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All Things October
November 6, 2014
Hello! Welcome back commentors and stalkers! lol, I think I had two or three people tell me this last month, "Oh, I visit your blog. I'm a stalker." Hey, we welcome all of you. We don't judge here. Well, I try not to at least.
So ... busy, busy month. Those who have been following "The Blog" are very familiar with the Daher family. Nathan and I have done many movie shorts over the past decade, and I often went out to San Diego during my bachelor years. Well, with tears of both joy and sorrow, we all said goodbye to Mrs. Connie Daher, who passed away of cancer last month. Mrs. Daher was nothing short of a second mother to me, often giving me much-needed counsel, particularly during the difficult months of 2006. So, I flew out alone to California and attended her memorial service, which was just beautiful.
This blog follows life, and while it chronicles mostly the good times, we all know all-too well that life is full of bad times. Seasons come and seasons go. My favorite book of the Bible ever since a boy has been Ecclesiastes. Life, from our point of view, is random, and often doesn't make sense. However, just like when one is reading a novel, and is only in the middle, we don't yet know of its beautiful ending.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by.
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Video Blog - October, 2014
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And here we go ...
All right, we're in St. Louis and crammed into the boys apartment for a lovely meal together! That's Robert and Jill Andrews, longtime friends of the Thomases from Washington.
I have that uneasy, claustrophobic look. I also had a few canker sores that night on my tongue and wasn't feeling the best. It's fun to watch Melanie serve us, though.
Little miss muffet sat on a tuffet eating her curds and whey.
It's the next day and time for a brisk walk along the muddy Mississippi!
Wouldn't want to meet these short punks in a dark alley.
I like this picture because Michael is telling me something funny and I look relaxed and my coat looks awesome and it's just a really good picture and I hope you really like it too as much as I do.
Cuteness alert.
After grandpa has 5 grandsons in a row, well, let's just say Marian holds a special place.
Look everyone, it's Hannah! Hi, Hannah! We love you, Hannah!
Theological discussion abounds. You'll notice Micaiah is sitting on the arm rest of that one particular chair. That's because I was sitting there earlier ... and then decided to take a sudden leave of absence.
From left to right: Sarah, Emily, Goober Buns, Rachel, and Kelsey.
Church wedding shower!
It's a few days later and the Luekens have come by from New England to speak about their work with Operation Nehemiah in South Sudan. Fascinating stuff, and the Lord is really doing a work through their ministry. So good to see you all again!
The Daher home. A place of love and laugher that has brought me a lot of comfort over the years. I am back again for a brief weekend to celebrate the life of Connie Daher (passed from cancer).
This picture is from almost 10 years ago. So, so many memories with her.
And here we are in Nathan's bedroom, and he still has all the "ride pictures" from our trips to various theme parks on his wall. So cool.
I think is the first one we ever purchased. From 2003.
More memories on the walls.
And here's my good buddy Scratch, still alive and kicking and with one ear flopping. Yep, it's so cute. His one ear as always been like that.
We're off to the memorial service, with Heidi Hansen accompanying us.
Walter! Remember Walter, everyone? My good German friend. I believe he's 95 now. He's still sharp as a tack. So good seeing him again.
The memorial table.
"And the dead in Christ will rise first, and we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore comfort one another with these words." - I Thessalonians 4:18
Friends and relatives arrive to pay their respects.
This is Tim Tardo, who is currently going with Jamesy. He has an incredible voice, and brought us to tears.
Mr. Daher speaks of his beautiful wife, who now rejoices with the saints in glory.
Abram shares.
Jamesy shares.
Nathan shares of his mother, and then directed everyone towards the gospel, exactly what Connie would have wanted.
When you dress classy, you gotta act classy.
I'm not sure why I always doing the "pointing thing" when nicely dressed. It just seems rich and snobbish and really appropriate.
Man this picture came out well. You all look almost too nice!
Jamesy and Tim. They really are perfect for each other. :-)
Hey, Pa! Due to his work, Pa is often in Los Angeles, so he came down to join us all. He has that blank "I want food right now" look on his face.
It's the next day and we're off to the beach! Abe is driving. I was sure to take out a life insurance policy before leaving Missouri.
Adi Daher, my little ENFP friend. Having two of them myself, I'm a sucker for that Type. :-)
A beautiful day.
Oh California ocean, my childhood friend, how I've missed you.
Seaweed used to scare me as a kid (thought it was a monster). Still kinda does, actually.
Cousins. You can see the Lebanese trait. Abe looks like the grand patriarchal sheik.
Grandfather and grandson.
Father and son.
We all love you, Mr. Daher.
It's the morning of my departure and we're at one of my favorite restaurants, the Yellow Deli. This place is simply awesome, especially for breakfast.
Don't expand this picture as it's really blurry. Anyway, good times together. Thanks again for everything!
Does anyone remember before I was married I used to take random pictures simply so I could make a caption for it later on my blog? Well, being by myself, I got that urge again. So here's the caption. "Goodbye, San Diego! It's been fun!"
"Hello, Springfield!"
Man, I flew in at midnight, and then the 2-hour drive home didn't help either.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease! Yay!!! All the kids eventually came down with it (Philip not so bad), including Melissa and I. It was so uncomfortable! Ahhh!!!
Out for a family walk. Later that evening I would start to notice little dots on my chin. I was hoping they were zits.
Ahhh ... Fall.
This is my Elijah Wood Frodo face.
I think we'll keep 'em.
Time, please stop. Just for a little bit.
Perfect advertisement for the Reformation Day dance. There's Mr. Luther right above Mr. Philip's head!
"Jordan, what on earth are you wearing?" I don't really know. I honestly found that shirt in the back of my closet minutes before leaving. The wife and I went 50s, okay? That's totally 50s.
Swing your partner!
Nate's in Missouri again! You got the moves, boy! (sorta)
As does Joel Andersland! (kinda)
All right, thanks so much for stopping by and sharing the joys and sorrows of life with us. Let us live it for Him!
