E.P.I.C. Student Ministry Update- April 2012

WiFi signals throughout Europe have been sketchy this past week, so bear with me as I begin uploading my Benelux pictures and travelogue (Part 1 was posted last Tuesday) here to BlogSpot now that I’m back in the U.S. Check back here later this week on BlogSpot for the rest of our adventures!

In the meantime, I’ve already uploaded some “private” Aloha Church of God E.P.I.C. Student Ministry photos on Flickr that I’ve recently converted to “public” for posting here on BlogSpot. Here is a big ol' pile of our students’ favorite pictures from the first few months of 2012…


Students gawk at Lena before an E.P.I.C. Wednesday night session




Shaving cream Santa beards, crafted to perfection in January



Blindfolded students listen to guidance to find their "purpose," as we conclude our Soul Surfer teaching series. Later, Derek spoke to our group about Christ revealing the apostle Paul’s purpose to him in the book of Acts.




E.P.I.C. Super Bowl party at our house





Playing "Statues"



AChoG/WPC graduate and proud new mama Lindsay Adams (on the far right) shows off baby Judah at Warner’s first ever Class of 2033 "Preunion" during Homecoming Weekend




No host Sunday at the Old Spaghetti Factory



The premiere of Derek's creative new theater/drama game, "Statue" (not to be mistaken for student favorite, “Statues.” Confused yet?)



Fundraising for our upcoming trip to Denver for International Youth Convention (prepping for our Valentine Cookie Fundraiser is pictured)



And finally...

A tournament of “mercy” jumpstarts our discussion of what it means for Christians to show mercy, in the context of our living in community Don’t ask how this innocent little crowdbreaker got out of hand so quickly!

Spring Break in the Low Countries- Amsterdam

The train whistle blew as my dad and I scuttled down the escalator from Amsterdam airport to the tracks downstairs. Our train from Amsterdam to Brussels was just pulling away from the platform as I ran out and reached for the closing doors. So close.


We’ve been lounging in Delta’s Airbus A330 Business Elite cabin for the past 9+ hours during our flight from Portland to Amsterdam, so waiting an extra hour for the next train to Belgium is no big deal. We’re back in Europe, and pumped to start our ultra-quick sampling of the Benelux countries. The next train should be here any time now. All aboard!


Overheard at the ticket booth in Amsterdam:

Sincere American Tourist: Is that the cost in dollars?
Stern Dutch Clerk: No, that is the cost in Euros. This is Europe.

Walkin' In a Springtime Wonderland

DSC_0870_edited1.jpg, a photo by gkhamilton on Flickr.

Snow in late March? While a heat wave swept the eastern United States last week, record-setting levels of March snow fell here in Oregon.

Snowflakes dusted our Beaverton house on three separate occasions in the past couple of weeks, and we’re loving it. Now that Baby Lena has reached the ripe old age of 6 months, she can more deeply appreciate the fun in the air as snow collects on the ground. My middle and high school students had no complaints about scoring an extra snow day off from school, either!


My dad and I enjoyed the spring snow in our special way last week: skiing on 24” of fresh powder at Mt. Hood Meadows. Diagnosing my dad’s skiing accident/ concussion the week earlier, the doc instructed him to recover for 10 days before attempting any sort of “contact sport.”

Of course, Bo didn’t let his nearly 70 years of age and some wimpy concussion keep him from the ski slopes. Waiting until Day #10 on the dot, we cruised up to Mt. Hood and quenched our need for speed. Bo’s skiing day was cut short after another crash left his head (now covered with a shiny new ski helmet) feeling woozy and dizzy again. We probably should have waited a couple more days, but I’m so proud of Bo for trying!

Admittedly, the fresh snow was so deep that I didn’t fare much better. I had more wipeouts (and not just on black diamond difficulty runs) than I can ever remember having in a single day. I’ll go even further and say that the bottoms of my skis gave the tops of my skis stiff completion for being exposed to the most daylight.

Judging by the thunderous response from the ski lift riders overhead, my most spectacular wipeout was a result of a huge jump that sent me flying out of the trees, under the chairlift, and landing just below the Face run. I use the word “landing” very generously, because the aftermath probably looked like something out of a wacky comic strip. I clearly should have bailed.

Six Months of Lena

DSC_0808.JPG, a photo by gkhamilton on Flickr.

While others were springing forward for Daylight Savings Time last week, we were falling back on the six months of precious memories we’ve had since Lena's birth on 9/10/11 (link). Our baby girl has grown in size, physical ability and adorability.

Speaking of abilities, Lena has been building quite the resume lately. Although Lena loudly objected to hopping into the new Kelty baby hiking backpack that I got from R.E.I. this week, her hardcore training regimen has unleashed an astonishing array of other super-infant feats.

Here are just a few examples:

Holding her own bottle and learning to tilt it up to drink more baby formula


Stepping it up from milk and formula to formula mixed with cereal

Hit the "Play" button above for a video clip from Lena's very first attempt at swallowing formula mixed with cereal, before things got really messy



Lifting up her head, strengthening her neck, and trying to roll over on her own



Recreating the Rocky IV training montage in the late March snow this week, complete with Lena’s fierce wood-saw wielding, tree chopping, and log hauling drills


Cranking out some cardio training in the living room when the weather got too nasty outside

Jab the “Play” button above for a fun video of Lena returning home from vacation to wiggle, kick, sneeze, and make baby sounds to Needtobreathe's "I Won't Run."


And lastly, fighting her first head cold… We’re actually not laughing about this one. It breaks my heart to see my little 6 month old baby girl go 12 rounds with the oogies. But those sniffles are no match for Lena.

No one puts Baby in a corner!

Leaving Los Angeles

The snow falling outside the windows of the Salt Lake City airport has baby Lena’s attention as she recovers from our morning flight from Los Angeles. Waking her up at midnight for this morning’s exhausting drive from Santa Maria to the LAX airport has done little to dampen her cheerful mood.

Everywhere we traveled this week, people have gawked at our 5 ½ month old Lena and remarked at what a cute, good mannered baby she is!


A lucky handful of my Delta coworkers and others got a chance to adore Lena as we bounced back and forth between ticket counters at the Portland airport on Monday.

The TSA agents at PDX airport each had their crummy day brightened as a smiling Lena passed through the security checkpoint.

Lena survived her first ever plane ride to Los Angeles like a champ! Kathy and I strategically waited each time to feed her until she was right on the verge of blessing our fellow passengers with her brute lung prowess. When the bottle didn’t do the trick, I resorted to my tried and true elixir of softly sung worship songs or personalized Coldplay melodies in her ear.


Unfazed by our short notice the night before, my Uncle Steve and Aunt Marilyn McCoy graciously opened up their house to us in Santa Maria for a few days. The southern California weather didn’t cooperate long enough for us to get out on their yacht in Santa Barbara, but we enjoyed everything else they offered: loving family time and lots of encouragement.

Aunt Marilyn’s cooking was outrageously delicious, although we did sneak out to Cool Hand Luke’s (for their house favorite “shark bites”)…

…as well as the obligatory stop for Double Doubles at In-N-Out. My cousin Jefferson is a manager!


Jeff’s family-- Rebecca, Ethan, Tyler, and Hanna McCoy, A.K.A. the Jeffersons-- were also mesmerized by Lena's smile when they met her for the first time. We absolutely love these people! But since our busy summer schedule will prevent the three of us from being at the 2012 Morrow Bay family reunion, the rest of our SoCal family will have to wait to meet Lena until Delta’s flights have open seats again.


The only thing that hasn’t worked out this week (unless you count that whole blown international trip opportunity thingy that I mentioned here in my previous post) is consistent weather.
Lena did get her first ever glimpse of ocean waves within hours of landing in California. But rather than surfing the next day…

…I squandered our lone day of surfboard-beckoning sunshine at Pismo Beach with sightseeing.


After calling dibs on a surfboard at a Pismo Beach surf shop the previous day, we waited forever on the second day for the cold, stormy skies to clear up long enough for Lena to see Daddy ride those waves. Hey, call me a fair weather surfer… but our Oregon Coast back home already provides PLENTY of chilly, rainy surfing weather!


Now that we’re in the Salt Lake City airport, we still have a chance to bounce over to the Everglades or Alaska to wrap up the trip with some hiking. Our possible connections won’t leave for a couple more hours, so why decide now? At this point, it seems likely that the group majority will vote for a direct flight home. Either way, let’s hope that Lena has mercy on our seatmates and sings her baby songs in the muted, soothing key of “coo.”


Update: This cliffhanger ending is actually just an ending. We flew home from SLC shortly after I originally posted this last week. Photos added on 3/10, and I just added the video below:


Hit the "Play" button above for a video of us on the pier at Pismo Beach. This sunset was the last sunshine we saw all week!

Lena: International Baby of Mystery

P1020763.jpg, a photo by gkhamilton on Flickr.

Thanks to my mom for this darling picture of Lena!

Yeah, baby, YEEEEAH! Our 5 ½ month old daughter Lena is the proud owner of a new passport! Will she be flying this week to Spain or Italy, as planned? Maybe the Caribbean? Not so fast… we now have a new problem in the passport department.

Yesterday, Kathy and I were scheduled to fly Lena out on her first overseas trip. A difference of opinion between us regarding Lena’s international airworthiness led me to reroute our vacation from Europe to the closer to home Caribbean. I booked and paid for a week at a posh all-inclusive resort in St. Lucia, complete with a hike/bike/swim excursion (for me, of course) into the rain forest and nearby volcano to complement our fully catered beach chillaxing.

Last night’s unspecified passport issue (Kathy has let many of you know exactly what I'm referring to) down-scaled our plans even further, prompting us to trade in our dreams of a Caribbean paradise for a week of stateside snowmobiling in Oregon or Alaska, yachting and surfing in California, and/or hiking in the Everglades.

However many places we end up flying to throughout the week, it’s only a minor disappointment that Grandpa Tom’s cute little Mini-Me will have to settle for a multi destination vacation in the U.S. for now. I guess the rest of the world isn’t quite ready for Lena yet.
Danger is her middle name!

Or was it Esther?

WPC Homecoming Weekend 2012

It's after 4:30 AM, and I've been working all night shooting another TV commercial for a national retail store. My regular work shift starts around this time in the morning! We actors and the film crew are doing our best to stay alert between takes.

While the film crew sets up the next shot, I have some time to gush on about how terrific the February 9-11 Homecoming Weekend was at Warner Pacific College! I’ll also tell about my brush with rock ‘n’ roll stardom at L.A. Fitness last Friday. Pictures will be added to this post after I get some post-wrap sleep.

WP alum Jim Sparks receives a certificate of recognition for writing, directing, and performing in his on-campus play, “Biography.” He cast me in the role of a disabled man.


Our “Welcome Home” 2012 Homecoming event at Warner Pacific exceeded our wildest expectations. I haven’t seen the final attendance numbers yet, but early estimates show a possible triple increase in alumni participants over last year’s Homecoming! The success of the weekend was clearly a result of the hard work and dedication of Cindy Pollard, our Alumni Council, the Homecoming committee, and everyone else who helped plan, recruit, promote, or volunteer during the Weekend. And most importantly, thanks to all of our fellow alumni who showed up on campus!


The event kicked off Thursday morning with a combined student/alumni chapel service, featuring an inspirational message by my former college roommate, Pastor BJ Kuykendall. By the way, thanks goes out to John Kuykendall for many of these photos!

After the Golden Torch Society/PBC Luncheon, our Alumni Council convened to welcome in four carefully selected new members: Alex Bates, Bruce Krieg, Christi Kurtz, and Jessica Taylor. Before we got down to Council business, Jess Bielman gave us a taste of WP’s mission to be “In the City, For the City”: Using the WP van, we drove through the communities near campus to highlight the college’s many social action projects.


The sold out dinner theater performance of Jim Spark’s original play, “Biography” premiered on Thursday night. The all-alumni cast featured many talented actors…
…including my multi-talented dad, Doug Hamilton! We didn’t share any father-son stage time (missing each other by seconds), but I finally got to see my favorite former WP Alumni President/professor/theater director/father show off his dramatic flair.


Friday’s activities included the Brunch and Song-Fest, Classroom Visitations (Dr. Carver’s double-take was priceless as I took my seat at the start of his lecture), the Sing-A-Long Movie, the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Games, and the Super Scoop Ice Cream Social, hosted by the current student government officers.

A huge congrats goes out to the Men’s AND Women’s basketball teams for winning all four games on Homecoming Weekend!

Name dropping alert: In between events on Friday, I had a bizarre coincidence at L.A. Fitness while I was getting pumped up (no pun intended) for the WP basketball games. Band members from rock groups Hawthorne Heights and August Burns Red were hitting the weights as I arrived at the gym. I may not party like a rock star, but now I can say that I’ve worked out with a few of ‘em.


We saved the best for last. On Saturday morning, turnout for the Future Alumni Class of 2033 Pre-Reunion was phenomenal! With so many alumni having kids this past year, it only seemed right to round up everyone for a “Preunion” baby-fest (grandparents, etc. aren't pictured). My parents graciously agreed to host this event, and I posted their pictures here because I have yet to see a group photo on Facebook where everyone is looking at the camera.

Kathy and I couldn’t help but wonder, though… ….How could Lindsay Chamberlain, one of the graduates from our student ministry, already have a baby boy that is nearly the same age as our 5 month old daughter Lena? If our kids ever hooked up, that would be a strange youth pastor/ in-law situation!


Saturday afternoon was crammed with the Souper Seminar and Jazz Concert, Hall of Honor Induction Dinner, and the Honored Alumni Luncheon to honor notable WP alumni Sonya Fischer, Bob Stewart, Ethel Willard, Robert L. Williams, and Ysu Umbalo.
I was so excited that my buddy Ysu Umbalo was recognized for his medical relief work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (in Central Africa) that I lovingly included a blurry picture here of Brian Hill’s presentation during the Luncheon on Ysu’s behalf. We wish that you could have accepted the award in person, Ysu!

The Connection Reception, hosted by Bernie & Cindy Buckle and Michael & Stephanie Pollard during and after the basketball game (did I mention that we won all four Men’s and Women’s games?) on Saturday evening, was a perfect way to cap off our Homecoming Weekend.


Mark your calendars, WP alumni… Next year’s WP Homecoming is scheduled for February 14-16, 2013! Love will be in the air, and we hope you’ll make it there!!

In Christ,

Garth Hamilton, WP Alumni Council President


Next week here on BlogSpot: Lena’s passport arrived in the mail last week. Our baby girl is about to become an international sensation!