Sunday report

Paul and Jenny went off this morning to do some rafting, Ellen looked after Max and I went to church. In time past, Max liked to go to church because he loved the play room, but he seems to feel he's outgrown that, so I went alone. Pastor Allan Schoonover was in good form, and the congregation had grown. The first thing Allan said when he saw me was, "Did you hear President Obama's eulogy? Wasn't it great?" I agreed. In his sermon he shared four "rules" of pastoral care that work pretty well for life in general: (1) just show up;  (2) listen; (3) speak the truth; (4) you don't have to be successful, just faithful.

After church and a bit of lunch, Ellen and I went birding again. (Rain had brought Paul and Jenny home early). It was great. We saw pelicans, gulls, cormorants, geese, ducks, a coot family with five little coots, a merganser, blue herons, a shore bird we couldn't identify, a killdeer, and blackbirds galore. Also some wild flowers. I got pictures but used my camera, which means I'll have to wait until tomorrow to upload to this blog.

After that we watched the U.S. Women's soccer team win the World Cup, 5-2 over Japan, had a lovely supper, talked after supper with Paul and Jenny about their hopes and concerns for the future, and ended the evening with some post-Fourth sparklers. 

             Max with a sparkler