We Hear Profound Sharing about 9/11

Here's Ed last Sunday in front of Los Gatos United Methodist Church, our local "church home" while in the Saratoga, CA area.

This past Sunday, our pastor invited a member of the church to share. Photo below shows Alice H. speaking in front of the congregation....
You see, Alice's grown son was aboard United Flight 93 on that fateful day- 9/11/2001. Of course, everyone on the plane perished when it crashed into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

He was one of the men who rushed the cockpit while the flight was enroute to Washington DC.

Alice's sharing was emotional, but profound. She included some insights that I pass along....

"I am grieved that every anniversary of 9/11 has been marked with rhetoric that has divided Americans.

This year was no exception: ...a pastor in Florida saying he would burn copies of the Koran, ...New Yorkers and others fighting over placing an Islamic Center near the site of the Twin Towers.

"I am sick of religion. I'm sick how people draw from their own religions reasons to hate and kill other people...."

Needless to say, this gives us all much to ponder... much to do...

Thoughtfully yours,

-Ed & Karen

Meeting People from Around the World!

Living in Parks gives us occasion to meet interesting people from ALL OVER this great land, even from abroad. We meet some profound & amazinging folks!

(1)
In the photo above, you see us with Jack and Els- - - Originally natives of The Netherlands, Jack & Els emigrated to California years ago where he worked for Motorola Corp as an engineering executive.

(2)
A couple weeks after they left, we could hear a family camped across from us speaking German with the children ...Turns out that “Opa” and "Oma” (Grandpa & Grandma) had brought their grandchildren here for a week-long time together.

Werner and Heidi emigrated here 40+ yrs ago and raised their family in near-by San Jose.

Two years ago, their son moved his family from Germany to California where he now works.

So now the grandchildren have become bi-lingual (German & English), and Werner and Heidi get to see their grandchildren more!
Here is grandaughter Mika with brother Moritz.

We found Mika to be one very strong 10-yr old young woman!

...She organized all the games for the week and helped the two boys settle their potential disputes.

She is going to go far in life…!

(3)
Our third family are Michael & Silke, and their children Caroline, Josephine, and Colin... they just left us yesterday morning. Natives of Heidelberg, Germany, they planned to camp here 4 nights while visiting nearby San Francisco. However, their departure was delayed... Someone broke into their rental car and stole a satchel with a laptop-computer ...AND their wallet ...AND passports (!!!).

Upon first discovering the break-in, the ONLY person on the street willing to stop with a cell (so they could call the police & credit card companies) was “a huge, sweaty tattooed black man in a ‘muscle shirt’” (God sends ‘angels’ in all guises, eh?).

God gave us the opportunity to reach out to them during the crisis and we became friends. We helped with dishes and provided a phone for their frustrating calls to the local German Consulate (slow government bureaucracies are a multi-national thing). They finally did receive temp passports after 2-1/2 wearisome and costly days.

Our dogs, Mollie & Shoshone, even had a ‘ministry’ with the three children, who soon ‘adopted’ them. Here are Josephine (age 8) and Colin (age 6) with our ‘pups’ - - -



We just LOVE how God brings these special persons into our lives!

More later----

Love,

Ed & Karen