Skiing and Fun in the Snow

The ski weather was much better the second day and Jon even arrived in time to ski in the afternoon.  Stephen, Shannon and I spent the day at the lodge; we had plenty of time to watch our grandkids ski and play in the snow.  It was also great to watch our two sons enjoy skiing together.  It was a great day!

First Day in California

I'm not a fan of long flights and, by a long flight I mean one that is more than 4 hours.  Normally we fly United from San Salvador to San Francisco which means we go to Houston  (3 hours +/-) and then Houston to San Francisco (4+/-.)  However, yesterday we flew the Avianca non-stop from San Salvador to San Francisco, a 6 hour flight.  Stephen and I played several card games which seemed to help pass the time, but it was still a long flight. 

We landed at SFO at 7:00 p.m. and exited the plane shortly thereafter.  Unfortunately, the line for customs extended about 100+ feet out in to the hallway.  Definitely, not what you want to see when you get off an international flight.

As it turned out, it was much better that Daniel and the family didn't pick us up--by the time we got through the line and got our luggage it was well after 8:00.  Instead, Jon picked us up in his truck and we made it back to Daniel and Shannon's house around 8:30.  The big grandkids were already in bed asleep.  Shannon had our dinner waiting for us and we visited for a couple of hours.  After that, we called it a night pretty quickly as we began to notice the two-hour time difference.

This morning we worshipped at Peninsula Bible Church.  Both Daniel and Shannon worked in kids classes, so we were in the worship service by ourselves.  They celebrated the third Sunday of Advent with a special time of reflection and song.  We sang several hymns and, once again, I was taken by the depth of meaning in the hymn lyrics.  The last phrase of "We Sing the Mighty Power of God" says:  "while all that borrows life from you is ever in your care, and everywhere that we can be, you, God are present there."  What a great truth!

We had family time for the rest of the day, including dinner at a great Mexican restaurant followed by Christmas cookies for dessert.

  

Beautiful Bend!

Daniel, Maleia, Josiah, Jon and Stephen and I left at 7:00 a.m. yesterday morning and the kids were awesome travelers, enjoying their sticker books and the 9:30 a.m. second breakfast stop at McDonalds.  

We made the eight-hour drive from Sunnyvale, California to Bend, Oregon yesterday and the weather cooperated perfectly--only rain, no snowing and not even any snow on the mountain roads so no need to put on the chains.  

We were 15 strong at the vacation home in Bend last night.  It is an amazing 6 bedroom house with plenty of space for all of us.  

This morning nine of us took a walk around a beautiful neighborhood in Bend.  It felt good to get 5,000 steps in today after not having time to walk much in Kansas City.