refreshing

As a response to "yearning" I wanted to post this refreshing piece. Though I was saddened by my family's departure, I came to learn that Amy had taken really good care of them. She was the one to take them to the airport. She was the one who went ahead and printed out a couple of pictures for my parents. She was the one who burnt not a dinky CD, but a DVD of the pictures from the weekend's whirlwind of a reunion. She did all the things I had wanted to take care of, and she did it without me even asking for her to. She is incredible. She gave me such a peace about having said goodbye the night before. Yes, I still wish I could have my family where I could show them love through touch, but Amy is here, and Amy is awesome. I love you, beautiful! God is so good to me.

forty and thirteen

"Clear the bench, we're up by 25!" Now, I didn't get to see the game, but I could just imagine this statement being made during the Suns (40 - 13) routing of the Clipper Nation (25 - 29) in LA last night, 115 - 90. Talk about a much needed blowout to show Nash was back. He earned himself a double double with 13 points and 12 assists. Marion brought his own flare with 31 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assist, and 1 steal. Stoudemire had 22 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Pat Burke ended up with 7 points and 10 rebounds. Another returning player for the Suns was Kurt Thomas, who played 27 minutes, who earned only 4 points but got 7 rebounds and 2 steals. Everyone on the roster (minus Diaw) played, and all but two of them scored. This was a nice welcome back party for Thomas and Nash. Time to start dominating again, boys! We're still 4 games behind Dallas (44 - 9) at this point, but we can make that up in a flash if they'd simply lose a couple games. The Suns take on the absolutely terrible Celtics (13 - 39) tonight at home in Phoenix starting at 7pm AZ time. I think I'm gunna get with the senior men from the sm@ncc and watch the domination happen. Sounds like fun to me! GO SUNS!

yearning

I am back at work today. This past weekend was incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed my family. Having to be back here at school today makes my heart sink. My parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew are all leaving today, and I can't be there to take them to the airport, give them one last hug before they leave. I didn't get to print out some pictures for my parents. I didn't get to take a picture of my sister's family. I didn't get to burn some CDs for them of all the pictures we took this weekend. There were so many things to wrap up last night, but we didn't get the chance. My brother-in-law, Joseph, had never seen the Grand Canyon, so we made a day trip with the six adults (one sick and pregnant, Amy, my beautiful bride) and two infants (the cousins, Aidan & JD). It was a wonderful morning. It was only a 3 1/2 hour drive to get there. The sky was cloudy, but there was no bad weather. We got to the Rim, took some pictures in the freezing wind, went to a gift shop or two, and just enjoyed taking our time. My mom, Amy, and the babies went back to the rental van because of how cold it was, but we got some more good pics of Beth and Joe.We got to a stop that was near to Flagstaff and we took a few pictures there, as well. Amy and the babies didn't get out of the van, but the rest of us did. We went back into Flagstaff, ate a great late lunch (maybe a linner? dunch?) at Red Lobster, and headed down the hill at 4pm. We got gas first. There were blizzard conditions just south of Flag on the 17. There were something like 7 different accidents. It took us 4 hours to move 8 miles. The babies didn't enjoy it, but the incredible Van Liew women got them settled and asleep soon enough. Joe and I got out of the car and met a few other guys who were stuck, as well. Doug is an Icee repair man, moving to Colorado Springs soon. Jesse lives in Colorado Springs and was simply headed South. We didn't have a ton of time to talk with them, because we moved a mile down the road and got split up. We threw snow and enjoyed the weather as we could. Munds Park is not bad, I guess, but I normally don't get the opportunity to walk half a mile down the 17 to the Exxon and back again without the vehicle moving down the road even an inch. Okay: 8 miles, 4 hours. I believe that's 2 miles per hour. After we got down the hill further, we finished the remaining 108 miles in an hour and a half. We didn't reach my front door until midnight thirty (for those who don't know Adam-speak, that's 12:30am the next morning). So, all that being said, I was unable to finish the projects that I had for my family. I miss them already. Not only this, but Amy is still sick, needs rest, and she has Aidan to take care of. Just coming to work today makes me feel as if I'm shirking responsibilities all over. I love my family.

five generations

Yes, I was the first to have a great great grandchild for Grandma Van, but Beth has come through now, as well. Last year, probably around April, Amy, Aidan, and I, along with my dad and Grandma Irene, went and took a five generation picture with Aidan's great great grandma, Grandma Van. She was in much better health then, and she was alert and able to smile in the pictures. It was a great blessing to be able to present Aidan to her. Bethany got to get a five generation picture taken today with Grandma Van at her birthday celebration, though she is not very responsive nowadays. Two of the pictures, one of mine and one of Beth's, can be seen below.

grandma van's hundredth

We had a wonderful afternoon spending time with extended Van Liew family at Paul & Naomi's residence in Paradise Valley, Phoenix, AZ. We got together to celebrate Great Great Grandma Mildred Marceta Charles Van Liew's 100th birthday, which is on February 27th. We sang hymns with each other, talked about what Grandma Van had influenced each other with, and took a lot of pictures. A lot of the family was crying, still dealing with the fact that Grandma is dying. I did not cry. I had already said goodbye. I do have to say that I enjoyed seeing the family come together over something of such significance to all of us, though. I love my family. It was incredible to be together and show our affections for Grandma and each other.