Another Gathering, Some Exciting News

Yesterday was the annual Deur/Terlouw Christmas gathering. Here's our traditional pic of the cousins by the tree that has been taken for the past 25 years or so.


Over time, the group has expanded to include friends, spouses, and children.


We learned yesterday from Amy & John that their family is going to expand a bit more in July of this year. Uncle Awesome had better get ready for another reader on his lap!


Again, a great time was had by all, plenty of food was consumed, and it left me reflecting on the tremendous blessings we enjoy every day. I hope I never take them for granted...

Merry Christmas, for the final time in 2007.

A Classic Iowa Winter Day

If ever there was a demonstration of late December Iowa during a presidential elections cycle, yesterday was it.

As I stood in my office yesterday morning, Fred Thompson's bus came by on its way to bring Fred (best movie line ever - "Russians don't take a dump, son, without a plan" [Hunt for Red October]) to Smokey Row for a speaking engagement. At the same time, Mike Huckabee's bus came the other way down Main Street for a similar - and better attended - event at the Pizza Ranch.

I attended Gov. Huckabee's (most unusual presidential candidate name since Millard Fillmore) event, and the room was packed out. I liked what he had to say - he seems to be the real deal, and tracks with my p.o.v. on both social and taxation ( see fairtax.org) issues. As a matter of fact, you may see my face in some video and photos of this event, since I was just behind and to the left of the Gov.

I've given much thought to my criteria for a national leader, and here is how I filter them out:
1) Are they now, and have they historically been, pro-life? This filter catches pretty much all of the D side, and a few on the R slate.
2) Are they yet married to the bride of their youth? Now, admittedly, if we were to elect Sen. Thompson, we would have the hottest First Lady ever, but I believe that standing up for traditional families and marriage begins at home...(sen. Thompson supporters, let me know if the circumstances of his current marriage are anything other than what appears to be a "trophy wife" deal).
3) If they claim to be people of faith, does it affect how they live? Are they answering to a higher authority than themselves?
4) Have they ever run anything (state, company, etc.) of significance?
5) Do they understand what a train wreck we are headed for if we don't get entitlements under control? And, if yes, what are they going to do to make our government fiscally accountable?
6) Is the rule of law going to occur in their administration, especially when it comes to illegal immigration issues? My ancestors had to follow the rules, I don't think that is too much to ask.
7) Do they understand that simply pulling out of Iraq will not solve any problems - and will likely make the whole terrorism issue worse? Should we also pull out of Germany, where we have had a presence for over 60 years?

Note I said nothing about our standing in the world. Frankly, I couldn't care less. When countries need help, to whom do they come? I believe if we get our own house in order, how the world perceives us will be a non-issue.

There it is. More politics than you ever wanted to know, or than you even care about. I was just feeling kinda political this AM.

Yet More Christmas...

Well, it seems that most of the pics I took yesterday were of Charlotte opening gifts. Big surprise. We did have a good day together as a family (except the part where Scott

needed to go to the dentist to get started on a root canal).

Many gifts were exchanged, much fun was had, great fellowship, and great food. Here, Charlotte gets us started...


And then she places a bow on "Uncle Awesome"


Playing with the marble race that "papa" made for her...



Enjoying the exquisite softness of the new jammies that nana made for her...



I hope you all had as great a Christmas time as we did.

Mo' Christmas

Yesterday, the Deurs gathered in our ancestral hometown - Peoria. Great food, great fellowship, and grab bag gifts.

I scored a cordless Dremel, Kathy a basket of foo-foo girly bath stuff.

Jana got a cookbook, Jeff got a Starbuck's gift card.

Scott got a cribbage board.

And, Charlotte got a talking barn!


It was our first Christmas gathering without Dad. He greatly enjoyed these events; nothing was more fun for Dad than a noisy houseful of kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids.

I believe that yesterday's gathering would have met with his approval for quality and quantity of food, noise, and fun.

A good time was had by all.

Today is our family Christmas. More to come...

Merry Christmas!

And this is all the Christmas I require...

The kids home.

A warm house.

Snow on the ground.

Gathering with family and friends to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

And, of course, some gifts for Charlotte!

A very Blessed Christmas to all of you.

December Ice Storm

War zone II. And, by the way, no power AGAIN this morning.


Our Grill took a fatal hit.



Lookin out our front door...



Just when we had given away most of our firewood produced by the last storm...

A full 3 weeks

Three weeks ago yesterday, Dad came wandering into my office as he often did for coffee and conversation. He drank his normal half cup of coffee, and then continued on about his day.
Yesterday, we laid him to rest.
The trouble began three weeks ago today, when he began to lose function in his legs. A late night trip to the ER, followed by a transfer to Methodist in DM. There the problem was diagnosed as a tumor on his spine, creating pressure that was paralyzing him from the waist down.
We began radiation therapy, which showed early promise but then stalled out. After a couple of weeks of treatments, Dad decided enough was enough. He was tired of being nauseous and tired, and just wanted to be comfortable. The last goal he had was to move into Hospice Comfort House in Pella, which he did at 2:15 last Saturday. At 11:30 that evening, he passed away.
Yesterday was his memorial ceremony, which was preceded by a family graveside committal with full military honors. Dad was an Army Ranger in the Pacific Theater in WW2, a member of the greatest generation, a man who risked his life to protect the country he loved. Following the war, he came back home to raise a family, build a business, and forget about all that.
The funeral was a time to remember a life well lived, and to reminisce about all the pleasant [even humorous] memories we have of Dad (there were many, with more to come).
I include a quote from one of his e-mails, a way to give Dad the last word. It really brings home how he chose to live his life - Faith, Family, Friends, and Fun.


I often think I do not put enough seriousness in events in my life and I think this goes back to my term of duty in the south Pacific. I there resolved that after crawling around in the mud dodging bullets there was nothing that would hazard me when I got back to civilian life again. I felt I had stood the ultimate that would be required of me and any thing following that would be secondary.


Goodbye, Dad.

Melvin E. Deur, June 1, 1921 - April 21, 2007

Wake-up Call

Received a call about 6:30 Tuesday morning from Mom (not too unusual, as she is usually up quite early and she knows we are,too). The subject matter was disturbing - Dad was awake, but not responding to her. Upon my urging, she called 911, and I hurried into town to help.
The parameds were there when I arrived, and they had determined that Dad's blood sugar was 38 (normal range is 80-120). They pumped in some IV glucose and he became responsive quickly (after some amusing answers to common questions, I might add). After a bit of time in the ER, he was released with instructions to visit his Dr. for analysis of his current med levels.
The interesting observation was the response of the other residents at the senior living facility where Mom & Dad live; with increased awareness of the Event that comes to us all, the strong concern, knowing that the time may have come for one of theirs, and it may soon come for them, as well. It was an intriguing look into the psyche of the later years, and one I'll not soon forget.
The best resolution of all is that Dad is OK, back home, and doing well. Medication has been adjusted, and he even got some new hearing aids (careful what you say around him, now). Back to normal again.

The Morning After

Or, actually, several mornings after, since we were without power from Saturday evening until Monday evening (try getting out of bed in the AM when it is 44 degrees INSIDE the house!). Here are a few more graphic pics of the storm damage. Going to have to get my chainsaw tuned up, I believe...
We have learned from this how dependent we are on electricity for nearly everything. Not the least of which is blogging.

War Zone

I'm sitting here in the midst of what is termed a "significant winter event". We've received a MAJOR amount of ice, and my trees are suffering because of it. I'm posting a couple of pics of the mess...firewood, anyone? Going to be busy cleaning this one up for a while...

Too good not to share

What follows is from my son-in-law, Jeff, who claims he is too low tech or lazy to blog. It's a great story, too good not to be posted...

By Jeff Tigchelaar

The moral of this story (let’s just get it out of the way at the beginning) is the moral of so many stories: Listen ye to your wife.

I’d just got back from chatting with the lady at the rental office after showing an apartment (which is the worst and hardest part of the job for me – the chatting with the lady in the office, that is) when Jana said, “Why don’t you go back over there with a couple pieces of cake for Sherry (the lady in the office) and Ken.” Ken is the maintenance man. He was out snowblowing. The cake was apple. With caramel frosting.

Since what Jana’d said was technically in the form of a question (I excluded the question mark above to stay true to the inflection/tone), I kept with the format and responded with an answer. “Because…because…I…the cake…so delicious…for me…cake…my…cake…” To which Jana responded, rightly and admirably although at the time to my great chagrin, “Oh just bring them some cake.”

Which I did. Sherry was famished, it turns out. (“How did you know I didn’t have any breakfast!”) And on my way back I crossed paths with a neighbor, Irina, whose husband, Vladimir, died unexpectedly last week at age 47. I hadn’t talked to her since it had happened, mostly because I didn’t know what and when would be appropriate to her situation. It was something I’d been anxious/nervous about. Apparently now was the right time. She was headed to the office to find out who to make the rent check out to. She invited Jana, Charlotte and I over for tea that night.
And all was right with the world.

Epilogue\Addendum:

“Tea,” we learned, apparently means, in some cultures, “tea and vodka.” Irina invited us to the table, upon which sat two majestic see-through bottles, right there next to the salt and pepper, acting casual. I don’t think they’d just been set out, the bottles. It’s where they stayed. Setting out three glasses along with the coffee cake and candy bars, Irina motioned toward the bottles and told us to help ourselves. “Very nice vodka,” she said. “Clean vodka.” (Which meant, of course, “very expensive vodka.”) “Is not impostor. No headache.”
So after saying a toast to Vladimir, we sat and had tea to his memory…

The Moral (guess I couldn’t resist after all):

Maybe it’s not so much Listen to your wife as Do what you know is right, what’s kind, what’s good…. (Or, Listen up – and then act – especially when what you’re being told is any or all of the above. You could be serving a higher need…)

Brrr.

It is cold. REALLY cold. -3 as I type this, at my desk, enjoying a cup of coffee.
The nice thing about this is that it is temporary - temps like this don't last, and in a short month (The best thing about February) it will be transitioning into spring.
I'm thankful for furnaces, LP gas, and portable space heaters.
Fireplaces, too.
Thank goodness for global warming, or it would be -4.