Mon Jun 10 08:35 EDT 1996
Weekend (and other) Update - June 7-9

On Friday evening, Evelyn Fox and her son Aaron came over for dinner.
She is moving to southern Georgia to rejoin her husband (who is now
working on the police force down there).  We also went to Friday's
softball game where the home team upped their record to 3 and 3.
Good schmoozing was had by most.

On Saturday, we were "living by faith" and felt no alarm, which meant
a very nice stay-in-bed kind of lazy morning.  It started out
overcast but the sun peeked through several times during the day.
I don't know who has been complaining that New England goes from
Winter to Summer but we've had a protracted Spring here.  Joy and
I got in a couple of yards sales before heading off to a surprise
birthday party for Ricardo "Gonzo" Gonzalez.  Early reports were
that a nice roast piglet would be served but with recent movie
stars such as Gordy and Babe, pork was served instead for the
children and squeamish.

I also found out on Saturday that I was elected by our district
assembly of Nazarenes to go to general assembly in San Antonio, Texas,
in 1997 as a lay delegate.  For you non-Nazarenes on this list,
the Nazarenes convene every year at district levels to conduct
church business.  Every four years (hey, I thought they were going
to make it every five years!), the world-wide Church of the Nazarene
gets together to conduct church business.  Unlike the Episcopal church,
I don't think we'll be dealing with issues such as ordaining homosexuals
(at least I hope not!), but we'll be dealing with "issues" much like
any other organization that decides "who we are" corporately.  Now,
fellow Nazarenes on this list, if I have any of that not quite right,
you have a year to educate me.

On Sunday, our first Sunday at MPC, Rich and Wendy Gonzalez and their
friend, Sue, came over.  We ordered some Chinese food.  (All you can
eat and dim sum!)  Sue is a lovely young woman who happens to be deaf.
She kindly agreed to accompany Miranda to her sign language class in
a week or so. Mandy gets extra credit for that but more than that, Mandy
is getting real life exposure to opening up ministries to the deaf
community.  Sue enjoyed the pinball machines, and I enjoyed her delight.
I gave Rich one of my mega-mugs for his 30th birthday to remind
him of our friendship every time he drank from it... or took a bath in
it!

---


House update:

One of those frustrations and irritations.  We spoke with a "buyer-broker"
at Rich's party on Saturday.  She confirmed our suspicions that our
realtor is not doing enough for us.  (Mind you, she is not a seller
of homes; won't be able to sell our home.)  She said the market is
currently in a feeding frenzy with listings staying on for four days
in some cases and the places that are on for two month have two full
pages of showings.  We have half a dozen showings.  Our contract
lapses at the end of this month at which time my realtor will know
that we do not believe he lived up to his word and will not receive
any referrals from us.  The reason I'm not more upset about this
lack of service is that my company is considering moving sites and
where they land may determine where I land.  Currently, they are looking
at the least amount of impact to the working population and certainly
along the 495 corridor between Westford and Andover.  Their decision
may affect our decision.  So the frustration of waiting may be the
answer to our prayer that we find the *best* place for us.

So, who is up for a picnic at the Basin in the northern New Hampshire
White Mountains on Saturday June 29th?  It's two hours north of
Nashua.  We can get a caravan of people going!

Mark
  .+*+                .....Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
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