Just a couple of pictures of me on Thanksgiving (top) with my brother's daughters. And with friends (bottom) at a BBQ party. We had been playing volleyball and were all hot and sweaty and disheveled, but having a wonderful time! Many people have asked if I am gay and if the man whom I have my arm around is my partner. Actually, he was just a guy at the BBQ. Someone came around with a camera and said "Say Cheese!", so I threw my arm around the nearest person and smiled. And looking at these pictures, it seems that red plastic cups have an odd attraction to me. They some how manage to make an appearance in nearly all of my pictures!

And on an interesting note, these pictures happen to have been taken just before (bottom) and after (top) my G.I.S.T. cancer surgery, in which the Lord completely saved my life through the prayers of my beloved Christian family here, and of my faithful devil-fighting mother. I've never met a spiritual butt kicker like my mother. She must have joined the Marines branch of God's army, because Satan RUNS from that woman! I remember when I was a child, she would pray over me and my brothers, and illnesses would leave us instantly. One time, when I was a teenager, a friend of mine came over drunk out of his mind; and my mother laid her hand on him, rebuked the drunkenness, and he became INSTANTLY sober and gave his heart to Jesus right there on the spot. Another time someone stepped on our kitten so hard that it went into some kind of seizure, falling on its side, its eyes roling back in its head, and its body curling backwards till we thought its spine would snap, while making the most terrifying sound I had ever heard from a cat. But my mother stormed over to it, scooped it up in her hands, and said something like, "Death, unhand this creature; it is a gift of my holy Father in heaven!" That little kitten suddenly became still and quiet, it looked around at everyone like "what's going on?", and hopped out of my mom's arms to go eat. And everywhere she went, she boldly yet humbly preached the Gospel and won souls to Christ - on the streets, under bridges, in hospitals. One time, while driving on the interstate, she suddenly pulled off the road where police men had a ruff looking guy handcuffed and leaning against his car.  My mother jumped out of the car, walked toward the man, and stopped just close enough for everyone to hear her. She shouted over the traffic to the man, "Can I pray for you?!" The police stopped and looked at her oddly, and so did the man. So she said again, "The Lord your God ordered me to stop and pray for you! May I?!" The police told her to go away; and suddenly the man said, "Hey, you leave her alone! No one has ever cared about me before!" Then he turned 'round to my mom and said, "Ma'am, you go right on ahead and pray!" And my brave mom stood on the side of that highway in broad daylight, with hundreds of cars zooming by, and with her gown and long hair fluttering in the California wind; and she stretched out her hands toward the man and lifted up her voice, weeping to God for him. As the police stuffed him in the squadcar and drove off, the man never took his tear filled eyes off of her, straining to look out the back window to get a last glimpse of her standing there with her hands reaching out to him in prayer till he was out of site  - and then she went to pray over his abandoned car, that nothing would happen to it. I exalt the mighty high God for blessing such a lowly man as myself with a mother like that!