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 August 26, 2007 marked forty amazing years since, with
eyes full of stardust and a heart full of idealistic (albeit unrealistic)
fervor, I married a minister. That marriage has weathered 26 moves, including 10
very interesting years in Alaska—one on a remote island accessible only by boat
or plane. We’re talking weathered! Interested in the details? It’s
actually the subject of my newest book,True North. It has also produced
three handsome sons and five adorable, intelligent, above-average
grandchildren. Let me introduce you.
 My husband Jim is handsome, smart, somewhat intense, and
often funny. (he’s also humble and hates it when I say these things; so, of
course, that’s why I do!). After 25 years of pastoring and 16 years as a
District official, he currently serves as the Superintendent of the Northern
California and Nevada District of the Assemblies of God. Jim’s hobbies include
finding solutions, arguing with the social/political talking heads on TV, and
playing golf. He loves jazz, science fiction and classic cars. He’s pictured
here in his ’68 Olds Cutlass convertible. It’s now been two years since Jim hit
a little bump in life’s road resulting in five-way coronary bypass surgery.
He’s still feeling great and going strong. Thank you, Lord! Since he’s the love
of my life, my best friend and most encouraging supporter, I’d like to keep him
around for a while.
Our three adult sons are Forrest Damon, Derek Ian and Dustin
James. Forrest lives with his family in beautiful Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, where
he works as a hair stylist. After five years as a manager, Derek is now a
newly-appointed regional training specialist for Starbucks. In his spare time,
he loves to work out at the gym. His wife, Deirdra—also a work-out enthusiast—is
a part-time massage therapist and full-time mom. Dustin is still single and
once again living in Sacramento where he has just graduated from a local
culinary academy. That’s three careers now and counting.
Our “adopted daughter”, Karissa, (a friend of the family) has
been with us for four years. During this time she’s completed a two-year course
in Christian counseling and has been a great blessing to our family. Karissa is
very involved in a local inner-city church and was just promoted to manager at
Starbucks, so we’re really getting the “perks”.
  Last but never least are our five grand-est kids—Fallon,
McKayla, Liam, Olivia and, Logan, ages 13, 11, 12, 7 and 2 respectively. We’ve
also “adopted” Kayla Rose, age 8, the daughter of our oldest son’s girlfriend,
Mary. They all light up our life and help keep us young. Since they live in
different places, we continue an annual tradition called Camp Gramma. For two
fun weeks during the summer it’s become our custom to turn the yard and house
into a camping experience, including arts, crafts, outdoor activities and Bible
lessons. This year, however, at the urging of our oldest grandson, Camp Gramma
went “on the road.” That meant the Sacramento contingency flew to Coeur D’Alene
where we rented a cozy little cabin which became “headquarters” for “Summer of
the Spies”, complete with crime scene tape, investigator’s portfolios full of
all kinds of fun secret agent stuff, and lots of activities. In addition, every
morning we gathered in our secret meeting place for Agents in Action where we
unraveled and learned to apply lessons from the Bible. Even so, the highlight
had to be the oozies that shot silly string and learning to use the magnifying
glasses to burn leaves. Thanks a lot for that little lesson, Grampa.
  Now that we have one official teenager and two more close
behind, finding cool themes that appeal to everyone is becoming a bit more of a
challenge. The real challenge for Gramma, though, is just seeing the grands grow
up so quickly. Still, one mention that maybe they were getting too old for Camp
Gramma brought protests all around, so guess we’ll keep the games going.
Not to end on a sad note, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t say
that we lost an important member of our family just a couple of months ago—a
furry one. It was our 15-1/2 year old spaniel dog, Freckles. He’s the one
pictured with me on the Welcome Page. We sure miss him.
INTERESTED IN A BIT MORE BRADDY ADVENTURE? VISIT JUDI’S
KITCHEN CAFÉ.
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