A day of gladness and joy

Dear Ones,
Where do I start? Perhaps at the beginning.... Keanna came to visit last night and finally fell asleep about 8:45 give or take 15 minutes. Nikki had asked her to sleep until 8 this morning, a great plan but the room is so bright with the dawn that she came in at 6:10 to tell me she was very hungry. So I stumbled out of bed, found my robe and made breakfast. She loves to watch Vegi tales, a series of Christian stories for children. Each story teaches a lesson and I learned the lesson very well as we watched it at least 6 times. Selfishness is bad, sharing is good! Keanna ate all of her breakfast, was already dressed and ready to go. I hate to leave her alone for long periods of time but I did a quick shower, dressed and we drove to Tracy to Sabbath School. The short night was beginning to effect her and she was so tired, her eyes hurt but after a few minutes in SS she brightened and I think enjoyed herself. Jason and Jo arrived as Sabbath School was over with a very happy and smiling Timothy. Then Nikki arrived so we had some good minutes of family and I found myself tearing up, I was so shocked and surprised as it has been some time since that happened. The kids are great at grabbing a tissue and waiting for the fountain to stop, it did. Nikki and Keanna had to leave for Stockton but she got to see Keith and Marilyn Tall, our traveling friends who she had not seen for awhile. Jason and Jo with Timothy set up in the mothers room where Timothy set out to show his new crawling abilities, Boy can he go now. He was such a good boy and he got to eat and drink a bottle and crawl some more. Today Sue Miller was the preacher, what a nice surprise. She was effective, prepared and did an excellent job proving once again that we can never know what another person is capable of until we see them in action. I know Bob, her husband and church treasurer was very proud of her.
Then it was time to go to Lanza's. Dick and Becky have been part of the backbone of the church forever it seems. Every pastor longs to have families like the Lanza's in the church family. They are gems and their place is so cute. In the back there is a petting zoo with a goat, llamas, chickens, dogs and cats plus they have a wonderful pond which Dick keeps stocked with trout and Koi fish. The lunch was great and there were so many of our friends there from all generations. I especially enjoyed seeing Michael Ahn who is a close friend of Jason's. After the meal I enjoyed having a real conversation about the heart issues I face with Keith who has had bypass surgery and knows a thing or two about the heart. He issued a challenge to me which I will discuss in another blog. Both he and Marilyn were very helpful and revealed that they are faithful blog readers. That always amazes me and is rather humbling since I think most of what I write is pretty ordinary stuff and really rather boring. I'm always amazed that anyone reads it on a regular basis. It was amazing, seemed like Marilyn and I had been talking all along as I would mention something and she would know all about it from reading the blog. I also got a chance to catch up with the events in their adult children's lives which was great since when they moved to Canada many years ago the children were small. Finally I pulled myself away from the warmth of the Lanza home and friends, stopped by to see Kevin and Michael Ahn at their house as Jason and Jo had gone there to visit. Michael pulled out books of photos from when they were little, that was real fun and I got to see several photos of Nan from a much younger time. Wow, what a looker! And I even had hair back then.
Finally I headed home to fall asleep in the recliner while watching the christian dish. This evening the Hope Channel played a program that was recorded in 2000. It had many of the musicians I have known in my lifetime all singing and sharing together. It was sort of like a Gather event you see on Christian TV sometimes. It was wonderful, Calvin Knipschild was there with the Christian Edition, his group, Del Delker was there as was Bob Edwards, The Kings Herald quartet, Jamie Jorge with his violin and so many more, Max Mace, Val had a touching testimony about her little child and all the stuff he has had to go through, 25 sticks before they could get an IV in during one time in the hospital, really amazing and most of the people had tears in their eyes while she was sharing her story. It was just such a perfect ending to a very special and meaningful day.
I face such uncertainty right now as our profession, appraisers, are under fire for helping create the present financial crisis, business has nearly stopped as orders are NOT coming in, the upcoming heart tests I face on the 8th and 9th, my inability to continue my weight loss.....
Yet a day like this helps me get my feet back on the ground, helps me begin to plan new approaches to the immediate issues I face and reminds me what an absolute blessing I have with such special children and their children. Yes times are uncertain but my love for them and their love for me is unshakable. It has eternal meaning and present significance. Facing long hours alone is bearable knowing there will be times with these engaging and interesting children of mine.
I know that for some of you who have not lost someone very near and dear it is impossible to really understand what the family feels. I know I certainly did not have any idea of the depth and totality of the sense of lostness until it happened. I do not want you to understand since the only way to do so is to have the loss, put that off as long as you can, chose life, we did and I'm so glad we did.
So days like this one with Keanna, worship time, Jason, Jo, Nikki, Timothy, close friends, relaxing time to catch up. Days like today are even more precious and meaningful now and I thank everyone who had a part in this day. God spoke to my heart, my fears, my hopes today through you.

Love to all, thanks

Tim
ps sorry I don't know how to turn the photos upright yet.