On the last day of May, we said goodbye to our
pink house with green doors and orange trim. The floors inside were painted
red. The walls, we won’t talk about the walls. It is very sad, but the truth
is, we may never get to stay in such a colorful house again.
It seems Carrie planned her graduation on the
same day we moved out. Or, was it
Thomas… or was it Heidi.
To celebrate Carrie’s graduation from high
school we went on a trip to the beach with some friends of ours and had a great
time except for the part where the waves were crashing into the boat on the way
over.
One of Carrie’s friends was baptized while we
were there so we provided a little music for the occasion.
This is a warning: If you spend too much time on Facebook or if
you have a teenager advising you on how to pose for the camera you end up doing
this sort of thing.
Picture from Carl Stevens
All beach trips come
to an end and you must go back to work.
After the beach we went north and worked with three Isnag ladies, our
partner, Vicky, and my consultant, Ginny, to check the Isnag version of the book
of Mark and two chapter of Luke. The
other day a five year old told me that she was not five, she was five and a
half. I feel like I’m being a bit like
that when I mention the two chapters of Luke.
The check was six very taxing days, but we all survived and Ginny was pleased
with the end product including the two chapters of Luke.
With the translation check complete it was time to say goodbye to the Philippines. We are always happy if we arrive at the airport with all of our bags, tickets, passports, and plenty of time to pass all the security inspections.
We didn’t think we had signed up for first class, but when they passed out the airplane food we began to wonder. They wouldn’t give Yakult to economy class passengers, would they?
When we landed in Portland, Charles, our
oldest son surprised us by meeting us at the airport. Thomas, our youngest, counter surprised him
by being much taller than Charles expected.
We have enjoyed seeing all of our family members. This is my Grandma and my recently arrived niece Sarah. I have been a good uncle for many years, but Sarah has managed to make me a great uncle.
We have also enjoyed many family times with
Heidi’s side of the family. This is
Sara, Heidi’s sister and Heidi.
After the wedding we only had enough time to
unpack our suitcases and repack for a trip to Georgia and points beyond. Carrie
and Thomas are both anxious to get their driver’s licensees. We thought that maybe starting the training
by being the captain of a canoe would be a good place to start.
(These two pictures from Dawn Parker)
One of our first stops was Monroe Baptist
church where we got to speak to the children and adults.
The kids were a great audience. The adults were pretty good too. Heidi is passing out souvenirs from the
Philippines.
A couple of days later we arrived at Ft. Jackson where James was due to graduate from Army basic training. One of the first things we noticed is that
everyone in this tribe dresses alike.
The chiefs are very bossy and there are a lot more men than women. It was
interesting to note that when one guy started walking all of the other guys
quietly followed him and the first guy never looked back or noticed that he was
being followed.
Everyone looked alike, but we finally found
James and enjoyed family day and graduation day with him.
After graduation, we took James to Virginia
where he started training for EOD (Bomb squad).
In mid September, James will finish his first
phase of training and move to Florida to finish his EOD training.
After dropping off James, we drove to S. Carolina and visited the Howard family and then flew home to Washington via Washington DC. Two Washingtons in one day! A couple weeks later, Heidi’s sister, Robin, and family came down from Alaska to spend two weeks with us. During that time we had many reunions with family and friends. (The red type is the computer's way of saying I don't know English grammar.)
Heidi with her nephews and the Blackstad boys.
This is a picture of our new musical group,
The Three Bamford Twins. We are hoping
to add a twin or two.
This is a picture of my brothers,
Tom, Mike, David w/ Sara, myself, and my father, John.
Thanks for having a look at our blog!
