THE SAGA CONTINUES

Wow! I love my grandkid time - but I sure have found that a major deterrent to writing in the blog. In addition to my adorable grandkids there has been a LOT going on! Some I will wait to share....but the good times have included:

Exciting progress on one of my bucket list items - - I will report on that when it comes to fruition....

July 29-30 A trip to Leavenworth to see THE SOUND OF MUSIC in an outdoor theater. Two daughters, 6 grandkids, Pa and I were on the trip. The salient highlights of the trip were the production - and my visit with my friend, Lucy, for a few hours on Friday the 30th. We first met when we were 8 years old. Now she and her husband are up to their gills in being antique dealers - - in a wonderful shop with lots of dealers in Cashmere. What a treat!

July 31 Helped with Children's Church for the Saturday night worship service.

August 1 I was a last-minute fill-in helper for Children's worship for the 11:00 a m service

August 1 Two grandkids came for overnight - and 2 more came for Monday, for a total of 4. The only reason the other two weren't here was that they were at summer camp!

August 3 I had 4 of my college friends here for dinner. Of that group, 3 are pastors. What a treat to have that shared time. I would have loved for it to last longer - but what a gift. I'm 'logging on' for a longer visit when we get to heaven! I relish the memory of it. With the visit with Lucy in Cashmere, and then the visit with Dave, Judy, Dan and Anita on Tuesday, it just extended the 1960's College Reunion ambiance! What a joy! What memories!

August 5 My brother Ken arrived for a visit (from Idaho).

August 6 we celebrated my eldest grandson's GED. All 4 of our kids were there - a rare treat. We didn't have the 2 kids who were away at camp - or one son-in-law who was in his softball league state championship - but considering how hard it is to get everyone together - it was good!

That night, Erin and her two youngest stayed overnight so they could go pick Mak up at camp the next morning, and Kami was here overnight - and my brother - so it was a fairly full house.

August 8 we entertained a group of 30 for the West Tacoma Newsprint Reunion.

August 9 I spent the day with my brother, Ken.

August 10 The Meyer kids came down to spend the night. Ken stayed to see them - then headed south about 2 p m.

August 11 That's today! I had the Olson kids for the day - plus the 3 Meyers until about 1:30....

That's the nutshell version.

Just want you to know I have missed getting to write - - and have missed my pursuit for finding answers - - or at least defining questions - - regarding the eschatological quest.

Hope I can get back to this soon - - but it seems that the other blogs I read regularly are in the same boat - busy!

I planned to add a couple of other photos - but it isn't working....so I'll hope to do that later....

THE GIFT OF TIME

Wow! My eldest granddaughter has really entertained the troops today! What a joy! So - I'm taking a little get-away and spending some more time in my office while they traipse off to pick wild berries.... I only had 2 cousins that I saw regularly growing up - and they were a lot older than I was - so I treasure the time my grandkids have with each other - building memories....

But I wonder about their future. Those of us who did a good chunk of our growing up in the 1950's lived in a Pollyanna world politically - or so it seemed. I do remember being terrified of airplanes as a younger kid - fearing it could be the Japanese coming to bomb us. And I grew up fearing the Russians - who were our sworn enemies - but they all seemed so very distant.

Then I grew up. The world got a lot smaller. And my views were informed by being exposed to realities I had not previously known. That process continues, actually! But - with that, I live with an awareness of how fragile the continued existence of the world is. We used to be concerned about someone 'pushing the red button' that would bring nuclear disaster - now we have to be more concerned about the apathy that is paving the way for terrorist ideology to destroy everything we know.

I've begun wondering how a country like Turkey - which was Christian - became Muslim, and I found a fairly concise reply on site called Christian History.com. What I read was shocking. The extremists were ignored until it was too late - then genocide followed. The short version is that all who didn't comply were killed.

We are a country who champions religious freedom. It has even become a dividing factor within Christian churches. Everyone has an opinion. But the bottom line is what God thinks - and His Word portrays Him accurately and clearly. And - - when we lack wisdom, He promises us that he gives liberally to all who ask....yet it is still in His time.... He is in the driver's seat!

SENIOR ROAD TRIP

In lieu of what I'd love to write today - I am just going to give you the treat of a cute story....I have 4 grandkids here - so my time is parametered for me!

SENIOR ROAD TRIP - author unknown - I received it as an e-mail....

While on a road trip, an elderly couple stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. After finishing their meal, they left the restaurant, and resumed their trip.

When leaving, the elderly woman accidentally left her glasses on the table, and she didn't miss them until they had been driving for about forty minutes.


By then, to add to their aggravation, they had to travel quite a distance before they could find a place to turn around, in order to return to the restaurant to retrieve her glasses.

All the way back, the elderly husband was the classic grouchy old man. He fussed and complained, and scolded his wife relentlessly during the entire return drive. The more he chided her, the more agitated he became…. He just wouldn't let up for a single minute.


To her relief, they finally arrived at the restaurant. As the woman got out of the car, and hurried inside to retrieve her glasses, the old geezer yelled to her, "While you're in there, you might as well get my hat and the credit card."


This coming week is National Senior Mental Health Week…. You can do your part by remembering to contact at least one unstable Senior to show you care.