A Trio of Beautiful Brides

One of the most important reasons for our recent trip to California was to see Betty's nephew Joe take a bride. (He's near 40; Carolina is a lot younger!) 'Twas a wonderful occasion and a bit of an extravaganza, but most suitable to this remarkable couple. We were happy to be invited to all the celebrations, and we wish them much happiness as they pursue life and parallel careers together. Good Catch, Joe!


Here is my Bride all dolled up for the outdoor wedding. She is still a joy to me after 42 years.


And Carolina's Grandparents drew wide applause and admiration for the 69 years they have been married together. This sweet pair were still very attentive to one another. So were the proud parents of the bride and groom. There are good examples and much encouragement on both sides for the newlyweds.


May we all be blessed in our marriages and in the company of our beloved spouses. Amen

My Quiver is Full Indeed.

Behold children are a gift of the Lord...

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one's youth.

How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them...
(Psalm 127:4-5)


This photo takes priority today. It was taken yesterday after morning services, but we were together since late Friday night up until this morning. Now we scatter. Paige and her parents will be joining David and the his girls at the Oregon Coast for their annual family time, Betty and Patty will be at the Oregon Christian Writers Conference south of Portland this week, Edwin will be working, and Geoffrey and I will have to batch it for a few days.

What joy it is when all the kids and grandkids are together. The "cousins" really like being with each other and they like exploring Papa John's acre, especially the orchard. This year's currants are history and the little yellow flowers across the lawn made for many bouquets to share and weave into crowns.

Thank you family for new memories, many hugs and precious laptime, sweet jokes and teasing, and a chance to lavish some love upon each of you.

A Week in the Woods with Friends.

For the past week, Betty and I have been enjoying again the fellowship of Camp Irondyke in northeastern Oregon. Up in the national forest above Union, OR, is a forty acre site owned and operated by christians who have been promoting christian family camping for over fifty years. We have grown to love these special folk and the last week of July when we gather together for a week which features Sunday morning Worship, daily classes and singing, activities and "dinner on the grounds".


This time Patty and her three daughters came along. What fun it was to see them so involved all week with the activities and with several special friends who also attended.

Silas Shotwell brought a wonderful series of thoughts and challenges with insights to Phillipians and an intriguing view into Dr. Darby's "Little Book". (See Patty's blog for the entire text which can be read in a single breath, but which will deeply enrich your life if followed.)

Spending a week in the piney woods with friends is relaxing and refreshing. The setting is beautiful, the pace is leisurely, the shared meals are especially tasty in the outdoors, and the visiting always reveals mutual friends and common experiences which are fun to recall and relive. We highly recommend family camping with long-time friends.

Save the last week of July in 2007 and come park your camper or pitch your tent near us. Bring chairs for the classes and the singings and plan to join us for potluck dinners most evenings. There's a campfire hour in the evening for songs and skits and poetic readings. TV pales compared to this self generated entertainment.

Since we have been traveling so much this month, I'll do a little "catch-up" over the next few days. Watch for more photos and a little less commentary for a change.

Meanwhile, This weekend is special because 100% of our own kids are home and 100% of our grandchildren are here too. We are indeed deeply blessed with family at home and the sounds of happy voices as adults joke and laugh and as cousins giggle, tease, and sing together is truly music of the finest kind. Thank You, Lord.

Relatively Speaking, this was a Family Trip

It's not a trip with family, but turned out to be a trip seeing family. Mainly this report is to let everyone know we are home from the California Triangle - LA, PS, SD, and LA again. We spent the first couple of days with JPW and Naomi in Torrance and got to share a dinner visit with Janet, Chad, and Griffin. Sunday we saw the folks at Redondo CofC, some of whom are like family and many of whom we have known for forty plus years. (So that's Dad, a Mum, a Sister, two nephews, and some "church family".)

Then we headed for Palm Springs, with side-trips enroute to visit "Sister" Joyce in Yorba Linda and eyeball Beaumont/Banning, arriving about the same time the big Sawtooth Fire started just north of town. We always enjoy visiting our wonderful friend "Mother" Ollie, who took mighty fine care of us when we were newlyweds at our first job. (Add another sweet "Sister" and another precious "Mom")

In San Diego we stayed with my ninety three year old Aunt Edith, our favorite "Energizer Bunny" and delight. The highlights she took us to included a Cub Scout Day Camp for 86 boys and a lot of adult leaders and also a Hiker's Club B-B-Q dinner and Swim Party. My cousin David and his wife Mary and their three girls - Nancy, Sara, and Cindy - were present at the second. (Count an awesome aunt, two special cousins, three cracker-jack second cousins.)

We were in San Diego to witness Nephew Joey's wedding. His bride is the lovely Carolina. Of course the groom's parents, Sam and Billie Jo were there, as were Joey's sister and her husband. The Rehearsal Dinner and the Wedding and the Reception Dinner were superbly planned and produced and were certainly the highlights of the entire trip. (OK, let's see. That's a nephew and a new niece, a brother and a sister-in-law, the other niece and nephew-in law, and a host of friends)

We stopped for church services in Escondido Sunday morning where I was able to reconnect with friends from the late 1940s and the 1950s. That's almost family, isn't it? And we spent a few quiet minutes at the cemetery to honor William Elijah and Ida Mae Wyatt, my Dad's parents. (So, put more church family, and my paternal grandparents on the list.)

Back at Dad's we wrapped up the trip with another round of family there and tentative plans for future visits someday, maybe up here - eh?, Janet?? (Encore, more family.)

Many good meals later, some pictures for memories, lives checked out, hugs shared, and contact renewed made this a great trip around the triangle. The anomaly this year was that record hot temperatures were set in LA, Palm Springs, San Diego, and again in Los Angeles - each on the day(s) we were visiting in those towns, Where did that curse come from? And coming home to Washington State, the first weather report here says we will have several days of 100 plus degree heat before the week is over. ARRrrrgh!! Global scorching!!


Let's cool off! This picture taken in San Diego Harbor has nothing to do with family, but it is my favorite of all scenery taken on this trip. I thought, when I saw this scene, that Edwin in particular would like to see that one. Isn't the pattern of light and shadow on the sails neat?

Today's Travel Bonus: Finding Joyce!

Sometimes unplanned and unexpected blessings come our way. While planning our route from Torrance to Palm Springs, it struck us how close we might be to Joyce as US-91 took us over the Anaheim Hills. Out came the pocket organizer, a call was made, and in a few hours we were at her door sharing hugs and laughter. She lives within a mile of the freeway we were using.

Joyce was a special and dearly loved member of our Harmony LIFE Group for several years. When she so suddenly disappeared, we were all shocked at how rapidly the planning and execution of her move to California had ocurred. Hardly had we learned of the possibility when her house was sold, her things were shipped or dispersed, and she was "outta there". We missed her deeply.

Joyce is in fine health now, and happy, and in lovely quarters in her son's house, and in the midst of family including plenty of grand-kids to keep track of. She says she still misses everyone (referring to us) but still hasn't recovered from the move because she lost some vital papers including her birth certificate.

She drove us to a restaurant a few miles away and we were able to visit a while over a late brunch. We brought her up to date, and made sure she is doing well too. It was a wonderful hour.

Her message to the whole group is: "I still think of you often. Come to see me if you can." Since her brother still lives in Cascade Park, it is possible we will see her sometime on a visit to see him. Now if Evelyn will distribute her address and phone number, all of us can keep in touch now and then until she comes north again.

In other news today, it was 114 degrees when we arrived in Palm Springs. I heard someone say, they were glad it wasn't too bad today. To which I thought, "Thank Goodness!!"

PS: Dad's surgery on his ear turned out fine, and he isn't in any discomfort. The doctor called in the evening with reassurance that he felt he successfully removed all of this skin cancer. So join us in that Thanksgiving.

Intrepid Flyers

David's little bird, a Cessna 150, gave us a fine ride from Richland, WA, to La Grande, OR, a distance of just over 100 statute miles. The flight showed us the dryland farming of southeast Washington, the forests of the Oregon Blue Mountains, the deep and beautiful La Grande valley, and other curious and interesting sights of man's constant touch on his habitat. Since the advent of GPS applications , many intricate patterns are evident in the fields and sections of rolling farmland which indicate the most efficient plowing and harvesting patterns for each plot of land. 

More Holiday with Family

Yesterday afternoon we did get out on the water. Actually it was one of the Army Corp of Engineers parks adjacent to one of the dams on the Snake River just a few miles above its conjunction with the Columbia River. David launched his boat and with almost no fussin' around, we were all aboard and outof the little sheltered harbor. Soon we found water calm enough for the twins to take their first stab at knee boaaaarding -- Wheeeeeeeee!

It took no time at all for the girls, each in turn, to master basic knee boarding and love it. All the other adults took a turn, but wise ol' Papa John protected his bones and sinuses, kept his dignity, and stayed dry to boot. Actually, the twins were very impressive for first timers. Good job, girls.

This morning David took me flying. We departed Richland where his little shared Cessna 150 is hangered, and flew southeast over the Blue Mountains to La Grande, OR, where we landed, strretched and hit the vending machine for lunch snacks. After topping off the fuel tanks, we continued about fifteen minutes further and circled Irondyke Bible Camp up above the neat little town of Union, OR. Returning on about the same route as before, we were back to Richland in an hour and forty-some minutes having had many wonderful views of farmland, forests, mountain ranges, wind generator towers, a sternwheeler tourboat on the Columbia River, and several impressive angles of David's house and office building. I like flying, and David is a splendid pilot. He has accumulated a number of hours of cross country flying this weekend which is to his advantage too as he prepares for further training - this time in instrument flying.

The afternoon was filled with kids and activities centering on birthday. David and Becky Reeves, home from Kara, Togo, for the birth of their fourth child, were here to visit. Ice cream cake, and gift openings, and more swimming, and launching water balloons, and a dinner of tri-tip steaks and King Crab legs plus fixings filled out the day and the waistlines. A little time was spent on sorting through photos of the last couple of days, and just resting up from an overdose of festivities was all we could manage for the evening. Superman, the newest version, will have to wait for us in another theater on another day.

Squeezed in between all the activities have been hugs and lovin', special moments with each of the kids and grandkids, quiet periods of rest and a little reading, and more sharing and doin' chores to help each other out while we all enjoy Camp David, Kennewick style.

And tomorrow is the Fourth of July. Of course, we have been on holday since we arrived in Kennewick, but tomorrow we will reflect on the broader meaning of our flag and nation, and upon our role as responsible citizens. I just hope my neighbors at home are more responsible as citizens this year than they were with their expensive and excessive fireworks last year.

Holiday With Family

The best times are times with family. We are in Kennewick at David's and family is the main activity. The twins (who turn eleven tomorrow) are constantly in the pool, and even Tabitha went in with Papa John. We have done a Dairy Queen eat-out, Bar-B-Q burgers and Polish sausage on the grill, cold cut sandwiches, and plenty of snacks. Yesterday David and Edwin went flying around the tri-cities area while Papa John took the girls to Home Depot for the Saturday morning craft building project event (they made CD racks). There have been trips to the mall and a viewing of the Disney movie "Cars", an errand to Home Depot, a trip to Wal-Mart, another to Yokes (a really neat fresh-foods grocery market), a drive-about, and this morning time with friends at the Richland Church of Christ.

All of us, especially the twins and Tabby, are missing Katie and Payton who took advantage of the long holiday to visit the other grandma in Oklahoma with their mother Paige.

Meanwhile, we are looking forward now to an evening on the river seeing whether the girls can learn to knee-board, birthday activities tomorrow with party fixings and gifts, and more B-B-Q.

If you would enjoy a reminder of what this 4th of July holiday is all about, I invite you to a website a friend just shared. I think it is worth the moments it takes to load up, even if you happen to be on a dial upconnection. The point highlighted is that our nation's founders were in contact with and in submission to God and completely aware of His prominence in establishing this country as on "Under God". This is a sentiment becoming rare in the current era, even attacked by those who are hostile to religious truth. This is a nice site to visit to reassess our origins.

http://www.interviewwithgod.com/patriotic/highband.htm

Blessings on you and on your family. Be sure to enjoy them collectively and individually.