Musing, Reflecting, Pondering

The Christmas story in Luke says that after Mary gave birth to Jesus

and amidst of all the angelic and human attention to the birth that:

"Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. "

Christmas is a time for musing, reflecting and pondering. It is a wondrous thing that

God so loved-He gave His Son. Sad the person who doesn't pause to reflect on that.

So as we dug out from the worst snow fall here in Portland in 40 years, we pondered

with her.

Snow shovleling is a great activity to encourage musing.

Tuba Christmas

I was a little discouraged this last week. The constant public barrage against Christians and Christian values get wearing and wearying. This last week the governor of Washington allowed a sign ridiculing religion and christianity to be placed next to the nativity scene in the capitol at Olympia. It seems you cannnot say anything publically negative against anything-except Christians. Then a shot of reality-of all places-in downtown Portland. Carol and I went to town on the Max and to observe and listen to 200 tubas, sousaphones, baritones, euphoniums play the old Christmas carols. Not Rudolph the you-know-what or Frosty the Snowman. Silent Night and Come all ye Faithful. Beautiful and Moving. I wish my Alaska friend, baritione player Russ could have been there. It turns out that this is a world wide event.

The director is an octogenarian who was for years the principal baritone player for the Portland Symphony. He knew his stuff and demonstrated and told us much about the different instruments. He obviously chose the most traditional of Carols. Reminded me of another friend Wally.

The inspiration and encouragement came -like Christmas itself-from a simple act. He repeatedly turned to the crowd of 1000's and had us sing along. There in the most liberal of settings we sang Silent Night, O Come all ye Faithful, Hark the Herald Angels, etc. I admit a tear rolled down my cheek and a prayer of thanks flew from my heart.

College Break

We have been having fun having Marianne and Scott's boys here on Thanksgiving break from U of Idaho. Lots of good guitar playing. Morgan brought his girlfiend Kaitlan to visit, she is a sophmore at the UofI, Piano major., and a very sweet Christian girl. Her long time friend Tiffany came over from Vancouver to visit today and we went to the Columbia river Gorge and hiked to a few waterfalls Morgan and Kaitlin pic above are going up to her parents near Spokane for Thanksgiving .

Mason is staying here with us through thanksgiving. We are going to Mark and Shari's to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Oh, by the way, we had a good time going to the play Anne of Green Gables last week. this was performed by the chrisitan Youth theater group. Josh worked back stage and Kaylie was one of the ladies of the missionary aid society. The all did a superb job. Kaylie sang and danced like a pro.

"Four eyes"-No More

The longer I live the more medical savvy I become. As Carol and I, and our friends, live beyond our allotted "three score and ten" we find the medical community performs wonders to keep us going, seeing and hearing. Our next door neighbor is just returning home
from open heart surgery, surviving a heart attack that would have meant death 20 years ago.
So we as seniors relate and commensurate with each other we learn about medical procedures secondhand. So much so that I could understand our grandson Tyson asking a couple of years ago, "Grandpa how come you and your friends seem to talk so much about medical stuff? Because we are survivors-that's why. :-)

Which brings me to the title above. After 60 some years of wearing eyeglasses of increasing strength and styles, I am typing this without glasses. I had my second cataract operation on my left eye yesterday and the lenses in my eyeglasses now are more of a hindurance than a help. Amazing. They are still the color hazel however, so my drivers license is still good. Or is it? It states on the back:
Restrictions: corrective eyeglasses!!

Post Election Fatigue

I may get shot for this. I found Carol this evening sleeping looking at the vote results in the paper. She really followed the election closely, but even more fervently prayed. Like McCain
she has election fatigue. She did not even know the flash went off when I took her picture.

Election Day

The Border Crossing Peace Arch

Having lived in both the US and Canada for many years we developed a perspective on how the rest of the world perceives the US. It is not always favorable. As a devoted American I have to also say it is not always fair.

But this election both Carol and I have realized how much we love our country even though we lived the last 20 years or so in Canada.
We have also realized how much our country is in need to return to the God we say we trust in. I think this election has caused many true believers to realize this more than we have for many years. That is one good result I can appreciate even before a winner is declared tonight .

We need to only remember but truly believe that:

It is He (the God of heaven) that removes kings and establishes kings-Dan 2:21

PS. Your mom is still proudly wearing her "Go Sarah" T-shirt Marla!

Another great visit

We are so thankful for the succession of visits we have had lately with our "kids" from Alaska. Marla and Jim were the latest to spend a week with us. we went to the beach where we had fabulous weather. Sunny, warm and very little wind. October at the beach can be fabulous. We stayed at Manzanita and rented a house right on the golf course there. Jim got in quite a few rounds of gold, we walked the beach, shopped and strolled beaches in Cannon Beach, Seaside and visited other beautiful spots. And of course we ate. It was fabulous

Marla and her gift of love to us!

Marla knitted Christmas stockings for our Christmas gift this year. I won't be able to mock complain about my christmas stocking being too small now. Notice our favorite hymn titles are on each stocking. A special gift from a lovely, godly daughter.

Boys day Out

I had an especially enjoyable weekend. Mark, Matt and I drove to Seattle and Merlin drove down from Canada and we met at Husky Stadium. We watched Oregon State beat the UofW. It was a beautiful fall day and we had a great few hours together. What a joy to see how all of our children have matured into such great people with great values and lives dedicated to serve Christ. We had a great visit with Marty and Nikki from Alaska recently and Marla and Jim are coming tomorrow for a week

We were really encouraged as we went to Good Shepherd Church this morning and hear the author of a book I read recently. Danesh D'Souza wrote What's so Great About Christianity. What a brilliant guy with a keen insight on what is really happening in our world today.
We sat with Ryan and Michelle. Our grandson and wife of whom we are very proud. He is a youth pastor of that church.
After that we went to our church where our pastor Barry Arnold preached a very good sermon on Esther. I encourage you to listen to Dinesh's sermon on the Good Shepherd Community Church home page. Google it!

Correct Tartan

Possibly you noticed that Greg caught my error in identifying his cousins kilts by saying they were wearing the Moffat pattern. Big mistake. It was a brain-eye coordination kind of thing.
The eye thing will possibly be taken care of by a cataract operation the end of this month. My wife Carol and friend Gale have both had the operation and say colors become clearer and brighter after the exchange of lens.

The brain thing is a different matter. Carol remended me that Merlin and Brenda who bought them for their boys could not find them in Moffat colors. I forgot. Therefore "we hope for better things" in the future.

Sperio Meloria

"Sperio Meloria" is old Scottish for "We hope for Better things". It is the Motto of the Moffat Clan.

Yes our clan is official and even has it's own tartan. Tyson and Warren last Christmas got Tartan Kilts made from the Moffat Tartan. They look good or make our pretty plain tartan look good.

I have done some research on our clan and found like most Scottish clans obvious have spiritual roots. Our motto of "We hope for Better Things" has spiritual connotations of expecting God to bring us out of oppresive and hopeless situations. Our clans history is full of much persecution, both spiritual and actual.

As our American society seems to be in a freefall away from our country's spiritual roots it is time for us to " look up for our redemption draweth nigh." He is our only hope.

Marty and Nikki Visit

We had a great time these last few days as Marty and Nikki spent the first days of their vacation visiting with us. We had some great family times as we were in the homes of all the Moffat clan that are in this area. (There's over twenty of us here ).

We celebrated Matt and Marty's birthdays Friday evening. Mark and Shari joined Matt's family as we did the cake thing and had dinner. Although it was rainy we also decided to go to a Greek festival on Saturday. This is a money raiser for the Greek Orthodox church here. It is an annual event of immense popularity. People jammed in like sardines buying and eating Greek food. We all really laughed when we read the sign below. It took a little adjustment for us to really understand what the sign says. Wonder if they had that kind of sign up at the wedding of Cana?

The Greek desert we shared was delicious and worth the entire trip itself.

We also spent some time in their beautiful church, learning a bit about the Greek Orthodox Church. A beautiful building. I did not get a good picture.

Young again?

I went back to college yesterday. I am taking a writing course this semester at Mt Hood Community college. The course is titled "Writing your Memoirs." I had previously started writing a few stories for my family but the project got stalled-mostly to my lack of committment to get it done.

When I saw the course offering I thought it might give me the motivation I needed. I think it will.

My first assignment for next week it to write my first memory. Quite a task that has really got me thinking. That little boy you see up there is me. REALLY?! I told you I was cute.

The trouble is I don't remember much about him at all. Because of the trauma in my early years I have very little memories of those years and most of them are painful. I have long since resolved all that by God's Grace and love. I guess I will have to write about that.

Birthday Hangover

Got your attention EH? Not all hangovers are bad, you know. Mine is a hangover of praise and thankfulness. Yesterday Carol and I had a fun day of going to the zoo. We really enjoyed it along with hundreds of moms pushing myriads of strollers. Everyone wanted to see the new baby elephant. We passed on that long line. We also visited the fabulous Rose Gardens.

I also got lots of cards, ecards, facebook greetings from children, grandchildren and friends. I am very rich. My grandaughter Kara posted a neat song on her blog yesterday which sums up the reason for my hangover. I invite you to listen to it on her blog (www.karapennington.net).

While you are there also take notice of another great artist's work. Kara does fabulous wedding photography.

Trip Highlight

Our recent trip to Washington and Canada had quite a few outstanding highlights. We met with our siblings (both mine and Carol's) met with friends and saw Merlin and Brenda in Canada, to name a few. We also visited Carol's niece and husband Leah and Clark. Clark is becoming famous at as an artist who make fish our of flat copper sheets. He bends and burnishes these to make them look real.

This is part of a display Clark is making for a curved staircase in downtown Port Angeles

Clark gave us a replica trout he is holding here.I admire the creativeness that God has given to people to make such beautiful works of art. Especially since I can't do much art-wise.

Veep?

Here's a picture I took of Sarah at Seward. I was amazed at the time there was not security for the Alaska govenor.
Not the case today.

Sarah, not so plain and standing very tall!

Well howdy!
Lots of excitement in this election, eh? Carol has been as excited as can be with the political news lately and I am again amazed at my bride. She follows this political scene with a close interest.
And now Sarah has intensified everything.
Sarah Palin that is:
The governer of Alaska has and is being examined and dissected in an intensity that defies expression. Our daughter Marianne says the church they go to was invaded by newsmen and photographers today. that because Sarah and Todd attend the Wasilla Bible Church. Our friend Adele who is a close friend of Sarah received phone call after phone call from major papers and newsmagazines searching for any tidbit they could find about Sarah.
This small town Alaska girl has experienced a meteoric political rise and we need to pray for her and her family to be able to keep their equilibrium these next 60 some days. Sarah is a very committed Christian who has stood tall for Jesus as she has governed with integrity and bravery.
And she is just as regular as anyone could be. Last year we saw her at the Seward Marathon cheering her kids on.
What's God up to in this election?

Hebrew 12:1-BABY

Matt organized a group of guys-mostly from our church -to participate in the Hood to Coast relay. 197 miles from Mt hood to the coast at Seaside, Oregon. Greg, Eric and Matt of our clan participated in the crew of twelve. they took 29 or so hours to complete the grueling trek. There was lots of looking and waiting interrupted by 6 miles or so of hurting and pain. Greg is asking "where is Eric, anyway?"

Here he comes! adreniline is flowing now! They say about 15,000 runners from all 50 states and 40 foreign countries participated. And all this while the Olympics were going on.

There were two teams of 6 each on each 12 man team. guys were shuttled to their meeting spots and guys tried to sleep, eat or whatever, waiting for their next turn of misery (approximately 6 miles each).

We watched a couple of sections with Mark and Shari. Mark got drafted to be a race official. He had to go to a transfer point on Saturday to a little Oregon town near the coast and handle the traffic caused by hundreds of vans and racers congregating at the same place.. Pandemonium!
A bunch of guys were groaning and limping at church today. They did great and represented their team name of Hebrews 12:1 Baby, with distinction.

So many pics-So little space

We have had many family gatherings lately. We gathered with our fellow

staff members in Alaska. Here is the picture taken from our bed room

at the conference.

We also had a lot of fun get togethers with our Alaska three children and their families

while in Alaska. Family get togethers included our children, their families at each of their houses.

Family from Mexico

We had a great time this last couple of days. Our granddaughter Kristen, husband AAron and new baby girl Emma came from Mexico City to visit us and the famioy in the Portland area. they have now gone back with Kristens parents to visit with their family on the Vancouver,BC area.

Ever so relentlessy almost all of our children are now grandparents. And we are getting older!

We had a open house here at our condo clubhouse and Kristen's aunts and uncles and cousins and nephews and nieces came to visit. Over 20 of us. I have lots of good pictures, but I will put a couple here knowing I can't get everyone. Here's a couple of the better ones.