Dedication of the Upland Kingdom Hall......

Well as you all know the Upland Kingdom Hall has been a part of our life for about a year now.
We have seen it go from a building in ruins to a beautiful house of worship
thanks Jehovah and his holy spirit directing all of the willing
volunteers who have lovingly given many long hard hours to
this project.

One of the most satisfying jobs that I was given (besides working along with the friends in Safety and First Aid) was to direct the work on the mosaics for the exterior of the Kingdom Hall.
This was the hardest thing that I have ever had to do.
But thanks to Jehovah, I had so much help!
This could not have been accomplished without the willing volunteers who came
and worked tirelessly on these beautiful mosaics.
Many of them have never worked in glass before but they were quick learners and
very natural at it!

Then Kim got the call from one of the Elders in Upland inviting us to the dedication of the Kingdom Hall!
This was so bitter sweet for us
 because
 there were only two tickets for us.
We wish we could have brought along everyone of the volunteers that helped on this project.
But the brothers reasoned that there were thousands of volunteers who actually worked on the hall in Upland however, only a fraction of those volunteers were able to attend the dedication.

We were able to come together once again with Dale Crotts who was the Overseer of the project in Upland and reminisce about where it all started and how beautiful the building came out.

One of the highlights was having Brother Splane of the governing body give the dedication talk.

This is the lobby when you first come into the hall.

You know we couldn't leave without getting a picture with brother Splane!

Mary and I go a long way back...... She not only attends this Kingdom Hall but she also was one of the volunteers who helped on the mosaic.

Lori and Scott Williams are also friends that we have known for probably 25 years.
Lori (in my opinion) should receive a medal for scheduling volunteers for Safety for all of the RBC-4 projects that were going on at the time.
I volunteered to help schedule volunteers for the month that she was gone and thought to myself HOW DID SHE DO THIS!
Tough Job!

This is just a remnant of the original mosaic that was installed on the exterior of the Kingdom Hall.
And now the next mosaic is complete and will be installed after our Regional Convention
 (see next post)
So keep checking and I will update you when we install it....

Finished Product, Ready to Install......

Well, today we taped up the completed mosaic to prepare it for the installation!!!
Isn't is beautiful!
The volunteers should be very proud of what they have accomplished with this mosaic.
We really won't appreciate how beautiful it is until it is installed on the exterior of the Kingdom Hall in Upland.
Once it is installed and grouted it truly comes to life!
So the next step will be flipping it over and gluing the mesh to the back of it.
Then we flip it back over and prepare the board that it will be mounted to permanently.
Then we apply the mosaic onto the board just like a giant tile.
Once it is dried then we install the board with the mosaic attached to it onto the exterior
of the Kingdom Hall.
Then once it is secured, we will grout it the same day.
Due to our Regional Convention we will probably install this piece after the convention at the end of this month.
So I will keep you informed and share the pics of the installation day.

Update on the Current Mosaic for the Upland Kingdom Hall.....

               I am so excited about the progress of this mosaic so far!

 For the last two weeks I really have not done anything on the mosaic 

because

 I have been out of town and then I got sick.

 But we REALLY do have a great set of leaders and volunteers 

who have just taken the "bull by the horn's"
so to speak

and it is so much appreciated!!!! 

(So much less pressure on me!)

WHAT A GREAT JOB THEY HAVE BEEN DOING!

Look at the progress!!!!

As you can see this mosaic is underway.
We began cutting the various colors and sizes of glass for each section.
Margaret has been placing her mark on the mosaic with the beautiful mountains and she is using her creative spirit with the rest of the problem areas. Boy are we glad to have her on board again!

The water is coming together flawlessly! Love the various shades of blue and the iridescent glass that Kim and his volunteers are using. 

Tina has moved on to the front after she worked on the foothills. Notice how she tied in California Poppy's and green foliage.

So here is the view from up on top of a ladder. This gives us a better picture of the area's that we need to adjust and really helps us to appreciate what the finished product will look like.

So it is coming along pretty quickly thanks to the volunteers that have been here working tirelessly.

Margaret sent me this picture today with some more progress. I am hoping to get there tomorrow to finish off the clouds and to help out with the shore line.
Isn't It beautiful!!!!

Ladder View.... Looking Good....
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, to those who have worked so hard on getting this mosaic almost completed so quickly!!!
Completion Date Goal: May 30, 2015

New Mosaic Is Underway......

As if my life were not busy enough.....I've begun work on the next mosaic along with a few good friends that have volunteered their time and energies along with me.

So here it goes....

We are hoping to get this one completed

and installed by the end

of May!

We had a pow wow to figure out where we were going to start on this one.
Checked to see if we have enough glass, got supplies together
and got started cutting!

Mapping out this mosaic is going to be very challenging!
There is a lot of green and brown in this one and
what looks like a field of flowers is
in actuality a forest of trees!
I'm already stressing!!!!
So we are going to go with the flow and start with the easy parts....
the sky, the water and Margaret has already got her groove
going on the mountains.
This is the actual picture that we are working with but we will be
doing our interpretation of this picture in glass
just as we did the last mosaic.

This mosaic will be installed on the exterior of the Upland Kingdom Hall
hopefully by the end of May on the other side of the building.

This was the first completed mosaic installed.

So I will keep you posted on our progress and hopefully it will go as scheduled.

70th Wedding Anniversary Party!!!!

Last Weekend we celebrated the 70th Anniversary

for some very special friends.

Anton & Dorothy Eastergard

This is a picture of them back in the day

and a

beautiful picture of them today.

We had such a great time with friends and family.

It was a formal affair & it gave all of us a chance to play dress up for a change.

We had great food, great entertainment and great company!

Here are just a few pictures of the happy faces that attended this great party!

I know I missed many pictures so if you did not see your face in one I was probably on the dance floor getting my exercise....

What a fun time!

Jehovah's people are truly a happy bunch

and we sure know how to have fun!

Most Important Day of the Year......Memorial of Jesus' Death

You Are Invited......
Friday, April 3, 2015

Will You Be There?

Go to the link to find a location near you.

http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/memorial/

Cecilia's Day!

Had a great time today joining friends and family to 

support Cecilia and her family at

Robin's BBQ in Pasadena.

Before we left we had to get a picture with
this beautiful family. Cecilia seemed to be having a fun time with all of the people who came out to support her.
There were many firefighters there and also many other
people.

We were pleasantly surprised by my cousin and her husband who took the time to support the fundraiser. They were down here all the way from Sacramento California visiting their little grandson who just had surgery yesterday.
My brother Captain Eddie (taking the picture) also came down from Cerritos to support his fellow fireman and spiritual brother and family.
We hope that this fundraiser was a successful day for the family that perhaps can relieve some of the stress off of them  so that they can use their energies for their beautiful family.
Our prayers and best wishes are with their family!

Mosaic Is Complete and Installed!!!!

What a journey!!!!
The day finally came this monday!!! We installed the mosaic at the Upland Kingdom Hall.
This could not have been accomplished without all of the volunteers that came and worked tirelessly on this project.
What a process! First we layed out the picture....
Then, we started cutting glass in various shapes and sizes....
This took many months to lay out and perfect until we were happy with the complete design.
Many friends came from long distances to have a part of the project. There were also friends that came and fed all of us volunteers.
Everyone who had a part was very important to this project, there were cutters, cleaners, artists, those who gave funds and materials, installers and photographers....It was truly a joint effort!

Yes what a journey!!!!
We cut glass, placed it, taped it, flipped it over, glued mesh on it, flipped over again, set it, transported it, installed it and grouted it!!!!!
This process started the third week in June 2014
 and
 was completed the third week of October 2014.
Not too bad for the first time ever doing this!!!!
All with a lot of prayer and with Jehovah' direction no doubt!

This is the picture that we used as our guide.
The mosaic is not exactly like this picture, it is an interpretation of this picture.
So we put our own spin on this photo. 
It has been a long exhausting journey but I am
 so proud of the beautiful result of all of our hard work.

We are also commissioned to complete another mosaic for this Kingdom Hall
Hmm....
I will keep you posted on the next adventure.....

Mom's Day Out!

About two weeks ago Liz & I spent a much needed day down in San Diego.
We began the day with touring San Diego and Liz sharing with me where she grew up.
It was so nice to just take our time and enjoy the beautiful day!
No kids, no husbands, no one that needed us!

We had a blast when we got to Seaport Village.
We had a free ride on a bicycle driven by a very funny man. He drove us to this Seafood Market at the end of the village walk and the food was so fresh and delicious!
Afterwards we walked off our lunch and did some shopping and people watching.
We stayed until the beautiful evening when we were able to experience this beautiful sunset!

Can't wait for our next adventure on the next Mom's Day Out!!!!

Taping & Flipping the Mosaic Over Day.......

This has been a very nerve racking process trying to figure out the best way to get this now completed giant mosaic on to the final resting place.

Well we came up with the idea of taping the entire piece so that it would remain intact (hopefully) and then we flip it over so that we can glue the fiberglass mesh onto the back. (Easy right?)

We are adding the fiberglass mesh to give it the extra strengh since it will be hung vertically on an exterior wall and because we have so many small pieces of glass.

After the fiberglass mesh is dried we will remove the tape on the top of the glass and clean up any excess glue on the top of the glass.

Now it will look like a giant backsplash tile! (You know the kind that you buy at your local Home Depot that is usually 12 x 12)

We will then put this giant mosaic onto the base which is plywood for stability and wonder board. This will be installed just like a tile floor is installed.

Starting our first piece of glass was really scarey! One wrong move and we could totally misplace a piece of glass which could throw off the entire process!!!!
Yikes!!!

We can't believe the first piece went on so smooth!!!
All the anxiety for nothing!!!!

After the first piece is placed then they rolled the top so that the tape would adhere to the glass pieces.

Second piece....
We overlapped the pieces carefully.

More rolling and making sure all pieces adhere to the tape.
All went well except the last taped piece of course! But we got through it!

Now we slid a large piece of board underneath it and put another on top of it and taped them together so that we could flip it.

There it goes!
It wasn't bad at all! It wasn't even that heavy with all of the help!

We got this!!!!

I bet you could have heard the loud cheer that we made when we finished this process!!!
All of us really put a lot of thought into this process so that it would go sucessfully and it paid off!
On to the next step.....
Next we will be glueing the fiberglass mesh onto the back of the mosaic that is now upside down with the tape on the bottom.
I'll keep you posted......