Grace (Ginger) Uhthoff Rutherford

Just before 1:00 PM on Thursday, December 27,
I received a call from Nancy who was covering the care duty for Ginger.  The call was brief.  "Please pray. Mother appears to have had a stroke . . ."

Her bed has been replaced by a hospital bed but she is still in her room at Susan's house.  Nancy is spending the last days of December at Susan's.  More at CaringBridge.

Christmas x 2

I worked a total of seven days this December.  I had three comp days to take and added some vacation.  Cookie baking came early in the month as the Sleight family Christmas party at Don and Judy's was held on the 15th.  Two more triple batches followed since we had "Christmas" on two days. 

Nathanael, Cynthia, and Jonathan were headed to Oregon for Christmas this year, so we had an early present-opening party on the 22nd.  And Bob and Kim came north to be with Thomas, Annie, and Charis from the 21st through the 25th. Tim Disher, Thomas' brother, and his wife Grace were there.  Heidi and Dave James joined us too.

At least on the 22nd, I can say I have a new best friend.  Jonathan is so much fun.

I'm sure I've never had more photos in a monthly journal.  But children don't stand still.

One Year & Six Month Birthdays

Bob and Kim Disher drove up from Dallas, Oregon for a 1st birthday party for Charis on the 6th.  Jonathan had his 6 month birthday on the 3rd so he shared the party with his cousin.  He will be senior to any future cousins.

Grandma Kim made the awesome birthday cake, and we were all poised to watch Charis tear into it.  But she had the sweet but unexpected reaction of tears when the ear came off.  It looked too much like a toy, and broken toys earn a sympathetic cry. 

Cynthia found a huge dragon/dinosaur from a consignment sale with toys that can be extracted from its insides.

Church friend Julie Adams and the James family joined us for the dinner party.

The Sleight Christmas Party, 12/15 

The picture at the left is of Ed Rundle with his grandson Wiley, Annie and Charis, Nathanael and Jonathan, and Cynthia with cousin Zach.  At the right are the elder and younger Jonathan Sleights.

There was an especially large number of us on the 15th at Don and Judy's.

Bits and Pieces

♦  Ned Freer emailed the members of our old Bible study that two of our members passed away this month.  Bob Whitford (right) had officially been in hospice for over a year!  He was a Purdue engineering grad and Ph.D. who taught at the University of Anchorage.  He was also an ordained lay Presbyterian pastor and regular Bible study leader.  He was my backup for many years.  I respected his wisdom and often checked my interpretation to see if it found favor with him.  Three of us in the study would trade off driving him to and from his condominium to Bellevue Presbyterian Church. 

Dave Rensvold, a less active member due to his commute from Seattle, also passed.  Dave was a retired commercial airline pilot and had many stories to tell of his years in the skies.

♦  Jean had the strength and honesty this month to admit to Nate Berry that their relationship had run its course.  They were well matched in many ways but there were enough significant disconnects to show that he was not "the one."

♦  Andy Chen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Marketing and Data Analytics, will join our faculty next fall along with Caroline Zhu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Finance, and Joon Sohn, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of International Business.  It was a hectic fall quarter as we successfully completed three faculty searches and two staff searches.  Kristine Robertson joined us as Program Coordinator of the Center for Integrity in Business, and Kate Barker will start January 16th as Program Coordinator of our Center for Applied Learning.

♦  In past years, we've had Christmas trees as tall at 14'.  This year we settled for an 18" version on the dining room table.  Nearly all of the holiday festivities were enjoyed up at Susan's house.

♦  Nancy got me a digital scale for Christmas.  So now I have an accurate new weight baseline as of the 29th.

♦  Jean setup my phone so it could use the Chromecast device on our 50" TV.  

♦  I bought two Moody Blues CDs off of eBay, Keys of the Kingdom (1991) and Long Distance Voyager (1981).  The song The Voice from that 1981 album became one of my favorites when I heard it around 2000.  The documentary I watched this month brought back so many memories.  It turns out, two of the five main band members were Christians, including John Lodge.  I was pleased but not surprised.

My Quotes from December

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”  

― John Adams

Modern day fairy tales begin with, "Once I am elected."

Squirrel Food When we cleaned out 7565 46th, we brought home lots of old grain and flour that mom had stored.   It's not suitable for us, but I've used it to practice baking bread.  Our resident extended family of squirrels loves it.	Shadow Provides Comic Relief I caught this picture of Shadow sleeping in the laundry basket on Nancy's clothes and thought it funny enough to snap her picture.  But then when the basket fell off the sofa, she just rearranged herself and went back to sleep.
Susan's 2018 Christmas Montage Photo The skills I developed over many years of sports photography served me well in producing this year's family photo.  Click for the version with names.