Much, Much Too Long

Yes... it has been a long time. The last blog was posted while we were in Newport almost two weeks ago. Sorry. I'll try to get back on the Sunday or Monday routine. Well, our time in Newport was good. Beside meeting with Willy, we also met with others who are now our friends, enjoyed some cool weather, and relaxed a little after the week at camp. Willy is doing great at the church. They cleaned out all (well, nearly all) the blackberries on the property behind the church. This caused a stir among the neighbors wondering what was going on. Last Saturday they had a yard sale to get rid of some old stuff. But this was no ordinary yard sale. The church sponsored the sale for all the Agate Beach community -- doing all the advertising, etc. The only thing the neighbors had to do was set their stuff out and sell it. Willy said it went well with about 15 families joining in and voicing appreciation for the church doing that. Keep praying for Willy and the church.

Family Camp was a good time to connect with friends. We missed last year because of the Alaska thing (remember Alaska?!!!) and that was the first time we missed Family Camp in lots and lots of years. In addition to the friends AT camp we also had friends and family come to visit us. My niece, Kandy, came Thursday afternoon; our friends, Mark and Judy, came Friday afternoon; and daughter Ginger came Saturday afternoon. We left Sunday before anyone could find us (just kidding!). We did leave Sunday and stopped in Eugene to spend the evening and night with Joyce's brother and sister-in-law, Jack and Luwayne. So all in all, it was a "reach out and touch someone" week. We needed that.

Arriving home Monday, we unloaded the 5th wheel and took a nap!!! Besides the usual little things to take care of (like stacked up mail) we began to work on the "to do" list. The biggy on Joyce's list is to get crafts ready for the day care for September and October. As she sorts thru stuff we are also making a pile for a yard sale. That needs to happen early in September. This means sorting thru the garage which is a scary place! I started with two boxes close by... one for the sale and one for the dump. Lots to go. Want to come help?

Since Joyce rarely reads this blog, I'll let you in on a little secret. September 1 is her birthday. I think we are going to go eat at the Galice Resort and then take in a movie. But that's a week away; we might change our minds. In the mean time we are helping at the church yard sale tomorrow. They had so much stuff left over after the last one that they decided to do another one. Good idea.

Well, now you are caught up with what's happening in my world. What's happening in yours?

Kids, Kids, and Newport

Wow! what a fun time we had with our grand kids. After their Sunriver stint they came to Grants Pass and were with us from Monday afternoon to Friday evening. Korak helped me with some yard work, we spent a little time getting ready for Fir Point, and lots of time with the kids. Josiah got to pick blackberries (all over his fingers, face and clothes!) and got to ride his bike in the street and on the bike path. And... get this... he caught a fish!!! Yes, he did. We went to a fish farm near Cave Junction 'cause we knew he wouldn't have the patience to fish in a lake where he might have to wait hours for a nibble. The guy that runs the place was so good with him. His name was Thomas. He showed him how to cast the line out -- which we had to do for him anyway. And then showed him what to look for. Thomas's fish were hungry. And huge. Josiah's line was out about 10 minutes when the bobber went under and stayed under. Thomas said to be patient and reel slowly to sort of tire the fish out. Josiah did it pretty well even though he was anxious to see the fish. Thomas netted it, mom took videos, Joyce took pictures, dad and grandpa popped buttons, and Josiah was excited. It was the first time he had fished so of course the first fish he had ever caught. It was a 19 inch rainbow trout, about 2 1/2 pounds. He fished for another one but his dad did most of the work in catching that one. We paid by the inch so it was not an economical way to get a fish dinner but it sure was a great way to make a boy happy! It was good eating, too. We barbecued it the next day for dinner. Oh, by the way, grandpa had to clean it!!! Josiah watched but he wasn't going to touch those bloody guts.

They left Friday evening with grandpa and grandma in tears. But then it was down to the serious business of getting all our stuff ready for Fir Point Camp. This is a camp about 25 miles north of Grants Pass that a half dozen or so Free Methodist Churches rent to have a resident camp for kids from grade 3 through grade 6 and from grade 7 through grade 10. The two age group camps run simultaneously. Joyce and I taught the Bible story for the younger group. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work. We had 45 kids divided into three groups so the Bible story rotated with two other events. This is the camp that I directed for a lot of years so it was interesting being there but not being in charge. The only bummer was that Joyce got sick Tuesday evening. It was like a 24-hour flu but she was weak and sore for a couple days afterward. She's fine now.

And "now" is Saturday evening. We are in Newport again to spend a little time with the new pastor. He and I will discuss, talk, plan, and pray together. My job is to "coach" him. Wednesday we will move over to Aldersgate Conference Center near Salem for Family Camp. And home on Sunday.

It just keeps on going on. And so this is my world. Isn't it fun? What's in your world? We love hearing from you.

And Home Again

The last time I wrote we were camped along the Columbia River just north of Vancouver. Josiah loved to watch the big ships go by. We were directly across the river from Columbia City which is just a couple miles north of St. Helens where we lived for 9 years -- and where Jana graduated from high school. A little nostalgia there.

Our trip to the property near Chimacum was slow. We don't travel very far with two little ones without letting them out to run around. We arrived at Will and Anna's property in a slight drizzle Monday late afternoon. Had to put it into 4-wheel drive to get in (to get out also, although it was much drier by then). The weather was great the next 3 days and we had lots of fun visiting and eating. Will brought halibut, king salmon, and red salmon down with him which he barbecued for us. Yum! Absolutely delectable. We all eat too much -- but what is too much when it tastes so good? The next day he barbecued some moose. Again, yum. Soooooo good. The last evening we roasted hot dogs over the fire. They were good but sure a come down from the fish and moose.

Besides Will and Anna, the other people that made our mini reunion so much fun: my sisters Beth and Doris; Doris's husband Bing and daughter Betty, and Beth's son Roy and his wife Twila. Anna's sister and husband and son were also there for a short time. We have scheduled a Mumau family reunion for next summer. More info later.

Oh, where is Chimacum? About 15 miles from Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula. And for all our friends who live up that way and didn't notice when we drove by... I apologize. There just wasn't time to stop. We'll try later, but that later might have to be next summer.

We left Chimacum Thursday about noon and got to Sunriver late afternoon on Friday. Jana's husband Korak arrived at the house they had rented at almost the same time we did. We had dropped off the RV at a friend's house for a night of storage and stayed with Jana and Korak one night. Loved the hot tub! On Saturday we left for home. But we didn't arrive here until Sunday. When we went by Farewell Bend Campground there was a vacant campsite that beckoned to us and we couldn't refuse. So we attended church in Medford on the way through.

Jana, Korak and the kids will arrive here any minute and stay until Thursday. Then Joyce and I will get ready for kids camp next week. So you know what our week will be like. The next blog will either be from camp if I have a connection or from Newport in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

For those who like stats: We traveled 2300 miles the last three weeks, got 11.2 miles per gallon and spent a fortune on diesel. So that is our world. What's in yours?

Having Too Much Fun!

We had a great time at the beach and then off to central Oregon for a week. We stayed at a relative's cabin (house) near La Pine and did some of the tourist things in the area like the High Desert Museum. I went to the RV Rally in Redmond two days and Joyce and the kids went with me one day. Our friends, Mike and Joann joined us and it was a lot of fun.

The kids are a delight but also can tire out these old grandparents. I remember now why young people have the children. This morning we attended church in Madras and are presently at a campground along the Columbia River on our
way to Will and Anna's property on the Olympic Peninsula. We'll get there tomorrow and stay about three days.

The top picture is our campfire at Honeyman State Park. The bottom is Josiah, Jana and I on a dune buggy ride.

So that's what's been happening in my world. What's in yours?

On Vacation

I'm not sure if a retired person really calls time away from home a vacation but I guess that word serves okay. After we returned from Mexico it took three days for us to regain our strength and rest. It seems like we were in a rest-deprived fog. In fact, I had to read the last blog to see what I said. After that, we spent a frantic 4 or 5 days getting ready for the next leg of our summer journey. On Tuesday the 10th we hooked up the RV (the first time since returning from Alaska!) and headed for Salem. We picked up Jana and the kids at Ginger's house and camped at Silver Falls State Park for 2 nights -- hiking down to the falls and generally having a good time. Josiah loves smores made over a campfire.

Then it was off to the coast. We camped one night at Beverly Beach State Park near Newport and are now camped in the church backyard. When we arrived here Thursday, I led a memorial service for the man who had terminal cancer. He had died the previous week. I had the new pastor assist me. Someone estimated that there were about 250 people in attendance -- in a church that barely holds 150. Tomorrow I will do a symbolic "changing of the shepherd" to the new pastor and in the afternoon it is off to Honeyman State Park near Florance. After that we will go to a relative's cabin near La Pine.

Somewhere in there I will probably be able to update again but I suspect the computer connections will be rather sparse.

We are having a great time with Lilly and Josiah. We have done the Aquarium, 2 lighthouses, the beach, the tide pools, a store called Pirate's Plunder, and tried to fly a kite (not enough wind). Until about 6 hours ago the weather in Newport was a balmy 68 to 70 degrees with nice sunshine. Then it clouded up and may rain a little -- or not. Next time I'll try to attach some pictures of the kids -- maybe even of Jana! Maybe even of grandpa and grandma!

But until then that's what is happening in my world. What's in yours?

Ensenada Pictures

Our deck and security fence. The present sanctuary can be seen in the distance. One of the next projects for some group is to take out the big warehouse door on the right and put in a nice entry door with some windows.

This is the wheel chair ramp we added on this trip. Is it too steep? Sorry. It's the best we could do. The building on the left is the parsonage above. The door you can see at the end of the ramp goes into the men's restroom.

This is the view from the gate into the old compound. On the right is the sanctuary, straight ahead is the two-room classroom building, on the right out of the picture is the parsonage building.

Ensenada, Mexico

We're back! Joyce and I (and the Grants Pass group) arrived back in town about 2:00 this afternoon. The trip was great -- tiring, dirty, hot -- but great. Let me back up a bit and explain that this project began about 4 years ago. The Oregon Conference of the Free Methodist Church is helping a small church in a poor section of Ensenada, Mexico expand into a center to serve the neighborhood they are located in. The Conference has purchased (for them) a warehouse next door to the church and individuals and churches in Oregon are transforming it into a larger church building and community center. Grants Pass got involved 3 years ago when I and two other men went down with another church to check it out. Since then we have sheet rocked a small 2-room classroom building, helped remodel the upstairs of a small building for a parsonage, turned the downstairs (the old parsonage) into an office, tool room, and restrooms. We also built an entry porch -- a big deck -- onto the front of the warehouse.

In the past we have taken 12-16 people. This year we had 22 -- a big group considering the limited facilities we had. This included 10 teens. We cooked in a classroom, ate outdoors, the guys slept in the sanctuary, and the ladies in the other classroom and office. It worked okay and we all got along well. The work we did was finish the deck (yea!!!!) by adding safety railing and a handicap ramp. We also put up a security fence and repaired the stairway up to the parsonage. Oh, we also painted the deck. All of this done with no advance drawings, I might add. We just made up plans on the spot and did it. For me, it was it was a new experience because I was NOT in charge. Sometimes it was hard to keep from taking over but I was in charge of building the ramp so that helped keep me occupied.

Last weekend I went to Annual Conference Friday and Saturday, then left for Mexico early Sunday morning. We stayed Sunday night at the church in Los Angeles that Jana attends. Yes, we got to see Josiah and Lilly for a few minutes! We arrived in Ensenada about noon on Monday. No trouble crossing the border going down or coming back. Yesterday we attended the church there (this was the Pastor's last Sunday because he is moving to another church, but this will not be a problem for the project). We stopped for fish tacos going out of town, drove all night except for about 3 hours of sleep in a rest area. Did I say, "sleep?" Have you ever tried to sleep in a van with 10 other people? That one ranks right up there with the worst night I've ever had! But the trip was still good!

And so, that's been my world for the last couple weeks. What's in yours?

What an Ending!

We are home in Grants Pass now -- got in about 9:30 Sunday evening. But this past week... wow! Let me tell you about it. We had a great time Tuesday having breakfast with some friends and touring the Hatfield Marine Science Center. It was a gorgeous day and we walked around outside talking. Then my phone rang. Then it rang again. The first call was from the window people. They wanted to come Wednesday to install the new windows. Okay, no problem. The second call was from the carpet people. They wanted to come Thursday! Thursday!! I tried to talk him into waiting until next week when the house would be empty but they wanted to schedule it NOW. So we packed up and moved into the spare room in the garage. There we sat, me in my recliner working on my sermon, and Joyce on a foam pad reading a book in a little room stuffed with stuff. The carpet people didn't get there until noon so they had to continue their work the next day. But by 3:00 Friday. It looked great. Really great! Since we had to take our bed down we used the air mattress and foam pads and camped out in the living room. It was fun, it really was.

Saturday evening we packed the pickup. When I say packed, you have to read that as "stuffed full to overflowing and then poked back in." We finished packing a few things after church, cleaned the last of the places that needed cleaning, visited a church member who has cancer, and left town about 2:45. The people gave us a little thank you gift and had a cake with a sombrero on it -- sending us off to Mexico (which is next week).

Just for the record, let me say again: these are such great, loving, generous people. We thoroughly enjoyed our 7 months in Newport and will miss seeing everyone. Fortunately we will get to see them once a month for awhile as we go back to Newport to work with the new pastor.

And now, for the next chapter in our lives. We don't know what that will be, except that next week we will go to Mexico with the Grants Pass Church and most of July will be spent with Jana, Josiah, and Lilly. Because of the trip next week, I will have to miss adding a note to the blog, so the next one will be the first part of July when we get back.

And that's what's in my world. What's in yours?