JCI Festival

***James update*** On Saturday - June 27, 2009 - First of all, I have great news for this day! James is well enough to get kicked out of the rehab house today. He is going to stay, for a while, with his brother and sister-in-law, Andrew and Christine. It's going to be hard on them, but thank God for their loving hearts. James need to continue with his PT/OT treatments every weekday. Christine drops him off every weekday morning, then Andrew picks him up every evening after work. It's a real chore just to keep up with the medicines, so I hope James will be able to monitor all of that on his own soon. Better yet, I hope he gets well enough so he'll be off the meds completely! We're all so happy that James is doing so well. We'll continue praying for a full recovery for him, and for his family. Keep the faith, James!!! You can do it!!!

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The boys and me just want to chill!

The girls just grow up so fast!

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Saturday - June 27, 2009 - Secondly today, Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute (JCI) is having their annual festival this weekend. This festival is their annual fund raiser, so they can continue to offer programs and services to their community. The two days are loaded with shows and presentations, food booths, game booths, fresh produce and plants, crafts, raffles, etc. South Bay Community Church (SBCC) and Faith United Methodist Church (Faith UMC) were there to help man a few booths. Usually, we go watch Jessi dance with Kanani Kalama's Hula Halau, but this year we decided to support some of Faith UMC's youth bands. Jordan, Danny, Derek, Justin, and many others were playing in the bands. We were happily surprised to see Jordan and Jessi's Poa Poa and Gung Gung there (they're still in town visiting from Hawaii). I hope that JCI raised a lot of funds this year, so they can continue to do all the great things they do for years to come.
Derek says "Yaki", Steven says "Soba!"
Hey Shane, where's mine?!?!?
Teddy, Sharon, and Ken

Justin

Derek
Somebody's gotta to the dirty work, so it's Kenny to the rescue again! Hey Kenny, nice pole! You do great work!!!

Danny
Jordan
Derek, Alicia, Jessi, and Julian

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Still on Saturday - June 27, 2009 - Finally, Hank and I ended this day with a little spark... actually, it was a lot of spark!!! This evening, we headed off to the City of Lakewood for their annual Pre-Fourth-of-July celebration, which they have on the Saturday before the real holiday. They featured live bands, food booths, games, etc... and fireworks!!! This was only the second year going to this event for us, but I enjoy it.

This Pre-celebration helps me mentally prepare for the madness that's around the real holiday. Most holidays are crazy, but I'm referring to the few nuts who ruin things for everyone. I hope this year, no one will fire off their guns into the sky... after all, what goes up must come down! The same thing goes for those illegal fireworks that can cause fires and burn injuries. Also, I hope no one will drive under the influence of any substance... so many more DUI's occur during holidays. May God bless our community with enough sense to celebrate responsibly.

Lakewood did a great job with their celebration. I had especially liked the last song they played with the last of the fireworks display. Thanks to Lauren (my niece) and her 3rd grade tableau, I was able to learn some of the words and was able to sing along to "God Bless the USA". Check it out, and maybe you can join in on my fun. http://www.brownielocks.com/godblesstheusaWAVE.html
Hope you enjoyed the song, and hope you'll enjoy your week. And truly I hope for God blesses the USA!!!