Last summer we celebrated my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. This week, during spring break, we’re in Ohio to celebrate the 50th of Diane’s parents. Twenty-three of the twenty-five in their immediate family (everyone except the med student–who’s doing his surgery rotation–and his wife) are here. Congrats to Joe and Shirley McKee!
Tuesday night we had a beautiful snow and more is supposed to be on the way tonight.
What a great serendipity to be able to visit with Guilford and Pat Rice and Arthur and Sherry Shearin this morning–friends from our College Church years. They’re up here for the Harding chorus’s spring break tour. Guilford has been driving the Harding bus for over 30 years. He’s a legend. And Arthur said this is his 38th year to make this trip (count four as a student) — which is hard to believe, since he still looks 45. Sherry was important to us as one of Matt’s elementary school teachers.
Pat was one of the guardian angels God has sent into our lives. She was a safe place for Matt and Megan to go when Diane and I needed a break. As a nurse, she knew what Megan needed medically. But much more than that she (and their daughter, Laura–now a missionary in Uganda) was the embodiment of God’s love to our two little ones. And we’ll never forget it!
Anyone else had a Pat Rice in their life?
Welcome to Ohio!
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Spring Break in Ohio……yep……that’s a fair trade-off for the conference in Hawaii. Have a great week!
I can’t even count the number of “yellow slips” that Pat Rice and her fellow saints in the Harding clinic handed out to me during my four years there.
And Pat was the one you didn’t have to bend the truth with. The others, you would probably have to claim the D-word (you can imagine what it is) to get a day off from classes and chapel. With Miss Pat, you could walk in, tell her you were kinda feeling burned out, and needed a day off, and she’d hook you up.
Those kindnesses went a long way, and still stick with me today.
Guilford! I loved him. We hardly ever talked to him (stupid kids we were) but he ALWAYS seemed to know all our names.
When I was in Chorale, we went to Florida with Dr. Shearin (Dr. Ganus was at HUF) and Guildford got to drive the bus around the Dayton Speedway, just like he was Jeff Gordon.
It was cool.
Yes, our Pat’s name is Arlene. Several years ago my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. We made many trips to Birmingham from Montgomery (about 90 miles one way) and our 2 young boys at the time were well taken care of and loved by Arlene, who also happens to be a registered nurse, and her husband Kelly. She walked with us and helped us in so many ways during those very dark and anxious days.
Sherry (Tipps) Shearin was one of my favorite camp counselors! Beverly and David were also counselors at the camp, I think in Arlington Texas when I was about 11 or 12. Beautiful family!
Mike,
How about posting your picks for the NCAA Tournament? Maybe a blogger pool?
Pat…Rice…. - point guard for ‘Nova? Oh, sorry, different subject on the brain. Waiting patiently for your final 4 selections.
Duke, UConn, UCLA, and Florida - extremely iffy on all but UConn.
How fun! Snow! Mike I left a message on yours and Diane’s machine telling you that this guy was on Jon Stewart’s show talking about his book Misquoting Jesus. He was talking about the inconsistencies in the Bible. Thought you might be interested in looking that up on Comedy Central.
Enjoy your time away…
Speaking of the book Misquoting Jesus, I found it at the library yesterday and picked it up. Haven’t read it yet. However, Ben Witherington has a post on it today. You can find it here: Misanalyzing Text Criticism.
We’ve had a “Pat Rice” or two in our lives as well. I’m very thankful to God for them.
Joyce - Great link to Witherington. His stuff is strong!
Mike,
Our Pat was Pat Rice. Our oldest son, Brent, was hurt in a flag football accident at HU. He spent the night in the hospital with a mild head injury. Pat knew that someone had been taken to the hospital, so she went and held his hand while they stitched him up. What an angel she is. She certainly stole a part of this mother’s heart by taking care of my son when I couldn’t be there. She was also so kind to our other son, Kevin, when he broke his leg and had to have surgery (another flag football injury HA). She really is our angel.
Fran
Buon luogo, congratulazioni, il mio amico!