Let me introduce you to our fourth grandchild, second granddaughter and first child of our son Corey and his wife Janna … Layla OraBelle Rice, born Saturday night June 5. She’s beautiful of course, weighing in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces. Can’t wait to spend some quality time with her! Click on the picture to enlarge.

Layla and proud grandpa!

For more pictures of Layla, go here.

I think we’re about ready for Christmas. All three of our grandchildren were with us a couple weekends ago and we let them hand-make all the Christmas ornaments for our tree this year. Marci bought the crafts supplies and let the kids go crazy. We also hung a few ornaments on the tree that our children (their parents) made when they were little. While we don’t do this every year, it’s a great tradition that makes decorating the tree a lot more fun and meaningful.

Three gifts under our tree: Nick, Madison and Jack.

We had a nice visit from all three of our grandkids over the weekend and I took them out fishing in Mission Bay on Saturday afternoon. Our youngest (age 3) grandson Jack hooked up his first fish, a 6 inch mackerel and it scared him half to death. But I think it was just the right size to hook Jack forever on fishing.

Our son Corey is a very talented artist who will have his drawing and paintings on display this weekend at San Diego’s “Art Walk on the Bay” at Seaport Village. Come check it out Saturday or Sunday from 10 a.m to 5 p.m.

Click on image to make it bigger.

John F. Rice (1921-1968)

I write this on Memorial Day 2009 as we pay tribute to all the men and women who have served our country over the years, especially those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and way of life.

I want to remember especially my father John Forest Rice, who was a Navy Seabee during World War II and the best man I ever knew.  He taught me so much … how to love God,  how to love my wife and kids, how to love music, how to love hard work.  He died a young man, at age 48 in an auto accident but his influence and legacy lives on.

Thanks Dad for serving your family, your country and your Lord so well during your brief time with us.  Outside of the Lord himself, you’re the first person I’ll be looking for when I get to heaven.  See you soon!

Me and Dad a Long Long Time Ago

Alison Brown

Marci and I went to see Alison Brown last night at a local San Diego supper club called Anthology.

Yesterday’s San Diego Reader carried an interview with Alison which included a nice mention for my radio show:

“And I tuned in every Sunday night to Wayne Rice’s Bluegrass Special on KSON. He’s still on the air and probably has one of the longest running bluegrass radio shows in the country. So, as it turned out, San Diego was a great place to learn to play bluegrass, even though that might sound a little counterintuitive.

Alison grew up here in San Diego, then went to Harvard University where she majored in finance.  She became an investment banker with Smith-Barney but later ditched her banking career for a stint with Alison Krauss and Union Station.  She later formed her own group The Alison Brown Quartet, which is more jazz-oriented than bluegrass.  She now owns her own successful record label with an impressive roster of artists.

Her show at Anthology was fantastic.  Yesterday was Marci’s birthday and while Marci doesn’t usually allow banjos at her birthday parties, she made an exception for Alison, who wished her a happy birthday from the stage.

Our two-year old grandson Jack seems to have the talent! Here he is performing with his uncles and grandpa!

Our daughter-in-law Tamara was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, had successful surgery and was subsequently laid off from her job.  She was denied unemployment benefits, putting a real strain on family finances.  So many of us have been praying for her and for our son Nathan as they try to keep their heads above water financially.

Does God answer prayer?  On Friday, Tamara was called by a producer at CNN to appear on Larry King Live for a special program they were doing on unemployment.

Here’s a video clip of the interview:

Who knows what the final outcome of this will be, but we are praising God for graciously providing this opportunity for Tamara.  God is good.

It’s easy to see here why we love being grandparents.

Nick, Jack and Maddie, February 2009

Marci and I never forget how many years we’ve been married because our January 27 anniversary date is forever linked to the number of Super Bowls that have taken place (43 this year) … plus it always falls on the about the same weekend. We always try to celebrate our anniversary as big as we can (depending on what we can afford to do at the time). This year, we were blessed to be able to make a return trip to New Orleans, our first visit there since Katrina. We’ve always loved New Orleans: the culture, the music, the food, the art and architecture. We enjoyed it all last week after spending the weekend in Memphis Tennessee where I did a parent seminar at Christ United Methodist Church Friday night, a men’s breakfast on Saturday morning and preached three services on Sunday. From there we took the train to New Orleans and really had a good time. Besides a really nice meal at Emeril’s, we heard some great jazz at a little club called the Spotted Cat. It only holds about 30 people inside, plus the bar and stage. We sat close to the musicians and just marveled at how blessed we were to be there. Here’s a sample which I shot on our digital camera: