It's Good to be Home

When we arrived home late Sunday night, somewhere around 10:30, it was too dark to really see our house or our yard. Monday morning, I went outside and snapped this picture. Our grass has not been cut in exactly four weeks, as Mr. Jones cut it last on Labor Day. But it really doesn't look that bad! We have heard reports that it was rather dry in Grand Rapids for much of the time we were gone; so that worked to our advantage. And look! Our tree out front has already dropped a lot of its leaves! I have a ton of outside work to do before the first snow (which could come by the end of the month).
Mr. Jones and I have been "resting" from our long journey. Do you know that we traveled about 4400 miles between all of you? And we also put on an additional 700+ miles in day trips; so in the month of September, we drove over 5,000 miles! Whew! That's a lot of driving!

I counted up the states we traveled through, and there were fourteen of them! Six states were entirely new to me; so I now have been in 26 of the 50 states! I had been noticing license plates as we drove along, and some of the plates have their state slogan engraved on them, which got me interested in looking up state slogans and state mottos (they are two different things). So tonight, since I am retired and now have time for this kind of tomfoolery, I got on-line and looked them up. I'll tell you some of them, starting with the states I hadn't been in until this trip.

MISSISSIPPI: Slogan - "Feels Like Coming Home" or "The South's Warmest Welcome." Their motto is: "By valor and arms."
LOUISIANA: Slogan - "Sportsman's Paradise. Their mottos is: "Union, justice and confidence."
COLORADO: Slogan - "Rocky Mountain High" or "Enter a Higher State." Their motto is: "Nothing without Providence." (I like that one). If you go to another site, they have humerous slogans and mottos, and this is the one for Colorado: "If you don't ski, don't bother."
NEBRASKA: Slogan - "Possibilities ... Endless!" Their motto is: "Equality before the law."
MINNESOTA: Slogan - "Explore Minnesota." Their motto is: "The star of the north." The humerous one for Minnesota is: "10,000 lakes -- 10,000,000,000 (billion) mosquitoes."
IOWA: Slogan - "Fields of Opportunity." Their motto is: "Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain."

I liked Ohio's motto best: "With God, all things are possible." Which is a quote right out of the mouth of Jesus (Matthew 19:26 -- after Jesus has told his disciples how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, his disciples ask, "Who then can be saved?" and Jesus answers: "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." I love this passage and what it teaches about the amazing grace of God for all of us!)

Some of the humerous slogans were pretty funny. My favorites were: "But it's dry heat." (Arizona). "We're really cold, but we have cheap lobster." (Maine) "Two billion years tidal wave free." (Indiana) "First line of defense against the Canadians." (Michigan) "Land of the Big Sky, the Unabomber, Right-wing crazies, and Very Little Else." (Montana) Well, enough of that! Thomas-K came home Monday evening. Shane and James dropped him off. It was good to see Shane again and visit with him for awhile. Thomas-K went outside right away (he hadn't been out in a month), and then he came right back in and went right back out -- that's the usual pattern for him!And it can sometimes be annoying. Although today, Tommy has been out most of the day, coming in only for milk and food. He came in just a minute ago and had evidently been waddling in the dirt (another one of his habits) because his coat was all gray and nasty (he has this thing about wanting to be a pig). But still, it's nice to have him home (yes it is, Mr. Jones!)
Dylan stopped by this afternoon and sends greetings to all of you. It was so good to see him! We had a nice few hours of catching up on family news. He is enjoying all of his classes at Kuyper, meeting new people, working two on-campus jobs, involved again in the street ministry, and getting some preaching opportunities. He preached for chapel a few weeks back, and is scheduled to preach at Mel Trotter Mission on Halloween night. He continues to passionately follow the Lord, and after a few hours of talking with him, I feel completely refreshed and comforted way down inside.

So what's it like to be retired? Weird. Good. Different. Nice! :) Don put together my new office chair I purchased at IKEA, and my desk lamp! I cleaned my desk today -- a major project! Yikes! It feels good to see to the bottom (finally!). I filed away a lot of important papers and threw away a lot of junk! Now, I have to clean underneath my desk, around my desk, behind my desk -- well, you get the idea -- the whole office is a disaster! I think it will feel amazing to have it organized. After that, I have about 8,000+ pictures (honestly!) on my computer that need to be edited, categorized and backed up. I have pictures that I want printed, so I have to edit those and send them away. I have cards to design. I have to research paper companies where I can order on-line or find a local paper company that has the right size and stock of paper that I want to use for making cards. And, I have so much reading to do! First, my Bible; because this is my 9th year in a row reading it all the way through. More specifically, though, I am in a Bible study with a good friend and we are studying the Gospel of Mark together. She is coming over Saturday morning, and I need to be ready!

Well, this is getting too long. I have just consumed 10 ounces of Citrate of Magnesium (yuck) to prepare for my IVP tomorrow morning, so suffice it to say that I won't be leaving the house tonight ... must have facilities! I was instructed to eat a very light dinner (since it will not be staying with me very long) and only drink water from 7-11 pm -- after which I am to have nothing until this test is over in the morning. No cookies. No chocolate. No ice cream ... looks like it might be a good night to go to bed early ... but it's good to be home!