Pics from San Diego

The lovely Tracey and ever-energetic Owen are back in Togo with us. They had a busy time in San Diego what with a wedding, catching up with family and Christmas shopping to do. Here are a few pictures from their time there…

<- Tracey and Owen at the Ocean Beach pier. Grandma’s house is only a few blocks from the beach, the pier and our favorite mexican restaurant – Nati’s. Tracey had a hard time keeping Owen out of the water.

‘Excuse me. Can I have this dance?’ -> Owen gets caught trying to cut in on his new Uncle Jason for a dance with Aunt Mandy at the wedding reception. Jason is a Marine staff sargent stationed in San Diego.

Tracey with her sisters, Jenny (left) and Amanda (right). Jenny flew in from her home in Tennessee. She and her daughter Kate stayed with Tracey and Owen at Grandma’s. Even though Amanda was super busy getting ready for her wedding, she still found some time to hang out with her older sisters.

 

Hanging with Kate. Owen and Kate ‘hang out’ after church services. The two spent a lot of
time together and had a bunch of fun. It was nice for Owen to have a little one his size to pal around with.

Passing on a Passion

“Dad, can I go shoot baskets?”

This is what Graham and Isaac were asking me after lunch one day at the MK sports camp we hosted here in Kara last week.

Now, if you know me, you know my answer to that question was an emphatic ‘YES’! I don’t think I thought to check their plates to see if they had eaten any of their food and I know I didn’t care about my kids starting a mass exodus from the kid’s table before other parents were ready.

“Let them shoot all they want,” I thought. “They can shoot until the sun goes down and still keep shooting.” Which is exactly what they did. (Check out Isaac’s follow through in the picture.) And, as I watched those two shoot (and make) baskets, I caught myself making the biggest, cheesiest grin I’d made in a long while. To me, that was pure joy and I knew for sure that if the boys show interest in my favorite sport, they’ll get about as much grace and help as one pop can muster, with pleasure.

Then, in a brief spiritual moment, I had the thought, “This is what God must feel like when we find pleasure in the things which he enjoys. Which may be why he heaps so much grace, love and mercy upon us… to help us find, and love, those things he loves. Pretty cool.” Well, I know I’m not that close to being God-like, but it was fun to find that connection to God with Ike, G, me and basketball.

So now I’m trying to find a way to get an adjustable hoop put in on our basketball court. (The boys still shoot on our 10-footer, but it was the 7-footer at the camp that really got them going.) After that, we could have some flood lights put up… just for the boys, of course!