12.23.2018
Had a great morning so far with my boys. All three are here today for celebrating Christmas. Since Travis works on actual Christmas Day (and gets overtime!) we are celebrating today. Had a great breakfast and are experimenting with Travis’ new VR rig (virtual reality).
I know that every year I say this and while it’s true that this year has been a busy one, things really kicked up (see woh, what happened to early retirement!)
Jobs (both prxy and PBCC are going very well but given all the work we intend to do next year, I’ve told prxy that I can only work occasionally on a project basis in order to give me time with getting Nana’s house ready to rent and to get started on the ADU. Really looking forward to building with my boys and hope that Ricky can join us at some point.
The facility really showed its age at PBCC in Q4. Still trying to get the termite damage remediated (Church was tented in June) when the water main between the main building and the Fellowship Hall burst. That galvanized water line was put in back in the mid 60s so it’s not completely unexpected – just the timing was awkward.
Highlights: Started the year on a cruise to Mexico with two other very long-time friends. It was a very fun trip – 10 days! Lynda and Ray had a nice 30th anniversary trip in May to Monterrey. Helped out with Shoestring’s presentation of the musical “Honk!” in August (with Travis and Alex, Ray ran sound). Visited Ricky in KC in October. Played at Salinas Valley prison — twice — for the inmates. Had a nice Thanksgiving at our house with Raymond/Emily joining us from SoCal along with their daughter Elisabeth. And now the Christmas with my boys!
Of course there’s tons of activity at PBCC again this Christmas season and at prxy we upgraded to some new software that we’re still struggling with
Going to prison again was amazing (yes, I said that like that on purpose!) Key takeaway this year for me was how amazing God is in preparing the way. In today’s American culture, for us to go to a Government institution that was paid for by taxes; the welcome was not like last year which was more like “Oh, you are here?”, this time, it was “Hi, welcome back! Comon in! Here’s some breakfast and what would you like us to prepare for lunch? Let us show you to the Gym. And can we help you carry some of your instruments?”. Mind you, our performance is a HIGHLY evangelistic church service. Along with Jesus oriented Christmas music, there’s no nonsense preaching like “Jesus can set you free” and “Here’s how you can be a christian today” and “Please meet with one of us to pray to accept Jesus today”. And many did!
So, how is it possible that a Government sponsored institution would not only allow us to preach Jesus but encourage and support us!??? Only God could make this happen.
I spoke to one of the folks walking us around and he told me that, unlike 10 years ago where they would lock inmates away, they’ve found that by giving them rewards like programs such as ours, the numbers of “incidents” (problems among the inmates) goes down dramatically. So, the prison now encourages and supports these programs. If we are interested in coming back again before a year from now, let him know and he’ll make it happen!
Anyway, it’s been a good year. Let’s see what’s in store for us next year!