Mon Sep 16 07:52 EDT 1996
Weekend Update: September 13-15

I made some investments 16 years ago and I have become rich on the
dividends.  But I get ahead of myself in this eventful weekend.

Mom Metcalfe came to visit last week while Dad went to visit his mom and
dad in Texas.  On Thursday night, she rented "Mr. Holland's Opus" so
that we could see it as a family.  I had a dinner meeting at the Nashua
church where I found Gerry Whetstone (a pastor in Vermont) lolling
about, waiting to spend the evening at the Ogdens' (assistant Distrist
Superintendant who lives down the street from us).  Larry Ogden had
another meeting, so I rescued Gerry from certain boredom and he came
home and watched the movie with us.  At first,  I worried about having
a rented movie in my house, what with the unsettled Nazarene issue
over the movie theater. ;-) But later I worried that Gerry would tell us
*everything* before it happened.

Dad caught an earlier flight home and was with us for dinner on Friday.
He saved me a trip to Quincy and back because I would have brought
mother home.

Saturday, we took the three girls to the church in the morning.  The
teen girls planned a dress-up morning-to-afternoon time for the young
girls in the church, basically offering free babysitting for the morning,
and dressing the kids up and taking their pictures.  This was NOT a
fund raiser for the teens; they did this one as pure ministry.  I'd
call that a "fun raiser."

Joy, Andrew, and I went to the Magnusons where we split up.  I spent
four hours at work on Saturday, trying to catch up before leaving for
California this week.  Joy and Andrew went with the Magnusons to
soccer games.  Afterward, we grabbed the kids from church and
beat it home for a quick supper of whatever leftovers were lying around
and then back to the church for a choir rehearsal.

And now for those investment dividends... After choir, Brian Bollinger
and his wife, Jill, met us at the church.  They came and spent the
evening at our house telling us about their ministry to young people
at the Wollaston church.  He also told me of several other people
who were in my youth group 16 years ago; a good percentage of whom
were working with youth.  I'm a very rich man, folks, because I
made an investment (treasures in heaven) many years ago and the
dividends keep coming in.  When you invest in the lives of others, it
is money in the bank.

Sunday was like the others, except for my own tired condition.  We had
so much fun Saturday evening (into Sunday) that I paid for it the next
morning.  Fortunately, we were all able to take naps in the afternoon
(and all of us were pooped!).

Sunday evening, Crosswalk sang at our church and did a nice job
and it wasn't too loud.  Charlie Burt (my "buddie Burt") was among
the band (Hey, Charlie: MORE mic on the sax) and I told him that
he and his wife, Sherrie (and boys) should come and see us soon.
I've got some investments in that family, too!  :-)

Sunday evening we got home to a message on our machine telling us that
we lost our buyer for the house.  It did not come as a shock to me,
and strangely enough not a great disappointment.  We are going to
take a break from active selling (but will keep the sign on the
lawn).  We need to move the two older girls downstairs to room together,
and split Andrew and Emily into their own rooms upstairs.  We've
put this off for over a year but the boy and girl must be separated now.
It's a sacrifice for Mandy and Jessie.  Joy intends to make the changes
while I am in California.  It will keep her busy while she is lonely.
We are hoping that nothing breaks (like it did the last time I was away).
(This fear goes back to when her father was on the State Police Force and
went away for days - that's when things would break in the house.)

Things are busy, and I am happy for that, actually.  My only concern
is that the business I find myself engaged in is more investment
currency.

Mark
Mark Metcalfe, Cadence Design Systems, Inc.     _      metcalfe@cadence.com
                 ___                           (_)           (508) 446-6451
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