May 10, 2009

Hi again. Happy Mother's Day to all of you Moms out there. Sorry I haven't been able to blog for the past couple of days, but we've been busy and I've been too tired to stay up late enough to write. On Friday night we drove down to Albion. We checked into the Hampton Inn in Jackson and were going to meet the girls for dinner in Jackson when I found out that I still had more to empty out of Heather's dorm room--and it had to be done by 9:30pm. I didn't realize she had so much stuff still down there, and wound up filling the Enclave to the brim. We finally got to the Outback restaurant for dinner, and I finally got back to the hotel at 10:30 and crashed. Anne actually fell asleep during dinner after taking a Compazine to curb nausea.

We attended Greg's graduation at Albion on Saturday. We were expecting 75 degrees and sunny weather, but boy were we wrong--I forgot I was in Michigan. Rather, it was 45 and rainy. Thankfully, Greg's mom brought some coats for Anne and the girls, but we still froze. We still had a lovely day, and I enjoyed meeting the rest of Greg's family including his grandparents and aunts and his brother. Dinner was at a very nice Italian restaurant named Ernesto's in Plymouth (there are no Italian restaurants here in Saginaw other than Olive Garden--and that's not Italian really). It was wonderful to be included in Greg's special day. He'll be attending law school at Michigan State University in the fall.

Heather took off for Poland Saturday with her classmates. They will be visiting several Holocaust sites and will be working in a neglected Jewish cemetery that Albion College has "adopted". One of the guest speakers at the graduation was a Holocaust survivor who is presently a professor of theater at Jackson Community College. Her speech was very interesting. She compared "passive goodness" with "active goodness". Passive goodness means you don't do anything wrong, and active goodness means you actively do something for others. It reminds me of the letter of James about works (James 2:14-26). They will learn a tremendous amount on this trip about doing for others. She arrived safely, and emailed me that she ate a fantastic dinner. I can't wait to take Anne there.

Church was fantastic (as usual) today. Pastor Dan's sermon was entitled A Mother's Legacy and was as usual excellent. Lots of friends came up to us to offer support (and more hugs!). Rhonda Garner, who now works in my office, led the worship and chose some fantastic songs, one of which is one of my favorites by Chris Tomlin, and very appropriate for what is going on with us now:

How Can I Keep From Singing

Verse 1
There is an endless song
Echoes in my soul
I hear the music ring
And though the storms may come
I am holding on to the Rock I cling

Chorus 1
How can I keep
from singing Your praise
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is Your love
How can I keep from shouting Your name
I know I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing

Verse 2
I will lift my eyes in the darkest night
For I know my Savior lives
And I will walk with You
Knowing you'll see me through
And sing the songs You give

Bridge
I can sing in the troubled times
Sing when I win
I can sing when I lose my step
and I fall down again
I can sing 'cause You pick me up
Sing 'cause You're there
I can sing 'cause You hear me Lord
When I call to You in prayer
I can sing with my last breath
Sing for I know
That I'll sing with the angels
And the saints around the throne.

Now that's how I'd like to be able to write.

Speaking of writing, my blog for the Mayo Clinic is now online. You can look it up at: http://sharing.mayoclinic.org. It has a video of Anne and me giving our comments about our experience at Mayo Clinic. One comment: man do I look old!

God Bless,
Tony