North Carolina

One of the emphases of the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal is to connect with family in important ways. I am so grateful that I was able to reward Linda and my sons and their families with a week in North Carolina for their years of hanging in there with me in the ministry. We stayed in an incredible home big enough to house all sixteen of us and which was within walking distance of the ocean beach.






Linda and I got up early several mornings to take liesurely strolls along the beach, catching beautiful sunrises as well as interesting shots of good looking creatures like the guy pictured here.

It was an adventure when the whole clan headed for the beach. The Carpenter army took up considerable space.

What would a trip to the beach be without trying my hand at some body-board surfing? It was fun, tiring, and a skill I still haven't got the hang of.

In between times to the beach, I didn't forget the importance of practicing my sign language. In fact, with Britney hamming it up next to me, I am actually practicing the sign for "practice."

A big blessing of the week was a visit from our nearby Virginia relatives. Julie (my niece) and her husband, Jim, came down with their two boys, Evan and Jared. Eric (my nephew), who had flown in for my other nephew's heart transplant, was also able to come. We were glad that we could share our vacation house and hang on the beach with them if only for a day.

Evan was having a great time in the surf, while Eric was helping Jared with body-boarding.

Before the week was over, we wanted to get a family picture. I had told Linda three weeks earlier that I needed a haircut and still did not have one. Melody and Stacey jumped to the rescue. Being the daring guy I am, I let them have at me as Mel cut my hair and Stace went for my eyebrows.

On Thursday evening, we all headed to the beach to get that family shot. From left to right are Josh, Britney, Jeremy, Melody holding Claire, Gabe in front of Melody, me, Linda, Stacey holding Joel, Dan holding Cale, Nathan standing, Julie holding Seth, and Scott. We treasure those times when the entire family can be together.

When we returned to the house, the boys had a surprise in store for me. They had planned a sabbatical salute for me. Each of them had written a letter concerning what it meant to have me as a dad and the lessons they learned from me about Christ, marriage & family, and life. We all gathered around the kitchen table and one by one each of the boys read their letters. It was so personal, humbling and overwhelming. It was definitely an experience I will never forget. Then when they were done, they wanted to lay hands on Linda and I and pray for our remaining years in the ministry. It was the highlight of the trip for me.

After a great week, we packed up and headed for home. On the way, Linda and I had the opportunity to stop at Norfolk and visit with my nephew, Tim, who had a heart transplant just 11 days earlier. It was a moving and awesome hour. At 35, Tim seems way too young to need a heart transplant. But after several years of battling a heart that had finally grown three times the size of a normal heart, nearly collapsing his left lung, it had to be done. He is doing remarkably well and you can see he hasn't lost his sense of humor. Some nearby forest fires have created problems with smoke, and at times even in the hospital. When he has needed to wear a mask, he wanted to make sure people could see him smiling. His recovery will be long and we hope that everyone will continue to pray for his complete healing.

We then went up to Newport News to stay the night with RJ and Janie (Linda's sister), Tim's parents. I don't know how they missed the camera, but they had kept our dog, Shadow, for the week. We had a great evening of fellowship with them, and then left bright and early for the long, 13 hour drive back to Kokomo. As we did, we couldn't forget the message I left in the sand with my "Jesus Loves You" sandals. And we love you too!!

Home Again - Off Again

I asked myself,"Would people rather see a picture of me or of Linda?" Well that was pretty much of a no brainer. After flying home to Kokomo late on Monday evening, June 16, I was able to enjoy three days at home with Linda. Then we packed up to head out for our home away from home for a week in Corolla, North Carolina. Our vacation home is about 100 yards off the beach, behind the row of homes you see pictured. The house is awesome and big enough to hold all of my boys and their families--16 of us in all!





We arrived at the beach on Sunday. Josh and Britney, pictured below, were here along with Dan and Stacey and Cale and Joel, and Scott and Julie and Nathan and Seth. Jeremy and Melody and Gabe and Claire were in transit, getting in very late Sunday evening.

Actually, before we went to the beach, we enjoyed the pool at our house. Cale and Joel were obviously taking all in stride.

Of course, I take my grandfatherly responsibilities seriously. Here I am showing them how to perform a flawless "can opener" into the pool.

After the pool, we then went to the beach where the boys had a great time.

By the time the day was over, my hair was standing on end, but this time it was due a wonderful day the Lord had given.

Before the evening was over, though, those of us who had arrived took time to celebrate the Lord's Supper together as a family. We drew names and each of us served another family member communion. Although small children remain active and noisy, which we expected, it was still special to remember what Christ has done for us and to serve one another in our own family.

And my goal this week is to keep my eyes open for Jesus, both what he has done and what he continues to do in the creation and in our own lives. Below you see the imprint in the sand from the sandals that Stacey found for me. They are a good reminder that this week and every week is all about Jesus! Sending my love to you from North Carolina!

Colorado Week Eight

As I began my final week in Colorado, I couldn't help thinking about my sign language instructors, including my niece Dani's son, Hayden. From day one I saw him signing and thought, "Well, I can't let a baby outdo me." Hayden was good motivation :-). Below he is moving his finger to just below his lips to make the sign "red" and bringing his hands together to sign "more." Those are just two of the many signs he knows.

Of course, I naturally thought about my sign language boot camp director :) -- Tim. He works full time for the post office, and ends up being called in on many of his days off. Inspite of working long days and coming home tired, as well as his work as the minister of the Deaf Church, he invested a massive amount of time into my instruction, something for which I am very grateful.

On Tuesday of the final week, I decided I needed to test my ability to hike at higher elevations. Saturday Danette, Donna, and I were planning to attempt to hike Mt. Bierstadt, with most of the hiking done on a steep trail from 11,000 ft. to over 14,000 ft. All of my hiking had been at elevations lower than that, and I had been nursing a strained calf muscle for weeks. So I drove to the summit of Pikes Peak and hiked down to 10,000 feet and back up to 14,000 feet. There was more snow on the trail than I had anticipated, and being at elevation didn't keep me from doing business with Scott and Linda by cell phone. But when I got back up to the summit, I felt encouraged that I could at least give Mt. Bierstadt a try on Saturday.

Wednesday I met for the final time with the Deaf Church midweek Bible study. We met at Tim and Tami's house for a cookout, and then Tim took to us to his basement where he had a projector set up to show everyone my blog. It was a good way of showing the deaf people what an important part they played in my sabbatical time. After we watched and talked about the blog, everyone met in front of Tim's house for a group picture where they signed their love to us back in Kokomo.

On Thursday I holed up in a hotel at Castle Rock for some private time with the Lord and to prepare for the hike on Saturday. Although Tami graciously did laundry for me a few times, there were several times I needed to do laundry on my own. I discovered that the laundry room of a hotel is a perfect place to practice sign language.

Early Saturday morning Danette, Donna and I met to drive to the trailhead of Mt. Bierstadt. We weren't sure that the trail would be good enough to try it because there was still a lot of snow on many of nearby mountains. As it turned out, the trail was very doable, and the snow we ran into was reasonably easy to negotiate. Here you see us ready to hit the trail.

It took us about four hours of steady hiking to reach the summit of Mt. Bierstadt. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning. From the summit you could see the snow capped Rockies to the west and north, and Pikes Peak to the distant south. It was simply impossible to miss the power and majesty of God in such a setting.

Below I am showing the sign for "song" or "music." The Lilly Clergy Renewal theme has to do with what "makes your heart sing" and I wanted Tim to see that I was practicing my signs on the summit :) !!

On the way down, at the encouragement of my two mountain guides, I couldn't resist making a snow angel. Let's see, when are we supposed to start acting our age?

On Sunday I was back in Colorado Springs for my final Sunday with the Deaf Church. The ladies prepared a wonderful Father's Day breakfast and then to give Tim a break from the pulpit, they secured a really good Scripture video to use for the sermon time. It was excellent.

At the end of the service, to my surpise, Tim presented me with a couple of going away gifts. One was a handheld fan that lights up with varying messages, and the other was a special hat acknowleding that I had successfully graduated from sing language boot camp :). It was a touching moment as the Deaf Church poured out their love on me.

As I headed to the airport on Monday to fly back to Kokomo, I carried a lot of mixed emotions. I was obviously very excited about getting home to Linda for a few days before the Carpenter clan heads out to North Carolina. But I was also a little melancholy at the thought of leaving my Deaf Church family and Linda's family behind. It was an amazing time in my life filled with both anticipated and surprising blessings from the Lord!

Colorado Week Seven

Week seven had the usual components--great eating at Tami's cookery and thorough instruction in Tim's bootcamp :). I have thoroughly enjoyed the time in their home and I can't think of anywhere I would have felt more comfortable. By Thursday of each week the schedule calls for me to hit the road. I travelled alone to a hotel on the north west side of Denver near Golden. My plan was to use that as a base from which to scout out Mt. Bierstadt, near Georgetown, one of Colorado's 14,000 ft mountains (above -- Mt. Evans on the left, Mt. Bierstadt on the right). My brother Ron and I attempted to hike that one a few years back, but the leg muscle I was nursing pulled with about a mile and a 1,000 feet of elevation to go to the summit. We had to turn back. I was hoping my trusty mountain guides, Danette and Donna, could get me to the top this time. However, the front range mountains have all had so much snow on them, we weren't sure it would be possible. So I decided to spend some time checking it out. The first day was totally overcast and rainy/sleety the entire day. I still made the drive to the trailhead at 11,000 feet, but even that close I could not see the summit of Bierstadt or nearby Evans.

That first day made it seem impossible to think about hiking Bierstadt next week on my last weekend. There appeared to be so much snow, not only in the parking lot, but on the trail that it just would not be doable.

However, day two saw the sun shine all day with beautiful skies and warming temperatures. The mountain had an entirely different look.

Above you can see me on the trail to Beirstadt. I didn't go far, and there was a lot of deep, melting snow as well as mud and water on the trail :). Still, reports from a couple of hikers this weekend made us think that with another week of snowmelt, we will go for it this next Saturday. I'll keep you posted.

After my time in Denver, I was scheduled to do my first public signing in the Deaf Church. I practiced hard to be ready to sign both an opening Scripture and prayer. I was plenty nervous and I think practice went better than me "live," but the deaf people seemed proud of me and the progress I have made. Above I am signing a Scripture, and below I am leading in prayer.

The Clergy Renewal grant called for me to have a "send off" Sunday for the Deaf Church similar to the send off we had in Kokomo. Because of Father's Day on my final Sunday, we moved it up a week. I was able to take the entire Deaf Church out to eat at the Golden Coral with the idea that they would be sending me back to Kokomo having begun to learn a new and important skill--sign language.

We had good fellowship, and any time I was with the deaf, it ended up being another classroom situation for me :). But that was good. There is no other way to really learn except to be with the deaf and learn from them. They have been very patient with me, but also interested in helping me learn, so there were many opportunities for them to teach me.

I surprised Tim by asking to speak to the Deaf Church after our lunch. Even though I am still a "baby" in sign language, I wanted to talk to the church and thank them for all they have done for me. Even though I made a number of mistakes while signing, again, they were very patient with me and seemed to really appreciate the effort I am making to learn.

Before coming to Colorado, I knew two signs, one of which was the sign "boring" pictured below. Of course, I have to thank my sister-in-law, Danette, for getting such a lovely candid shot!! :)

But I now know, literally, 600 or 700 signs or more! I am still slow putting sentences together, slow recognizing when the deaf sign (they are fast!), and still forget some of the signs, but I am improving. But it is a lot more than just learning words. I will need to learn sentence structure in American Sign Language which is different than in spoken English, so I will have a lot more work to do when I get home. And, facial expression is a huge part of how the deaf communicate. Below you can see me working on that part of it while I was talking to the Deaf Church.

As we were ready to head out the door, one of the elders of the Deaf Church came back to thank me and shake my hand. I appreciated that and told him that the Deaf Church has done a lot more for me than I could dream of doing for them.

This marked the end of week seven. That means I have one more week in Colorado before coming to Kokomo for a few days, then off with the Carpenter clan to North Carolina. It has been one amazing ride and such a tremendous learning opportunity for me. I can't wait to get home, but there will be some sadness about leaving my Colorado family and my Colorado church :). But this time next week I will be feeling the rush of knowing that in a few hours I will be boarding a plane and getting to see Linda at the airport late on Monday evening!! Until next week, my love to one and all in Christ!