A Short, but Sweet Visit.

The special privilege only lasted less than 24 hours but we all sure enjoyed it. Pake (Frisian name for grandpa) came with his daughter Grace and George from MO. It was a trip that was up in the air due to the weather and then sickness, but they made it and we are sure glad that they did. As you can see the kids made themselves at home on Pake's lap and enjoyed just having him around. Bill and I realize that it was a very special time for all of us, you see Pake is close to 90 and does well for being close to 90, however one never knows when life maybe called to a close.

As one can see from the picture, he is truly doing well. He enjoyed the kiddos and loved to have them on his lap. His life hasn't been all that easy, he was a prisoner of war over in Holland and then came to the United States with 3 children...a foreign land, with a foreign language and a family to provide for. I don't know all of the story myself, but I do know that his family ended up in MI and that is where they settled. I feel bad not being able to share the whole story with you, however I also feel that there is no need to worry about the parts I missed. To this day he is a joy to be around, he loves his family and he has a true love for God's people, God's way, God himself and really that is all that matters in the end. We hope we can learn from his example that he has given us and we hope that we can always show how thankful we are for his faithfulness.

As he left, it brought back my first memory of him. Bill introduced me to him while we were dating and instead of a hand shake I received this big hug. You see there wasn't ever a handshake after that, he gave hugs freely and there was power behind his hug. I got a powerful hug on the day he left, I think it was with the same strength he had some 17 years ago.



Here are kiddos perched on Aunt Grace and Uncle George's laps. As you can see they sure like company...hint...hint...hint. It was a pleasure to have Grace and George here also. We enjoyed our time, the little we had; speaking of times of Bill's growing up, of family and of times to come. We surprised them with inviting a close friend of theirs from PA down on Friday night for supper. During the idle moments the kiddos snagged them for some sort of card or board game, as mentioned before we all enjoyed the quick visit.

Thanks so much for coming.