Grandpa

My Granddad went to be with God when I was four, but my Grandpa was around for more of my life. He and Grandma visited us in the West sometimes. I remember he would play with my younger sister and chant a rhyme about her name that he made up. He had really cool watches. He was fairly quiet. He was smart.

At his funeral, I learned more about his work supporting missionaries. This was something my grandpa did, and did well. It makes me feel like my mission work is carrying on something he had begun doing before I was around. It is neat to discover more of the bigger picture that what I do fits into, and it is an encouragement.

The day I heard my grandpa had gone to be with God, I knew wanted to go back to visit. It changed my perspective of what's really important. I'm so thankful I could go to the funeral. I'm thankful for that time with my relatives. It was short and intense and priceless.

views from travel

It was the shortest long-distance trip of my life, if my memory holds accurate. Six flights, beautiful views, and a very special time with family. But I've decided to put the trip into two blog entries, and this is the views-from-travel part.

Canyons, from the air.

The Grand Canyon?

The sky, so beautiful.

Mt. St. Helens, I think

Mt. Adams, I think. We flew more or less right over it!

Mt. Spokane (the mountain with the big, right-now-snowy bald spot), one of my favorite mountains. Okay, so I'm partial.

I like seeing Mt. Spokane from the Western side where you can see the bald spot.

The time has come and passed for a weekly blog update. So here is a late blog update.

I am sick. I finally actually went to the doctor. Risk of bronchitis wasn't enough (waited and eventually reached feeling tolerable), but for possible pink eye, I finally went. Pink eye and a sinus infection. So now that I've been told I'm sick, I feel free-er to feel sick (for a few hours). And I'm questioning my just-keep-going method of the past few months. Maybe I'd better slow down. Maybe being really healthy instead of just tolerable is an attainable goal. But am I willing to rest? Maybe I'd better be at least somewhat willing.

I'm hoping to go back to Puerto Rico, but for now am looking at another year and a half or two-ish in my current location. I hope to start college classes in June or July online (which leads back to the over-achiever issue of how much should I really try to do all at once, which leads me to think with my tired thoughts that July might be the better start date).

My grandpa's funeral is this week.