Santa Cruz Trip

Every year we go camping with our friends Steve and Jen. We go different places every year, preferably near water of some sort. This year it was Santa Cruz. It was cool and windy, but super sunny. It was very beautiful and refreshing to get out of the heat of Redding. So, here's some pics of the weekend...

Slagles

So, brother Joel left last weekend for a year in Russia teaching at an international school. Before he left we wanted to get a family pic with the newest addition since we're not sure when we all be together again. Here's the results. The last picture is the Slagles at their best!

So, I love that my niece is doing her silly face. She's too cute!

Bits & Pieces

Just thought I'd share a few pictures to show what's been up with us the past few weeks.

With all the fires in the area, the sun has been red because of the smoke. This was the best picture we took of it, but it still doesn't show how thick the smoke has been, but it seems to be clearing a bit recently.

Uche looking good. This was our anniversary June 30th, right before we went out to dinner.

Our self-portrait. Ndiajero turns 5. I'm a little behind posting the pictures I know!

This was the piece of cake we ate to celebrate the anniversary. Uche let me choose it. It's chocolate with a fudge frosting. Delicious.

Here's the reason why I didn't bother planting a garden this year. A family seems to call ours and our neighbors backyard home.

They are running right where my garden has been. Last year they feasted on fresh vegetables, this year dry weeds.

Taken from our dining room window. Can't you hear it saying, what are you looking at??

And last, but definitely not least. This is our new nephew. He was born on July 26th. He's only a few hours old in this picture. He's a tiny sweet little man.

Thoughts from Uche on life after shooting league is finished

Shooting is one of the things I've done here that I probably never would have ever dreamt of doing. In Nigeria, only a few have guns, the military, hunters and those super rich that are in constant fear for their lives. The people who own the most and highly sophisticated guns are the "bad guys". So it was a little weird for me to touch a gun much more shooting it. I shot a gun for the first time in my life at my father inlaw's place. We (Sarah's family) have this tradition that on Thanksgiving and Christmas the guys would all bring their guys and we do target shooting. Our targets are usually soda cans and all kinds of bottles.

Then I graduated to the league. Shooting in the league has been a great experience for me. It was frustrating and humiliating at the begining because here I was, shooting with these guys who have shot guns all there lives, some were even in the US Military. Whenever we get together and start talking about guns; I get lost. I don't even know the name of the gun I am using!

As the league progressed, I realized that I was doing better and becoming more confident. Also, I started correcting myself. I'm glad that I didn't quit at the initial stage due to frustration. I realized that I can accomplish whatever I want to accomplish if I put my mind into it and resolve to not quit. I also got a few tips from the guys there which helped me shoot better.


One of the valuable tips was to keep my eyes and the gun's barrel on the target and follow it through even after I pull the trigger. Imagine how much fun you can have with these weapons of death. The bottom line is that I had great fun going out there and shooting some clay pegeons.

A Golfer is Born!

Now that shooting season is over, I am back to playing golf. I always enjoy a good round of nine hole golf. Two Saturdays ago, Sarah played her first ever nine holes of golf. She had played miniature and aqua golf but never a real golf game. We decided to hit the golf course at noon when most folks are either taking lunch or taking siesta. It's kind of hard to play when you have a group of people lined up behind you. You will litterally be running the whole time. It's even worst when you tee off and your ball hardly goes where it supposed to go. It will probably end up on someone's roof or you spend a lot of time looking for your balls while the old men behind you shoot straight balls that even go further and acurately than yours. To make it worst, while you are dragging and pushing your golf cart, they are cruising around in their golf carts. You just have to keep running!

Anyway, Sarah and I went and totally enjoyed ourselves and she wants to play again with me, so I know she didn't hate it. I also play with the boys whenever time permits. Redding is a city of about one hundred thousand people with so many golf courses. There are more golf courses here than in there are many countries I've been to.


One thing golf had in common with shooting is that you must keep your eyes on the ball/target. you must also follow it through once you've pulled the trigger/teed off.


I'm always amused at the connection with Christian living. While you must keep your eyes on the target and ball, the Bible tells us to use our hearts and minds. Heb. 3:1 says "fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess" So it's more of fixing our minds and thoughts on Christ than our eyes on the world. Col. 3:2 "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things" 2Cor. 4:18 "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" and finally 2Cor. 5:7 "We live by faith, not by sight"


So the question is "What are we fixing our eyes, minds, thoughts on? is it on earthly superficial things that will not last forver? or is it on heavenly things that will stand the test of time?

Yosemite Trip

We spent a weekend camping with friends at Yosemite National Park. It was super fun. We'd never been to Yosemite, and we were amazed at how gorgeous the whole place is. As you can see from the pictures below we had a great time and saw some God's amazing creation!

Kool April Nites

Here in the Redding area they have an annual classic car show. Our favorite part is the Friday night cruise. They shut down a cruise route in the middle of the city for a few hours, and hundreds of cars cruise around for the audience of thousands. This year the weather was perfect to sit out in our lawn chairs and watch the show. Our good friends came up from Sacramento to watch the cruise and hang out for the weekend. It was just all super fun. So enjoy some pictures of some cool cars and cool people.

My Shooting Experience

My first day of the shooting league was a disaster. Maybe because I was the newest rookie or something, but I did exceptionally poor. I shot twenty-five rounds of shells and hit only seven clay pigeons. I blamed it on the gun I used. I used my brother inlaw's gun cause I forgot the one I had used the previous Saturday at home.



The second week was better than the first week. "I had a better gun". I shot the first twenty five rounds and hit seventeen. That's a better score. We also moved further away from our former sport, about twenty-three feet away from the original spot for the second shot. Twenty-five more rounds of shells were dispensed and I managed to get six. It was my first time to shoot from that distance and I was impresed with my shots.


If I blame my dismal performance on the the gun I used the first day, then last Thursday's shooting is unexplainable. I can't find any thing to blame it on. I was just BAD!! It was frustrating to loose almost every shot while guys all around you continued to destroy the clay pigeons. It was too embarassing.

However, it was fun. I always enjoy shooting at the range. I also took it as a sportsman, losing is not the end of the road, rather it gives me an oportunity to improve. Being frustrated or whining doesn't help us that much. What are we going to do about our frustration? Quit? That's not an option.


I walked away with a few tips and the resolve to do better next thursday. I will let you guys know how it goes next Thursday.