Winter Camp 2008

High school winter camp was this last weekend and we couldn't have asked for better weather, well maybe a little less slush, but all in all not that bad. The last couple years have had very little snow, if any at all. This year there was a nice 2 foot blanket over the camp ground (Mountain Meadows). RCF partnered with a church from Anderson, CA. There was probably about 75 people total (students and leaders). Zech and I didn't stay at the campgrounds, instead we stayed at my parent's home about 5 miles from the camp. It made nap time easier. Anyway, we visited camp on Saturday. Nick said the guys in his cabin were fantastic. The questions some of them were asking were so deep and honest after the night's speaker. He said they had a great time of prayer, each of them praying over the other. Praise the Lord!

As I said before, we visited on Saturday and Zech was excited. He wanted to try snowboarding so bad. Nick had his board there, so Zech stood between his legs as a few of the kids pulled them with a rope. So cute. Not so cute was watching Nick try to grind one of the rails that was there on site. He was one of the few to try and it has been a couple years since he last did it and he is older than the students , so I think that is enough excuses. Sorry honey.

Then we went to a hill on the other side of the camp where they had a whole bunch of tubes and a few kids had snowboards. Zech went down the very long and tall hill all by himself on one of the smaller tubes. And as he was going down Nick forgot about the little jump at the bottom of the hill and before he knew it there was a good foot between the tube and the mountain and another foot between Zech and the tube. And he landed it. When he got to the bottom he stood up and said "That was Awesome!" Oh, boy are we in for it now?! Remember he's only 3 years old.

I felt so bad for the girl's cabin from RCF. Both leaders got the flu, my sister being one of them. It was kinda funny because, Esther was saying how she had many memories of Mountain Meadows as a young girl, but one memory stuck out above all the others. When she was in grade school, puking her guts out in the staff cabin. Who would have guessed that after telling us that the next day she would be doing the very same thing. Irony?! I guess she didn't think it to be as funny as me.

New Year, New Beginnings

So as I posted in our last blog (the wax incident) we thought we were going to have to shave our poor lumpy headed kid's hair off... I did a little research before we took to extreme measures and found that by rubbing olive oil on it, the wax dissolved away. Although Zech looked like a grease monkey, we didn't have to worry about shaving his hair off. Yeahhh!
We have been keeping our options open when it comes to listening to what the Lord has for our family. In our last blog I mentioned we are looking into buying a house (and the answer is yes, Kayla, on painting said house, free labor... we won't argue!) So we've been super stoked about that. It has felt as though God has been saying stay in Redding. Then a couple weeks ago we get an email from a church up in Portland,Oregon saying they saw Nick's application on the Youth Specialties website and would he mind sending them his resume. We didn't think much of it at first, because we have had some very interesting churches respond to his app before. We checked out their website anyway and were very impressed. Long story short, we are currently going through the interview process with them. We don't know which direction God wants us to go in, but we'll continue to go through the doors and He'll let us know when He closes them. It's worked so far. We haven't stopped house hunting here in Redding either, so we'll see. All I know is Nick's desire to work with youth has not changed.

Christmas was good for us this year. Very relaxing. We spent Christmas Eve with the Welch side of the family and Christmas Day with the Mapes side. For the first time in a while we felt we could really give back to our friends and family like they have done for us in year's past and are still doing for us today. This past year has been tough but as a family we have never been closer. And Zech is old enough now I hope he still remembers this time in his life and can learn from it.

I don't know how many of you were affected by the storm this last week, but we lost power for three days and it was rough, but three days is nothing in comparison to what so many others are going through across the nation. It just made me think... and pray. Sorry to end this blog on a serious note. Have a happy new year!

A house for a home

Merry Christmas!
Time for my monthly blog. So in my last blog I mentioned our disappointment in not getting the apartment at Shadowbrook (low income housing). We still haven't heard from them yet, but we know we're first on the list. Anyway, we have actually decided to pursue buying a house. With Nick no longer in ministry the possibilities are greater for us to get a loan or two or three (at a fixed rate!)... on top of that my sister, Esther, would move in with us and put her name on a third of the title. So she would get equity in the house and it would help us by making us a two income house. We are currently talking to a broker and we'll see what we can afford. Nick has a friend whom he's known since junior high/high school who's a real estate agent. She's going to look out for us. We're ready!

Anyway, the three of us are at church now and before I began typing this, Zech was playing around one of the lit candles and accidently hit it. At first he didn't scream, so I didn't think the wax got him. But then it came, a scream that told me otherwise. The wax hit the back of his head and top of his back. A parent, or anyone for that matter, never wants to hear that scream. It wasn't bad enough to take him to the hospital, but an ice pack and a movie seem to be doing fine. I think we're going to have to shave Zech's hair off. Unfortunately, Zech has Nick's head shape, lumpy...! Oh well, hair grows back right!?

I hope everyone is doing well this Christmas season. Nick, Zech, and I have had a roller coaster of a year and God has been nothing but evident to us the whole time. As Morgan Freeman, in Evan Almighty, stated in a scene as God..." If you asked God for patience, does He give you patience or an opportunity to be patient?" I think he has given us several opportunities to be patient.

Still Learning Patience

We have had some amazing things happen this last month. For one my Bell's Palsy is gone. Yeah!!! The only reminder I have of it is our church directory photo, where it looks like I'm a smart allic because the right side of my face is not quite right. Oh well.
We were told that Youth For Christ didn't get their grant for the abstinence program. Well it was a good thing Nick took his promotion at the mortuary. Then we found that we got into the low income housing that we had applied for last July. We were so excited. We were excited... the very next day, we got a call that the owner of the apartment complex over rode the managers decision to evict the current tenant. Which means we are again on hold in vacating the parental units household. Good news though we are next on the list for the apartments. We don't know when a spot will become available. Prayerfully soon. We are going to be putting a deposit down so the next available unit will, by law, be ours. We know God has a plan for us, we just don't know what it is yet.

Bell's Palsey, What Bell's Palsey?

We're housesitting a couple's house this week. We've housesat for them before. It's pretty nice having this space to ourselves for a bit.
Anyway, for those who have been praying for me this last month over my Bell's Palsey, Thank you! My face is 90% better and the pain in my neck and face is very subtle. I go to the doctor on Thursday for a checkup. I know my doctor will be pleased. So, thanks for your prayers.
Nick got a promotion at his job last week, and had we not been waiting to hear from Youth For Christ about the grant for the Abstinence program we would have been more excited. Nick accepted the promotion anyway, because we felt that even though we were waiting on something else this was a way God would provide for our family now. He is just not excited about all the important paperwork that has to be done right in this position as an arranger at the funeral home. But it has a pay raise and after 3 months we'll all be covered with insurance. So that's awesome.
We got back from Eureka on Sunday. Nick surprised me with a trip to the coast for my birthday. We have some friends who just recently moved there and since one of them works at the Red Lion hotel, we got hooked up with an amazing room at a great price. We went to the Ferndale ( where "The Majestic" was filmed), and the beach, which technically was Zech's 2nd time at the beach... it was his first time actually seeing the ocean in the daytime. He loved it. Nick and I have always loved the beach. Anyway, it was great spending time with our friends and just getting away. Right before we left Eureka we went to the zoo. Zech loved to see all the different animals (he calls them ammimals). We all got a little souviner from the coast though...a cold! Oh, well it was still a blast. And we'll get over being sick. It was still relaxing.

Two Blogs in One Month

There was a part of the trip I wanted to put in the last blog, but I got so focused on Disneyland that I didn't mention it before. It seemes fitting to add it today because it is Grandparent's Day... We got a chance to visit my grandma (my mom's mom) in Thousand Oaks. It was great to see her, especially with Zech there. I loved seeing them together. She doesn't get a chance to travel often because she found she has lung cancer and is currently going through chemotherapy, it drains her. I could tell Grandma Kay enjoyed the visit. And Zech didn't hold back the entertainment. He was as bouncy and loud as he is at home (picture Tigger on 20 energy drinks... maybe not that wired). Anyway,I know grandma wanted to bottle some of that energy, we all did.
My uncle (my mom's brother) was telling us how he came home from work and found my grandma had shaved her head, not uncommon for someone undergoing chemo, but he goes "Mom, what are you doing?! You just finished the part of your treatment that causes your hair to fall out yesterday! Your hair was going to start growing back!" Oh well, I say we'll call it a bold fashion statement. We love you Grandma!
P.S. Yes, you are not imagining things, the dates are not tampered with. This is another blog update in the same month. Yahoo!

Marathons and Magic Kingdoms

We got back from our Disney trip a few days ago. We meaning, my folks, sister, son and myself. Nick had to work which he says "You go and I'll stay here to pay for the trip!"
Anyway, we had a blast. The main reason we went down to So Cal is my dad was running a half marathon (13.5 miles) it started in the Disney park went through Anaheim Statium and back to the park. Pretty impressive. He made it to the end averaging 14 minutes a mile. And he was still able to walk around Disneyland the next day. Wow, we are all so proud of him.
A month before we left for our trip it was a project of mine to stretch Zech as tall as we could to get him to 40 inches. The majority of fast rides stated you had to be 40 inches or taller to ride. At the time he was 38 inches without shoes. So I thought insoles, thick soled shoes and a spiky hair style would do the job...
Our first day we went to California Adventure and our first ride we thought we'd try California Experience. We get up to the line to see Zech's height, here's where we find if all our hard work and lengthning pays off... NOT HAPPENING. A fraction of an inch off.
So Zech and I found something better...
We couldn't get him on the big rides so we spent a lot of time in A Bug's Life park (geared for the little tykes) and saw a lot of shows. Zech and Dad left the park early. Dad needed to rest for the marathon the next day and Zech fell asleep before they made it out of the park. So my mom, sister and I went to Disneyland side of the park and did some of the rides I wouldn't be able to do with Zech
(40 inch rule and all).

The next day was Labor Day and the race... Yeahhh Dad!

The following day the whole fam went to Disneyland and that was where alot of the rides that we went on as kids happened. Zech got his picture taken with Tigger, my mom's favorite character. That was awesome for my mom I'm sure.
We had a blast. He found his favorite ride though, the Jungle Cruise. That's how we started the day and that's how we ended the day. And you would have thought my son would have been knocked out by all the days fun... no he was wired till like midnight. Next year should be even better. The next height requirement is 46 inches... maybe?!

oops!

I tried to post the birthday pictures 3 times and it would not do it, so I thought it took a few hours to download or something (I don't know Nick did all the prior pictures) Anyway that is my excuse. But I figured it out and it had to be the computer I was using. No really, it was.

Finally Pictures...

So two months have gone by and I said I would have pictures of Zech's party back in June... I lied, but I have them now. Enjoy!!!

P.S. Be praying for our family, Nick has had two deaths in the family recently, his Uncle (mom side) who lived in Eureka, and his Grandpa (dad side), just in the last couple weeks. Tough stuff. More news to come.

The Big "3" !

Zech turned 3 years old on Sunday.(Father's Day) We celebrated his birthday on Saturday at my parent's house up in Shingletown. We had a Superman party. This was Zech's first party with friends his age. He kept saying, "All my friends are here, I am so happy". We had a bounce house and the kids loved it. It really helped them get their wiggles out. The party started at 11 am, so parents could get their kids home for a nap afterward and maybe the kids would fall asleep during the ride. I didn't think about the construction that was happening on HWY 44. I don't know if any of you have been on 44 lately, but right after the woop de do's (the roller coaster part of 44) they pretty much ripped out the entire road and there is about a 20-30 minute waiting period before the workers lead you to the other side of all the construction just before the Dersch intersection. So anyway all that to say I did not take that into account when placing the party in Shingletown. But it didn't keep people from coming... most of them were on time. And we were able to tell people about a detour home.
We had such a good time, the weather was perfect, which meant the weather in Redding had to be pretty hot.
Anywho, this last year we have seen Zech grow so much, physically and mentally. I watched Zech's 2 year birthday party and he said maybe 3 words other than that it was all grunts and pointing. Compare it to this year, you can have a pretty decent conversation with him and he is potty trained. Amazing! Next year will be even more interesting. PICTURES TO FOLLOW...
P.S. As you can tell we only have time to do one update a month and we'll try to make it count. Love Ya

Welcome to the Exciting World of Dead People!

Yeah I said it. Nick has a new job. Starting May 14th Nick will be working at a funeral home (McDonald's Chapel downtown). That's not the crazy part... we're pretty excited about it. We get two types of reactions from people when we tell them the news... the first one is "Oh, really? Why? Isn't that creepy?" the second being "Oh how cool! I can see Nick doing that"( I don't know exactly how to take that one, but okay!)We see it as an amazing opportunity to minister to those in a much needed time. It never entered my head that this would be a scary job or majorly depressing job, although I know there will be those days.
Nick mentioned the other day that I probably won't be able to take Zech by his work place to visit, like we do at Safeway. No climbing on caskets for Zech. (Was that wrong?) You have to have some humor going into it. The lady who hired Nick said that if he needed to take a day off for personal or ministry sake he could because the person is still going to be dead tomorrow.
I think it's going to work out.

Not our home, but we'll take it!

Nick and I are house sitting for some friends. Can I say that it is wierd being in such a quiet house (beside their two weiner dogs that bark every now and then for no reason at all)? Just a little reminder, we've been living in a trailer on my parent's property and then down to Nick's parent's property for about 5 months. So it has been pretty nice having a space to ourselves, even though it will only be two nights. We'll take it!
Other news... last weekend we took Zech to the emergency room. I went to wake him up and when he roled over he could not open his eyes. They were swollen shut. Well that freaked me out and him as well. So we found out it was just allergies... really bad allergies. They said to just give him allergy medicine. Well you'd think that would be enough but I had some hesitation about giving him antihistamines because Nick can't take them. My hesitation was correct. Zech's reaction was the same as Nick's was at that age. Over emotional and down right mean, which is not like him at all. So I have to make a decision, deal with a child who's eye's are bloodshot and swollen and runny nose or a child I want to have in a continual choke hold. We'll see.
Anyway that's it for now.
Redding Christian Fellowship's Easter musical is this Thursday and Friday. Nick is playing drums and I'm in the choir. Hope to see you there!

soupa ball

just a reminder...in between eating, drinking, analyzing various thematic elements of commercials & decyfering their cryptic cultural message...worship Jesus with your heart, soul, mind, & strength.

the end is nigh!

so last night i am sitting on the couch/bed in the living room/den/guest bedroom & saw on the news that hillary clinton has officially entered herself as a candidate for the democratic nomination for president in 2008. this may be a good time to mention my disdain for women in politics. no this is not based on any misogynistic attitudes or chauvinist biases, i just think that God's best plans for the lives of believers is also how things would work best in society. since God desires that women should not be in authority over a man & that men should love & protect women i think government would function much more effectively if women were removed from their positions & men were removed of there predispostions. so i am officially announcing that if hillary clinton is elected president of the United States me & my wife & child will be making preparations to move out of the country. we are not sure where yet but, by my calculations, if clinton is elected president America will be a socialist nation within 2 years. am i being dramatic? am i blowing this all out of proportion? can i be serious? consider this my "i told you so" for 2008. heil hillary! get used to that one.
if you who know me...you are laughing or not taking me seriously.
if you don't know me...you may have already reported me to blogger & the proper authorities.
either way...have a nice day.

we're back?

it's not like we went anywhere, but we have been incommunicado for a while. "attention safeway shoppers, nick welch will be back crushing your eggs before you know it." that's right, i couldn't hack unemployment so i broke down & got a job. i'm kind of excited...kind of annoyed...kind of confused. but God usually doesn't mess up, actually i don't think it's ever happened. well, i have to go. look for the "real" post tonight. welch...out!

i FELIZ NAVIDAD !

here are some memorable moments from the mapes-welch christmas eve extravaganza. enjoy.

we oughtta be in pictures!

so rachael's MOPS group hosted a family picture day thing. i love pictures of my family but i hate taking pictures. it's such a fake environment for smiling, which i'm not that good at anyway. but we did get some good pictures. so enjoy.

i'm sorry, i only play in the key of B sharp.

well with only minutes to go until the performance starts I am frenetically going over all of the worst case drummer scenarios in my head. maybe i should stop here & fill you all in on the fact that i am playing drums in RCF's christmas musical. it is pretty cool but kind of intimidating considering the fact that i am the only musician in the 20 member orchestra who cannot read music. it's kind of like a dyslexic in a spelling bee. anyway, here are my nightmare scenarios. scenario #1-i lose control of a stick sending it into the crowd. scenario #2-i hit myself in the eye during an overdramatic drum fill. scenario #3-i somehow manage to do everything right only to rip a huge fart during the dramatic pause scenario #4-somehow, in a tremendous display of incompetency combine a little bit of 1,2,3, & 4. no matter what, it should be fun!

check these out

life is a highway!

or so a one-hit oneder once said. "no it's wonder.' 'i know it looks like oneder!'" speaking of oneida, tomorrow is thanksgiving. yep the giving of thanks will begin in just a little under 2 hours. you know what else starts in just under two hours?...hmmm...tomorrow. i (nick) love cake. not the band, they're good too but specifically i mean the baked good. well enough hijinks. i just got a call two days ago from rosemary (the mother of hailee who i transported down to oakland) anyway, hailee is doing better & we look forward to staying in touch with them. that is definitely something to be thankful for. have a good one!