Fun Weekend

Well, I made it! I was not one bit nervous either! We had a smooth flight both ways, just a little hot. Sacramento was a whopping 109! UGH! Good thing we took off early both days! Scott is a very good, safe pilot. He has the nicest laminated checklists that he designed himself that I am sure he could make a living selling to other private pilots! (He is a list-making, color coding, organized guy in every area of his life!) Here he is in the "crew lounge" at the Sacramento Jet Center getting a briefing. There were nice recliners, a big screen TV, bedrooms with nice clean beds, bathrooms with showers and a kitchen with warm cookies! When we landed, a guy on a golf cart came to pick us up after rolling out a red carpet next to the airplane! They had our rental car parked right outside too. This must be the way the big stars live!
When we got back to the Sacramento Jet Center Scott wanted me to walk in a different door than him...I had a HUGE, obnoxious blue Ikea bag full of my purchases....he was embarrassed!!

We ate at Ruth's Chris. It was delicious, as usual, but our service was poor! (The waiter at the table next to us was so sweet to notice and he did most of the work!!)


The beautiful Sacramento Valley and the Sacramento River.



Pre-flight checklist. I was really impressed by Scott's skill on the radio with all the towers. I don't know how they keep all the directions straight, those guys talk so fast! Scott rattled the directions right back just as fast. I think I will fly with him more now that I am getting used to it. We had smooth air and perfect landings! Next trip...Mendocino!

Back home in Redding, safe and sound...Thank you, Lord!

Thanks 3-4-4 Tango X-ray, you are a gooooood plane!




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22 Years of Wedded Bliss

22 years ago today, I made the second most important decision of my life...I married the man God picked out just for me!! (the first was asking Jesus to be my Lord!) What a blessing to be travelling this journey of life with a man who has taken such wonderful care of me! He has to be one of the most patient people God has ever created.

Scott, I love so many things about you, here are just a few:

Your desire to do right and be Godly

Your character

Your loyalty to those you love

Your unbelievable patience

The way you LOVE your girls

How your girls LOVE you!

How you make me feel good about myself at just the right time with a sweet note (and I have saved them all!)

The way you take care of so many people with such a tender heart

Your wisdom

How you don't say things that you might later regret

Your hilarious quotes and examples during various "pep-talks" (right, Shae?)

Your work ethic and leadership skills

The way you smell (and Lindsay would totally agree!)

I love how you don't quit when things are not easy (ministry, a brain injured child, money, etc)

Like Lindsay says, "You are a good man, Daddy!" (and you know she is a good judge of character!)

Happy Anniversary, thank you for the way you have loved us and taken care of us!!

It was fun getting "off the mountain" today. What could be more relaxing than a day at Shasta Lake? I am looking forward to our flight to Sacramento tomorrow, I promise not to be nervous! Thanks for taking time to spend the weekend with ME during your busiest time of year. I love you and I am glad we found each other at Liberty University 26 years ago! (ugh, doesn't that sound like we are old or something?!)

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Fun in the Sun....finally!

Our first group of the summer is finally here! AWANA scholarship camp is a nice week for us. These kids are always so respectful and well behaved. They earn their way to scholarship camp by memorizing TONS of scripture. The night before they arrived we had a humongous thunder and lightening storm-and it POURED! Today is the first "warm" day we have had since the girls and I got to camp!! It is usually SO hot all summer, so the refreshing cool weather was a treat, but Lindsay has been dying to go to the "beach". Today she got her wish. Shannon (one of our main leaders) took her swimming-out to the dock.
After a while Shannon had to make dinner for 400 so Lindsay did her 2nd favorite thing...played in the sand. But after a few minutes she was "a wittle bit hungry".

She decided to pay a visit to the Snow Shack to get a soft pretzel with cheese.(usually she gets shaved ice, but the water is so cold I guess she opted for a warmer snack). She even waited in line behind the campers (which is great for her, usually she just walks in!).

Yep, I am mother of the year...here she is eating the ENTIRE pretzel and washing it down with a soda about an hour before dinner! Anna was nowhere in sight, later we saw that she had gone to the AWANA craft area and had made $10 worth of crafts! I am so thankful to have another candle and especially the beautiful leather "cuff" bracelet she made me that says "Mom" on it!

Lindsay was absolutely thrilled to get mail today! (it really is a big deal to get mail, I have to admit I always hope there is something for me, and I got a package from my Texas SIL, yellow box flip flops! What a nice surprise!) Lindsay got a letter from her all time-sobbed when he left-best buddy EVER, Micah! He is working at a camp on Hilton Head this summer and she tells everyone " I just know Micah will come back!"

Look how she is listening to Shae read the sweet letter to her!

This is Lindsay's favorite spot. She calls it "jail". She looks out the windows into the back yard as people are walking by and shouts "Hewoe!" The offices are just around the corner, so I can constantly remind her to stay upstairs, and I hear her if she starts to escape!

We are so thankful for all the rain we have had along with the cool weather, but today was a fun day to be at the beach, soaking up some welcome sun.






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Father's Day 2009

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy, Grandpa and Papa ever!!From the 3 lucky girls (okay, all four of us) who have you {all 3 of you} at their beckoned call all summer long!

How blessed our lives are because of the godly, hard working, patient, sweet influence of the three of you! We love you! XOXO
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Summer Livin'

While we are at camp during the summer I have it made!! Someone else buys the groceries and cooks for my family and I could have my laundry done for me (okay, I HAVE taken advantage of this on occasion), but I do it myself most of the time. It is a real time of fun and pretty much relaxation for me. My husband is busy busy busy though! So the girls and I find lots of time to go to the beach, make crafts and bake goodies at Grandma's! Here is Lindsay and Anna's room. It connects to our room through a door that Scott put in when Lindsay was a baby (we had outgrown having one room). There used to be three little Luff girls in this room, now there are two. Shae lives in the dorm!!

Another view into the girls' room.

Okay, this bathtub looks like we are just so spoiled..I must tell you that until about a few years ago we only had a shower (which burns you one minute and freezes you the next). I bathed Shae and Lindsay in a big lettuce tub on the floor of the shower! Scott found this wonderful tub at a scratch and dent sale...heaven!

Here is our room. I know there is a twin bed...Luff girl #3 got to have a queen bed in her room at home last Fall after camp was over-guess where she got it? It seemed like way too much work to bring up the bed and switch for summer...don't worry, we have a pull out bed underneath!!

You can tell there used to be a bigger bed, see how the picture is not centered...I still need to find some nails and a hammer!

Here is the door between our room and the girls' room.

As you can see, we have a comfy little spot to live during the summer, and believe me, maintaining only two rooms is so nice!

The Daily Cruise...

Every day, at least once, I hop on board this tour mobile with these tour guides:We cruise around 45 acres of summer camp heaven, stopping to see what all the "crews" are working on. We always have to stop to see Paul Bunyan (Lindsay's request)>

We also have to stop and pick a few of these... We {love} summer.

Lassen Pines

I thought some of you would enjoy a few pictures of camp. We are beginning our 20th summer at Lassen Pines. It is hard to believe we have done this for that many summers. There have been thousands of decisions made for Christ during the summers here.This is the main lodge. This is where we have 2 bedrooms upstairs.
This building is where there are some guest rooms, nurses station, boys dorms and a meeting room upstairs.

The beach has wonderful sand all the way into the water. This volleyball court gets lots of action! In another week this place will be buzzing with teenagers and lots of noise!

The road that leads to the go-kart track, and more housing.

The Raw-hides

This is taken from the cabins looking toward the Rec Hall. The Rec Hall is where my parents have an apartment upstairs. (Lindsay LOVES to go there and play, and Anna has a playroom on the 3rd floor of the apartment)

Looking at the upper lake from the field.

Here is the little bell ringer, telling everyone it is time to eat dinner.

I will take more pictures as the summer progresses. We are busy with the staff and preparing for our first group of campers. Our prayer is that God will move in this place and touch the lives of many. How blessed we are to have been involved in such a great ministry for so many years.








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Anna's Flowers

Anna had a fun 10th birthday! It started out with the most wonderful surprise from our North Carolina friend, Tom. He sent Anna her very first "delivered" flowers! They were wrapped so nicely and were so fresh and beautiful! It is so nice to have fresh flowers on the table when we come into the dining room! Thankyou Tom for making Anna feel so special. (she can't wait for you to come help her get her "honey" business up and running again...and Shae may try to get a piece of the action too, since she saw all the money Anna was raking in!)
We decorated the best we could in the camp dining room!

We are lucky enough to have all four grandparents with us every summer at camp. How many kids get to spend all summer with four people spoiling them?
It was a fun day for a special 10 year old.


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June 12th

June 12th is a precious day to our family.

Our Lindsay started out in this life as a normal, healthy, beautiful baby on October 6, 1997( after a 4 year struggle with miscarriages, we were so happy!). On June 12, 1998, when she was 8 months old ,she was taken by ambulance from my pediatrician's office to the hospital. She was flown from Redding to Sacramento to see a pediatric cardiologist because her heart was double its normal size due to a virus that had attacked it. Her heart failed in the ambulance ride from the airport in Sacramento to the hospital (while her Daddy was riding with her watching helplessly as they performed CPR for 10 minutes). After 3 weeks in the hospital and too many events to mention, she was left with a permanent brain injury. The daughter we knew would never be the same again.Here she is just a few days before she got sick. (sorry I did not know how to flip this picture and it is a "picture of a picture" because I am at camp and don't have a scanner...look at little Shae!!)

Here is Lindsay while she was at Sutter Memorial Hospital. This picture brings back the flood of emotion I felt during those first days. How blessed we are to know a God who sustains us in our hardest times. How do people who don't believe in Him get through life's trials?? We could literally feel His presence the whole time Lindsay was hospitalized.


Precious girl.

Lindsay has had to overcome so many things in her development. One of the most horrible was having to wear a patch over her stronger eye to help the weaker eye improve. This was torture for us. She would take it off and her skin would be so torn up. Here she is during one of her physical therapy sessions.

Every cloud has a silver lining they say...and our dark days are over!! We LOVE and accept her how she is (and we believe God intended her to be all along in His plan). She is such a sweet, happy loving girl. Everyone that works with her or knows her just falls in love with her.

What a sweet day to walk her to school, and have her come home so excited!

Yes, Lindsay, you have come such a long way. Who would have ever thought that you would jump off a boat into the water!!

We are so glad you are YOU!



June 12, 1999

One year to the day after Lindsay's incident Miss Anna Fay Luff was born!

After 3 miscarriages between Shae and Lindsay WHO KNEW this could happen...much less on the very date that had so tragically rocked our world!

The nurses in the delivery room that day were crying and telling me that now June 12th would be a happy memory.

They were absolutely right!



Anna, I COULD NOT make it without you! You have been Lindsay's constant companion, speech therapist, nurse, bedtime story reading, diaper-changing, golf cart chauffeur and so many other things there is not enough room to list them all! You deserve most of the credit for how far she has been able to come!

You are an amazing girl. God knew you were just what Lindsay needed! I think He palnned all along for you to be born 2 weeks early so you would be our June 12th surprise! I know He has many rewards in store for you! You are the very best "Little"sister anyone could ever hope for!

We love you so much! Thanks for making June 12th a VERY happy memory!

Happy 10th Birthday to my Anna Banana the Rodeo Queen!
(nickname provided by Bill Kramer)







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Up the Mountain

We are officially "up at camp" for the summer. I can already feel myself slowing down and enjoying the fresh mountain air. I have a batch of apple butter cooking in the crock pot down in the kitchen and....so exciting...I have set up a "craft room"!!!!Our T shirts turned out so cute! Here are my mom, Anna and Lindsay modeling the "special pink" we ordered for the college girls (and the Luff girls).

Here is the back...cool font, huh?? Col. 3:12-17 is our theme verse this year.

Here are the towels I had monogrammed for graduation gifts and for our special guests this summer. I found a place in town that does embroidery-the lady and I are becoming great friends! She didn't know about monograms (California you know), so I have given her lots of ideas! She is doing some for herself to use as wedding gifts!!

We are anticipating a great summer of ministry, and relaxation (for me!). It is awesome to have meals prepared, I am not going to lie!! Now if it would warm up, we could get our beach routine started!! My mom is teaching Anna to crochet and she even brought her a sewing machine!!





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