A happy Saturday from Menifee, California. We are at daughter Heather's house for the weekend. We drove over from Las Vegas yesterday. It was a nice trip over through the high desert. However, when we hit the valley and the valley bumper to bumper traffic we quickly remembered why we love corn fields and roads where a combine was the only traffic jam.  The traffic was brutal.

This morning Lauren fixed an "eggs-cellent" breakfast for us. She really likes to cook and this morning she got creative and made up a recipe of eggs, bacon, and sourdough bread. It was wonderful. Last night she made home made pizzas for each of us. She is a sweet kid. It is hard to believe that "little Lauren" is 17 years old. It is even harder to believe that her brother, "little Jon" is a week away from being 14. Jon is the very definition of sociable. He could charm the rattles off of a rattlesnake. Heather has done an excellent job of raising these two.

It is a warm sunny morning here. It was foggy early but that has started to burn off fairly well. We don't have a lot of plans for today but will get out a bit. This evening we will have our Christmas exchange of presents and hugs. We do want to go to a couple of places though, including a bike shop that Jon wants to go to. They are have some kind of special deal at the bike shop so I think it is important that we go. We get to share in the kiddos lives so very little because of the distance between us, so if that is what he wants to do --- go for it!

Our prayers this morning are certainly for Ms. Kate's aunt, who is in ICU due to a stroke and a 90% blocked carotid artery. My sister-in-law Karen, was on vacation with us but flew back home early because she is the medical power of attorney for their aunt. We got a call from her this morning saying that her aunt was having a good day so far today. Not one to try and tell God what to do, I pray that our aunt has peace in her body and spirit, regardless of how God defines that.

It is such a blessing for us to be out here to visit with Heather and her family. I always wish that we and they lived closer together, but this is their life and they like living here. So, I just count our blessings and enjoy the time we have together.

Have a great day!