Morning, December 1
01 Dec 2004
Beth and I got up this morning and read from the Psalms (1-5 and 23), before getting ready to go to the trial activities.
Our family met us at the camp. Beth's parents had driven in from Philadelphia, my parents from Lansing, Michigan, and Beth's cousin and aunt from Detroit. Beth's older sister flew in from Boston. They are all so wonderfully supportive and we are thankful for their presence with us -- as well as other extended family who have sent greetings and prayers, but could not make the trip for various reasons. We're expecting Beth's younger sister, as well as another cousin to arrive later.
Not much to report in terms of the trial itself -- I'm sure you'll hear plenty of details from other sources. Beth, Alan, and Denny are all involved with the jury selection process which will take all morning to complete.
I'm not sure how often I will be able to log thoughts here. But please know that we are surrounded by loved ones, both family and otherwise.
Chris
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Evening, December 1
01 Dec 2004
Dear friends,
It was a hectic, overwhelming day, but one filled with a warm spirit. The Innabah Camp staff and other Conference support folks have been working incredibly hard and doing a wonderful job of offering warm hospitality -- despite heavy winds, cool weather, and some rain. We met people today who had come from all kinds of different places to support us -- from Nebraska, Minnesota, Massachusetts, as well as from all over the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.
There was a lot of media here, and they are probably better equipped to represent the details of what happened during the trial at this point. I am still too close to it to try to reflect on it. A few of us were in a media briefing during the noon hour, while most of the rest of the people on campus gathered for a noon communion service that I hear was really spirit-filled and emotional, with a real sense of community. Clergy affiliated with FUMCOG (Beth's church) and Tabernacle (my church) presided over that service.
The power went out all over the county due to heavy winds. The Camp staff had to setup an electricity generator on very short notice so the trial could proceed. Meanwhile, the wind was also knocking down trees and several visiting vehicles had to be moved in an effort to prevent property damage. But otherwise, there was little upheaval to speak of outside of the trial proceedings themselves. This certainly contributed to the warm sense of community around here.
Sleep well, everyone. We will.
Chris
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Morning, December 2
02 Dec 2004
Friends,
I had a hard time posting my notes last night due to server problems related to website volume. So they have just gone out (by email) and up (on the website) this morning. I believe that this also resulted in (perhaps many) emails being bounced back yesterday afternoon. Sorry about that! We should be back in business now.
Chris
(for those of you who care, I had plenty of bandwidth for site visits and web space for email, but hadn't thought about the fact that the log files for visitors to the website would mushroom in size due to the high levels of interest. should be well now)
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Postscript: I thought I had it fixed, but this problem happened again around 11pm last night. This morning I had them turn the logs off completely. |
