Chicago to NYC to PGA

Summer began by Larry taking his wife and daughter to Chicago. He had a speaking engagement for the Fellowship of Christian Atheletes where there were about 200 in attendance, several of whom made decisions for Christ. Since this speaking engagement occured near his daughter Anna's birthday, he took her and his wife, Jenny, along for the trip.

Of course the main attraction in the Chicago area to a little girl is not her father speaking at a meeting - it's the American Girl doll mega-store! Due to a mis-comminication between Larry's aunt and uncle (who were supposed to take Anna to the doll store), Larry had the great pleasure of driving Anna and Jenny to the American Girl store so the marriage survived. They spent about five hours in the store and it was like going to Disneyland!

Next up was a trip to Manhattan for Larry and Jenny to attend the National Speakers Association convention. He and Jenny stayed in the Marriott in Times Square where the convention was being held and got to hear speakers like Steve Forbes. Larry had the pleasure of having lunch with Jim Johnson (the coach of the autistic boy who, in February of 2006, helped his basketball team win their final home game - http://www.coachjimjohnson.com/ ). Larry was also able to visit Ground Zero which was very moving. He also visited a church right near there (St. Paul's Church) which was not damaged when the towers fell and has since become a shrine to the memories of those killed on Sept. 11, 2001.

Most recently for the Patton family, Larry's son Will was chosen to be a caddy at Oakland Hills for the 2008 PGA Championship tournament, which made them both very proud and happy (not to mention giving Larry a good excuse to go watch golf a lot that week). Will is also the #2 golfer on the Troy High School Varsity Golf Team and he will be a senior this Fall.

On August 23 - 25th, Larry will be in Tustin, Michigan for the Joni & Friends Summer camp so I'm sure lots more exciting information from that will be posted soon!