Saturday, August 26, 2006

When Pictures Capture Truth

Here is Barbara, the Mom, with Charles, the Son in his dorm room at Embry-Riddle University.
Charles is very happy that his mom came with him, bought a ton of stuff, and helped him settle in. However, Charles is still not ready for cuddly pictures and he is ready for Mom to go home.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Blogger Stumps Me Again

My side bar with profile, links, and previous posts moved to the bottom of the page.
I can't figure out why.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Volvo Crash

It's a really low resolution picture from my cell phone, but the general idea is that our 92 Volvo is toast. My son Sam was driving down a back road at the 45 mile per hour speed limit when he strayed a bit onto the narrow gravel shoulder. I said something like "SAM!" . He over corrected and found himself in the oncoming traffic lane. Another over correction and the car spun, slid into a ditch and was decisively stopped by a telephone pole. The picture is a view from the back with a tailight near the center of the photo. The rear of the drivers side is crushed deeply into the car. We hit hard enough to knock the radio right out of the dash. Sam was scraped by a seat belt but otherwise fine. I suppose a combination of being 40 years older than him and of where I sat accounts for the fact that I was hurting pretty bad. But the xrays of my pelvis, arm and ribs say nothing is broken. Now I am just really sore 9 hours later, and will probably be worse tomorrow and the next day.

I think it is time to stop whining about getting old and to be thankful that this ended so well!
Folks who actually saw the wreck were pretty impressed that we crawled out alive and relatively unscathed. Of course they were a bit distracted by the power lines that swayed, struck sparks, and started a grass fire a few yards from the car.

It happened to be a very busy time in the emergency room. I got to practice relaxation techniques while strapped to a rock hard back board and waiting for the doctor to get to the easy cases like me. I prayed. My family prayed. My church family prayed. I had some tense moments, but I was very grateful for the outpouring of love and support.

Monday, August 14, 2006

56 Today

Charles age 18 with Kent age 55

I got a cane for my birthday. It wasn't a joke. I asked for a cane because I'm trying to make my arthritic knee last a bit longer.

I have grown kids, including a married daughter. I have a white beard. I walk with a cane.

All of this is genuinely blowing my mind.

The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know. I still love to learn. I am more and more free of the illusion that I have to hurry up and learn "enough" . There will never be enough. That is one reason why eternity will be a blast rather than boring.

My body is aging and I am struggling a bit to accept that fact. I thank God that he is faithful to grow us in mind and spirit, now and for eternity. I also thank him that we get new bodies somewhere down the line!

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Norway Pictures

Am I the only person having a hard time posting pictures on blogger?
Sometimes they don't show up at all. It seems to want to limit me to five. And if I get all five loaded, they wind up in the wrong order on the page.

I give up on using the blog. But here is a link to a folder on Snapfish: http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=855131155516439017/l=117366418/g=59969900/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

The opening page has a log-in. Ignore that. Just push the view now button and a page of thumbnail photos should pop up. You can then either view a slide show or select an particular photo.

I've been wanting to post this for the past two weeks, but life has been a bit hectic since I got back. Plus, I couldn't seem to get past the mechanics of it. I hope this works.