I'm A Cockeyed Optimist

We arrived home yesterday evening too tired to blog. But it had been a super great weekend. Friday we left for Annual Conference in Newberg. That is southwest of Portland. From the trunk of the car protruded the bottom portion of a recliner chair -- the top was in the backseat along with our suitcase and snack cooler. We dropped the chair off at Ginger's in Salem, then on to Newberg. Our friends, Loren and Sylvia Van Tassel were gracious to let us stay in their guest room. We so much enjoyed our talks and walks together. We met them in Seminary and then they went off to Hong Kong as missionaries. Through the years we had numerous opportunities to cross paths when they were home on furlough. Now they are retired and we had lots of things to catch up on. Dinner at Izzy's together gave us a good start.


Annual Conference was at the Northside Free Methodist Church. It was routine as Conferences go, but fun in visiting with friends both new and old. Our new bishop, Matt Thomas, did a good job of keeping us on track as we moved through the business of the day and giving us inspiration in his talks. Friday evening we ordained three men as Elders and received six men and women as candidates to work through the process of becoming ministers. As chairman of the Board of Ministerial Education and Guidance, I introduced them and then participated in the ordination process.


I must tell you about Saturday evening. We had the privilege and fun of eating dinner with Joyce's niece and her family. Kim, husband Bryan and children live in Newberg so we don't get to see them very often. They have a little girl named Emma who is 6 years old, just a couple weeks older than Josiah. Then about 2 years ago they adopted Mykel. He is just a little younger than Emma. His sturdy build, black hair, and missing upper teeth makes him an adorable hunk of a gentleman. He is black so he gives the family a great contrast. But to top this, just a month ago they adopted a little girl they named Sara. She was 4 weeks old yesterday and weighs 6 1/2 pounds. What a cozy little bundle! She was so much fun to hold that Joyce and I decided to have another baby. Just kidding! Just kidding! Get up off the floor and quit giggling. Down at the end are some pictures. You can check out Kim's blog at popcorninthesky.blogspot.com (or click on Kim's Blog in the favorites at the right). This was the first time for us to meet Mykel and Sara so it was a fun visit. We had dinner together at J's Restaurant and they gave us a seat in the back so we could just sit and talk and talk and talk. And hold the baby.


Sunday we attended worship at the Northside FM Church which is where I was Associate in Christian Education back in the late 70s (boy, that sure sounds like a long time ago). There are still a few people around who remember us and it was good to see them again. After church we stopped to visit a couple of people in a nursing home, stopped in Salem to have lunch with Ginger, and then stopped on the other side of Grants Pass of help Charles Agee celebrate his 85th birthday. When we got home we were beat.


In the Broadway musical, "South Pacific," Nellie Forbush, the female leading lady sings, "I'm A Cockeyed Optimist." That must be me. I thought The Backyard would be almost complete by now. It's not. It doesn't look much different than it did a week ago. But things have happened. We did a lot of little catch-up things and installed a watering system for the garden and the photinia. I made up my own system using some old soaker hose and PVC pipe for the garden. For the bushes in the back, we used a whole lot of drip tubing. Now I'm working on an underground irrigation system before I put in the new lawn. We'll get a little done this week but not very much -- have to be gone next weekend.


And that about wraps it up. Although we don't need much to wrap up in. The weather here has been warm and will be even warmer this week. Warm -- I think that is what we were looking for last winter.

Yeah, she's really enjoying that, isn't she? The baby, I mean. The baby is enjoying the bottle.

Kim and Emma

Mykel

Pretty cute, huh? Of course, I mean the baby. The baby is cute. All babies are cute, but this one... well, she is a real doll. See how well I do that? Sara does have eyes but we didn't get to see much of them.