7.4.2006 Update (for lack of a better title)

Happy Independence Day! What an awesome country we live in! I'm proud to be an American!

I hope you have a day full of fun and family stuff planned. Our family is going to be heading over to the Meridian Mitchell mansion later this evening for some festivities, namely blowing stuff up. We are also going to spend some time with friends over at the Taylors. I'm looking forward to a relaxing day. Well, at least the first part of the day. Combine fireworks, testosterone, and pyromania and you have all the ingredients for disaster. There is no doubt that we will be having an exciting night. That could be my picture in the newspaper tomorrow.

It was great to get back on the road last weekend after a much-needed, week-long vacation. It was long enough to get those batteries recharged, not to mention my voice. I went all through fall, winter, and most of spring without a cold, impressed at this fact. However, late spring and early summer have caused me all sorts of problems. I have had some vicious sinus issues. I temporarily lost my voice in KS (see previous posts) and then had the same thing happen during my week off. Thank God, I made a full recovery.

We were able to reconnect with several of our friends on this trip, especially at our stop in Newberg, OR. We had a fantastic time! Then we did an outdoor concert in Gresham, OR at a park. The concert was part of a combined service with the Lynchwood Church of God and the Christian Church. Fortunately, I brought my IU hat because the sun was beating down mercilessly on my head. I wore it the whole concert. Royce's brother, Rayburn, and his family were able to be at all of our concerts this weekend. We had a lot of fun hanging out with Rayburn. He has a great sense of humor and his laidback delivery keeps the laughs coming. On Sunday evening we headed over to Portland First Church of the Nazarene for their 100th anniversary musical celebration. Royce was formerly Pastor of Drama and Music at Portland First (1984-1991) and so was invited to be part of the evening. The rest of us just tagged along. We sang in the choir and cheered Royce on as he was featured in a couple of special numbers. My favorite was his duet with Gary Woodruff (another former Worship Pastor) on the classic "Down From His Glory". Beckham and Bullock have nothing on those guys. Doran and I are practicing our arrangement of the song, as well. Royce also sang in a quartet made up of former music pastors. Liberty ended up singing the last couple of songs, "Statue of Liberty" and "Holy, Holy, Holy". I'm glad Royce was able to be a part of the concert. Actually, I'm glad I was able to be a part of the concert. By the way, another music pastor at Portland First was the acclaimed gospel songwriter Haldor Lillenas. He wasn't there (due to a death; actually his death; he died many, many years ago; did I use too many semicolons in this parenthetical sidenote?).

Of course, I didn't get pictures this weekend. I had my camera on the bus and just forgot to pull it out. We had many Kodak moments that I missed due to my forgetfulness. There's always next time.

Tomorrow the Waggoner family heads up to McCall, ID for our family camp. Our good friend and former pastor, Ben Durr, Jr. is the evangelist. I'll also get to see the boys from GBS (I think they'll be up there on Friday and Saturday). Unless there is a hi-fi hotspot in McCall that I don't know about, I won't be posting for a while.

Enjoy the 4th!