Spent the Day with Jennifer

Jennifer and I are both attending the NEXT Conference in Irvine this week, sponsored Provision Ministry Group, Orchard Group, and Christian Standard. She flew in Saturday and stayed with some friends. I flew in last night so she and I could hang out together here in beautiful California before the conference starts this evening. (I'm writing this after 4:00 on CDT, so evening hasn't come here yet!)

My flight last night was through Chicago and then to Orange County. We were landing in Chicago just as the sun was setting, and the clouds above the city were beautiful.

It was only 10:30 in California when my plane landed at the Orange County airport, but of course that was 1:30 on my old body, so I was pretty tired, but I still had trouble sleeping well. So I'm going to be tired for this opening session of this meeting tonight, too.

Jennifer picked me up at 9:15 this morning, and we drove to Newport to eat breakfast at Pacific Whey, a trendy little coffee/pastry/breakfast/lunch cafe not far from the Pacific Ocean. In fact we could see the Ocean past the parking lot beside the window where we sat.

Then we drove through Newport a little and ended up at Roger's Gardens, a fabulous place that was more like an arboretum than a garden store. Jennifer and I are both flower fans, and we spent at least an hour looking through every nook and cranny of the place.

Then we met her friend and host Heather at Watson's Drug Store in Orange for lunch and a long visit about everything from what to do in Cincinnati when Heather and Paul come to the wedding to dysfunctional families to essentials for a marriage that works to race relations and prejudice. All that accompanied by lots of laughter helps me see why Jennifer values Heather's friendship so highly.

If this evening's conversation is half as stimulating, the day will have been quite memorable. More about that tomorrow.