September 30th – First the exciting news – I became a grandfather to a precious little girl on September 21st. My daughter gave birth to little Caitlyn and both are incredibly healthy and happy.

In addition to relishing the joy of this new addition, I also discovered that I will be fortunate enough to attend the 15th Western Monastic Conference next week (Oct 5 – 9). I was on a waiting list and a spot opened up! I have wanted to attend since becoming a monastic and I finally have this wonderful opportunity. So I get to spend a week with some of the longest ordained Western monastics of all traditions. What a amazing learning experience this will be. The theme of this year’s conference is Monasticism and the Environment. I will blog about it as soon as I have the chance.

Now a tour update. We are currently working with an immigration attorney to get the visas for the upcoming tour. Everything looks good but it will take a few months. So instead of having them here by December, it looks like February is a safer bet. That means I am starting our schedule in March, 2010. Hopefully I will have them here for at least 18 months and we will get to visit all the parts of the country that would like to have them. I am already scheduling, so if you would like the tour to come to your city please contact me.