"Philadelphia" AZ

Mike posted a blog last week about brotherly love and how much it meant to him for Ted and I to visit him. Touche' brother, it was your turn. How many times have we been to each others sides in the past several years. When I went to the hospital for major surgeries in North Carolina, who was there looking at me when I awoke? Mike and Ted of course. It's just what we do because we love and respect each other. We are family and we are bound by a lifetime of caring. So whether it is in North Carolina or Texas or Arizona, wherever we gather will be "Philadelphia". Love you brothers!

 

 Mike shows Ted how to dial on a non-flip phone

 

Farewells as Ted prepares to leave for the airport.



 

"Juan Valdez Miguel Warbrittonez" displays his first orange harvest at El Casa Grande.

 

El Casa Grande!

 

My "tourist look" pic

These things (Saguaro cactus) are twenty feet tall and those needles are 2" long

 

 

Ouch!

 



Family visit to California

   I can't think of anything more important in life than family. When I consider my own life, it was family that stuck together through the hard times, through the illnesses, through the misunderstandings, through every challenge that came our way. It was that sense of community of belonging that held the bare threads together when the obstacles were greatest. Whether my Mother's sickness or my own sickness, whatever issues faced us, we faced it as a family; as a group of folks who loved each other and supported each other, no matter what.

    It is still so.

   My brothers and I act like we love one another because we do. I hope that we have passed that down to our next generation in a way that transcends the trials and turbulence of past mistakes.

   As I look at my descendants, I see the same bond of love and caring in the faces of my children and their spouses and all of my grandchildren. On the rare occasions when I get to visit them, I feel the bonds of love that bind us together. I see the care that each has for the other and it really does my heart good to be a part of it. Life is precious and caring is the root source that sustains the family tree.

And that includes the new limbs that are grafted in and become a part of the family tree to produce new fruit.

   My family tree is now growing in North Carolina, Colorado, Florida and California. What a joy to go and be with most of them in California. I saw four of my children with their spouses, seven of my grandkids and I actually visited with my two brothers in Phoenix on the way out there. I love my family and I pray God's blessing on each and everyone of us, everyday.

 

The Coastal Clan

Little Joshua

 

Kodi, Josh and Dave

 

Poppy and sweet Maci

 

 Poppy and Joshua watching "Happy Feet"

 

Three brothers - Chase, Josh and Tyler

 

 Darren on the Ojai Trail

 

 

 Pop on the Ojai Trail

 

Joshua and Dave

 

The Valley Clan

 

Little "G" kisses a frog



 

 

Alex is attacked by a bear

 

 

Sitting in the big brown chair

 

 

Auntie "M" with Lil' "G"

 

Feeding the goats

 

Not my favorite thing to do                                                            Watch me rope that steer

Alex and Lil' G find a treehouse

 

 The sunshine sisters in the "Golden State"

 

Garrett and Amy at the "Walnut Orchard Villa"

The Innkeepers Dan and Vicky (Garrett's folks)

 

 

Back to the Coastal Clan

                                                                 Dave and Kodi's Townhome

"Come back balloon"                           (Herein this pic lies a hidden family joke.)



Fighting the Devil in Arizona

   My brother Mike has decided to name the cancer that has invaded his body, so that he can personally address it when he is condemning it. When my other brother Ted and I were with him in Glendale, AZ, during his first week of chemo and radiation, he named it "Beelzebub" which of course is symbolic of the devil, or a prince of hell. Since then he has added "The Beast" in front of "Beelzebub". The radiation equipment is like a "beast" and it takes one beast to kill another. It is a totally appropriate name for this disease which has attacked his body with stealth and surprise. The battlefield is greater than his physical body, it encompasses his entire being. The soul and spirit are waging an equally fierce conflict at the same time as the science of chemo and precision radiation are battling with the attack on his body.
   Just as my brother Mike has an army of doctors leading the physical clash with the science of medicine, he has an army of spiritual warriors engaging the enemy's attack on his spirit. Pray for Mike that God will sustain him through this struggle. Pray for God to guide the Doctors and pray that God will give Mike strength, courage, hope and peace. I believe "hope" is the key that will triumph over any adversity that we face. "Hope" that our Lord and Savior will be there right besides us, defeating our enemies. Destroying the cancer and punching out the old "Beast Beelzebub".
   Keep punching brother!