After 2 1/2 weeks in Kona, we flew to Sacramento on May 1. An unusual delay caused us to barely make our first workshop at the Bayside-hosted Thrive Conference, but thankfully we made it after landing in Oakland (instead of Sacramento) at 10:30 pm, renting a car and driving to Roseville to crash at the home of our dear friends, Scott and Sally Shaull. 6 am came too soon after a 2 am bedtime, but God gave us exactly what we needed to present at our first two workshops that day. It also helped that Thrive is so alive and energizing and that in between workshops, the plenary sessions were full of action and very motivating.

We’ve presented at 19 of the 20 Thrive conferences and consider it such a great privilege to continue to partner with Ray and Carol Johnston, who have been dear friends and ministry partners for just under 40 years now. Ray’s vision and creative giftings are showcased at this annual event, as he brings together an inspiring cast of speakers, punctuated by spotlighting global causes and high-impact ministries. We love everything about this conference.

*With Ray and Carol Johnston and their daughter Leslie.*

Our faithful book sellers, Dave and Diana Watts, have moved out of the area (sadly for us, happily for them), so our daughter Lisa, who was between semesters, applied for and got the job. Besides the book table, we were honored to have her introduce us before each of our four workshops.

*Lisa introduces us at our fourth workshop at Thrive.*

All four of our workshops were well received and well attended. Besides marital sexuality, we offered sessions on temperaments, parenting, and “Better Together." We loved interacting with the audiences and teaching Biblical principles regarding each of these important areas.

In addition to the delight of hanging out with the Johnston and Shaull clans and reconnecting with many dear friends we’ve known through the years, a highlight was hearing Ricky Jenkins give his plenary talk. He is the senior pastor of Southwest Church in Palm Desert, CA, and we connected with him about 5 years ago at Forest Home Christian Conference Center Family Camp, where both of us were speaking and all of our children/grandchildren were attending. From that meeting, Ricky and April and Gabe and Kari connected over their shared heart for Oakland. Ricky had been youth pastor at an Oakland church years back and Gabe and Kari were headed to Oakland to church plant. They’ve been dear friends and ministry partners ever since and Southwest Church has supported New City Church Oakland ever since in a variety of ways.

Ricky Jenkins’ talk at Thrive was highly impacting as he challenged Christ-followers to be characterized by gentleness and kindness, “the lost fruit” in this very angry, polarized world.

After spending Saturday meeting up with dear friends throughout the day, we flew to San Diego on Sunday morning, where we were picked up and driven to our fourth annual Family Discipleship Training School (FDTS) at Rancho Abierto (in “Nowhere,” Mexico). We loved spending the week teaching on Christian marriage and family to this group of dedicated, surrendered family groups. Thirteen families with 49 children between them have given it all up and paid a lot of money to be a part of this five-month program in order to seek the Lord for His direction for their future. Norway, Denmark, the UK, New Zealand, Canada, and the US were all represented and we loved getting to know them in our short week together.

*The thirteen couples at Rancho Abierto, who along with their children, have dedicated 5 months to pursuing Kingdom values and vision.*

Brian and Sue McCoy, long-time friends and family campers, are the founders and directors of Rancho Abierto and we love partnering with them. They lead the base with Christlikeness, wisdom, and vision and it’s a joy to see it thriving. This was the largest group of families they’ve had in the four years their doors have been open, which is such an affirmation of the need for this important ministry.

*Brian and Sue McCoy founded and direct Rancho Abierto, a family DTS base in Mexico.*

Besides speaking to the couples for three hours every morning, we spent two afternoons with the Jr/Sr high schoolers, one afternoon with the elementary school students, one morning with Paul leading family devotions, one evening speaking on parenting, one evening doing the game show, and the rest of the evenings having 2-on-2 meetings with each of the couples. We quickly decided that our day would need to start at 5 am if our 5-miles-a-day walk would happen, so that’s what we did.

*Paul leads devotions for the kids at the FDTS.*

*The kids were very engaged in the second part of his devotions.*

*“The Butterfly Song” is introduced to the families at Rancho Abierto, 48 years after it was introduced at family camp on Catalina Island.*

*The Game Show was a huge hit with all ages.*

*The men won, with dominant performances in over half of the events.*

*We were greeted by these two on one of our early morning walks.*

Suffice it to say we were pretty pooped by the time we drove back across the border on Saturday, May 11, and fortunately, the next five days were recovery days, spent in Riverside with Lisa.

Before “recovery” began, though, Lisa hosted an evening with young married couples from her church at her home that evening. We followed a Q&A format, asking each person/couple to submit a question on index cards, and it worked well. As a result, we felt we were “scratching where they itched” and the two hours flew by. We felt privileged to be invited to speak into Lisa’s community.

*The young married couples from Lisa’s church who gathered to talk about early marriage challenges.*

It was a joy to spend Mother’s Day with Lisa and Paul the following day, though the celebration was kicked off with pedicures Saturday afternoon after arriving in Riverside. Such a treat!! They continued pampering me all day Sunday, starting with an early morning, pre-church in-house massage (not by either of them!). A great church service was followed by two yummy meals and a sunset hike up Mt. Rubideau. It was a perfect day!!

*Mother’s Day dinner: fresh artichokes, tri-tips grilled perfectly by Paul, and a garden fresh salad. Yum!!*

*The grand finale of Mother’s Day: sunset on top of Mt. Rubideau*

Our days there included one zoom counseling day, one “thrifting” day, and one day spent (with Lisa) hanging out with four of our favorite over-80-years-old mentors/friends. First up was our dear friend, Carol Kraning, with whom we chatted non-stop as we caught up with all of our lives. She’s doing life well and thriving, in spite of her unwanted widowhood, now beginning her fifth year of life without her beloved Bob.

*We had a sweet visit with Carol Kraning.*

On to take lunch to John and Grace Tebay, who have moved into the “Town and Country” assisted living facility in Santa Ana. Unfortunately, Grace fell several weeks ago, sustaining three fractured ribs and three cracked vertebrae, so she is in the SNIF unit currently. Sadly, she’s in a lot of pain as her body heals, but in a very Grace-like way, she made a positive out of it. “Now I have a better understanding of others who live with chronic pain,” she shared. She is a bar-setter. John, meanwhile, at 92, is still driving, walking miles a day, and taking great care of Grace. How we love these two!!

*It’s always good to spend time with John and Grace Tebay, even though Grace was suffering from injuries sustained in a fall.*

Our final stop was in Santa Ana to spend the balance of the day with our dear friend, Wendy Turney. Any time is a good time to be with Wendy, and we had a blast catching up with one another while “thrifting” (multi-taskers that we are), and having dinner together. It was a day well spent with people whose lives have made such an impact on ours.

*Thrifting with Wendy Turney is always exciting.*

Early Friday morning we were off to Phoenix for a weekend conference with a new-to-us church. Faith Church of the Valley, in Chandler, AZ, brought us in on the recommendation of Jon Egen, a dear friend and long-time family camper. It didn’t take long for us to feel very at home with the elders and pastoral team, headed by senior pastor John Salvatore, who has served that church in some capacity for 40 years!!

*John and Sharon Salvatore, Jon Egen, and Kevin and Michelle Barbour all worked to make our weekend at Faith Church of the Valley a great success.*

The marriage conference was a Friday night (6:30–9) and Saturday (8:30-12:30) event and was very well done. Kevin and Michelle Barbour, the marriage point couple for the church, did a great job of emceeing the conference and tying the program together. We also spoke at their two worship services on Sunday, and they “interviewed” us with thoughtful questions covering the gamut of relationship topics. We really enjoyed interacting with them and discovered that we share much in common as couples. (https://faithchurchaz.org/online-sermon-05-19-24)

*A great crowd came out to the marriage conference.*

*Kevin and Michelle Barbour interviewed us during the two morning services.*

We enjoyed spending Sunday afternoon with John and Sharon Salvatore and most of their family, sharing a meal and our lives. The Salvatores have three grown daughters, all of whom are following Christ with their husbands and children, and are involved at the church. It was immensely encouraging to hear their hearts for the Lord and for each other, and it was affirming of the health of their church.

It was also so good to spend time with Jon Egen. Though he was widowed 6 years ago, he was fully involved in pulling off the marriage conference. He ran tech throughout and did much behind the scenes before and after. He reminded us of how our Richard Hendricks serves our marriage ministry, though he, too, is a widower. It’s so inspiring to see the unselfish dedication of these men.

*Jon Egen introduced us during the morning services and gave a shout out for our family devotional.*

After 7.5 weeks on the road, we flew in to Dulles Airport on a red-eye Monday, May 20. While we were gone, we had the galley kitchen of our new house remodeled—so we had an experience not unlike “Extreme Make-over” as we walked in to our “really new” home. We are thrilled with what was done while we were gone and are so grateful for our contractor, Brian Craddock (of Redux Renovations), and for our daughter Julie, who was the on-site consultant. We’re very happy with the results and that it was all done while we were on the road.

We’ve been home for five days and they have been filled with unpacking and resetting, which seems like “deja-vu,” having only been here since last August. In between unpacking and figuring out where to put our “stuff,” we’ve enjoyed our pool with the grandchildren, walked them to or from school several days, and stayed with them for an overnight while their parents “got away” for a birthday celebration. Paul zipped up to Boston to perform a wedding on the 24th and today we re-packed our bags and flew to Orlando for a week with our two 10-year old grandchildren.

We are beyond thankful for the Lord’s provision and care for us during this two-month journey. Our health and strength were solid, our travel by planes, vans, and autos was safe and nearly without a hiccup. Our ministry engagements all went very, very well. And we were aware of His presence and protection through it all.

Our summer plans include speaking at two family camps, Forest Home (June 16–22), and Alliance Redwood (July 2–5), hosting “Papa and Gigi Camp” at our home for our five grandchildren, attending a wedding in Dallas in July, and spending a week in Ogunquit, ME, with dear friends.

And so we press on, with hearts full of thanksgiving and joy and anticipation of God’s continued faithfulness and generosity to us. All praise is His and we are beyond blessed.