What Martin does when nobody is watching!

He watches Animal Planet, of course! Actually, Mike puts him in the den and turns on Animal Planet whenever we have our Bible Study group here. (And you thought he didn't like Martin)

Honor Flight

Grandpa Dave went on the Honor Flight this week to Washington DC! They went first to the WWII memorial. Then they took a bus tour to many other memorials. They saw the White House from a distance. He said they don't go too close anymore. 88 Vets from Rochester and the area and 44 guardians (those who went to help the vets) took a charter flight from Roch. airport. When they returned at 10:10 p.m., probably 500-600 people were there to greet them. A bagpipe band played national and military anthems. Grandpa said he never shook so many hands before; all thanking the vets for their service!

When it rains, it pours...

Hi All! It's been awhile and boy, have we been busy! Things around the Benson house have been buzzin'. The last month we have had things go wrong: dishwasher troubles, water softener repair, clothes washer died, car accident, etc. etc. etc. So, we have gotten the water softener fixed, bought a new washer AND dryer, and are buying a new car to replace our wrecked van. [poor Olivia :( ]

I LOVE my new Honda Fit, "Belle!" And now we will be getting another Honda Fit (red), "Rudy!" This came about because of a car accident Mike had on Friday, Oct. 3. Another car ran a red light and BOOM! Thankfully, everyone involved is ok.

It was homecoming weekend for Mayo High School (Jim) this weekend, also. He had a friend come up from Iowa that he had met at camp. Candace is a lovely young lady. We were delighted to have her stay with us. It was VERY cold at the football game and, unfortunately, they lost. I heard the dance was great!

Sad News/Good News

No pics, just want to let everyone know that this past two weeks has been very hard. We got our mother-in-law, Millie, moved up to Rochester. Then we took her to doctor appointments. They told us to get her into the hospital right away. She was in a lot tougher shape than we knew. On August 6, she passed away. That is the sad news for us. The Good News is that she is now in heaven with her heavenly Father, and Kenny, and Karen. Thankfully, all knew and loved Jesus so we know that they are in a wonderful place. We will someday join them!

Back to Work

August 1st means back to the office for Mike. He will be continuing to get ready for the new school year at Crossroads

College.

We also want to say how proud we are of our son-in-laws. Luke finished his Master of Divinity program at Emmanuel and the fam will be moving to Baltimore soon to begin a new service for the

Lord with Mountain Christian Church. Ryan will graduate from

Notre Dame with his Masters in Accounting on August 8. They live in Columbus, Ohio. Congrats, guys!

Moving Miracles

In the past 10 days we have cleaned out, cleaned up, SOLD Grandma Millie's house, and moved her to MN. It actually sold before it even had the for sale sign up! She is now living in Arbor Terrace, an independent living center for seniors in Rochester.

Here are the new digs. It's a two bedroom apartment with lots of

amenities like 3 meals, nursing care when needed, housekeeping,

etc. Come and visit! It really was a miracle to get all that done, and

also selling Grandpa Dave's house in 5 days!

Summer Time

It's been a while... It's summer and Mike and I both have an academic schedule now, which means, SUMMERS OFF!!! We have been VERY busy taking care of parents and their houses. We have been cleaning out Dad's and will work on Gma Millie's this next week. We are planning to move Gma up here in the same facility as Gpa.

Summer trip to Sweden... Mike and Jimmy took a great trip to Sweden and Norway. They visited both Stockholm and Oslo and had a wonderful

time! Everything was VERY expensive. Even a Burger King chicken sandwich cost $10. There was lots of water. They saw lots of harbors, took a train trip across country, and experienced Scandinavian culture and cuisine (cold fish for breakfast??? not!). But they are both glad to be

home.

We spent some time in Illinois, too. Jael and Delaney love their Great-Grandma Benson. Briana and Delaney, and Holly and Jael

came to visit with everyone. The girls met both great-grandmas and great-aunts and uncles and cousin Tess. Then I got to go to Briana's house and spend another whole week with the girls! I've been in grandma heaven this summer! It's a good gig!