Day by Day by Day

The Low-Down on Hood to Coast

2009-08-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

The 197 mile (317 km) Hood to Coast course consists of 36 legs, of which each team member must run at least three in rotation. The legs vary in length from 3.52 miles (5.66 km) to 7.79 miles (12.53 km), and the terrain for each leg can vary from level terrain to steep uphills and/or downhills. Consequently, a runner may total between 13.61 miles (21.90 km) and 19.68 miles (31.67 km). Teams in Hood to Coast must complete the course within a 31 hour time limit (an average team pace of 9 minutes 30 seconds per mile).

2007 Portland to Coast traffic at night on Highway 202 near Mist.

Start times on Friday are staggered between 6:30 a.m. and 6:45 p.m. in waves of approximatley 20 teams every 15 minutes.^[6] Teams are computer seeded based on self-reported 10K times for each team member's submitted roster. Thus the flow of teams through the 36 exchange points and finish line are even, with all teams finishing the race by the closing time of 9 p.m. on Saturday.^[7]

The course starts at Timberline Lodge at the 6,000-foot (1,800 m) level of Mount Hood, and proceeds down Timberline Road to Government Camp. This first leg drops 2,000 feet (610 m) in elevation over about 6 miles (9.7 km); the next two legs from Government Camp to Rhododendron have a combined elevation drop of 2,300 feet (700 m) over about 10 miles (16 km).

Runners proceed west along U.S. Route 26 to the towns of Sandy and Gresham, where the route proceeds along the Springwater Corridor to the Sellwood neighborhood in southeast Portland. The route then proceeds north through city streets and crosses the Hawthorne Bridge west into downtown Portland.

After crossing the Hawthorne Bridge, runners proceed north along Naito Parkway in downtown Portland along the west bank of the Willamette River and onto U.S. Route 30 to St. Helens. From there onward, the route passes through hilly rural and sometimes unpaved backroads through the communities of Mist and Birkenfeld on the way to the finish line in Seaside.

The Portland to Coast Walk Relay and the High School Challenge Relay follow the last 24 legs (127 miles) of the course, starting from the Hawthorne Bridge in downtown Portland. Each participant in these relays walk or run at least two legs in rotation.

[edit] Logistics and atmosphere

Each twelve-person team is allowed two vehicles no larger than a standard-sized van. While the vans generally follow the race course in support of their runners, certain narrower portions of the course require one van to make a detour to alleviate traffic congestion. Teams usually give themselves funny or original names and decorate their vehicles according to a theme. Race organizers announce the winners for best team name, best van design, best team outfit, and outstanding volunteer, (as voted by teams) at the PTC Awards Ceremony, Saturday evening, and on the HTC website.^[8]

Teams are expected to provide their own provisions, including food and water, and to ensure their own safety; there are no promised aid stations or police protection on the course,^[9] nor is there prize money for the winners. ^[10] However, local schools and churches along the route provide sleeping areas, food, and showers at nominal cost to participants as fundraisers. Teams compete in divisions based on gender (men, women, and mixed) age (based on the age of the youngest participant) or corporate sponsor.

All teams that include at least one member living within a 90-mile (140 km) radius of Portland are required to provide three volunteers to ensure adequate personnel at turns and exchanges along the course race.

A Good Example

2009-08-24T07:47:00.001-07:00

Last Friday my mom called to say that she was feeling well and wondered if she and Dad could come and stay overnight with us. They like to do this from time to time because from our house it is only a short drive to San Francisco. They enjoy spending the day there, and this particular time Mom was looking forward to trying out her new "Sidewalk Warrior", her motorized scooter. Sometimes they plan to come and Mom doesn't feel well enough, so when she is having a good day it makes sense to get in the car and go.

Early Saturday morning I got up to go and have my quiet time in the living room and guess who was already there! My dad was there. He was meeting with the Lord and thinking through some things he has been writing. He immediately began to share with me the lessons the Lord has brought to his mind for this project and I was so blessed to hear about it.

I can hardly express the joy I felt when I saw my dad sitting so near my quiet time spot. He is the one who first taught me how to have a quiet time simply by doing it himself. I have so many memories of finding him sitting quietly with his Bible in his lap, deep in prayer when I got up in the morning. There were so many nights that we knew he got up to pray while we were sleeping and then returned to bed for a little more rest before he went off to work. His vigilence in personal prayer and the study of God's word have been foundational to the health and well-being of our whole family. We have depended upon his prayers and spiritual leadership as he has depended upon the Lord.

It is no wonder that I think of God as loving and faithful. No wonder I never doubt that he is with me in all the circumstances of my life. I have had my dad as an example of these things and his life has created the portrait of the Heavenly Father that fills my heart.

Perhaps best of all, whenever I come upon Dad in his meetings with God there is always such a peace and joy about him that it makes me want to know God myself. No matter how tough life has gotten for our family, no matter what depths of sorrow we faced, my dad in his quiet time moments has shown us that there is authentic joy in the Lord. One of the many notes Dad pinned to the refrigerator door some years ago pretty well sums it up:

Joy is the flag that flies over the heart when the Master is in residence.

That is the legacy of relationship with God that I crave. That is one of the reasons I get up to meet the Lord every day myself.

Thanks, Dad, and thank you, God for shaping this man to lead our family.

Good News from Central Asia

2009-08-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

Bern and I received an encouraging note from Woody Busse this week. His wife Barbara was instrumental in taking us to Central Asia in 2006 where we taught Biblical Peacemaking for two weeks. The following is a report from the Presbyterian Church USA Missions prayer guide about results from the work we did there. God certainly blessed that short time among the people, many of whom are of another faith but who were willing to receive biblical truth.

Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study, Friday, August 21
Republics of Central Asia

Rashid felt torn. For the past several days he and his colleagues at a development organization in Tajikistan had been participating in a workshop on biblical conflict resolution taught by a team from a Presbyterian church in California. During the workshop, they had learned practical biblical principles and skills for dealing with personal conflict. Rashid was one of the few Christians on a mostly Muslim staff, and he felt the Holy Spirit tugging on his heart to deal with a conflict with a colleague.

All kinds of excuses came to his mind - it happened a long time ago; most people in the office don't even know about it; this isn't the right time or place. But God spoke to his heart: "If not now, when?" So Rashid stood and announced he wanted to apologize for disrespecting his colleague several months previously.

As he was speaking, the other man stood up and received his apology and the relationship was healed. Over the next weeks, several other staff members experienced reconciliation in strained relationships as they put what they learned into practice.

Yusuf realized for the first time how he had contributed to a feud that had been going on for years. He realized that his negative thoughts toward a neighbor had kept him from seeing anything positive about him. So he decided to invite the neighbor to a party at his home where they ate and talked together. In Tajik culture, eating with someone is a sign of friendship and acceptance, and through this act the two were reconciled. As a result of these experiences, staff members began insisting that this training be shared with other villages, and they incorporated it into their project proposals.

Gracious and loving God, may the Prince of Peace reign in our hearts and in the hearts of the people of Tajikistan. Help us to be effective peacemakers in our personal relationships as well as in the larger conflicts throughout the world. Amen.

Katie and Teresa take a walk down the aisle

2009-08-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

From Katie and Andrew Koetsier's wedding, July 25, 2009

Make Friends with a Lonely Atheist

2009-08-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

This morning I read a story about atheists who have decided that atheism should be more than a stance, it should be a cause they promote. I can understand them doing this because atheism must be a lonely experience, all in all. They naturally would like to build around themselves a community of others who feel the way they do.

Who wants to be the only one in his neighborhood with his fingers in his ears, shouting "blah, blah, blah" at all the stuff about God that surrounds him and his family? It would be so much more comforting to take the kids to atheist camp and sing songs of free thought around the campfire, songs like "Don't kum byah, non-existent Lord, don't kum byah".

The most interesting thing I saw in the article was words that are on a billboard the atheists put up. It said,

"Being a good person doesn't require God.

Don't believe in God?

You're not alone!"

I would dispute the "not alone" part because I think that not believing in God probably leads to loneliness on a profound and cosmic level. However, much more interesting and thought-provoking to me is the question of what they mean by "good person". By what standard do they evaluate what a good person is? I think they would probably point to the good works they do, but why are those considered good?

I went to an atheists' website and saw lots of pictures of atheists picking trash up by the highway and going on walks for cancer cures. Why is that good? It looks like a lot of time-wasting, sweaty activity that leads to sore muscles. Yet they believe they are good people who don't need God because they do these things that benefit other people.

How did that standard for good come to be? It must have come from someplace outside of themselves because left to themselves with no outside influences to make them think better of it, people generally would not put on a silly orange vest and stab filthy trash all day while cars rushed by just inches from their elbows. Yet, there they are in the picture with piles of black trash bags in front of them.

If I could sit one of those good atheists down and have a friendly talk, I would ask her where she got her idea of "good". She might attribute it to the general knowledge that all people have in their hearts about what is right or wrong. She might say that over the course of human evolution people have learned what works and what doesn't for our survival. Doing nice things for each other contributes to the perpetuation of the species. But why care about that if we all only have one shot at life? Who cares about the perpetuation of the species? Once an atheist's life has poofed out, why would she care if even the whole world comes to an end?

I think that my hypothetical atheist friend probably does good works, not to help perpetuate the species, but out of concern for the quality of her own life. Maybe she lives in fear; fear of being ostracized from other people, fear of not being remembered well, fear of bad "karma". The very thing she criticizes God-believers for doing, acting out of fear (in this case, of God), is what she does.

No matter who is determining what is "good", good has to be measured by some set of standards. Unfortunately for atheists, the generally agreed upon standards were first recorded a long time ago in the Bible. In fact, they were recorded so long ago, so early in human experience, they didn't have time to evolve with the species. The most sophisticated and perfect instructions in good behavior were originally handed down to tribal people who were "not a people" yet. The Israelites, who became a "people" as a result of the laws they received. Then they published the law of their God, the world had its standards for goodness.

It is hard on atheists to try and prove they are good without God. Any good thing they can think of to do, He already thought up. He authored the Book of Goodness. So, maybe they can be good people and pretend the Book is useless and the Author isn't there, but it seems silly. Most of us know better than to think up something that doesn't exist and spend our lives protesting and trying to demonstrate its non-existence.

If there is a very high percentage of the populationwho claim to have a personal relationship with God, and their claims have persisted since the dawn of time, there may be something to it. My sympathies go out to atheists who disagree so vehemently with those claims. It is hard to keep on saying to believers "No, you don't have a relationship with God. He doesn't exist!" and then have them all look back at you like you are crazy.

No wonder they're lonely.

Healthy Food?

2009-08-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

This is the carrot I could not eat for lunch today. ..too much like a severed finger. It went straight to the compost pile.

ACT-ion Figures

2009-08-04T14:08:00.000-07:00

I saw this on the plane from Chicago to Denver. It's quite amazing and it made me think of my action figure loving family members. Very interesting story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZGZZlM-AJo

Happy Birthday, Matt!

2009-07-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

Matthew's birthday is today and we got to go and celebrate by having brunch with him and Stephanie at La Note in Berkeley. Mmmm...they know so many wonderful places to eat.

In fact, Matt knows so much about so many things that I count on him to bring me up to date on all the things I need to know. He sees what is happening the world and puts his observations to work, seeing patterns and developing trends across the globe. He is always ahead of the curve of emerging technology, but he also sees the direction corporations and governments are going and is incredible at predicting outcomes. He is an "early adopter" of new technology and always ready to maximize its uses, but he is also an accurate analyst when it come to understanding the weaknesses in that technology. He is amazing! Time with Matt always leaves me staggered by the insights he has into what is happening in the world today.

However, Matt's greatest virtues lie not with his intellectual brilliance, but with what you see in his face in these pictures. He is a loving man with a devoted wife. He is fiercely loyal to all of the people he cares about, whether they are family or friends (he said he would "kill" for his niece Susannah should she ever need his services as a bodyguard). He is generous and loving.

He is passionate about the things that matter to him--politically, socially and especially in matters of justice--but people matter to him more than anything else. Even stupid people matter to him because every person, like every event in the news, is part of the whole pattern of life. Matt wants us all to get up to speed and work together for good outcomes. I am very proud to be his mother.

Here is a birthday prayer for Matthew:

May the coming year be Matt's year to shine--

more than ever before!

May he find success and prosperity in every part of his life.

May all of his dreams come true

and may this be his happiest year of his life.

God bless my son, Matthew.

Amen.

Poems for My Mom and Dad

2009-07-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

Here are two poems I framed for my mom and dad's anniversary gift:

A Great Man and His Heart
If these walls could talk,
they would speak of a man
Who has worked with great heart
To accomplish his plan.
They’d speak of the times
That he’s prayed in the night
For the strength to go on
And to do what is right.

They’d speak of sweet moments
Of laughter and fun,
The times with his children,
His love for each one.
Oh, if they could talk,
It would just be the start
Of a story of love,
A great man and his heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are All the Children In?
I think oft-times as the night draws nigh
Of an old house on the hill.
Of a yard all wide and blossom-starred
Where the children played at will.
And when the night at last came down,
Hushing the merry din,
Mother would look around and ask,
“Are all the children in?”

‘Tis many and many a year since then,
And the old house on the hill
No longer echoes to childish feet,
And the yard is still, so still.
But I see it all, as the shadows creep,
And though many the years have been
Since then, I can hear mother ask,
“Are all the children in?”

I wonder if when the shadows fall
On the last short, earthly day,
When we say good-bye to the world outside,
All tired with our childish play,
When we step out into that Other Land
Where mother so long has been,
Will we hear her ask, just as of old,
“Are all the children in?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The poem for my dad was on a card my sister gave him some years ago. The poem for Mom is one she often mentions to me. It reminds her of her own mother who literally spent the last 45 minutes of her life praying that all of her children, grandchildren and the succeeding generations would make it home to Heaven and be with her.

60 Years of Life and Love

2009-07-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

Vern and Wilma Carson's 60th anniversary party, July 4th, 2009

July 9, 1949, my mom and dad got into my dad's car and started a drive to Lake Tahoe for a romantic honeymoon. Along the way they stopped at a little Baptist church in Lodi, California, where they found the pastor in his study preparing his sermon for the next day. They asked if he would marry them and he agreed as long as they would bring along a couple of witnesses. They hurried back to collect my Aunt Doris and her husband Fran and then got married at 4:00 p.m. The two couples went out to dinner, after which they parted company so that Mom and Dad could get on to that honeymoon. Somewhere there is an old scrapbook that has photos from that week of happiness. It's black background pages are illustrated with white ink Dad used to depict the beautiful moonlight they saw dancing on the lake each night.

I think they might have had the right idea; keep the ceremony brief and save your energy for the honeymoon.

Now they have been married for 60 years. Some people might have doubted whether a marriage that started so impulsively, between a 16 year old and a 20 year old, could last, but they have beaten the odds. They have not only stayed together for six decades, they have loved each other vigorously through all of them. Even now they celebrate their love every day. It is the centerpiece of their home and life together, the source of the peace and harmony they live in and the wellspring of much of the laughter they share. Visitors can't be around them very long without seeing that these two people love each other very much.

My parents have shown me how to get through life. They have known extreme grief as well as extreme joy. They have been forced to press on through countless challenging circumstances and they have stayed together, working as a team even when they weren't sure what to do next. Their pattern has been to move closer to each other whenever circumstances threatened to blast them apart.

They have been loved, admired, taken for granted and, yes, aggravated by their big family over the years. Their response to conflict has been to re-establish loving relationships as quickly as they could. They believe family is meant to be together and they can't rest when there is any kind of separation. They love having their family together. They think and talk about each family member so much that all of us are actually present with them every day. They fret over the ones they don't see or hear from often enough. They worry and pray. They also brag and speak with amazement about how remarkable they think each of us is.

There is not enough room here for me to talk about how much I have learned from my parents and how richly they have blessed my life. They are present in every part of me. I don't like to think that there will ever be a time when I have to travel through life without them. When they leave for Heaven I know that some of the wind that has filled my sails is going to die away.

I am grateful for every day that I have with them. Visiting them is always a joyful homecoming for me, a return the rich environment that gave me my start in life. We laugh together, we tell stories and catch up on the news; sometimes we cry and pray together. We look at old and new pictures and revisit old and new memories. I can never get enough of it.

I wish my mom and dad a happy anniversary this July 9. I hope they have many more, but I am glad to have shared this one with them and seen the joy and contentment of their faces as they gazed upon the family gathered around them. I saw that they were indeed blessed--by those to whom they have been a tremendous blessing.

Susannah!!!!

2009-06-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

Susannah is one year old today! Knowing her has been a tremendous surprise because I did not anticipate the incredible, unconditional love I feel for this little girl. I don't know if there is a purer or less complicated love on earth than what a grandparent feels for her grandchild. So much love, so little responsibility! Our only job is to adore her, pray for her and celebrate her.

**************************************************************************

Here is something I read in "The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime" by Phyllis Tickle this morning:

"That which we have heard and know,

and what our forefathers have told us,

we will not hide from their children.

We will recount to generations to come

the praiseworthy deeds and power of the LORD,

and the wonderful works he has done.

That the generations to come might know,

and the children yet unborn,

that they in their turn might tell it to their children;

so that they might put their trust in God,

and not forget the deeds of God,

but keep his commandments."

Excerpts from Psalm 78:3-8, Jerusalem Bible

~~~0~~~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUSANNAH!!

We love you so much!

Blintzed

2009-05-30T10:43:00.001-07:00

Saturday morning pancakes, post FA Final (Chelsea vs. Everton).

Unbelievably tasty strawberries with just a bit of sugar.

One satisfied fan.

Blintz Pancakes

Sift together 1 cup of sifted all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Add 1 cup plain yogurt, 1 cup small curd cottage cheese and 4 well-beaten eggs. Stir just till combined. Bake on hot, greased griddle. Stack cakes and serve with fresh berries. Yummm!

Road to Recovery - Day 3 after surgery

2009-05-30T10:38:00.001-07:00

Good weather.

Good books.

Good tea.

Good stuff to look at. We think it is all helping Bern on the road to recovery.

Thanks for the Visit

2009-05-21T15:29:00.001-07:00

Golden "Great" Bridge

Bridge to Pier 39
Wente Winery in Livermore

Sisters.

Action Jackson

2009-05-21T14:44:00.000-07:00

Telling America what it's all about.Riding the Pier 39 Carousel
Working on a prop for his next adventure video.

One night Jackson vacuumed the crumbs off his bed--the most creative reason for why he couldn't get to sleep before midnight.

Visiting the "Golden Great Bridge" with Mum and Lucy.

We Love Lucy

2009-05-21T14:39:00.001-07:00

Jelly Fish Love

2009-05-21T14:30:00.000-07:00

I can't help sharing this underwater visual symphony.

Coolest fish at the Monterey Aquarium

2009-05-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

This is a Dragon Sea Horse. So cool! You can see its head pointed down toward the left and its body curves upward. They spend their lives camoflaged as sea weed.

Good thing my Dad taught me how to drive...

2009-05-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

Rebekah, Lucy and Jackson meet their first Sheriff. Jackson was most impressed by finding himself face to face with a real gun in its holster.

I hit this box-spring mattress at 65 mph just after changing into the center lane on Hwy 101 north. Because I had just changed lanes, I knew I had cars on my right and left and close behind me, so I had to drive on through. Following the impact I looked over my right shoulder and, miraculously, saw a gap in the traffic through which I eased the car onto the shoulder of the highway. The car was handling really rough and making a lot of dragging noise, I so I said to Rebekah, "I think we have a flat."

She jumped out to comfort Jackson who was getting pretty worked up in the back seat, then she called out to me that the mattress was still under the car and might catch fire. Seconds later I was across the front seat, out the passenger side door and had Lucy out of her car seat and in my arms. We moved down the embankment as far as we could and were able to see that the car was not catching fire. Then a sheriff (or deputy sheriff) arrived and let me use his flashlight to call AAA. We also talked to Bern who made his way back to us with Jan in his car. (We had too many people for one car, so he had driven his Lexus and I was following him).

1 1/2 hours later the tow truck lifted my car off the mattress which immediately sprung back open and got shoved the rest of the way off the road. My car was fine, another miracle.

The next morning in my Quiet Time I gave heartfelt thanks that everything turned out the way it did. Then I realized that not only had I safely gotten my car out of a sticky situation, but had also cleanly removed the hazard from the highway. So who's prayers for safety was God really answering in that moment, ours or those of someone traveling behind us? It doesn't matter. It was God's will for things to go the way they did.

I also realized that we came very close to a very different outcome from this accident. It was sobering to think that if something worse had happened, I would still have been required to give thanks to God who is sovereign over all things in my life. The real test of my faith is in being willing to acknowledge Him as Lord in all things, even the outcomes that I don't prefer. The passengers in my car that evening know this even more intimately than I do. For their sake and the sake of their family, I was grateful that we were surrounded by grace and protection in those crazy moments on the highway.

Lego toys take a bath

2009-05-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a lot of years in the dark container in the garage.

First step, into lingerie bags and a wash on the delicate cycle.

Then out to the garden to dry...

and stretch out in the sun.

(Note the cheerful little fellows in the lower left corner who have been through the wars).

Done.

2009-05-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

The garage is clean and organized now.

Almost everything you see belongs to one of our kids.

Fun stuff to look at, but a bear to organize!

What to do with these bears...

2009-05-05T10:24:00.000-07:00

I have been cleaning the garage for two days (!). There are dozens of boxes of carefully preserved toys, school papers, journals and child-sized artwork. Among the stuff I have been trying to make decisions about are these bears. I thought I would tell their stories while I think it through.

When Andrew turned three years old, Grandma Carson sent him money to buy a teddy bear. He and I went shopping and he looked and looked until he found the biggest bear in the store. It was nearly as tall is he was.

It came home and joined Raggedy Andy who had been a birthday present the year before. Raggedy Andy has held up well because he has always had a place in the house, but Bear has been moved around a lot and gotten pretty dusty and battered. He was Andrew's constant companion for a few years in those early days.

These three guys belonged to Jonathan. The first one was a Christmas present from me when Jonathan was one month old. The second one was a gift from friends when he was born. The third one joined up a little while later, maybe as a gift from visiting grandparents. The distiction these bears have is that they starred in a story I wrote for Jonathan when he was about three years old. He was into destroying his room everyday at nap time and after many attempts to persuade him not to do that, I wrote him a story called "Jonathan and the Bears".

I kept these bears thinking that I would use them as models to illustrate "Jonathan and the Bears", but so far that hasn't happened. Anyway, here are the Thompson Bears. There is one more, but he went to be with his owner several weeks ago and I didn't remember to take his picture. His name is "Friendly" and he belongs to Matthew. Melody doesn't have a particular Bear in the garage, but some of her dolls and Polly Pockets may show up here someday.

I know this is a lot of sentimental nonsense, but it's my job to clean the garage and I can't help remembering where things came from and what they mean.

V.I.B. (Very Important Birthday)

2009-05-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

April 18, 2009, Bern's birthday dinner with family at Cafe Esin...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~

April 19, Small Group dinner at home with friends...

Joe & Barb Miller (Barb made the cake)

Brian Elchinoff, Cindy, Clinton and Chad Nash

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy, happy birthday, Bern!!

Mr. MacRobie

2009-05-05T08:15:00.001-07:00

I got the pattern for this tea cozy at The Attic, a fabric shop in Gualala. I knitted it up for Stephanie (in a variation of her favorite color) and added the ladybug decoration by sewing a snap closure to it. By the way, I got the yarn at a shop in Lake Oswego where Kristin buys her knitting and crocheting supplies.

I made it to fit a teapot that Stephanie and I each bought in New Zealand in 1998. We got the teapots at Mr. MacRobie's shop in Blenheim. It was a wonderful little shop with bits of everything from small appliances to buttons. Once I wandered around in it behind a lady who kept talking to her husband, saying things like:

"Morris, what do you think of this? Do we need this, Morris?

Oh, Morris, look here. Morris, should we get one of these, Morris?"

It occurred to me that Morris might be wishing he could change his name.

When Bern and I were in New Zealand in 2001, we went looking for MacRobie's shop, but couldn't find it. We stopped for a cup of tea at a place nearby and asked the server what had become of it. She said very kindly, "Oh, yes, dear, old Mr. MacRobie. He died this past year and his shop is shut now. We miss him very much. Such a shame."

I am very pleased to say that I never failed to buy something from dear, old Mr. MacRobie whenever I was in Blenheim. His inventory was fascinating, high-quality and useful. I wish there were more places like his around these days.

Well, well...

2009-04-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my mother's doctor told her that, in his experience, patients who pray and believe in God get better faster and stay well longer than his non-believing patients.

Sunset sky at Andra and Michael Harris's wedding

The words of my Great-Great-Grandfather Cross

2009-04-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

My maternal grandmother was born May 17, 1904 somewhere in Kansas. Her name was Theo Nettie Jane Smith, but her mother's maiden name was Nora Cross. Nora Cross married Julius Smith and bore him two sons, Roy and Pete, and three daughters, Theo (my grandmother), Nora, Alberta and Pearl.

When my Grandma Theo was nine years old, her mother died, leaving Theo to step in as the homemaker and mother to her little sisters. The family lived on a Kansas farm and her dad and brothers had all they could do to work the crops and care for the animals. Theo was in charge of the house and farmyard with its chickens and pigs. She learned to cook for a big hungry family everyday, as well as wash all the clothes and clean the house.

I have heard this story many, many times and always felt so sad for my grandma. She had to bear with the grief of losing her mother and then, suddenly, had to take on her mother's household responsibilities.

Not many of my grandmother's belonging survive from those early days, but we do have a letter that her Grandpa Cross sent to her sometime after her mother's death. He obviously loved Theo and wanted to encourage her. I want to share his words, just as he wrote them, because I find them very touching. He must have been pretty elderly or ill because he didn't expect to live long after the letter was written. His handwriting is beautiful script that varies in size as he covers the page. He writes all the way to bottom and finishes with a couple of broken phrases that float on the page in a meditative, brooding way. For what they are worth, here are my great-great-grandfather Cross's words:

"Darling,
As this may be my last [letter] to you I am going to send you this little boot of purer gold than the other. It's this
When you wake up in the morning, just think, Lord, I am one of your creatures. I am yours, You made me. I am yours. You know all about me thousands times more than I know about myself. You know my faults, failings, weaknesses and sins. Please do the best you can with what there is of me to do with today, and make as much of me as there is to make with to please you . And help me to improve myself.

Then at night, think Lord I am ashamed of myself that I did so little to improve myself, but you know all about our weaknesses. I thank you for mercy forgiveness and grace. Forgive my sins and love me still. I know you do. Oh I am so thankfull.

Now you need not use these words sometimes others will be better. sometimes you will want advise. Ask for it then do the best you can think, he will lead your thinking but if you get a wrong understanding and do the wrong thing, he will take charge of the results.

It may take you a long time to understand him, but he understands you!

And you may be sure he loves you more than I do. that's lots, heaps, tons, and bushels and he will be proud of what he can make of you.

Of course I know that soon he will open your eyes to his teachings. then you can read his saying and acts understandingly. little by little, step at a time, until you won't read the Bible as smart people do but as he wants you. But you lean on him, he understands the bible as he understands you.

Your "dearest"
Grandpa

Of course I know that you will forget morning after morning, night after night but if you keep trying it will become easy in time.

Then something else will come. A change, you will hardly notice it or it may be sudden that depends.

_______________________________________________________

Theo went on to marry young and have seven children of her own. She and my Grandfather, Jacob Ennes Thiessen, moved to California during the dustbowl days when their farm blew out from under them in Kansas. They were strong people who lived for their family and enjoyed them tremendously.

Grandma must have cherished this letter from her grandfather because it was among her belongings when she died. She had lived up to his hopes for her as she and Grandpa Jake headed a family of scores of people who still walk in faith to this day.

Portland , April 2-6

2009-04-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

Home to Me

2009-03-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

The Last Homely House

"That house was, as Bilbo had long ago reported, 'A perfect house, whether you like food or sleep or story-telling or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all'. Merely to be there was a cure for weariness, fear and sadness."

From "The Fellowship of the Ring", J. R. R. Tolkien

Goings on in the Garden

2009-03-13T18:51:00.000-07:00

This spiderweb actually appeared last spring. I saw it through the window and went out to take a closer look. The spider was resting in the center of the web as the morning sun warmed her spinneret-work. It was anchored to the tree limb above and the grass below, a span of about 10 feet! I was amazed at the engineering feat of this tiny creature.

Abby loves to chase the birds that flit around the bird feeder I put up. Last year that drove them all away, but this year there are so many of them that she can't keep up. She has taken to lying on the grass and pretending they are not there, except for the lovely mourning doves that boldly land on the ground a few feet from her nose. She can't excuse that behavior so she always jumps to her feet and dashes after them. They fly up with that peculiar whistling sound that comes from their wings.

The good thing about a little dog in the garden is that she makes life miserable for the neighborhood cats that prey upon the songbirds. The most nasty, stealthy cat can't stand against Abby, the birds' noisy little champion. Once the cat has leapt over the fence she does a complete patrol of the perimeter to make sure there are no more of them lurking.

Sea Dance

2009-03-11T22:23:00.000-07:00

1 Min. 7 Secs. of dolphin enchantment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMCf7SNUb-Q

Dolphins know how to blow underwater bubbles and then turn them into toys. I saw it on the news tonight.

Word!

2009-02-24T08:39:00.000-08:00

II Corinthians 12:7-10 (The Message)

"Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations.

Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty!

At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

My grace is enough; it's all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness.

Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become."

Pansies with teardrops

2009-02-23T09:07:00.000-08:00

In my garden on Saturday

Outside my window...

2009-02-22T12:46:00.000-08:00

Rainsong at Lychee Court.

Going to miss this come August.

Fuller

2009-02-17T08:56:00.000-08:00

I like this picture of the seminary logo. I took it outside the new library one night while we were in Pasadena in January. Fuller Seminary and I are good friends right now.

The greatest gift I have received so far is the gift of asking questions and digging for the answers. There are always answers, and more questions, and more answers. It's called the Great Conversation.

It helps that I have a long history of faith and experiences with God. The question of whether the Bible is true or not was settled for me long ago; I have tested what I read there for many, many years. Now I really enjoy learning what others say about it.

For Whitney

2009-02-15T21:06:00.000-08:00

Memorial Park in San Ramon

Spring in Memorial Park

Carmel

Winery in Sonoma

Sea Ranch

Y'all come back now, hear?

Jesus & Marriage

2009-02-12T18:15:00.000-08:00

Lately I have heard a couple of sermons taken from Ephesians 5:21-33, the passage on marriage with instructions for husbands and wives. This gets used a lot in weddings and it is certainly used a lot in marriage conferences and retreats.

As I listened to another sermon on this passage last Sunday (a good sermon, by the way), I found myself doing a little private Bible study on it. I decided to see how many verses were assigned to each person mentioned in the passage. It came out like this:

Wives - 2

Husbands - 6

Jesus - 11

I kind of lost track of the sermon at that point because I started wondering why I have never heard this passage preached on the basis of what it says about Jesus. I read it again in the light of that question and found that these verses emphasize the Lord, not people.

It begins by saying that all relationships among believers should be based in reverence for Christ. It goes on to name Him as our Head and Savior. Next it commends Him for loving us and sacrificing Himself for us. This is followed by a description of the work He is constantly doing to clean us up and perfect us and the lovely promise that His goal is to make us radiant, holy and blameless. He feeds and cares for us because we are members of His body.

Paul ends this chapter by saying,

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church."

How often we emphasize the familiar instructions to husbands and wives, and our voices taper off when we get to "I am talking about Christ and the church", yet that is the core of the passage. Actually, Christ is the core of the passage.

This little exercise reminds me again that it is only by focusing upon Jesus Christ that we will understand this life we are called to as believers. Everything is explained in Him. He is the head, the brain, the seat of all thought for believers. We are called to know Him above all else. We should look to see what every passage of scripture says about Him before we look at it in any other way---that is my humble opinion.

The photos are of windows at

Peachtree Presbyterian Church

in Atlanta, GA, taken when I

visited there in August 2006

Wonderful message, I mean it!

2009-02-11T12:12:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,
Today I heard the most awesome message R. C. Sproul! I actually applauded when he was done.

Here is the link, please take 20 minutes and listen to this. I think it is glorious, mostly because the subject matter is about the authority of both Scripture and Jesus Christ. Hope you enjoy it!

http://www.oneplace.com/common/player/oneplace/CustomPlayer.asp?bcd=2/11/2009&url=mms://wm.salemweb.net/a3186/o29/oneplace/wm/rym/rym20090211.wma&MinTitle=Renewing+Your+Mind&MinURL=http://www.oneplace.comhttp://www.oneplace.com/ministries/renewing_your_mind/&MinArchives=http://www.oneplace.comhttp://www.oneplace.com/ministries/renewing_your_mind/archives.asp&Refresh=&AdsCategory=MINISTRY.RYM&Show_ID=233

Amazing Grace

2009-02-09T17:30:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning Bern and I had a conversation with friends whom we are coaching through a family conflict. The husband was a bit stuck on why the world has so much pain when there is an all-powerful, professedly loving God overseeing all of creation.

I have thought a lot about this, so I shared one answer that has helped me make sense of this. It is God's grace that holds back His fury in the face of sins that are perpetrated by people all over the globe. He keeps open the possibility that sinners will repent and come into fellowship with Him, so He doesn't strike them down to stop their sinning. We each have a list of particular sinners that we wish God would stop in their tracks, but we are not wise enough to know how or when that should be done. God sees the whole picture and in His grace-permeated plan He waits and watches.

In the crises created by sin, people do turn to Him, they do repent and they do find salvation. Some of them are sinners who are sorry for what they have done; others are victims of the brutal actions of others who call out to God for help. God is not glad that sinful behavior has caused these encounters with Him. His original plan is that we come to Him out of gratitude and desire to know Him for His own sake, but He receives all who come, whatever the circumstances.

What about His sovereignty and the fact that He is all powerful?

God does reign over the earth. He reigns particularly in the lives of people who choose to obey Him. There are some societies that have been more successful in this obedience than others. I think of Mennonite communities where obedience to scripture is a paramount value. They are remarkably peaceful and benevolent--not perfect, but better than most. Families that have a heritage of faith are more peaceful and joyful than families without that advantage. Communites of believers who humbly seek to obey the Lord are more successful than those that have taken on worldly agendas.

When we see villages ravaged by AIDS in Africa, with children starving or dying of disease and neglect, we should look to see who on earth has been in charge of those villages and children. Are they people who acknowledge God as sovereign over their behavior, or are they leaders who are in rebellion against a holy God and all that He commands? Are they power-mad, greedy, brutal, self-interested people who do not love God? I can almost guarantee that the people in power over these situations are far from obedience to the holy God. (They are the ones that would be on my list for "ceasing and desisting", yet God continues to offer them the grace of life.)

All over the world there people who love and obey God who have gone out to try and care for victims and change the hearts of tyrants. They come alongside suffering people everywhere, whether those people are victims of oppression or simply the victims of illness or injury. They carry light into the world. God's grace is never more vivid than when it appears in the lives of His people working in the heart of darkness.

I am very interested in the meaning of suffering. We naturally turn away from it, abhor it and pray to escape it, yet God allows it. I am convinced that there is wisdom to be found in suffering, and an experience of God that can't be known in any other way. I tremble to say that because I don't want to invite suffering into my life.

On the other hand, suffering usually comes to us unbidden. We can't really prevent it. It's better to be open to the possibility that God has embedded treasures in those experiences than to run from them. Whatever happens, as believers we have the advantage over unbelievers. Our response to suffering may turn dust into gold if we truly let God be sovereign in all of our circumstances. Part of trusting Him with all of our hearts is to accept that what He chooses for us may not be what we would have chosen for ourselves.

Words that Move Me

2009-02-07T08:15:00.000-08:00

This is from an ancient hymn, so old that apparently no one knows who wrote it. It appears in many hymnals without attribution. It moves me deeply.

I Sought the Lord

I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew

He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me.

It was not I that found, O Savior true:

No, I was found of thee.

Thou didst reach forth the hand and mine enfold,

I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea;

'Twas not so much that I on thee took hold

As thou, dear Lord, on me.

I find, I walk, I love, but O the whole of love

is but my answer, Lord, to thee;

For thou wert long beforehand with my soul;

Always thou lovedst me.

Amen.

Why are there babies?

2009-02-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

I am reading Mortimer Adler's book "How to Read a Book" and am in the chapter on how to read Philosophy. Adler points out that all of the great questions that are asked by philosophers are very similar to the questions children ask.

"Why are there people?" "Does the world have a brain?" "Why doesn't the moon crash into the stars?"

This got me thinking about how Jesus said we must be like children to enter the Kingdom of God. Maybe He meant that we should enter His Kingdom asking questions. Maybe we should look past our initial reasons for coming to Him and begin to wonder about things. Now that we are citizens of His Kingdom, what do we want to know? Why are there people? Why does He keep the world spinning? What is the purpose of the moon and all those stars?

Better yet, maybe He wants to answer the harder questions: Why do some people die young? What is the value of my life? Is it OK to want something I don't have yet?

Which brings me to my own question: Why are there babies? Why does God go on trusting people with little ones, when they are apparently the most interesting and precious part of His creation? Why give them to us before we have experience or skill sets for raising them? Parenting is the original learn-on-the-job occupation. Why did He decide to do that?

I think it is to remind us in each generation that there are important questions to be asked and we need children to remind us of them. Look at any baby and you know way more than she does about how to do things and what life is all about. But if you are her parent, before long you will discover that she knows a lot more than you do about how to ask important questions. Babies are here to remind us how faith works: Ask impossible questions and wait patiently for the answers.

Babies are like little spaceships full of surprises. They are God's little questioners and His gift to every generation. Aren't we blessed that He entrusts them to us? Every day with a baby is a gift!

Love ya, Baby!

More Hermit Crab-like people

2009-02-04T12:12:00.000-08:00

Keep off our beach!!

Whaat? Why?

Bishop Ranch Open Space

2009-02-03T18:58:00.000-08:00

Last week I hiked up the trail at Bishop Ranch open space, five minutes from our house, and this is what I saw. Also, now that I have your attention, there are four more new posts on this blog today!

Two Views of Melody

2009-02-03T18:38:00.000-08:00

Domestic Goddess.

Malibu Hermit Crab!

Susannah meets the Great Grandparents!

2009-02-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas time 2009

Susannah and her Carson Great Grandparents meet

for the first time.

How Sweet is This??

Andra and Michael's wedding

2009-02-03T15:05:00.001-08:00

January 11, 2009, CPC, Mike Pedlowe officiating.

Happy new husband and wife.

Michael is a policeman from Modesto. Andra has her own educational diagnostic business (Hope I got that right. She consults with families whose kids have special educational needs and prescribes remedies for them.)

Have a wonderful new life!

Announcing....

2009-02-03T14:47:00.000-08:00

On January 24, Matthew and Stephanie came over to our house, ostensibly to "watch a soccer game," heh, heh.

They then proceeded to bowl us over with the most amazing good news! By now the whole world knows that they are making a cousin for Susannah, awaiting "Monster A" and responsible for "siring the next generation". In other words, they are having a baby who will appear next summer.

This how they looked when they started making phone calls to their Thompson/Martins siblings:

Making some calls in private (above) and then calling the rest on speaker phone.

Yippee!!!!

Props to students

2009-01-21T07:09:00.000-08:00

Here's to all the students I know who have been studying for years, while also working full or part time and keeping their good lives in good order. I am humbled by you all! I don't know how you have done it. It is hard work being a student in graduate school and I can't even imagine how much energy it has taken for you to do all that you have done.

I think of Kristin working full-time, completing her masters program, getting her teaching credential and having a baby--all at the same time. Wow. Andrew keeps a whole village humming along while he takes 3 tough classes per semester at Dallas. Kevin works in the library at Fuller while tackling his full load. And then here I am. I "work" one day a week while trying to do well in one little class.

Here's to all of my hard-working kids, whether you are taking classes or not, whether you are suporting someone else who is taking classes or not----I admire the heck out of you all! There is not a slacker among you. Each of you is a study in productivity and creativity and I am very proud to know you! Dad and I thank God for you.

And so it begins...

2009-01-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

We were in Pasadena for New Years and I got to walk on the main campus of my new school. It was a great time for me because none of the hard work or worries of studying in seminary had begun yet and I felt like I was walking on air--as if nothing can stop me now!

For years I have written in my journal that a part of me has been standing off to the side, waiting her turn to emerge. She waited through the raising of a family, through the work I have done as a volunteer and through the crazy career attempts I have made in areas that didn't suit me at all. She stepped up a bit while I was serving as an elder, but even then she had to be patient with the "course marked out" for me as an elder. That role didn't fully call upon what (she and) I know I do best. Meanwhile, she keeps appearing in my journals as my desire to teach, write inspirationally, help people fall in love with their Bibles and inspire them to a vigorous, exciting walk with the Lord.

She is the part who argues when people say, "But you are already a Bible teacher, you already know how to write." She is the part who says, "No, I am NOT fully qualified yet. I need to be tested and challenged, I need to earn my way and get credentials that demonstrate that I am for real, a scholar who can be trusted with the Word of God".

She is the protester in me that will never give me rest until I get the degree I long to have, and until I have proven to myself that I am not just another person who THINKS she knows what the Bible says.

I revere scripture too much to be satisfied with what I know so far. I want to learn how to think critically and I want my theology challenged. I look forward to being taken apart and forced to give up my weak suppositions. I want to know, once and for all, whether I have what it takes to really learn what the Bible says and thus become a good Bible teacher.

This is not to say that I think that only people who go to seminary can know or teach the Bible. I don't think that at all! I have been taught by too many non-seminarians over the years not to respect what God can do with committed lay persons who faithfully study the Bible.

What I know is that I will never be satisfied that I can teach well until I have gone to seminary.

The picture above is the part of me that has been standing in the wings now throwing her arms into the air in pure joy. On December 31, 2008, standing under that sign at the Fuller campus, I felt myself integrate into being all of who I really am. All of the parts of me have come together at last.

I thank God that I have lived this long.

I thank God every single thing He has done in my life to bring me to this point, including the miraculous experience of being married and raising a family. Nothing in life could have prepared me better.

Psalm 119:68:

Lord, "You are good and what you do is good.

Teach me your statutes."

Scone Recipe from the Thompson Tea Rooms

2009-01-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

While Melody was home at Christmas time she used my classic scone recipe to make scones for breakfast one morning. As usually happens, hers were better than mine have ever been--even using the same recipe. She is gifted and talented in the kitchen!

Here is that recipe, in case anyone else wants to give it a shot:

Currant Scones
2 cups of unbleached flour
1/4 cup of sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup margarine or butter
2/3 cups currants (or raisins or dried cranberries)
5.33 oz. can evaporated milk (or measure out 5.33 oz. of buttermilk in a glass measuring cup that shows ounces)
1 egg
Sugar for sprinkling on top

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; blend well. Using pastry blender of fork, cut in margarine until mixture is crumbly. Stir in currants. In a separate bowl, mix evaporated milk and egg together; add all at once to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.

On well-floured surface, knead dough gently 5 or 6 times. Press into an 8-inch circle, about 1 inch thick; place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Cut into 8 wedges; do not separate. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm with butter, marmalade, raspberry jam and cream, etc.

Have fun and enjoy!!

PS The scones in the picture were made with a round cutter, not cut in wedges ;- ).

Sister-Love for a lifetime!

2008-12-18T18:36:00.000-08:00

Dear Daughters, Please watch this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4qwVLqt9Q

Love, Mom

Playing Tag

2008-12-13T16:10:00.000-08:00

5 Things I want to do before I die...

1. Finish my Master of Divinity degree at Fuller Theological Seminary

2. Teach the Bible at a small Bible college

3. Be a loving Grandma to at least 4 grandchildren (!)

4. Go to England, live there for 6 months with my husband and have all of our family visit us

5. Fly first-class to China on someone else's money

5 Things I can do...

1. Make a home

2. Help sick and hurting people feel better

3. Make a garden

4. Make children laugh when I read a book

5. Charm strangers into conversation, especially lonely ones

5 things I can not do...

1. Play the piano like Nancy Grueneveld <: (

2. Dance (please don't try to tell me otherwise!)

3. Snowboard

4. Speak another language fluently

5. Listen to BevMo commercials--they get on my last nerve

5 things that attract me to my hubby

1. His soulful English eyes

2. His rock-solid, inviolable integrity

3. His selflessness

4. His love of books, music and all that's new and interesting in the world

5. That he prays with me, real prayers, filled with faith

5 things I say Most Often

1. "I expect that_____is going to turn out just fine".

2. "Thank the Lord!"

3. "Hang in there!"

4. "I am so proud of you" (which tells you how many kids I have and how often I talk to them)

5. "I'll pray about that with you" (ditto the above)

5 Celebrity Crushes

1. Hugh Jackman

2. Michael Tilson Thomas

3. Brian Brown

4. Jack Black

5. George Clooney

I tag...

1. Megan Voos

(Everyone else who reads my blog has been taken)

Cardboard Testimony

2008-12-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

What a difference a day makes!

Fuller Theological Seminary

2008-12-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

I'm in.

I got the phone call a few minutes ago.

I am sitting here filled with disbelief, crying and laughing

and glad that the Lord and I are alone together

while I absorb this news.

Years and years of longing and prayers are being fulfilled.

I am going to study, learn and prepare to teach the Bible.

I am overwhelmed.

I know a lot lies ahead.

There will be hard times and challenges,

it's going to be a huge faith venture...

but nothing can ever take away this moment.

In this moment one of the greatest hopes of my life has been fulfilled.

I will always treasure the memory of this very moment.

__________________________________________

Thank you, Lord.

You know how much and how long I have wanted this.

I know you will see me through.

__________________________________________

I Thessalonians 5:24

"The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it."

Thanksgiving Greetings!

2008-11-25T09:22:00.000-08:00

If you came to our house for Thanksgiving this week, here is what would greet you at the door. We want you to know that we give thanks to God for all of our blessings at the Thompson home...and you are one of our blessings! We thank God when you come to see us.

We also thank God for you when you are far away.

When we miss you and are thinking about you, here is how we pray:

"We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.

We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

"We ought always to thank God for you, [family & friends], and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing."

I Thess. 2:2-3 & II Thess. 1:3

Happy Thanksgiving, Pilgrims!

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

2008-11-22T09:57:00.000-08:00

Jonathan as he is today

___________________________________________

In 1981 our family was about to embark on one of the biggest adventures of our lives.There was a big recession beginning and people were losing their jobs and homes and moving across the country to try and find work. Before the economic news turned bad, Bern and I had decided, early in the year, that he should leave his job with the Navigators, where he had worked since coming to the US in 1973. We felt God was leading us out of the Christian bubble and into the "real" world and a greater dependency upon Himself. We were pleased to rise to that challenge, not realizing what a daily and hourly test of our faith it was going to become. No one knew how deep the recession was going to go at that time.

Bern went to a job he had been offered in a friend's company and within in two months we knew that was not going to work. That experience filled our summer months. In the fall he started to look for jobs in California and we sold our house to make ourselves more mobile. We banked the proceeds from the sale and were able to rent the house back from the buyer who had bought it to keep as a rental property. At that time interest rates were soaring so we put the our money into a Money Market account and were able to use the interest from it each month to meet our expenses. Bern began looking into the possibilities of supporting us as a free-lance writer (something he actually managed to do for the next two years).

As winter approached, we decided to relax and wait for our new baby who was due around Thanksgiving time. This was our third child and I fully expected it would be a boy.

We discussed names and settled on Jonathan Vernon,

Jonathan meaning Gift from God and Vernon honoring my father.

November 22 we called a friend to come and pick up Matthew and Andrew and we went to the hospital, praying all the way and thanking God for the gift we were about to receive. At 11:19 p.m. our newest little boy came into the world and I said,

"Thank you God! His name is Jonathan Vernon."

He was beautiful! He was probably the prettiest baby boy ever born.

Our "baby holiday" lasted through Christmas and I can hardly express the joy we all had in Jonathan during the long winter that followed his birth. I nicknamed him "Jonathan Joy" and used to whisper that name into his ear over and over, making him smile and laugh. He was a cuddler, with the most appealing smile when he wanted or needed something. Because it was winter in Colorado, he was usually bundled up like a little bear. He always wanted to be in the middle of whatever his busy older brothers were doing. He quickly mastered holding toys and became fascinated with putting things together.

This is how life started for Jonathan. He was eagerly welcomed into a home where his brothers, mom and dad were constantly present for the first two years of his life. Those early years were scary because of the pressure of work and worries about money, but they were also wonderful for all of us as we met life's challenges together. God used the time to teach us how to live by faith.

Now Jonathan is all grown up, married and a dad himself. 27 years have passed and he has continued to be a great joy to his family. There is so much I could say about his life and his accomplishments, his faith and how much I admire his walk with God, but here is what I will boil it down to:

Jonathan, I am so glad that you were born and that God gave me the privilege of being your mother. You have ALWAYS made me proud, but never more than right now. You are a wonderful disciple and servant of Christ, a loving and faithful husband and a delighted daddy of a beautiful baby girl. Congratulations on making the most of this life the Lord is giving you!

Happy Birthday to you!

I love you!!!

Mom

PS...Kristin, I thank God for you and what you have brought into our son's life. You are the best thing that ever happened to him! You exceed all of our hopes and dreams for our son.

Bless you...we love you.

Musing about marriage

2008-11-19T12:30:00.000-08:00

Right around this time of November, 60 years ago, my dad became a Christian. My mom met the Lord 3 1/2 years earlier, when she was 12 years old and she was the one who brought him to the Billy Graham crusade where he heard about Christ. I am beginning to collect these stories from them as we move toward their 60th wedding anniversary July 9, 2009.

Mom and Dad's marriage is an example of a traditional marriage, the kind we more conservative people want to defend these days. They are one man and one woman who made a vow to stay together for a lifetime and raise a family that would have both a father and a mother present.

Now there is this huge struggle in our state about whether two men or two women can marry and make some kind of a family together. In the wings there may be even more reconfigurations of marriage waiting to be revealed. Those of us who never imagined marriage could or would be redefined in this way are struggling with what we consider the erosion of an essential institution.

However, as I have been thinking a lot about how the concept of marriage got to be so elastic and twisted, I think it began about 40-50 years ago. It started with the rising acceptance of divorce as a solution to unhappiness in marriage. We didn't know as much as we do today about how to help people make peace with each other. We didn't understand the devastation of various kinds of addictions and dependencies. Divorce was often seen as the only way out and it got easier and easier.

Broken marriages led to children of divorce whose trust had been broken. Those children matured and some of them introduced the idea of having no marriage at all, just choosing to live together "without the benefit of marriage" to see if they were compatible.

That put us on a slippery slope where living together became a matter of convenience and self-gratification with less and less expectation of commitment for the long haul. More and more children were born out of wedlock and the concept of the single parent became acceptable.

Once we accepted singleness in parenthood, it wasn't so strange to see people who had no intention of ever marrying becoming parents. If a single person could be a parent, why shouldn't he or she share a home and children with someone they loved, regardless of marriage? Once we had cobbled together enough homes where children were growing up with non-biologically related adults raising them, we were just a short step from gay couples adopting and raising families. If they could do that, why in the world couldn't they get married and be a "real" family?

And here we are today.

What baffles me is that the straight community, who has systematically eroded the concept of marriage for so many decades is now appalled that gays want to marry. The gays are in the curious position of promoting marriage as a desirable institution to a "straight" society that has increasingly disdained and forsaken it.

I am not in favor of gay marriage, but I am also not in favor of heterosexual marriages that break apart and leave children in the lurch. I am not in favor of heterosexual relationships that are based on narcissistic self-gratification with no intention of commitment for a lifetime. I am not in favor of "easy outs" through divorce, or of parents abandoning their kids because they are not personally happy.

In short I am not in favor of the way this society has watered down and made a joke of marriage generally. Why are we so incensed about gay marriage when we have allowed our country to become a disaster area of failed heterosexual marriages and distressed, confused and abandoned children?

We should have started a long, long time ago defending marriage. We should have protested and voted for marriage when divorce became so prevalent, when adultry became so "normal" and when playing house instead of building a lifetime commitment to one another became acceptable.

When having sex became the reason for getting together, engaging the heart and mind and soul went out the window. When the heart, mind and soul were abandoned we lost our way as human beings. Now we don't seem to have a compass to get us back to sanity.

Christians who understand and believe in the biblical concept of marriage are going to have to stand up with courage in the coming years. The pressure is going to be tremendous! I hope we are ready.

On Preaching

2008-11-17T11:13:00.000-08:00

I began reading "Power Through Prayer", by E.M.Bounds again this morning. Within three pages I remembered why this book is so powerful. Here are some quotes that have to do with preparing to preach:

The preacher is the golden pipe through which the divine oil flows.

The pipe must not only be golden, but open and flawless,

that the oil may have a full, unhindered, unwasted flow.

___________________________________________________________

The man makes the preacher. God must make the man.

The messenger is, if possible, more than the message.

The preacher is more than the sermon.

As the life-giving milk from the mother's bosom is but the mother's life,

so all the preacher says is tinctured, impregnated by what the preacher IS.

____________________________________________________________

It takes twenty years to make a sermon because it takes twenty years to make the man.

The true sermon is a thing of life.

____________________________________________________________

The sermon cannot rise in its life-giving forces above the man.

Dead men give out dead sermons, and dead sermons kill.

Everything depends upon the spiritual character of the preacher.

Under the Jewish dispensation the high priest had

inscribed in jeweled letters on a golden frontlet:

"Holiness to the Lord."

So every preacher in Christ's ministry must be molded into and mastered by

this same holy motto.

________________________________________________________

The gospel of Christ does not move by popular waves.

It has no self-propogating power.

It moves as men who have charge of it move.

The preacher must impersonate the gospel

________________________________________________________

This morning I rededicated myself to frevent prayer for the work of the gospel that is being done, and will be done, by my children and their spouses. I began praying for the way to be prepared for present and future ministry, and for the path before them to be clear and bright so they know the way to go.

God bless the next generation.

Standing By...

2008-11-11T10:16:00.000-08:00

I got my application into Fuller by September 29. My transcripts were there a few days later. My last reference arrived October 31. I called several times to make sure nothing else is required for my application and was assured all was in order. Then, Saturday, November 8 I received a snail mail letter asking for additional transcripts so that my application could be forwarded to the Committee by November 14.

Ha, ha! I called the schools in question first thing Monday morning and learned that since my records are stored on microfilm somewhere they would have to be hunted down, uploaded to a computer somehow, printed and mailed. Of course, Tuesday is a holiday so none of this is starting until Wednesday, November 12. What are the chances it will arrive by November 14?

I mentioned to Fuller that all of my academic records for the three community colleges I attended are in the transcript from College of the Sequoias, where I graduated, but they say that doesn't count. I asked if they could have let me know that a few weeks ago when I called them to check specifically on transcripts....

So, all I can do is wait and pray. If my transcripts miss the deadline for the winter quarter, my application will go into the pile for spring and I will have 4 more months of waiting to see if they will accept me as a student.

I have learned (again) that I lack grace when other people don't do their part. It gives me heartburn when I have finished everything I say I would do, met the requirements and then find that others dropped the ball. Grrrrrrrrr.

Anyway, this process has always been the Lord's hands and if I have a complaint, I have to talk with Him about it. He doesn't really care about my complaints since, once again, I don't even know how to ask the right questions. How do I know when (or if) I should start seminary? Only He knows.

I have a friend who is in seminary right now who never intended to go at all! She and her husband are both attending seminary, to their great surprise. A few months ago they were praying about what to do next in their lives, decided on a whim to visit Western Seminary in San Jose. They sneaked onto the campus to have look around, bumped into an admissions counselor "by accident" and before they left the campus that day, were enrolled in 3 classes each. Now she is up to her eyeballs in hermeneutics. She has no idea how she will use her seminary education, but she knows God wants her toget it. Go figure....

I Know!

2008-10-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was at our women's Bible study at CPC and we were singing when I had what Gerald Sittser calls a "waking dream". We were singing "Above All", which has the lines:

"Like a rose

trampled on the ground,

You took the fall

and thought of me

above all."

I was suddenly overcome with the image of Preston on the ground and my heart cried out silently,"Oh, Lord, that was Preston!" and in that moment, I forgot where I was and went off into the waking dream.

I felt like the Lord Jesus responded to my cry very gently, but urgently,

"I KNOW! I was there!"

For the next several minutes He and I had a conversation that has put some things into perspective for me.

As I thought through the scene at the accident I realized that there were at least three Believers present, Preston, Tara and the young woman driving the car, who is apparently a Christian youth worker from Washington. I was amazed to realize that these three people who wanted with all their hearts to serve the Lord found themselves in this circumstance.

And Jesus said,"I KNOW! They had no idea what was going to happen."

And I thought of all the re-writes this scene could have had that would have prevented the accident.

And Jesus said, "I KNOW, but those alternatives weren't in my plan."

I stood there, stunned, and considered this truth. I wasn't angry or upset, I was just stunned at the power of God to do what He chooses.

Then I remembered a blog entry Andy put up the week before. He talked about how the questions we ask God don't even make sense sometimes because we don't have enough information to frame appropriate questions. To God, our questions sound like, "What shape is yellow? Is it round or square?" or "How many hours are in a mile?" We mix up our facts and we don't know how to apply the right facts to the right situations.

The truth is that the Lord knew exactly what would happen and He let it happen. The facts that I am working with relate to Tara and her children being left "alone", when, in fact, they are more deeply in the palm of God's hand now than when Preston was with them. God has made special provision for widows and orphans in His Word because He cares so deeply for them. He promises to provide for them and He is.

Another fact relates to the grief we are all going through, but the Lord says, "Why is that a bad thing? Look at how you are growing through this! See what marvelous changes have happened in peoples' lives since the accident."

Another fact is that fear surges through all of us who remain here after such a tragedy and we are afraid of what might happen next to any of us. That seems like a hard way to live.

But the Lord says, "How will you ever know how much I am able love you and protect you if you never see Me in action? The thing Tara dreaded most happened, but I have not let her down. She has comfort even in her grief and I am meeting all of her needs. I have shown her that she belongs to Me, even more than she belonged to Preston."

Some of my Christian friends have refused to think that this accident was the Lord's doing. The facts don't line up with their perception of what God should be and do. I am now convinced that the Lord was in this and that He is revealing why and how He allowed it every day.

I KNOW I am a stronger believer because of this event. I KNOW I love Heaven more, that my faith in the goodness of the Lord has grown and that I love Him more than ever.

There was human error involved in this accident. The consequences were that an elk and a man lost their lives (I believe God cared about the elk, too) and at least three women found themselves bereft and weeping at the scene. Friends and family of those involved have carried a weight of care and sorrow in the days that have ensued.

But since then whole communities of believers have been touched and have mobilized to offer assistance. Many, many people have faced questions about their own relationship with God and taken action to make it right. Young believers are committing themselves to a lifetime of discipleship and are being guided by leaders who are more intent than ever on excellence in disciple-making.

I am not asking so many questions anymore because I know my questions don't make sense. I am now standing in awe of God and I am able to thank Him for the unthinkable, the unimaginable and the amazing things He allows and does.

Now I KNOW He is Lord of all.

Happiness

2008-10-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Melody and Kevin drove up from Pasadena for the weekend. How amazing that they can do that now!

We visited Grandma and Grandpa Carson to wish them early happy birthdays since M & K will be moving to a new apartment Oct. 18 when we gather for the real birthday party. (There will be a dinner at G & G's home that evening.) Rick, Diane, Amanda and Dylan came over and we had a lot of fun hanging out. Kevin is a Lodi guy and EVERYONE in the valley relates to him! There were lots of inside Valley jokes.

Matt & Steph joined us Sunday for Peets coffee after church, followed by lunch at our house. You may be asking, "Where are the pictures of these great events?" Well, I left the chip out of my camera and couldn't take pictures for most of it, then I got busy and forgot to shoot pics when I could.

So, use your imagination. Think about lots of laughter and good-humored conversation and you will pretty much know what happened.

We really missed Andy and Whitney. I was lucky enough to see so much of my family last week that it made their absence even more poignant. God bless our famly, far and wide!

I got to go and visit the Thompsons in Tigard

2008-10-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

First fire of the rainy season.

Susannah found her feet
and mastered rolling over
after which she looked up as if to ask, "Now what?"

Tara, Jacob, Kristin & Susannah

2008-10-10T09:44:00.000-07:00

Jacob loves his little "Nannah"

Kristin and Tara get together almost everyday.

Getting through together.

Bath Time!

2008-10-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

Daddy called just as we got started
Bubbles!!
Susannah loves life, including her bath times.

More Photo Opps...

2008-10-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

Back to the rock at the Butterfly Garden in Cook Park
Cozy with Daddy.
Full tummy, happy baby!

Lots of love, lots of smiles and lots of hugs in this little family. It was a privilege to be there and help during this time of recovery from the loss of Preston. We who know the Lord have wonderful hope even in death, but there is still a great, big hole in everyone's lives. The community that was blessed to know Preston will be making adjustments for a long time to come. His warmth and joy still reverberate through Lake Bible Church and everyone misses him.

Jonathan and Kristin have stepped up to the challenge and responsibility of caring for and comforting people throughout the church. They are keeping all of the youth programs going, as well as meeting needs in the rest of the church as people grieve in various ways. They care for Tara and Jacob daily, just as if they are part of their own family. I was humbled by the tireless work these two are doing in their pastoral calling. It is amazing to see how God shapes people, turning tragedy to triumph so that the world may see how great His grace and love are!

Verses from today's One Year Bible reading...

2008-09-19T10:59:00.001-07:00

I found this in today's reading of the One Year Bible, I feel sure it is for Tara right now:

Isaiah 32:17 - "The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest."

Isaiah 33:6 - "He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure."

Tara speaks

2008-09-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

For anyone who wants to see Preston's story from his wife's point of view, please follow this link.

http://www.katu.com/news/local/28491769.html?video=YHI&t=a

God, who leads us to our divine appointments, goes through them with us. Blessed be His Name.

How Could He?

2008-09-16T17:05:00.001-07:00

I have been wrestling with how God could take Preston as He did today. How could He allow this tsunami of loss and sorrow to wash over us? Why would He take someone who was so good and so utterly devoted to serving Him in this world?

Then, as I was watering the garden this afternoon with the garden hose and my tears, I started to think, what kind of a God does it take to shape a man like Preston? What kind of a God did Preston believe in that made him so pure of heart, so humble and so faithful? Preston embraced kindness and goodness while most of his peers were out serving themselves. He lived a sacrificial lifestyle so that others might live, come to faith and know Christ. How does a 24 year old man become so wise and responsible? What kind of a God does that?

If we could hear Preston's voice right now he would tell us what kind of God He is because now he sees him. He would say it is worth everything to know this God and follow him. He would tell us that everything we hope for is true.

It's one thing to ask what kind of God takes the life of a wonderful 24 year old man in the midst of his young family. It's another thing to ask what kind of God shaped such a man to begin with. If Preston had lived to be 124 years old, he would not have been more ready to go home. By God's grace may we all let the Lord shape us through this disaster and may we all come out as golden as Preston did.

Preston

2008-09-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

Christ follower,

Husband, Father,

Friend, Partner in ministry,

brilliant mind and loving spirit,

Preston Newby did all things well.

All of us who know him give thanks for him and bless his memory.

The Last Paragraph

2008-08-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

Andy and I were talking a few days ago about how time passes and people worry about whether they are making good use of their lives. Have we done everything we wanted to do until now?And if not, how will we do better in the future? Most of us live with a slight edge of disappointment or regret when we think about our choices in life. We think about the other paths we could have taken, but didn't.

The next day I read part of a letter that a writer sent to a committee to explain why her writing assignment wasn't completed yet. She said that she had written a long, meandering draft of it, but it wasn't until the last paragraph that she finally discovered what she really wanted to write. Now she could toss the draft and write about what had appeared in the last paragraph. Oh, how I identify with that!

I think it is the latest paragraph of our lives that really matter. We do a lot of drafting of ideas along the way, but when we stop and look at the "last paragraph" we lived, quite often we find IT -- the thing we are really trying to say. Sometimes the trick is to realize that we are actually at the last paragraph of a line of thinking. For instance, I think Matt has been drafting stuff about working out and running, etc., for a while now. Then he "wrote a last paragraph" on his HTC run and now he has great new material to work with. Running went from a mental and physical discipline to a passion.

Instead of worrying about what we are doing with our lives everday, we might like to look at the way we live as writing a draft that is leading to an amazing paragraph. In that paragraph we will finally know what we are really trying to say about life.

I personally do a lot of "drafting", and not just at my drawing board. I have a big box of journals that have thousands of pages of drafts AND last paragraphs in them. Now I see how important they have been in helping me get to do what I really want to do in life.

It's OK to meander around for a while, drafting what you want to say. Eventually that last paragraph will appear and you will take off from there.

"Wonderful Baby, livin' on love..."

2008-08-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

This song came out when my babies were little. I used to sing it to them, humming the parts where I didn't know the words. I love it, but I see now that it has a little edge to it. Oh well, it's still a great song. You can imagine Susannah in place of the baby that is in the video.

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/don_mclean/wonderful_baby.html

Christopher and Alexandra Atterbury!

2008-08-25T18:52:00.000-07:00

For those who remember Chris Atterbury and Alex Henkelman, they're married! Beautiful wedding at CPC on August 23 with reception at the Temple of Scottish Rites on Lake Merritt in Oakland. Happy day, followed by happy honeymoon in Europe!
Alex's dress looked like vintage lace...
The bridesmaids wore black with bright orange sashes.
Alex designed the centerpieces using pearls and shiny beads.

The Integrity Quilt

2008-08-16T07:55:00.000-07:00

Lately, the thing I want most in my life is to be able to have integrity, so that what I say I believe is actually how I live. I pray that my words and actions will be proof of my core beliefs.

My rough definition of Integrity is all of the pieces coming together to form one whole. The more the pieces harmonize, the better the quality of the final product.

When I taught Sunday School, once upon a time, I explained integrity as the pieces of a quilt. The various blocks, sewn together, create one blanket and the quality of the blocks make up the quality of the quilt. The more the blocks agree with a beautiful central theme, the more beautiful the quilt becomes.

Quilting is a craft that is at its best when the quilter relies entirely upon her own imagination and vision to make the quilt. Some are crazy and others are highly structured. It is the quality of the vision of the quilter, her personality and the materials she uses that makes it beautiful and unique.

It is an adventure in itself, discovering the theme for my life and choosing and trimming the blocks. I want the blocks of my life to harmonize around one good, central theme. I want it to be the most beautiful theme I can find and I want to use "blocks" (how I use my time, what I read, who I hang out with,etc.) that are as beautiful as the theme itself. What I hope, finally, is that anyone who approaches my life from any angle will find something beautiful to look at.

Lightning...then Thunder

2008-08-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

Here is a quote from one of my heroes, Henrietta Mears:

Remember, lightning that strikes

is accompanied by thunder.

So faith that strikes

is accompanied by life and testimony.

Ten years ago this song was pretty popular. It seems to go with this quote from H. M.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdwX2-jsrKU

My message and my preaching were not

with wise and persuasive words,

but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,

so that your faith might not rest on man's wisdom,

but on God's power.

I Corinthians 2:4-5

Hear the Music

2008-08-08T13:27:00.001-07:00

I found the song that goes with my July 26 blog about pretty girls being like a melody. It's an old, old song that my Granddaddy probably sang to my Grandma Ruth back in the 1920's (if he did sing to her, that is). Enjoy!
http://www.corliss-lamont.org/apg.htm

Applying myself

2008-08-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

I am currently in the process of applying to Fuller Seminary!

For YEARS I have lamented the fact that I spent my college years chasing around from one Navigator training situation to another, mostly at my parents behest, and finished four years of scattered education with just an AA degree. I always told Bern that if I had gotten my undergrad degree I could have gone to seminary. I felt sad and regretful....

These conversations usually ended with Bern saying that perhaps a seminary would recognize my life and ministry experiences and give me credit for them. Ha! I thought, who would do that?

Then my daughter had the brilliance to marry Kevin Martins who is a born researcher, as well as a kind and considerate son-in-law. Kevin, in the midst of applying to Fuller himself, discovered that there is a track called "Special Student" which accepts people on the basis of their life and ministry experience.

WooHoo! So now I am applying to seminary!

Why would a grandma like me want to do this? There is nothing I love more than seeing the light come on when I help other people understand the Bible. I have been teaching it for years, but if I really want to do it "professionally" I need some credentials. An M.Div. will help me with that. Also, I am really looking forward to testing myself in an academic environment.

Sometimes people ask the question "When you were a kid, what was your favorite day of the year?"

Most people say Christmas or their birthday. My answer is always, "The first day of school!" I loved that day every year, the new classes, the new books, pens, pencils and paper. I loved my school clothes and the new shoes that were going to rub my heels raw for a couple of weeks. I loved being with other kids and meeting a new teacher. Summer was my least favorite time, when there was nothing new to learn and the days were long and boring.

So maybe, pretty soon, I will have another first day of school. It will be different this time, but I look forward to it anyway, maybe more than ever!

By the way, now I know the immense value of the time I spent with the Navigators in those early years. Everything they taught me has been useful and there has never been another time in my life when I could have gotten that rich and wonderful training. I thank God for my parents' choices for me and for the Navs who invested in me in those years. My life has been deeply blessed because of them.

Almost all of those Navigators were self-taught lay people whose only motivation for teaching others was their passion for Christ and desire to obey Him. They did not teach what they did not practice, so I learned as much from their examples in life as I did from their teaching.

For this reason I am sending you Timothy, my son whom I love,

who is faithful in the Lord.

He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus,

which agrees with what I teach everywhere, in every church.

I Cor. 4:17

It was probably the closest I will ever get to how the Early Church functioned and it was truly a gift to my life.

I was blessed then...and now I am being blessed again!

Sweet!

2008-07-26T20:22:00.000-07:00

A PRETTY GIRL IS LIKE A MELODY (by Irving Berlin)

I have an ear for music,

And I have an eye for a maid.

I like a pretty girlie,

With each pretty tune that's played.

They go together,

Like sunny weather goes with the month of may.

I've studied girls and music,

So I'm qualified to say

A pretty girl is like a melody

That haunts you night and day,

Just like the strain of a haunting refrain,

She'll start up-on a marathon

And run around your brain.

You can't escape

she's in your memory.

By morning night and noon.

She will leave you and then come back again,

A pretty girl is just like a pretty tune.

A few months ago...

2008-07-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

I went up to Memorial Park in San Ramon in April and took these pictures.

This is the view from the park out toward Bishop Ranch and Mt. Diablo. I miss the green hills!

So Beautiful.

2008-07-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

Susannah officially has us all totally enthralled!

Susannah was 19 days old in these pictures. She grew 1 inch in her first two weeks of life outside of Mommy. She was nearly back to her birth weight and little dimples were starting to form on her tiny elbows. Awwwwww...so cute!

Amazing parents or amazED parents?

2008-07-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

What can I possibly say that would add more to this blog entry than the pictures of this beautiful family already say?

Sunday, after a busy morning at church, the slightly weary parents retreat to Cook Park's butterfly garden.

AWWWWWW....

2008-07-14T11:31:00.000-07:00

Just could not be prouder of my son!

Grand Dad is always ready to soothe the baby with his magic touch.

So much perfection in such a small package!

Oh, yeah!

2008-07-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

Being a grandmother is everything I always dreamed it would be. It is all extravagant love and joy with no worries. Jonathan and Kristin totally have the parenting thing down and they are doing a supreme job of caring for this tiny treasure. I couldn't decide what I loved more, seeing Susannah with all of her myriad cute expressions and darling features, or watching J & K love on her and each other. We just reveled in every minute with them.

I have lots of pictures to share in future blogs. Check back here later to see us enjoying our happy times!

She's HERE!

2008-06-17T22:02:00.000-07:00

Our granddaughter, our little sweetheart and the newest little Thompson has arrived! Praise God! Her name is ....

Susannah Joy!

How beautiful is that?

Susannah is a Hebrew name meaning Lily.

She arrived at 9:21 p.m. at Providence Hospital in Newberg, OR. She weighs 8 lbs. 4 oz. and is 20 inches long. Can't wait to see pictures of her and share them with my friends!

We are so thankful to the Lord and so happy!

Baby Watch

2008-06-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

Well, today is the DAY! It's 5:30 p.m. and Kristin and Jonathan are at the hospital right now where he is posting updates on his blog. It has already been a long day for them since they spent a restless night wondering if her sporadic contractions meant anything. Jonathan called me at 7:45 a.m. to say Kristin was admitted and settled in her room, already at 4 cms.

I don't really have a lot else to say at the moment. I am cruising around blog-land, checking back in with his blog every 5 minutes and I needed something to do to pass the time.

Dum-de-dum-de-dum. Hurry up clock! Time drags when it is measured out in 5 minute increments.

Emily & Bevin

2008-06-13T16:27:00.000-07:00

E & B hung out with me yesterday while Mommy was busy. Emily wrote and colored a little book about flowers from the garden...
Bevin played with Abby...
and we all had a happy time!

Grandma shower

2008-06-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

My friends from my Monday evening Bible study gave me a "grandma shower" yesterday and I am afraid that the truth is hard to face. This is what I will become in about two weeks when our little granddaughter arrives on the scene. (Maybe I will be able to find a way to snap back as I did after I was pregnant those four times). Yesterday, for a couple of hours, I looked just like my own Grandmas--except that they had a lot more style than this.

Melody & Kevin's home in Pasadena

2008-05-27T17:52:00.001-07:00

Welcome to their studio apartment! The kitchen door is in view beside the fan.
Studios are sometimes known as a "Bed-Sitter" apartments.
The "living room" is next to the "bedroom". The front door is at the right side of the loveseat.
Moving along the wall beside the front door, the first little door to the right leads to Kevin's office.
This is where he tackles his studies. Everything he needs is right at his fingertips...

Melody & Kevin's place, part 2

2008-05-27T17:44:00.000-07:00

This little hallway leads to the closets and bathroom.
This space is amazingly well-organized and holds a lot!
Continuing past the closet and dresser we arrive at the kitchen!
M & K have made the most of the space by bringing in shelves.
Melody makes magic at this stove and sink. MMMMMM!

Went to Portland

2008-05-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

For anyone who wonders why Kristin and Jonathan don't update their blogs regularly, well, I went and saw for myself that they NEVER STOP WORKING! They each put in 40+ hours a week and then go all weekend relating and being available to people. Really, they barely have time for themselves, nevermind their blogs. But they are happy in their jobs and they love their life as far as I can see. They certainly are loved by the people who know and work with them.

Kristin is as round as a beach ball now and that little girl inside her is active and lively. It was fun to be around my granddaughter and imagine what she looks like. Can't wait to see her!

Sunset @ 1 Lychee Court

2008-05-15T09:21:00.000-07:00

This sunset just went on and on last evening....

I can't think of a title for this

2008-05-08T18:06:00.000-07:00

The same day I posted the whimsical pictures below (see last entry), I found that my some of my family members were immersed in blog discussions of death metal music. What a strange and wonderful world this is.

Look What Grandma Got!

2008-05-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

Little Raggedy Anne found something curious in the living room. "What is it?" she asked.
Raggedy Andy unfolded it and --it was a rocking chair!!
"It isn't very big," said Little Raggedy Anne. "I wonder who it is for."
"It's for a very little girl to sit in when she visits her Grandma and Granddad", said Raggedy Andy.
"How about if we sit here and wait until she comes?" suggested Raggedy Andy. "OK!" sang Little Raggedy Anne. "We can't wait to meet her!" they both said together with big, big smiles.

2008-05-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

http://cheryltsblog.blogspot.com/

Pacific sunset

2008-05-06T09:44:00.000-07:00

I shot this at Sea Ranch in April. (This blog is the antidote to the overly long entries that I put into my other blog ;-).)

Birthday Boy

2008-05-03T10:46:00.000-07:00

This is a little late, but here is Bern on his birthday. He thinks his gift is pretty cool and I think he is VERY cool.

Sea Ranch April 2008

2008-05-03T08:11:00.001-07:00

We had the best time ever at Sea Ranch! Happy Birthday, Bern!!

Pony Man

2008-04-28T14:36:00.000-07:00

One of the sweet memories of raising our kids is the little songs that they loved at different times. This one is for Jonathan who loved this Gordon Lightfoot song when he was little. It's a fun anime version.
(I'm sorry that I haven't learned how to add a youtube vidoe right into my blog yet.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keXG5KeSeyY

Sea Ranch

2008-04-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

Reporting in from a visit to Sea Ranch:

It is still unearthly in its beauty. The air is still intoxicating in its sweetness. The colors of the sea and sky still move subtly between steel gray and saphire blue as the sun and clouds change their positions overhead. The wildflowers splash the landscape with patches of neon color. The breakers drum against the cliffs and the white spray towers over the rocks. Snow white and blue gray seagulls wheel around on the wind and the lazy harbor seals sun themselves exactly as they have for the nearly two decades we have been visiting this magical place.

A special feature of this visit was the brilliant full moon that dazzled through our bedroom window every night. One early morning, at 4:00 a.m., I got up to watch the clouds sailing across then moon's face and shifting its reflection on the sea. One moment there was only a silver line on the far horizon, then, suddenly, the silver fanned into a shining path that led all the way to the cliffs. It was breathtaking.

My husband and I spent much of our time in companionable silence, reading, walking and listening to music. We laughed at Abby and cooked good food and just contemplated the wonderful life we share together.

I think "harmony" is the word is the word describes how it all felt. That, and "delicious".

Have you seen this phone??

2008-03-26T22:51:00.001-07:00

Where is Stephanie....?

Oh, well...zzzzzzzzzzzz

Scenes from 1 Lychee Ct.

2008-03-04T15:35:00.000-08:00

The tulip tree is in full bloom in the front yard...
I am busy quilting in the living room...
and my husband is contented with a book. Peace out!

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

2008-02-23T21:39:00.001-08:00

OK, so I'm probably the only person who still calls him Andrew, but that's the name we gave him 28 years ago and I still love it. It's a strong name, just as he is a strong character.
I missed him very much this morning when I woke up and realized how far away he is right now. I'm glad he has a loving wife.

This is why he is in Dallas. Happy Birthday, Andy! Keep up the great work!!