Raymond, my 24 year old unemployed play video games until 5AM son and our Doberman, Mei.  Raymond prefers not to have her company but Mei knows he is a sound sleeper and she, like every Doberman we’ve had, is sneaky.

     In prison church we frequently sang this hymn, and knowing the history behind this (which is briefly outlined at the beginning of this video), I couldn’t help but feel a great sense of hope whenever we did.  Even now after I’ve been out for more than three years, many things feel strange, many things feel difficult, I’ve lost my mother, I don’t how much longer my father will be around, I am estranged from two of my children, I’m not legally allowed to contact one of them, all of this is hard, but in this hymn and in the Lord, I still find hope.

      If you look closely at the log in the lower left of this picture, you can see it started out as two branches and merged into one after about three years of growth.  There are initially two sets of growth rings but they become one after about three years.

     I used to have problems getting color to come out okay with this camera but I think I’ve got it figured out.

Today, there are blue gaps between the grey.

     If you’re thinking of coming to Seattle, here’s a preview of our weather (this was Monday May 11th 2015):