+ Rest in Peace, My Brother +

Not my familial brother, but my brother in the Office of the Holy Ministry, Rev. Chris Ongstad, was called home by our Lord suddenly this morning. A reminder to all of us that we know not the time when our Lord will call us, and that His ways are not our ways. Chris will be missed. Husband, father, and pastor. Third Vice President of the SELC District, its Webmaster (or web servant, as he liked to say), and past Board Secretary. Rest in peace, my brother. It was an honor to serve beside you. And I look forward to the resurrection of all flesh on the Last Day, and our reunion in heaven.

Walk-Run-Ride for Life Is Back!

I am again registered as a participant for the annual Walk-Run-Ride for Life to raise funds for our local Pregnancy Center - the Assist Pregnancy Center. Please sponsor me! I've set my goal really high this year to see if I can raise more. This Center does excellent work and is worth our support as they help mothers and fathers keep and care for their babies. Here's the link to my fundraising page - and if you'd like to join our team and help raise funds, you can do so through this link as well. Thanks!

Click here to sponsor me!

Surprise Party!

Yesterday was my dear wife's 50th birthday, so I decided to have a surprise party for her! The party was on Saturday and we had approx. 60 people come - family from out of town, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and church folks. It was a great day and went really well. Here are a few pictures . . .

Here's all the family who could make it. Laurie's parents (from Detroit), her brother and his family (from north of Pittsburgh), my sister (from Connecticut), the peasant kids (two came back from college just for this!), and of course, my wife and I inside the "5" and the "0." We had those big numbers made and took everyone's pictures with them. :-)

Yeah! Cake! (My brother-in-law and I being silly.)

Robert is a young man in our congregation who turned 5 the day before the party. So we reversed the numbers and held them up for him!

This is a "wordle" we made from the descriptions of Laurie we asked the people to write down. I think it came out really well. :-)

A great day for a great woman - a true gift from God to me.

Fly Eagles Fly!

Oh Yeah!

And how about a few more pics?

I had our Campus Ministry Divine Service at Patrick Henry College yesterday, but moved it up a couple of hours so I could get home in time for the game. It was a little dicey, since we have some wintry mix falling from the sky, including some freezing rain, but I made it okay. I only missed a bit of the first quarter and got to see the rest. :-)  What an exciting game! One punt the whole game, back and forth, and no defense! Until the end, at least. They stood up and held when it counted.

I feel badly for Carson Wentz, that he couldn't be a part of it. Hopefully he'll win one of his own. Wish I could be up there for the parade this week! Oh well. Philly Philly!

March for Life 2018

Not as many folks I knew at the March this year. And it was a bit more chaotic at the beginning than usual. But the weather was better than usual and we eventually caught up with the main group, so all is good. If you went, I'm glad you did! If you did not, plan to come next year. If you're not from around DC and need assistance, just let me know. :-)

A couple of pictures . . .

The "green hats" on the move!

The LCMS at the Supreme Court.

Society of Saint Athanasius

Our first year seminarian and his wife, our fourth year seminarian and his wife, and our future seminarian and his wife?

Picture taken at. Rev. Dr. Arthur Just's home in Ft. Wayne, during a reception he hosted for those attending the symposia at the seminary this week. How neat to see them all together!

And if you want to know more about the Society of Saint Athanasius (SSA), click here and flip to page 28. Basically the SSA are pastors and congregations that pledge to support their seminary students and get them through seminary debt free. These seminarians then do the same for their seminarians, and on and on. I'll be happy to tell you more if you contact me. :-)

Just wish I was there enjoying the week with them . . .

Crazy Weather

OK, so how crazy is the weather in the DC area? Well, if you scroll down this blog, you'll see a screenshot of my phone which shows the temperature on Sunday, January 7th as 0 degrees. 0, as in zero, nada, zip, goose egg, no degrees at all, not even one.

Today? A mere five days later? Guess what the temperature is?

Crazy. Just crazy.

And tomorrow we'll be back down to freezing again.

[Sound of head shaking . . .]