Mark's Father's 90th Birthday Celebration

We must be crazy to be spending so much time in Oklahoma during the hottest part of the year! We've already spent more than 50 summers in the western half of this state. So we know all about the 100-degree summer days with 30 mph winds that dry the landscape out to a crispy brown. But there has been more rain than usual, resulting in greener pastures here on Cap-O-Ranch where Mark was raised.

But we have driven 17 hours across the country in the heat of summer to celebrate a very special birthday--Mark's Father, Clarence's 90th birthday! Also this month, Mark's parents will celebrate their 67th anniversary.

So the cake proclaimed a celebration of both of these monumental events.

We were excited that both of our sons could make it to the family party. That meant a four hour drive for our son, Blake (pictured on the right), from where he lives in Oklahoma City. That meant a 6.5 hour drive for our son, Luke, from Kansas City. Considering that Luke is in the middle of his pediatric residency where he has no control over his schedule, we count it as a miracle that they both could join us for this weekend.

In fact, we count it a miracle that all of Reta and Clarence's offspring were able to attend, except for the family living in South Korea right now and our daughter-in-law, Jordan. That would include 13 great-grandchildren.

We also took a group picture of their grandchildren and spouses.

There was even a picture of their children and their spouses. But as Clarence was quick to point out, we don't have any in-laws or out-laws. They consider all of us their children.

We had a fun week-end of playing games and eating way too much yummy food. As is traditional, we usually sing the doxology before the meals. That many voices in beautiful harmony is a chill-bump experience for Denisa. Also singing in the bottom right hand corner of the picture is Denisa's Mother, who was welcomed as family at the party.

When we first checked the forecast for this weekend, it showed temperatures of 106 for the day of the party. But instead, we were blessed with clouds and unseasonably mild temperatures that only reached the mid-80s.

We also had the traditional game of playing on the round hay bales. The spongy bales make a springy running surface that's great for races and jumping contests. These were enjoyed by the little kids, as well as the big kids.

Granddad even made the trip out to the bales on his four-wheeler to watch the commotion from below.

The round bales are stacked so neatly this year that the older guys were complaining that there were no good spaces to jump or hide. This stack will be fed to the cows through the winter, and will be gone next spring.

Denisa got to spend time with more great nieces and nephews. They swam in the pool (aka a livestock tank) even though it was cooler than we had planned.

She introduced them to the litter of kittens, who got an extra dose of love from many little hands.

The group also enjoyed the ranch horses. This was the first part of a walk we took around the pastures with our son Blake, and his girl friend Claire. After three weeks in Oklahoma, we finally got to go on a hike!

The horses made a good foreground with the wide open skies behind them.

Every evening the guitars come out, and the singing begins.

With the unusually cool weather that we enjoyed this weekend, the campfire even felt good one evening as most of us donned jackets.

We so enjoyed seeing all of Mark's family! And it was a special blessing to spend so much time with our parents while we stayed in the panhandle.

After three weeks of spending time in Oklahoma, we will miss those wide vistas and nice sunsets. But we will especially miss the people!