In Philadelphia

Arriving at the 30th Street bus station, we encountered our first 'hitch' -- no sign of the lady who was to pick us up. After about an hour and a half, after much walking up and down, and couple of phone calls, we finally connected up. She had misread the email, and gone to the 'train' station!

Our trip to the  rehab centre was entertaining also, as our friend tried to navigate using both a sat nav/GPS, AND a Google maps print-out! 

We finally made it to the massive Presbyterian medical facility in Ryland, and joined the queue of people visiting dear Grace (it was Labor Day, a public holiday here). It was so good to see Grace again, but sad to see her suffering the effects of cancer, and its treatment. However, she was bright and assured us that she was free of pain. She was certainly quite tired, after a lot of visitors over Sunday and the Monday holiday. One of the visitors who arrived after us was Sandy Finlayson, Westminster Seminary librarian, and colleague of Grace's, together with his wife, Linda. It was great meeting them: before coming here, Sandy had served as an elder in the Free Church congregation in Toronto (despite his name, he is in fact a Canadian). He is now an elder in the OPC church pastor end by Dr Carl Trueman, from Westminster Seminary.

Collecting Grace's house key from her, we were conveyed to her place on Limekiln Pike, where we had stayed a night or two back in 2001. Our kind friend took us down to the shops (a Wa Wa store - has nothing to do with babies!), where we purchased some bits for dinner. After she (and daughter) left, we got settled in. It was very hot and humid right through the night --  made sleeping difficult, but hey, we are on vacation!

Today (Tuesday, I think), we headed off on foot down to the local shopping centre to find birthday cards, stamps and the local library, where we are enjoying the air con (none at Grace's place), and catching up on correspondence.

This afternoon, we are being taken to visit Grace, and we hope to have dinner with her at the medical centre...

We were picked up by Ayla Higgins (a lovely young -45- Taiwanese girl doing her second year at Westminster) at 3pm and she took us to be with Grace. 

We spent a very precious 3 hours together 'hiding' in a lounge room so we wouldn't be disturbed. 

We showed her the photos of you, and the grandchildren, and she sends her love to you all. She said she would especially pray for Cate, who stayed with her back in 2002. Grace told us that the Rev. John P Galbraith, now over 100years old and still driving his car, was also living in this facility. Pete had met him on several occasions at various ICRC meetings and also heard him preach. So Pete went exploring and after having about six people helping him, he eventually found the right room. This man remembered Pete and also knew lots about the CRCA and was asking questions about it. So that was another special bonus for Pete. 

We then had dinner with Grace after which we returned to her room where Pat Clausen came to take us home. She is the one who has facilitated our time here and has been so kind.