You're probably here to read about my trip to Senegal, right? Well, you'll have to wait a little longer. A couple of more immediate news items are diverting my attention.

In the meantime, if you are one of my facebook friends, you can check out the photo albums I've started uploading there. Three up, two to go. I will eventually get around to posting some of them here.

My other news ...

Item the First:

GrandDad's 91st birthday party on Saturday was a grand event. All six kids and all but one grandkid (the one who stayed in Africa) were there, plus assorted siblings and inlaws. My cousin Skylar brought his girlfriend along, which is sort of like meet the family on crack. It's a good thing she's an extrovert. She coped amazingly well with our patented version of craziness.

We had 33 people in and around the house, which was filled with the sounds of chatter and laughter. It was sweet to be so surrounded by people I love. I had to go down for a nap late in the afternoon, since I'm still adjusting to a 7-hour time change and a 27-hour trip, but I left the bedroom door open so that the music of a half dozen different conversations could drift in. This may sound a little morbid, but it occurred to me that this really wouldn't be a bad way to die.

Item the Second:

As the subject line suggests, I think I have found a church home after three months of increasingly discontented church hunting. A well-meaning but mis-informed friend warned me away from First Presbyterian Church of Oxnard, so I waited far too long in my exploration of the churches of Ventura county before visiting the most logical church for me to try in my new home town. When I finally visited, I found a combination of major criteria for a church that I had almost despaired of finding in one place:

• They have an organ.
• They have an organist.
• They have a music director who seems to know what he's doing.
  
• They are launching a young adults ministry.
• They are closer than 35 minutes of driving and a couple of gallons of $4 gasoline.
  
• The pastor speaks too fast, but at least he stays in one place while he does it, and doesn't go on too long, and has things worth saying.
• The acoustics are pretty bad, but not so much so that GrandDad can't stand to go there. (Actually, the acoustics are good for organ music, but lousy for speaking. Fair trade.)
  
• The pastor believes that the Resurrection matters.