My Vacation Week

I have been on vacation since this past Monday, August 20Th, and I thought that I would share with you, some of the things that I did. My wife has been working this week, so I have been Home Alone, as you would say.

On Monday, I was not expecting to do much, but that changed early in the morning. After doing my normal Monday Morning chores, I called my oldest grandson (18) to see if he wanted to go to breakfast with his Papa. It turns out that he did so we went to Hudson, NH to eat and that is where our day got interesting.

After Breakfast, I asked him if he wanted to go for an adventure ride, too which he replied, YES. At that point we headed from Hudson, NH to the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

First stop; "The Basin"

Here is the link to the video of the Basin...
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/25329956/video-2012-08-20-12-56-00.mp4

From the Basin, we traveled to North Conway, then into Conway, NH, had lunch and drove home. We had traveled a total of 294 miles. Yep; it was a great day being together and we arrived home at 5:30 PM. The grandson then went home, packed a bag and headed to his uncles house in CT.

Tuesday; I decided to stay home and chill. Watched some TV and just rested. Someone told me once that, that was what you are supposed to do on a vacation. REST!

Wednesday; I had breakfast with a few of the Radio Club Members (Normal for Wednesday) and then went to Andover, Ma. to watch trains, as this is one of my hobbies. Here are links to three (3) videos; (1) Commuter Train; (2) Amtrak from Boston to Portland, ME; (3) Freight Train.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/25329956/video-2012-08-22-07-55-17.mp4

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/25329956/video-2012-08-22-09-44-24.mp4

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/25329956/video-2012-08-22-09-20-42.mp4

Thursday: I was asked to go to my youngest daughters house in Hudson, NH for breakfast, but the catch is that I was the one to do the cooking. Her three children like the way I make French Toast, so those were my orders. Breakfast went well and I decided to wait/work at her house until her only daughter came home. She arrived home about 11:30 AM, and I asked my daughter what she wanted to do for lunch. Well; we ended up going to T-Bones for lunch. We called my oldest daughter and she came with her three youngest plus one little boy from our church that she watches a couple of days a week. So, it ended up to be a nice time with my two daughters and 6 of my 8 grandchildren for lunch. Here are the pictures...

Well; today is Friday; and I am at home doing the resting thing again; however, I plan on going to lunch and check out a BBQ place in town that I have never gone to before. I will let you know how it is/was. I will post a blog about tomorrow, Saturday, as I have plans for tomorrow. "Stand By; More to Follow"

Blessings:

A Sad World

I read a news item this morning about the 14 year old boy who was struck and killed by a car on Rte 93 this past Wednesday, late in the afternoon. The report stated that there is/was a possibility that he was having an argument with his mother. This, once again reminds me that we need to pray earnestly for the youth of our church. 

We are hearing more and more about this type of incident involvin

g children and their parents. We must remember that it is our responsibility to teach our children what the Word of God states...

Ephesians 6:1 KJV
(1) Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

Colossians 3:20 KJV
(20) Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.

ALSO:
Colossians 3:21 KJV
(21) Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

I truly believe that if you center your children in and around the Word of God, incidents like I have described above will be greatly reduced, if not eliminated. Bring your children to Life Application Classes and Youth Group. Help them to be well grounded; not well rounded.

A Bitter Sweet Trip to North Carolina

Hello Everyone:

For those of you who follow me on Face Book, you are aware that my wife's nice Lori (in North Carolina) is now on Hospice. About a week and a half ago; my two daughters stated that they felt an urgency to go and see Lori while she is still with us.

Some hasty plans were made, rooms were booked, routes were planned, other items were prepared, and a departure time was set for Thursday night, August 9, 2012 at midnight. The anticipation was so high that no one could sleep (mainly me, as I planned to do most of the early driving) so we ended up leaving at 10:00 PM. The van was packed with all that we were taking including, myself, my wife, our two daughters, and two grandsons (Ages 18 & 9).

At about 5:00 PM on Thursday night, I received a text from Lynne's sister Sheryl stating that Lori had been moved into Hospice Impatient in Durham, and she thought that we may want to change our plans, and not come down until the next weekend. That was not going to happen; we were all set to go and advise Sheryl of our decision. None of us that were going were going to wait until the next weekend. We could not even wait until midnight to leave, that's why we left at 10:00 PM. LOL

This trip was going to be bitter sweet, as we were not happy about the reason for driving to North Carolina, but I was looking forward to it, as I was going to be able to spend some time with my family members, (more on that later).

The drive was uneventful, we had no problems with the van; the weather was good, except for a short time of downpours around the Baltimore and Washington area. Three of us took turns driving so it made it a little easier. We arrived at Durham, NC about 1:30 PM; but we had made about 1.5 hours of stops for gas, food and just taking a break.

One of the compelling reasons for our trip was the fact that Lori had been in ICU for about a month and she was very tired of being their, so she informed the doctors that she wanted to go home, be on Hospice and be surrounded by her family and friends. That is all that my two daughters needed to hear; we were going.

Lori has also made a request of her mother; that was to celebrate Thanksgiving with everyone. Those plans were scrubbed for a short time, but then re-instated. Plans were to cook all the food at the house and bring it to where Lori was. There was going to be about 25 people for dinner.

On Friday night; we all went to see Lori as it had been about a year since we had seen her last. We saw a lot of changes to her physical being; but, her spirit as a fighter was not diminished, she just knew that things were not going according to her plans of getting better. You could feel the emotions running high as we entered her room, as all of us loved on her and told her home much we loved her and were praying for her.

Saturday afternoon, everyone returned to see her along with the addition of many other folks who wanted to be there with her. The food was all prepared and laid out on the big table in the foyer and we had an early Thanksgiving with Lori. I have included pictures below; enjoy:

After the dinner was over, Lori went back to her room and we waited until we could go in, in small groups to say our good-buys to her.

We believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord as personal Savior; we believe that He is still the Great Physician and is still the Miracle Working God. We believe that He can still heal Lori of her Cystic Fibrosis, but Lori is ready for whatever happens next. She has made her peace with her Lord, and that is important for all of us to know that. We all were glad that we made the trip to see her. If the Lord does not heal her, then we have seen her for the last time here on earth; but; will be reunited once again in the Sweet By and By.

I had mentioned earlier about being with family members. Here is what I mean! Love your children; love your grandchildren; spend time with them; don't let the busyness of life rob you of the Blessings that God has given you. Pray for your children; bring them to church; introduce them to a loving God, as we may not live on this earth forever; however there is an eternity that we will live somewhere. Teach you children to make the right choice, and that is to except Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Here are the pictures:

Walking With God

Here is a quick posting for today. I quoted this to a man in a nursing home that I visited today, and he asked me if I could print the following out, so that he could put it on the wall in his room. "I Did"

Today, God will walk beside you
He will walk in front of you
He will watch your back
He will lift you up
He will never let you down;

"If God be for us; who can be against us?
Romans 8:31

Have a Blessed Day: