Thanksgiving

Yes, Thanksgiving was 3 weeks ago. In the 3 weeks that have passed since that special day of celebration, including time around a table eating a traditional Thanksgiving meal, I believe we have fleshed out the instruction “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” in new and—at times—very intense ways. I say “we”. In all honesty it was Willis who walked through the valley of the shadow of death, experiencing pain, despair, frustration, more pain, feelings of abandonment. I was mostly an observer—and hopefully a support to him—but giving thanks to God for Willis’s difficult times was tough. In the end, we learned new dimensions of God’s faithfulness and grew in knowing Him and each other.

Surgery, a hospital stay, unforeseen, mysterious complications—actually, what other kind are there?—all are truly opportunities for learning and growth. And Thanksgiving is truly a celebration for every day of the year.

December 7th, 1941--A Date Which Will Live In Infamy

This past week I finished reading—well, I listened to the audio book—The War by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns. Throughout my childhood I heard only snippets about the war since my father, who was a Marine during World War II—volunteering on January 1, 1942 and serving in the Pacific until the War was over in late 1945—clearly didn’t want to discuss it. “Never look back” is one of his signature quotes. But we need to be reminded of the hundreds of thousands of families whose loved ones gave their lives to defend our country and advance the cause of freedom. This book is a “compelling, unflinching narrative”, “an intimate, profoundly affecting chronicle of the war”, and I believe should be required reading for all Americans.

Happy Birthday!

Even though Ben (in October) and Bethany (in November) received birthday packages at school, how can you truly celebrate a birthday long distance? So when Bethany and Ben arrived home for Thanksgiving break--a week vacation, way-to-go Grove City College!--we celebrated together, in person. Happy Birthday to each of you, Ben and Bethany!

It's A Small World--Story #1

Following a long wait due to a cancelled flight—not sure the reason for that—weary travelers boarded the plane in Dallas, Texas bound for Memphis, Tennessee. I made my way to a Center seat—odd, because I always try to get a window seat. Maybe they were all taken when we booked my tickets. A woman settled into the window seat and we began talking about where we’d come from and why we were going to Memphis. I had arrived from Reno and she had arrived from Portland. I shared about visiting Chester, California (Ideal and Les’s new home) and she shared that she had spent time at a family cabin on Lake Almanor—the Lake near Chester—every summer of her forty-something life; most recently she’d been there in August. We conversed and I learned more about the town and the lake.

This is my first installment in what I imagine will be an on-going series of Small World stories. Some details about this one: Chester has a population for 2,316. California is a big state and there are a lot of people there and this woman lives in Oregon. But she knew exactly where I’d just visited. Not only that, but after she settled into Seat 11F—I was sitting in 11E—a man came along who asked what her boarding pass had on it. Turns out she was supposed to be sitting in 10F.

Thanks to the cancelled flight I did not get to visit with Nathan on his last evening before heading out to Air Force basic training in Texas on November 13. But it’s OK: I know the Lord is with him and I have every confidence He is fulfilling His purposes in Nathan’s life. And we’ll get to see Nathan in December!

The Saga of the Steinway

OR How Nathan Moved A 600 Pound Upright Grand Piano 600 Miles And Lived To Tell The Tale

When my aunt decided she was ready to pass along the upright Steinway piano which has been in the family for over 70 years, we determined that it should find a home at my mother’s until Bethany-the future owner-would have a place for it. Moving the piano from Morro Bay to Alturas became the current project. And Nathan—since he was in California—accepted the challenge!

One Monday morning in October Nathan and his cousin Trevor drove from Reedley to Morro Bay (146 miles) in a truck pulling a trailer and thankfully my aunt had called church friends to help load the piano from the house into the trailer. Back in Reedley (146 miles) the piano was loaded into Uncle Les’s trailer which he pulled up to their new home in Chester (349 miles). On Thursday Nathan drove up to Redding (357 miles); he and his cousin Jacob drove to Alturas (145 miles) to pick up Grandpa’s truck to drive to Chester (139 miles). Uncle Les worked some magic to transfer the piano from the trailer into the back of the truck which they drove back to Alturas (139 miles). Thankfully—again—church friends arrived to unload the piano from the truck into the house. Mission accomplished!

To Nathan and all those who helped: Thank You.

A Visit to Northern California

I enjoyed a wonderful visit with my parents and my sister Carolyn and her family in Alturas, CA--high desert, one of the "sagebrush counties", truly in the middle of no-where :-)--and also squeezed in a side trip to Ideal and Les's new home in Chester, CA--a mountainous area just a little out-of-the-way from my return drive to the airport in Reno, NV.

Daddy showed me around the new greenhouse which Nathan helped him build this summer; he's already producing an amazing variety of vegetables and his crop will flourish all winter long! We looked at dozens of Mother's pictures from the past 80 years; she has many scrapbooking projects in the works. We ate Alturas Chinese food and pancakes at the Veteran's Hall and celebrated Daddy's 92nd birthday. It's always a special thing--and a bit eye-opening in a deja vu kind of way--to spend time with "just the birth family" because everyone knows all the favorite sayings, jokes, memories, wisecracks; everyone laughs at the familiar idiosyncrasies and habits. And we rejoice in being with the people who have known us and loved us the longest.

Smoking in the Cemetery

A cemetery is located across the parking lot and highway from our office. When I look out the front window, it’s what I see first. Cars assemble in the cemetery for a funeral occasionally, certainly not every day. Lately we have noticed cars pull into the cemetery driveway and on the grass next to the highway, and the first few times we thought perhaps a funeral crowd would be gathering soon. But the cars stayed just a short time—and they didn’t all gather at once—before driving away. Odd, we thought. “They remind me of flies over there. They all alight. And then they leave,” observed Allicia. A factory has just recently opened down the road from our office, so we began to wonder if perhaps people were choosing to eat lunch in their cars in the cemetery. Again, odd. Why don’t they eat lunch in the cafeteria/break room/employees lounge? Why don’t they eat lunch in their cars in the parking lot of the factory?

Then it occurred to us: the people in the cars could be people who are now—as of October 1, 2007—prohibited from smoking in all enclosed public places within the State of Tennessee. (Now we haven’t crossed the highway to see if they are indeed smoking in those cars. But if you know Allicia, it may be in her future.) The parking lot of the factory is not an enclosed public place, so that question is still unanswered. Smoking-in-the-cars-in-the-cemetery is our theory, and we’re sticking to it!

So what do we call this “smoking in the cemetery”? Irony? Allegory? Metaphor? Symbolism? Poetic justice? I don’t think I have the brain-power to figure out which--if any--of those literary terms fit, so I’m very open to comments and feedback!

Homecoming weekend at Grove City College

A gloriously warm autumn weekend awaited Hannah and me as we traveled to Pennsylvania for homecoming at Grove City College. (The weather was actually no different from what we left in Tennessee, but memories of last year's homecoming weekend--clear but very chilly--remained strong; we really enjoyed the occasion with this weather!) Of course our main purpose was to spend time with Bethany and Ben.

Our weekend:

• dinner @ Eat 'n Park
• coffee--actually chai latte--in the SAC
• Homecoming Parade on campus
• lunch @ King's
• shopping at Wal-Mart and the outlets
• dinner @ Los Compadres
• Homecoming Worship Service in Harbison Chapel
• lunch @ Rachel's
• shower for baby Fleming
  
  Not an exhaustive listing--it sure looks like we did a lot of eating!--but hopefully I'm communicating what a wonderful weekend we enjoyed together.

Willis's Birthday

Happy Birthday, Willis!!!

....and a visit to the Beach

Although not always possible, a visit to the Beach makes a trip to California complete! There's just something about the sea air, the sea gulls, finding shells and rocks in the surf--not to mention bracing for the chilly rush of Pacific Ocean water!--the smell of the ocean and the taste of fish and chips. All these elements bring back wonderful memories of escaping the Valley heat to the cool of the coast and especially time at the beach when our children were little.

A Wedding in California.....

September 20 found Willis and me flying to California to celebrate Casey and Kerissa's wedding on Saturday. What a beautiful wedding! And what a lovely time to visit with family.................

Labor Day becomes Labor Month

As the month of September commenced--yes, I know I could have used the more informal "began", but since I just finished listening to Frankenstein, preceded by The Scarlet Letter, I've been filling my mind with all this more formal vocabulary and I am eager to use some of it!--Willis took advantage of the holiday from work and set to work in completing several projects around our house. A few times a little assistance was required--O Nathan and Ben, where art thou?--but I was only too happy to help. Here are some photos: the new storm door and the covered area to keep the firewood dry.
As you can tell, the dogs are mightily distracted if we have the door open and they have opportunity to look out through the storm door. To save our sanity from constant barking at any type of activity in the neighborhood, we keep the door closed.

Saying Good-bye to Bethany and Ben at Grove City College....and travels beyond...

After we said good-bye to Bethany and Ben at GCC, Willis and I traveled to Gettysburg, PA where we visited Gettysburg Nat'l Military Park and Eisenhower Nat'l Historic Site. We continued on to Antietam Nat'l Battlefield in Maryland and Harpers Ferry Nat'l Historic Site in West Virginia.

Back in Dyersburg, Hannah enjoyed a reunion with Mary Emily and Isabella as they--and their parents--visited Tucker Street Church during their time in the States. Since Hannah had spent two weeks at their home in the Dominican Republic this summer, the girls also spent the night at our house.

And, following a month in Alturas, California where Nathan lived with Aunt Carolyn and her family, worked for Grandpa, and made pies for Grandma, Nathan is now in Reedley, living with Aunt Ideal and her family and working with Uncle Ralph.

In the Beginning

It was inevitable. While Nathan, Bethany, Ben, and Hannah have had accounts on FaceBook and/or MySpace, Willis and Melodee have remained incognito in cyber space. (Oops, well, Willis is on FaceBook! And actually I am on the Right Choices site.) This is a very sparse beginning, but here's a family picture from December 2006 to get us started.