We made our way to our friends house, The Rogers, they were having a party to celebrate their youngest son, Tyler's graduation day. However, this graduation party was a little different as the scholar was not able to join us....as he has passed on. Tyler became ill with a brain tumor about 5 years ago and after a year long battle his body had had enough. However, Tyler's wish was that people celebrate his young life and as such, his parents have always honored that wish. His wake was one I will never forget, filled with laughter, great food and a party atmosphere, including balloons. Tyler had also asked his family to continue to help St. Jude hospital in Memphis, TN, where he received incredible care, of course they agreed. This party was not only a celebration of what would have been Tyler's graduation but also a fund raiser to donate to St. Judes. If you would like to learn more about Tyler and his family, as well as support The Tyler J. Rogers Foundation, please click on the link in his name. You can also "like" them on Facebook and support them through getting the word out about this family working to make a great memory of their sons life. On to the party....filled with live music, food, drinks and of course, balloons. The day was beautiful and soon friends filled their home all in celebration of Tyler. Out in front was a smoker, puffing away with all kinds of meats inside to fill the buffet table. Inside the house were gift baskets filled with goodies that would be raffled off to raise more money. You could also buy Jones green soda with special labels made just for Taterfest. It was a lovely afternoon spent celebrating Ty's life, playing games and meeting new folks.
And then, we were on the road! Headed south to Portland (again!). We made it down to our friends, the Hobsons, fellowship just after it had all wrapped up. Bummer! We had a nice dinner out with them filled with good food and lots of laughter. We then made our way into some unkown and uncharted parts of Camas (I say this since our GPS on Scott's phone would not locate where we were, so it must be unknown, right?) where we slept in a camper out in the front of her moms house. (Does that mean we went camping this weekend too? Sure, when the kids are grown I will tell them that, they will think we were really adventurous!!) In the morning we awoke to the most hospitable people on the planet! We had the great pleasure of meeting Marilees mom and twin sister who were INCREDIBLE people!! They were so gracious in letting us into their home to shower and get ready for the day. Then we were treated to the most amazing breakfast ever! Hank was cooking up delicious waffles and pancakes, there was berry syrup, pear syrup, whip cream, chicken sausages, a frittata, scrambled eggs, greek yogurt, strawberries and coffee!WOW! That was like three breakfasts all served at once! I told them if they continue to feed us this way, we will for sure come back, so next time plop out some boxes of cold cereal and curdled milk, or we may never leave!! We also enjoyed incredible conversation, as they introduced us to three great men, their husbands, and one son all now with the Lord. It was a pleasure meeting them as well as their loved ones who are now gone, all I can say, is this family is just incredible and they have given our family such a blessing by letting us into their home and getting to know them just a bit. I look forward to the next time the Lord brings us together.
We then hit the road, Marilee driving the girls in her convertible, which was a super fun time and the boys following behind as we made our way to the Park for the Yovel (Jubilee) celebration. By the time we got there the sun was starting to peek out from behind the clouds and the day was warming up. We were excited to meet up with some folks we have not seen for a while as well as spending time with our fellowship family.
