In the past two months, we have made six trips to California, two to Maryland, one to Virginia, one to Pennsylvania, one to Tennessee, and one to Georgia. Of the 23 days we slept in our own bed (out of the past 62 days), we have had seven sets of houseguests, many full days of counseling, spoken at four weekend conferences, celebrated two God-honoring weddings, walked about 400 miles, gone apple picking and leaf peeping, bought and processed our annual supply of fresh raspberries for jam making, and been with all of our children and grandchildren at various points along the way.
And we’ve loved every minute of it.
Admittedly though, as we fly to Kona today to spend the next 3.5 weeks partnering with Living Stones Church, we are both looking forward to being in one place for an extended time.
Backing up to Sept. 17, we flew to California to celebrate the wedding of Erik and Caely Anderson, and what a great celebration it was. Erik, another of our long time family campers - turned three summer program staffers, has been serving in youth ministry at Grace Church in San Luis Obispo, CA, and along the way, Caely became an answer to his prayers for a Christ-centered wife. The beautiful lakefront wedding was made even more special by the very large contingent of family campers and former staff in attendance. How we loved reconnecting with these precious friends with whom we spent many summers at family camp. A few shared tears affirmed the loss we all feel about this cherished, life changing tradition being broken, but the joy of unbroken, deep friendships was also affirmed.
CBS family campers and staff reunited around the beautiful wedding of Erik and Caely Anderson and our fellowship was so sweet.
The very happy couple thoughtfully greeted everyone at the head of the buffet and handed each guest their dinner plate.
Shelby Dreves (center) hung out with us for the wedding weekend and we all enjoyed going to Bayside Church with Carol and Leslie Johnston on Sunday. That was an added bonus to the trip.
We flew home to host Kelsey O’Keeffe and her boyfriend, Trey, for a couple of days and we’re so glad we did. Kelsey also "grew up” at camp and became a stellar program staffer for many summers after her high school graduation. She very thoughtfully wanted us to get to know her serious boyfriend and that, to us, was worth a trip back to New England, even though we would fly back to CA three days later.
And we were right. We loved having them with us.
And we did manage to squeeze in a full day of counseling while Kelsey and Trey were touring and that was also good.
Kelsey O’Keeffe and her boyfriend Trey spent a couple of nights with us in late September and a truly good time was had by all.
Back to California we flew Sept. 23 to speak for Calvary Community Church of Brea’s weekend marriage conference. Pastored by John and Grace Tebay’s son David, we stepped into a time warp of over 40 years of relationships. Paul was commissioned into ministry by Pastor John in 1972 at Calvary Church of Placentia (the parent church of CCC of Brea) and in 1976 he married us. We are so blessed to still have John and Grace as our active mentors at 87 and 89.
Both John and David were well-loved family camp speakers as well as pastors, so many who attended we knew either from church or family camp. It was a very heart-warming and encouraging time of reconnecting with well-loved friends.
It also was a very powerful conference, and for that we are most thankful. Numerous Covid-weary attenders let us know that it was “just what they needed” for their not-as-thriving marriages. All praise is His.
The Tebay legacy of faithfulness is so deeply encouraging as the five generations we’ve personally known are all pressing hard after Christ.
These are a few of the CBS family campers who were still around when we grabbed this photo.
These dear friends, Scott and Peggy Smith and Johnny and Berta Juarez, have been in our lives both through Calvary Church and CBS for over four decades. They sacrificially served edibles throughout the weekend, making everyone feel very welcomed and at home.
And these “hall of famers,” Dick and Nancy Beggs, have been favorites since our first meeting in 1976 at a Christian Camping International Conference. It is a joy and a privilege to have them in our lives as both partners in ministry and treasured friends.
Such a fun surprise to have Kraig and Eryn Kraning and their three adorable littles show up at the conference. Kraig also grew up at CBS and served on staff. We were so heartened to catch up with them.
To put an exclamation point on the weekend, we had dinner Sunday night with John and Grace Tebay and their son Johnny, along with Johnny’s son Jesse and his new wife Corrie, and his daughter Amanda. A lively conversation was had throughout the two-hour meal and we were all a bit sad when the “Closed” sign on the restaurant subtly brought an end to our party.
John and Grace Tebay arranged a lovely dinner with their son and a few of their grandchildren. We cherish any moments we have with any Tebays.
We flew home the 27th and that night welcomed our next houseguests, Maggie and Bob Apenzeller. Maggie, a colleague of our daughter Lisa’s, is also a professor at Cal Baptist University and in honor of her recent pseudo-retirement, she and her husband Bob came north for leaf-peeping. We were so happy to host them and had many late-night chats after their long touring days. Very thoughtfully, Bob crafted us this birdhouse, using the license plate from my mother’s car for the roof. He is quite the creative craftsman!
Bob and Maggie presented us with this hand-crafted-by-Bob birdhouse, for which he used the license plate from my mother’s car.
Just after Bob and Maggie left, we were so happy to have Bonnie and Lindsey Thompson fly in from California to join us for lunch (and tour New England dressed-for-fall.). Friends now for more than 40 years, also from Calvary Church, we loved catching up with them. Our intersections have been few over the past almost five decades, but we had no trouble picking up where we left off. Their life story is profound and very hope-giving. It was a gift to have them.
Lindsey remarkably managed a selfie of this over-60 crowd! It was such a joy to "share story” over lunch with Lindsey and Bonnie.
In between our guests, we were able to steal in to downtown Boston and buy our annual supply of fresh raspberries from the Quincy Farmer’s Market. Twenty cases to be exact. Paul, in yet another gesture of sacrificial love, processed all 20 cases, and our freezer is now full of portioned-for-jam, mashed berries. Whew!! We’re still in business!!
Knee deep in fresh raspberries, Paul’s very important contribution to our jam-making-for-gifting is processing all the fresh berries. Done, for another year.
And then there’s my part . . . making the jam. We love everything about this enterprise.
Next stop . . . Pittsburgh. Yet another family-camper-turned-staff and now all grown up found the love of his life and we flew to Pittsburgh, PA, to celebrate his Oct. 3rd wedding. We’re always so grateful when such dates are possible for us. Sam and McKenna Potter’s wedding was such a joyous celebration of all that is good. They are both committed to honoring Christ in their marriage. A true highlight for us was seeing Paul Gandy officiate. My Paul officiated Paul and Lyss Gandy’s wedding six years ago, and we’ve served as mentors of theirs for about nine years. It was a joy to witness Paul Gandy do his first wedding, and not surprisingly, he did a great job.
We did have occasion to add another temperament illustration to our growing file when Paul realized that his sports jacket (which he was planning to wear to the wedding) was still on the backseat of our car, which was parked at the airport in Boston. Yikes! We landed in Pittsburgh at noon for a 4 pm wedding, so the window for finding a suitable replacement was very short. Fortunately, there was a Goodwill store close to the airport, and fortunately there was a navy blue blazer which would fill the bill. Which fortunately meant it was just a minor inconvenience rather than a traumatic challenge. A shirt and tie would not have cut muster for this formal, high-end wedding. Whew!!
A quick stop at the Goodwill store in Pittsburgh had just what Paul needed to be appropriately attired for the wedding.
Sam and McKenna exuded joy as they tied the knot.
Standing with Paul Gandy, our mentee and the officiant for the wedding.
Family camp connections are strong and deep . . . Gail Knowles (the “purple Grandma”) brought her daughter Kris Potter and her family to our New England family camp from the beginning, where they connected with the Yardley family (Susan Yardley is at the far right.). Both of these families produced some great family camp staffers eventually.
One more stop while in Pittsburgh: a late-night visit with Nate and Liz Barr and their precious little Isla Mae. Nate grew up at CBS, served on staff, and married Liz a couple of years ago. How we loved meeting Isla and catching up with Nate and Liz. We are so blessed.
Derek and Julie established a now family tradition by “coming home” October 7-11 for the third fall in a row. It’s so much fun to “act like tourists” when they come! We joined the ranks of apple pickers, leaf peepers, bike riders, and lobster roll eaters during our days together, with each activity reinforcing our love for this beautiful part of the country. Nathan and Rachel split ranks with all sane people by dipping in the 62-degree ocean at Good Harbor Beach, and they didn’t notice the chill. No nerve-endings is my presumption. The weekend together was grand in every way,
Fully-clothed swimming at Good Harbor Beach, in 62 degree water, bright sunshine, and big smiles.
Papa, Nathan, and Rachel have a talk on the beach.
We all biked to Great Meadows Refuge in Concord on a quintessential fall day.
Our annual apple picking date with Skip and Avonne Jarvis, and their kids Kendra, Kara, and Isaac (missing Patrick this year :( ), was joined by the Johnsons and many apples were had by all. Such a fun day!!
We love apple picking!!
Another highlight of our apple picking excursion was having a brief visit with treasured mentors of ours, Gordon and Gail MacDonald.
Two days after the Johnsons headed home, we flew to Baltimore for the beginning of a head-spinning, whirlwind of 12 days of travel.
I’m not kidding.
Three and a half days in Baltimore at the Eusebia 1000 conference.
Twenty hours in California for the launch of New City Church Oakland with Gabe and Kari and kids.
Two and a half days in Nashville with our beloved Williams family.
Four days in Atlanta, Georgia.
All accounted for days in the air or in airports.
Every bit of it worth every minute.
This was the fourth consecutive year we’ve been plenary and workshop speakers at the Eusebia 1000 Marriage Experience and there aren’t enough words to convey how much we love this conference and how honored we are to be a part of it. The brainchild and vision of Dr. Harold and Dalia Arnold, Eusebia is meant to build into healthy, Christ-centered marriages. This 5th anniversary of Eusebia was full of enthusiasm and celebration for how God has used this conference to fulfill His purposes. Harold and Dalia model sacrificial love so well as they pour themselves out for this annual event. They also model family legacy in such a hope-giving way: Harold’s parents, Harold and Dorothy Arnold, and his sister Mina Hardy, are integral players in this ministry.
Great teaching, lively worship, and many great conversations over meals contributed to it being a shot-in-the-arm conference.
We love Harold and Dalia so much we’ve invited them to do a workshop at our HIM marriage conference for the second time this February. We’re looking so forward to partnering with them in our neck of the woods.
Harold and Dalia Arnold are among the best and we’re so thankful to be partners with them.
Word is spreading . . . Ken and Amy Gaudet and Jim and Holly Mullens (both families are longtime family campers) heard Harold speak at the HIM conference in Feb 2020 and followed him to Eusebia!! Here we stand with Harold’s mother, Dorothy.
Here I am flanked by Harold’s sister Mina (the COO of the conference) and his mother, Dorothy, with Laura Benton, a therapist from Seattle, on the far side. Love these women!!
We left Eusebia a bit early Sunday morning to make a quick jaunt across the country so we could join Gabe and Kari and crew for the launch of New City Church Oakland. Seventeen months after moving to Oakland, and innumerable prayers, outreaches, planning meetings, and team building, NCC Oakland is live. We couldn’t have been more thrilled than we were to be there, feeling the vibe and experiencing the reality of this exciting church plant. We joined about 135 others who gathered for many reasons, from many walks of life, at many different places spiritually, and the atmosphere was electric. Great worship, a powerful message from Gabe, and “we don’t want it to end” fellowship over tacos from the Guadalajara taco truck filled three hours, and we gathered at the end, as we had in the beginning, to thank the Lord for meeting us there.
So, they’re off and running and we can’t wait to see how the gospel message will impact Oakland through this congregation.
Gabe’s parents, Dan and Debbie, Lisa, and we joined forces for the launch of NCC and we all loved seeing how God is using Gabe and Kari and crew.
Gabe’s sermon was powerful.
People were very engaged.
Pray for them as they go to weekly services forward and check out their ministry at www.NCCOakland.org
Twenty hours after arriving in Oakland, we were on our way east to Nashville, where we spent three days with Grant and Emily Williams and their daughter, Meegan. We’ve been journeying with these guys for over twenty years now and are so thankful for any time we get to spend with them. Lots of catching up to do, so the time flew by and it’s never enough, but we’re grateful for what we had.
Grant, Emily, and Meegan Williams, relocated to Nashville from St. Louis a year ago, enjoyed introducing us to their new home.
On to Atlanta Thursday the 21st to speak for the Church of the Apostles’ marriage conference being held at Winshape, Chick-Fil-A’s beautiful retreat. Steve and Denise Nyberg, who were in our Sunday school class at Grace Chapel about 20 years ago, recommended that we speak and it was such a joy to reconnect with them over dinner Thursday night. Also at the dinner was TJ Diamond, the man they convinced should have us. We had a great evening together.
Steve and Denise Nyberg, long ago friends from Grace Chapel, recommended us to TJ Diamond, and the five of us had a great night together over a delicious dinner.
Before heading to Winshape on Friday, we met up with our dear friends, Benjamin and Kirsten Watson, and over barbecue, we solved all of the world’s problems. We miss having them in New England but are so thankful for how God is using them.
Kirsten and I planned our outfits prior to meeting up for lunch . . . :)
On to Winshape. This is a most incredible venue, reflective of the high value Chick-Fil-A places on everything they do. Gorgeous facilities, beautiful setting, delicious meals, and friendly “It’s my pleasure” servers.
The conference was powerful. Well put together and organized by TJ and his staff, it was the right balance of corporate meeting time and free time. Profound content was balanced with gales of laughter. Small groups were effective in helping to digest content and fellowship was enjoyed around fire pits, dining tables, and pathways.
It was a joy to partner with this group and we hope our lives will intersect again and again.
The only non-Church of the Apostles’ attendees were our dear friends of over 25 years, John and Tammy Eunice. They got special permission to attend and we’re so glad they did. We shared many laughs as well as a very memorable (unforgettable), “was supposed to be 2.3 miles round trip that turned out to be 6.5 miles” hike.
Our last stop was in Rome, GA, for a too-short overnight with our dear friends, Nate and Jeannie King. Our history with them is over 22 years, and we’ve shared so many important moments in life, from Paul marrying them in 2000, to them partnering with us for years with Engagement Matters, to watching their family grow as they birthed 4 children, to that oldest child leaving for college this year. It has been too long since we were together so it was a great joy to reconnect with them.
Emily, Nate, Brady, Jeannie, and Camryn King hosted us our last night in Georgia and we had such a great time being together.
If you’ve read this far, you understand that the title “Here, There, and Everywhere” is not an overstatement.
It’s been a bit crazy, but we are beyond thankful that we’ve had these many opportunities to share life with so many and to see God’s hand powerfully move in so many different places.
We’re deeply aware that He has been “here, there, and everywhere” with us, each step of the way.
All praise is His.
