Praise Band concert opens WNL..... Our Praise Band opened the activities for our Wednesday night programs at church... it was a wonderful out door concert and fun was had by many, many people!!! Some pictures will follow.... but first a couple of things I should have blogged about and didn't....

A few weeks ago, I awoke and looked outside and said, Oh MY GOD!!! Sandy said what is wrong? I said you have to come see this!!!!
During the night, our neighbor's (across the street) yard had been rolled..... it was everywhere!!!! Once again I was thankful that the teenage years have passed by at out house!!!

Usually the news is understandable by me, there is war here and a war there, someone shot someone else, stocks are down, and the price of everything is up.... not to hard to understand until the other day, the news was way above my head......
it was delivered to my rooftop instead of my doorstep!!!

Now here are pictures of the Praise Band, the real reason for this blog.....
First the band!!!!



The Sound Guys!!!!!
The crowd..... all ages!!!



Our Pastor Michelle!!!
We truly had a wonderful time.... The band was AWESOME!!! Thank you PRAISE BAND!!

I just read my friends blogs and realized that I have not posted in almost a month - haven't had much to say, but have been very busy, like Michael, getting ready for and starting the new semester..... I don't have much to say today... but I wanted all of you to know that I have been thinking about you and reading your posts.... Thanks, John

Happy news about Matthew....

This is a copy of an e-mail from Matthew's mother:

Great News Today!

The chemo meds that Matthew has been taking in June and July are working! Not only did the meds stop the "growth momentum" of the cancer but there has been some reduction! We are praising God for His blessings and miracle in Matthew's body.

Matthew begins his next round of treatment on Monday, August 4th (5 days worth). Not sure when the next scan will be. We'll figure that out later. Right now, we are just very happy!

Let's bombard the heavens with prayers of thanksgiving to God for His mighty works thus far. We thank you in advance for continuing your precious prayers of healing - as Matthew certainly has a long road to go.

God bless each of you and thank you for sharing this journey with us.
Love, Nancy

I am sure she will post something on her blog.... but what great news this is...

Praise God!!!

Peace, John

65th Birthday

Wish me many more
Health and wealth and
Friends by the score
Cut the cake and lets eat some more
Happy Birthday to me!!!
verse altered from the song Cut the Cake by John McCutcheon

The week of July 12 through 19 Sandy and I orchestrated a gathering of the Quigley clan to celebrate my 65th birthday.... We came together at a place called the Tanasi Lodge on a ridge top overlooking the Wares Valley near Pigeon Forge, Tennessee....
There is the lodge with its 11 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, and two kitchens..... a great place... All of my children and grandchildren were present with the exception of David, Lindsey and Addie....Addie had been born the month earlier and the trip from their home was not possible... Our gathering also included my sister, Margaret, and our friends, Dennis and Marie....
Here we are on Sunday afternoon, the one day we were all together.....
In the front row from left to right are Amy, Catherine, Maddie, Sarah, Libby, John, Katie, Sam, Emily, Margaret, Marie, and me.
In the back row we have Raven, Jason, Sandy, Ian, Mark, John, Jasyn, and Dennis.

Now you know the cast of characters so we can move forward in our unscripted series of events that was certainly one of the happiest weeks of my life!!!!

Sunday was a day of rest since we all traveled on Saturday - some from as far away as CT.

We did many wonderful things during the week.....but what we did not attempt was taking the whole crew out to dinner (supper). Rather, we had each family take responsibility for one evening meal. Sandy and I had Sunday; Marie and Dennis, Monday; Amy and Mark, Tuesday; Emily and Jasyn, Wednesday; Katie and John, Thursday (my birthday feast), and leftovers on Friday!!! Each meal was excellent and without planning, there was something different every night.......

Fast forward to Thursday..... the day!!
That is me in my birthday hat (more on that later) with my grandchildren getting ready to have birthday cake - many layered red velvet cake with wonderful icing, hand made by Katie!!! A great moment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also on my birthday the grandchildren put on a play for me....

the stars take a bow!!We ate dinner......
Overlooking the valley....
It was a wonderful day.......

I really appreciate everything that was done with me and for me during this week. I appreciate everybody taking time from busy schedules, pre-season football practice, moving, and other lifes events to share with me - you all have given me more joy than you can imagine..

Thank you, love, John/Dad/Grandpa/Gramps, etc.............

Okay, you might be getting bored of this topic.... but here is another video of me Zorbing!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE-BCCzT_D4

What is it?

Hello everyone.... there is new news about Matthew at the following site:

http://www.mattfay.blogspot.com/

Please continue to pray for Matt, Blessings to all...john

Hey,

You'll never guess who's wearing a Braves uniform now!

Click here to check it out:
http://mlb.xm.varitalk.com/bobble/index.php?i=dT0xNiZnPW0maT1ib2JibGVfRjZBQjM2NzBENUM2MEM2MjA0MjhEMDI5QzA5N0UyMkQuanBnJml4PTAmaXk9MCZpcj0wJmlzPTEwMCZpdD0xMi44OTA2MjUmYT0yJnc9bXMmaz1GNkFCMzY3MEQ1QzYwQzYyMDQyOEQwMjlDMDk3RTIyRA

Enjoy!

P.S. Turn up the volume!

Make your own with your favorite team at:

http://www.xmbaseball.com/

Have a great day, john

Tale of the speaker stands - part two of two.......

Here is the HD TV and the front speakers!!!!

Hiding behind the TV stand is the sub-woofer
and at the other end of the room are the rear speakers
and there's that Jill dog again!!!!

I am waiting for the last few exams to be turned in and this is all I can think to do....

Take good care of yourselves and have a wonderful holiday weekend.. Cheers, John

speaker stands

When we moved, I wanted to continue to have surround sound with my TV and I did not want to hang speakers from the wall - so I decided to get speaker stands for the little guys - the speaker stands came yesterday and today I put them together and placed them in the room and recalibrated the surround sound!!! here is a picture of the stand and the connection of the speaker to the stand.... there are four front left and right and rear left and right.......

Everybody (Sandy) is happy with this solution....me too!! Yesterday I hung blinds in the laundry room and she liked that too.... I am really racking up the points this week..... next I'll be getting a haircut!!!!

I hope your day was productive too....

Take good care of yourself so you can take good care of another and say a prayer for Matt and his family.... Peace, john

Hello everyone - There is an update about Matt at http://www.mattfay.blogspot.com/

Please continue to pray for Matt and his family, Peace, John

Sandy is on a cruise - she has been to places like Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; St. Thomas, USVI; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Grand Turk; with a couple of Fun Days at Sea thrown in..... She is on a Fun Day at Sea right now!!! Tomorrow she will come home............ I can't wait......

While she has been gone, I have created a pile of brush:and re-hung my upside down tomato on the deck.
I got to watch the College World Series - and blogged about the winner. I also watched several European Cup Football matches... Tomorrow Spain plays Germany for the championship.... I do not know what happened to Ireland....

The dog has taken command of my chair where she can guard the front of the house....
She has done an excellent job guarding. She has occasionally let me sit in my chair - especially when I am eating and she is expecting to get some scraps..... she is usually right about that....

The other night something weird happened - at 15 minutes before 4 AM Jill dog started barking and would not stop.... I got up and went downstairs and discovered that my next door neighbor was investigating his side porch with a flashlight.... His dogs were barking and my dog was barking.... I don't know what he was looking for or if he found it.... but I was wide awake and could not go back to sleep.... I waited a little and let Jill out so that she could get her barking out of her system.... Then we watched the sunrise together.... weird ugh???

Any way, hope you are all having a good day, I am.......

Remember to take good care of yourself so that you can take good care on another and to pray for Matthew.....

Cheers, john

News about Matt from Deanna, our departmental administrative aide:

"I just spoke with Matt Fay. He gave me a call this afternoon and wanted me to thank you all for your continued prayers and support. He sounded very tired, but still optimistic that this treatment would be the one that takes care of this disease. He will begin the one-week treatment again a week from Monday (in about 10 days). He said the 3-weeks began when he takes the first treatment, so he actually only has about two weeks off between them. He has not felt very well the last couple of weeks, but is managing to keep his weight steady, and maintains his optimism. His brother is in town this week, and they are enjoying their time together, mostly enjoying the cooler temps from their back deck."

From me - Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers - keep praying, john

College World Series Champions...........Fresno State Bulldogs

After hitting two home runs and driving in all six of his team's runs, Fresno State right fielder Steve Detwiler finished things by catching the final out (SI)

Lowest seed ever - in any NCAA sport - Wins College World Series - Congratulations Bulldogs!!

We have moved.....................

First, here is a moth(?) that was saying good bye to us as we left our previous home:








Here is an image or the outside













a few Inside pictures:




dining room and part of the living room













kitchen












communication center........














Here us the back door that Dennis put in for us - I helped?

Thank you Dennis and Marie for all of your help!!!!















Some more pictures without furniture......





Living room














Entry way (connected to the living room)















back deck and garage and view.....













our bedroom











the jacuzzi.....












part of the basement!!!













WE LOVE OUR NEW HOME and hope our friends will come visit......

Peace, John and Sandy

News about Matthew http://www.mattfay.blogspot.com/ - Please keep praying. John

MOOOOOVING -

As I said earlier - we are moving from the country to the city...... some things I do not expect to see in the city........... Cows in the yard......










Here is Sandy running the cows - she said she had experience as a young girl running cows.... The cows look scared to me???!!!!















The city has got to be a lot more dull!!!

Cheers, John

Moving soon....... We've been packing and getting ready to move.... I've been teaching two on-line classes this summer, we are in the 4th week of an 8 week session!!! Almost half over... I promise to try and be a more faithful blogger when there is some down time... This is the week that Matt goes to NY for tests, keep him in your prayers. Peace, John