in all things give thanks

      My membership to the Los Angeles Printmaking Society was denied in June due to technical difficulties on my part. The group reviews submitted woodcut and linocut images twice a year. I was invited to submit new images next time round. Honestly, it was not what I had hoped for. It told me there was more work, more tries on my part, more experience that I needed to gain. It was not going to be handed over easily. Then, today, my two entries toward the 75th SWE (Society of Wood Engraving) Exhibition were not accepted. My work will be returned by post. Two friends had encouraged me to submit work. One did not need to be a member of the society to enter. Here, there was an expensive postage involved to get it there. This is a disappointment. I had better hopes for this as well. What will I say about this?  joys have come inspite of this news.
     My wife and I just returned from a wonderful road trip. At one point we were ready to cut the trip short just to sleep in the comfort of our own bed. We were pulling into the city Omaha when we asked Jesus for lodging with an outdoor swimming pool. We had no idea that the city was full of out of state visitors for the Olympic swim trials. We were directed to an Econolodge motel on west Dodge Street. It had an small outdoor pool. I found out the next morning that both of us had a comfortable sleep. We stayed another day, enjoyed the cool water, and did our water aerobic exercises. Later, we found an outdoor pool in St. Joseph, Missouri and stayed a night there, to swim in the heat of the day, and have great rest before returning to Carrollton.
     Joy came through putting puzzles together at the Legacy Terrace community in Lincoln, where my mother lives. The joy of eating a new food for me at a hispanic restaurant: shrimp. Yes, at 56 years of age, I just now discovered I like the taste and texture of shrimp. The joy of meeting my mother's friends. The joy of browsing through my mother's college scrapbook entries. Getting teary-eyed looking at her first baby announcement cards, that baby being ME. The love expressed by my father to my mother Dorris in early letters and postcards. Realizing the deep faith in Jesus that both my parents had. 
      Joy from hearing Bob Popek tell two stories. How his workshops opened school children to the world of musical instruments. And, the time his son became a software engineer for Microsoft. The delight of meeting the parents of a student I knew at while at the University of Nebraska. The father of Carolyn Van Meter sat beside me at the Nelson family reunion luncheon table at the city park, Tarkio, Missouri. The gal I married had a distant relative connection to someone I went to school with from Guthrie Center, Iowa. Wow. What a surprise.
     The joy of meandering off the usual route. We heard about the bird club being formed in Wahoo, gazed at the wide sandy Platte river, cruised around Leshara, and appreciated iced water and the air-conditioner.
      Our membership at the Nelson Adkins Museum in Kansas City gave us free admission to the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha. The joy of seeing new works of art and being out of the 100 degree heat. Having a new puzzle to assemble, a Story City landscape painting by Grant Wood. 
      The movies we share, the food we enjoy, the way we compliment each other, the joy Jesus brought to us, how he packed five days full of good memories. Paul of Antioch said to rejoice in all things and give thanks to God. Jesus makes it possible for me to be OK with that. He leads me forward.