7 Years on 7/7

Marisol and I will celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary on 7-7-09. We are happy that God brought us together as man and wife. Although we go through rough times as all couples do, we thank the Lord that He helps us through and strengthens our relationship. Joel and Amelia helped us celebrate at the Japanese restaurant with our small group from church. Notice that we're going green for the occasion.

Goodbye to Another Tooth

Joel lost his fifth baby tooth last week. When we was sad about it and said, "I don't have a nice smile," we reminded him that it was necessary for him to get another new big tooth. He was happy about that!

Forty Years and Counting

This seems like Pop Culture Death Week with Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Karl Malden dying in close succession. Last week marked the 40th anniversary of Judy Garland's death, another pop icon who had a short and tragic death, dying at 47 on June 22, 1969. Jackson left this earth at 50, while Fawcett was 62 and Malden 97 (he was married to his wife for 70 years--wow). I must admit that Garland is one of my favorite actresses and singers, who punched a song with pathos as few other singers could. She produced movie magic in her early films like The Wizard of Oz and astounded us with her emotional range in her later work like A Star Is Born. Like Jackson she was staging another one of her famous comebacks when she died of an accidental overdose. Although I was four at that time, I have enjoyed watching and hearing her through DVDs and CDs.

This is Amelia's special tribute to Dorothy. She loves those red shoes, which we bought at the thrift store for 50 cents. They finally fit her, and she wore them to church last Sunday!

Another Wedding or Another One Bites the Dust (Amended)

Last weekend was another PIBC wedding. Merong is a PIBC alumnus (2008) and Joan a member of the Palauan Evangelical Church of Guam. She participated in the teacher training I conducted for the PECG in 2007. Our friend Pastor Hiob officiated.

We asked for a picture with the bride and groom after the ceremony.

The fruit display at the reception was not only beautiful but tasty, too.

Joel loved the food, especially the coconut crab prepared with coconut milk. We feasted on that in Palau last summer.

Merong and Joan were kind to each other at cake time. It was a lovely day and we wish them God's blessings on their marriage. I wrote to my friend Kalvin that "one more handsome man is unavailable."

Goodbye Guam, Alii Palau!

Here is a recap of the final days of our friends Hiob and Leah and their children Micah and Jireh in Guam. They have returned to Palau where Hiob will serve as senior pastor of the Koror Evangelical Church. We all started together at PIBC back in fall 2006 and we have worked together, laughed together, cried together, prayed together, and grown together. Although it is hard to say goodbye, we know that they will be a blessing to the Church in Palau, and we find comfort in the words of the Michael W. Smith song "Friends": friends are friends forever if the Lord's the Lord of them. Amen!

We had a BBQ in their honor on campus at the beginning of June before the Thai mission team left.

Delight posed with Micah and Hiob during a break from barbecuing. He is a fantastic barbecuer. Notice he's even holding the tongs, to a barbecuer what a hammer is to a carpenter.

As always, everyone enjoyed the food, the centerpiece of any Micronesian celebration.

Before our friends left, we were able to spend a day swimming with them at the Hotel Nikko Guam. That was great fun.

Joel will miss his friend Micah very much and cried when we told him that Micah would be moving to Palau.

After swimming we delighted in a delicious buffet lunch courtesy of the hotel (part of our pool membership benefits).

Dreaming of Disneyland

We allowed Joel and Amelia to choose one small gift at Disneyland. Joel chose Dale ears and Amelia Minnie ears. They wanted to pose with their Chip puppet and Mickey Mouse toy.

Tokyo Disneyland

When we found out that Japan had a Disneyland, we decided to splurge and treat the children while we were there. We rode the metro train from the Higashi Nokorozawa station to the Maihama station, almost two hours, and we were there.

Joel wanted to have his picture taken with Roy Disney and Minnie Mouse.

Two different views of the Farnsworths with Cinderella Castle in the background.

Amelia noticed Cinderella's dress while we were window shopping.

The first thing we did was ride the merry-go-round. Although Amelia looks a little scared, she did ride two times.

After the Castle Carrousel we rode Alice's Tea Party.

What would a trip to Disneyland be without It's a Small World? That's almost sacrilegious!

A new ride which we enjoyed was Pooh's Hunny Hunt, especially when the car bounced along with Tigger.

Toontown proved to be a great place for Joel and Amelia. They visited Donald Duck's Boat, Minnie Mouse's house, and Chip and Dale's Treehouse (pictured here). Joel and I enjoyed the Gadget's Go Coaster, his favorite ride, which we rode four times.

We escaped from the rain for a half-hour to watch "One Man's Drean--the Magic Lives On!" The singing and dancing was top-notch, which is what you would expect at Disneyland.

Joel met Bianca from The Rescuers, my favorite Disney animated film. Now he wants to see it, too.

Joel and Marisol asked the Cinderella Mouse to have a picture with her. She squeaked, "Yes."

The Jubilation! Parade allowed us to see the many Disney characters who were not out and about during the day because of the inclement weather. They had special transparent rainclothes to protect their costumes.

We took a ride on the Mark Twain Riverboat. It was a really nice ride. I had never done that on any of my previous trips to Disney.

One of our favorite rides was the Dumbo The Flying Elephant Ride.

Not much magic in this blurry, nightime photo of Cinderella's Castle, but at least you know we stayed until nightime. All in all, a magical day despite the rain.