1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

It has been almost five weeks since Grandpa’s exit to Life.

Homesick
Mercy Me

You’re in a better place, I’ve heard a thousand times
And at least a thousand times I’ve rejoiced for you
But the reason why I’m broken, the reason why I cry
Is how long must I wait to be with you

I close my eyes and I see your face
If home’s where my heart is then I’m out of place
Lord, won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow
I’ve never been more homesick than now

Help me Lord cause I don’t understand your ways
The reason why I wonder if I’ll ever know
But, even if you showed me, the hurt would be the same
Cause I’m still here so far away from home

I close my eyes and I see your face
If home’s where my heart is then I’m out of place
Lord, won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow
I’ve never been more homesick than now

In Christ, there are no goodbyes
And in Christ, there is no end
So I’ll hold onto Jesus with all that I have
To see you again
To see you again

And I close my eyes and I see your face
If home’s where my heart is then I’m out of place
Lord, won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow
Won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow
Won’t you give me strength to make it through somehow

I’ve never been more homesick than now

Everyone was glad Mom and Joe went. Everyone was also glad to have them back.

Dad, Ben, Elle Janie, and I ended up going; we left on the 19th, sometime after 8pm. We left at night, so the baby would sleep! Which she did; she actually did very good.

Our kind dentist loaned us a Buick Park Avenue, a few years old but awfully nice. Mom didn’t think Dad would take Dr. Wagner up on his offer, but the dentist phrased it somewhat like this (I wasn’t there to get the exact words, but I guess this is a paraphrase!):
Dr. Wagner: I have this car that really misses Portland.
Dad: Oh ok, you need it dropped off?
Dr. Wagner: No, it wants to come home after a few days.

Well, it was a really nice car and we took it. It had so many bells and whistles that I’d never heard of! The windshield sensed rain and turned the wipers on automatically. There was a head’s up display that showed the mph on the windshield. It was really comfy. Anyway, the dentist wasn’t joking. As soon as we got into Oregon, the windshield wipers started going enthusiastically! All by themselves. It was funny!

When we got into town we went to Grandma Kathy’s. Aunt Laurie was looking through pictures because they were making poster boards with pictures of Grandpa on them. Joe let me look through pictures he had on his camera. Here’s some from the two and a half weeks he was there without us (minus the food pictures, which will come another time!):

Grandma Kathy in the hospice

Joe while driving

Paul (left) and John

Mom

A very picturesque picture of the river to which I added a few effects

Papa making Mom and Joe breakfast

Joe’s reflection (I thought it was picturesque!) in a birdhouse hubcap…birdhouses were made out of different things; this one was made out of VW Bug parts

Mom (right, in the blue skirt) and Aunt Laurie doing puzzles in the hospice

Paul (left) and John

Left to right: Joe, Gramma Kathy, Mom, Aunt Laurie looking at the pictures for the posters

We had lunch at Grandma Kathy’s, and looked through pictures and stuff.

Mom and Elle Janie who was so glad to see Mom that…(see next picture)

…she orbited around Mom! She kept her hand on Mom and walked around her in a circle for a long time, not letting go!

Dad rocking out with his acoustic guitar!

Dad and I

Dad, Aunt Laurie, Mom, Elle Janie, and Ben looking at pictures

Me writing as always! This is what I was doing while they were looking at pictures

Later on went to Grammoo and Papa’s for dinner. We got there about six. Grammoo made us an awesome roast dinner, with all the milk we could drink. We (the six of us; Grammoo and Papa don’t drink milk) drank a whole gallon at the one dinner!

Dad read a few Pat McManus stories. He got a few Pat McManus books as a surprise for when we went hunting, then we didn’t go!

Friday we got up at 7…Grammoo made breakfast (hash browns, which Joe made; bacon AND sausage, and blueberry muffins). After breakfast, we left to the Mausoleum to see Grandpa interned.

We were the first at mausoleum (after thinking we were late, we were early!) so we waited for Grandma Kathy and family. Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Earl came too. Grandma Kathy’s dad (who I guess is our great-grandpa Peterson!…he was only three years older than Grandpa, actually) came and Grandma Kathy’s oldest and youngest sisters Karen and Paula (respectively). We realized they are our aunts!
Anyway. Once everyone came we went inside and stood in the entry way, then went and sat down in a little living room thing. After a while a man came with the urn, and we followed him out to the mausoleum.

The earliest date we saw was 1914. The walls and fronts where the caskets and urns went was marble. Some spaces were caskets in sideways; some were in longways, with their ‘head’ showing. Grandpa’s is in one of the longways places because Grandma Kathy wants to be in a casket, so she will be interned with him when she dies.

We followed the mausoleum man through the halls and to the elevator, then up a floor, and to the open crypt. The square marble slab was off. It reminds me of that one verse where Jesus compared the Pharisees to a white washed sepulcher. That’s what it was! The marble and brass and ornate finishings merely were decorations for the concealing of dead people. It was a weird thought.

The man put the urn gently in the cavity, and let us say words. Dad read the passage from 1 Thessalonians, and Grandpa Peterson told us about this song, something about seeing Jesus in people, and he said he saw Jesus in grandpa, there was no doubt. Then we all said the Lord’s Prayer, and kind of stood around. Grandma Kathy went around and hugged everyone. Then Mom asked the guy if we could see where her mom and brother were interned. Entombed? Encrypted?
Anyways. So he asked the desk and got directions and we saw their crypts. On another nearby wall were Grandpa’s folks, in caskets. We stood there for a while. I couldn’t help thinking of the state of the bodies. Grandpa’s parents were in the sideways caskets, so the bodies were there, whole, instead of ashes. I thought I should feel creeped out to be surrounded by dead bodies, even if they were behind marble, but I didn’t…but I thought if I were alone, at night, perhaps I would have been creeped out…especially if there was a creepy guy chasing me around! That would be scary!!

After looking for a bit, we left. Everyone except us, Aunt Jeanie, and Uncle Earl left; we talked to them, then they went home and we went to Grandma Kathy’s. We weren’t there very long, then we went to the church. When Leo got there (he is…a family friend) we practiced playing “In the Garden” which we were performing at the memorial service later on. Leo played a 12 string guitar; Joe and Dad played guitar, and I played piano. Leo had actually never played it before, the song, but he did great.

After practicing we hung out until the service.

Aunt Jeanie had reserved three pews for family, but we ended up using seven! Aunt Jeanie’s sister and brother and their spouses were there too (along with her unmarried older sister); and Grammoo and Papa, Uncle David, Aunt Fran, and Cody; and Uncle Pat, Aunt Laurie, Nick and Amanda came…we hadn’t seen them (besides Aunt Laurie) in forever! The service was really nice, and afterwards was a cookie reception.

Dad, the tall dark and handsome

Leo, who played guitar with us

Me

Left to Right, Aunt Karen, Aunt Paula, and Grandpa Peterson

Left to Right: Mom, Aunt Laurie, Aunt Karen, Grandma Kathy, Aunt Paula

My cousins Amanda and Nick

Uncle Hap (Grandpa’s brother’s wife’s sister’s husband)

Papa

After the reception was a private dinner, served at Grandma Kathy’s, so we went there. Some ladies they knew prepared an awesome chicken/broccoli casserole!

Grandpa Peterson, one of the neatest, Godliest men you could hope to know

Aunt Jo (Uncle Hap’s wife; she is Grandpa’s brother Earl’s wife Jeanie’s sister)

Aunt Paula holding pies

One of my very cool brothers…Ben!

Aunts and Uncles…left to right, Uncle Earl (Grandpa’s brother), Aunt Jeanie, Uncle Hap, Aunt Jo, Aunt Shirley (Aunt Jeanie’s oldest sister), and Aunt Verna and Uncle Harley

Uncle Harley

Aunt Verna

Left to right, cousin Nick, Uncle Pat, Aunt Laurie, and Uncle Pat’s mom (Amanda had to go back home)

Paul

Aunt Jo and I (I’m really not taller than her!)

Aunt Jo and eeek who’s that face?!?

Me

After that we went back to Grammoo and Papa’s. I had a hard time getting out the door…I was saying goodbye to Grandpa Peterson (who is only about my height!), and he was like “Here, I have to show you something!” after I’d hugged him. He dug around in his wallet…and pulled out a family picture of US! Joe had given it to him! He was tickled to learn he had twelve grandchildren he didn’t even know about! He started bragging on us (while I was there) to Aunt Karen, who’d already heard all of it. “They make their own knives and bullets, and play music…!” he was going on and on. He showed me also a laminated paper with his other grandchildrens’ names and birthdates on, and said Grandma Kathy would make him another one with our names and birthdates on it. He hadn’t even met the rest of the kids!

Finally I said I really had to go, otherwise my family would leave me behind! I even got called a social butterfly, which was a first, because I can be pretty anti-social! Maybe I was just acting…

Anyway, we were going to leave first thing in the morning, but it was late, and we didn’t feel like packing the van, so we decided to leave second thing in the morning…which turned out (after a big breakfast and a lot of packing) to be about 10:30 am!

We got home at 2 am…stayed up for half an hour telling some of the stories and stuff…then went to bed.

Here’s a final picture of Grandpa Peterson and Grandpa…and a funny story about Grandpa.

When we came in June, a lot of the times someone else and I would help Grandpa stand, as he had a little trouble having enough ‘ooph’ to get out of his chair. Sometimes he would be a little wobbly, and we’d hold him until his legs were strong enough to walk.
One time he was being wobbly after we helped him; kind of bending his knees and stuff.
“Are you ok?” we were asking him, rather worried.
“I’m just doing my exercises!” he said.

Grandpa Peterson and Grandpa…two of the best men I’ve ever known

However, there is hope. He is a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ, and we will see him again, which makes the parting not quite so hard. There’s a really neat Mercy Me song called “Homesick”, and here’s the bridge:

In Christ, there are no goodbyes
And in Christ, there is no end
So I’ll hold onto Jesus with all that I have
To see you again
To see you again

If you could be praying for everyone involved and related to Grandpa, that would be very much appreciated. For the disciples of Christ, that they would be good witnesses…even though we have the hope of seeing Grandpa again, the parting is still sad. For the unbelievers, that they would realize they are lost and mortal and realize their need for a Savior.

For us, it’s been really strange not having Joe and Mom around (especially since this is the longest we’ve ever been away from them), and we miss them and they miss us. When Grandpa does die, Dad, Ben, and I will go for the funeral.

Anyways; prayers are very much appreciated all around, and I thought you might like to be updated on what’s going on.

Grandpa and his (living) children when we visited in June: Aunt Laurie (far right), Mom (far left), John (behind, left), and Paul (behind, right)

The title of the post is from a song called “Grandpa, Tell Me ‘Bout The Good Old Days”.

Anyways! I’ve got a whole lot of pictures here (we all know everyone loves pictures, right? And if a picture is worth a thousand words…this will definitely turn out to be a novel!). Hover over the pictures for a caption and a larger image.

Thursday/Friday, June 19, 20
Saturday, June 21
Sunday, June 22
Monday, June 23
Tuesday, June 24
Wednesday, June 25
Thursday, June 26
Friday, June 27
Saturday, June 28
Sunday, June 29
Monday, June 30

A big thank-you to Grandpa, Grandma Kathy, John, and Paul who opened their home to us; Immanuel Lutheran Church, the Manor, and Lacomb Bible Church for inviting us, and all the wonderful people there…and the biggest thank you to the Lord Jesus Christ who made the whole trip possible and provided for us bountifully through His followers! Glory to God! Amen.

And we’ve been home ever since! Pi (my cat) was soooo glad to see me, she’s slept with me every night since we came home!

Then the boys and Dad set up the music stuff (which took a few hours), and we did a soundcheck, then went across the street to Uncle Steve’s (he’s the pastor there) for a bit, then we changed into our concert clothes, and went back across the street and gave a concert. I think that one went better than the one at Grandpa’s, too! After that was a very nice finger food buffet (everybody wants us to get fat, I think!), and after a while there, we went back to Uncle Steve and Aunt Barbara’s to change and hang out for a bit.

Uncle Steve restores and remodels cars. I guess this is his latest finished product!
Uncle Steve and Aunt Barbara. In case you can’t tell, Aunt Barbara is the pretty one on the right and Uncle Steve is the other one.

Then we went back to Grammoo and Papa’s, where Grammoo loaded our trailer with food! We didn’t get out of Grammoo and Papa’s until 1:45 am. Duke was very happy to be with us again!

We had dinner there…it was soooo good! There was a potato-chicken casserole; pink cabbage salad; a salad that tasted like scalloped potatoes; a green salad; and these biscuit/pastry things that were round that were stuffed with sausage, then for dessert: diamond wafers (like from sugar wafers), layered with Russian caramel (that’s better than our caramel, it has the consistency of lukewarm hot fudge sauce, and is less sweet than our caramel), and these cookie shells about the size of a walnut, also filled with Russian caramel. It was all very good!

Us and the Russians…left to right (back row): Diana, Mrs. N., Mr. N., Dad, Mom, me, Beth. Middle: Vita (with the Daddy’s girl shirt), Em holding Elle Jane, Kate, Tess, Jay, Eric. Front: Stephen (Victor’s friend), Victor (who wouldn’t smile for the camera!), Joe, Rase, Abby, Ben.

After dinner, the boys and John and Paul went bowling, and were gone until like 1 am!

Cool old cars
Cool train pic

Cool train pic
Cool train pic

Thursday was a fairly non-busy day, which was pretty nice!

Ben on the left, Eric with Paul’s bag in the middle, and Paul on the right

Ben, with the club he used through the whole thing. An exercise on how not to play golf is as follows:

Stay stiff
Swing like you are playing baseball.

Dance!
Paul’s feet. Note the dirt from a scuff? That’s where Ben whacked.

And then, Paul, showing us how to do it the right way!

Beautiful form
No dancing!
Joe’s self-portrait

Later that day, we went to Grammoo’s and Papa’s, after the boys got home. It was Papa’s birthday, so we had a cake for him, and he opened his presents. Uncle David, Aunt Fran, and Cody came, too.

Joe pogo’ing, Ben in black watching, Jay’s the short one, also watching
Cody, testing out his pogo stick skills…Joe and Ben watching

Papa with the shirt Uncle David’s family gave him, and the chocolates we gave him

On the way there, we saw some cool cars…

I like that blue one best
The black one is cool
I like this black one next though

…and welcome to Portland and all its traffic! Ew. ‘Busy’ on our road is more than four non-neighbor cars in a day! Rush hour is like 20 cars in a line. This was just awful! Stop and go lights on the freeway? Bizarre! Ok, so we sound like country hicks. Really, guys, there IS a life outside the city! (Not to mention, the air is better and there’s less strange people! But then again, strange people are interesting to observe!)

John Wayne is also a follower of Jesus Christ, which was pleasant to find out!
He was very interesting. One of his plates was a plate of fried shrimp. He ate the shrimp and left the bready stuff; he said the bready stuff filled him up too much and the shrimp was the expensive part! At one point, after we’d all finished and were stuffed, the cooks brought in a new dish, and he insisted we all had to try it, and it had to be all gone or the cooks would be upset! So we had some, and it WAS good! (What’s the superlative of “stuffed”? Whatever it was, we were it!) Then we took some pictures!

All of us, John Wayne, and Papa
John Wayne (on the left) and Dad

Grammoo, Papa, and John Wayne