Dear Beloved of God,
       Next week Paul and I are heading to a family reunion in Massachusetts. My mom has invited her siblings and all the cousins to join her for a week of reconnecting. I am not sure yet who will be in attendance, but I look forward to reconnecting with those who will be. It has been over fifteen years since I was last with this branch of the family.
       Several years ago our son gave us a membership to Ancestry.com. I spent hours looking up photos and histories from both my parents’ ancestors. It was fascinating, and made be grateful for all the people that have come before me. I found photos of great, great grandparents, and wondered what their lives could have been like in the 19^th century when there weren’t so many household conveniences and when the worry about the climate crisis didn’t exist. So much was changing, even back then, as the U.S. economy was shifting from small family farms to manufacturing.
       We have seen immense change in our own lifetimes—a small hand-held phone can do more than the old main-frame computers that took up entire rooms. If I need to find an address or phone number for any of you, it’s all in the directory on my phone! How fabulous is that? Although I know that some people choose not to adopt these gadgets, I am impressed that some folks, now in their 90s, have adopted iPads and iPhones and seem to navigate them with relative ease, video chatting with their children and friends.
       I still prefer the irreplaceable in-person visit. It may be more time-consuming, since it requires travel, but it is SO satisfying! As I travel to visit with my extended family on my mother’s side, I look forward to returning to visit with you, my new church family. If you need to reach me, text or call my cell and leave me a message.