Graduation 2012

 Teresa with Mrs. Sisk who was honored at graduation for being a faithful wife and missionary to her husband for over 50 years.  She has had recent brain surgery to remove some tumors. 

 Dad and Mom with the graduate.  The blue collar is for secondary education major.

Teresa with Mrs. Harris who received a Masters in Christian Education via the online course.  She was Sara's piano teacher in Japan. 

Front: Sara, Teresa, Mom, Dad.  Back: Stephen, Matthew, Cousin Stephanie, her dad and my brother Joe, and Peter.  Joe and Stephanie came up from Los Angeles. 

The graduation ceremony was all pomp and circumstance and very Christian.  We sang Crown Him With Many Crowns to open.  Pastor Chappel preached a message on being Rooted in Christ.  Then the over 190 graduates received their diplomas.  The photos I took were too blurry to determine that Teresa was getting her diploma, as we were not that close to the front.  Perhaps we will receive a CD or I could download the video in a few days.  It was a great day all around.

Sunday night there was a huge moon out--something about it being closer to earth than normal.

Today we left Fairfield and drove down Route 12 and 5 to Lancaster, arriving about 2:00 p.m.  The drive down through the central valley was one of wonder at the sheer flatness of the farming fields.  From what I could tell there were lots of almond groves and other types of nut trees. They are huge groves of trees in 3-4 stages of height:  fully mature, about 5years old, down to seedlings.   I did see several signs of protest along the way.  The Congress has cut off the water supply in the valley, therefore, crops  cannot be grown and food costs rise. 

 This one says Valley Farmers paid 100 percent of the Water allocation but received only a percentage of it in the three years listed.

The valley in many parts looked barren and dry.  When we got into the hills about 30 minutes from Lancaster, it was a bit more green.

 The start of a new orchard, top and the greener valley, bottom.

Jelly Belly Factory

 The Jelly Belly Factory is in Fairfield, CA.  It was made famous by Ronald Reagan when he wanted something to help him stop pipe smoking.  Remember?  He always had a jar of jelly beans on his desk and at meetings.  The tour is very kid-friendly, but on Saturday there were no workers in the factory, so we had to watch short videos on the process of making the beans. 

There were several portraits of famous people hung throughout the factory, each using about 10,000 beans.  This was the first one done in 1980.  

 This is one All-American, patriotic company!  Yes!!

Mr. Jelly Belly waves from the family car>.

Bird utterings

We recorded the mackaw and the other two birds in Pastor's house.  It was so funny listening to them and all the noise.  The cockateel squawks loudly sometimes while the other two sometimes carry on a conversation.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

In the evening service at Calvary Baptist church, Fairfield, Henry showed the presentation and preached about the feeding of the 5,000.  There were at least three Japanese in service, one a lady who rarely comes, so Henry gave the outline in Japanese for their benefit. 

After the service, he was signing Bibles for people.  He was also able to witness to an older Japanese lady for about an hour.  She did not get saved, but said she wanted to, but was not ready.  More watering on the planted seed. 

About 9:00 p.m. we went to dinner with a family to a New Orleans style restaurant.  I had French Onion Soup and a salad---really good, even that late at night.  Henry had a tomato bisque which was a little spicy for me, but good.  Sara ate a turkey dinner, but Henry ate her cranberries.