comes down to preference. What and why are you involved in celebrating Halloween? It is harmless in most cases. But appearances are important. If other Christians see you and can't believe you are celebrating it, then you should think twice about being involved. You don't want to start an argument or cause someone to "stumble". Since so many Christians have "problems" with Halloween, we at church or at Farm Drive avoid doing anything except a "harvest party" alternative.

Personally the last couple of years we (Patty and I) have been out in our driveway with a firepit and candy, hot chocolate, hot cider, and we enjoy seeing our neighbors and talking with them. We even ask them to sit and chat awhile, relax on their walks with their kids for a bit. They are usually very happy to see us and think what a great idea! We don't dress up but what a statement that makes versus us sitting inside the house with the door locked and a sign on the door saying sorry no candy!
If I had younguns I would walk the neighborhood but keep away from the creepy outfits. I think we always did. Nightmares aren't worth it. I think Jon still has nightmares. Oh that's right, I was carrying an ax. Jessica doesn't care for clowns. Actually both our kids hate clowns!

Street Hockey Tournement

The San Jose Sharks have a program called Sharks and Parks NHL Street Hockey Program. This is set up for schools in the area as well as community programs like Farm Drive and the YMCA . They have not had a tournament in a few years and this year they had one on Saturday the 29th of October. They do this in the parking lot of the HP Pavillion Arena and Sharkie makes an appearance. The kids have a lot of fun and but they didn't do too well since they did not have a lot of practice time and the team was spread out age wise. Below are a few pics of the tournament.

And here is a team picture of the Farm Drive Street Hawks! A big thank you to Robbie and Sarah for their help in coaching this years team!

That night most of the team was able to go to the San Jose Sharks exhibition game against the Calgary Flames. It's amazing we didn't lose anyone!

Patty was gone for the weekend as she went with a friend to Disneyland. I opened the Center by myself on Sunday nite and it was a small group of kids playing pool. Betty brought over some 4 foot long sandwichs which were left over from another church's get together. We cut them up and gave them to different families in the hood. Also some of the sandwiches we gave to the kids that were there at the Center. Then about an hour later a group of junior high age kids came by to play street hockey. Most are not a part of the Center and some don't even live in the area. But I was glad to have them come by and play hockey. A few had to be reminded very quickly to watch their language. But before a game could be organized a couple of them started getting in an argument and the language was out of control. So I sent the two packing which meant the whole group left. I was sad as were a few of the kids who wanted to play hockey! They don't come around often so it was a wonderful opportunity to be able to hang out and build relationships but that kind of behavior is not acceptable and they know it.

Oh well.

Mac n Cheese Night

On Friday night, the 2nd of October, Patty and I and a few of our friends opened up the Center but also cooked up boxes of Macaroni and Cheese. We even had a special pot that contained chopped up hot dogs in it! What a gastronomical delight! Yum-Yum! Some of the kids helped by cooking and setting things up for serving. (Kind of like at home, boy do we miss our free slave laborers!) When we do this, it is open to anyone who comes by, wants to play at the Center and we offer them a deliciouis meal. Of course there are those that turn it down. (don't understand why!) The next 2 pictures are some of the kids enjoying their meal.

Since the San Jose Sharks were sponsoring a street hockey tournament the next day that was the activity of choice for the night. Cosmo likes to play that sport as you can see below. He makes the puck (ball) a little slippery though. But he helps the kids improve their ball handling skills.

You don't want to play pool with this shark!