Being overwhelmed... by popcorn

(John's wife, Allison, is writing this post.)

Anyone else feeling overwhelmed out there?

I (Allison) feel like I am in a constant state of being overwhelmed. I wish I could say that every time things get frustrating or stressful or busy, I just sit back and ask God for help, but I don't. I'm a worrier by nature. If I don't have something to be stressed about, I take insignificant things in my life & worry about them.

For instance, our house is currently overwhelmed with popcorn. Yes, popcorn. We have caramel corn, microwave popcorn, caramel corn with nuts, butter toffee, chocolate covered popcorn, the list goes on & on. As a leader for our son's Cub Scout pack, I was in charge of ordering popcorn & instead of requesting individual boxes, I ordered cases. The realization of my error first sank in when I called the Scout office to find out when to pick up our orders & the lady said, "You have a truck or a van to pick up your order, right?" To which I of course replied, "No, I just have my car, it should all fit in there, we didn't order that much." But as I said that I thought to myself, did I order what I thought I ordered or did I get more? Sure enough, we got the more.

Now, I think God has a sense of humor because to be stressed out about having too much popcorn has to be one of the most ridiculous things you could come up with. Every time I tell my story, people just crack up laughing & I can't help laughing too.

Am I worried about getting my reading done for my classes, no, popcorn. Am I worried about finding time to clean my house, no, Popcorn. Am I worried about how my kids are doing in school, no, POPCORN. I feel overwhelmed just not being able to get it out of my head. I've even had several dreams (nightmares, really) about trying to get rid of it all.

So whether I have something to worry about or not, I'll find something. The tricky part is letting God use this in my life for his purpose. In the mean time, if anyone is craving some snacking sustenance, give me a call. I'll hook you up with some popcorn.

A special man

So the travels for the summer, and hopefully for awhile, are done. We're tired, but they have been great, and last weekend was no exception. Since we had only recently returned from Michigan and the kids had started school it was difficult to make it. In the end only I could go, but I didn't want to miss out.

As many of you know my grandfather passed away last Christmas. I've been meaning to write about him since then, but it seems hard to know how to capture such a special man in words, I wish I was a better writer for times like these. However, now seems a good time. For a couple years now my grandma and he had planned a big party for their 25th anniversary, which was to be last Sunday. Fittingly, for a man who loved people, life, tennis, and chocolate (ok, maybe chocolate came first) she wanted to have the party still as a celebration of his life. It was a wonderful time and, as he would have wanted, everyone had a great time.

So where can I start in describing this man? I'm sure I have to start with his sense of humor. If you ever met the man you would shortly be caught in a fit of laughter as it would not take him long to tell you his repertoire of jokes. Some might be classified as a bit crude, but there was something about this man that he could pretty much tell you anything, even if he just met you, and not offend anyone. He was even great with kids; I will fondly remember my daughter squealing with joy as she sneakily tried to steal M&Ms from the jar by his chair without him noticing. He would always wait until the last moment and then yell a loud, "Hey" as she darted away laughing with her hands full of the goodies that he loved to share with kids...well as long as it wasn't the last M&Ms, but I don't think he ever ran out that I know of.

I could go on about many other things that he loved, but most of all he loved people and, as was shown this last weekend, was loved by so many. He touched people from Traverse City; to Mesa, AZ; to Texas; to The Villages, FL; and many more places. But I think one of the most amazing things was his role as Father to so many as my Aunt Cathy shared so beautifully. If our fathers are supposed to show us an image of our heavenly father, then my grandpa succeeded. God adopts us into his family, and my grandfather has brought so many into his. When he married my mom's mother he took on an enormous task, bringing three young girls, my mom and her two sisters (one soon to enter and one already in her teens), into his house. Yet, with love he merged them together with the son he already had. After his wife passed, he married again, and once again had children to bring into his family, this time a teenage son and two who were grown. Yet, as before, he lovingly opened his heart to more and more. It takes a special man to be a great father to his own children, yet this man has managed to do it with not just one family, but three, and to bring them all together in love.

If we can even partially live up to his great example of love, I think we will more than succeed in life and in doing so make him proud. As with my grandma, I like to think of him looking upon us, seeing us following his example, and smiling.

I, as so many others, will always remember him fondly.

Travels almost over and 10 years coming up

So our summer travels are nearing the end. I have one last trip to Michigan coming up this weekend, but last week, since Brian had a few days off from school, saw us visiting some family who has recently moved to SC. Laura came down from DC and met us in Sharon, SC; where my Uncle Jack and Aunt Janet have moved. It was a great time out of getting away from the city and seeing family. It was a bit warm (same as everywhere), but we were able to go swimming for a bit, which was quite refreshing. Kelly enjoyed seeing Zuke again (who she still likes to feed and boss around), as well as my uncles two dogs. Sadly, due to the forecast of a thunderstorm, we could not convince Allie to camp outside...all we ended up with were a few sprinkles in the late afternoon...oh well. Friday, my other uncle, Jason, and his family showed up as they are also moving to the area. Brian and Kelly enjoyed seeing their cousins Lexi and Zack. A great trip, due in most part to my Uncle Jack and Aunt Janet being wonderful hosts. Looking forward to having them, Jason, and his family a little closer by for this next year.

We made it back to Columbia just in time to take off with our church for a youth overnight up to the Great Wolf Lodge. Kelly was just to short (a shade under 42") to go on the big water slides, but that was probably a good thing as they even scared some of the adults because you got thrown around quite a bit. Everybody had a blast though and after a day soaking in the wave pool and water slides we all crashed that evening.

Back in Columbia for a few days before heading up North one last time, despite all the travels, it seems the hardest thing to believe is that our 10 year anniversary is coming up in just a few days. Definitely doesn't feel like I've been married for 10 years, but that is probably because (as Neil and Dr. Jones often remind me) I married way up :)

News from the South

So I know that many of you are waiting to hear about the trip, but I feel like I'm still processing it as it was so much in two short weeks. So I'll give you some updates from our first week back in the states.

Like always it was a whirlwind. Sunday we arrived in Detroit early in the morning and crashed for like 12 hours (alright 14 for Allison). Our luggage arrived and we took off for Traverse City, eager to see our smiling kids who somehow managed to stay awake until our 11 PM arrival. Tuesday was a quick stop through Lansing for the dentist and dinner with a great friend from work and back to Livonia in the evening. Friday found us on the road again...this time heading to SC, with a stop in Cinci to see some old college friends.

Today was quite nice, it was great to be back at our church and see so many people that we missed all summer. This afternoon we, in attempt to deal with the heat down here, headed out to Lake Monticello for a picnic and swimming. Pizza was the food of choice, and was quickly as the kids wanted to get in the water. Kelly told us the water was cold, but when we got in we found it to be bath water temperature. A couple hours later we, thoroughly pruned, emerged from the water. After two days of relaxing (still feel like we are recovering from jet lag) we hope we are ready for Brian to start school tomorrow.

Back in the states

Just a quick update for everyone. We are alive and, aside from being a bit tired (still not quite back on a normal sleep schedule), back in the states again. The trip was great. We feel like we saw so much for being gone just a few short weeks. Everyone's question to us seems to be if we have made any sure plans. As a brief answer, not yet, but we certainly have a lot to talk and think about.

We'll try to write some more later.

About time for an update

Well, I've had hopes of updating this sooner, but no such luck (or time). I just finished my week long class down here in Columbia. It was an amazing week of being introduced to the world of Islam. There is so much to learn, but I'm excited to learn more about it, especially with our future plans looking like they might be in that area of the world.

Speaking of future plans. We'll be heading out tomorrow (soon to be today) for a couple weeks. The kids will stay in Michigan with their grandparents (pray for our parents as they try to keep up with the energy of kids), but Allison is flying down tomorrow and will meet up with me (I'm in Columbia) in Atlanta and then we'll be checking out some future possibilities overseas. Not sure exactly what to expect, but we are very excited. After finishing my class yesterday I've spent the last day and a half running around trying to get all packed up. I think I'm doing pretty good...even had time for a haircut. Guess we'll see when I get over there. I always feel like I'm forgetting something when I leave for a trip. Oh well, can't worry about it too much I guess.

It was great seeing a lot of people in Michigan and DC the past month. Hope to see some more of you when we get back in a few weeks. Don't know how much access we'll have to blogging and email over there, but feel free to send us some (Allison loves her email) and we'll do our best to post some updates.

Traveling here and there

So a busy couple weeks of traveling and more to come. June 4th we headed out from South Carolina. We stopped in Charlotte, NC to see Ben, Daniela, and Josiah. It was great catching up with them and the kids loved playing together. To top it off, we had a great feast (Potato Soup, Breaded Chicken, mixed vegetables, fruit filled brownies, chocolate covered strawberries, and...later...strawberry smoothies) as Daniela is one of the best cooks I have ever met. Ben said he is always disappointed when they go out to eat and I can understand why.

Then it was on to DC to visit my Ron and Kristina. The great food continued there as my brother loves to cook as well. Saturday we went to the zoo with the kids. Brian liked the big cats and reading every sign he could find. Kelly loved the the Giant Pandas and the snakes (go figure). Sunday brought us a trip to Annapolis where we had a great seafood buffet. Who knew Brian would love oysters and muscles...Kelly just wanted mac & cheese and fruit. Later we picked up my sister from the airport (she's doing an internship in DC) and my dad from the Appalachian trail (he was doing a month long...400 mile...hiking trip). As Allison and the kids had never seen much of DC, Monday we went and walked around the mall, dragging my dad with us...not sure how excited he was for more walking. After three days of walking everywhere we were pretty dead. So we just relaxed on Tuesday. We also got to see some more old friends, Craig, Kristen and Holly who are all living in DC. Sadly it was time to head out on Wednesday, so we packed up and drove to Livonia for the night and then on to Traverse City the next day.

Spent the last few days in Traverse City. It was great to see family and friends. A close family to ours had their last daughter graduating from high school, so there was an open house Sunday, and another close family friend was moving to Ohio. So we had a going away celebration for him. We will miss him a lot, but the party was good.

Today was a bit crazy, we wanted to fit in some time with my brother as he was pretty busy while we were up there. So he, Allie, and I did some mountain biking today. 13 miles later and we are both hurting quite a bit (I think my dad's bike has the most uncomfortable seat ever). We then took off to Lansing to meet with some people from South about our upcoming trip and our now spending the evening at Ray and Robin's. We'll relax down here for a few days (recovering from that bike trip) and then head back up to Traverse for another week (and possibly some more biking torture).