Some Weeks Are Like That

The temptation is to ask “why?” Or “why me?” I suppose we all ask that question from time to time and I was tempted to ask it last week. It began Wednesday, the day after Jana and family arrived with a load of dirty laundry. The dryer decided to go on strike and stopped producing heat. A couple of trips by the repairman and it was fixed – at a price that caused me to consider purchasing a new one. But the clothes came off the temporary line and back into the dryer.

All’s well… until Saturday. This was birthday party day. We celebrated Joyce’s and Lilly’s birthdays in the evening. Ginger and her friend, Debbie came down from Salem for the weekend and we invited Mike and Joanne over for the festivities. Korak fixed a dinner of Carne Asada, chicken, salad, beans, chips and watermelon. He made the chips -- yummy, good. All of it. About the time we ready to serve strawberry shortcake someone announced, “we don’t have any water!” The usual simple fixes didn’t fix it. So here we are, Joyce and I plus 6 overnight guests and no water. I’m thinking, this is getting old. Remember last winter when Ginger, Joyce and I were on our way to LA? No water. And this has happened before. What to do? Simple. Run a hose to the neighbors, fill the RV tank so anyone who wanted could take a shower, and fill a bunch of buckets for the house bathroom. This worked nicely and Sunday afternoon – after church and after a nice brunch at The Brewery (a restaurant, not a drinking hole) – we installed a new capacitor and relay at the well head. Again… all is well.

In addition to all this excitement, this has been a work week. Korak has about worn me out!!! Last week we spread 10 yards of bark and today we spread 10 yards of gravel. And in our spare time we put in a nice rock border along the ditch in front of the house and some 2x4 borders in a couple other places. I’m tired. Let’s look at some pictures.

 There was time to take in the Josephine County Fair and let the kids ride and ride and ride.

Debbie, Princess Lilly, and Ginger at the Great Early Birthday Party.

Joyce liked her new camera. It is a Nikon Coolpix and hopefully is easy to use – and it has a Lithium Ion battery. No more AA stuff.

Jana is holding a life-like rubber 22-week fetus. Tiny isn’t it? She is 17 weeks in the picture and is at 19 weeks now.

There is a forest fire burning near Cave Junction – about 25 miles from us. A couple days ago the wind was blowing just right to give this rather dramatic view. You can see the smoke rising up and blowing off to the north.

And then let’s close with this one. It speaks for itself.

A Quick Away Time

Korak and family arrived last Wednesday. By family, I mean 13 of them! They got in real early in the morning after driving all night so they immediately crashed. There were people sleeping all over the house – I think every inch of carpet was covered with a body. The people were his mom and dad, brother, sister, their kids, and… well, let me simply put “etc.”

Korak and his brother fixed breakfast for us – actually more like a brunch because they slept for a few hours first. A couple of the teen age boys (from LA!) had fun going out and picking wild blackberries – and Josiah had fun showing them where. After brunch they loaded up and left for Portland and a wedding up there. After that, Joyce and I crashed!

Friday evening we realized there was a reunion for Joyce’s high school class at noon on Saturday in Springfield. This is something her class does every year but she had never been to one. So… Saturday morning we threw a change of clothes and a toothbrush in the car and headed north. Joyce had fun meeting some people she remembered and learning about others. There were about 13-15 class members there, plus spouses. We met for pizza along side the Willamette River (Roaring Rapids for you who know the area) under a tent outside. It was really very pleasant – not too hot at that time.

We got a motel, took it easy for the evening, and then attended church where Joyce’s nephew is the pastor. We had not had a chance to be in his church for a Sunday morning worship, so this was fun. He is a good preacher. Joyce’s brother and his wife attend that church and none of them knew we were coming. Great surprise!

Now we are waiting for the kids to return tomorrow. We have a list of jobs for Korak to help me with plus a some days of fun.

Sorry there are no pictures. I didn’t even think to pick up my camera. But good memories all the same.

Back From Camp

The last two weeks have been camp. Two weeks ago it was preparing, last week was IT – kids camp at Fir Point Bible Camp in Glendale (just north of us). This is the camp that our area Free Methodist Churches run for our kids. We rent the facilities but do our own cooking and run the program. We have two camps going at the same time – one for grades 3 to 6 and one for grades 6 to 10. Joyce, Jana and I did the Bible story for the younger group (known as Kids Camp) which involves a lot of “setting the stage” with backdrops and props, then getting the kids involved in the story. It was fun but also a lot of work. There were 41 younger kids and 53 youth. Plus LOTS of staff.
We went up last Sunday afternoon to set up. This year we used a 12 by 20 canopy (the kind you might erect to put your car in) as our meeting place instead of rearranging the back of the chapel. It was set up right next to our RV which made it really convenient. It was also easier on everyone because the long walk up the hill was eliminated. My favorite day was the“shipwreck” the Apostle Paul was in. We had a “ship” backdrop complete with a gangplank to walk up, a sail to raise, and cargo to load (and later toss overboard). The sail is not up in this picture – we are just getting started.
Josiah was a camper this year for the first time. That meant staying in a cabin with other campers and it also meant his mom had to cut some apron strings to let him have a little freedom. He did great – so did mom, though there were moments. Wednesday was not a good day for him and he was a little teary but Jana let him work it out. He had one good cabin leader and one kind of so-so leader. But all in all it was a good time for him. Lilly was a precamper. The speaker for our group was a lady we have known for years. Peggy came with her 3 preschool granddaughters so they and Lilly spent a lot of time together. Peggy watched Lilly while we were doing the Bible story and Jana/Joyce watched her brood in the evening when she was speaking.

I like this one also. This story follows the shipwreck. Paul is now on the island and he gets bitten by a poisonous snake (see it in my hands?). Don’t you love the look on those girl’s faces? I waved it around and hammed it up about being bitten and then threw it in the “ocean.”

Here’s Lilly, Joyce and Jana in the lunch line when they served outdoors

One more of me and then we’ll get to the kids. On the last day Trevor challenged me to ride the Orca down the slip n Slide with him. Well, I couldn’t pass that up. At the bottom we crashed but the Orca wasn’t hurt – neither were we.

Josiah’s cabin. Some of them were trying to make faces; Josiah is the front left guy.

Fun singing the songs and doing the motions.

This group is on their way to find their breakfast. A tradition is that one morning the kitchen staff takes breakfast to some unknown place; everyone has to find it and then eat outdoors.

A group of the campers gathered for a photo-0p. Lilly is in front of Josiah – he is in the blue.

I love this one. Lilly is outside the swimming pool fence on a day she did not get to swim.

Peggy and the Princess Munchkins. The picture tells it all,  doesn’t it?

Mom isn’t “showing” much in this picture but Lilly is anxiously awaiting the arrival of a baby brother or sister next January.

Jana did the presentation the first day. She is Rhoda telling about Peter getting released from prison. Lilly is barely visible in front of Peggy. Oh, by the way… the Munchkins went to a couple of the morning activities – ones they could handle, then Peggy did other things with them.

For the last picture, here is our camper chewing on his shirt while he listens to one of the leaders.
Camp was a blast and it was tiring. I wonder how long I can keep doing it. This coming week Korak arrives and the whole family goes to a wedding in Portland. They will be back later. So stay tuned.