My brother, Ted and his lovely wife Carol are flying in to Portland today to visit my ailing mother.  It has been, at best calculation, about 15 years since they have seen each other.  We expect them sometime this evening.  Then tomorrow, my two sisters, Peggy from eastern Washington and Sue from western Washington will arrive.

This will be the first time all four of us siblings have been together with our parents in many many years.  We are looking forward to taking lots of photos and talking about stuff that we will likely exagerate greatly over reality.  One thing that is NOT an exageration is the beauty of Mt. Hood, here in Oregon!  I'm amazed at it every time I come here.  I took this image just a couple of miles from my where my parents live...

                                                            Mt. Hood, Oregon

My mom has had severe heart issues of late but is now home from 4 days in hospital and another 8 in an extended care facility nearby.  She is very sick but at least she's home and has a big week to look forward to.  Thanks for praying for her!

We had a chance to spend a day with Kathy's sister last Friday, on our way from Salinas, CA to Central Point, Oregon.  The picture below is Pam & Kathy chatting at Pam's house in Northern California.  The second image is part of the view from Pam & husband Dave's house overlooking a gorgeous valley below!  I think this is part of the reason Pam continues to improve from her stroke, now more than 2 years ago.

Dave has set up a 'track' inside the house that Pam walks without assistance 6 times in the morning, and at noon and again at night - 18 laps total per day!  Way to go Pam.  We are so encouraged that she continues to improve.  She can't taste much and her vision is still a problem, but she is doing wonderful overall.  Thanks for your continued prayer for both Pam & Dave.

                                                      Pam & Kathy in Pam's house

                                    The view overlooking a valley from Pam & Dave's deck.

It Never Rains in California except for yesterday when we touched down at San Jose International.  It was lashing rain - enough to soak our baggage, but thankfully there was no damage to anything inside our bags.  We left Louisville via Southwest Airlines and went to Chicago, Denver and then on to San Jose.

We were then collected by our daughter-in-law Aubrey and driven to their home about 30 minutes away in Scott's Valley, not far from where I (Tim) grew up!  Mark is teaching at Valley Christian High School and Aubrey is due to deliver our 8th grandchild on May 23rd! We haven't seen baby Jack (below) since he was a few weeks old, and now he's about to be a big brother.