Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.

Psalm 6:2

I don’t believe it can ever be true to call any trip to visit grandchildren “a bust”… but this one came very close! Not because anybody did anything wrong but because Naomi’s whole household, other than Geoffrey – so far – were so sick the only thing for us to do was to stay away and get a hotel room (insert sad-face emoji here).

I won’t get into the details, but it all came on very hard and fast. Naomi, then David, then Craig, then Beks. No Covid, thank goodness, but as full-on a case of being “slammed” as we have ever seen. Naomi already didn’t feel well before we arrived, David too, then it all went south during the night.

My image of Geoffrey playing with his train set was taken Friday evening. The Rebekah and Beks one too. Saturday morning we stopped by to unload the Rav-4 (including the ancient (great-grandmother) sewing machine in the photo. Then we simply said goodbye and that was that. So sad.

We love our grandchildren so very much; we love the entire family. And it made us all cry when we realized we couldn’t stay.

But we did succeed in delivering another SUV-load of stuff that needed to go, and then Rebekah and I did manage to redeem the time by having a great Saturday together… but that will have to be another post.

In the meanwhile, please pray for Naomi, Craig, David, Beks, and Geoffrey. For healing and for strength as they get ready to start the new school year in just a few days.

In love, and because love is at the heart of this good life we enjoy with such enthusiasm and passion – DEREK