March 7, 2015 DAY ONE

I wish I could capture words as I live through each moment.  But alas, if I am writing, then I am not doing.  So I must rely on my 24 hour memory to write all that my brain was experiencing yesterday.  It was a beautiful, wonderful, uneventful day of driving.  It was my wish to have it so.  My prayer this past month was that God would allow the storms to go before me or come behind me.  Because of my postponement of leaving last week I missed an awful ice and snow storm at exactly the place I would have been had I left on time.  Today I sat in the church in Rolla Missouri and the pastor told about how the church had been used as a safe place for 60 of the people who were stranded on the highway after being involved in a 25 vehicle car crash on Interstate 44.  There were no services at the church last Sunday due to the horrible road conditions and all the people who were stranded without a means of transportation, using the church as a place to stay. The church body braved the storm and accommodated the people with places to sleep and food to eat.  Well, that was one storm I missed.

Back to yesterday, the sun was shining, the sky was full of beautiful clouds, the land was covered in snow and the air was pristine.  I saw a wolf alongside the road, dead, but still beautiful. And I must admit I have never seen such beautiful artistic power lines.  Really amazing works of art.  I so much wanted to stop and capture their beauty with the camera but knew it would not be safe with people speeding by at 80 miles an hour.  The speed limit was 70 and they were all passing me so I figure they were going 80.  Fortunately there was not much traffic and I don’t recall there being any construction.  I also was surprised as I drove into Rolla to see so much carnage and twisted burned out MAC trucks still on the side of the Interstate awaiting removal.  So many skid marks and deep gouges in the earth made the accident all too vivid and real.

My first stop was in St. Louis where I promptly got lost following map quest’s written instruction.  “Lost as a goose” as my mother used to say.  So what does a damsel in distress do?  Well, ask for instructions of course; did it on my hands free car phone by calling my source point, my nephew Eric.  I only got lost a couple more times.  Finally, safe and sound, I arrived on a quaint narrow street from the 1930’s.  Beautiful, all brick homes with gingerbread and arched doorways and steepled gables.  And we were all hungry and that is where the pizza above originated from.

Now, just so you know, my car is packed to the gills.  I didn’t have time to cull my last clothing list so I stuck it all in.  And after one day, my car is already a mess.  And it will stay that way until I get to my next stop tomorrow evening when I plan to take everything out, and start over!

I’ll tell you one thing, I never realized just how much God still has to teach me.  And…He is using every day to do so.  I think I am in for an interesting trip!

Briefly, as this message is getting wordy, everything that was in my front seat was rearranged to the back seat (bigger mess) so nephew Eric could ride to Rolla with me.  His wife followed, for a while until she realized I drive the speed limit and then I followed her for about two minutes.  She arrived a few minutes before we did.  And oh what a delight I walked into.  Eric’s wife’s aunts graciously opened their home to me, sight unseen so I could stay in Rolla and visit my Aunt Gracie.  A home that you actually felt love dripping from the ceilings.  Their story is amazing and interesting and too long to tell in this post.  Remember this adventure is to tell it like it is.  Stay tuned to hear about these two identical twin ladies with hearts of gold.

March 8, 2015   DAY TWO

…A day that was more priceless as gold.  Spent the entire day with my precious Aunt Gracie, my mother’s sister.  It was one of her “good days”.  She is experiencing memory loss.  Some times the loss seems more severe than others.  Aunt Gracie seemed to be her same usual jovial self.  She remembered me, my face that is, but not a lot of the details of my life.  She still had a recollection of my children at different times during the day.  She asked the same questions over and over and I answered each one as if it was the first time.  Moments are always new to her and she seems content most of the time, but at others, shows concern for what she know is happening to her.  Even if she didn’t remember me, I remember her, and I wouldn’t have missed this opportunity for anything.  I so wanted to see her one more time in my life and I have done so.  We talked and talked and shared long ago memories that she recalls vividly.  It was so fun to hear her tell of them, and how new and refreshing  they are to her.  I think she especially enjoyed to have someone to listen to her.  Her precious Bob is in recovery from a serious fall several months ago.  He is able to walk with the aid of a cane but I can see the sadness that he has due to his loss of activity.  He was always such a hard worker and doer of anything that needed to be done.  It was such a beautiful thing to see how devoted they are to each other.

I went to church with her and then met up with her daughter and we all went out to eat.  Aunt Gracie’s appetite is alive and well.  When seeing how much she loves to eat it is surprising that she is so tiny and thin.  She seems like a delicate flower, fragile and beautiful.

March 9, 2015   DAY THREE

My last day with C and S.  Worked out on their stationery bike, more delightful conversations and story time, preparation for my next trip, packing up  for the ride south and then time to meet my Aunt and Uncle before leaving Rolla.

Gracie and Bob were able to meet up with me the next day for a lunch at a Burger place.  I passed on the menue, she ate half a burger.  But she was not having a good day.  She was unable to stay long and we parted with tears and hugs.

Went back to C and S home, packed the car and I was on my way.

March 10, 2015   DAY FOUR

Started the journey Saturday and now it is Tuesday and I feel as if I have lived a lifetime in between.  And what a beautiful lifetime!  Amazing how much can be packed into three days.  Today I am resting.  On Saturday I met up with my nephew Erik and wife Karen at their home and had a wonderful LATE LUNCH, as I was late for my first scheduled appointment.  I tried so hard to arrive on time.  I did everything except speed. I suppose if I had not left 2 hours and 40 minutes late I would have had a better chance of being there on a time.  It was a lovey surprise to find out that Eric and wife were going to my second stop with me.  Karen had made it possible for me to spend two night with her aunts in a location where I needed accommodations.  If nothing else wonderful happens on this trip it will have been worth it  just meeting these two delightful, godly ladies.  WOW!  What a weekend of learning and blessings from the Lord.

These two ladies, I will call them C and S, are identical twins.  They are so full of the Lord that God’s love just drips from the ceilings of their home.  I could feel the Lord’s presence when I entered their home.  I have never felt so humbled to be in the presence of such loving and caring people.  The parts of their story I heard while there would make a long interesting book and a better movie.  I will have to write more about them later as I do have their permission to do so.  They have lived an amazing 82 years.  I wish I could have spent many more days learning from them and hearing about the wonderful miracles that have happened and are still happening in their live.  From the moment I walked in and met Miss C my learning experience began.  God started doing a work in me that even surprised me.  I believe I was supposed to be there exactly when I was there.  I was presented with a wonderful opportunity to reach out and share God’s love with a young man who was staying with them.  As a new believer he was searching for so many answers.  I know the words God allowed me to share with him touched him deeply and possibly will make a great difference in his life.  It is always a great joy to  be able to pray with others.  However, this was a situation where I think I was much more blessed than those I was with.  The seed had already been planted and God allowed me opportunity to water.

I arrived in Willow Springs last evening just in time for dinner.  So wonderful to sit down and have dinner with friends that I haven’t seen for awhile.  I am currently visiting with Kathleen and Mat formally City Church attendees.  We played a wonderful game of  9 hole golf (cards).  It was wonderful because I won!  Up way too late again and so today I slept in, raided the fridge, spent time with the Lord, and finally showed my face between 12:30 and 1:00 p.m..  This was all done with advance notice as it was Kathleen’s (the other Kathleen) idea.  What a great idea.  I’ll try to log a picture of the homes I’ve been to so you can see the different places and styles.

After updating the blog I will go work out at the YMCA.  I’ll try to log a picture of the homes I’ve been to so you can see the different places and styles.  Hopefully this will publish with the slow internet speed here at the Willow Springs Library.  None of the homes I’ve been in have WiFi.  And not many more do that I’ll be with the next week or so.  Uploads may be far and few between.