More pics from Memorial Day weekend in Texas

(from Bobby)

Tamie, 38 as of Sunday, is as beautiful as the day I met her (she was an 18-year-old freshman at Oklahoma Christian). Enjoy the cute pics, as well, of Keaton and Kendall. As for Brady, he's at that tender age (almost 15) where he turns his head or covers his eyes every time I try to take a picture.

Sunday afternoon at the swimming pool

Happy birthday to you ... Tamie, Keaton, C.J. and Dad

(from Bobby)

The Rosses celebrated May birthdays tonight ... Tamie will be 38 tomorrow. Keaton was 11 on Friday. My nephew C.J. turned 15 on May 11. And Dad is 63 as of May 20.

Happy birthday to ALL of you!

Praying for John and Maggy Dobbs

(from Bobby)

As faithful readers of The Ross News (all five of you) know, John Dobbs inspired me to start blogging nearly three years ago.

At the time, we knew each other only through e-mail and a couple of telephone calls. But then came Hurricane Katrina, and I met John (minister of the Central church in Pascagoula, Miss.) in person and we became even better friends than technology had allowed. Imagine that. :)

The last time I saw John was this past December when I was working on stories in New Orleans and Bayou La Batre, Ala. John and his wife, Maggy, welcomed me to their house for dinner and let me stay the night. Al Sturgeon, minister of the Ocean Springs church, and his wife, Jody, came for dinner, too. We had a great time. (I don't know if Maggy's superb chicken dish played a role, but when I listed "three blogs that I read" in a recent Chronicle column, John's and Al's blogs were two that I named.)

That night at dinner, I also was blessed to meet John's teenage son, John Robert, a high school senior. He was polite and did not complain about his dad asking him to eat with a Christian newspaper guy on a Friday night.

This afternoon, when I got back to the office from Kendall's end-of-year school awards assembly, I had three e-mails from different people sharing the horrible news that John Robert had died in a tragic collision on the interstate. One e-mail was from Brian Nicklaus, who created a prayer group on Facebook. I would invite you to join the group and am pleased that my 14-year-old son, Brady, invited a number of his Oklahoma friends to do so.

John, Al, Danny Dodd and Terry Rush all have blogged about this tragedy. Even if you don't know John, you would be truly blessed if you took the time to click and read each of their posts.

Al, Danny and Terry are all ministering to John in marvelous ways. Thank God for them. And thank God for John and Maggy. They are such people of faith and are such an inspiration to so many. I am lying awake feeling so awful for what they are going through. But I know God is in control and will carry them through this storm.

Remembering a friend

(from Bobby)

My brother, Scott, called me Sunday morning to tell me that Michael Wall had been killed in a motorcycle accident. The news saddened me, even though I don't guess I had seen Michael in years.

The Walls -- Clyde, Kay, Bryan, Michael and Patricia -- lived across the street from us when my family moved to Keller, Texas, for Mom and Dad to serve as houseparents at Christ's Haven for Children in 1982. Scott and I immediately became close friends with Michael and his brother, Bryan. All of us were "houseparents' kids," and both our families attended the old Midtown church in Fort Worth, so we had a lot in common. We watched movies together, went on church youth outings together, stayed all night at each other's houses, et cetera. In a world (even at church) where the kids from the children's home weren't considered the coolest, we stuck together.

At some point, we all left home and went our separate ways and didn't see much of each other. I have seen Kay from time to time while going to church with Mom in Keller, but as I mentioned, haven't seen Bryan or Michael or Patricia forever.

But I've been thinking about the old days (the good old days, in a way) a lot since I heard about Michael's accident. My understanding is that he leaves behind a wife and a child. I am so sorry for their loss. And I am so sorry for Clyde and Kay losing a son. Thirty-eight just seems so young -- too young -- to die. My heartfelt prayers and sympathy go out to Michael's family and all those close to him.

Candid camera

Here are some recent pics of the kids, including Keaton learning how to do the weather report on Fox 25 (thank you, Uncle Dave!), Kendall at the zoo with her friend Taylor, and Brady playing his new guitar.

Enjoy!

At our wits end

(from Tamie)

We've talked until we're hoarse, reasoned until we're blue in the face, and still we're making no headway with a certain child and a certain forbidden behavior.

Malibu Redux

(from Tamie. QUICK NOTE: If you are Randy Roper, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER. Thank you.)

Five Rosses in Oklahoma minus two Rosses in Malibu equals five Rosses in Oklahoma.

As I like to say, Word People don't have to know math.

Bobby and I are here in beautiful Malibu, Calif., at the annual Pepperdine Bible Lectures. Our children are at home with Bobby's parents. So the equation adds up (boy does it ever!)

Of course, we almost didn't make it here. Bobby tried his best to keep us in Phoenix, to the point of parking us at the wrong gate in a completely different terminal. Had it not been for the friendly Southwest Airlines person who announced a final boarding call for our destination, as well as "ROSS, PARTY OF TWO!" we'd still be sitting in Phoenix. I would seriously love to have video of that moment, when we heard that sentence and looked at each other. Total sitcom material, us flipping out and running down the moving sidewalk thingee.

Oh, and then there was me missing our exit off the 405 in Los Angeles - for the second consecutive year. I'll blame my ringing cell phone, paralyzing traffic, etc.

Really, we have had a great trip. It is wonderful to put faces and voices with names. I'm promoting the online Chronicle in different ways, Bobby is working on a story. We're going to lectures and classes and different events, staying in a beautiful room with a breathtaking view. Tomorrow, we'll work most of the day and then fly home (with both of us verifying gate numbers).

Even a short trip here isn't complete without some beach time, though. So this afternoon during our dinner break, we headed north to Zuma Beach - our personal favorite of the ones we've visited in this area.

Like last year, Bobby HAD to wear his swimsuit and HAD to get wet. I think this video is even funnier than last year's, personally. Sorry it's sideways - user error.

And he went in again.

And now, a few photos taken at elbow's length. 

As an aside, I am wearing jeans and a jacket. It was 60 degrees. The natives are in summer attire, on the beach and in the water. We obviously are not of the same species.

I waffle on whether we'll ever bring the kids with us on this trip. On one hand, they would love it here. On the other, they would love it here. Someday they'll be choosing colleges. Heck, Brady is already getting recruiting letters in the mail!

Being away from our kids is easier with video chat. We were able to count heads, confirm that Papa and Nanney were NOT tied up somewhere and that the house was still standing. Not that the opposite would have pried us out of here any sooner, but otherwise our beach time would have been much more somber. At least I think so.

If you're at Pepperdine, come see us Friday morning at 9:45 in CAC 301. We want your thoughts about our work and some input on future plans! And we'd love to put more names/faces/voices and frigid beach experiences together.