Month: January 2008

Grandma Oring has passed on. I met this woman when mom married dad about 10 years ago. Most of the time, her health, and my life have kept us from spending a ton of time together, but I did enjoy a few moments, and learned some things in particular. Here are a few of the memories I have…

1. Sing. Grandma O. sang karaoke to us whenever we’d stop by. Just remembering an old familiar song brought a smile to her face, and it was evident that there was some life tucked away in those notes she hit as well. I pray I’m still singing late into my 90’s…

2. Love. Her love for family, and unique ways of showing it (and remembering it) were always fun to be a part of. She may not remember it later, but a few moments of sharing Addison with her on the couch revealed the importance of the gift of family, and an example of why some things are just bigger than the small stuff we get upset about sometimes.

3. Smile. Sometimes genuine joy, sometimes pleasant contentedness, and sometimes probably not quite knowing what was going on…but years of smiling had etched an “old woman” smile on Grandma that she didn’t have to struggle hard to wear.

4. Live. I most likely don’t even know a small part of the LONG life that Grandma had lived. The experiences she had. The major world and US History that she actually saw happen, and that touched her life. The decisions she made for her family that would influence and affect even her grandkids way down the road. A testimony to each of us that our life is not our own. We live today for the generations to come. Thanks Grandma, for your life, your smile, your love, your singing, and your son.

(Addie eating some of Jesus’s Birthday Cake)
I figured I should at least do one personal update, after all the Holiday stuff that’s gone on!

We had an incredible time down in O’Fallon at my brother Larry’s house. He and his wife, Erin, rock…and had the entire family that could make it over for many days. My parents even surprised us all by showing up!! We had a great time, and Addie loves every minute of getting to know the Anderson’s and Orings!!!
(Addie realizing something deep about the generations that have come before her)

Being so close to Saint Louis, we realized the Redwings were due to play them on Thursday, the 27th of December. I was so excited, but we couldn’t find tickets anywhere for this sold out game. We were going to just show up, and see if we could get some at the door….but I got sick. We ended up going to the emergency room to get some really really good medicine, so I would stay alive. For those of you who haven’t heard my exciting story….I can’t throw up. I used to have heart-burn….so it required that I have surgery, and basically..it’s a one way street now. Things can go down….but nothing can come up. So when it needs to come up…I have problems. Problems like not breathing, and not being able to stand or walk, etc.

So anyways…physically it was a tiring week. In a matter of days I had a sore throat, inner ear problem, stuffed sinuses, the flu (both ends), a cough, lost my voice, etc. All during the week of celebrating Christmas, AND preparing to preach on Sunday! We survived…had a great week in spite of health, ate a lot, got cool stuff for Christmas, the Wings won 5-0, and Sunday morning I had enough left in me to bring the Word to the table. God really is good to us.

I’m glad this was the year we took New Years’ off to be with family. In Youth Ministry, that’s a tough decision to make. Everytime there’s a special day/event, we love having stuff to do with teens, cause it’s fun, and they have no school. But with New Years, we have decided to do every other year…so that we get every other year to celebrate it with family. It was nice to just relax for a few days. 🙂

So there you go…no big resolutions other than to continue the journey of loving God, loving my wife, loving my daughters, loving others, loving my Church, and loving these teens and their families better. Little by little…I think I’m getting better at each. If anything…I feel like I’m smiling a bit deeper these days. 🙂

(Addie listening to the party in Grandpa’s tummy)