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Thursday, June 03, 2010 The Last Days of the Blackwood Eight It's two in the afternoon, and I've already been up for nearly 12 hours. We Blackwoods are getting used to these middle-of-the-night trips to the airport. Allen and Zachary are on their way back across the ocean, on two different flights. Allen's left at 6 a.m., and Zachary's was scheduled to leave at 10 but kept getting delayed and ended up not leaving until 11:30. So we all had a lovely stay in the airport, talking and reading and coloring and playing "tiggy" on the top floor of the airport parking garage. Then it was finally time for goodbye. I'm thankful that God has given our family the ability to handle these goodbyes a lot better than we used to. There were only a couple of tears today, as far as I could tell. It's not a completely indefinite goodbye for me, as I'll see the boys when I get back to the States at the end of the summer, but it will be hard having them gone. The house already feels much emptier, and I know that even when I get back, things will be very different. Zachary's apartment will be disbanded, I'll be moving into it, and Zachary will, Lord willing, be preparing to move to some other town to teach. Purdue life won't be the same without having Zachary's constant company, his listening to me trying to sort out my life, giving me much-needed reality checks, and dutifully fulfilling the role of "protective older brother". I'll miss all of it. We kids threw a 100th birthday party for my parents (they're both turning 50 this summer/winter) last weekend, which turned out wonderfully, thanks to Maria's faithful and tireless planning and the huge outpouring of love from people in the three RP congregations here. I manned the barbeque, and we had an amazing lunch, followed by games, speeches and songs and then a huge and delicious chocolate/peanut butter cake in the shape of a 5 and 0 (with smoke billowing out of the 50 candles - we decided not to try 100). We kids had compiled a list of "50 Reasons Why We Love Mom and Dad", which we read out to them. During one of our sibling planning meetings before the party, all six of us squeezing into Tamara's bedroom, I reminded my siblings that this is probably the last time we will all be together for a while, especially while we're still single. Benji then exclaimed, "Who's single!?" For our last few days as a family, we took a little mini-holiday to Kennet River, a little house along the Great Ocean Road that a family from Geelong rents out during the year. We had a grand time reading and relaxing, playing frisbee and a modified version of cricket (using a Coke bottle and tennis ball), and swimming and boogie boarding in the freezing cold ocean. Eight Americans, dressed in multi-colored wetsuits, trying to brave the icy waves must have been quite a sight. I'll try to post some photos on facebook at some point. It's been lovely having our whole family together for a couple of weeks. I'm so thankful that it's still possible for us to have time together, even though we're usually separated by an entire ocean. How blessed all who fear the Lord, And walk within His ways. You'll eat your labor's fruit, be blessed, And prosper in your ways. Your wife will as a fruitful vine Within your house be found; Your children will as olive plants Your table gather 'round. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed Who truly fears the Lord. The Lord from Zion grant to you His blessing and reward. And may you see Jerus'lem's good All days on earth you dwell. May you your children's children see, And peace on Israel. --Psalm 128 (we sang this for my parents at their party) Charity | 1:23 pm Comments-[ comments.] |
My life is not my own, for I belong to Christ.