Return to New Zealand (covering 3/10/13 to 7/10/13)
Well, we left Phoenix and Los Angeles on the 3rd
and arrived in New Zealand on the 5th. How time does fly
. We enjoyed the remainder of
Saturday and then Sunday in Christchurch with our children, including
seeing our newest grandchild, Therese (Bevan and Elrike’s third
daughter), and also being present for the baptism of Hannah (Bryan
and Alexia’s baby born in July). Monday it was back to Oamaru and
readjusting to our usual lifestyle!Phoenix (covering 27/9/13 to 3/10/13)
Last but not least we flew to Phoenix where Lois’
father lives with Renie (Lois’ sister) and David Totel. They are
taking wonderful care of Dad in spite of his increasing dementia. He
was having a few extra health problems at the time, but it was so
good to be with them – and also extra good just to share a few days
in the life of the Totels, something we have not done on any of our
trips back since the 1997 one. We took a day to visit the Musical
Instrument Museum. This is a highlight when it comes to museums, so
we were very appreciative that Renie introduced us to it!
Our times with Dad were special even if
communication was not all it used to be. One of the highlights was
listening to a ‘sermon’ he had preached there at the Totels, and
Renie managed to get it recorded. It must be something like 20
minutes long, and he developed the theme that has been on his heart
and mind over the past year: I am ready “against that day” –
are you? He had three specific points that he elaborated on,
telling the meaning for him and challenging the listener. (If I
remember correctly, the only listener was Renie, but he was
definitely addressing his sermon to a wider audience. Correct me,
Renie, if I’ve described any of this inaccurately.) I will look
forward to hearing more of the recordings of Dad’s thoughts, which
Renie hopes to get put on a CD. The others that she has recorded are
not so extensive as this one, she said.
It is hard to know how to summarise visits with
family! so if anyone has questions that come to mind from this brief
report, just write and ask. How can I describe conversations,
insights, visits to their churches (three Sundays in the States), and
many other interesting details of the visits?
Iowa (covering 23/9/13 to 27/9/13)
Knoxville (covering 16/9/13 to 20/9/13) and St. Louis
(covering 20/9/13 to 23/9/13)
Philadelphia (covering 10/9/13 to 16/9/13)
On to Bruce’s brother Loren and family. Becky
and Loren now have only three children at home, although Kendra was
there during our stay. Here Bruce got involved with Loren in
finishing off the reconstruction of one side of the house: tearing
off the old weatherboards, putting in substantial insulation, adding
a few extra power outlets, and adding the new vinyl siding. That’s
a quick summary. Lois’ brother John, who lives only about 50
minutes away, also came and helped one day when he was off work.
It was good to see Loren in pretty good health.
The new heart seems to be functioning pretty well! Of course, Bruce
was also glad to be given a full explanation of Loren’s heating and
cooling and plumbing systems in the basement. We failed to take
photos of that – we should have thought to do that – though Becky
and I took photos of the outside construction.
In Knoxville live the Holders (Lois’ sister
Marti, husband Ron, and daughter Hannah) and in St. Louis Lois’
brother Tom and his wife Susan. It was a privilege to be in their
homes again: for Holders that is their home of thirty years; for Tom
and Susan it was our first visit to their new home after their move
last year. We also had an evening in Hannah’s home, what seems an
ideal spot which she found a year or two ago, and it was a treat to
see so much of her artwork “on site.” Of course, the down side at
the Holders was being reminded of the daily struggles of Ron and
Marti with his Parkinson’s.
Visiting Lillian and Jeremy and Shanna was, of
course, a highlight of our time in the U.S. We introduced Bruce to
the Reading Market (I had been there in March with Lillian) and also
stopped in the Macy Department Store in downtown Philly. We made a
point of being there at the noon hour so that we could hear the
famous Wanamaker organ, the largest operational pipe organ in the
world. If you are at all interested in organs, read the interesting
article in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanamaker_Organ
While in Philadelphia we had the opportunity to
visit Sherwood and Sharon Hoyt, and they came to visit us at Jeremy
and Lillian’s place as well. We enjoyed a good evening with
Jeremy’s parents also and, in addition, met up with Uncle Russ and
Aunt Nancy Ebersole for lunch. We appreciated this visit, and it was
only a couple of days before they were off for five weeks in several
Asian countries to minister there.
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