A week from this past Friday, we left Monroe for Tulsa, Oklahoma. After staying the night with my family, we went into Owasso to see my grandparents. That’s always hard for me. They’re old, and their bodies are declining. Their windows are dim. It sobers me. It reminds me of Jacques’ speech in As You Like It. The slippered pantaloon…the second childishness…mere oblivion. It’s not something I have to be reminded of. It’s something I think about every day as it is, but it’s hard to see it played out in front of my eyes. It’s the weakest part of my faith; the part where I am attacked hardest. When it comes to the subject, I feel much like the Luther character Joseph Fiennes plays, except for the fact that I don’t think Satan is attacking me; it’s probably much more my own foolishness and doubt than an otherwordly attack (my confirmed name is Thomas, you know). I would much rather struggle with lust, or have an intense battle with pride. No, my biggest struggle with the faith is…well, faith. Lord, I believe; heal my unbelief.

I think I got sidetracked. Saturday afternoon, we got on a plane and headed up to Spokane. We were a bit exhausted, so we talked for a bit and konked out. On Sunday, we headed over to Salem for an always-rejuvenating worship service. I can’t describe what a blessing Salem has been in our lives. There’s really been nowhere else like it.

After church, we went to mommy and daddy’s, where we celebrated the one year anniversary of our marriage. Weird, huh? A year. A kid on the way. Odd. Very odd. Ryan and Taneisha (with Victoria and Isabella), Forrest and Rebekah (with Timothy and David), and Toby and Jenny (with River) joined us for dinner and dessert. After a couple grueling matches of Taboo (where my team rose victorious–I must admit, I am a “gaming” expert…or at least I am fierce and don’t give up…you may not come out alive), we headed to Diamond Lake to stay at the Inn at the Lake (courtesy of the Tuckers and Eyres). It was a bit rainy, so we opted out of paddling on the lake and settled for going to bed early and catching up on sleep. It was cozy.

I can’t say I remember Monday, but on Tuesday, Lynne and Youssef came over. This was the first time I had met Youssef, and he was really cool. It was here that I learned the glories of Catan…The Settlers of Catan. I lost twice. It bugged me. So as I went to bed, I began strategizing. And I strategized all night. In the morning, I challenged the previous night’s two winners. The battle was fierce. I built the longest road, running out of the road that the game included. I built my megalopolis, and won the game handily. I could finally be at ease (okay, I take games way too seriously…they’re not about fun; they’re about victory). That night, we had an early celebration for Forrest birthday. Ryan played drums on a pot. I tried. Ryan and Rachel said I wasn’t trying. It hurt my feelings.

Thursday was rather forgettable. The only thing I remember is I met a guy from Moscow that’s dating Tracy Nelson. Sadly, I forgot his name, but not before I got a recommendation on some great Pho in Spokane.

Friday we drove to Seattle. We had supper at Duke’s Chowderhouse. Fish that melts in your mouth. Cucumber cilantro salad. Cucumber mojito. Oh, I miss it already. On Saturday, we got up and went to the Pike Place Market. After that, we went to…you guessed it: Duke’s Chowderhouse. With the exception of some saltwater taffy, I think all the money we spent in Seattle was there. After lunch, we went to the Seattle Space Needle. After we got there, we realized that we didn’t want to pay the money to go up, so we wandered over to the sound of drums. I joined in on an African ritual dance that I learned long ago. I coveted their drums, and walked away with a renewed certainty that I must get my own (a certainty I came to about a year ago when I watched the evil priest from County Clare play in the Magdalene Sisters–that’s not a recommendation).

We headed up to Vancouver, BC, but mommy and daddy spent the another night in Seattle. Right after we left, mommy’s billfold with her ID was stolen in Seattle…along with their camcorder and Matthew’s mp3 player (or as Esther called it, his “3D player”).

We spent the night at Matt and Evie’s and, in the morning, we traveled to St. Simon’s ACiC (The ACiC is the Canadian branch of the AMiA. We go to Holy Trinity AMiA in Jackson, MS, on Sunday nights.). On the way, our car stopped moving. It ended up that we were out of transmission fluid, so Forrest walked a billion miles to a gas station and got some more. We ended up being about 15 minutes late (I think that’s the first time I’ve ever been later for a Sunday morning service). We missed the beginning of the liturgy and came in at some sort of extended song time (the ACiC seems much less liturgical than the AMiA). The pastor preached a sermon with a couple of insightful comments about raising hands in worship. We went back to Matt and Evie’s, and pretty soon it was time for evening worship. We went to Immanuel Westside ACiC on the UBC campus, just west of a nude beach (appropriately named “Wreck Beach”). Immanuel Westside was slightly more liturgical. I really liked the pastor there, Rev. Paul Carter.

After worship, I had a good discussion with Rev. Ken Bell, who was recently ordained and about to start pastoring St. Timothy’s. As a recent Regent College (a seminary I’ve been interested in attending for several years now) graduate, he gave me some insights on the program there.

Monday came and went, and all I really remember is initiating Forrest into the world of Kill Bill. Wait, I remember something else now. Ikea. Hours and hours at Ikea. We ended up buying some spice racks, and I saw some great ideas concerning cubes. I really loved this wardrobe there.

On Tuesday, Forrest and I went over to Regent College, and as Forrest said, it’s really what made the trip to Vancouver worth it. I spent too much money at the Regent bookstore (shh, don’t tell Rachel…I used Canadian money). The prices were great because of the exchange rate. We ended up talking about the New Perspectives on Paul with Bob Derrenbacker for about 45 minutes. He was shocked to hear Rachel was excommunicated for baptismal regeneration and later accused of neo-legalism (By the way, mommy and daddy went to Rob Rayburn’s church on Sunday–they thoroughly enjoyed, but they found out that instead of issuing a public apology, the session has appealed the presbytery’s decision to overturn Rachel’s excommunication…so it looks like it’s going to the general assembly level–SJC, whatever).

Dr. Derrenbacker’s office happened to be across the hall from JI Packer’s. JI Packer is an interesting character. On his office window, he has a postcard for lipstick with a forwarding address that says, “JI Packard, Region College.”

Also while at Regent, I picked up a copy of Mosaic, and who was on the front? Gideon Strauss. So that was cool.

Anyway, we went home after that, and yesterday, we watched Revenge of the Sith. Overall, it explained a lot. It filled in a lot of gaps for we nonreaders of the series. I was struck with the combination of Buddhism (something that becomes clearer in this episode) and the probably unintentional (maybe intentional, but I say probably unintentional because Star Wars has been around longer than W) comparison of the Republic to the American Empire. As Princess Amidala says, “So this is how liberty dies.”