With everything going on with Dad's health problems, I've neglected to let everyone know how well Grammie (a.k.a. Great Grammie, Great Great Grammie, or Virchie Alice Gipson to some of you!) is doing these days. After taking some time to adjust to her new surroundings in Idaho, she has really improved dramatically from when she was in California.

We try to get her out for church as often as we can, and she really enjoys that. She can get into Mom's car easier than our Excursion or Dad's Toyota, so we need to swap cars to do it, but it's worth it. She enjoys coming over to the house for family dinners, especially when there's homemade ice cream afterward.

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We haven't been very good about sharing our photos online with everyone. I shouldn't say "we." Diane's been pretty good about doing the e-mail blast when new photos are uploaded to Shutterfly, but I haven't been good about sharing them so they show up on the website.

Michelle's really cool scrapbook of Katelyn's visit to Idaho inspired me to get going on this. You can find all shared photo albums, including the latest of some of our Summer visitors, by going to the "Family" tab at the top of this site and clicking on "Photos." Alternately, you can go to theharpers.shutterfly.com.

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Most recent update: Sunday, September 30, 2:30 pm

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The kids are dying to share the news of Diane's new dog. He's her birthday present, but I'm guessing the kids will get the most fun out of him. After all, there are six of them, and (sadly for me) only one Diane.

His name is Rembrandt (Remi for short), but he hasn't arrived yet. He should be with us sometime this week. He is a West Highland White Terrier and Maltese mix.

Diane had initially settled on the Westie breed, but we were increasingly concerned after reading up on its traits that it might be a little snippy with babies and toddlers who inadvertantly poke and prod animals. (Now don't go spreading rumors--we aren't expecting any babies or toddlers in our household. We just want to make sure we get a dog that is safe around our friends' kids!)

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Pardon my absence from blogging while we finish settling into our new house in Idaho! After arriving at the new house, we promptly packed up the kids again to visit some Christian friends in Oregon over the July 4th weekend. We really are beginning to love the freedom of road trips and seeing God's beautiful country. The kids travel remarkably well and are loving it as well. We are also very encouraged by the fellowship and conversations with the people we meet.

I do have some hot topics that have been on my mind lately and will fire up the keyboard soon.

Until then...

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I have to offer my apologies for being offline for several weeks. I've had a lot of thoughts incubating in the back of my mind while trying to manage the relocation of my family from Orange County, California to South Idaho. (Shhhh, don't tell my neighbors there are more Californians moving in.)

Now that both escrows seem to be lined up properly, I should be able to get more writing time in. Thanks for your patience, and thanks for all the prayers and encouragement from friends and family!

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My wife and I have had Kaiser insurance for our entire marriage of fifteen years and have been extremely impressed with the quality of care through four pregnancies (one critical), a bizarre but urgent bacterial infection in the neck of our youngest, and now with Chiari treatment of our son Jaden. We hear a lot of people bad-mouth HMOs and even Kaiser specifically, but we hear horrible stories about long waits for other HMOs and private plans. My wife’s an R.N. and has a high opinion of Kaiser as well. I could go on, but I’d sound like an infomercial; so suffice to say that you can find great doctors and neurosurgeons in the Kaiser system. (Did I mention that God, through fast-thinking Kaiser doctors and nurses, saved my wife’s life during her first pregnancy?)

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