Congratulations, friends!

Saturday was Fuller's graduation. Since this is Bob's 4th year here, he had several friends graduating. We went to the ceremony in the morning (with 500 graduates!!), then celebrated by going to 4 graduation parties for the rest of the day. Here are a few of the memories:

with Paul and Peter after the ceremony
Partying with Narcissis and friends

with Joy, in her traditional Korean dress

Vijay and Laura--celebrating graduation AND engagement!

One more year, and Bob gets to celebrate too! It was wonderful to celebrate this milestone with our friends, but always hard when people transition farther away, too... c'est la vie. :)

Remembering Africa

We try as often as possible to reconnect with Africa even though we are here in Pasadena. There were a few opportunities this past week that we were excited about. The first was a luncheon with African Enterprise where Songe Chibambo shared some of his stories of what God is doing in different parts of Africa. Bob knew Songe from the big mission that they did in Rwanda, so it was a fun reunion and fun for me to get to meet him.


Then, Saturday night we had a gathering of people at our apartment that we are calling "Passion for Africa". We want to meet with others who have a love for Africa and share and pray together for how God could use us on that great continent. It was a wonderful and encouraging time, and we look forward to doing it again next month!

We ran a 5K!

The last few weeks we have had the rare pleasure of experiencing a diverse range of forms of entertainment. I'll start with today's big accomplishment--Bob and I ran our first 5K! A first for both of us, and the fulfillment of a goal that we've had for nearly a year. Here's a picture from after the race:
There were over 100 runners and it was an interesting cross-country course that looks and feels like a course for dirt-bikes. We did better than I expected with a time of about 27:30, including some steep hills that we weren't used to. The run was a fundraiser for Project Cuddle, an organization that rescues abandoned babies, and we were very impressed with the amount of community support they have!

Our adventure last weekend was our first Dodger game of the season. We enjoyed the game until it started pouring in the bottom of the 9th inning and they stopped the game. We went home and were sitting in our living room with hot chocolate at 11:30 pm when they resumed the game.

And, to finish off our spectrum of activities, 2 weeks ago we got to go see the California Philharmonic Symphony! I don't think I've heard a symphony orchestra live since before I went to Rwanda 5 years ago, and thought the music was absolutely amazing. They played Holst's "The Planets", and since JPL is in Pasadena, we were also treated to some amazing photos of the planets while we listened! :) Here's a photo from the lobby:

Arboretum

I love arboretums. My lunch-breaks at the arboretum in Chicago helped keep me sane during stressful periods. I love the variety of the trees and plants--seeing the uniqueness of each species with amazing features that I never could have dreamed up. The LA arboretum is just about 10 minutes away (without traffic), and I always find it refreshing to go there. Here are a few pictures of some of the 'unique' trees I found on my last trip--many with unique names, as well.

A Smoke Tree, from S. Asia and Europe

A Flax-leaf Paperbark tree, from Australia

An Indian Horse Chestnut Tree, from the Himalayas

A close-up of the flowers of the Indian Horse-Chestnut
A shrimp plant. Creative, eh?

Catalina Island!

I'm a week late posting these pictures--very sorry. Last weekend we had a much-needed getaway to the famous Catalina Island. It was a wonderful place for resting and getting a change of scenery,m and we are grateful to the person who advised us several months ago to take such a weekend away, and also supported us with the funds to do so.

We didn't take too many pictures, but it was a beautiful place, so I have to post a few.

Our primary activity Saturday - sitting on the beachAn excellent seafood restaurant--right on the harbor

Narrow streets, narrow houses...and do you see the golf carts??
And, we got a little goofy while we were window shopping. Good look, right?