Back in Montrose

We have just returned from a long, but satisfying 4 weeks on the road. We travelled about 5,500 miles (David and Becca will tell you it felt like even more), and only had a major repair when we were at Rosie's and had enough time to get it fixed. About 4 hours from home, in blinding rain, the windshield wiper went flying off on the expressway--that was an adventure!! David and I had to steer Tim off the exit ramp which was right there (thank you, Lord!) and to the gas station (right there also!). Fortunately there was a garage nearby, open late because they were repairing the car of the lady running the gas station.

Last night we slept in our own bed. What a nice treat!! Timothy was thrilled to have us home. He has been alone except for the wedding, and said how nice it was to have us sleeping upstairs instead of rattling around the house alone. It is great to be a family again, and I am looking forward to later in the week when I have unpacked and sorted. :)

We are so blessed!! We started our tour with staying with Uncle Waldo and Aunt Leta. Uncle Waldo (my Dad's kid brother, who looks a lot like Santa Claus and just as generous) and Aunt Leta are glue people--you know the kind--they keep people glued together. So Aunt Leta invited Rik and Kellie and Steve and Marie and their kids to see us. Rik and Steve are my brilliant cousins who were teaching at the John's Hopkin's computer lab when they were in high school, and are now making their living doing stuff no one understands but everyone needs. They and their dad helped Tim figure out how to repair his computer while all of us enjoyed Aunt Leta's incredible cooking.

The next day we were off to cousin Dave's (now we're on my mom's side). After discovering that Dave and Katie's son Andy is a great cook, Dave stayed up most of the night saving Tim's computer from near distruction, and Tim from losing his life on that computer. What a gift!! We continue to be amazed at how God brought everything together--first knowing what needed to be done from Rik and Steven, and then Dave having what we needed to fix the problem. Wow.

We were on our way and made it to North Carolina to Tony and Dee Dee's. The computer is now fixed, now we got our eyes fixed by Tony. Result--Tim looks very spiffy in his new glasses, and I have bifocal contacts. Only I and my doctor need know. My assignment is to get used to them without going crazy. Meantime I have new, very intellectual looking glasses and am pretending I am as smart as I look.

Tony and Dee Dee go back to Philadelphia days. We had a preemie and couldn't take him anywhere. They were optometry students, just married. So we taught them what we knew about making marriage work, and like good students, they have gone on to surpass their teachers and have taught many more much better. They are also the best eye doctors on the planet, and try to get us to choose glasses we actually aren't embarrassed to wear.

Off to Georgia. We met my Uncle John (big brother to Daddy) and his daughter Judy at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast. I was struck again with how Daddy's generation is growing old. They are loving Jesus more and more, and the closer they get to the kingdom, the more they marvel at what God is teaching them. Uncle John choked up about all that God had revealed to him in Revelation, and I sat praying for the same wonder he has for Jesus and the same dedication to the things that really matter. Having two doses of Daddy's brothers right after each other, I suffered waves of homesickness for my own parents after that. It seemed as though I had just lost mother and daddy, even though it has been 27 years since Daddy joined Jesus, and 6 for mother.

Well, that is enough rambling for tonight. I'll write more about the rest of the trip later. I can't believe anyone really wants to read this stuff!!