What?! No posts in almost a month? That's outrageous!

The title of this post might win the award for the longest post title in the history of OlsonWeb...

Friends, Neighbors and Countrymen,
Sorry for the lack of blogging. I have some excuses:
- I'm married
- I have two kids
- I'm working two jobs
- Fall classes started 1o days ago

I know, I know... excuses, excuses! You don't want excuses... you just want pictures of my kids and perhaps a bit of news about our family. Well, hopefully this post will break the ice then and you'll get those things soon. Speaking of ice, I'm gonna go get a drink of water. It's BLAZING hot in SoCal these past few days... 104 today! Completely ridiculous, unnecessary, ludicrous, infuriating and whacked out. But I digress....

For now, the only somewhat newsworthy item that I'll pass along is my class list for this semester. I'm excited about these classes but a huge prayer request would be that I'll be able to manage these 7 units along with all my other roles (mentioned above). I'm excited to be back in ministry and I'm lovin' my classes... but of course, my family is my first priority and I'll need the Lord's help to balance all these things effectively.

Beginning Greek I (2 units) - I can write the Greek alphabet so far... but other than that, I'm a bit freaked out.

Genesis to Malachi / OT Survey (3 units) - same prof that I had for NT Survey

Intro to Field Education (1 unit) - great prof that I had for Pastoral ministry over the summer

Theological Research Methodologies (1 unit) - yawn. required.

Spiritual Mentoring Group (0 units) - chance to check-in with my peers, continue to learn or develop spiritual disciplines and be encouraged spiritually. some work, no credit, but that means no $407 tuition charge... so whatever.

So... that's a lot of things to attend and complete work for... and it's only 7 units. I'm gonna try to press on and make it work... but dropping something hasn't been ruled out yet.

That's all for now...

In the News...

My friend and former co-worker Bill Walton (aka "B-dub") at Mission Springs put an update about us on the Mission Springs website. The article introduces Brian, the new Director of Frontier Ranch, but also gives an update on our family... click here to read it.

Also, here's the article that ran in our church newsletter this month:

Our new Minister to Young Adults is Derek Olson. He and his family recently relocated to Southern California from the Santa Cruz area. Derek and his wife, Amy, met while working on summer staff at camp during college and just celebrated their 8^th wedding anniversary on July 17th. They have two children: Their daughter Kaylin will turn four in October and their son Trevor (T.J.) is 15 months old.

Derek has lived in California since he was five years old, spending his early childhood in San Pedro and Long Beach before moving to Northern California just before junior high. He graduated from Escalon High School in Escalon, CA (near Modesto) and then later from the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

Amy is a native Californian, born in Downey and raised in Cypress. She’s a graduate of Cypress High School and California State University, Sacramento. Prior to her current role of stay-home mommy, she was a recreation therapist and a schoolteacher.

The Olson’s moved to this area in January so that Derek could begin part-time coursework in the Master of Divinity program at Talbot School of Theology. Derek comes to GHFC with ten years of ministry experience as a youth pastor, schoolteacher and camp director. Having enjoyed ministering to and serving the college-age summer staffers at camp over the past few years, Derek and Amy are really excited for this new opportunity to live life with the young adults here at Granada.

Avalanche Ranch!

Kaylin just finished her 2nd week of VBS this summer. This past week she went to West Cypress Church where 3 of Amy's siblings and their families go to church. She had fun being in the same group with her cousins Jenna and Dylan! Cousins Garrett and Joshy also participated. The theme was "Avalanche Ranch: A Wild Ride Through God's Word." Today was the big finale... BBQ, live music, petting zoo, pony rides, bounce houses! Here are the two "ranchers"...

Trevor wasn't so sure about the animals in the petting zoo!

Trevor and Kaylin went on a pony ride together!

Kaylin & Jenna bouncing!

Cool Dudes!