Shane is home

Well, it has been a long year, but Shane's unit returned from its second tour in Iraq at 4:00 yesterday morning (30 May 2008). There are more pictures here and the video below.

McCain, Hagee, and Parsley

Well, the media didn't give John McCain the crap he deserved for his "Jeremiah Wright"-problem, but at least he has finally cut his ties with John Hagee and Rod Parsley.

Happy Memorial Day

I spent most of the holiday driving (yes, even at nearly $4.00/gallon), but I didn't want the day to go completely by without thanking all those who have served and especially those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy. On a related note, Shane is back on US soil and should be home before the end of the week. My thanx to all of you that have been praying for him for the past year.

Pastor Ruth is installed

I posted this over on the Grace UCC blog, too, but I'm posting here too because my job as search committee chair is now officially concluded.


On a beautiful, if a bit chilly, Sunday afternoon, Pastor Ruth Farrell was installed today as pastor and teacher of Grace UCC. Rev. Dr. Forrest Hoppe, Association Minister, and Rev. Eric Williams, chair of the Association Department of Church and Ministry officiated over the actual installation and the moving message for the afternoon was delivered by Pastor Ruth's father, Rev. Dr. (LTC) Bruce Farrell, a chaplain with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard who recently returned from a year in Iraq. LTC Farrell (yeah, he told me not to call him that, he prefers Chaplain, but he's not writing this blog entry :)) promises that he will be back for a visit with his wife (who was unable to be with us this afternoon because she had babies to deliver this weekend as a midwife in Pennsylvania) in July or September. So, today we celebrate God's blessings as we begin what we all trust will be a long and fruitful ministry together in Lancaster, OH.

Congrats, OU-L Softball team

Even though they were missing a few players due to illness and other previous family commitments, the #2 seeded OU-L Cougars came to play on Saturday in their matchup with UC-Clermont. With the grey skies and the threat of rain hanging over them, they played a tough team from southwest Ohio. UC-Clermont took a 1-0 lead in the 3rd inning. In the 5th inning, Steph and Erin started off the inning reaching on bunt singles, then were sacrificed over to 2nd and 3rd before being stranded. By the way, Erin hustled on that (remember I said bunt) single despite the ankle, but told me later that they ankle was killing her the rest of the game (she started and played all 9 innings in right field, going 1-for-3 at the plate). UC-Clermont stretched their lead to 2-0 before OU-L came back to tie it at 2 in the bottom of the 6th on back-to-back hits by Courtney and Christine and Christine's aggressive base running. The game ended up going into extra innings with neither team really threatening in the 8th. In the bottom of the 9th, Heather led off with a double that nearly left the park in left center and the next batter, Liz, ended it with a home run to left to give the Cougars a 4-2 win and the ORCC Conference Tournament Championship (in addition to being regular season co-champs with Newark) when Newark failed to show up and forfeited the rematch.

Bill Moyers gets it

I found this link on Kent Siladi's blog. I've always admired Bill Moyers and in this clip he says a lot of what I've been thinking about this whole Jeremiah Wright/Barack Obama "controversy". Note, it is almost 6.5 minutes long and I think some of the most important parts are in the last half.

Erin's Softball Season, so far

With rain outs (not entirely unexpected in March/April), the season is starting slowly, but with the potential to pick up in a hurry. Out of the first 4 series, only 1 could be played and the OU-L 2008 team performed well enough. Their second opportunity took place on a day that I already felt a little guilty about because we (Sherry and I) had ticket to see the Reds at Great American BallPark. Okay, so they weren't great seats, but they were okay and we paid less than $40 for the 2 of us. So, although (as I said) I already felt a little guilty at blowing off Erin's softball games, I didn't let it become debilitating. Late in the game in Cincinnati I get a call from Erin who is at one of the Miami University branches (Hamilton or Middletown, it clearly doesn't matter too me much). It turns out without us parents there, she became reacquainted with her batting stroke including a double off the wall (that she swears should have been a home run). Late in the second game, Erin was coming around to score and what happened next is lost in mists of pain and pain relievers. As close as I can tell, Erin reached the plate (scored!), then possibly slid across the plate or digs in the soft earth at the end, resulting in Erin's ankle attempting to move in ways that are completely in opposition to the laws of nature. In other words, she tore something. Several days of trying to get members of the medical profession to speak English has resulted in the doctor stating he believes something is torn, but that it can't be made any better in the near term by surgery or whatever and that no more significant damage is likely, so she'd like to soldier on through the games against OU-Chillicothe on Sat (3 May), and Southern State on Sun (4 May), leading up to the actual ORCC tournaments (which the doctors have already verbally agreed to). It turns out, these OU-L Cougars may have a legit shot at the Conference Championship after splitting a double header today with OSU-Newark. The score was 4-3 on tie breakers in the first game (OU-L win) and 7-6 in the second (OSU-N won). The teams look to be well matched so whatever edge one team can get (like a powerhitting left-handed catcher getting back in the lineup) could be all the difference. She is moving more and more daily with relatively little discomfort (there will be some discomfort for a while, but she'll deal with that after the season). We shall wait and see.

It was a good day to fly

Yeah, I know, I owe a post (and pix) about Nicaragua, but I'm not blogging about that tonight. I just got done updating my web logbook, I updated the underlying database on Tuesday, but I use static web pages for this, so that I don't have to constantly query the backend databases. I went flying on Tuesday. I originally thought I'd just go around the pattern a few times and get the landings to remain current to rent at VTA, but when I actually got airborne, I felt the pull to just go fly a little. It was a little bumpier than I anticipated, some clouds were rolling in as I flew though no rain even that evening. You can see the logbook entry, so I won't bother recapping that here other than to note that I tracked radials to the APE VOR, practiced some steep turns and generally enjoyed my day.

I'm back and still alive

Yes, I made it back from Nicaragua, though the flight(s) home were more of an adventure than we had planned on. It was a great trip and I'll post about it (with pictures) sometime in the next few days. I've been pretty tired since I got home though, hence no new posts until now. Today is opening day at the Columbus Motor Speedway where my friend Beau Davis races. I hope the rain holds off long enough to get Beau's race in.

Update: The entire racing program was rained out last night, so opening night will be next Saturday night.

Trip to Nicaragua

Folks, my apologies for being rather slow with my posting of late. I will be even slower the next 2 weeks since I will be out of the country and without internet access (oh no, a fate worse than death). I will be in Nicaragua as part of the delegation from the Central Southeast Association of the Ohio Conference of the United Church of Christ to establish a partnership between our Association and Iglesia Mision Cristiana. Their annual meeting begins on Thursday, 27 March. A delegation from Nicaragua will be in the Columbus area at the end of April and beginning of May for the Spring Meeting of the Association. I've never been to Central America, so I'm excited about the trip (despite the fact that I don't speak any Spanish). I'm sure I'll have pictures and stories when I return.