Camping cancelled and Dad's 55 years

Well, I suppose God reads my blog and takes it seriously. Har har. Just kidding. Last fall I blogged about how I hate camping or least many current aspects of it. This afternoon, while our youth group was at DQ cooling off from the car wash, my phone rang and it was Ludington State Park informing me the park had been closed due to flooding. I did reschedule but have thought better of it as I can not imagine that park will be recovered from 8 inches of rain on Friday simply because it stopped raining. I read that the town has many streets damaged and roads are closed, not to mention the ecoli alert for the beach and area in general. This pregnant mom with seven kids is not going to do that.

So.....instead, we are going to schedule some other fun events for the kids to enjoy and not necessarily all this week. I hope to take them to the Field Museum in Chicago in July and Charley hopes to take them on some biking outings. Since I really hate the preparations for camping and that camping with this many kids is generally work, God certainly has made me a tall glass of lemonade. Phew. I am now stocked with various treats that were going with us to Ludington that I will have to hide and take with us to the these various events.

Tomorrow is the 55th anniversary of my dad's ordination. I didn't know this before we planned our camping trip so now we have decided to go. We will begin our morning at dear old Emmaus and then proceed to Valpo for dear old dad. 55 years is pretty amazing if you ask me. He fits in his original cassock which is also amazing and a credit to his well disciplined healthy lifestyle. I would say he probably could use a slimmer cut. His family always has tended to get thinner with age so I am hoping I might inherit some of that tendency Lord willing. He graduated from Augustana Theological Seminary in 1953. Mom and Dad are attending a reunion this summer to celebrate with other fellow graduates. I believe they don't just get together with just the 55ers but with all the graduates that are able to attend. Here is his basic bio: LeRoy Oscar Anton Martinson, Ph.D., Associate Professor Emeritus of Sociology; Gustavus Adolphus College (A.B.,1949); Augustana Theological Seminary (M.Div.,1953); Columbia University (M.A.,1965); The University of Chicago (Ph.D.,1971)

Did you notice he has a few middle names???? Har har. I would say Dad is a little educated don't you think? So off we go tomorrow. It will be a short visit as they had previous after service plans but at least we can go. We were going to go biking afterwards but the Chesterton weather forecast is calling for rain......rain foils us again.