In Memorium: Edwin Johnson 1928-2013

Grampa with Jonathan, June 2010

My Grampa Ed left this world yesterday.  He had been sick for some time with heart and chronic lung disease.  Hospice did a lot to make his last few months more comfortable and even last Friday he was still driving his car by himself to pick up a prescription at Walmart!  After working with Hospice myself, I now think of the dying process as a laboring, and of death as birth into a new world.  Grampa's hard labor only lasted two or three days.   My mom was his midwife.   At 8 am on Tuesday morning, he was born into  heaven with a new body and a wonderful reunion with many who love him, including his parents Edwin Sr. and Signe Amanda, two of his daughters Maureen and Marian, our own daughter Bethany, and many others.  It's hard to believe that he is not here anymore.  We just saw him last week standing in front of my mom's dining room table and waving to us over Skype! 

Little Jennifer playing with Grampa Ed, 1975

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" II Cor 5:17

This verse frames my Grampa's life perfectly.  He made a lot of mistakes in his adult life.  The beauty of it is that in Christ, people can change.  He did.  Dramatically.

I know different people will have different memories of Grampa, but my memories of him are:  when I was a little girl he was the Naughty Grampa.  When I was a teenager, he Changed.  He stopped smoking.  He became more committed in his relationships.  He reconciled as much as he was able.  He became a faithful church attender and devoted to prayer.  He was deeply grieved over sin in the world.  He testified to how God had saved his life many times and how his mother's prayers had brought him back to Christ.  After the death of his last wife he became committed full time to service of the church, the community, and the neglected. 

He delivered Meals on Wheels for years as often as he could, faithfully, only giving it up reluctantly just a month before he died.  He visited shut-ins.  He was penpals with convicts.  He had a huge correspondence ministry, sending cards, postcards and letters to a large mailing list of elderly, grandkids and great-grandkids, and others.  He wanted to encourage.  He bought special little gifts and cards and stickers to put on the meals he delivered.  His cards and postcards were always plastered with smiley face and Bible verse stickers.  He only wanted to cheer and bring a smile to someone's face, to help them know God's love in their loneliness and pain. 

Boys growing up:  Earl, Eddie and Paul, Centralia, August 1942

Boys all grown up: Earl, Eddie and Paul, Centralia, June 2006

Nursing School Graduation, 1997

2006

Hunter and Grampa, 2006

Lebanon, 2006

June 30, 2007

A  tribute to Grampa Ed wouldn't be complete without a sunset picture.  He was forever coming home with pictures of sunsets he had picked up at yard sales and piles of sunset pictures he had taken himself at the coast or as he stopped along the side of a road to enjoy a beautiful view. 

We will be visiting home in May.  I'm trying to imagine what it will be like without him there....no stash of unglazed old-fashioned donuts on top of the fridge, no little cartons of milk and Meals-on-Wheels leftovers inside, no sound of the clumping of his feet coming up the back porch steps or of him letting out a deep breath at the dining room table.  No more reading outloud of junkmail science at the table.  No more sharing of articles from Decision magazine, his favorite.  No more macaroni jokes.  No more Grampa smell.  No more influx of cheesy stuffed animals and other sparkly flotsam decorating the most random crevices of the house.  No more sounds of water running late at night as he cleaned up the kitchen while my mom was working.  The sounds of his cough from behind his bedroom door.  I will miss all of those things. 

26 February 2013

Dear Grampa Ed,

The time is far overdue for me to tell you some things that are important.  I hope that I will see you again in May, but this just can't wait.  I don't want to have any regrets and need for you to know how much I respect you and what you have given to me in my life.  They are things that I should tell you every time I see you, but even after losing our daughter Bethany I don't cherish the time and the moments as I should.

You have been the best Grampa I can imagine.  You have been a presence in my life as long as I can remember.   I've always known I could count on your love, admiration, support, prayers and encouraging words.  You've always been able to make me smile and laugh.  

So many of my childhood memories include your smiling, laughing face!  If there were to be some family event, if you were going to be there, I wanted to go because you were the Fun Grampa!  One of my favorite memories­­ is visiting you at work at the Lebanon depot.  I remember you showing me your typewriter and how you put the mail bag up for the passing trains.  There wasn't much for kids to do at the depot, but Allan and I liked to slide on the shiny wooden benches and occasionally I would go sneaking into the big dark storeroom for an adventure.  I was proud that my grampa worked at the depot. 

I am so thankful for how you have been a true help in practical things.  Mom did very well helping Allan and I with all of the details of our lives, but you were always there as a back-up to give us a ride home from school or help with a paper route.   I always knew I could call on you if I needed help, and you would be there at a moment's notice. 

Your life testimony makes me proud.  As a kid, I knew that while you were the Fun Grampa, you were also the Naughty Grampa.  You smoked too, and my mommmy taught me smoking was YUCKY!!  That dramatically changed sometime between my child and teenage years when you were changed and began living for God.  Not only did you stop smoking, but you became truly devoted to God and were never ashamed of the Truth.  You began serving your family and others in new ways that reflected the Holy Spirit's influence in your life. 

I remember once when I was in high school at home on Second Street, you came to visit.  My mom wasn't home and we had a long talk at the kitchen table.  I remember you sharing with me about some of the mistakes you had made in the past and your regret over hurting people you loved.  I felt very special that you had made yourself vulnerable to me and shared with me stories that helped explain our family.  I was left with an impression that although you couldn't undo the past you were humbly seeking God's leading in service to Him.  You would have fixed things if you could, but had to leave it in God's hands.  It was the best example you could give to a proud, egocentric teenager. 

I have been so happy that you and my mom have had such a good arrangement for this last decade.  It has been so wonderful to come home to you and my mom together in the same house.  Because of that, my family has been able to spend much more time with you than we would have otherwise, and I'm very thankful. 

Wherever I have gone in the world, I have always taken your photo and displayed it prominently.  You are my HANDSOME, good-looking Grampa ….unlike so many other photos of grandfathers I have seen, grim, grey, and ugly. 

You will have so many people waiting to greet you in heaven.  I don't know who you will be most excited to see, but when you meet our sweet Bethany Joy please give her our love and tell her we'll be there soon and can't wait to see her again. 

I love you Grampa.  I thank you for being you and for being MY grampa. 

Love

Jennifer

Happy 47th Birthday Dave!

Happy Birthday Dave!  

I am so grateful for my husband who leads our family to follow the Lord in serving overseas here, or wherever God may lead us in the future.  It's my dream come true, really!  He is a thoughtful and caring teacher, a loving and communicating husband, and a very quantity-time daddy as evidenced by the photos below!  Happy Birthday! 

"Daddy!  Read me this story!" says Jonathan.  "Bu!  Bu!  (book)" says Joshua.

Man-time in the play fort

The Patrow boys LOVE going to eat lunch with Daddy at school.

Definition of bliss for Jonathan:  totally devoted one-on-one face-to-face time with Daddy while swinging

Wanting to see how Daddy sees

Wanting to fill Daddy's shoes

A new way to play -- Thank You Grandma Coral!

Since we are at home a lot, having a nice place to play in our own back yard is something we really appreciate.  We have been blessed with a beautiful, shaded, fenced back yard and now Grandma Coral has blessed us even more with our very own play place.  It was supposed to be Jonathan's birthday present, back in November, but as with all construction projects we experienced quite a few delays.  For instance, apparently the bamboo should not be cut while in bloom, or it will only last 6 months!  It was definitely worth the wait for the bamboo to mature!  What a dream come true that it is finally complete and wonderful beyond our wildest dreams!

We were able to get ocean sand from the local aquarium store.  It comes complete with bits of coral and complete miniature shells!

This baby swing was a hand-me-down from some neighbors in Mount Vernon!  Now it was super light-weight to pack in our luggage and now has a new life in the tropics!

This "river" forms in our backyard daily, and drains away by evening!

Joshua is already a pro climbing up and down this ladder! 

Two firemen making a strategy how to put out the fire and rescue the people.

 The funny thing is, Jonathan LOVES to be in the baby swing and Joshua likes the grown-up swing!

This little guy is always swiping somebody's shoes and running off with them!

The shoe-caper strikes again.

Snacks with friends taste so much better in the fort!

Thank you Grandma Coral!

Happy Easter 2013!

This year we are doing the Resurrection Eggs again.  It's our 3rd year doing them, but the experience this year is very different as Jonathan understands much more now.  For those of you who don't know about the Eggs, there 12 plastic eggs each containing a symbol of Christ and Easter.  For example, the first egg contains a donkey to help us remember when Christ rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  We have opened one egg each day and read the Bible story connected with it. 

While we are only "supposed" to open one egg each day, the boys have gotten a bit carried away and we've had opened eggs all over the place!  That's okay, though, because while they play with the eggs, they listen and think about the story. 

 

Jonathan has been paying attention.  We pray every night and thank Jesus for dying on the cross to save us from our sins, so it is not a new concept for him.  This week, however, the Resurrection Eggs have led us to talk about dark and horrible topics like the torture and crucifixion of Christ.   We've talked a lot about how "the bad people" caught Christ and did mean things to them.  "Why did they do mean things to Jesus, Mommy?"  Jonathan repeatedly expressed his belief that Jesus "got away from the bad guys."  When we were talking about the nails used to put Jesus on the Cross, Jonathan said that "the wind blew them back out again mommy."  To be honest, I have hesitated to tell him the truth about the the horrible violent story of Christ's death ....it's so gruesome.  Isn't it too much for a 3 year old who thinks that Thomas the Train is a scary movie? 

"Are these all the mean things, Mommy?"

I decided to move forward and trust God to reveal the truth to Jonathan in His tenderness.  If I wait to tell Jonathan the truth, he may hear it from someone else who doesn't love him as much or in a way that is not as true.  So this week we learned about the coins used to pay Judas, the whip, the crown of thorns, the nails, the die for casting lots, and the spear.  I actually felt nervous and had a feeling of dread each day as I tried to find the right words to tell Jonathan about each thing.  I've realized anew what a horrible thing is the killing of Christ.

So then I got the idea of making a paper mache tomb.  Here is step one ....mixing the flour/water glue and using the paper, etc, to make a BIG MESS!

Step two:  Painting the tomb with Daddy.

The finished product!  Here is a paper Jesus, dead and ready to be wrapped in gauze and put inside.

 The 10th Resurrection Egg had a roll of guaze inside, to help us remember how Jesus' body was wrapped by his friends.  So on Good Friday, Jonathan wrapped our paper Jesus right up and put him in the tomb with the stone closing the opening.  So now we're waiting for Sunday morning!  To be continued.....The resurrection is going to be great!

Field trip -- Local landfill. Written by Guest Blogger Dave (aka Mr. Patrow)

The following photos are all from one day in the life of our AP Environmental Science class.

This is the majority of the class.  Three of the boys are off making trouble someplace:-)

Mr. Patrow insists that students take detailed notes about garbage.

Don't slide down this or you're in for a smelly landing. 

All smiles for the garbage dump. (The black pillars in the back are the landfill methane vents.)

 Things don't always work the way they are supposed to.  A non-functioning sedimentation tank.

Another photo of the same tank with garbage floating in the upper chamber. 

 

You can't see them, but families were sorting through this pile as we walked by.  You can see the bags of items they have collected to sell for recycling. 

Jen sharing the virtues of cloth diapers after we got back to the school.  Disposable diapers take a lot of room in landfills in the USA -- the 3rd largest item after food and drink containers.  Here disposable diapers are now commonly used and some end up in landfills.  Many others unfortunately end up shredded by dogs or in local rivers or roadside ditches.  Cloth diapers are a much better alternative!  (Yes, Jenn added a few editorial comments to Dave's one line caption here!)