Home Again!
Doug and I just came back from three weeks of vacation. We started off spending time with my high school classmates for a reunion in Las Vegas for the first week. We then traveled to be with Beth, our daughter and her husband, Jon, and their children: Malia (14); JD (12) and Kiana (10) in Los Angeles. Finally, we traveled to Sacramento for our last five days to be with my brother, Dale, and his family to celebrate his 62nd birthday. You may be saying that was a very busy time with lots of people. Yes it was, but it was a rich time of sharing our lives with people we love. Doug and I had a lot of alone time in spite of the different places and encounters.
Let me share some of our answers to prayer and highlights of the trip. We were able to leave Portland by plane on January 9 in the afternoon right before the huge snow storm that blanketed the city of Portland. It was such an answer to prayer! Spending time with some of my classmates was a blast. I grew up with several of my classmates; our parents knew each other and we were even born in the same hospital. There is a connection that doesn’t need explaining because we have so many memories and we spent a lot of time just laughing! Several have become Christians so it is great to talk about their experience as believers and their experiences in their churches. Three of them grew up as Buddhists and it is so amazing how God saved them. One couple was going through a very difficult season in their church and it was great to encourage and pray for them. Doug had a chance to spend quality time with a spouse of one of my classmates and they talked about his spiritual journey.
Spending time with Beth and Jon and their children is always special. It is great to attend their children’s sporting events and to have time just hanging out and to go to church together. Beth and I attended a workshop on relationships sponsored by a clinical psychologist and we learned a lot! We learned so much about how we relate together and how we can grow in our relationship. It was great to have more information on relationships as Paulette Williams and I will be teaching on how to handle messy relationships in a conference this spring!
Our last stop was in Sacramento and we had a chance to be with my brother, Dale and his wife Aina. My brother is Mormon and, for the first time, God opened up the doors in an honest discussion about the Mormon church and the Bible. My brother is a very gentle person and enjoyable to be around. We see each other once a year for just a few days and in the past it has always been cordial but we did not feel the opportunity to share our faith. My sister-in-law comes from four generations of Mormonism. There could have been fear about the discussion, but this time the Lord opened up the doors and it was good. We came away with a mutual trust of hearing each other and we are praying for future interactions with them as we continue to pray that the truth of the Word would touch their lives. Please join us in praying for them and their family.
Thank you for letting me share about our vacation. Also, thank you for praying for us!