We're getting close! I have received the advance copy of both soft and hard cover books and they look great. I gave the "all clear" sign to the publisher and they are rolling the presses as we speak (uh, write and read). I hope to have my order of 300 books in hand within a couple of weeks, give or take. You can order them directly from me and I'll personalize them postpaid ($20 & $27.50) or you can get them from barnesandnoble.com or from amazon.com. This has been an act of faith. Let's see how it turns out! I'll also keep you posted on how the new website is coming along soon.

"Journeys" will be available very soon as I mentioned in the previous post. You can order it direct from us postpaid for $20 in paperback, or for $27.50 in hard cover. Just send an email to: marvinwray@sbcglobal.net. I am also in the process of setting up a website at: marvinwray.com. In the meantime I will be posting more often again here and keep you informed as to the actual arrival and availability. A lot of this is very new to me, so I appreciate your patience.

An interesting side note: I just made contact with Renee Martin, the wife of John Martin. John was one of the pastors I met with at the Arizona Campmeeting. He was the pastor at the Holbrook Mission Church. Unfortunately John died of a heart attach at campmeeting the following year. I have his picture in the book and I wanted to make sure that was OK with his wife. She was so delighted and told me that she and John had followed the journey right here. I assured her that a signed copy would be on it's way to her soon. Please keep Renee in your prayers as she continues on her journey.

Here's the copy of the hardcover edition. I am supposed to have the advance copies of paperback and hardcover within the next day or two. Then I have to check them through for any copy errors and we can move on to final printing. It will be a race to see if I have them before Christmas. Likely it will be in early January and then begins the fun of trying to get the word out, sign copies, and send them out. This has been a long, but fascinating journey for sure. I just pray that it will prove to be a blessing to many. Thanks for riding along!

THE BOOK IS COMING OUT!

I know it has been forever since anything has appeared here and probably most of you who were following our happenings have given up. I am even considering just starting a new blog, but I want to at least try to get the word out to those of you who have been faithful followers.

The good news is that the book "Journeys" is just about to be published. I should have advance copies in hand in December and will probably try to organize some kind of major release in the early Spring. I am very open to advice and help on this project, but I am very excited about what is coming. I am just going through some touch-up editing this week in the final proof process and we'll be on our way.

"Journeys" has been a long project and often interrupted by a wide variety of happenings and I am so thankful that it has been completed. The book is 210 pages and will be available in paperback. hardbound and ebook. I'll give out more details soon and will also try to learn how to let all of you know if I begin a new blog related to the book and its content.

If you read this, leave a comment so I'll know you're still there.

Many blessings, Marvin

Mendocino and Friends

We had such a delightful surprise the other day when Dwight and Karen Nelson stopped by on their way back to the Sacramento airport. Dwight had spoken at the inauguration of Heather Knight at PUC.

Next enjoy the pictures of the fantastic orchid on Hanna's patio. This plant doesn't look like much most of the year, but wow, it sure
is beautiful when it blooms. Next, we took cousins from Germany to the Mendocino coast last Friday. We stopped at the Navarro Winery to get

some of their wonderful grape juice (yes, real grape juice) I took these fun pics of the newly born lamb. Notice that in the one pic the umbilical cord is still visible. We then continued on to Mendocino, which is one of our favorite destinations and just shot some fun pics of seagulls, cormorants, family, flowers, and my beautiful bride. Hope you enjoy the pics half as much as we enjoyed the day. Have a good day yourselves right now!

Sorry for the absence!

OK, I know it's been too long, but I really have been very, very busy! Obviously that means that I should be posting more so that you would know what I have been busy doing, but I do tend to procrastinate just a wee bit. So, let me show you just a few pics of late activities. We have had two cousins and spouses from Germany with us for the past week and a half. One of the couples has never been to the U.S. before and the other only once. They don't feel like venturing out on their own with a car so we have squeezed in as much as possible with them and have had a great time. These pics will show just some of the activities which include a trip to Ukiah where you will see some of the cherry blossoms (note the busy bee), the sheep, and a fun little lizard. Also I took off a day to go to a ball game between the Oakland A's and my Seattle Mariners. Yeah, we lost, but I included a pic of Ichiro about to hit the ball. We did hit a day of perfect weather in SF and enjoyed walking across the bridge. That night we BBQ'd some really great salmon,if I do say so myself. One pic shows the group after the crossing and looking just a bit weary! They will still be here for another week and a half, but will be in Ukiah for much of that time. God has blessed us with such a great family and so many other things to be thankful for. I hope your life is equally blessed.

What A Gorgeous Place To Live!

Another beautiful Sabbath afternoon and we headed for SF once again. Seems like we are making a habit out of this, but there are so many areas to explore and every one of them is special. We began by hiking along the coast starting at the USS SF Memorial. There is a great trail down to a labyrinth overlooking the ocean. That must have taken a lot of work to make. We then hiked up (and up and up some 500 steps in all) to the Cartier Exhibit Hall and then back to the car. Then we drove over to the north side of the Golden Gate and up the road to where it becomes one way. There are some really neat tunnels and gun placements to explore and just such wonderful scenery. These pics were taken from that site. Note the fantastic strata formations in the rock. Our friends JC Buller and Andrea Clarke (husband and wife and both physicians in our church) were with us and then we capped off the evening with a lovely dinner at Piatti's in Mill Valley. Did we have fun? Yup, I think we did. I should note that these pics were taken with my iphone and not my regular camera.

The Birthday Party

Well, this was the day of the birthday boy! We did all kinds of things for his enjoyment. We went to the Chinatown Coffee Company where he got the gourmet hot chocolate and you can see that he enjoyed it. We went and saw the dinosaurs at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We had dinner again at the Old Ebbitt Grill, where they let Beck be the honorary Maitre 'd (see the pic) and had a spectacular chocolate birthday cake delivered and then came back to the hotel for a surprise decorated room with dinosaur decorated cupcakes and presents. Yes, it was a Beck day, but we all had fun! Wish you could have been here!

Singin' In the Rain

Well, it was a bit wet, but that didn't stop us from having any fun for sure. We had a relaxing morning and then went down to the Museum of American History. We saw Julia Child's Kitchen, a wonderful experimental play area for kids which Inge found "electrifying," we ate at the Old Ebbitt Grill and walked past the White House. Now we're back at the hotel and the kids are wired for sure, but that's what we came for. Tomorrow will be more of the same and we're looking forward to it. Tune in for the latest news! Notice the flag. That is the original that flew over Ft. McHenry and inspired our National Anthem.

A Fun Day Back East

We have arrived in Washington, D.C. and, as you might expect, we are having a blast! We are now with all the kids and grandkids and debating which part of the Smithsonian we want to see today. On Thursday we went to visit a friend of Julies, Margaret Hluch, who is a wonderful artist with woven artwork. Her husband, Kevin, works with clay, but all free formed and no wheel. They have this marvelous place in Frederick, Maryland that was a dance hall and entertainment center for blacks. Ike and Tina Turner performed there. The building was left abandoned for decades and was pretty well destroyed when they bought it, renovated it and made their studios downstairs and their marvelous home upstairs. You will see pictures of their work and one picture of Julie, Ingrid, and Margaret. This is amazing art! You can also see the molds Kevin uses for lids and trays. Many of them came from China. We had a great day here!