Happy Easter

I normally add to the blog on Mondays, but I have a dentist appointment for a routine cleaning at 8:00 am and won't get into the office until nine, so I will get to this now. Happy Easter, by the way. We've been to church and opted out of dinner with the family in Linden to let Darla rest after her ordeal in Mexico last week. She is fast asleep on the couch as I work in the office.

Darla and the boys made it home about ten last night. They had stopped with the group in Elk Grove at a coin wash and cleaned out the car inside and out. They return the rentals tomorrow and had to clean them (I've never cleaned a rental before, maybe they get a discount or something). They had rain most of the week and actually left Tijuana a day early as a big storm was coming in. The rain was so bad at times that they had to be up every half hour to knock the rain off the tent to keep it from collapsing. Strangely, it rained at night, but they were able to work every day on the houses without any rain. David and Daniel both had a great time and came back committed to getting more involved with the youth at church. They made some great friends and have some tremendous memories. They built a 22'x 11' two room house and the group built six of them in a week. Darla said that the youngest daughter of the single mother who would take possession of the house was there when they raised the walls. The little girl started clapping and saying, "Mi casa, mi casa!" when they tied the walls into the roof. The homes are very basic with flat roofs, no plumbing or electricity. But they have windows and flooring and provide some relief from the elements. The family that will occupy the home have been living in their mother's candy store which is smaller than the home.

We had a guest speaker at church this morning, Ruthie Bolton, the Olympic Gold medalist and Professional Women's basketball player for the Sacramento Monarchs. Ruthie was the sixteenth of twenty children in her family and her father referred to all of them as "son" or "daughter" because he couldn't remember all of their names. She is a PK, or Preacher's Kid and her father has passed on now. Her story was one of overcoming obstacles as she is only 5'9" and was not recruited out of high school. She won two women's championships and played on two gold medal winning olympic teams and has been a WNBA All Star three times.

The Pastor talked about the power of Christianity and told a story of how a missionary family was working deep in the heart of Africa in a small tribe, when a plague hit and several of the tribesmen's children became sick and died. The missionary had not made much headway in sharing his faith with the tribe and decided that he would pray for Jesus to spare his kids and told the chief and elders of the tribe to watch how Jesus would spare his kids. He figured this would make an impact on the tribe. Unfortunately, God works in his own timing and soon the missionaries' children each became ill and finally died. Not only did the missionary suffer the pain of losing his children, but his job was now irreparably damaged by the claim that he'd made. He was in emotional pain and embarrassed professionally. As he packed up his belongings in preparation to leave the tribe and return home, there was a knock on his door. He answered it to see the chief at the door and the main tribe elders behind him. The chief asked if the missionary would tell him about this man Jesus. The missionary was shocked and asked the chief why after years of trying to share his faith, that the chief would want to hear about it now after Jesus did not save his children from the plague. The chief said that the tribesman's children died and they buried them knowing that they would never see them again. They then watched as the missionaries' children got sick and died and how the missionary buried his children with the hope that he would see them again in Heaven. It was the hope that the missionary showed that made the tribesmen want to know about Jesus. It is what sets us apart from other religions. Hope. And that hope comes from the promise that Jesus made to us when he was crucified and died on the cross..for our lives and for our sins. It is an amazing gift.

Jennifer called me last night to wish me a Happy Easter. It was Easter morning in Kuwait. I hadn't talked to her since Super Bowl Sunday and it was great getting caught up with her. It turns out that the Army, in its unending wisdom, has raised the promotion points and Jennifer will not be promoted until May now. She and Ryan have called it quits. It was just too hard to carry on a relationship from Georgia and Kuwait. Jennifer was hoping to go to church yesterday and is doing great. She has a buddy in Kuwait who is really pushing her to get in the best shape of her life and she is getting really buff, with big arms and legs, but she still weighs just 106 pounds. She may be tiny, but she's no pushover. It was really a delight to talk to her. She wants to start college when she gets home and is determined to be a teacher. She hates to throw all of her fibre optics training away, but she feels lead to be a teacher. I think it's great to have your life ahead of you at 24 and make of it what you want. More power to her.

Work is excellerating as I've now hired a new Underwriting Assistant. Anthony (my assistant) has taken the empty window office next to Gwen and we are ready to hire a new typist as our typist is being promoted to be the Underwriting Assistant for the Modesto service office. Gail is doing the screeneing interviews and I will meet the screened candidates this week and make an offer. The new Underwriting Assistant comes from Progressive Insurance in the building next door to ours. I had to pay her a little more money than we budgeted, but she seems to be a real sparkplug. She will be able to hold her own with the other assistants in the office, who are all strong headed women. Natasha will work for Gwen and I will have Gwen's assistant Connie assist me. I don't have time to wet nurse a new assistant with my production responsibilities as well as my management responsibilities. Connie is the most knowledgable assistant in the office and I will help train her to take over an underwriting desk in the future.

I did play golf this weekend. I had an extended weekend with Good Friday off and played golf at the Hiddenbrooke Resort in Vallejo on Friday. I shot an 84 and had a solid day of golf. My host is not much of a golfer, in fact he only kept score on the three holes that he shot par or better, so he beat me 13 to 84. I think I hit the ball a little better than him overall.

Mark Konrad invited me to play golf yesterday at 6:36 a.m. I was in a funk all morning and shot one of my worst rounds in recent memory, shooting 48+44= 92 and paying Mark $12. I won $1 from our third player, but it was a bust for me. I was cold in the morning and had to play with a coat on and I hate that. Friday was 75 degrees and sunny. Saturday was a bit breezy and cool. I was quick to post the round when we finished as that 92 may knock out a round in the seventies.

It is a pleasure to have my wife home and the saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder" is so true. I hope you cherish those around you that you love. Until next week, stay strong in the Lord and He will sustain you. Ciao.