God is Good Even When Life Hurts

There are times it is hard to separate the mundane from the profound when caught up in the busy-ness of life.  Today was not like that.  My mother passed away today.  She lived to be 88 years old and stayed sharp all the way to the very end.  I was to see her grasp google street level view in the past few weeks.  She would tell us about googling her way down the street she grew up on when she was only eight.  She talked about taking a motorcycle ride through some old ghost towns we used to see in Colorado. She marvelled at the size of the blue spruce tree out n front of our old house in Colorado Springs. For someone who was totally non-techie, she was starting to get the hang of this stuff.

She was a timid bulldog of a woman. Timid in the sense that life easily had a way of intimidating her.  A bulldog because when she knew what she wanted, it was not possible to turn her from it.  Kind of an odd, quirky combination, but that was my mother.  

I  remember a day when we were driving on North Circle in Colorado Springs. A man in this smallish car passed us during a thunderstorm. He managed to drench our old International pickup truck when he splashed passed us through some standing water to the point we had to stop in order to allow the wipers the chance to clear the windshield.  It took a couple of swipes to make this happen.  It was only a couple of blocks later that we caught up with this same driver. We were passing him when we came across another patch of standing water.  I must say, that old International pickup can kick up quite the load of water at times - this was one of them.  I could see clearly a solid three to four inches of water pouring over this guy's car.  He had to stop.  All of us kids were shouting our thorough approval, but mom was deeply embarrassed. She contended all the way to the last time we talked about this - last Summer - that it was an accident, and she did not mean to drown that guy. I believe her, but it was one of those  mom-moments you never forget.  

There was another time we were driving into town when we lived in Crescent City.  It was a rainy day, and there was an old car driven by an old man puttering along slowly in front of us through the two lane highway that runs through the Redwoods. There were a couple of places for such folks to pull off, but they, apparently, were not made to his liking.  Nope, he just continued to putter along in front of us - by this, I mean 20 MPH.  Well, we were running late, and this guy was making us later.  When we finally reached the flat on the other side of the Redwoods, mom took off. She zipped around him, and flew down the highway trying to catch up with time.  Unfortunately, the Highway Patrol has no regard for catching up with time because of an old guy in an old car driving at the speed of a glacier. The little red light glowed brightly in the rear view mirror.  Mom pulled over and began pleading her case when the officer came to the window - all to no avail. As he was writing out the ticket, guess who drove by? Yup, old guy in an old car driving at the speed of a snail on tranquilizers.  It was another mom-moment.

I have been struggling as we are processing mom's homegoing.  There are surges of grief followed by times of sadness.  I know she is OK. I know she is running free with no walker and no struggles with cantankerous joints.  I know she is re-united with Dad and stunned at the presence of the Jesus she met as a young girl. I know she is singing with angels and dancing on streets of gold, but I am missing her greatly.  A chaplain assistant I deployed with to Kuwait had a poignant question for me after a worship service in which we were praying for some family members who were struggling with life-ending diseases. "I don't understand you pastors. You talk about the wonders of heaven, but you pray to keep people out of it." Well, this day, I am rejoicing even in the midst of the tears.  It  was a homegoing - perhaps, actually, a homecoming. It is just our perspective is backward to that which is the really real...

Going to miss you, Mom. Hug Dad for me, and I look forward to the day we see you again.

C'mon Mary, Let's Go!

88 years old - Aug 12, 2016

Mom G tells stories of dating Dad G....he was always one for an adventure!

Mom G passed away this morning. She was 88 years old and was being treated for congestive heart failure. We expected it; yet we didn't fully expect it.

"Grandma, I'm having baby #2 in June."
"I knew it was time!"

Mom was sharp until the very end. She spent hours these past few months reading Scripture and writing down various nuggets she discovered. She had a HUGE stack of index cards each listing a verse and a name of Jesus. She had stacks of "healing cards" for Michael and stacks of "Jerusalem" cards too.

Happy she celebrated CoRielle with us

When we were in Crescent City, she asked me to research the form for writing haikus. I did. She and Stacia wrote many together and shared them back and forth. We found a haiku on her table this morning....

Madeline Coffee
Earl's over the horizon
What do I do

I imagine she knew she would be seeing Dad Earl again soon.  We know without a doubt Mom Mary is in heaven with Jesus and Dad. Our tears are for our loss. We are happy we had the time in Crescent City and then here in Oregon with her.

Games at Krista's

It shouldn't be a shock, but it is.

I keep hearing Dad G shouting in his boyish voice, "C'mon Mary, wait till you see what's over this mountain." Much like he did when exploring the Matsu Glacier in Alaska.

Until we catch up with you both again, Dad and Mom,  goodbye  - for now!

Cy & Grandma

Shoot! We neglected to get a candid shot of Jared and Larissa with Mom G. We'll add the family photo from the wedding later.

I'm pretty sure Michael will have thoughts to share at a later date. We covet your prayers as there is much to do. 

Bella's Big Personality at 9 Months

Bella is developing a BIG personality at nine months of age - and it's a blast to be nearby as she matures. 

Nine months old - she is saying a few more words, she still growls, and laughs and now she has TEETH. She's also putting on weight, proving to pediatricians she is just fine - simply on her own pattern of life.  

She loved opening gifts for her soon to arrive baby brother! I'm quite sure she didn't realize the blue dinosaurs and trucks were not meant for her! ::snort::

My favorite shot of Bella this month!

She is standing outside of BreZaak's kitchen. Izzak likes to cook and Bella loves to watch him cook. She gets very excited and happy when he goes to the kitchen, as she knows he will share whatever he is making with her!

Being two minutes away from our sweet Bella is the best part of house-sitting!

Sunday Sightings

 During this season of travel and transition, we are enjoying visiting many different church bodies. We're never 100% sure what we'll find. Our last new visit was to Eugene Faith Center. Stacia remarked, "It's like a museum or an airport  in here." The "foyer" IS amazing. We were surprised the pastor remembered Michael from college group decades ago. They had fun talking about the intervening years. Pastor Steve talked on Joshua 1.9 - Michael was wearing this year's Gherkin Shirt....Strong. Courageous!  It was a fun visit.

We'd not visited Elmira Open Bible before and chose to do so this morning.  We found friends of BreZaak, a friendly body of believers who truly know, love and care for one another, vibrant worship and a challenging message. It's awe-inspiring to see the same spirit of love and community at work in big, small and medium  expressions of Christ's church.

This is the neighbor's sign at the edge of the church's lot. 

If "The Pump," in Springfield can be a yummy restaurant, it seems only fair "The Station," in Elmira can be a full-service beauty salon.

Where else can you get a cut, curl, lube, oil and filter?

We drove around Elmira - pop 2600.

We drove to Veneta and tried to find the bird farm we house sat  our first summer of marriage over thirty-four years ago. We have become THOSE people. The ones who drive their kids to old stomping grounds, only to discover they can't locate the grounds as it's changed in the past 3 decades. ::snort::

We enjoyed the morning at church and driving around and discussing the type of town where we'd like to live.  We like small towns. We like a bit of quirky. We like farming communities. We'd like to find Hardin, MT in Alaska.

....and then the Falcons lost. Seahawks in 2018.

Perfect Rainy Saturday

There are a LOT of  rainy days around here. Yes, that's WHY it's so very green, lush and gorgeous in the spring and summer. I get it. Honestly, I understand. I totally love this area - but HEY - it's GRAY and WET here this time of year....and I can't help longingly watching the weather maps and thinking I'm SOUTHERN at heart - or NORTHERN as in ALASKA where you can see the STARS, MOOSE and NORTHERN LIGHTS at night in the winter. ::snort::

I choose joy. I play Boo Yay. I do. Really. BUT I am finally realizing, the gray, overcast, rain is a struggle for me.  Today was Saturday. A GREAT day to go to the coast, or hike a new trail or visit a park....except it was RAINING.

We packed into the little car and headed to the PUBLIC LIBRARY! Perfect! Stacia was three when we moved to Japan. We had a beautiful Japanese library we could use. The drawback, of course, being none of us read Japanese. There was a very small base library. We moved to Beale and the libraries on and off base were also small.

THIS library is big! It's three or four stories tall.  Here is Stacia climbing another floor - on our way to the Adult fiction.  Can you imagine how much fun it would be to slide down these banisters?

We took a significant amount of books away from the fiction floor.  Stacia didn't seem impressed by all the choices. I kept trying to interest her. She kept telling me she had all the books she needed to read on her kindle. ::gasp::

Finally, I realized my gal may be more interested in a different section. We found the Young Adult section.  Nope - not quite what we were looking for either...then we found the children's section. (Being a tween has it's challenges).  I thought she'd read Nancy Drew - but she hasn't. Of course not! That was Arielle, and Krista before her. We checked out the first one and asked her to give the library selection a try. She's hooked. Nearly done with the first book already!

Rainy days are spectacular for people-watching at the  library! We observed, and interacted, with a  great cross-section of the local culture.

Our next rainy day stop was the movie theater to catch - SING.

Michael suggested we spend a gift card and so we headed to Red Robin to end the day! What a great rainy day!

Now that we're all set for the rain, it will probably be sunny this week! You'll all KNOW who to thank!  THIS is a favorite room in the home were watching - lots of windows!

An Update on Mom

Sometimes life surprises you! We were surprised when Mom was told she had breast cancer in December.

Mom is nine days post-surgery, and today we visited with her surgeon. Her incisions are healing nicely. They were able to remove all the breast cancer.

Life surprised us again as Dr. K continued to read the pathology report to us. Four of the seven nodes they removed were cancerous with a couple being big enough  Mom will need to have radiation after all.  They had hoped to avoid radiation.

The biggest surprise was the discovery that  Mom has two types of cancer. She not only has breast cancer, but they discovered low grade B Cell lymphoma in her breast. This is usually found in the lymphatic system and Dr. K said it is very rare for her to find it. We will know more after we visit with the medical oncologist and the radiation oncologist. At this point, we know this is a slow growing blood cancer, usually manifesting first in the lymphatic system. We know it typically responds well to chemo and radiation and will go into remission for years. The line is its, "treatable but  not curable."  The treatment is usually to watch and then to treat with chemo and radiation so it would seem treatment of the breast cancer will also treat this.

While we were surprised, and it wasn't fun, to discover a second type of cancer, we rejoice in a mastectomy which led to early detection of the lymphoma. We rejoice this is also slow growing. We rejoice we are in Mom's very town for Michael to get the medical care he needs, and we are able to be here to process all this together with family. We rejoice in a GOOD FATHER who goes before us in each and every circumstance.

Once more, I'm faced with a hard to own reality -  I can't fix this. In fact, there is very little I CAN DO, but I rejoice tonight in the One who holds each of us in the palm of His hands. It's amazing, to know He is ALREADY THERE when these sorts of days occur.

This year's verses are proving very applicable already... not only with cancer, but with rumors and fake news, with changes and decisions which need to be made....

"The LORD is the One who will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you.  Do not be afraid or discouraged."  Deut 31:8 (HCSB)

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Josh 1:9 (NASB)

Nigiri on Wasabi

Mom's drains have been removed and her surgery incisions are looking good. I am now home for the evenings with the family.

I am a bit pre-occupied, and maybe sleepy, in any event - I'm OUT OF IT.

"I have maki!"

"I got sashimi!"

"Put the nigiri on the wasabi, and it will triple."

Now, these are items I'm familiar with from our time in Japan, but I wasn't quite tracking where they were getting maki and sashimi and I didn't know where I was to get nigiri and wasabi for them.

It helps to really listen and when I did, I realize they were playing Sushi Go!