At home

I have a posting prepared, detailing the last week of activities, but the pictures are not on this computer and will have to be transferred before I post. Too tired to do it tonight. We got in at midnight (last night/this morning), ending something like 33 hours of travel since we got up at Rachel's Friday morning. Both of us figure we slept about 4 hours on the Denver-London overnight flight. Then there was the 7-hour layover at Heathrow, a connecting flight through Porto in northern Portugal, and at the end of the day, we arrived about 25 minutes ahead of schedule.

A week ago I preached in Colorado Springs, today here in Madeira, next Sunday I'll preach in Portimão, on the south coast of mainland Portugal, where the Baptist Church there is celebrating her 25th anniversary. In fact, we have to leave Tuesday afternoon already! We've been discussing how much has to be taken out of the suitcases, and how much we should just leave in them for the next week of travel. Our visit here at home this time is shorter than most places we stayed in the States on this trip.

All is well at the church. There were several people who came forward to take over the music and the teaching and preaching ministries in our absence. How blessed it is to be dispensable!

News about Jackie

During our layover at Heathrow, Abbie called Jackie's cell phone to find out the latest news. Jackie answered from her hospital bed, saying that she had received the stents on Friday, the day before. She had called us on the 15th (just after my last posting) as we were traveling to Oklahoma after she had just come from the doctor's office. He told her there were two options: a quadruple bypass (6-8% chance of survival), or a balloon stent or stents (not sure of the details), for which he gave a 20% success rating. She asked about a third option: not doing either. Answer: "That is an option, but you could drop dead at any moment." The doctor gave an initial timetable of two weeks for the operation, but said he would try to get her in sooner. He did. It was 9 days later. Yesterday, she was able to answer the phone. We pray she will continue to improve and soon be home.

We are thankful to be home for a couple of nights. But how much more thankful will she be to be home!

The Young, The Old, and A Change of Seasons

It's been just over a week now that I've been in the US. The trip went very well, including the one-night stopover in chilly London, but at least the weather was dry. Jeff was at the airport in Dallas to meet me and I spent the weekend with him and Liz. The week has been a series of seeing young and old, and experiencing the beginning of the change of seasons.

The Young (1)

One of the main reasons for our trip was to see the young: the two recently-born granddaughters, but even before I got to Arkansas, I was introduced to Jeff and Liz's addition to their family... Calamity Jane (2 months old) had only been with them a little over a week.

Calamity Jane was worn out after a 30-minute walk through the park.

The Young (2)

Jeff and I made the 5-hr trip from Dallas on Monday. It had been 32 days since Abbie left Madeira, so it was great to get to Joy's house to see her. Oh, yeah...and to see Amilia, also. Uncle Jeff has a way with dogs and babies, and he held Amilia whenever he could.

While he held her, she alternated between staring at him and laughing to herself.

(

"Why, I've got as much hair as Uncle Jeff does!"

And when Vóvó (Portuguese for Grandma...derived from avó - grandmother) held her, Amilia assumed the classic I-can-be-really-cute-when-I'm-asleep role babies use to atone for their "Hear-my-cry,-o-Mama!" moments.

Amilia - 3 weeks old; Abbie - less than 3 weeks from being another year older than Amilia

The Young (3)

Still to be seen: Braewyn, Rachel and Chris's daughter, who is now 10 weeks old. We'll be seeing her in a week, when we get to Colorado.

The Old

Abbie and I drove to her parents' house, about 2 hours away, to see them one more time before we head west. Abbie spent almost a week with them before Amilia was born, being present for her father's 90th birthday. Her parent's physical health continues to be as good as it has been over recent years, but her father suffers from loss of memory that causes him to continually repeat questions he's just asked. He knew who I was when we got there, even though he said he didn't know we were coming to visit them. We are thankful they are in as good health as they are. Abbie's brother lives next door and keeps an eye on them, making sure they are taking the right medications at the right times and that they are OK. They need some degree of assistance each day, and we appreciate Ben's dedication to help them, when the rest of the family lives a great distance away.


A Change of Seasons

Here in the Ozarks, the trees are just beginning to turn. The peak will be in a couple of weeks or so, after we've left, but we see the signs here and there of what is coming. This is something we don't experience in Madeira, where the year-round climate is temperate and the change of seasons is mostly marked by rainstorms in the winter months.

Besides the changing hues of the leaves, we see the pumpkins so common here in the fall, but which are much brighter than the varieties in Madeira. Halloween, too, is something much more prevalent here, only recently being promoted commercially on the island. From the displays in the stores, Halloween must be just around the corner. Add a black cat to this scene on the porch at Abbie's parents, and Halloween may be closer than we think.



News from home...

Jackie has not yet been able to have her heart procedure, due to the poor functioning of her kidneys. Doctors of the various specialties are discussing the best way to proceed, given the multiple complications of her health condition. She and Jaime will be remaining in the UK, where she can get the treatment the doctors feel she needs.

On the island, Dawn has had to go to the hospital. Initial tests show a clot in her heart, a shadow in her lung, and problems with her esophagus. I spoke with her husband, Roy, who said further tests are planned as soon as next week to determine the exact nature of these signs. Roy is taking the English services while we're away.

Next week we head west, planning to arrive in Colorado on Thursday afternoon, after visiting a church in SW Oklahoma. Two weeks from now, we'll be in the UK and almost home.