Dad's 80th Birthday - Friday Night

The party was kicked off with a barbecue last Friday night. Jean, Jewel, Carol and Galen appeared to have a great time watching the buffet line, which was set up in the garage at my parent's house.

Uncle Cloy was kind enough to share some of his wisdom with us regarding Eric's long-overdue-for-a-haircut style. Uncle Cloy suggested a 'fro, to Eric's amazement, because that's exactly what Eric was thinking he needed. Cloy's suggestion to dye it green took him by surprise though. I thought it might be fun if Cloy dyed his hair green to match - but that idea didn't go over very well with him.
Since it's a little incriminating, we won't mention any names, but one uncle was telling my boys that he is approaching his 60th wedding anniversary, and "We've never even considered divorce, but I'll tell you what, murder was considered a time or two!"

Aunt Grace and Aunt Lela appeared to be a little reluctant to share the blackberry pies they requested. Fortunately their kind and generous nature won out. How could you deprive your great-neices who came all the way from Canada?

The blackberry desserts were definitely a hit with all of us!

Last Thursday

Last week at this time, I was enjoying the beginning of a great family weekend. All the aunts and uncles went out to dinner, but a bunch of other family was hanging out at my parents house so we had to be there.

Here's my nephew Steven next to his daughter Katelyn, truly a girl after my own heart with her nose in a book. That was before all the other girls her age got there. His son JD seemed to enjoy fencing himself in with his truck. Chavan was everywhere, and Tom was content to sit and hold his sweet baby Mandy.The cousins lined up for a photo op. We are much better looking than we appear. Really, we're a beautiful family. Well, at least we can sing. Here's Cousin Rick, Cousin Paula from Nebraska, me (no I don't have a headache already, that didn't happen til my brother Mark appeared the next day!), Cousin Cindi from Arizona, Linda, Galen, Cousin Gwen, Jean and Tom.

Cousin Cindi has always been one of Linda's favorite people.
Chavan really liked Cindi's shoes!

The uncles and aunts weren't out too late so we got to see them. Dad's brother Lauren and his wife Verba, his brother Kenny and wife Phyllis, sisters Grace and Lela drove out from Nebraska. His brother Cloy and wife Norma Jean live in Albany. His two oldest brothers have already gone to meet the Lord, and one of my uncles told me that night that they had all decided they wanted to all be together again without the occasion of a funeral. We enjoyed their presence so much, and my boys appreciated realizing that all these old folks had a great sense of humor!

The Party's Over

The big 80th birthday party reunion for my dad is now nothing but warm happy memories and tons of photos. It was everything I looked forward to, but it was so difficult trying to figure out how to be everywhere and talk to everyone. Every conversational group looked and sounded so interesting!

We went to the park in Brownsville for family pictures Sunday. My dad wasn't too sure he wanted a picture with my boys because he said they made him look short!


Last night I said good-bye to the last remaining out-of-state relatives when I visited my parents house to see my brother Tom and his family before they head back to Indiana. I did not get to hold their darling four-month-old Mandy much over the weekend, but I sort of made up for it last night. I got the bonus of watching old slides with them. I had no idea some of those treasures even existed! There's one more project for me, because I'm going to need to scan lots of them for myself and for the scrapbook I'm going to make for my dad!

So life is still very busy with Craig here, but by next week I will start posting some of the pictures and sharing some of the good times here. I probably should get permission to tell some of the wild stories my Canadian nephews shared about their distant youth. Laughter is so good for the soul. I feel very blessed to be part of this huge interesting and loving family. Thank you all for making it such a wonderful and memorable event.

Here is one of my favorite weekend pictures. Dad and babies have always gotten along really well - maybe it has to do with the ice cream he starts feeding them before they even eat solid food!

Stepping back in Time

During his junior year in high school, Craig played the drums in a band called Mere Image with Nathan Riley (who brought him to Germany), Logan Martin, and Nick Saemenes (who is now Nathan's brother-in-law). Anyway, yesterday Logan came by to take Craig away for the day and his first comment was that Craig looked so old! Here they are, an interesting pair as always.I got to thinking about the old days and pulled out Craig's scrapbook to look at some pictures from a Mere Image photo shoot. Yes, they have changed a little since they were 17!

Left to right, Nick, Logan, Craig, Nathan.

Look at that sweet face!

His Troyer heritage makes itself known when the tongue comes out. (I just tucked mine back in!)

Logan's first album with Verbatim Records was released nationwide in August so he is doing a lot of touring now. I heard him in concert at the Venetian the day it was released. It was wonderful to see and hear his sincerity and passion as he uses the incredible voice God has blessed him with. You can listen in at his website. http://www.loganmartinmusic.com/ . I expect he will be famous some day. I never have got around to repainting my wall after he dyed his hair here late one night in 2004 and managed to dribble some dark brown dye down my kitchen wall. He replaced the bathroom rug that he ruined,but he never offered to paint the wall. Maybe the fact that it was sponge painted affected that. It's a barely visible reminder of the good old days...

I got great news yesterday when my cousin Cindi called from Arizona and said she is coming for the big family party next weekend too! Cindi's presence always seems to double the fun and laughter...but of course all the Troyers are super fun people!

"Thank you! Goodbye"

A Friday night at home, a family pizza and movie night with all the boys. How long has it been since that happened? The boys are planning on staying up half the night watching movies. Craig's friend Jack, who has also had a life change and is very excited about leaving for Germany next week to attend a Discipleship Training School at the castle where Craig lives, is also here. It's all wonderful.

A relaxing night at home after a very busy and stressful week at work is so great. Although I did have a good stress reliever yesterday at work. We have an old phone system that will not allow voice mail for our staff members. Our new boss really wanted a voicemail on the main line so when people call after hours or when we're in a meeting or something unusual, we can leave a message about when we're open. So our office manager requested this through our district office. A few days later a parent called and mentioned that she had left us a voice mail requesting homework for her sick child. We were quite surprised. Our district office contact apologized for dropping the ball and said she would get mailbox instructions to us soon.

Yesterday morning when I arrived at work I thought I would check what the voicemail did when the phone was allowed to ring. Imagine my surprise when after five rings, a friendly voice answered, "Thank you. Goodbye." And hung up! I hate to tell you how many times a day our phone rings five times before we get to it! I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but I called it a couple of times that day when I needed a laugh! I finally got the appropriate message on it this afternoon.

I am very excited for the big family shindig next weekend! I just found out that my cousin Paula and one of her boys is going to come from Nebraska also! I think the last time Paula came out was when I was in high school, and we had so much fun. Welcome to Oregon Paula!

He's Home!

Is there any greater joy for a parent than the return of a lost child? Craig was so lost when he left for Germany last November, and this is the first we have seen him since he was "found" in January. And what joy it is! His flight arrived in Portland around 11:30 this morning, and we joined the crowd waiting for the passengers to clear customs. A sign there warned us it would be 30 minutes to two hours. They brought at least 9 buses of passengers before Craig finally got there about 1:00 p.m. We had a wonderful reunion. He looks great and couldn't believe the size of Nick - "You're a giant!"

Here's Eric on the way up after combing his amazing beard nice and fluffy, pondering how impressed Craig would be when he saw it. Craig was indeed suitably impressed, lavishing compliments on him.

As we waited, we had plenty of time to wonder why this guy was wearing his balloon hat, holding a ragged spiral notebook up with a "Welcome to Portland" note every time passengers entered.

Craig requested Mexican food for lunch on the way home. Apparently it's impossible to find good Mexican food in Germany! Here's the guys lined up after lunch.
We stopped at Les Schwab in Wilsonville and Craig hid behind some tires and surprised his Uncle Dave when he came out! All the way home, Craig remarked how beautiful it is - even the "Linn County - Grass Seed Capital of the World" sign! When we got home, he walked around the house and yard commenting again how beautiful everything is. He certainly knows how to warm a mother's heart!

I thought Craig might want to take a nap upon our arrival at home, but he says it's best to treat jet lag by staying up til bedtime and getting on the local schedule. He just wanted a shower!

We had dinner on the deck with Uncle Galen and Molly. Doug and Anisa joined us a little later for Will's Dutch oven cherry cobbler. We had a little excitement when Will offered Nick the opportunity to light some charcoal! I'm sure the hair on his arms will grow back!

It got a little chilly so we had to come inside to eat dessert, which was again quite delicious.

Then after the relatives went home, Eric finally got his chance to show off the new video games to Craig and introduce him to Guitar Hero.

Welcome home Craig! We love you!

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." (3 John 1:3)

Anticipation

Three long-anticipated events are happening in the next month. The first and most eagerly anticpated is a three week visit from Craig. His two brothers and we parents all plan to be at the airport to greet him when he arrives Tuesday morning. Eric is willing to give up sleep after working graveyard that night, and Nick is willing to give up school! At first I didn't think Nick should miss school. (I am a school attendance secretary, so I think a kid should be in school every single day unless he's throwing up or has a temperature of over 100.) But my dear sister-in-law Anisa told me today I should let him go - what will a day out of school matter 10 years from now? It gave me a different perspective and I realized the airport trip was more important.

While Craig is here, we are having a big family reunion to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday. My aunts and uncles from Nebraska, brothers from Canada and Alabama, married neices/nephews and their families from Canada and California as well as local extended family will converge on my parents place for a weekend. It will be great fun!

Then the first weekend of October (a few days after Craig heads back to Germany) is our church women's retreat. My Aunt Margie is flying out from Nebraska to be our speaker and I am SO looking forward to having her! I have been the MC at this retreat forever, and I also have the opportunity to share the story of how God has worked the past year in restoring our prodigal.

Part of the anticipation means preparation...Today I made three meals for the freezer, two batches of zucchini bread for the freezer, a batch of Craig's favorite peanut butter cookies to bake later, and a full batch of monster cookies. The dough is in the freezer and will be baked for each event separately!

I just realized all that cooking and baking is my way of "killing the fatted calf"!

Labor Day Weekend

A relaxing weekend at the posse camp was made so much more fun because we had cute children under the age of five for part of the time! Brenden got to get up close and personal with some horses.

A short walk down to the creek and Brenden thought he was in heaven! So many rocks to throw! Sometimes he would throw one after the other without even watching them land. I was chuckling as I saw him sticking his tongue out while he was throwing rocks, and realized I was sticking mine out as I was taking pictures of him!
Every little boy should have a cousin like this....
...and a grandpa like this!
It's also pretty wonderful when a big boy has an aunt like this! They enjoyed throwing rocks in the river every bit as much as the little boy did! Of course they are really good at skipping rocks, not merely throwing them! (I am not.)

Now here we are at home, ready to get a good night's rest to face the first day of school tomorrow!

Nick is trying to teach his new laptop (his reward to himself for the long hard summer's work) to respond to voice commands. He was quite pleased a few minutes ago when he said, "Open Internet Explorer" and it opened. But now he's saying things like, "Minimize window. You're dumb. What? Cancel!" It's a very odd one-sided conversation to listen in on!