Family in law

The inlaws visited this weekend from Maryland. It was good. My mother-in-law is writing a children's book about how she got her cat, Simon (ridiculous, I know). We had schemes of sitting down and doing some pen & water color illustrations on Sunday afternoon, but it didn't happen...because I was puking. Jenny had just been through the plague the day before, so I knew it was coming, but that doesn't make it any more fun. I barfed so hard my nose bled. I deserve a medal.

The next day we went to my mom & dad's to eat grilled meats and check out their pictures of the grand canyon. The grilling was good, but the digital photos of Arizona all looked the same. And they took each picture 5 times. Then, they took it 5 more times, because they went with my mom's 4 brothers and sisters and everyone needed a shot of everyone else. So there were lots of pictures of the bleak desert, then a picture of each couple in front of each not-so-different desert landscape. And my mom and her siblings all look alike, so it really looks like the same person wearing different clothes in front of a brown blob. There were over 200 pictures. It was a marathon.

Any way, the in-laws are back in MD. I think I'm still going to draw some cat cartoons. It should be fun. Corney, but fun.

Faithfulness

I've been thinking a lot this weekend about keeping commitments to people you love, and caring for people when it's painful. We sang this song together this morning, and it reminded me of why followers of Christ will always follow him into sad places, but carry hope with them while they do.

You are the God of the broken
The friend of the weak
You wash the feet of the weary
Embrace the ones in need
And I want to be like You Jesus
To have this heart in me
You are the God of the humble
You are the humble King

Neighborhood

I did this drawing of our neighbor Robert this week. Robert does interesting things like grow habanero peppers, fire guns, and tell stories about hookers. Robert is also frequently shockingly sincere. The guy lives in the middle of dueling hells of chronic pain and severe mental illness, but still has the perspective to be grateful about so much. I like Robert.