Church BBQ

Yesterday we had our church's annual Memorial Day picnic. They had other people be official event photographers but I had the opportunity to borrow Joe our senior pastor's zoom lens. A L series 75-200. It was nice to play around with it at our annual Memorial Day all church BBQ. It has been offered to me to take to Africa to use especially on our safari trip. It is a very heavy lens but would be nice to have on that part of our trip. So here are a few of the pictures I took with the lens. Unfortunately these guys saw me taking a picture of them!

I was able to catch our neighbor Ruben enjoying a snow cone without me seeing him.

Nice to catch from a distance Vicky (one of our volunteers) talking to a kid. He's from Kids Club at Canoas Elementary.

Here is Cynthia waiting for her turn on the big slide.

This was a huge big bouncy slide. Stacy was caught enjoying her trip down.

Here is Cynthia enjoying her turn finally going down.

And Jasmin too.

Here is the owner of the lens I borrowed, our Senior Pastor, Joe taking his turn on the mechanical bull.

We had quite a few of our neighbors from Farm Drive come to the BBQ. We invited them to come and enjoy the BBQ and other fun activities that were planned.

Community.

There is that word again.

Cosmo

Cosmo, our 9 year old Golden Retriever, has made this transition to apartment living amazingly well. Of course, it was easy because like most GR's, they love people. So he has always been very popular anytime we open up the Center. He comes out and plays with the kids. There are times when Patty or I take him out for a walk and you hear kids yelling out his name... "Cosmo!" They may not even say something like hey Patty or Pete, but just Cosmo. I may not even know the kid but he or she will for sure know who Cosmo is. Many kids were at first a little apprehensive of such a big dog but once they started to pet him and see how soft and friendly he is, they became great friends. All he asks is that you pet him. Here's a few of our favorite pictures of Cosmo. (we like to call him the Farm Drive mascot)

Cosmo likes to play. Street hockey is one of his favorite games to play. He cheats by taking the ball and putting it in his mouth and then running. He is not afraid to mix it up when everyone else has hockey sticks.

You know, as I think about some of Cosmo's characteristics, I am reminded of Jesus. A picture of what love is all about. No matter what color you are, no matter what you are like on the inside or outside, no matter what goes on in your life, Jesus will love you. If you mistreat Him, He is quick to forgive. He will always greet you with great enthusiasm. Very faithful.

Portola Camping Trip

Last weekend (May 16-18) we went on our annual camping trip with 18 kids from the Farm Drive neighborhood. They ranged from 2nd grade to 8th grade. We had 8 leaders. The leaders were all from Hillside, ranging from college kids, to KidTrek leaders, to Bible Club leaders to Hillside people that love kids and want to pour into their lives.

We usually go in August but this year we tried something different; going in the spring, and the weather was exceptional! We went to Portola State Park that is on the road from Palo Alto over to Pescadero. It is quite a crooked road so we had our barf bags ready. Two girls even had to use them. Yuck! I will spare you the pictures of that event. But I will show you our big breakfast on Saturday morning being prepared by our wonderful leaders!

After breakfast we went out for a little hike that turned into a little longer than we had planned. It was fun to see the sights of a coastal redwood forest. Dave (one of the leaders) knew a lot about trees, the forest and bugs which made the hike fun. Here we are looking at a tree that is around 2000 years old. The kids were amazed that this tree was around during the time of Jesus!

More of the hike through a meadow.

A nice spot for a group picture in one of the redwoods. The inside was burned out by a lightning strike.

The afternoon was quite warm so we did some creek walking. We found this log in the water and had to ride it. (see next blog for a video)

Saturday night we had a time of sharing the highlights from the day, a scary story, favorite Bible verses, and a time to pray/talk to God. And of course camping wouldn't be complete without s'mores and doughboys!

This is our final group shot on Sunday before leaving. It was a great weekend. We had less than 10 kids signed up to go the week before, but He brought the kids he wanted to go even as we were loading up the cars! (We had 18 total) We had some injuries that could have been serious but He protected them and they were all minor. It was a great weekend to get away from the hood, enjoy God's creation, create memories to last a lifetime, and we had many opportunites to build relationships that will last for eternity!

Portola Trip - Video

A big reason to take 18 kids camping is to create memories. I think this is one that the kids (and leaders) will remember for a very long time. As we were creek walking on Saturday, we frounded a bend and came upon this log in the creek. It was the perfect bronco to ride!

Enjoy the video.

Feeding the Homeless

Through a friend of ours (Goyo), we made arrangements for some of the older boys to go downtown to help feed some of the homeless people around St. James Park. We were asked to bring some cookies so the night before we (the boys, Robbie and I) gathered together to have a men bonding moment of baking cookies together. Below is a few of the guys mixing some dough together with some, oh, never mind. The next day we went and played a round of putt-putt golf. I mean minature golf. I played one of my better games and scored a 54 and tied with Walter! Then we went downtown to the Oasis that is an old nightclub across from St. James Park. There we met Oki (the Pastor) and he shared his story with the boys. He pulled out a picture from his Bible from 3 years ago when he was heavily into drugs and in the picture he was very skinny. (He said he would be rather be fat for Jesus than skinny on drugs!)

After that we helped serve up a meal to about 50+ people who came off the street to get a hot meal. It happens every Sunday evening and Oki has been doing this for about 2 years. He has noticed a change in the area.

Oki also is homeless. Intentionally. To be better able to minister to others. This is the camper he sleeps, works, and plays in. He even parks it down by the river at night!

And here is our group with Pastor Oki. The guys had fun and enjoyed their time.

We could all pray for Oki. His daughter took another job and then gave her 2 week notice at her old job. She then found out that the new job is not going to hire her so she is without a job unless the old employer takes her back.

And you could pray for Oki's ministry. God provides all his needs to live. He doesn't have to work and so therefore can devote most of his time helping out his "flock".

I also met a man named Alan. You could pray for him. He is going to have a tooth pulled this week. He was hoping for a crown. He has a part time job but it is not enough to pay for rent so he lives on the streets.

This was a great experence for these boys. (and me too!). It opened our eyes and we are all looking forward to going back.