Weekend Getaway

This officially qualifies as our 1st quasi-empty nest getaway since all our children are working and/or out of public school.

Dahlia & I are heading west to enjoy some MORE time together...

GOTTA LUV IT!

Good Week!

Wheatley High School has been a blast this week. Meeting lotsa staff & students and connecting them to CIS (Communities in Schools). Its a good place for the church to be!

PAX,
Max [from Treo]

Christopher Sean Torres

it doesn't get much better than this. Senior Recital @ Prairie View A&M

PAX,
Max [from Treo]

Jocelyn's nite out

Dahlia holds her niece's baby at Cousin Debbie's other 25th birthday party.  This little one loves to be barefoot, and so does Baby Jocelyn!  :)

Vision & Cheerleader

Two vital elements of leadership.
3 R's & Relationships

Dr. John Perkins & Mr. Richard DeVos

these two giants of community transformation wanted to just have fun in this forum for our alumni group. the dialogue was filled with laughter & wisdom.
PAX,
Max [from Treo]

Richard DeVos took his place on the stage -

The DeVos family sponsors the DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative in several cities around the country. The last session at our alumni reunion was a special treat with Dr. John Perkins and Mr. Richard DeVos sharing their depth of wisdom and encouragement with over 200 urban leaders.  Thanks to everyone who has supported our Houston team and other teams around the country!

KlompenDanzen

High School students from the Holland, Michigan area work as Klompendancers at the Dutch Village.

ORIGIN: Delft, Holland

Dutch Delft Pottery making

Personalizing my klompen

My klompen before personalizing

Stretching for KlomperStompen dancing

Segull - Jonathan Livingston, I presume!

Lake Michigan's appeal

Lake Michigan Rules

Pastor Marvin Winans -

spoke Fri morning on WISDOM
Pro 3:5:13: 4:5
Eccl 9:13-18

[from Treo]

After-Vibe

open-mic afterglow

PAX,
Max [from Treo]

Good for my Heart

herbal chicken.. Oh yeah!

Alticorp's Technology

At the Global HQ there is a unique showroom of the unique construction of Alticor/Amway/Quixtar/Access Group' companies. One display in was the thermal imaging used to develop products. I looked a little green today. :)

Bus trip to Amway Company

a busload of DVULI Alums headed to the Amway/Quixtar office. (more pix coming
[from Treo]

So good I couldn't wait...

I received a msg from a friend (you know who you are, Diana Hernandez) saying I am not blogging enough pictures, but this is why.
I'm too busy eating!!
Half way thru dessert I remembered to take this shot.
Yummmmm - thank you DeVos

PAX,
Max [from Treo]

Vacationing Workshop

presented by Larry & Jayme Acosta presented on Vacationing: The Benefits, the Budget, the Body

Ron Kenoly

awesome concert!!!

lisa & kim greet in loud Houston Fashion.

PAX,
Max [from Treo]

You have new Picture Mail!

You have a Picture Mail from R Max

Message: Details in the Amway Grand Options View Picture Order Prints and Gifts Reply to Sender Reply to All Forward Send and receive Pictures and Videos through Picture MailSM. For more information go to www.sprint.com/picturemail.

© 2007 Sprint Nextel. All rights reserved.

First DeVos Meal

this is the beginning... The music team hangin together.

PAX,
Max [from Treo]

DeVos Reunion Day -1 [eve of the first day]

Ya llegue! Amway Grand Hotel - Grand Rapids - top gabinete!
It was good to ride in from the airport with Justin Kooreman in his totally fly Red '99 'Ville.
He is an entering college freshman and has a reason to do well.  From his mouth to God's ears, he wants to serve the underserved in issues regarding legal representation.  Mr. & Mrs. Kooreman - the fruit never falls too far from the tree.

I am grateful to the RDV Corp for the magnificent accomodations on this 'Take a Pause' week with alumni from across the country.

IAH to GRR for the DVULI Reunion

That is a lot of code words in the title, I hope it makes sense to you. If not, don't worry - you will understand with the posts throughout the week. Leaving Houston on a little Embraer jet... they are always so noisy, but I really enjoyed the ride this time. No turbulence, and worked diligently on materials for my contribution in the music selections.

Family is Forever!

I just got a call from my best friend Larry.  It seems like our September 24-25, 2007 'There is Hope' Conference is going to have a visit from a man who has been responsible for touching multiple thousands of lives of young people in Houston and across the country for decades!  

I know if you come you will have a wonderful time!  Please check out our site when you have a chance, especially if you work or serve latino & hispanic families.  This national conference will be in Houston at the Grand Plaza Hotel.

for more information:  http://hispanicfamilyinitiative.com

'TAG' the Web 2.0 Word of the Week

What happened to Mashup Monday?

Well it got over-run with prep for the DVULI Reunion in Grand Rapids and an impromptu celebration of Erik's 18th Birthday today (Tuesday, Aug 21).  I digress...

The word of the day/week is: TAG

Again, falling on the mercy of Wikipedia - TAG is a type of metadata involving the association of descriptors with objects.  Tags can be used to identify distinctives of files or sites so that they can be searched or grouped by common descriptors.

Pero, tambien you can also use it to describe the actividad that los niños play in the yard and the street. When chencho chases chencha and touches her on the shoulder y grita "TAG! You're it!"  Then she runs around hasta til she catches someone else and says to them tambien 'TAG' y sigue la cosa.

Nos vemos on the playground!!

5th Ward Solutions!

Today I went on a site visit of Wheatley High School. I am being considered/considering assuming a role as Project Manager for Communities in Schools (CIS) on that campus.  After a brief exchange with the Principal, Mr. Johnson - we stepped out of his conference room and there was the Executive Principal for that area.  As Divine Providence would unfold, I served Ms. L. Hinojosa when she was an Elementary School Principal in the North Side. We worked together to resolve the community concerns of parents in that area.  Thankfully, she had a positive experience and affirmed the High School principal's decision to bring me on board. I hope the proceeding steps will yield good outcomes.  Here is another opportunity to bring proactive solutions through an involved community. 

Bridges International

On August 18, 2007 the Bridges International outreach of Campus Crusade hosted an initial meeting at a home in the area near Rice University. There were drawings to award some students essential college 'goodies' like irons, coffee pots, ironing boards, etc. A great time was had by all. (click on the photo to show pictures) There was even time to make a brief Hindi Language instructional video while we walked through the neighborhood.

If you were present, please click on 'comment' below this entry and leave your remarks.

God Bless America!

Every day, I am glad to be alive. Thanks to the dedication and sacrifice of our Armed Forces, I am also free. Read in the comments if you want the words of this powerful message.

MASHUP - my Web2.0 word of the day

ok, at the speed with which this Web 2.0 thing is going, it's gonna get overshadowed by Web 3.0 soon, so I better learn some of the basics before I'm left in the dark. I've heard some of the words/phrases lately, and I 'think' I know what they mean, but not really... so here goes the Tex-Mex definitions of Web Dos Punto Zero.

Mashup - comes from Jamaica and means to destroy! (says Wikipedia) Pero el Tejano dice que it is putting all las cosas que you wanted to say, pero al mismo tiempito.. you just do them al estilo 'mashup' at the same time, together. Like an audio podcast pero con pitchers, tu sabes, pitchers! fotos? yeah, photos! Or your Powers Poinks con tu voz or con musica. And then make it so it can go to your i-poth.

Thats the word, MASHUP... o, tambien... como dices, how you say it, when you don't pay to mush atenshun to what you do... sometimes you mashup and make a mistake.

Hasta el grito!!
-el Tejano

Gracias por asistir!

¡Gracias a todos que estuvieron orando por nosotros! Fue una bendicion ser parte de cienes de personas asistiendo a la conferencia "Speak2007" en la iglesia "Lakewood Church" en Houston, Texas. La Doctora Florence Littauer nos tenia riendo y muy divertidos explicando los cuatro tipos de personalidad: Sanguinos, Choléricos, Melancólicos y Flemáticos. De mucha bendicion tambien fue de yo poder presentar dos talleres. Uno sobre "Presentando para Inspirar" y otro de "Conectando son su Audiencia." Materiales de estas sesiones estan disponible en mi Sitio de Recursos. Presenté informacion de mucho valor de un libro, "Enseñe a todos sus Alumnos" por el autor, Clancy P. Hayes. Este libro esta disponible en el Ingles o Castellano. Visita este sitio para poder ordenar uno, si lo deseas.

Quiero agradecer todos de el equipo de respaldo que estuvieron presente para ayudarnos tener unos buenos talleres. La amabilidad de ustedes nos ayudaron sentir muy en casa. ¡¡¡¡Gracias Andres y equipo!!!! Gracias tambien a Steve Munos, encargado de nuestra visita. El tambien sirvio al Reino de Dios siendo un ejemplo de noblesa y cortesia, cargando nuestros velices muy pesados, y cumpliendo todos nuestras peticiones de servicio. ¡¡Gracias Steve!!

Sigue visitandonos en este sitio, y tambien de los recursos. Pronto tendre el video de la presentacion para que lo puedan usar para repasar las sesiones. Tambien estamos disponibles para servir a su ministerio o alcance en lo que Dios nos ha capacitado. Deje comentario aqui, o mandonos un saludo por correo electronico cuando desean. info@rmaxtorres.com

Florence Littauer presented The PIER Method: Point-Instruction-Example-Reference
Florence riveted the group of several hundred attendees at the "Speak!2007 Be Heard" held at Lakewood Church in Houston. A very entertaining presentation of 4 Personality Types: Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholy & Phlegmatic. It was a blessing to be part of the cadre recruited to present at this conference, my 2 workshops being presented in Spanish. Materials on my presentation can be accessed on my Media Distribution site.

Speak! Conference at Lakewood

This Saturday I'll be able to take part at Lakewood Church's Speak! Conference. There will be two workshops in Spanish that I will present on 'Speaking to Inspire' and 'Connecting with your Audience'. This will be a full day, with a variety of speakers. I am especially excited about Kim Kossie presenting 'Tech Messaging-reaching the world through Technology.' When I was writing my Pastor Gadget article for the Urban Youth Workers magazine (circa May 1997), there were nominal ventures by the church into technology... look at us NOW! Thanks to the organizers at Lakewood who are willing to allow us to speak into the lives of Latino church leaders.

If you can attend the conference, please look for us. I know you will find many of the speakers very interesting and inspiring. If you are able to come, I believe you will be enriched.

GrandCentral is now part of Google!

Technology phone connectivity becomes part of Google. Click graphic, type name & phone number and your name is announced when GrandCentral calls my number.  Google weaves the communication fabric tighter.