Berkeley Cousins

I've now got pictures to go with our trip to Berkeley.

Back Row: Bill, Vicki, Stacey, Dechen, Antoine, Ron, Leesha, Jade, Zack

Front Row: Naissa, Isaac, Kristi, Jeanne, Pete (Sharon is taking the picture)

Antoine, his sister Dechen and Naissa.

Pete and Jeanne celebrated their 67th anniversary in November. Crazy!!

It's funny how you can be related to someone and not really know them. You only see them once or twice a year and even then, you don't really talk about anything below the surface, never really go deeper than how old are the kids now? Where are you working? How's school? I heard you did such-n-such? How's so-n-so? Ya know? It's a shame. I have some really good people in my family tree. We may not share the same beliefs, in fact quite the opposite is true, but I have never met better people....and I'm not saying that because I'm related to them. I'm talking about my cousins in Berkeley. Right away you can see some differences, I'm from Clovis....much more conservative. They are Buddhists, I am a Christian. I don't know all of their political views but I bet we are on polar ends on a few things. They are used to the busy streets of San Fran, I prefer the quiet, deserted back roads in the country. BUT they have a gazillion people for holiday dinners, I've been told they are not always even people they know (and not limited to holidays). They feed the hungry and give drinks to the thirsty....just like Jesus tells us to in the Bible. They care about people. They love the person, look past any differences, don't judge because of skin color or sexually preference or age or financial status. They love the people. I know they aren't perfect, I'm not trying to make them out to be. I just find it funny that my Buddhist cousins are better "Christians" than many Christians I know. (If you argue that Buddhists aren't/can't be Christians because they don't follow Jesus Christ, I know that and you are missing my point)