78

Yes I am 78 today. Kind of a wonder in a way. I was sure years ago that I would never see the year 2000 and here we are ten years later.

I was born in a birthing home in in Port angeles, WA to a confused and hurting mother. My father had gotten her pregnant and found they could not stand each other. He married her to give me a name and left her to birth and raise me by herself. She married a Norman Johnson who gave me a house to live in if not any of his heart. It was a rough existance for me and my mother. Four more kids came from their marrige until my mother died giving birth to the last . All hell broke loose in that home then.

This picture was taken before my mother died.
That resulted in my being taken in by my real father and stepmother.
This picture is taken about the time I moved into that home where they already had a boy and a girl. So I had a new brother David and and sister Marilyn. David and another sister born later are both in heaven and Marilyn and I are the only family survivors. Life was much better in that new home and I was loved and cared for.















Here I am graduating from Port Angeles High School. Our class just celebrated our 60th high school reunion.

God has been good to me. I accepted Jesus Christ as mu Savior when I was about 19 years old and God has given me the most loving and caring wife who took care of me and gave us 6 wonderful children.

I have found by experience what Jesus promised to those who follow Him.
"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

Reality Check

Carol and I went out into the country last Sunday-actually up into the foothills past Estacada. I taught SS and preached at this country church that has supported is for many years.
Imagine our surpise when we drove up this remote country road to the church which meets in an old schoolhouse. A billboard with my name on it encouraging people to come and hear me preach!!.

Well that is where perspective is needed to keep from getting too big a head.
Sunday School had about 6 adiults and church maybe thirty total. I imagine hardly any traffic goes down that country road. James 1:9 says we should look at our position in life with a reality check. In the end everyone will end up on the same level and we should look at life and our position in that light. If our name gets put up on a billboard, keep that in mind.
By the way those people in that church are very wonderful believers and carry no pretentions whatsoever. They are good friends.

Five Weeks of Memories

Yes, I have been absent for five weeks. About three of those weeks involved a trip to Alaska where we again were embraced by family. Maria graduated, Nikki had an operation after a puzzling sickness. (gall bladder): We had a delightful trip to Seward with Marla, great grandkids had school activites to attend and pictures galore were taken shared and posted. Two did not.

One was our childrens belated birthday gift to their mom. Carol was queen for a day at a delightful BandB in Anchorage. The owner specializes in English Teas as well and it was everything a traditional TEA is supposed to be.

Another unrecorded hightlight was my induction to the 50 Year Society of Multnomah University, where I graduated 52 years ago. I went rather reluctanly because they called me on the phone and asked me to consider. I was suprised how much I enjoyed it and was moved. We marched in with this years graduates and faculty and were given special public recognition.

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So Carol and I were both honored during the last five weeks. Multnomah gave me an excellent education in Bible and Carol certainly deserved the praise of her children

A couple more pictures to add

The whole program lasted almost and hour and a half, with the above ensemble joining Morgan for the last 15 minutes or so.
Kaitlan somehow was missed in the pics below and here she is with her parents. It was a milestone event for Morgan and Kaitlin and as Morgan said "one of the hardest things he has ever done."

Morgan Recital Weekend

As all such events in our family, this weekend was full, memorable and full of variety. After all getting to Moscow, ID on Friday night all the ambitious ones got up bright and early to do the 5K run. It was also Mom's weekend at the U so there were lots of activities besides the Recital which was held on Sunday evening. Maria, Mason, Scott, Derek his brother Clinton and Marianne took over the race. Maria was the fastest woman and all finished in great time.
However two of the Wick's were First and second as pictured here.
It was a fun filled weekend with lots of picnics (temp in the 70's), minature golf, church, games -well you know. Of course the highlight was Morgan's amazin performance at his recital. 45 minutes of solo memorized intricate, hard guitar solos, duet with a flute player and two songs Morgan wrote and arranged with a enemble of ten other fellow students. There were about 100 of us there.


Scott and Marianne organized most of the reception and of course, Carol Sue reveled in the helping.

Wick Times Ahead

We are leaving for Moscow, Idaho in the morning. We are giong via Redmond, OR.
We met Chris and Ashley Wick when we were up in Moscow for Morgan and Kaitlan's wedding. Chris is Morgan's cousin and is a detective for the Redmond police dept. He and Ashley have been accepted by Josiah Ventures, a mission organization, to go to Slovenia to work with youth there. They wanted to get together with us to chat about the ups and downs of missionary life.


We will stay over night there and then drive to Moscow, ID where Morgan is givng his senior recital in guitar performance. This is a big deal for a graduating music major and we are looking forward to a fun filled weekend. Morgan's whole family will be there as well as Jaime and Adam who live there..

We will share some pics when we return.

My Son Just Turned 55!!

We have six children and I can truly say that no one of them is a favorite. I can appreciate each one for their distinctive qualities and giftings. It's like a beautiful grouping of vivid blooms making a bouquet of God's gift to us.

But I have been thinking about Mark turning 55 yesterday. First of all, I can't believe we have a son getting close to retirement. Someone saw us at McDonald's today and asked me to pray for him preaching tomorrow. The reason he said jokingly was "that you are as old as God." So I guess I am old.

Mark and I were bonded in a unique way when we first went to Alaska as missionaries. Carol had to stay behind in WA. to have our fourth and Mark and I went to a remote Alaska village and went through the trauma of isolation, people speaking another language, culture shock together. Mark was a real trooper at 4 yrs of age and was a great comfort to me when I was missing his mom, the rest of our family and going through challenges of adaptation. He was my rock in a changing world. It might be strange to say that of a 4 year old, but it is true.

He is still a rock to me. My oldest son fills the bill of every expectation in the phrase "oldest son".

He is a great husband to a wonderful daughter in-law. A great dad to three outstanding grandchildren and a loving grandpa. He is a strong committed believer, a wonderful christian leader and a wise son.

Happy Birthday Mark.