Gratitude: December 2011

I began the last month of the year by working out for the first two days. I renewed my annual membership at the local fitness center and won 10% off, which is lower than my friend (Hafiz) who won %50 off!!

On Saturday, December 3rd I took a couple of "new" Morris residents to Alexandria for the weekend. We first stopped at Glenwood along the way to visit the local county museum as it was FREE, which was part of an open house fundraiser.



After the open house, we drove just 15 minutes north to Alexandria to attend the annual theater performance every Christmas holiday season of "Gospel According to Scrooge". ..



*I ended up writing a blog on this play's plot after a recent conversation regarding family gatherings during the "holidays" (see Restoring Relationships on goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com


The following day was the annual Christmas Program that many of the clients I work with at the DAC performed. This year, it was held at Firth Lutheran Church.



"Santa and Mrs. Claus handing gifts and posing with clients for pictures after the Christmas program"


Sport Update: The Minnesota Vikings continued to add to their losing season by getting defeated (on Sunday, December 4th of 2011) by the Denver Broncos (Tim Tebow, who was born and raised in the Philippines to American missionaries).

On Tuesday, December 6th my friend (Hafiz) and I attended our last Jane Adams Project (see espanol services) get-together. It was "muy" (very) festive (Feliz Navidad)...



The year is coming to an end, so I had to use the remainder of my vacation time from my full-time job. I took a 4-day weekend the 2nd week of the month to finish some "stuff" (e.g. house projects). I celebrated a ESL student of mine's birthday at Don's Cafe for a late breakfast and continued to celebrate with my closest friends the next day with her at Bella Cucina.



I spent my last day of the 4-day weekend by attending the monthly gathering (learning more about applying our spiritual gifts) at my pastor's house. We had a guest (Stu) that shared on "knowledge" and "prophecy" (see MCC December 2011 Newsletter by Jan N.). I personally got a word of encouragement on "restoring relationships" (see blog above), which was just a confirmation! Praise God!

We did more "end of the year" holiday celebrations as we had our "last" day (Wednesday, December 14th 2011) of our weekly (Wednesday's) ESL-GED classes..

The following day (Thursday, December 15th 2011), we had our annual "Christmas Tea Party" (had a record over 120 recorded guest-families, friends, etc.. of our 70 or so clients)...




My co-worker continued our tradition from last year by ringing the bell for Salvation Army. This year, we added a reindeer with us and did it for 2 hours at Pamida. One thing I really noticed compared to last year was the customers weren't as "smiley" (see Is it really the "Most Wonderful Time Of The Year ?" blog I wrote afterwards)




The third weekend of the month, I took more hours from my vacation time by having a 3-day weekend. I spend it in the cities with Hafiz as I wanted to show him my hometown where I grew up. We went to several big popular tourist places..

Friday, December 16th (Downtown Minneapolis)

Macys 8th Floor A Day in the Life of an Elf


Holidazzle Parade in Minneapolis

Saturday, December 17th (Mall of America in Bloomington, MN)




"Hafiz and my mom taking a break during our 3 mile walk around the 3rd largest mall in the world"

The last day of this weekend, I showed Hafiz the popular Summit Avenue (west of downtown St. Paul) and then more of downtown Minneapolis before dropping him off at the bus stop (Megabus-cheaper than Greyhound). Ironically, it was located across the Metrodome where the Vikings had a game with the defending 2010 Champions (Saints). They were tailgating across the street. I wanted to spend time with my niece and nephew, so I ended up playing soccer outside (40's) with him for awhile before playing games at Maplewood Mall. I then headed back to Morris for another short-week.

It was another week with more Christmas parties at both of my jobs as I didn't eat supper several times this week because of the supper-like snacks at the parties! On Tuesday, December 20th-I took a former student (Int'l student from China) along with his friends and mine on a drive through Morris to look at the various Holiday lights (the most spectacular display was the mobile homes along Lake Crystal)!

My 10-day vacation from my full-time job started Friday, December 22nd till tomorrow (Sunday, January 1st of 2012), which I would spend it "occupied". I got 42 hours right away within 3+ days (28 hours straight at one group home) with much of it "holiday pay" to help fill in the hours of co-workers that wanted the holiday off to spend time with their families. I didn't mind as I "try" celebrate Christmas "every day". I'm currently finishing my "end of the year" stuff (e.g. photos, videos, blogs, etc..) at my mom's house. It's been a great remainder 6-day vacation from both jobs as I spend it with family (e.g. open gifts late this past Tuesday when I arrived from Morris after dropping off Krishna-from Nepal-at the Greyhound bus station, watched "Soul Surfer" and other "family videos" with family (including my 7yr. old niece and 4 yr. old nephew) Wednesday, rode along with my bro's family around the Lights Display at Phalen in St. Paul, drove my mom to do various errands, etc..) and friends (will be spending time with them New Year's Eve tonight as Hafiz arrives from Ohio by bus, my housemate/renter arrived last night from S. Carolina after a 6 hour delay, etc..).

more coming & have a blessed New Year!!!!

Gratitude: November 2011

I took the same guys that were over at my house for Halloween to a tour of Alexandria. We checked out some "tourist spots" (e.g. Kensington Runestone original location, Carlos Creek Winery, etc..). It's always fun taking "new" people around West-Central Minnesota!

On Tuesday, November 8th , I went bowling with some friends at the local bowling alley. While bowling, I accidentally slipped but was able to get some pins down. This would've been a great "funniest video"!

The following day, the group home (Driftwood) I've been newly scheduled at did a "Staff Appreciation" meal at Buddies Bar & Grill (Hancock, Minnesota). I started working at this particular P.C.S group home (developmentally challenged)last month when they needed a "last-minute" fill-in. Due to some "financial challenges", I decided to accept the invitation to be on the "regular schedule" (God's financial provision!). I also want to take this time to give all my co-workers (both my pt-ft job) my personal appreciation to work this "common cause" (see Caregiver Appreciation Month).

The day after, I went to my first swim meet with Hafiz. My niece (7yrs. old) has been taking lessons too, so I've been enjoying watching her "progress" since the summer since I started watching her lessons when I come to the cities. The weekend (following) I went to the cities this month was actually her last swimming lesson (at my old high school). She is far ahead when I was at her age!!

On Sunday, November 13th-my local church in Morris had their every other month potluck. I love cooking, but there are others better than me. I brought some snacks (e.g. chips) and a drink as my contribution, but I contributed more by helping with the clean-up afterwards.

The once a month "Community Meal" was on the 2nd Monday instead of the 4th of the month due to the Thanksgiving holiday. As "active" participant of the Tuesday night Jane Adams Project (see Espanol Services), we volunteered some shifts for 2 days in preparing, helping at, and cleaning after this monthly meal. I helped out with the cleaning part, which working as a "team" made it very successful.

I'm very blessed to have some "paid-vacation" time, so I used 2 days of it during the 3rd weekend of the month. I drove to the cities on Thursday (November 17th) morning and immediately played soccer-football with my 4 yr. old nephew outside. It was pretty cold, so I had him wear my winter gloves. I then had more Mexican food for the week at a restaurant called Pineda Tacos in West St. Paul with a former housemate of mine. I love keeping in touch with my friends (e.g. housemates), which this one was a special get-together as I had a unique "prophetic" dream about him and his family.

The following day, I joined my brother's family to go "window shopping" at Maplewood Mall in Maplewood, Minnesota. It was the first "significant" snowfall of the winter season, which it was very slippery...

1st Significant Snow Fall of the Season (11'-12') on Sat. Nov 19th 2011



On my last day in the cities, I hung out with my sister and her boyfriend (early birthday present) at Target Field for a tour...



On Tuesday, November 22nd-we had our annual Thanksgiving dinner at my workplace. I would interview several or more of my co-workers (clients) asking what they are thankful to God for. I was then blessed with the extra "leftovers" (e.g. green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc..) to bless my friends I'll be hanging out this Thanksgiving weekend since I wasn't going to St. Paul since I had to work my 2nd job. It was a week of eating as the same day, the weekly Jane Adams (see Espanol Services) sponsored the 1st community potluck (at the Morris Public Library), which I brought my famous "Filipino Chicken Adobo" to share with the others. Then the following day, "we" continued to eat as we had a "Thanksgiving" theme party (along with a student's b-day and a farewell for a student from Brazil leaving for another training project in Wisconsin) for our weekly (ESL-GED) classes.

On Thanksgiving Day, I had to work the "overnight" (sleep) earlier and started cooking my small "oven roasted" (mini-size that takes only 3 hours) turkey for my housemate (Kazu from Japan) and his friend/former UMM Int'l student of mine last year. I then warmed up the extra leftovers from work and cooked a yummy ("my favorite") blueberry pie for dessert. We ate so much , so we would eat the pie after our short nap. It was so nice outside (50's) to stay inside rest of the day, so I invited the guys to play outside (e.g. playground, baseball with a tennis ball, basketball, etc..). I would continue using the "leftover" 4 days later as I hosted another friend as we (my housemate also) ate ham-roast beef (substitute of turkey).

The Thanksgiving weekend was just a small sample of what I do this in this blog as I celebrate "what I'm thankful" are year round!



more coming...

Gratitude: October 2011

The first weekend of the month ended a 4-day visit of some friends here for homecoming weekend at UMM. One of them wanted to visit the dairy farm, so we checked out one of them outside south of town. I then took them to one of the group homes I worked at just to show them where I worked at. One was interested in the work I did.

That same weekend on Sunday, it was very nice out! A friend and I went to play tennis and then checked out the 1st of a 4 Sunday series of Spanish films. I'm very interested in films of this particular country because of my family's roots (great-grandparents in my father's side). This particular film ("Bitiful") had a sad ending, but it gave a great message about compassion for family in desperate times (nearing death) and it brought up a global issues of the treatment of "migrant workers". This was very relevant to my work I and others personally do here with the ESL classes I do at the local school.

The following day, I was able to spend some quality time with my housemate as he' a very studious guy. We were able to play golf (driving range) as we try to enjoy the "last warm" days of Fall.

The next day, it was a very close friend of mine's Birthday,so some other friends and I had a small party for him. My other friend made some pie dessert crust, the other bought pizza, and I made a cake as we watched t.v. and hungout (with a bonfire) at their place for most of Tuesday night.

The second weekend of the month I went to Fargo, North Dakota for almost 2 whole days. I was invited by a church connection there to help ushering, which turned out to be a great experience (see Dream Deja Vu Experience: Scheels Arena in Fargo, North Dakota, from goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com)... ...

Impact World Tour Day #3 (Fargo, ND on Sun., Oct 9th 11') -Island Breeze-Hawaiian Performance Part 1




*this is just one 20+ videos I've uploaded "so far" on youtube

It was another nice Fall day on Tuesday (October 11th), which I had an "ideal" project at my work (raking leaves in 74 degree temps)! I took a 4-day weekend vacation during the 3rd weekend of the month to spend time with friends and family. I saw the movie "Soul Surfer"(see Xtreme Sports) at the local church I attend in St. Paul with my mom and sister on Friday. The following day, I went to hangout with my brother and his family with my sis & mom at a nearby mall. That same evening, I got a rental from Red Box and watched "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Green Mist" (3rd movie of the series by C.S. Lewis). It was a great movie about ways to "avoid" temptation (e.g. greed, selfishness, etc..).
The last day of the weekend, I went with my sister and her boyfriend to the Wabasha Street Caves (across the river from downtown St. Paul).

The 4th weekend I took advantage of the time staying in-town by working in my car. My confidence built from last month when I had a friend oversee my work in replacing my rotors and brake pads. This time, I replaced my own spark plugs (with another friend to oversee, which I haven't done since my first vehicle (mini van) back in college (with a college friend overseeing my work during a cold wintery day)!

My workplace took their once in a blue moon trip to Chanhassan Dinner Theater by Minneapolis on Wednesday of the last month. We haven't seen a show here since 2006 (saw "Singing the the Rain"). This year, we saw "Hair Spray", which had a great message about reconciliation amongst different race groups in Baltimore. It was a great performance and awesome bus trip to and from..

I was referred by several people in the community to "welcome" a new guy in town, who is all the way from Pakistan to work at a local place to do research. A good friend of mine was able to meet him first, which he introduced him to me by coming over to my house Thursday. We chatted a bit getting to know one another in my living room before heading out to the local gym to get some exercise (e.g. bench press, basketball, soccer, and racquetball). I'm looking forward to showing him around our small rural college town community, which is part of the groups (Stevens Forward) goal that I belong too!

I forgot (updated Dec. 8th 2011) to mention my Halloween (not many would agree) outreach, which I've been doing the past 4-5 years now. I read this article about what Christians can do during Halloween. Instead of turning the lights off to avoid participating in giving candy. I decided to give juice and gum (instead of just candy) with Bible verses. This year I had some friends from different countries, another friend, and I over at my house for Filpino food and a movie (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang..lol) and passed out these "treats" with Bible verses.

Gratitude: September 2011

I started the month with the ending of my week vacation in the cities. I was trying to spend some "quality" time with family while I was there. I played some tennis with my older sister, which I haven't done for years!! On my Saturday before I left for Morris, I had to get my brakes fixed after getting my tires (e.g. replaced and wheel bearings). It was a very expensive job and I didn't want to put any additional money from my own pocket. Thus, I decided to work on my own (with my friend's assistance)car and don't want to pay any labor cost. I the end, I calculated that I saved $200 (according to what Tire Plus estimated)!..



..you can read more of the story from my previous month blog (August) as I just realized I ready wrote on this part. School is pretty much in session around here, which means lots of community activities. I was invited to participate in this dialogue on ways we can welcome the growing numbers of "Spanish-speaking" residents, so I just shared my perspective (see GoodnewsMinnesota.info Stevens County Espanol Services) from my past involvement with the group as a member of Stevens Forward. It's very encouraging to see how far our community has grown in this area!

In the second weekend of August, we had some 80 degree weather, which was very nice! I wasn't sure how long this was going to last, so I spent the weekend every day "playing" (e.g. tennis) outside.

On Tuesday, September 13th-I went to my annual ABE/ESL training meeting in Alexandria, Minnesota. I've been coming to this for close to the last 5-6 years now since volunteer teaching GED and English. We meet about 3 hours to share how the year has been and ways we can do better (e.g. increase student participation). The following day, I had my weekly Wednesday GED-ESL classes, which I'm very thankful to have 2 new volunteers (one is a professor at the local university, which I was a little intimidated at first because of his status. However, I've been getting more comfortable as we both work together and gotten to know each other through our stories).

My housemate asked me to use my photography and take pictures at the 2nd softball game of the season (I would take another in October too during the 1st and last playoff game). I would participate in Kazu's softball practice the Saturday after wards early in the morning (around 10:30am) for fun. It was nice playing softball for the first time since my nose fracture (see last month's blog) accident!!

I also marked down the 18th as the 1st day of rain. It was the first rain fall of the month. I'm glad I saved some rain water from my gutters of my house last month, which I used to water my crops (see GoodnewsEverybody.com Foods: Agriculture, Horticulture-Gardening, Farming, etc...) as the season ended. I was able to get some good size corn..



Every Tuesday evenings, there is a campus-community gathering called the Jane Adams Project. They had their first "kick-off" gathering on the 20th, which it was well attended..


All residents in and outside the Stevens County area are welcome to participate as it's a great way to meet the growing numbers of the "Spanish-speaking" community (e.g. many and not all are from the local dairy farms)!

Each week is a different topic/theme, so the first one was "Meaning of our Names". This was such a great topic, I ended up doing this in my weekly (Wednesdays) ESL class the following day. My students really enjoy this, so I ended up doing a blog on this-> Where did your name come from? from Goodnewseverybody's Webblog (wordpress.com))

I spent the last days of the month hanging out with some college alumns-friends during University of Minnesota-Morris Homecoming Weekend). My friends that have been coming every year since 04' bought their friend name "Brother Max", who was an awesome guy serving the Lord!

Gratitude: August 2011

I started the month with doing continuous house work. I cleaned and repaired my gutters that surround the north and south side of my roof. This is one of the key areas that has been giving water damage inside my house. I'll see what the results of how effective this work was next Spring. I had a good first week of the month in batting in softball, which I'll share more down below.

I played tennis for the 1st time in three years on Sunday, August 7th of 2011. What too so long? I don't know, probably been busy doing other sports (e.g. softball). I like the variety. I played tennis with some of my ESL students from Brazil because they never played before. I had to take it really easy at first until one of the students (Danillo) up his playing a bit. It was another great way to spend time outside in these beautiful summer days.

I was able to finally upload a video of a theatre performance from this past winter. I thought it was such a great performance I had to share it with everybody...

"Genesis The Story of Creation to the Call of Abram of Ur" Part 1

"Genesis The Story of Creation to the Call of Abram of Ur" Part 1 from gooodnews everybodycom on Vimeo.

A cool thing happened at one of my work sites. We do some cleaning around the community and when we were doing our twice a week time at the local laundromat, it was a busy time because of the county fair in town. There were lots of "carnies" (carnival festival workers) doing their laundry. Well, the clients (developmentally challenged folks) love to talk and one of the workers seem to enjoy chatting with them (that's why I enjoy my job and been in this field since college graduation in 99')! This particular worker ended up giving my co-worker $40 dollar bill and specifically asked us to treat them. We thought this was so awesome that we ended up going to Dairy Queen after cleaning. Unfortunately, the DQ wasn't open early in the morning (not till 10:30am), so we ended up dividing the cash and gave it to the clients to spend whatever they freely want to. What a blessing! I tried to look for that guy when I went to the county fair, but never saw him to say THANK YOU again.

The big annual Stevens County Fair was during the 2nd week of the month, which I attended 3 of the 4 days it was going on. I was also involved with the 1st Annual Morris Soccer Invitational that occurred at the RFC Soccer Fields (by H20-Water Tower). I invited my 2 ESL students from Brazil, which they were only able to play 1 of the 3 days...




I ended-up playing the 3rd days because the team (UMM Team) didn't have enough players (Brazilian students chose to attend the Car Derby at the county fair). I tried to balance my time during the fun weekend by helping with my local church's fair booth. I had a great time meeting people there. I met this couple from Cannon Falls that was looking for a local church, which would be the same town our U.S. President Obama visited weeks later. I also had a great time meeting friends I haven't chatted for a long time despite we living in this same small rural town community. Also, I met several of the 80+ new international students from China that are attending the local university. The funny thing was that they asked if I was Chinese too? I had to laugh as I've never been speculated to be this particular nationality. I've been called all sorts of others (e.g. Italian, African-American, Indian, Native-American, and even a "terrorist" a couple of times). On the 2nd day I tabled, I spent some quality time with a young friend from church, which we haven't done for quite awhile. The second weekend of August was a fun-filled time!

This same weekend, I had to also share that I went to a co-worker's family's funeral. Like all funerals, I start reflecting what I've done all my life so far and want to "live it to the fullest". At this particular funeral service, they shared about how she positively impacted the people around her life until the age of 90 or so. Wow, that's long! This challenged me to live my fullest for my Heavenly Father and to make a "positive' impact as much as possible while He has me on earth as we have only 1 life!
*see GoodnewsEverybody.com: Death- Grieving, Mourning, Reflection, etc..

I spent part of the mid-month cleaning and painting (special paint against mold) my basement. It was a very wet spring-summer, so I finally had a chance get my hasement dry for the first time since a long time. This was also due to some plumbing problems, which I finally got fixed by a local plumber. I thank God the amount was less than he estimated, which was a blessing financially when it came to some bills mid-month!

On Tuesday, August 16th I was able to play golf for the first time all summer. Geez, what took so long again for this too! Well, I'm not retired and old yet, so I don't play the 9 or 18-hole. I like going on the driving range. I did a small bucket ($5) at the local golf place here in Morris with a buddy of mine, which was a great time to chat one and one too in a nice summer afternoon after work.

Earlier this same week when I was playing soccer, I was playing defense (left) and tried to "head" a flying soccer ball. Well, I ended up getting my nose hit too, which hurt. This left a bruise in the upper part. Well, I would end-up getting hit in this area again playing softball..



..which caused a fracture after a homeplate "football-style" collision at home plate in attempting to just tag my opponent as I was playing catcher. Well, I'm still suffering the effects as I'm still getting over some occasional headaches. I'm praying there is no long-term damage. The best part of this is that I was able to hold on to the ball for the out and our team won to continue to advance in the playoffs. We would lose the 2nd game the following week, but it was our best finish as a softball team!

The third Sunday of the month, my local church celebrated the oldest and longest marriage (50 years) couple's Wedding Anniversary. I'm hoping to interview them and get some notes on how they've reach this successful feat sometime in the future.

My Heavenly Father answered one of my prayers right before I took a week vacation (my workplace takes 2 weeks off during the summer months-1st during July 4th-Independence Day and last week of August before Labor Day) to end the summer. My former housemate moved out mid-June and never advertised of the need of another housemate, except by word of mouth. My local church pastor even referred this guy from Alexandria, but that never worked out. I got a call from this UMM international student in a need of a place to stay. I don't even remember telling him of my rental basement as it hasn't been finished yet. However, he was open to move to the spare 2nd bedroom and "decided" to come move in (physically moved the following day) the same day he looked at it. I felt it was great timing as I was already planning to head to the cities several days later.

I spent the last week of the month in the Twin Cities. I was supposed to take my mom to the UofM-Twin Cities Campus' Dental Clinic for mouth surgery, but my mom wasn't able to get an appointment the week before the break. My younger brother invited me to go on a road-trip with his family to the East Coast (e.g. Washington D.C., North Carolina, etc..), so I was about to look up flights for a one-way back to Minnesota because I didn't want to be in North Carolina that whole last weekend. I wanted to spend some time in St. Paul before my week plus vacation ended before going back to Morris. Well, on my way to St. Paul from Morris, my mom calls and tells me "good news".."I was able to get a dental appointment on Monday". This was the original plan, so I decided to not for go the East Coast road trip as I thought was the "sign" to stay in St. Paul. I was hesitant going with the forecast hurricane (Irene->see weather) coming and recent rare earthquake. I was a little disappointed, but saw it was God's plan for me to spend quality time with my parents (e.g. River Boat Ride along the Mississippi River, State Fair, etc..) and sister (e.g. tennis). I would later find out it was a good reason to stay in St. Paul with my car problems (spent $500 on new tires because of poor brakes that I should've gotten fix long time ago. Then additional $400+ for wheel bearings. Could've spent $200 extra to fix the brakes and rotors, but watched a video online and had my friend oversee my work to fix it ourselves!=> see GoodnewsEverybody.com Financial: Automobiles, Auto, Cars, Trucks, Vehicles, etc...)). Isn't God good? We sometimes wonder why our plans don't work the way we planned or desire, but it's for our own good. During my last day of my vacation, I was driving to church and was running late. I love the praise and worship (music) part and it was in the beginning of the service. As I was just 2 blocks away, I got caught speeding..doh! :)...I was going 44 on a 30 when the police officer asked me if I knew how fast I was going. Well, he told me I was going 41..wew, I'll take that! Well, I had my mom with me and she was praying during the whole traffic stop (e.g. showing my license, registration, etc..). It seem the prayer worked as the police officer decided to just give me a warning because I had a "good' record (haven't been stopped or anything since 97'). Thank God! I told the officer then that I was in hurry to get to church and he lectured back to me-"Well, don't rush to God as God will wait for you". My mom then told the officer-"God bless you sir"-as we drove off to church "later". I arrived at church praising Him more! As I was heading back to Morris the day before Labor Day (Holiday), I had an opportunity to "share" with a "homeless guy" on the streets along an entry ramp to Interstate 94 (see "Another "Street Sign"- Homeless Guy Story: What can we do to help them?", Goodnewseverybodycom's Weblog)...

Gratitude: July 2011

I started July with a week vacation from my workplace. I used this time to visit my family and friends in St. Paul. It was July 4th weekend, so it was a "festive" time. The day before the 4th, some of my family and I went to the Mall of America. It was actully my first time at the "new" Nickolodeon Universe (replaced Camp Snoopy)...

I wanted to take advantage of the many community events, so my sister suggested Roseville. Later in the week, I took my mom and nephew (3 years young) to Como Conservatory and Park..

While I was in the cities, I got a discounted haircut (only $5) at a nearby "beauty school" in preparation for photography practice at a former housemate's wedding in Sauk Centre. I learned some new "editing" techniques, which I wished I did when I was at a previous wedding 2 months ago. I love doing this photography..

"Pictures I took between the wedding and reception"

Unfortunately the day right after the wedding, the same place I was doing some photography was hit with "straight-line" (many this summer) winds (just like this past weekend in Glenwood when I took pictures during the "Waterama" parade, which I share down below)! Thank God no one was injured or killed, but just "temporary" damages (e.g. houses and cars) by fallen trees.

I got home just in-time for the weekend festivities in Morris with their annual "Prairie Pioneer Days", which I came home late Saturday night for the fireworks..

The following day, I took pictures of the parade just almost in front of my house. It was hot, so I kept cool under a shaded tree...

It's been 3 weeks since I played softball, so when I played Tuesday, July 12th I had around at-bat. In fact, I would go hit-less for 4 games in a row. My coach put me the bottom of the batting order. However, I would go on a tear on July 26th after some self-motivation techniques (e.g. watch youtube) as I went 4 for 5. As I write this, I would go 4 for 8 twice (more detail next month) after wards in 2 separate days (2 games each)!

I ended the month with another annual community summer celebration, but this time in a town 35 minutes east here=> Glenwood, Minnesota. I picked-up a friend of mine from his parent's place and we would check out the long 2-hour parade for "Wateram"..

Just like what happened in Sauk Centere, this town was hit with "straight-line" winds. They are currently cleaning-up. Events like these just makes one more thankful to God for and to not take things for granted in life. I know Morris got their share years ago (see Storm 03'). I'm always learning to "not store things" as our time on earth is just "temporary"!

Gratitude: June 2011

Sorry, it's over half way of July as I write my month of June reflections. I'll try to not to get the "busyness" of summer prevent me from keeping up with this. The first half of the summer has been productive for me as I've been dong "late" "Spring-cleaning" all over my house-indoor and outdoors. Since my housemate (Anthony) moved out after the 1st week of June, I've been cleaning madly bottom to top of the house and still! I also got a lot my yard-work project finish after my 2 month-long drain-pipe and sump pump installation project in my basement to control water seeping there too much (came in a good time after some parts of West-Central Minnesota got "rain surge" this past weekend!)! I'll share more about next month. I found out I love landscaping (was very into a show on cable yesterday at my workplace)! I was blessed by my "new" neighbor with some perennials and other plants to help beautify my house. Also, I was able to get my garage clean after storing stuff over stuff! I celebrated this work of progress by doing my first bonfire on Thursday, June 23rd with friends-including an ESL student from Kyrgyzstan.


I entered my 4th season with the American Eagle Softball team batting lead off and playing second base (despite telling my coach-manager that I didn't want to play infield after my "pinky" finger dislocation injury last summer)...so far, so good..for now! By the end of June after 5 games (2 games we couldn't finish playing and 1 game we never finished because of weather...lots of rain this summer!), I'm batting. 550 and we have a 2 Wins-3 Loses record!

I did my monthly visit with family and friends in St. Paul the 1st weekend of the month and visited Choo Choo Bob (see trains) in St. Paul with family (took my 3 year old nephew). On Sunday (June 5th), I learned more about my dad (e.g. he attended three different school during his high school years) after a family visit with my sister in a local hospital (battling depression) in St. Paul. When I came home, I was able to have a great dialogue with this "guy" through this social network site who has been opening-up about his "sexuality". After some dialogue for some time, he opened up about how he live a life of lies. Thus, he was planning to stop his "double life" as a transgender!

My work sent me to St. Cloud (1 1/2 hour west of here) Minnesota for a 2-day conference to equip me more on the way I serve the physically challenged clients at my workplace. I learned a lot of various topics, which I'm still trying to apply in my day to day work. It not only was just for the work environment, but outside in every day life too. I was indoors most of the conference, so I decided to check out St. Cloud's famous gardens that people from all over the world have come to visit. I practiced more of my photography...

Munsinger Clemens Gardens in St. Cloud, Minnesota-USA (June 16th 2011)



On Sunday the 17th, it was Father's Day, which I wasn't able to spend it with my dad. However, I did call him and sent a card with pictures. I'm very thankful for what he has done and still curious and wanting to learn more about the challenges (e.g. WWII) he faced growing-up. I'm hoping to share it someday.

I ended the last week with "hanging-out" -fellowshipping with many friends (e.g. former house mate's b-day party with close friends, annual Winkelfest at a nearby lake with my local church family, bonfires,etc..). Trying to enjoy the summer days after a long winter!