It's been over two years since I've posted on my blogger! Guess what I've been doing. The house is done, the lawn is in, and we have a garden. For those that may not know, we had the house built but did the finish work ourselves. We painted inside and out, tiled, laid laminate floors, put in irrigation, and did the landscape. Of course we'll never be done, but we've to the point we're enjoying it and can relax a little. Maybe now I can keep up.

We primed the facia and soffits Saturday. Did a second coat on Derrick's house today. Will do ours tomorrow. Bank was out to look at the houses today. The inspector said Derrick's house is 56% done. Today the builder put in the front doors and secured the houses. The mechanicals are almost done. We're moving along!

We leave for home tomorrow morning. Anxious to see how the builder is coming on our house(s). The one by the big palm tree is Gladys and mine. Derrick and Rosy's is the one further back in the picture. They were working on heating, plumbing, and electrical this week so not much change on the outside. We had a problem with the design of Derrick's porch. That held up the roofing. They have to get it inspected before they can put shingles on. Hopefully they can get it done; it's been raining so I hope it gets done soon.

Here's Grandma doing what she does best, working on crafts with the kids. Today it's coffee filter flowers. They color the coffee filters with markers, fold the filter into a small cone, then dip the tip in water. Comes out looking tie-dyed. The crafts never last long, but its the process that counts.

Think we're having fun? Can't believe how little babies are at 3 weeks. On the other hand, just as I was thinking about how little she is, I thought about the miracle of birth and how a mom can push a little one this size out of her body! And to think some moms have babies twice this size. And then I look at Macayla, 20 months, walking, starting to say a few words. They grow so fast. Probably doesn't seem like it to dad and mom in the middle of the night. We've been up here three times in 9 months, but it's been worth it.

Here's the other three. Getting a "horsey ride" is always a special part of having Grandpa come. Wait 'til Daniella grows up, I'll have a real back-full.

Here's the newest addition to the family: Daniella Jaqlyn White, three weeks old. She was born 3/9/06, 8:43 AM. She joins Hannah, Elijah, and Michaela. No more seats left in the van.

Spent Monday-Thursday of last week in Birmingham, AL at Weed and Seed Training. It was a good opportunity. Lots of good BBQ, too, at Jim and Nicks. Took the DART across town every night to eat. A quarter to ride. Price was right and hospitality of our driver was great. Enjoyed the time. Tired when I got back, especially having spent last week in Michigan then back to Pomona for three nights of training with World Vision.

I've been in Birmingham since Monday with Weed and Seed. Good presenters. Third event I've gone to in 10 days on Logic Model. Fortunately got something out of each. This one gave more "real" prompts to help fill out matrix. Six hundred people here all dedicating themselves to at-risk neighborhoods. Four foci of Weed and Seed are Law Enforcement; Community Based Policing; Intervention, Prevention, and Treatement; and Neighborhood Revitalization.

Spent the afternoon at Pomona High School. Got call that students were staging walk-out and adminstration was concerned somebody would get hurt. When I got there, there were lots of police and a fire truck but things were peaceful. The protest was about the House Bill on Immigration. Tomorrow about 500 adults from Pomoma expected to go to LA to protest. Interesting to watch the kids. Many participating just because it was happening and got them out of class. Core group was about 30 with half a dozen kids leading. Like I say, administration upset and concerned for safety but it was interesting to watch those who cared get involved. They could have done it different ways and didn't consider all the ramifications, but that's to be expected for their age. They thought they would be able to keep things in hand - didn't think about the fact there are 1800 students and how the little core group would be able to manage them.

Sitting in World Vision capacity building training session. Tonight on vision. Spent an hour now trying to get people to think about what vision is and how to do it. Fun stories but seems like could be done in much shorter time. Funny thing is saw one person's evaluation form tonight said "not enough time to work the material through." Guess we're all different. Try to be patient. I like the guy though.

Spent most of the day working on an application for World Vision's Compassionate Capital Fund Training and Subgrant for Points of Light. Amazing how much time it takes to format everything after it's prepared. Tables and EXCEL sheets take soooo much time. Hope we get something out of it. Going to apply for TELACU CCF for Lincoln Ave.

Here's one of our members, Ed Scheenstra, (on the left) with his winning tuna. It's 280 lbs. He caught it 980 miles off the coast of San Diego on a ten day trip. Did a quick search to find this picture and found several other posts with Ed's name in them. He obviously loves fishing. Congradulations, Ed.