Cubs Game

It all started when Mr. Carlson mentioned possibly taken Megan to the game that evening and it grew from there. At the last minute, a few more of us decided to go and we filled the van to capacity at 15, and pulled out of the driveway just an hour and 15 minutes before game time. Which, when you live at least an hour and 15 minutes from the ball park, was cutting it a little close, but with all the events of the day, that was what worked and we were at least on our way. The game was supposed to have been played against the Astros in Houston, but due to hurricane Ike it had been moved - with 24 hours notice - to a 'neutral' park. And so Houston hosted Chicago in Wisconsin at the home of the Milwaukee Brewers.

The roads were very clear for the first hour of driving, and we passed, or were passed by, lots of vehicles containing people clad in blue and Cubs jerseys. We also received a phone call informing us that three more friends were en route via a separate vehicle. As we drew closer to Milwaukee, however, all those cars with blue-clad folks started jamming up the roadway and we crept along quite slowly for some time. So we turned on the radio and listened to Soriano lead it off with a home run while we were still on Rt. 94.

We listened to Zambrano throw the first three pitches - all balls - while we sat in line for the parking lot, and we hoped that he would hang in there and get the win.

Finally we had paid for our parking and were being waved by parking attendants down the road, back under the highway, around some winding roads into a very remote parking lot. We turned off the radio, hopped out of the van and walked as quickly as we could back towards the ball park.

The ticket line moved quickly and we were very pleased to get 15 tickets all together! As we made our way through the turnstiles and then up all the flights of stairs, past vendors trying vainly to sell Brewers gear to Cub fans - down the hall to find our section, we noted cheers coming from inside and glancing at the monitors we saw that it was now the third inning, the Cubs were batting, and there were two men on base. As we found our section and walked into the park there was a crack of a bat. We froze on the stairs and turned to face the field just in time to see Derrek Lee's RBI double.

We hurried the rest of the way to our seats and sat down in time to stand back up and cheer as Aramis Ramirez got a base hit sending Lee home to score!

But little did we realize that Seth's first Cubs game would become even more exciting. I think it was around the end of the fourth inning, that the crowd began to realize that there was a no-hitter going on. The game flew by quickly as we cheered each out. We didn't even care if our team didn't get any more hits, we were up by five runs and this time the important part of the game was the bottom of the inning.

Before long, the crowd was rising to it's feet for the last inning. One out - quickly made. A second out. The third batter came to the plate...


The video is about 4 minutes long. The first big cheer is strike one. The second, is strike two. The lulls are the balls, and the craziness at the end is, of course, strike three!

After the last out was finally made, nobody left for awhile. We sang "Go, Cubs, Go!". We cheered "Z" after his on field interviews, we high-fived everyone nearby. And finally started to make our way down the stairs and out to the parking lot.

The walk back to the van took a lot longer than the walk in. Nobody was hurrying, everyone was hugging and high-fiving everyone. There was an extremely celebratory feel - and everyone was family, or so you might have thought! Not only was it a no-hitter, but it was also in a rival's park - and they weren't there and neither were their fans. And for all the Cub fans that were at the game, it had necessarily been a last minute decision to attend, which just added to the fun of it all.

Yes, we were among the last two to decide to go but sure are glad we did! It was Beth's first Cub game, too! We eventually wound our way back to the parking lot, and loaded back inside the van and joined the mass of vehicles winding their way back to the highway.

Mr. Carlson - thanks for the suggestion! I'm quite sure had the game been dull and boring - or even had they lost - we still would have had a great time with our gang, it was just extra special to have gotten in on witnessing a historic win. I did keep my ticket stub... think it might be worth something on Ebay?

A week of life...

We've now been home over a full week. Much of what has happened since arriving back from our travels was expected, but not everything was. Some of those expected things turned to be unexpected in their execution and though not all of those unplanned events were surprising, some of them most certainly were. All in all, it's made for an interesting week!

Planned: Church last Sunday

Unplanned: The Welcome Home party we were invited to (at our house) by the married Erbers that Sunday afternoon.

Planned: School started in full swing on Monday

Planned: Jonathan & Jessica teach piano lessons on Monday

Entirely necessary and expected: Lots of laundry after arriving back home. That California dust got everywhere! Returning phone calls and emails that came in while we were gone, and all the other typical catch-up stuff.

Planned: Josiah's cello lesson and much needed grocery shopping on Tuesday

Not necessarily planned, but not unexpected: Spending Tuesday sorting through thousands of pictures from the last 10 years of our local church history, and then looking through a few hundred pictures from our California trip and sorting them down to "only 30-something" for the blog post.

Planned: Joanna's violin lesson with a new teacher on Wednesday

Unplanned: Jonathan bought a new DVD burner that works much better than the old one we had around here and backed up a few years of digital pictures.

Planned: Joanna at Jeanine's to help out for the day on Thursday

Planned: Jessica teaching piano lessons on Thursday

Obviously unplanned: Dad & Mom spend the evening in the hospital with friends from church whose daughter had an emergency appendectomy on Thursday

Unplanned: Caroline & William spend the afternoon and evening here on Thursday

Unplanned: Jessica cleans out and defrosts the big freezer and reorganizes the pantry

Unplanned: Jeanine & little ones, and Sara & little ones spend Friday supper and evening here

Unplanned: Jonathan is called out as an extra employee on a job in downtown Chicago from 7:00pm on Friday - 4:00pm on Saturday

Unplanned: Dad & Mom go out to dinner with another couple from church on Friday night

Planned: Church yesterday

Sort-of-planned: Parents here after church to watch a video seminar on marriage, the rest of us watch/entertain kids at church. Big games of "Duck, Duck, Goose" "Simon Says" "London Bridge" and more. The set up was supposed to be different, but weather and other factors forced us to change plans.

Very out of the ordinary and entirely unplanned: A passing comment turned into 18 of us from church heading to Milwaukee to watch a rescheduled-at-the-last-minute-because-of-Hurricane-Ike Cubs game... and we ended up witnessing a moment in baseball history and found our voices hoarse by the end of the night - certain people's voices especially!

Unplanned: Jonathan working in Chicago again in the very early hours this morning... and again this afternoon.

Planned: Lots of prep for this coming weekend and our church's 10th Anniversary Celebration.

Unplanned: Preparations delayed due to large amounts of rain in the last few days. It never really rained very hard - it was just very steady rain all weekend long. It's so good to see sunshine again today. Outdoor work resumes!

Planned-but-canceled: Piano lessons today

Planned: Repairs on our little car today, but...
Unplanned: Severe brake problems discovered on our van took precedence and so the little car repairs will have to wait.

Planned as of this morning: Josh & Abbey here for stump-removal and dinner tonight. Josh also plans to move some more of his stuff out of our garage and into his.

Unplanned: We've taken almost no pictures since getting home - except for at the Cubs game. Maybe I'll post a few of those later.

Planned: ...Well, we'll see how plans turn out for this next week! Plans for this week are pretty full, so I don't exactly plan to blog again until early next week after our big church celebration! But, then again you never know what might just come up...

"A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps." Prov. 16:9

California!

Our trip to California started early in the morning - the first alarms I heard went off around 2:30 am (central time) on Thursday, August 28. Less than 10 hours later (just before 10:00am California time) we had arrived at the Sacramento airport and were being warmly greeted by the Hector family! We had met the Hectors when they visited us back in May after the CPC's presbytery meetings. Much sooner than we had then expected, we were able to return the favor and visit them. :-) Our sister church, CVP, had invited us out to be a part of their first annual family camp and our whole family made it out to California for what turned out to be a wonderful, memorable week-plus of visiting.

And, as I said, it all started with Hector hospitality. Thursday, after picking us up at the airport, and taking us out for an early (for California) lunch and brief driving tour of Sacramento, we headed up to the hills and the Hector home. As you can see in the picture at the top of this post, their 'backyard' looks slightly more interesting than most backyards here in the Midwest!

Our time at their home was very relaxing and enjoyable. Chess, card games, the pool, a rattlesnake on the driveway (yes, we brought the rattle home), foosball, pictionary, good food, and various discussions filled the hours we spent at their home.


On Friday, however, they took us on an outing to see another side of California - the Pacific Ocean!


We took two vehicles - some went in the van, some went in the RV. In the RV we entertained ourselves through the hours of driving in a number of unique ways. Pictured above was our rubberband shooting contest...


We did finally arrive at the ocean, slightly before the lunch hour. Some chose to walk immediately down to the water, while others got lunch out! Thankfully, despite the strength of the ocean, at the end of the day all family members were still accounted for when we loaded up the van! And yes, that is a more serious comment than might be initially assumed.

The Hectors documented our day far more carefully than we did - and part of Saturday morning's fun was looking through the 800 or so pictures that they took! It is amazing what a good camera and a good eye can produce!


Some of us got wetter than others, but I think it was impossible for anyone to be near the beach and not get wet that day!

After everyone had had enough of the water, the sand begged to be molded and shaped, and built up... various techniques were practiced and a sprawling sand castle of sorts soon took up a large area of beach.

Then it was time to rinse off, dry off, and head off! But before heading home we had a couple of stops to make. First was to a tide-pool area where we observed various small species of ocean life. Then, just down the coast, were a herd (??) of Harbor Seals. The beach was closed off, of course, and we were unable to walk down to see them. So instead we walked up to see them... through a grove of trees, to some cliffs that overlooked the beach. You can't really see them in this picture (below) but they were down there laying on the sand.

On our way home, the Hectors took us through San Francisco - but the fog was heavy, so we used our very active imaginations to picture the Golden Gate bridge!

On Sunday, we packed up and bid adieu to the Hector home. After church, and lunch and visiting, we went home with the Schroeder family and experienced some more wonderful hospitality. I don't know, people talk about southern hospitality and I know I've experienced some of that, but we all commented on this trip about how very welcomed we felt everywhere. Not even like we were guests that were being entertained, but like we were truly a part of things and that they all really wanted to not just get to know us, but to establish relationships with us.

Our time with the Schroeders was brief, but long enough for some great conversations... and a few new games! Monday morning was spent mostly packing everything because it was finally time to get to the purpose of our trip: The 2008 CVP Family Camp in Pinecrest, California!

Camp Chinquapin is a quiet little camp up in the Sierras - that is, it was until we all arrived and then it was no longer quiet. From Monday through Thursday the camp echoed the laughter, games, songs, and chatter of a church family that loves to be together. The Erber family was truly blessed and refreshed by the families of CVP. We pray that God will bring many more opportunities for fellowship between us and them - and between our church and theirs! We have new dear friends on the western coast and we are so grateful for you all!

Of course, we were at a camp, and Volleyball must be played - regularly, frequently - when at a camp! The first couple games didn't look so good, but by the end of the week there were some pretty sharp looking volleys! And some pretty closely matched teams, despite the sun ever shining in our eyes.

There was nearly always a lengthy line of players rotating in as there were about twice as many players as there was space!


Of course, it wasn't all play and no work! :-) The church had invited us to join them at the camp to share with them some of the things that God has been teaching us. Dad spoke to the entire group each evening, and one morning they split into a mens session and ladies session.


Ah, the many wonders of a camp! Volleyball, basketball, foosball, bike riding, hiking, a campfire with songs and s'mores, meals resounding with chatter... and jokes. They had divided the families into 5 teams for the week, and there were various point earning opportunities throughout the week that could accumulate up to a grand total by the end. Many of the games were organized into tournaments for that sake, and thus had a little more than the typical competitive edge. The foosball tournament was hotly contested and followed carefully by a larger crowd than might typically be expected.

One point-earning accomplishment was to learn (and report to the camp director) something interesting about the Erber family... hmmm.

Ah, and then there was the hike to "Cleo's Sauna". It was supposed to be a hike to Cleo's Baths (and some did actually make it), but since we took the wrong fork, well...

It was a memorable, and truly very fun, hike! It started out quietly enough as we followed a pleasant path around the lake.

And then it turned a little more rigorous...

...yes, the sun was hot, and the rocks were hot, but at least it was dry heat! :-)

And throughout the hike everyone pitched in to make sure that everyone made it and was doing well. Whether it was a helping hand, a word of encouragement, a joke, a song, a picture, a shared water bottle, a smile...

...hey, even wimps like me were able to make it!

By the time the group of nearly 40 of us made it to the turn around point, we were several miles from the camp, a mile or so from the lake (it's kind of hard to judge distance on that terrain, though), had been hiking for almost three hours, and were nearly completely out of water - maybe it would have been better if it wasn't dry heat after all! But in pleasant company temporary dehydration isn't so bad, and what water was still around was willingly shared with all in need.

When found, shade was very pleasant. And with Mrs. Walker's permission (even though we risked being late for dinner) as soon as we got back to the lake, everyone jumped in! It was a brief, but much needed and enjoyed refreshment - and all soaking wet we were soon afterwards back on the path to the trail head.

Mr. & Mrs. Hector met our group there with their van and maybe I shouldn't mention how many of us we fit in for the drive back to the camp...

Dinner was perhaps a slightly quieter affair that evening - perhaps. But despite the workout of the afternoon, I don't think anyone skipped out on the evening entertainment: a dance!

They were English country dances and we had an enjoyable time with a few dances that we already knew, and also learned a couple of new ones! Incidentally, the gentleman who came up to the camp for the evening to call the dances had been in Jamestown last June and had talked with Nathan Del there and mentioned Resounding Voice in conversation before we had established any such connection!

Lots of smiles...


On the next day, Wednesday, most of the young folks on our team hiked all the way around the lake - for fun, and for points! Did we mention that we had a couple of competitive families on our team? I didn't make it on that hike, but the report is that they did make it to the "jumping rocks" and enjoyed jumping the 15 foot drop into the lake, found an abandoned water bottle, swam and kayaked in the lake, and over all had a wonderful time together.

That evening was our last evening together. It was also the night of the "Talent" show! I can't even start to describe the evening to anyone who wasn't there - and perhaps it is better if I don't!

Let me simply say that "Talent" is a very broad, inclusive term. Lots of skits and songs...

And, yes, our whole team got up on stage...

Afterwards, many of us stayed up late - trying a couple of new dances, and then just sitting around talking, and sharing from a vast store of jokes, puns and riddles. It sure is a good thing that blondes are such good sports!

Thursday morning came around all too quickly. After breakfast, there was time for a few more games, and then it was time to pack up. Before everyone left, however, there was one final gathering to announce the winning team. It was ours, of course! Just kidding!! Well, it was our team, but it was NOT of course. In fact, we had very much anticipated coming in second, and were rather surprised to hear that wasn't the case!

Team "Limited Atonement" (yes, there were five teams), we had a wonderful time getting to know you all during the week! We're glad to have been your teammates and can't wait to see you out our way in next spring!


After we had finally loaded up the vehicle that one of the church elders had lent us for the week, and dragged out our good-byes as long as possible, we left camp with the Walker, Hector and Gregg families to get pizza for lunch! Of course, lunch couldn't last forever, and we finally had to say our goodbyes to the Greggs and the Hectors, as well. But, our visit wasn't quite over yet, as we headed to the Walker's home for our last night in California!

Everyone was tired from the several days of camp, so we turned in early that evening. But we did get to spend a bit of time with them on Friday morning talking and playing games, of course! Thank you Walkers, for your warm hospitality! We were encouraged and challenged by your life and conversation. It was a blessing to get to know you all better!


Then, finally, the clock struck noon and it came time to head back to the airport. Somehow, despite odd computer errors, we did manage to make it back home, landing just before midnight on Friday night. Of course, as you may have read in a proceeding post, we arrived back home around 1:30am on Saturday morning.

The rest, you might say, is history - or you might say it is laundry, grocery shopping, catching up on phone calls and emails, and other items necessary to returning again to normal life! Back here on the home front we are enjoying appropriate humidity levels, cool temperatures (we had our first fire of the season in our wood stove this morning - just to burn off the dust, of course), and the busyness of a life that is falling back into routine and looking ahead to upcoming events.

Yet, we are not without plenty of reminders of our trip west. Slightly darker skin than we had a couple of weeks ago, sore muscles that are finally relaxing, a few persistent bruises, many special memories, pictures and emails keeping us in touch with California, deeper friendships, new friendships, warmed hearts and stimulated minds...

Pictures...

I certainly haven't forgotten about our California trip, nor have I forgotten that I haven't updated this blog about it yet. But my big project today is going through 10 years of archived photos picking out the great pictures of church people and events that can be used in the slide show for our 10th Anniversary Celebration coming up in less than two weeks now! The first several years are very easy. Back before we had digital cameras we were much more disciplined photographers. I'll I need to do is flip through a couple of photo albums, and tada! Done. But the last six years or so?? Oh, my!! I've already gone through several disks of backed up photos and haven't even made it to 2005 yet! Then I need to go through the folders and folders of non-backed up photos. I've been saying it for awhile, but we really need to get around to getting the last three years of pictures off the computer and onto DVDs...

Anyway, I need to get back to sorting out those photos! (You are still going to be getting way too many, Dawn!)

We're Home!

As of very early this morning, the Erbers are once again back in their own beloved home! What a blessing this past week was as we spent time in California with our friends and brethren at Central Valley Presbyterian. We had a wonderful time getting to know so many great people, and doing so many fun things... but we'll report on all of that later. We're still trying to wake up over here, and then I suspect today will be busy with unpacking and laundry, returning phone calls, and catching up with Illinois life again.

California was wonderful, but it was nice to pull into our driveway and see the abundance of green again! Although... there was also some blue... and some white... and some pink... and some missing greens... Yes, our property was altered somewhat in our absence. Somebody has been here and been clearing out those trees we've wanted taken down, and somebody was here and left food in our refrigerator, and somebody stopped by and left balloons and streamers all over our driveway and deck and a pineapple on our doorstep, and somebody left a belated birthday gift in our living room, and somebody left an invitation to a welcome home party (at our house) tomorrow to catch up with the other branches of the family after church. We love you guys!!!