Dear Family and Friends:

Today I write a letter to everyone.  First, I want to thank those of you who have been following my blog and for all the notes and messages received.  Thanks for your encouragement.  I haven’t been able to return messages for each one but I love receiving them.  I am getting caught up now that I am finished with the class last week.  That was such an amazing week.

The entire week last week was dedicated to learning about healing in the Biblical since.  We had opportunity to be prayed for and to pray for others.  I shared in a blog last week some of the truths I learned from scripture.  I am not going to repeat it here because I want to listen to the download I bought last week of the sessions and do some deeper study before I share it and possibly share it incorrectly.  I was so busy every moment of the day that by the time I came home in the evening to my Cousin’s home I could barely write my blog.  I actually fell asleep a few times doing it and almost fell off my chair.  Not a good feeling!

I want to share from my heart what this trip has meant to me.  I have not clue as to what I am going to say so let me dig a little and stir up some memories.  First I want to say thanks again to my husband for standing behind me in this endeavor, holding the fort at home (actually washing each toilet at least once a week) while I am gone, and giving me loving and encouraging words each day on the phone.  I realize what I miss so much is his touch.  That has never been one of my love languages but I realize now how much I miss it when it is not experienced everyday.  Just a hug, a squeeze on the shoulder, the touch of a hand, all say so much.  Touch those close to you.  Give a hug to your spouse and children and GRANDCHILDREN.  They may not think they need it but they probably really do.  I love to give hugs and one day while at church I hugged a woman that I felt God was directing me to give a hug to each week.  After several months I realized she always came up to me anticipating that hug.  One Sunday she whispered in my ear, “I love your hugs.  This is the only hug I receive all week and the only touch from another person.”  She was widowed the previous year and lived alone.  You never know how much a hug might mean to someone else.

One important thing I have practiced more, is listening.  I always have so much to say that listening has sometimes been put on the back shelf.  I want to say to any that I may have every offended in the past that I am truly sorry.  I now realize that everyone has lots to say if they just have someone interested enough to listen.  It is becoming more apparent to me that people need to be heard.  People are starving to be heard.  Do I have to agree with them?  No.  Do I need to tell them I disagree with them?  No. All I need to do is listen.  I am getting better at it and very educated at the same time (quite interesting educations).  Do I still talk too much?  PROBABLY!  No… the answer is yes, but I have come along ways.

Another thing I have learned by listening to people and observing their relationships with one another is, that I need to step back and listen to my own voice as well.  How do I sound when answering another person?  What are my voice inflections saying to the other person?  Are some of the things I speak even necessary?  Do I sound defensive?  If I disagree with something said do I need to argue until the other person agrees with my perspective?  I ask myself these questions and wonder if some of the situations I see could be diffused if answered or spoken in a different tone of voice.  I can remember times when it was pointed out to me that I came across differently than I thought I was coming across.  It is up to us to be certain we say what we say in a voice and tone that depicts what we purpose to get across.  I’ll have to practice when I get home to see if I am learning what I’m telling you about.  I want to stop and listen to the words in my head before they become sounds in another’s ears.  Words are so powerful.  How they are spoken, what words are used, and how they are presented.  Maybe we should STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN…and then  speak.  I ask God that He will help me do that.

Even though my every day on the road has been full, rewarding, and wonderful in its own way I realize more and more each day how important are the friends that await me at  home.  Friends are precious and priceless.  I think of individual friends and wish I could just call or connect with them.  While at the homes of those I am visiting I believe it is important for me to give them my attention without a phone in hand or at ear.  So I have chosen to leave the phone in my room and check messages occasionally to see if I have any pressing information that needs addressing.  I have tried to return all calls within a few days.  Honestly, I very rarely have a few moments to myself.  I have been able to connect with my family on occasion by calling before I get out of bed in the mornings.  Even when I awaken early or as late at 7:00 I can still call Wisconsin and find everyone up and at their day.  Nights are a little more difficult because it is so late in Wisconsin before my day ends here.  So I say to you in this letter a great big H E L L O!  I do miss all of you and look forward to seeing you again but I don’t want to rush it.  Even though I am in my 11th week of being on the road I am looking forward to every day that lies ahead, enjoying each one to the fullest when it comes.

This journey has given me an even greater appreciation for living in the moment.  It is truly in the moment that I live.  However, this week I have had a few planning sessions that have come up and must be attended to.  Until I get the next segment planned I will have no place to go.  This week is a gift from God to me.  I have a home that has offered me shelter until I am ready to leave.  Shelter AND delicious food!  Hmm…maybe I should just stay the summer…they have great air conditioning too!  But,  I guess  not.  God still has assignments for me so I must get on the road again.  I never know what my assignments are, when they will come, or what they are.  When it is time, then I know.  So I guess I’ll keep on keeping on.

Today I spent 4 hours at Triple A in Redding, California with a travel agent planning my next segment after I leave Daneece and Joyce.  After hours of work, the travel agent’s computer would not accept all that she had input and she had to do it all over.  I left and will pick up the plans tomorrow.  My best recollection tells me that I will be staying at another 13 or 14 locations, some up to one week long, others as short as one nighters.  I have four more homes to stay in and the rest will be Airbnb.com while I am on the road.  If I remember correctly I think I wrote about Airbnb early in my blogging.  For those of you who joined the blog later I’ll explain a little here.  Airbnb stands for “online (through the air) bed and bath” accommodations in  private homes.  People are vetted (background checked) and join a network to advertise their home for rent.  Usually it is just a bedroom and bath.  And sometimes the bath is shared with the family. I stayed at two in Texas and had a feeling of safety as a lone woman coming into a neighborhood instead of going to a hotel parking lot and having to carry my belongings in by myself.  As an Airbnb customer each traveler must also be vetted with a background check.  One complaint about the home or the customer and the persons are not longer allowed to be in the system.  So…everyone is on their best behavior.  The prices go from $10  to hundreds of dollars per night.  They are not in every town but I have been able to choose enough that I think I will be able to make it all across Canada by using only Airbnb.  I do have a few places I will be with friends and family but other than that I will use Airbnb.  I’ll tell you more about them as I journey toward home.

Speaking of “toward home” I have felt since the first day I left that my journey was always headed toward home, not away from home.  I have always been progressing, not going away from, but going toward.  And I am still progressing toward…and home is my ultimate destination.  Home and a husband retiring on July 4th, and friends, and a cluttered house, two weddings to finish, one newborn session to finish and one senior portrait session to finish.  Going toward my church body, and what is left of summer, and my husband, my son, my daughter-in-law and my two loves of my life, Zach and Xander, and my gardens, and my CSA box, and making more soups, filling my freezer, cleaning out 42 years of collections, redoing the kitchen, having surgery AND…QUIET!!!  Oh yes, and retirement!  As my friend Bill says:  “NOT RETIRE–BUT REFIRE!”

Yes, I said QUIET!  Pure unadulterated, soundless quiet.  Just me and the Lord.  NO TELEVISION!!!  Hours and hours of quiet.  And then I will go outside, sit in my chair and listen to the birds.  I can hear the birds now you know.  Before my ears were healed in October 2012 I had not heard birds for many years.  The first time I heard the bird song I stood under the trees and cried.  And I have been hearing them all across the country.  Some of their sounds I have never heard before.  Somehow, bird songs are not noise.  To me they are like jewels tinkling in the air.  And sometimes, I still stand under the trees and cry.

Love to all of you,

Kathleen

(Wanda to some)