God’s Best

I have to let off steam. Watch out.

Imagine this scenario… a young man grows up exposed to all kinds of Christian influences. He graduates from a Christian high school. He meets a girl who grew up in a Christian church. They get married. But somewhere along the way something goes wrong. They start drinking. The drinking gets out of control. Pretty soon it becomes a habit and they become alcoholics. The drinking gets worse; he beats his wife. She gets a restraining order against him. He spends time in jail. When he makes bail he breaks the restraining order. He refuses to get help for his alcoholism. She informs him she has filed for divorce. He drives to a relative’s house. But he doesn’t make it. He has been drinking again, he is going too fast and he looses control of his car on a curve. He is killed instantly. Tragic.

I went to his memorial service. The minister talked about all his good qualities, what a great Christian he was, and how heaven welcomed him with open arms. Oh yes, he did have a problem but who among us isn’t without sin? So let’s celebrate his life.

Okay, I’m not getting into whether he really is in heaven or not. I’m not the judge; I don’t know about his various commitments and lack of commitments. But as I sat there it suddenly hit me: what a convoluted view of the Christian life! I was being told I can have serious moral issues, those issues can effect my relationship with others, I can keep having those issues without seeking help and still go to heaven because Jesus loves me. The only true statement there is that Jesus loves me.

I can handle this. I’m able to sort this out and I don’t think my relationship with Jesus is going to be damaged. But my thoughts went to the children (there were 3 in the family, one a teenager by a previous marriage). Also to his wife who is struggling with trying to make an effort to begin to change (yes, read some uncertainty in that statement). And to those in attendance who are not Christians. They all heard, “Say a prayer and don’t worry about your personal issues.” “Be a good person who says spiritual things now and then but lifestyle isn’t really important to God.” That’s. Just. Not. Right. Sorry, but I’m opinionated about this.

Let me ask, where is the call to a better life? …to a higher lifestyle? …to strive for excellence? Where is the “if a person is in Christ he/she is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come?” Why am I not hearing “first seek the kingdom of God?” When will we get around to challenging ourselves to be truly “called out.” If you missed it, the first two are references from the Bible: 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Matthew 6:33.

I know there is a school of theology that says if a person becomes a Christian (i.e. accepts Jesus as his/her personal savior) that person is eternally saved no matter what he/she does. There is an opposite view that if the person sins even once – any kind, any degree of abhorrence, against anyone, any time – that person immediately loses his/her salvation. For the record, my belief falls somewhere between these two polar extremes but that is not my issue here. I’m saying there has to be a commitment to a lifestyle standard higher than the norm. The expression might be “live above the world.” Let your life be a witness that Jesus has done something for you. And please don’t tell the children that lifestyle doesn’t matter.

Ok. Now that I’ve spouted off I feel better. It’s just that I’m bothered by cheap Christianity or a Christian life that seems to mean nothing. It’s okay to give me feedback even if you don’t agree.

Now let’s change the subject. I finally got my garden sick installed and working. It sure is handy to wash your hands or clean veggies. The compost bin is close so the tops of things can go right on the pile.

And the rest of the garden… Corn and raspberries.

Tomatoes…

Pole beans to the left and peas somewhere in the green area behind them. They were both removed right after the picture was taken. Kaput for this season.

A little of the bounty.

A couple weeks ago I made zucchini relish. Of course Joyce helped. We got about 9 pints. Then last week I made salsa – about 9 half pints. I’m not sure about the salsa. I think it might be too runny. But it’s okay, I’ll like it. And I’m the only one in the family who likes salsa.

We are in the process – slow process – of cleaning and organizing the garage. This includes my work bench and tools. I vowed to not take on any more projects until I get some organization out there. So that is where we have spent much of our spare time (spare time? What is that?). I’ll let you quite spending your spare time reading this. Now we both can get on to something else. Blessings.

Catching Up

The intent was good. But doing it was, well… delayed. I should have written sooner. The last post left off with a broken car. As it turned out, they totaled my Taurus. Then it was a matter of arguing with the insurance company about value. Without going into the gory details, it is enough to say that they won. Their offer wasn’t too awfully bad but they wouldn’t budge either. So I settled and bought a new car. Here it is.

It is a 1995 Buick Regal. How’s that for going backwards? It has a number of good things going for it. It only has 84,000 miles (only a few more than the Taurus), it is in good shape, the price was right, and – most important – it was my sister’s car. After Doris died, Bing drove it a little but he also had a pickup to drive. Finally he came to the point in his life when he realized he shouldn’t drive anymore and he sold both vehicles. We bought the car Saturday morning, June 8. And that chapter in my life came to a close. Saturday evening the next chapter opened.

Jana, Korak, Josiah, Lilly, and Jeyanthi arrived about 4:30. We were very much looking forward to seeing them again. Phase one of their visit was only 3 days. Monday evening we took them to the airport (in their van) to begin their vacation in Boston. But Sunday afternoon and Monday Korak dug a ditch for me to put in pipe to irrigate my garden. We put part of it in while he was here and then I finished it between rain storms. Ginger went with them on this trip.

While they were gone Joyce and I went to the coast to see the Sand Castle Contest in Cannon Beach. We camped for 3 days at Fort Stevens State Park (extreme NW corner of Oregon) and scouted the area for things to see and do because another camping trip was coming up in July with the grandkids. While we looked around I was invited to participate in firing a cannon at an old artillery battery location near the park. The battery was an army installation during the Civil War and thru WW II that protected the mouth of the Columbia River with giant mortars. I was the powder carrier. There was a certain procedure to follow, part of which required me walk backward so my body protected the cannon powder from enemy fire. To be interpreted: in a real battle I would be the enemy’s favorite target!

The family returned on Wednesday, June 19 minus Korak. He went back to LA to work for a couple weeks. For the next 2 1/2 weeks we did a lot of “family fun stuff” like picking the neighbor’s cherries that hang over onto our side – Josiah helped make a really good cherry tart.

And of course we made several trips to McDonald’s so the kids could climb and slide on the play equipment.

Playing in the water was always fun with most of our daytime temperatures in the high 80s. Jey loved wearing her tutu – even in the water.

Korak returned on the Fourth of July with a family friend. Mason is a year younger than Josiah and we have all kind of adopted him into the family. Sunday afternoon (July 7) we headed for Fort Stevens State Park again for 2 nights of camping. Mason had never been camping before so we had to give him this wonderful Oregon experience. In this picture we have guests who now live in the Portland area but used to live in Los Angeles and attended the same church as Jana and Korak. They came out for Sunday evening to visit. Around the circle (L to R) we have Joyce, Korak, Jana, Jeyanthi, Mason, Josiah, Lilly (almost hid), Judy and Mark.

We also played on the beach, went to Fort Clatsop, and, of course, made smores. The weather was “okay” – temps in the 60 and low 70s but NO RAIN!

Back at home Korak and I raised my shed to put a pressure treated 4x4 under it – hopefully to preserve it for a few more years. This simple chore took us most of 3 days. We found the main 4x6 timbers it was sitting on were rotted so they got replaced. While we were at it we set the whole thing on concrete pier blocks and tried to level it. We didn’t do a perfect job but it is better than it was. Next summer I’ll put a floor in it and have a really good storage shed.

This is not a very good picture of the garden but it does show that things are growing. We have eaten radishes, carrots, zucchini, lettuce, yellow crook neck squash, green beans, and two tomatoes. We have more squash, corn, tomatoes and onions coming.

They all left for home on Saturday the 13th but on Friday we made one last family adventure. This time to Enchanted Forest – a whimsical play land built around children’s nursery rhymes. Here we have the kids at “there was a crooked man who built a crooked house” and the whole gang intent on watching Pinocchio.

The day ended with all of us participating in a Walk for Life in Stayton. This is our friend Joann, Joyce and Donna – a friend from church.

I need to close with these pictures. We made a trip to Picture People for some formal photos. Korak wasn’t back yet but I’d like to share these.

And since I’m writing the blog I must include this picture. Don’t you love it?

Oh, okay. One more picture.

Love ya. Blessings. I’ll try to post sooner next time.

Oh, No!!!

I better take this occasion to catch you all up on the teachers of patience the Lord has been sending my way. First of all I want to state unequivocally that I have NOT been praying for patience. I guess the Lord just thinks I need a reminder. Let me set the stage for you. This will take awhile so get comfortable and read on.

Here goes. For several weeks I have been putting up with a rash on my lower legs and ankles. It has come and gone over the last couple years. One doctor says it is “itchitygimlesdermofunnystufforother.” Or something like that. He says, “Here, fill this prescription and rub the stuff on.” So I have. Maybe it helps. Maybe it is simply time that helps. I don’t know. The problem is that it itches. Let me say that again, IT ITCHES. The salve helps but so does scratching the skin off! It seems to be heat sensitive. More heat, more itching. Less heat, it is somewhat tolerable. So I don’t wear socks over my ankles, and I sleep with my feet uncovered. Yes, they do get cold. Remember that hot weather I mentioned in the last post? The rash started a few days after the warm weather started. The warm weather went away, the itching is going away – very slowly.

I know some of you like pictures so I’ll try to accommodate. Here are my legs. Well, they could be, you know!

Another doctor said it was due to my legs swelling due to the increased blood pressure medication I was taking due to my blood pressure being a little too high. Doctor number one said to do this but warned my legs might swell. I was seeing doctor number two because I had an ingrown toenail that needed to be cut out. Cringe at this point if you want to. WARNING: the following material is for mature audiences only. Reader discretion is advised. Actually the surgery went very well. No pain at all. Injecting the deadening stuff with two shots into the top of my toe and two into the bottom about sent me through the roof. Except he was holding my foot down. After everything was comfortably asleep he took his diabolical looking scissors and cut up my toenail about a quarter inch from the edge. Then he took his needle nose plies, got a good grip on the little strip of nail and pulled it out. It was really funny to watch because I knew it should hurt like… well, like everything. But it didn’t. Then he used his 6-inch cotton swabs to poke some nail-killing stuff up in the spot where my nail used to be. He said that part of the nail would never grow back. Good. So I have been doctoring that spot so it heals without getting an infection. So far, so good.

And here are my toes!!!

Then (see, this goes on and on)… then last week my back started hurting me – down in the lower back. I have had this happen from time to time but it would always go away after two or three days. This isn’t going away (although as I write this it is better). So I have worn a back brace part of the day. I have tried a few patches of IcyHot Medicated Pain Relief. After all, Shaquille O’Neal says it works and he wouldn’t lie to me would he? Actually, it does help. What really helps is standing up or laying down. Sitting is not good (and I’m sitting right now in terrible excruciating pain making a great sacrifice to communicate with you, my faithful dear reader. ((A tear would be appropriate about now.)) You may send donations to my home address).

And this is my back. See where it hurts? Right down there.

So it’s legs itching, toe hurting, back aching…

…and now we come to Sunday last. It was Memorial Day weekend. We had a great worship time at church remembering. Then Joyce and I packed the car and we headed to Eugene. The objective was to clean mom and dad’s grave. In the last post I said a day of rain was coming. Remember that? Well, it has rained ever since. My garden is about to drown. But I digress. It was supposed to be a rainy day so we were prepared with dry clothes to change into and old blankets and towels to put down in the car to protect the upholstery. We went to Creswell first to pick up my sister, Beth. She was house sitting at my niece Betty’s place. Then to the cemetery.

Here I need to draw a mental picture for you. Close your eyes and imagine this as you read. This is an old non-upkeep cemetery. A nonprofit has been formed to mow the grass, clean things up, and keep the gate locked to deter vandalism. Mom and dad are buried in the lower corner near the road. To get there I drove my car in the main gate, then a short ways to a road that went down the hill, then left along the property line where it ends just beyond the grave site. You must understand this is a rural setting and the roads are well-packed gravel with grass growing up in them. The place we parked was at the end of this access road, with trees on the right and the graves on the left. My folks are buried about three rows up. I had brought with me: 5 bags of red lava rock to freshen up what is there, a rake, a shovel, two trowels, a scraper, gloves, rags, three gallons of water, and some bleach to help remove the moss. We were prepared to fix this place up real nice, rain or shine. It was shining. Beautiful day. We are just getting started, I was scraping moss when I heard Joyce say, “What is that car doing?” I heard an engine rev and then a real loud CRASH. I turned around this is what I saw:

I was not angry but I admit I was irritated. I had a small bottle of water in my hand; I threw it to the ground and walked over to the lady who had just gotten out of her car. I didn’t yell at her. Joyce said I asked, “What were you thinking?” I’m thinking she just wasn’t paying attention and backed up too far. She said her foot slipped off the brake and onto the gas (which would account for the revving engine I heard). Her car is a Mercedes SUV. It weighs almost as much as a Sherman tank. With a trailer hitch in the back. She knocked my car at least the length of the car and up onto a pile of dirt at the end of the road.

As you can see she pretty much obliterated the back of my car. My trunk lid was up and a lot of glass you see is from her rear window. The good side: she had two passengers with her and no one was hurt, I was not standing at the back of my car getting something out; she has good insurance; it wasn’t raining which would have made the day miserable, and … now you have to appreciate this … my nephew, Will, who lives in Alaska walked up about 10 minutes after it happened. He was down here visiting and decided to visit the cemetery at just that time. He brought us home and his friend took Beth back to Creswell.

So now my car is in a repair shop. I don’t know yet if they will fix it or total it. I drove my pickup today and will get a rental car tomorrow. And I’m saying, “Okay Lord, you have my attention. Is it patience you are wanting to teach me? Or something else?”

 

The Farm

This is The Farm or as I usually call it, “The South 40.” It is indeed south but not quite 40 acres. However a lot more space than we really need. I’m not sure what we will do with all of it. This view is from our patio.

Has it really been almost 3 weeks? Well, you know the old saying about how “time is what prevents everything from happening at once.” You don’t remember that one? Some wise person thought it up and then wrote it down. But I digress. It has been a good three weeks. We have done what we always do so let’s take a shortcut. Read one of the other blogs and you’ll have it. The end. Good bye. See you next time.

Oh, you wanted more. I can do that. I’ll tell you about our delve into gardening. Several weeks ago Ginger bought two potting trays. Each one had 24 little tiny cloth pots of something similar to peat – they expanded when wet. I wanted to get an early start on our garden (last year it was June before we planted anything) and I didn’t know how long seeds would take to grow. So…

I bought a few packets of seeds, watered the peat, watched it expand and then planted seeds. All kinds of seeds – peas, beans, corn, zucchini, a different kind of zucchini, acorn squash, hubbard squash, summer squash, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, radishes, lettuce, and maybe a few other things. This was about Easter – maybe a little later. I kept the things covered with the plastic lid, kept them watered, put them in the light by the window, watched the moisture form on the lid, and sure enough they began to grow. And grow. And grow. I didn’t know they would sprout like that. I think the soil had a growth additive! We didn’t have the garden ready. It was raining. It was kind of cold. Too soon to plant outdoors. But roots were coming out the sides of the cloth pots, the beans were 6 inches high, the corn about the same. Peas were vining over the side of the table and heading toward the floor. This wasn’t good. They needed something bigger. So we bought the larger 4 inch peat pots and Joyce transplanted the big ones.

All to no avail. By the time the garden was ready the plants had outgrown themselves. The stalks were very spindly and couldn’t hold the weight of the plant and apparently couldn’t let enough nutrients pass through. They died. Oh well, we had lots of seeds (do you realize how many zucchini you could harvest from one package of seeds?!!). We planted again. This time the plants were ready the same time as the garden. And they made it into the ground. A side note here: the carrots, radishes, lettuce, and cauliflower didn’t respond to the starting pots. When we planted the garden their seeds were put into the ground. Same with the peas. And all are doing well. Take a look

I built one more raised bed this spring so we have four. They are 4 feet by 8 feet. I’m sure we have some things planted too close together, but oh well. The wimpy looking things in the closest bed are onion starts.

The tomatoes and corn are in the ground at the east side of the South 40. There are five tomato plants and about 24 corn hills. The corn is an experiment to see if it will really produce anything. I welcome any hints.

We got some squash and the tomatoes from a friend. We bought the cabbage plants and a cucumber.

The dark line in the middle right is where the raspberries will go. My blueberries will also go in here somewhere. All the dirt in the foreground is “extra” land. I don’t know what we will do with it.

Our biggest problem is that this is the dirt dug out from where Ginger’s house is and it is full of clay. I have tilled enriched top soil into it and will keep doing that each year but for now, there might be too much clay – especially for the tomatoes and corn. The raised beds are in pretty good shape.

I finally got a compost box built. I couldn’t find any pallets (four of them make a nice box) so I used the scrap stuff I had. I know the plywood won’t  last for very many years but it will do for awhile. I cut holes in it for air circulation. The large board at the bottom comes out to turn the stuff over and to get at the composted dirt.

If all this stuff grows and produces please come and take some. Please! PLEASE!! We’ll be overtaken by garden produce. The project I’m working on now is getting irrigation to all this so we don’t have to drag a hose around.

Depending on where you live you might be aware that we have had over two weeks of summer-like weather. A few days were even into the 80s. Monday it is supposed to rain and then back to sunny weather. No one knows (but everyone is prognosticating) what this means for later spring and summer. It will, no doubt, be a bad fire season.

So to close, here is one last picture. This is my mom’s wash tubs. I remember they were set up by the washing machine either in the kitchen or on the back porch. Mom (when I was older she let me do it) would run the washed clothes through the wringer and into the first tub of fresh rinse water. They would be swooshed around by hand and then the wringer would swing over above the divider and the clothes would go from tub one to the second rinse. Then, one more wringing into the basket and off to the clothes line.

Event After Event

Good evening. Since last we met a lot of time has gone by. Not without event, however. Life never gets boring around the ol’ homestead. A couple of things are worthy of note.

Joyce and I joined the Courthouse. Not because I have so many speeding tickets that it seemed wise to “join them rather than try to beat them.” In fact it’s not that Courthouse – not the one with the flag out front. Not too far from our house is a physical fitness/gym-type place with that name. We joined because we need the discipline of exercising our tired and worn bodies in a constructive manner. And our insurance pays for it. They have an insidious way to get you involved right from the beginning. If a new victim (i.e. client) attends 8 classes in the first month the company will wave the enrollment fee. No problem, eh? That’s only two a week. And so we embarked.

Silver and Fit seemed like a good baptism. The attentive reader will, at this point, recognize the connection to those with hair turning lighter shades of age. Of course we can go at our own pace. Which means sitting in chairs. After all the man in the wheelchair in front of us does. And the 92 year old lady does – sometimes. The instructor simply had us reach high, reach out, reach down – and while doing that move the left foot out, the left foot in, the right foot out, the right foot in (now do the hokey-pokey – no, no, no; that wasn’t part of it). After class I recognized muscles that had not introduced themselves in quite a while.

The next class of the week was water aerobics. Those would help Joyce’s knee problem. What can be so hard about doing that? Right? Do you realize how much resistance the water can put on your body when you are reaching high and low and putting left feet in and out? Well, you will after an hour of it. But the good news is we are sticking with it. We have two more classes this week. Actually we would be done except for the second thing that is worthy of note.

A senior couple in our church decided to move to Kansas. Their’s is a long story and we will miss them terribly but this is probably a good move. However they lived in their house here for 48 years and decided to pack and move in two weeks. They are wonderful people but obviously haven’t moved much so grasped only dimly the enormity of packing a large house, loading a truck and moving across the country. I am happy to report that they are now there and comfortably (I assume) moved in. In the meantime, we and many people from the church switched into rescue mode and helped them pack and clean. The small pod he was going to load everything into became a U-haul truck, then a U-haul with a trailer, and finally two U-haul trucks. He found a couple guys to drive them, they dodged the storms and the move went reasonably well. But there went a lot of our hours and consequently a couple of Courthouse classes. But people are worth it.

I must mentioned a third worthy event. In a moment  of  weakness I agreed to teach an Adult Sunday morning class on the Gospel of Mark beginning next Sunday. However, to kick this class off in grand style I taught a Mark Overview class last night. This was part of our Learning For Life that happens once a month for. It is amazing how much time had to go into preparing 2 hours of material (the class period can be as long as 3 hours). This was background information and looking at a few things in detail without taking away from the weekly classes.

I know there are no pictures this time. Just imagine Joyce and I sweating to the oldies (that’s not a pretty picture) and packing box after box after box (and that’s pretty boring). I’ll try harder next time.

Busy

There sure is a lot to do at home. I told Joyce that while we were at Catalina working at the SIL Center it seemed we were single-minded, one focus. Our task was to do our job at the Center. No other worries; no other responsibilities. Yes, I know that is a little understated. But we really did little else unless we wanted to. Now at home we go many different directions. The single focus has been replaced with many things – people to visit, house to take care of, yard to mow, garden to prepare, trees to spray, doctors to visit, etc. And so on. Maybe the optimum word is “responsibility.”

I’m not complaining, understand. This is life, real life, here where we live everyday. Snow birding in Arizona, even with the good of voluntary work, is temporary. The whole idea of going there – of going anywhere, going on vacation – is to become as single-minded as possible. We use the term “to get away.” The idea is to leave the responsibility behind. If only for a little while.

So we are back to responsibility. Since getting back home I (or Joyce and I) have visited 6 people, had lunch or dinner 7 times with a total of 31 people, attended 3 staff meetings and one Senior Adult Potluck. I also wrote the monthly Senior Adult Newsletter and got it printed. All of this revolves around my “responsibility” as Minister to Senior Adults. Then of course there were things around the house to do and the general  stuff of life – like visiting our insurance agent and getting my tax stuff over to the accountant, i.e. responsibility.

Okay, quit laughing. I’m being responsible and dressing for the occasion. It was a St. Patrick’s Day potluck and this was the closest to a green hat I could find. The picture below shows Joyce being responsible and visiting with some of our Seniors. The javelina picture projected on the wall is the introduction to a little presentation I did about our jobs in Catalina.

Here’s a fun responsibility we are now into. The other day we joined the Courthouse Athletic Club. On the plus side we both need the discipline of doing some healthy workouts and… our insurance pays for it. The joining fee is waived if we attend 8 classes in the first month. So we went to “SilverStrength” yesterday. It is for those “silver haired” folks among us. It lasted one hour and I knew I had had a workout. It will  be good for us. Tomorrow we are  going to a water exercise class and then sit in the hot tub.

Maybe it is because Easter comes so early this year or maybe it is because I’m no longer responsible for Holy Week activities but it just doesn’t  seem like Easter. Maybe it will tomorrow with the church Easter egg hunt and the Easter Sunday breakfast and worship.

But anyway… Happy Easter.

Home

We arrived home – Salem, that is, at 4:00 Sunday afternoon after 7 days, 1,560  miles, 6 camping spots, and 150 gallons of diesel. No incidents along the road and it seemed the Lord prepared the way before us. We came to many spots of damp pavement but only a very little rain on Tehachapi Pass. We fought some wind Monday night and Tuesday morning and discovered they issued high wind warnings later Tuesday after we had passed on. It was a long trip, but good. We listened to 3 stories on tape or CD.

Monday we left Jim and Joyce’s about 10:00. The first obstacle was getting around the corner. The road in and out is basically one way and a construction crew had been working on the gas lines for about a week. There was always room to squeeze by but the day we left they decided to dig up the corner where I needed to make a wide turn. This picture shows how tight it was getting by.

Just as we got on the highway – about 4 miles from Jim’s house – we heard a click, click, click sound. Joyce and I wondered about it and thought we would check on it as soon as a good stopping place appeared. Then it got louder and louder so I pulled over immediately. We looked and looked but couldn’t find any problem. Then Joyce said, “What’s this?” I looked at the right front tire to see a piece of black electrical tape on the tread with one end loose. It was click-clacking away as the wheel revolved. I’m sure it would have eventually flown off.

We drove a “whole” 3 or 4 hours to Wickenburg, northwest of Phoenix and got a place in Desert Gardens RV Park. The purpose was to meet Marilyn and Joy Griffith, friends from our Grants Pass days. They now live in Prescott so they drove down and we spent the afternoon talking and eating dinner together.

Tuesday we drove on up Highway 93 to I-40 then west to Kingman (one last stop at a Cracker Barrel for lunch!) and on into California. In Barstow we turned onto Highway 58. Our stop for that night was at Boron, CA. in the Arabian Trailer Oasis. Be impressed by the name, not the ambiance. However, for $20 it served the purpose of getting us off the road for the night. The wind blew but we were snuggled in. Boron, population 2,200, is known for the Borax mine located a few miles away.

The next day we were on the road early. It was a big 11 hour day. Over the Tehachapi Pass, thru Bakersfield, up highway 99, over to I-5 at Manteca, and on north to Corning. The Olive Pit is always our stop in that part of the country. We dry camped in their back parking along with a couple other RVs and a truck or two.

Thursday it was on to Grants Pass to visit with friends and park in Mike and Joann’s front yard. We had a great visit with them and a couple other people plus lunch with Don and Myrna, Joyce’s brother and sister-in-law. Friday we headed to Elmira (west of Eugene) to see my sister, Beth. We stayed there two nights visiting with her and Roy and Twyla, her son and daughter-in-law.

We went with her to church Sunday and then into Eugene to have lunch at Papa's Pizza with another of Joyce’s brothers. This time it was Jack and Luwayne along with Brandon and Megan and family and Katelyn. Bandon is Jack and Luwayne’s son. Katelyn is Joyce’s grand-niece from Alaska. She attends college in Seattle and was down visiting a friend during spring break.

And then it was off for home. As so this winter adventure draws to an end. I spent most of last evening sorting thru mail. It’s amazing how much junk mail a guy can get! And how much there is to catch up on.

I will continue to blog but perhaps not quite as often. So until next time… blessings.

The Tucson moon taken thru Jim and Joyce’s telescope.

Ahhh, Heat

I’m hot. Well, actually I’m warm. But yesterday was a beautiful, glorious, wonderful, very WARM day. Close to 80*. So nice. We have traversed through rain, sleet, snow, wind, and the dark of night to reach this point. Today wasn’t as warm but still very nice. And now, Monday we leave for home!!! What’s wrong with this picture… as soon as it gets warm in Arizona we leave for wet, cold, windy, Oregon? Hmmm?

Here’s my final report on keyboarding. Doreen and I finished the Mixteco Jamiltepec and then corrected it. She and I typed in this entire Old Testament summary. Isn’t that impressive? I guess I have to confess that it is only 95 pages, well, half pages because the bottom half is Spanish and we didn’t do that part. And a lot of the 95 pages were pictures. But it is fun to say, “I did that.”

While we were doing all that, portions of the Nahuatl were being finished by other keyboarders. After which they started a new translation of about 400 pages. I only typed about one page just to see what it was like. So in the 6 weeks I was keyboarding, one translation was finished just as I arrived, we did three, and a fifth one was started.

Wednesday we attended a potluck for the volunteers from Oregon. There are about 20 – I’m not sure of the exact number but Oregon is well represented among the states. There are two couples from Salem and 3 of the keyboarders are from Oregon.

Thursday was the Appreciation Dinner for the volunteers. This is put on by Wycliffe staff (i.e. not volunteers). They did a fantastic job from the decorations, to the food, to the program. We truly felt appreciated. By the way, there are about 150 volunteers here – the last couple weeks we were at the peak. But some leave earlier and some come later so at least 200 volunteers are here sometime during the winter. At chapel they give a little gift bag to those who are leaving. Thursday was the last day for about 35 of us! Big departure day.

Yesterday Jim and I went with about a dozen other Wycliffe people to hike in Oracle State Park. What a beautiful hike! Beautiful day, beautiful scenery. We did the 1.6 mile hike up (noticed I said, UP) to the highest point in the park. A short picnic lunch and Jim and I headed back home because he had a previous engagement for mid-afternoon.

On the way up.

From the top looking at the valley below.

Just to prove we were really there. The beauty of the Arizona desert is certainly different from the beauty of the Oregon mountains.

This old guy had seen better years but now he just stood there and let us enjoy his decaying beauty. I’m speaking of the tree, not Jim.

Here is our group eating lunch. Some of them went on to tour the old ranch house that was home to the man who claimed 50,000 acres of this land. The park is just a small part of that ranch.

Tomorrow we leave for Oregon but it will take us several days to get to Salem. We have some stops along the way to visit family and friends. I suppose the next blog post will be from home but I’m not sure what day. Think of us. Pray for us. And blessings to each of you from Arizona.