Christmas at Amy and Kevin's Home

December 30, 2007: The First Sunay after Christmas (and the Fifth Day of Christmas)

Last night June, Chelsea, and Andy returned to Kentucky after a ten-day stint in Georgia and Tennessee for the tail end of Advent and the beginnings of Christmastide. Making the rounds of various churches to which members of our extended family belong, we worshipped at First Baptist Church in Barnesville, Georgia, saw a good bit of spectacle at mega Rock Springs Church in Milner, Georgia, participated in a quietly beautiful Communion at First Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia. While non of these parishes considers itself liturgical in any traditional or historical sense of the word, each one in its own way (although all are Baptist) celebrated the Birth of Christ with reverence, a strong need to share the Gospel, and inspired singing.

June's side of our family met together at the lakehouse on Christmas Day (pictures forthcoming!), and Andy's side met at Amy and Kevin's home on December 28 (Amy, thank you for all the hard work and hospitality!); then most of us met again the next morning for a terrific brunch at Lora and Kirk's home, just a day before (that's today!) they're flying to Cancun for a well-deserved rest.

All of our family gatherings were especially wonderful--really!

The Granny Greene Thanksgiving Reunion

We do it every year! On Thanksgiving weekend, we get as many descendents and relatives of Granny Greene together as possible. Then the men play golf on the Friday after Thanksgiving while some of the women to shopping on "Black Friday." Then on Saturday we get together for great food and games. Our thanks to Tom Lowery for taking the photo!

Miss Tennessee!

She wiggles, she burps, and then she looks at you with those beautiful eyes. Yes, it's Miss Katherine Elise Simonds, now almost four months old. Isn't she a beaut?

The Family at Thanksgiving

On the Sunday before just before Thanksgiving, the Harnacks, Kuhns, and Simonds got together at The Chattagnoogan for a terrific chamgaine brunch with the grandkids. Our thanks to Lisa and Tim for making the reservations. And a b ig round of applause for everyone who drove in for the gathering! What a wonderful setting for a small family reunion, and as you can see from the post-brunch photo, we're looking forward to next year's get-together.

Chelsea -- A Champion Crossrunner

For several months this fall, Chelsea has been running with Model Laboratory School's cross-country team and doing exceptionally well in all nine difficult races. Practicing after school four days a week, Chelsea runs smoothly and beautifully. During the State Finals at the Kentucky Horse Park, Model came in seventh among some fifty schools, and Chelsea ran her personal best for the 3.1 miles (5k) at 21.20. Watch out for her this spring when she goes out for track. She can really burn up the quarter-mile in 4x400. Way to go, Chelsea!

The Mountains Beyond: A Presentation on Haiti

Last evening on St. Andrew's Day, Pastor Luckey and I introduced about a hundred or so members of Faith Lutheran Church to the work of Christian Flights International in Haiti. With real Haitian coffee and delicious fruits sprinkled with coconut-sugar made by Mama in Ivy Solomon's home, everyone got a very good introductory feel as to what it's like to live in Haiti and how we as Christians might provide witness to the kingdom of God making itself manifest among the people of Ranquitte, a small mountain village in northeastern Haiti. Right now several of us are planning to go again to Haiti, sometime in mid-April after Easter. If in your resurrected life you'd like to visit Ranquitte and return a person in love with Haiti, let me know. And if you wish to love the Haitian people now and from this day forward, please include them and the missionary folks of Christian Flights International in your prayers and intercessions. Thanks.

Katie Elise Harnack says, "Hello, family!"

Good morning, Katie! Little Katie, the daughter of Lisa and Tim Simonds, was born on Tuesday, July 31, 2007, shortly after 5:00 a.m. Weighing 4.11 pounds, she--and her mom (Tim is a mess!) are doing well, thanks ever so much for the loving care of Carol, Katie's grandmother, a wonderful nurse. Katie and Lisa will be staying at Erlanger Medical Center for the rest of the week. When you get a chance, offer God a prayer of thanksgiving and then give Katie a phone call! We're all so happy for you--Lisa, Tim, and Katie! As you can see from this photo that Tim took right after the delivery, we have a beautiful new girl in our family!

Peeing and Pooping Again

For three now we been not going to the bathroom (Yeah! Right!), and now today we can go again, thanks to Best Septic Tank--Tony and John--who have replaced our old field tile with a brand new system of pipes. Now all we have to do is throw out the corn cobs, go to WalMart and get some toilet paper!

Having returned from our family reunion, this year at Dauphin Island, I'm delighted that our family has been able to keep itself together. It's a real effort to gather everyone together because we are so separated geographically and at times spiritually. In spite of--or at times, I think, because of--our differences, the blood of us Harnacks runs thick and deep. As paterfamilias, I'm so privileged to have such a wonderful bunch of kids, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. O yes, we argue a good bit (mostly about politics), but in the end there's always the huggings, the looking forward to seeing one another again, and the prayers that sustain us in our variety and differences. Some of us are politically conservative (yea, a libertarian!), others are liberal (listening, of all things, to NPR!), and others largely a-political. But in blood, and I like to think, in the blood of Christ, we are a real family. One, Carol, comes with enormous forgiveness in heart, and her presence is the light of Christ among us. Others come with professional preoccupations, overloads of work that don't disappear even on vacation times. Still others come as precious children, innocent of our family's history, but eager and willing to be lilke the children about whom Jesus says "are of the kingdom of God." For all who came to this year's week-long reunion, I give heartfelt thanks to God for their presence, their determination to keep the tradition going, and their holding of hands in prayer and in grace before our meals. It's all quite wonderful!