Sunday, March 27, 2011

Adventures in England Part Two: The colors of spring!!

Hello again Hobbes, Madeline, Amara, and Asa! We are all in the season of spring now, but it looks VERY different for us doesn't it? Hobbes and Madeline can go barefoot now and they have some beautiful flowers blooming. But Amara and Asa are still getting some snow, and their flowers are just peaking out from under their dirt covers. Over here in England, Uncle Mark and Aunt Carolyn are enjoying lots and lots of beautiful flowers. It isn't as warm here as it is for Hobbes and Madeline, but it is very similar to Cannon Beach. Do you remember Cannon Beach Hobbes and Madeline? It has a very big rock in the ocean and you like to draw in the sand and chase the waves. But it also has lots of beautiful flowers even though it isn't very warm. But it is near the ocean just like England and so it has lots of water and the flowers like that. 
I thought I would show you all what our spring looks like over here. I get to see these flowers every day!

I would love to have this many daffodils in my garden!

This made me think of magnolia trees in the South! I think it is an English cousin


This would be very pretty in Madeline or Amara's hair don't you think?


These are some sort of apple blossom.

This is a very BRIGHT flower--what color is it? 

I needed to have some spring INSIDE the house too!


These are in flower boxes in the city

While these were growing in a flower box outside someone's house

And this is what a daffodil looks like if you are a bug on the ground looking up!


Friday, March 18, 2011

Musings on the Marvels of Modern Technology

I wanted to post this while I was in the U.S. but sadly, when I went to do it, my folks' computer went on the fritz--which I found ironic given that this was my title. :) So, I am back in the UK and writing from here.
I had a very short jaunt to Moscow to surprise my folks and go to the Logos 30th anniversary benefit concert. Mark and I found this really great ticket several months ago and decided that it would be great not only for me to visit, but to make it a surprise. Naturally, I needed to rope Naphtali and Kathryn into it to help me out and to make a long story short, I ended up in Moscow in time to walk into my parents' house for dinner.
Can you imagine making a trip like this 50 years ago? Or 100? 50 years ago would have taken a VERY long time and it wouldn't have been as comfortable. 100 years ago, I would have taken a boat and the time for travel would have been at least a week on each side of the visit. And don't get me started on how expensive it would have been!!
In this era, I flew over in what was essentially one day (heading west). And I must say it didn't feel as though I had crossed the Atlantic to be there. It felt more like I had driven down from Spokane as I used to for weekends. And I started pondering why I felt like that.
I think part of the answer is modern technology such as skype. Now I can see my family as  I chat, with the background of their homes and it feels as though I am there in a way. Of course it's not as great as being able to hug them or sit around a dinner table together, but it's lovely to see the kids and have them talk to me. I wondered if Asa (who skypes with me regularly) would make the connection that I'm the same person who lives in the computer. Well he did! And so did Amara. In fact, when I walked in the first thing she said was "Hi Carin! Mark?" She already knows that we are associated you see. :) Asa went one further and promptly walked into my dad's study and pointed to his closed laptop saying, "Mark?" Yes Asa, Mark and I do live in the computer. :) But it was lovely that my two year old niece and nephew are already able to know us even though we're thousands of miles apart.
So, I may gripe about technology from time to time. Most of you know I believe computers are evil beings that hate me. But on occasion they are wonderful, such as when booking plane tickets or talking to loved ones. Because suddenly the world is a much smaller place, and England doesn't feel an ocean away, but more like I'm down the street from my family.
So I thought I should put that in writing! :)

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Legacies

Nine years ago today, on a cool but lovely sunny day, much like this one, my grandfather left the 'shadowlands'. Then, it was a Saturday morning and I awoke to an early call from my father to give me the news that Grandpa Garfield's term was over and his holidays had begun. How well C.S. Lewis was able to voice the feelings and thoughts so many of us have! Then as now, I shed tears of grief and hope at the same time. The idea of lamenting in hope seems strange to the unbeliever, but as we have been learning in church recently, the Old Testament prophets were experts in it. Grief for the destruction of Israel, and hope in the coming Savior.
Every March 2nd since then, I think about my grandpa's life, rather than his death. It seems that God likes to give me sunny days to mark this anniversary and I am grateful. The beauty of that day was amazing; I went down to the water (I was living in Seattle at the time) and just sat looking at Puget Sound for an hour or more, with the white dome of Mt. Rainier rising behind me and the green mountains of the Olympics before me.
We Garfield grandchildren have never been to Disneyland. And I don't think any of us regret that. Our vacations were nearly always spent in Portland, Oregon, visiting our grandparents. These trips included cousins, coffee, the beach, the zoo, the city and love. Such an overused word. But it's the best one. I don't mean syrupy love with kittens playing in the flowers or something. I mean love that can only come from lives that have been fermented in it for decades. That love flowed from Grandpa and Grandma Garfield into their children and their children's children. It cemented our family in Christ.
Now, seperated by a few blocks, a few states, or a few thousand miles (!!) we still feel that bond. I don't just refer to my own siblings and I. We still love the cousins we shared these grandparents with and keep in touch with them as well. Someday, I hope we'll have the Bob Garfield family reunion.
My grandfather was the best Christian man I knew. He raised a son to be like him, and he raised a son to be like him as well. I have been blessed to see three generations of God's promises and am watching the small number fours being nurtured in the admonition of the Lord as well. God willing, I will have my own to give this legacy to.
It's been nine years since I heard my grandpa's defining greeting "Hello friends!" but I can still hear it whenever I think of him and I think all of us-- his wife, his children and grandchildren--will hear it again when we join him in glory.
I still miss him. I wish he could have seen all our weddings and children. Maybe he does. I'm delighted that Grandma did and I know she misses him most of all.
But today is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it! Because his life isn't over and we'll see him again.
I love you Grandpa.