Ahhhh! Back on line!

... finally, off the mobiles and onto a laptop.  So much one cannot do with just a mobile, but "just the mobile" is certainly better than nothing.

Granddaughters.  Here they are, tolerating the old folk (great-grandmother, grandmother, great-uncle and great-aunt ... and mom) after a day of beaches and other tourist-in-Honolulu things.  That's Katie on the left, the image of her maternal grandfather, who looks like his own mother.  Miriam, center, was part of the family for 10 mos., but headed home to Germany the day after their return from Honolulu.
Meghan, on the right, is the same bundle of energy she was a 3 --- go,go,go, then drop.   She has moments when she is her mother all over again.

Actually, both Katie and Meghan seem to tire more quickly than other teens I know, probably because of their unique physical issues.  Here they are by mid-afternoon Saturday after a morning hike to the top of Diamond Head, a mid-day tour of the Stadium Swap Meet, an hour with another pair of old folks (cousins, of course!) and finally a stop for Pineapple soft serve at the Dole  Plantation.  No wonder they were tired!

Their mother, Christie, has the long, dark braid down her back.  She has refused to cut her hair since she was about 7 and I promised her if she would not brush out the huge tangle at the back of her neck (thinly disguised by a surface layer of combed hair), I would cut her hair short.  She didn't, and wouldn't allow anyone else to help. ...  I thought she looked charming in a pixie cut.  She didn't.  'Nuf said.

Give thanks one more time for the teens, tweens, and younger folk in your life.

Give thanks for Chris and his companions as they head out for a tour in Afghanistan.  It's Chris's second in the Middle East.  Last time he stayed more or less in one place.   This time he'll "be on the road" much of the time.

What ever your feelings about the war, pray for the safety of those who are out there on the battle field.

Don't forget to pray....