Weekend with the Kanes

We invited the Kanes to spend part of their fall break with us.  Adam and Billie are friends who live in Indiana and who work with us on the leadership team for Camp of the Woods.  They are some of our favorite people in the whole world.  From the first time we met something just clicked with us, and we've been fast friends ever since.  Often when I travel to Indy to help my aunt and uncle the highlight of the trip is spending some time with this family.

They arrived Thursday night after taking a rather indirect route to our house through the back roads of Kentucky and the hills of Tennesse (Adam didn't ask for directions, much to Billie's chagrin).  We spent a relaxed morning on Friday just visiting and then we headed off for lunch at Ichiban.  The boys had not been to a place like this and the looks on their faces throughout the lunch were just priceless.

Amazed at the "egg roll"

Evan gets his rice.

From there we went to the aquarium, and we had a great time looking at this amazing Chattanooga attraction.

At the sting ray pool

Billie with a newly hatched Blue Morpho butterfly

Wading in the water

We came home that night and built a fire outside.  We had many visitors who came along to roast a hot dog, play with the boys, and just enjoy a beautiful fall evening under the stars.  

The next morning we took off early so we could get a jump on the Saturday crowd at Zipstream where Will works.  He was able to be our guide as we tackled the high ropes course and the ziplines.  We had a great time being with him and watching him do his thing.  We all ended up enjoying the course, even though Billie was not so sure it was fun until it was all over.  She said she liked jumping out of an airplane better (makes no sense to me).

Getting our instructions from Will

Our great guide

Me tackling one of the obstacles

Billie smiling early on the course.  Later she was not so happy.

Evan in the tunnel

After finishing at Zipstream we headed on up the mountain for a tour of Point Park.  We had lunch and then headed home to another fun evening of visiting which included several other drop-in visitors.  Phil prepared a special pancake breakfast Sunday morning and then we were off to church.  After lunch our friends departed.  We all had a great time and made some wonderful memories together.  I'm so glad they came and let us share our part of the country with them.

Love this family!!

Dinner with the Nottolis

We had a most wonderful time Monday evening with dear friends Cathy and John.  They have a most beautiful home which they have completely renovated themselves.  It was originally a dormitory for the Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home.  They have decorated it in such a beautiful way that it could easily be featured in a magazine.

Cathy is an amazing hostess.  We sat in her kitchen as she prepared our food with an easy manner that makes me envious.  I am a competent cook, but it always takes great effort for me to pull off a meal.  Cathy makes it all look effortless.  While she worked, we ate a mixture of fruits and nuts that she had arranged on a square white dish.  It looked really classy and tasted delicious.  

The simple dishes she served us included baked acorn squash, broccoli roasted in the oven, and pan-fried grouse that we brought back from Canada.  For dessert she served us lemon pound cake with a berry sauce she created from her own garden, which is one of her passions.

As we ate, classical music played in the background, adding another layer to the classy ambience of our dinner.  We had great conversation that ranged from TV we like (John does a great impression of Festus from Gunsmoke), to the women's movement, to their anarchist atheist neighbor, whom they really enjoy.  

It was a pleasure to pass such a completely perfect evening with these good friends.  Let's do it again soon!

    

It's a Small World

As we were driving home from Illinois today we passed a pick-up truck.  It beeped its horn, but I didn't think it was beeping at us, so I ignored it.  As soon as we passed it, Phil said something about the bad driver speeding up after we just passed him and now he's passing us.  As it drew up beside us we could see that the woman in the passenger seat was holding up a sign that said "Dunlap, TN."  I didn't recognize them, but we smiled and waved.  Then I saw her mouth the words "Mrs. Kiper?"  I shook my head yes.  Such a funny meeting on the road.

This reminded me of some other chance encounters I've had over the years.  A few years ago Phil and I were with a group in San Diego.  We were eating lunch in a nice restaurant right on the water when who should be seated at the table right next to us but my cousin Bob and his family from Indianapolis.  I go to Indy often and hardly see him, and here we are basically having lunch together in California.  We couldn't have pulled that off if we had been aware that we were in the same city.

Another memorable meeting came when I was taking Will and Kathryn along with Kathryn's friend, Ashley, to Nashville.  I was taking them to the state capitol for a tour of the building, and as we were looking around a young lady recognized me.  She was from Dunlap (I can't remember who she was now), and she was serving as an intern for someone there.  She gave us a behind the scenes look around the capitol, and Will even got to sit in the Speaker's chair in the assembly hall.  Afterwards, Will said, "Everyone knows you, Mom.  You're like a celebrity."  It's always good to be able to impress your ten-year-old son.

Yes, its' a small world like the song says. I experienced it once again on the road today, and it always makes me smile.

Canadian Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada.  They celebrate it pretty much like we do.  Since I have such a connection with Canada I thought I'd make this list:

10 Things in Canada That I'm Thankful For

10.  Wildlife.  I was able to see a wolf on the camp road early in my latest visit to camp (and walked it every day alone; how's that for being brave?).  I also watched a weasel carrying off bird carcasses from behind our cabin.  One evening a grouse flew alongside our truck for quite a ways. Always lots of interesting things to see in the bush.

A partridge in a birch tree

9.  Northern Lights.  Although we only saw them a couple of times this fall and they were pretty faint, it is always amazing to watch them.  It is something that not very many people get to experience, so it's very special.

8.  Good friends.  Having been there so many times, we have made some good friends.  We got to worship with some of them, have meals with others, and have great conversations with many.

7.  Kayleigh.  I'm thankful to watch her be the best big sister anyone could ask for.  I love her calm maturity and quiet strength.

Kayleigh

6.  Luke.  No one talks with more enthusiasm than Luke.  And no one punctuates his conversation with more sound effects.  So entertaining.

Luke

5.  Aubrey.  She moves with such grace and skill.  She gave us quite a performance to her favorite Disney music.

Aubrey at Bear Track

4.  Emma.  A most helpful child.  She likes to be close to people; she's touchy-feely.  She kept rubbing my arm saying, "I like feeling your wrinkles."  And when she was working with me and said, "I wish I could be just like you when I grow up," my heart almost melted.

3.  Becky.  She has the gift of hospitality; her home is open to visitors any time.  She manages her household so well; she keeps her kids on task, and her home neat as a pin.

Johnnie & Becky...two of our favorite people

2.  Johnnie.  No one is more friendly than Johnnie.  Go to town with him and he'll know someone everywhere you go.  And no one knows more about fixing things and keeping things running than he does.

1.  The Loon's Nest.  My home away from home, the place is so dear to me and to Phil.  We are very happy there.

Loon's Nest

Jesus and Women (and Me)

Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were the first and the Cradle and the last at the Cross.  They had never known a man like this Man—there had never been such another.  A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, who never flattered or coaxed or patronized; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them as “The women, God help us!” or “The ladies, God bless them!”; who rebuked without querulousness (peevishness or grumbling) and praised without condescension; took their questions and arguments seriously, who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no ax to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unselfconscious.

There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words of Jesus that there was anything “funny” about woman’s nature.

But we might easily deduce it from His contemporaries, and from His prophets before Him, and from His church to this day.

 I read these words by Dorothy Sayers, and they’ve been rolling around in my brain ever since.  They make me want to jump up and down for joy at the thought of being treated this way.   It makes me anxious to meet my Savior.  Who’s with me?