Latest addition to the Pongs family

In February 2008 I published some pictures of our latest grandson. Now I am happy to be able to show what a beautiful boy that baby turned out to be at 6 months of age.

Thanksgiving 2008

As in previous years, we have had the priviledge of celebrating Thanksgiving again at Lake Arrowhead, California, with breakfast at the Belgian Waffle House. When we started this custom in 1979 we were five. Now the clan is comprised of 17 members in three generations.

A new addition to the family

Our youngest son Mike and his wife Karen are expecting their first child, a boy, as yet unnamed. Yesterday we were invited to a preview of this new addition to our family. I chose these two pictures of the collection, because one of them shows his long, slender fingers clearly and the other one shows him praying. Maybe he will become a praying pianist, which is something this world could definitely use.

Europe 2007 - cont.

The next 8 pictures are a selection of different European scenes: Jeannie at breakfast in Provence, France - The Rhine River in the afternoon sun - Bacharach, Germany, town center - Wies Church (beautiful Baroque church in Bavaria) - Jeannie in Venice - Sunset in Viarregio, Italy - and finally two scenes from Cinque Terre (Italy)

Europe 2007

These are some pictures, Jeannie and I took during our recent trip to Europe. Above is my brother-in-law, Klaus Knuth, examining my sister's new digital camera (She is a professional photographer). Left is the famous castle "Burg Eltz", which has been owned by the same family for 34 generations or over 1,000 years.

Triplets in mother's womb

The other day I found this picture of beautiful triplets in their mother's womb. Since I cannot understand, how anybody, least of all a medical doctor, who has sworn (I hope) the hippocratic oath, could harm such beautiful human beings, I decided to publish it here in the hope that someone would see it and be persuaded not to go through with an abortion. God will bless you for it.

Christmas 2006

Today is Christmas Day. Last night we celebrated our annual family Christmas gathering. It was great. In the morning we all went to church and heard our pastor tell us that wise men still seek Jesus. The service was wonderful and the sermon was very good and much to the point.

Afterwards we were all treated by Jeannie to a delicious dinner of Raclette and lots of other goodies. As this picture shows, our 8 grandchildren were concentrating on what they were doing. As a matter of fact, some of them thought we should do this again next year. Well, maybe we will...

We are getting much closer to what is most important to the younger generation:

Our youngest granddaughter Tatum entertaining the crowd.

Our today's paper carried an op-ed piece by E. J. Dionne Jr entitled: "The Whole Bird - Evangelicals win by engaging the nation's left and right wings"

Since I did not agree with Mr. Dionne's conclusions I posted the following reply:

I enjoyed reading E. J. Dionne Jr’s opinion "The Whole Bird" – Evangelicals win by engaging the nation’s left and right wings. My question is: Do they really? I guess it depends on the answer to the question: Who are Evangelicals and how do they perceive their role on earth. I can only speak for myself, because I am not responsible for anyone else, but Rick Warren as pastor of a major church is not only responsible for himself, but also for his congregation, and to some extent for Christianity at large. As the Bible puts it: Let not many of you be teachers, because their’s will be a stricter judgment. But I am sure, he is familiar with that scripture and has given it due consideration. I believe, Senator Obama put his finger on the crux of the matter, when he said: "Abstinence and fidelity, although the ideal, may not always be the reality. " and "We are dealing with flesh- and blood men and women, and not abstractions… " I consider myself a follower of Jesus, and in light of this comment I have to ask myself the question: "Is that what my Master teaches?" And unless I misunderstand the Bible, which for me personally is the revealed Word of God, it teaches Truth and Absolutes, Right or Wrong. Mr. Obama admitted that abstinence and fidelity are the ideal, and I believe that my God does not settle for second best. There is forgiveness, when we blow it, but never an excuse for behavior that God calls sin. So the questions remains: Who wins, when an Evangelical leader offers a platform to someone who clearly promotes values inconsistent with the Truth of God? In a political sense Senator Obama clearly wins, because he does not have to defend his views before his liberal constituents, and through Pastor Rick’s invitation he becomes acceptable to some conservative Christians. Pastor Rick’s church wins in the natural, because it may become acceptable to some people that do not live according to strict biblical standards and may use this as an excuse to continue in their behavior, but does the Body of Christ at large win? That is the question.

This is Thanksgiving weekend 2006, and as in previous years, the entire clan had descended on the Belgian Waffelhouse at Lake Arrowhead in Southern California. Breakfast was delicious, and as everyone can see from the attached pictures we had a wonderful time. The two young people at the flagpole are Mandy, my oldest granddaughter and her brother Cameron. They seem to get along well.