Sometimes we are zigging and have to do a zag!!

That is what happened to the B's double birthday/reunion party. We were at the park, the hot food was just being uncovered, Gregg's scrambled eggs were ready to come off the fire when the sky opened up. Mary Jane said,"What do we do now?"so I invited everyone to our house. We live just a few miles from the park. Her family members were there from NC, Detroit, Grand Rapids, East Lansing, Grand Haven and Kalamazoo. MJ said we could take a vote. I don't remember anyone sayin' yay or nay....they just started picking up everything and heading to the cars. On the way to our house I had a couple moments of fear trying to remember what condition I'd left the house. Well, too late now!! Jerry was home (will mention that later) and couldn't believe his eyes when we all trouped in carrying all this food and bags of this'n that. The food was still slightly warm, the place was dry so everything went well. Actually very well for the hosts. We didn't spend any time cleaning or cooking for the group of 27!! The B's are a great family and it was an honor to do the zag with them. They wanted a family photo so I took pictures with 4 cameras. Not everyone was downstairs when I took this first shot. It's always hard to round up that many people for a photo taking session. It was fun for us to see everyone too. When you share grandchildren and great grandchildren there are many opportunities to be together. This is Issac who is at W.MI U. He is Gregg and MJ's foster son.

Emily with her foster brother Michael who is also at W. MI

My, goodness, our guests did so much work for us. Mary Jane took over all the kitchen work and stayed to clean up. Sergio got up on our roof and cleaned off the roof and gutters....in the rain. Jill broke up branches from a sassafras big branch that fell last week during a wind storm. Gregg had to use the saw for the big stuff. Some of the B grandsons hauled a large stuffed chair and a small piano out of the basement to the garage.

We had spent Wed. morning at the ER. Jerry had terrible pains on his right side and they came in waves even when he wasn't moving. When a 76 year old man with a history of stroke, heart attack and numerous other things shows up at the ER the doctors and nurses really jump. Even though we mentioned muscle strain they did all kinds of tests (aorta, liver, heart) before it was decided that he had a torn muscle. Jerry had lifted something too heavy a week before and had no symptoms. I guess a tear can have a slow bleed and the problem doesn't show up until later. The muscle relaxant was almost as troublesome as the pain. It made his head so funny and he slept all the time. Today he has vertigo...good thing he sees his doctor tomorrow. I usually don't like to tell about health issues but thought I should tell why we couldn't get to Benjamin's party last night when we had wanted to go. There are times when it is just safer to stay home.

Benjamin and Michael were over this afternoon and we had such a wonderful visit. Anything a person wanted to know about Korea....we asked the questions and he had the answers. He really enjoys his job teaching and is going back for another year. Benjamin started a blog when he first got to Korea.......he posted TWICE. Can you believe that? I guess the facebook stuff went easier but I'm having a hard time getting into that. When the boys were leaving Michael asked what the chair was doing in the garage. He thinks he may want it. He rents a house with his brother and some others at U of MI. He will see what some new housemates may bring first but he sat in the chair and said it was a good fit. How about that, it's not only out of the basement but may have a home other than the landfill. Now if we could find a home for a piano!!

This is Michael.

And here is Benjamin.