Pastor John and Leigh's Sabbatical Mixed Plate

We're now in Oakland, California, at Leigh's parents' home in the house where Leigh grew up.  A few words summarize this past week on our "Mixed Plate" sabbatical:  eating, relatives, friends, driving, and bridges. Leigh was having brunch with friends last Sunday and I worshiped by myself (for the first time in a long time) at Oakland City Church, a multiethnic, multigenerational church in Oakland.  The worshiping community was wonderfully diverse, with folks of Euro-American, African American, Asian, and Latino backgrounds. It was fun for Leigh to get together with her whole immediate family -- her parents from Oakland, sister from Atlanta, and brother from the Bay Area.  The cousins on Leigh's side had a great time hanging out (above)! My (John's) parents flew in from Cincinnati, Ohio, to stay with Leigh's parents, and we've enjoyed lots of time eating, talking, walking, and laughing together.  My mom and dad have been using

We returned to Tacoma for a few days to rest, do laundry and yard work, regroup and repack, and then we were off again on a road trip to Oakland, California, to spend time with Leigh's mom and dad, brother and family who live in the Bay Area, and sister and family who are in town from Atlanta.  Next week my (John's) parents will arrive in Oakland from Cincinnati, Ohio, for a week together with us and Leigh's parents.  What a blessing to have this opportunity on our sabbatical to spend so much time with immediate family members who live far from Tacoma.  When our parents are together, our plan is to listen to them share stories of their growing up and learn more about our cultural heritage.  We hope to visit places important to Leigh's dad in his childhood in Chinatown, San Francisco. While we were in Tacoma, we worshiped in Renton, Washington, at New Beginnings Christian Fellowship church -- as a pastor, it's wonderful to have this opportunity visit churches ne

We spent our last week in Hawaii on the island of Kauai, the Garden Island.  When I think about Kauai, some words come to mind: verdant, lush, beautiful, hot, tropical, paradise, chickens.  Yes, chickens.  Chickens run wild in Kauai.  Chickens are everywhere.  The first indication was when I got our rental car -- a chicken greeted me by the car! Here are some other pictures that tell the story of our last week in Hawaii's paradise (before returning to the paradise of our beautiful Hilltop neighborhood in Tacoma!). Feeding the chickens! Waimea Canyon, Kauai's version of the Grand Canyon, but green! The Spouting Horn -- ocean waves create this blowhole through a hole in the lava rock.   Joy and Leigh went to a lei-making class, and Joy created her own lei from plumeria flowers! More swimming at beautiful beaches! Discovering a sea turtle on one beach and a Hawaiian monk seal on another! More good food!  Luke's eating ch