We came all the way for this?

As I mentioned in my last post, our plans for this year include an almost-unprecedented 4 months in the States! I think 1980 was the last time we stayed so long. That meant a lot of preparation had to be done to leave persons in charge of various aspects of our lives: our house and the church, principally.

The church has been left in the overall care of José Carlos, helped by Roy (in the English-language services) and Aurélio (in both Portuguese and English). Aurélio and his wife, Sietske, have been missionaries in Muslim Africa (Morrocco, Mauritania and currently, Senegal) for a number of years. Aurélio is from Madeira and they're here for the summer, so they will help house-sit, along with their two children, who are in high school and university in France and will be "home" for two months.

We arrived in the US on May 7 and spent a couple of days with Joy and Mark in Arkansas before driving to Rachel and Chris's house in western Colorado on Saturday and Sunday. Good choice. Guess what? Our trip across the Rocky Mountains on Sunday coincided with a late snow storm! We came for this?

We came over the pass at 25 mph, and saw a lot of cars that were not able to stay on the road, some overturned in the ditch. The highway was closed just after we got through to the other side of the mountains. This was not something we were expecting... I didn't bring any long sleeve shirts and neither of us had a sweater or even a lined jacket. We would have been in trouble if we had gotten stuck up there on the top. The very same thing happened to us a few years ago, but that time it was at night. The good thing this time was that it was in the middle of the day.


We came for this:

The grandkids. Braewyn, Rachel's youngest, will soon be 6. She'll start first grade in the fall, but she is already reading any book she picks up. But actually, we came for this:

Brody, Rachel's oldest graduated from high school yesterday. I'm thankful he didn't run and jump up into my arms like his sister did! The ceremony was outdoors at the football stadium, and we had to be there by 8:00 a.m. The temperature was 31ºF (about -1ºC) when we got up and about 41ºF (5º C) when we got there. Fortunately it was sunny; unfortunately we sat in the shady side of the stands. Br-r-r-r. It was better by the time the ceremony ended about 10:30 and we could go out on the field in the sun.

Rachel's family

All of us together, including Rick and his wife, Margaret, in the dark glasses, who drove over the mountains on Monday, but the roads were clear by then. Rick's daughter, Gabbie graduates next week in Pueblo, back on the east side of the continental divide.

The guys

Travelling again soon
...and a special prayer request

We'll be headed towards Pueblo on the weekend, going through Denver on Sunday. But we're going to have an unplanned stop there for a night, at least, to see Abbie's sister, Emma. Abbie's brother-in-law, Carlton, was taken from Colorado Springs to Denver Monday night for emergency angioplasty on a cerebral aneurism. The operation yesterday went well, according to reports, but he will need care and prayers for a long time. Emma has Parkinson's and had to be take to the Emergency Room because of a seizure at the same time Carlton was being taken to the operating room. Abbie spoke with her after she was released, and we ask your prayers for both of them.

More news as I get a chance to write.