Home in Tacoma and Road Trip to California

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 near Tacoma and sit in the pew and worship without leadership duties.  New Beginnings is a vibrant congregation, and this Sunday $107,000 in college scholarships were given out to mostly students of color connected to the congregation.





It was fun to camp in three different places as we made our way down the coast from Tacoma to Oakland.  We had a chance to camp under the redwoods at Butano State Park near San Francisco.




Here we are by the ocean again, this time at Pescadero State Park near San Francisco.



We hiked almost 4 miles in total to a beach to see elephant seals!

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