It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Well, Mimi and Pa are off on another adventure. We have loaded up Van the Man (our VW Bus) and are heading south to Yosemite for Christmas. When M and P travel, they like to go with the flow, roll with the wind, and tumble like the tumbleweeds.
But this trip, we have the kids we're traveling with. I mean our grown up kids and their kids. Traveling with a family of five (in their own car) is different. They stop more, they take longer at those stops, and it is always very noisy. Lots of "I Wants" and "I Don't Want To's". When you are middle aged and approaching middle age (like Mimi is), your tolerance for those kinds of things is a little thin. It kind of makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck...until...well until they say..."PA...MIMI...we love you." This statement is usually accompanied by a big hug and a squeeze...suddenly...it all seems worth it. All the different demands and schedules and stops seem so worth it...so...well...looked forward to.
Now don't get me wrong...the freedom and independance to do what you want is still very attractive. But the joy of interuptions far out weighs the joy of independance. It's kinda like what happens with God. It is awesome to have independance, but it is always better to have Him interupt your schedule. Yeah...grandkids are clearly from God. As we always say...Grandkids are your reward for not killing your own kids.

What A Group

This weekend, Mimi and Pa had the awesome joy of hosting our small group for a shop day. Now we have lots of great people in our group who thought it would be fun to spend the day together learning how to build stuff. So Pa was able to find a bunch of free recycled wood and our project was to make my famous Adirondack chair. So we met early and stayed late working really hard. It was loud, dusty, and really super awesome. We completed two chairs but have all the parts for seven more ready for the next time we meet. Great way to spend the day. Here's some pix.

Brady and Jace working hard

Stacey and Amy...the ladies rock

Good friends and good food

Lacey and Brooklyn supervise

Jace enjoying the fruit of his labor

Okay So I Got Tagged

So our friend Linda sends me this email telling me I have to pick a picture from my fourth picture file and the fourth picture in that file and then write about it. So I goes to the fourth file, and scan down to the fourth picture and what do you suppose I find...well this one.















This is my most favorite picture of Mimi and I. We were on our way to New York, waiting in a pub at PDX. I had my laptop open and and snapped a picture in Photo Booth.

Now I love it because first of all, Mimi looks so beautiful in this pic. I mean she is beautiful all the time, but she looked especially so here. I look...happy. We look happy. What's cool is that we were happy.

This was day one of what would be a 10 week break for me. I had worked so hard to try and be prepared to leave and I really felt good about leaving. So this is a special picture for me. I wish it were one I had taken on my good camera...but it kind of adds to the specialness of the picture.

So, there you go, Mimi and Pa off on a bigtime adventure, happy, content, and still very much in love.

How Did We All Get Here?

Well, if you are a follower of the Adventures of Mimi and Pa you will know that in June we got to go to the UK for a trip of a lifetime. Our most favorite time and place while we were there was our chance encounter with Trevor Morriss in Conwy Wales. I wrote about him being a brother from a different mother...and he is.

Well last night we got to go into Portland to see him play with his music partner Paul. Their band is called Matching Ties (www.matchingties.com). They were here in the States to play in Idaho, Montana, and Oregon. Trevor had a friend from his past that lived in Portland and she scheduled a couple gigs for them on this side of our fair state while they were here.

So, what a great time we had listening to their music and catching up with them before and after their music. Trevor is a really truly great guy...and they are both phenomenal musicians.

But what was so random was...we had met Trevor in the little town of Conwy. He met his friend in a Kibutz in Israel back in the early 70's. Trevor met Paul randomly in Munich. And also there last night was a guy named Steve whom Paul met randomly in Italy. And there we all were together...all randomly knowing each other..and yet all of us just hit it off so well.

How does this happen? It is so cool the way people get to know each other. We talked and laughed and shared stories...what a joy. Now I have some new brothers and sisters from different mothers.

No Country for Old Men

Sooooooo...it has been a long and crazy week. As we speak Chloe is on her way home from the Hospital...Mimi and Pa are relieved and so thankful...on many levels. We of course are so thankful for her speedy recovery and how well she is doing. It is a miracle what God has done to bring about healing for this precious little girl. But the relief comes in another form as well...our two favorite grandsons will be heading home.
Now don't get me wrong...we have loved having them at our house...they are a joy and a delight. But they flat wear a person right out...I mean...they can make a grown man cry with delight when they finally go to bed...whew!!!!!! It is a red wine kind of night when the two little buzz saws finally stop their spinning. Wow!

Now today...well it was an awesome day. Pa took the boys...and their Uncle Boomer (Jacob) to the new Space Museum and IMax theater today (www.evergreenspacemuseum.com) and did we ever have an awesome time. We saw the entire history of space exploration and an awesome 3D movie about the space station...it was so cool. But I tell you...I was shot/spent/toast/fried/pummeled when we got home. I put Aidan down for a nap, Jackson I parked in front of a movie (the best babysitter) and Boomer and I crashed.
It was exhausting. But tonight...it will be quiet...no coming into Mimi and Pa's bed in the morning...no pancakes together for breakfast...
I wonder when we HAVE to watch them again?

Okay...It Is A Miracle

So Chloe has been returned to us...and she looks fantastic. They have opened her head, removed parts of her skull, reworked what needed to be done, put her head back together...and she's fine...no better than fine...she's perfect. How is that possible? Who thinks they can actually do this and get away with it. To be so secure...or arrogant to assure us that they can do all of this to our little Chloe and actually return her to us better than when she went in.
It is an overwhelming thought...that those who are created in the image of God, can be endowed with the gifts of God, to be the healer and fixer of a little girls head. I can only hope that they give credit to God for their skill and gift every day. To try and claim anything else would be blasphemous. Thank you God for creating us in your image...especially Dr Wehby.

Chloe's Adventure

Well today is a really important day for Mimi and Pa...but especially for our precious little grand daughter Chloe...or as Aidan likes to call her...Coco. She is here today at Emmanuel hospital in Portland to have surgery to correct her skull...two of her plates are fused together...and reshape her eye sockets. She is in the hands of one of the finest surgeons in the country...but more importantly...she is in the hands of a God who loves her.
It's a weird thing to think of turning your child or grandchild over to the care and control of another. It was a very weird moment watching my little girl have to release control of her little girl. No one really is prepared for that moment...that decision...that complete abandon. It is a huge adventure...but it's an adventure in faith. After knowing all the facts, reading all the information, being assured that the very best people are doing the job...you still have to actually let go of her.
We will keep you posted on her progress...we're sure she will be fine...but it is at moments like this that you want to know she is in the hands of a loving God. Protect her Lord.