Back in Salmon arm, BC

The trip to Holland was very good. It was good to visit with Jannie's mother, and with many of the family members during our two weeks there. The weather was unusually good. Well, good for us, in that it was sunny and warm every day. I enjoyed it, but felt concern for the farmers who really needed rain to get their crops starting. The rain did come, after we returned to Salmon Arm.

While in Holland, I was able to sit and write some 30 double sided pages of a draft about death for the Christian, death for the un-saved, judgement, and the resurrection. I still want to write on heaven and hell, but I have a good start from the study on the other material.

I re-connected with my grieving for my father -in-law. I guess I found myself accepting of the fact that I would not see him again on earth again, but a hundred memories would hit me each day. When I walked down the stairs, or opened the front door, or sat in the living room, or sang hymns after a meal, or went to church, I would think of him, ... and miss him. Still, it was good to be there and deal with it.

Jannie had a "girls day out" with sisters, and I got to hang out with the brothers for a day of excursions in the area. Both groups had good times doing very different things.

A few days after I returned home, I used to prepare for a NAIM men's retreat on Vancouver Island. There was time for sharing, encouragement, devotions, some hunting and fishing, and a lot of laughter.

Back at home, we quickly plugged back into ministry. We spent today on a mountain harvesting cedar tree roots. A group of us are learning to make birch bark baskets, and since we gather a lot of roots, we may get instruction in how to make the cedar root basket, too. The birch bark basket is tricky enough to last me a year to practice. I am not sure I am ready for the cedar root basket. That is really hard to perfect; but we shall see.
It is good to be "home".