Monday, July 7

Miles and ElenaClaire are at Camp Rainbow this week. Camp Rainbow is a diabetes day camp experience. Kids like Miles can’t go to overnight camps because of their medical conditions, but Camp Rainbow is fully staffed by medical professionals and volunteers from Texas Medical Center. Miles began when he was only 4, and he has 2 more years before he hits 13, after which he can only go as a Junior counselor. ElenaClaire has been going for years as junior counselor, then as junior medical staff. This year she is the senior medical staff for the 12 and 13 year old group. Even though she’s only finished one year of college, she is the only one in that particular team of volunteers that has been to Camp Rainbow before, and besides that, of course, she’s been helping to care for a diabetic brother for 10 years. I call that the equivalent of a doctoral degree in pediatric diabetic care. (She asked the group of volunteers “Who has ever used a glucometer before?” No hands went up. So she’ll be leading and training a team of newbies.

We’re beginning to “gear up” for our annual JDRF fundraiser, SMILES FOR MILES. Every year we do a poster based on an album cover by a well-known band dear to our hearts. Here’s this year’s poster.

Our trip to California looks like the pieces will fall in place nicely next week. We expect to spend lots of time with family, and also with friends who live in the vicinity, including trying to find the place on the railroad tracks where the picture at the top of this blog was taken.

My last ministry assignment before vacation is to preach here at Christ the King – a privilege I have never been afforded. Not out of lack of confidence; but we have three pastors on staff, plus an accredited Director of Christian Education, all of whom are excellent communicators. There’s rarely a time when one of them is not available. But our Senior Pastor invited me to preach here – I regularly preach on a monthly basis at a struggling little church plant about 10 miles south of us. So it’s a blessing to have this opportunity. (I’ll also be preaching at a Vespers Service the following Sunday at University retirement Community in Davis, where my parents live.)

As I was writing this, a little spider came down on a web not more than 3 inches from my nose. THAT was interesting!