Dan and Rita With Minister in Oregon after Marriage

Rita with the CHAMP

Rita in Indonesia

Happy Birthday Rita

Yes, that is my Honey Rita. Doesn't she look like she needs adopted by Madonna? My wife the war orphan. It was so hard to get any pictures from Rita's family but they sent the top picture years ago and I love it. She has the most beautiful eyes. Yeh, I know Chris and Sarah, you got more baby pictures than I do but mine is an antique already, although who can't love Beka. Well lets get back to Rita. She became 51 on the 27th(I better post this Blog before she reads that I am telling her age). I don't think my wife has ever looked better at 51 and to me she has not changed in the fifteen years that we have been married. Rita had such a great life growing up in Kalimantan(Borneo) in the Dayak tribe and I always like to hear about her child life. I have heard the stories so much about how she played by the river, where her house was located, and the stories about climbing the Mango trees and her pet monkey. She traveled the river in canoes, fished along the shore, swim among the dangers of the jungle and experienced a very exotic but spiritual life. She had such interesting parents. Her father was a machine operator on ships and traveled away a lot. He fought in the underground against the Japanese, when they invaded Indonesia. Her mom was the mother of nine children, Rita being the youngest, and her mom served as the local medicine specialist, and matriarch to the locals there. Rita's grandfather was the last ruling chief of the Dayak tribe until the Dayak became Christians. Rita was so blessed to have Christian parents who led her in that life as well as her brothers and sisters. I was so pleased to have met her Dad after we got married and sad not to have met her mom who passed away a year before we met. I have met most of Rita's family and to our great joy many of them have visited here in the USA. Rita, I am glad to say is doing great at 51 and she is a vibrant and loving Christian and she makes my life all the better. For Rita's birthday we purchased a health club membership for three years and I now have to pay the price for that, as she had me there 4 times last week. Boy am I stiff after that week and now I realize what it feels like to be really old and out of shape since I will be 65 this January. I have included some great pictures of Rita before we met and doesn't she look "HOT". One of the pictures includes a shot with the CHAMP and another with the minister who married us, in Oregon. Of course the ones in the beginning is my wonderful wife now. Happy Birthday Kasih AND MANY MANY MORE.

The pictures below are taken mostly along the Allegheny Passage Trail, OhioPyle State Park and the Youghegheny river. The home in the woods is the famous FallingWater home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and is a park area for touring. Of course the cute girl by the river is my honey Rita and just in case you didn't see her the first time I put the picture in twice....

Laurel Mountain Trip

Dan had a full week staying in the Laurel Mountains, south of Pittsburgh last week. He took our motorhome to Roaring Run resort, where we set it up among the beautiful fall colors. The resort was quite empty of guests during the week and it all made for a quiet retreat. He couldn't stop talking about how the fall colors were in their peak and how georgeous all the countryside looked. Of course Rita had to work but Dan picked her up on Friday night and we both stayed through the weekend continuing the fall activities. Dan rode the Allegheny Passage Trail several days. This is a trail, mostly paved by compact gravel, that goes from Pittsburgh and to Washington D.C. The area he rode was at OhioPyle State Park, about one hour from Pittsburgh. It is an easy trail that when completed by next year will go 330 some miles from Pittsburgh to Washington. The trail goes along the Youghegheny river and into the deeply wooded areas of Pennsylvania. I cannot completely describe how beautiful it is all year long. It as Dan mentioned a compacted trail, like riding on soft concrete. The trail has no more than an incline of 2% for most of it and is easy riding. Dan took his bible with him and found that bible reading was never better than riding the trail. He met and had some good conversations with some Kayak folks and met a lot of bikers, although during the week it was very quiet. On Saturday this week Dan and Rita walked a good portion of the trail and than enjoyed some good spiced apple cider at the ButterFly Inn along the trail. This is a must see area if any of you all ever come to see us here in Pittsburgh. Rita is back at work this week and I don't know if Dan is ready to stay put with all the good fall changes coming about. It is getting cooler this week, so I guess it is a good time to stay inside and keep warm until the next warm breezes come through, I hope soon. Hope you all are having a great week. Pictures are here for your viewing of some of the trip. GOD BLESS

Well it is Sunday and another week has been completed for Rita and I. Rita completed her first week at her job and from the daily reports she has given me she really enjoys the staff and her new research boss Dr. Hall. She has appreciated their support of her first week there and has found everyone most informed and helpful to her. I can tell you personally the highlights have been the: good humor and cheerful attitudes of everyone, the quality of the university academic life, the new challenges she has been given and the opportunity to use her previous skills and learn so many new ones. The highlights continued to include the great new cafeteria food(reasonable)and all the free "kleenex". I know about the food situation because she rarely is hungry when she gets home to eat the supper I have prepared with my hard work and effort("tears"). As far as the Kleenex, well whatever gets you excited my Dear!... I am so happy for her that she has found such a good work environment and know that she will be a great success at what she does. The LORD does bless all of those "who are happy in their work".

After church today we went downtown to several of the museums, as there was a free admission day. The weather has been in the 70's and what a beautiful fall day it was. We found a string quartet playing at the library as well as a full choral group singing in the Natural History Museum. It is really wonderful to be only minutes from downtown to enjoy the many activities that are available. As the colors are changing slowly I will get some camera shots to include in my next posting for all to see.

We are waiting for the happy news soon about Chris and Sarah's first child as we heard that Sarah is in labor and the days are close. Our prayers for them as they wait upon the Lord for this gift. I would like to share a poem that was read to us last week in our sunday school class and then I will be back in a week or so with more updates and hopefully some good fall pictures. GOD BLESS EVERYONE.

TIME TO PRAY

I GOT UP QUITE EARLY ONE MORNING
AND RUSHED INTO THE DAY
I HAD SO MUCH TO ACCOMPLISH
I TOOK NO TIME TO PRAY

THE PROBLEMS JUST TUMBLED ABOUT ME
AND HEAVIER CAME EVERY TASK;
"WHY DOESN'T GOD HELP ME" I WONDERED
HE SAID " WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK!"

I SAW NAUGHT OF JOY OR OF BEAUTY
THE DAY SPED ON, GRAY AND BLEAK;
I ASKED "WHY WON'T THE LORD SHOW ME?"
HE SAID "BUT YOU DIDN'T SEEK!"

I TRIED TO COME INTO GOD'S PRESENCE;
I USED ALL THE KEYS AT THE LOCK,
GOD GENTLY, LOVINGLY CHIDED,
"MY CHILD, WHY DIDN'T YOU KNOCK?"

I WOKE UP QUITE EARLY THIS MORNING
AND PAUSED AS I ENTERED THE DAY;
THERE WAS SO MUCH TO ACCOMPLISH

I HAD TO TAKE TIME TO PRAY

MOM

I will always remember my mother in many ways as will all of you who knew her. Her passing this year leaves me with a void and mixed emotions. I loved her and the life she led and the influence she made on everyone besides her sons who loved her so much. I would like to share the presentation I made on her 85th birthday as it was one of the memories that meant so much. I remember when I asked my mother what she wanted on her 85th birthday and she quickly said "A party". So we gave her a great party and this is one of the moments from that day.

It has been said that there are three ages of women: Youth, Middle Age and "you haven't changed." Change is the name of the game! Consider the following:

Mom was not before the difference between the sexes was discovered, but she was before SEX CHANGE was the discussion of the day. She was born before frozen food, penicillin, polio shots, radar, credit cards and ballpoint pens. For her, time share meant togetherness, a chip meant a piece of wood, hardware meant hardware and software wasn't even a word. She was born before pantyhose and drip dry clothes, before icemakers and electric dishwashers, clothes dryers and electric blankets.

It was the custom to find a man, fall in love, get married(not necessarily in that order)having children came after, not before and divorce was not an answer.

Some wore Peter Pan collars and thought a deep cleavage was something butchers did? It was before the wine craze, disposable diapers and the Jefferson nickel. When she was in elementary school, pizzas, cheerios, frozen orange juice and instant coffee were unheard of. Fast food was what you ate during lent and having a ..gay.. time was definitely OK.

Cigarette smoking was unfortunately fashionable, today it's just another addiction and might keep you from getting a good meal. Grass was mowed, coke was something you drank on a hot day and pot was something you cooked in? Mom was before day care centers, house husbands, baby sitters, computer dating, and the term "making out" referred to how you did on the exam.

There were five and ten cent stores where you could buy things for five and ten cents. For a nickel you could ride the train, bus, or a ferry, or make a phone call, if you could find a pay phone. It would buy you a coke, or stamps to mail one letter and two post cards. You could get a new Chevy or Ford coupe for $695, but who could afford that? A pity, because gas was eleven cents a gallon. I remember when the first TV came into our neighborhood in 1950 and how special it was to see all of those folks in real black and white! Most of the time we listened to Amos and Andy and Jack Benny on the radio, on a hot humid night, sitting on the sun porch, talking in between the Ivory soap commercial.

Mom had a way to always do with what she had. She had a habit to put a little away in a drawer for that neighbor or friend who might need a birthday card or small present someday. I always thought of that drawer as the "prize drawer." I remember it well and how often the present that was given to her from another person found its way in and out of that "drawer" to make someone else a bit happier and who needed it more, as Mom always thought. You see we never had the money during those days to buy someone else a present, so Mom just saved a little from what she had received and passed it on so someone else would not be forgotten. "It is better to give then to receive" Our first lessons in Christian sharing came from Mom, who did it so well and with such humility and character.

I am told that there were lots of girdles, I mean real girdles with garters on them, petticoats and I guess even serge bloomers for gym in school(You young folks will have to look all of those words up). When cookies came to the house the container was returned full with her best contribution to the neighborhood recipes. The best the kids could offer when they came home, was to call out "MOM!" and present the laundry. But that's not our fault, we were always distracted by the smell of apple pie cooking and had to get to the eating.

I heard that there was great soft music, Toscanini, Schubert, Beethoven, Tennessee Ernie Ford and you could even hear songs that had lyrics. Of course there was Rock and Roll, but that wasn't music was it Mom? There were saddle shoes and really neat cars with special seats called "rumble". I guess the highlight was when Ray Noble played "The very thought of you" and you got a buzz, oops! jumped about 50 years there with that thought.

I continue to guess Mom was in the springtime of senility... She must have been some kind of misfit. I had never known her to go into consciousness raising, or sensitivity training. You never saw her jogging, too busy working those hard days and nights to feed a family and she still wanted me to pump her gas for her, imagine!
Forget about Yoga, veggies or punk. Her idea of a good time was to recycle(yes I said recycle, she knew the word)some old thing into beautiful gifts and treasures. She left a legacy of quilts, stitchery, crocheting and homemade crafts that are being enjoyed today and perhaps forever by many friends and certainly all of her family.

The best part I remember about my mother was how she never missed a night, on her knees, to pray to her LORD, at the end of the day. Those knees have bent many times beside her bed with prayers of supplication and intercession and she was always a spiritual inspiration to all who knew her. Some people preach about how to live life according to the Bible and others like Mom just don't think about it, they just believe it was the only way. Our mother is truly the "GIFT THAT KEEPS GIVING" AND EVEN AS SHE IS WITH THE LORD SHE WILL BE TO US THAT SPECIAL GIFT.

Tell me MOM "Is Heaven beautiful, can you touch every star in the sky? As you are walking down those streets of gold are you watching the angels fly? In those mansions up there do you sit with the saints and marvel at the majesty of GOD"(Chaya)

We miss you so very much Mom. We will see you again in our Father's House. How beautiful it must all be.

Pictures from Niagara Falls and Notre Dame University