Granny is Moving On!

This Granny is moving on. Monday, August 31, 2009 is my last working day at Whitworth University. I have worked there for over 12 years. Now God has new things for me. My first new adventure will be to travel to Israel to work at the House of Hope for two weeks. The House of Hope is a place that takes in blind and disabled children discarded by their culture. It is in Bethlehem where Jesus was born. I will also have opportunities to travel in the area and see some of the biblical sites and antiquities. There will be many stories to tell my grandchildren when I return and pictures to show them. But the good news is that before I leave I get to take care of cute little Jackson who is 5.5 months old. I get to snuggle him for two weeks and then I'm off. God is so good.

Family is Precious

We had such a wonderful summer at our cabin on Sacheen Lake. Posted here is a picture taken of all of our kids and their kids the last night we were all together. We had a wonderful birthday party for Sarah Burns our daughter-in-law and served an ice cream cake on the party barge as we made our way around the lake. We sang. We laughed and we all enjoyed each other so very much. This was the last time all the cousins were together along with their parents. To quote Hope who is 8, "I love the lake. I have the happiest childhood in American, Grandma." So many memories are made. We don't take the gift of our family for granted. We feel extremely blessed to have had our daughter and her family with us for seven weeks this summer. Yesterday we went to the cabin...the clean but very empty cabin. We couldn't stay. It was just too lonely. It will take us awhile to not have a lump in our throats, missing our California kids and grandkids so much. But we are enjoying Elijah today as I write. He has a new fat bat and new wiffle balls and he took a very big nap so he is happy. I will take care of little Jackson half-days in September when my rhythm changes from being a Vice President to just being Grandma which is the best job on earth.