Category Archives: Travels

Infusion #4 & Elizabeth’s Baptism

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Infusion #4 happened Thursday afternoon. As I was preparing to go to a lunch appointment, Jennie, who was my nurse again, called to ask about the blood panel labs. I stuttered out that Dr. Mashru said I didn’t need to do them every time. Turns out I had misunderstood his “we don’t need to talk everytime” and skipped the required labs. So I hustled to get them done so the infusion could progress. Happily the last three labs were almost identical so the infusion proceeded without incident. I have had no side effects or fatigue. The only change is that I am weaning off Pyridostigmine, my “stand up straight” steroid pills and that is going well. Boring report 😊🙏

Sherry, David and I went to Kansas City last weekend for Elizabeth’s baptism at Good Shepherd Community of Christ which has been their church home for several years. It was a marvelous family event with all four of her grandparents along with Uncle David, Aunt Nancy (behind her in the picture) and Uncle Brian present, and great grandmother joining by Zoom from the LA area. The whole service was dedicated to the two baptisms and the confirmation the two along with Donn’s confirmation.

Elizabeth’s baptism was done by her sponsor (video here). Her confirmation (video here) and Donn’s confirmation (video here) were wonderfully personal and deeply moving for us. We all went to Donn and Susan’s home for some food and celebration. Susan took her parents to the airport, and then the rest of us went to Jack’s Stack for their wonderful BBQ with the Hickory Pit Beans – without doubt, the best beans in the whole wide world!!

Sherry, Susan, Elizabeth, Donn, Michael, David, Gerry, Nancy, Brian

Banff-Jasper Adventure – 1

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We are off on our Banff/Jasper adventure. It’s a place I have dreamed about for 60 years and now we are on the way. The day took us alongside two active fires, one in the Hood River area of I-84. The other was just blowing up beside the 395 freeway (we got baked as we drove by) going into Kennewick. It was driven by high wind and became huge as we drove through Tri-Cities.

Lunch with Nicole and Joy was a treat in between the two fires.

The biggest adventure was getting a room after I discovered that my Pinehurst reservations were in North Carolina rather than Idaho. No Vacancy was all I heard as I called place after place from wind blown table at the Travel Plaza. Finally I found a room and made a reservation at 4:51 pm (can we spell expensive??). We arrived at 6:30 to find the reservation was in corporate database, but not in the property computer. That began a half hour investment by Gillian, my new best friend, as she worked and worked to honor the reservation even though she had no rooms. Finally she cancelled a reservation where the credit card declined payment – but only after trying repeatedly to contact that person. So we have a very comfortable room for our first night even if a lot too much stimulation for my travel anxiety disorder.

Hungry Horse Montana and Glacier National Park tomorrow.

Off To Uganda

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Sherry and I will leave for Uganda in a couple of hours and be there through most of the month of May. The weeks of anticipation, days of preparations, hours of packing and worrying about what we’ve forgotten are coming to an end.

We will be working primarily with Catharine Coon and Hope Alive Africa (www.hopealiveafrica.org/). Catharine became a close friend back when she was a student at Western. Since then we have partnered together in the growth of Hope Alive, serving the original US board. It has grown to serve over 500 students. HA! pays school fees and related expenses with the idea that keeping them in their fragile family systems while utilizing resources of churches to help them succeed in school. This is an investment in the orphans and in the  country.

Our KLM flight will go through Schipol Airport, my favorite international airport on the way to Nairobi and after a VERY long time to Entebbe.

Prayers much appreciated!