Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Eugene Ice Storm


























We were in Eugene on a Tuesday last week, saw a concert with Derrick and his Tuba.  Great!
In the morning, when ready to head home,  our car was covered with a layer of ice!  Fortunately,  the rain had loosened the ice and had melted on the roads.  We headed to Ashland in heavy rain all the way home!

We learned the next day another torrent of freezing rain hit Eugene again along with snow in Portland.  The snow in Portland caused terrific driving hazards with lots of traffic sliding crashes!  Eugene in the meantime, was gathering freezing rain on trees, power lines and everything else outdoors!  Hundreds of tree limbs came crashing down crushing cars,  injuring people and causing major power outages!  Jana's were without power for 3 days!  and all this just a little over a week away from Christmas!  They are still cleaning up the tree limbs and repairing downed lines.  It seems we all get weather problems somewhere along our pathway.  As the Bible says,  "The rain falls on the just and the unjust."  The promise is that God will guide us through the recovery process!   It's in the process that God's presence shines!  (click on photos to enlarge)

Monday, December 5, 2016

Music Man



Derrick in Eugene, is stepping to a new rhythm!  And it takes a lot of air to keep in step. He's still a kid but growing up fast!  So fast he almost needs new shoes before  he gets home from the shoe store!  But someone at school invited him to check out the Jr. High band.  So he did and as he looked and thought,  he spied the biggest and baddest horn setting in the corner. Nobody wanted this ugly horn and it looked like hard work to carry this around especially if you were in marching band.  Not for Derrick that big horn looked like a challenge so he tried out.  He blew and blew a bunch of air notes but finally hit a C double flat! At least it was a note!  The more he blew,  the more he knew that horn was for him!

He's been at it for over a year and he's now performing in several orchestras, one an all tuba orchestra that includes all ages, Derrick being the youngest!  Can you imagine 30 tuba's performing a Christmas Concert?
This all city event is a grand hit every year!  Congratulations Derrick! (click on photo to enlarge)