Mon Apr 22 08:47 EDT 1996 Weekend Update: April 20-21 Didn't do much. Cleaned the cars on Saturday. Went to church on Sunday. God has been speaking to me, but He's not quite through the din so I can quite relate it to you or articulate it just yet. I'm thrilled by it, though. I want to respond to John Perryman's email but the din calls. I skimmed Andy's tome to his response and I concur with the bottom line as the root of the conflict. Conflict and dissention among the ranks is something that I have been percolating over for some months now. Got to run. Mark Mark Metcalfe ______ ______ "...be transformed by the Cadence Design Systems, Inc. _/ Y \_ renewing of your mind that 270 Billerica Road, MS 04 // ~~ ~~ | Romans\\ you may prove what the Chelmsford, MA 01824 // ~ ~ ~~ | 12:2b \\ will of God is, that which Tel: (508) 446-6451 //________.|.________\\ is good and acceptable metcalfe@candence.com `----------`-'----------' and perfect." Wed Apr 24 07:49 EDT 1996 Midweek Update: NH School Vacation Week My mother used to tell me that when she had the kids, she would ask them about what went on in our house. Well, the tables have turned! Last Thursday evening, we allowed Miranda to skip her Friday classes and return to Quincy with Poppy (Rev. Holiness to many of you). We agreed to pick her up on Sunday afternoon, dropping off the other three children (Jessica, Emily, and Andrew) from Sunday until Tuesday evening. Miranda attended a teen event with her cousin, Jennifer. I haven't pumped her for information about that but got the information I wanted: no boys were hitting up on her. Phew! Miranda signed (spelled correctly) in Wollaston on Sunday morning. Poppy got to sit down front and see Miranda sign from the front this time. There was a bit of a snafu with the sound but once it got going, so I was told, it got "quiet as a mouse." Now you'd think that because perhaps no one in that church was deaf, that Mandy's signing would mean anything. Dad can correct my quote and can give you the reference, but "there comes a time when prose gives way to poetry, and poetry to dance." Miranda has a gift and her expression in sign flows from her being so that what is communicated - to hearing people, mind you - is beyond the prose and poetry of the song. The reason we picked up Mandy and dropped off the others was that Mandy had her finals to take at the college signing course. She came home with an A, which I told mom must be one of those "skipping generational things." Her teacher also wrote on her grade slip that she has never seen anyone sign songs as well as she does and that she will have a lot to offer the deaf community. I've kidded with her that she will marry a deaf man. Now, I am beginning to wonder about my gift of prophecy. (Tyankfully, she has not met anyone, yet.) Now, we know the presence the young lady Miranda was enjoyed by Poppy and Grandma (she even cleaned the bathroom while she was there). We wondered how the folks would do with the thre young'uns. (Well, two young'uns and Jessica, who is a teen.) My other children gushed about the good time they had. (And mom, they were NOT EVER bored!) Poppy and Grandma took the kids on an amusement ride and they never had to leave the car. They drove into this building and water sprayed all around them, and brushes beat up against the car, while Poppy and Grandma sang, "It's a Small World" [after all]. Uncle Steve took the kids to Castle Playground. I don't know what that is so I can't comment, except thanks to Steve for not putting my kids on the catapults or pouring boiling oil on them. Poppy taught the kids how to launch straw wrappers. Emily tried it and launched the paper projectile over to the next table, hitting a lady in the face. When the lady turned, she laughed at the embarassed 10-year old. (Earlier on Sunday, Dad recounted that he met a woman with a "hearing dog" to which he bent down to the dog and shouted "HELLO!") The fun with poppy didn't stop there with car washes and eateries. My kids are gamers and they challenged poppy to competition games of tetris (Gameboys can be hooked together for one-on-ones), and Hand and Foot. I do mean competition because the kids beat poppy about half the time. Grandma took the kids grocery shopping, perhaps because of fear that she'd not have anything that the kids would like to eat. The kids were amazed when she'd ask them, "What kind of soda do you like?" Then she's buy three kinds. "What kind of chips do you like?" "Andrew like cheese doodles and Emily like Sour Cream and Onion chips..." she bought both! Makes me wish I was a grandkid again! Poppy and Grandma also took the kids into Boston to the aquarium where they had front row seats at the seal show. "Sea lion!" says Emily, correcting me. When I called Monday night and asked Andrew if he was having a good time he corrected me, too. "GREAT!" said he. There are some things I'm probably leaving out. Because this is NH vacation week, the teens in our group have other plans this week. Besides, we wanted to limit the exposure to a couple of days, not knowing what the folks can take. ;-) (BTW, on the way to pick up the kids on Tuesday, I got to travel that nifty zipper lane and watch my exit pass me by. I knew as soon as I got into it that I was in there until Braintree! Duh! Oh well.) Many thanks for making these past few days a wonderful Grandparent-to- grandkid experience. Living the farthest away, I think my kids don't get enough of it. (When the Crawfords and we get together, we're together for several days to a week; Metcalfes get together for hours at a time.) Next time we're in a car wash... *<|%^D Mark .+*+ .....Cadence Design Systems, Inc. ***+*+. __..''' 270 Billerica Road A house is made .*+*+**. _____[]_ Chelmsford, MA 02184 with hands. '**++**. /___/\___\ ^ (508) 446-6451 , '*I*'.::/___/__\___\ /*\ \_0__, A home is made ..I *..: |[] [] []| .:/*\ M with hearts. ######==################### ._/__=_. .|\. -------------------------- 'O====O=' metcalfe@cadence.com