Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Christian is going to......


what a surprise - Brazil!  He will be leaving the end of Mar. for Sao Paulo, Brazil.  I should have a picture of him opening his call but I don't!  It's on video - maybe I'll figure out how to post a clip.  We had most of the family over for pizza (Steph was in Hawaii) and then the big moment arrived.  For some reason I didn't expect Brazil!  It's fast becoming our family's second country.  Christian will be our 6th Brazilian missionary - Randy, Lorien, Bethany, Natalie and Kevin, Kimberly's husband. 

Time to move on past Steve Jobs....

Not that I don't find the guy interesting but he's been the front-line post a bit too long. 

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

What's Important....


I was surprised by the death of Steve Jobs.  I didn't know he was ill and though I wondered if something was amiss when he stepped down from Apple I didn't expect he would be exiting life quite so soon. I was inspired by reading the eulogy given by his sister at his funeral.   It moved me to want to live life more fully and with more love.  His last words were priceless and somehow fit the man.

"Before embarking, he’d looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life’s partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them.  
Steve’s final words were:
OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW."
Bethany reminded me of another set of beautiful last words by Gerard Manley Hopkins, a 19th century poet priest who wrote beautiful sonnets of devoted love for the Lord and also struggled with the despair and doubt of depression.   
"He refused to give way to his depression, however, and his last words as he lay dying of typhoid fever on June 8, 1889, were, "I am happy, so happy."   Source