Greece, Istanbul and Vatan

Many of you will remember our Air force Cadet ('96) from Turkey. He became like a son to us and a brother to our kids. He now flies for the Turkish Air force. My mother has invited me to go on a Greek Cruise with her from October 2-13. One of our stops will be in Istanbul. Vatan is bringing his family, Deniz and Mercan, nine hundred miles just to see me. Please pray for Mercan. She is six months old and has some serious kidney concerns. They will meet me in Istanbul at the dock. They will give me a personal tour of Istanbul. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I have dreamed for many years that we could visit him. Please be praying for our time on October 7. We have not seen each other in many years.

Saturday- Musician, Massages, Lattes, and Jumper Cables

Saturday we had our kickoff for the fall Bible Studies. Evie (the church secretary) planned quite a day. We had a massage therapist in the nursery, a professional barista, a recording artist and great salads. Evie is just amazing. After it was over, she even jumped my car, since I had left the lights on. All I had to do was emcee the event. It was a great day for the women in our church. Bless you, Evie!

Friday in LA

Friday night we drove to Santa Monica to attend an event for The Arts and Entertainment Ministry. The founder of this group is an ordained PCA pastor. It was amazing to see fine art, short films, and hear live entertainment from Christian artists who make a living in the LA arts community. We invited Keiz and Aaron,(on the right) a new couple who have just started coming to our church. They just got married two months ago.
They are so much fun. Matt Bean, next to them was one of the film directors. Beth (next to him) does editing for Wheel of Fortune. Aaron actually knew Matt from USC. Matt was just hysterical.

Thursday with Mom's and Tots

I went to Redondo Beach (just a few miles from my house) with Lauryn and Timothy and their moms. The toddlers had a great time chasing pigeons. I still can't believe this is my beach. It was an incredible day. There was also a small Farmer's Market on the pier where I picked up some peaches. Gotta love this place.

Wednesday at the Dorcas Circle

Our wonderful Dorcas Circle finished two more blankets. We were able to mail them to a man in Wheaton,Illinois who will be taking them to Ukraine in October. They will be given to the missionary who was Heather's team leader. Heero will distribute them to widows who need a warm blanket as well as the love of Jesus.

Amelie's Baptism

Today John baptised Amelie Lopez. We are sad that we will be losing this precious family. Danny and Angie will be moving to New Mexico where Danny will teach high school."Papa" John is so good with babies. Amelie seemed to take the whole thing very seriously.

Mary Alice Our oldest member of Redeemer

Today, I visited an amazing lady. MA is 86 and has been coming to Redeemer for a very long time. She lives in the most adorable little cottage in Manhattan Beach. She paid $9000 for it 50 years ago. The lot alone is worth a million $ today. I am not exagerating!
She gave me some cuttings from her garden. She takes 8 mile hikes in the mountains. I am hoping she will take me soon. She is still driving the freeways. She takes care of the communion table faithfully. These tiles are her front porch. The small little girl is her nameplate on her house.

The Cinnamon Children

We are blessed to have the Cinnamon Family joining our church. John took the parents through the new members class while I created fun with the children. I think this is one of my best ideas yet. I had them for 5 hours. For almost two hours, we worked and created an amazing spider web in my back yard. Matthew, the seven year old stayed the most focused. However, Michael, the three year old got into it,too. It was such a piece of art,I kept it up for three days.