Saturday September 26 2015  HEARTFELT THANKS

Next Thursday, Oct 1^st, I will have been home from my trip for three months.  These are the fastest three months of my life.  So much has happened since I’ve been home that I actually haven’t had my feet hit the ground much.  On the flip side it seems as if it has been a time of forever, as if time has stood still and at the same time a whirlwind swished through my life causing so much to happen that I can’t keep it straight.

Today has been a day to remember.  This is the first day I have had since I have been home that has not been scheduled.  And that is only because I didn’t sign up last week for an event, which took place today, and that I look forward to attending each September.  So what did I do with that time?  I promptly fell asleep on the couch when I laid down to rest for a few moments. 

I’ve worked hard, played hard, cleaned hard, talked a lot, spent time at the hospital with a sick husband, had the grandkids overnight, cooked incessantly, had overnight guests, planned another upcoming trip, and a myriad of other situations, including writing my blog each evening.  Finally, today I had a few unscheduled moments, and I FELL ASLEEP!  It felt good!

I said all that to say this:  I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank every single person who hosted me as I traveled cross country this spring.  It is amazing all that must happen in one’s life to prepare, plan, rearrange one’s schedule, entertain, clean, and cook for someone to come and spend the night.  I want everyone who did that for me to please accept my heartfelt thanks once again.  I know many will probably not read this blog but I wanted to write it perchance there are those who are still reading it.  I offer the hospitality of our home to you as our guest if you ever have a chance to be passing through our area, or even if you want to make us your destination.  My friend Lana who was with me the last three days hosted me on two separate occasions on my travels.  What a blessing she and her husband were to me when they opened up their home, served me delicious meals, took time off to visit and drove me to special sights.  It was such a pleasure for me to be able to reciprocate even a fraction of what they did for me!  It was such a joy to be with Lana but it just didn’t seem like it was long enough.  Is any part of life ever long enough?

Many thanks to my nephew Eric and his wife Karen for treating me to lunch on my first day on the road.  Thanks to Karen’s aunts who hosted me for my first two nights of travel without ever having met me.  It was so good to see my Aunt Gracie and Uncle Bob as I traveled through Rolla.   Many thanks to my longtime friend Kathleen and her husband for opening their home to me in Willow Springs Arkansas.  Thanks to my cousin Rita and her husband for allowing me to spend several nights with them in Branson and taking me to Springfield to see my cousin Janey and her family.

I would especially like to thank my Aunt Esther for opening her home once again to me as a headquarters in the Russellville Arkansas area so I could visit with her as well as see my sister Scarlett and my Aunt Vela and Uncle Buddy.  Thanks to my cousin Janet and her husband for opening their home to me as a stopover on my way to Austin Texas.  And even though I disturbed them due to the sounds I made being up so late while writing my blog they even allowed me to come back again.

Thanks for longtime friends Dave and Peggy in Texas who hosted me for several nights.  They are two of the most significant people in our entire lives.  It is because of them, allowing God to use them in their ministry of finding homes for adoptable newborn babies, that we have our daughter Rebecca.  It was after this visit that I returned to Euless Texas to stay once again with Janet and her family.  Thank you Janet for all the work and any disturbance I may have caused.  She made it possible for me to also see her sisters Nora and LaFawn.  Nora, I thank you with a deep heart for taking time off work to go with me to the gardens in the Fort Worth area and President George Bush’s Library in Dallas.  Also thanks for the trip to Old Fort Worth.  That was awesome!  One of the things I really loved was our shopping spree!

It was during the next interlude that I stayed with Lana.  Intermittently along the way I stayed in Air BNB’s.  I am so thankful for the Air BNB families who rent rooms in their own homes to strangers who are traveling through their cities.  I had a respite time with Lana and then took off for Denver to stay with my “other” adopted daughter, Cynthia.  Thank you Cynthia and hubby for your hospitality and the love I felt while in your home.  Cynthia had a newborn baby waiting for me to meet.  Her oldest son was also a delight.  He calls me “grandma”.  I will never forget going to Red Rock with Cynthia and Chris.  It was amazing!

And then I drove back to Albuquerque to stay at Lana’s for several more days!  Twice in one trip.  And she still came to see me!  She left last night and I am already missing her.

After I left Lana’s I stayed with someone else very special, a friend from church who moved to Arizona with her husband when he retired.  The drive to her house was one of the most magnificent drives I have ever seen.  I drove through the Tonto National Forest.  It was worth the entire trip.  Seeing JoAnn and her family was also worth it.  I felt like was living in a dream at her place.  She lives right in the middle of the most beautiful desert I have ever seen.   I never realized how beautiful the desert really was.  She treated me like royalty and I felt as if I slept in a queen’s bed every time I climbed the steps to reach the mattress. 

From Mesa Arizona I drove across Southern California, almost to the coast, to a little town in the San Diego area.  There I visited with friends whom my husband I met right after we first married 42 years ago.  She and her husband lead a quiet, very private life on top of a mountain in the middle of an avocado ranch.  That too was an amazing stay!  And what an amazing story their life is.

I am concerned that if I mention any more places I stayed in tonight’s blog no one will continue to read.  So, I will continue at a later date until I thank each and every person I stayed with along the way.  What these friends, family, and strangers did for me, and with me, will never be forgotten.  Simple words seem not enough.

WORDS SEEM NOT ENOUGH

By Kathleen Martens

September 26, 2015

Simple words seem not enough

To express my thanks to you.

All because of friends and family

My one wish came true.

My actual dream was to see

Once again all those I love.

It was my joy to visit each,

But your love went far above.

Each and every place I stayed

In memory I hold dear.

Wonderful thoughts I will hold

To reminiscence year after year.

Thank you for such hospitality

That you so freely shared.

Your time was like pure gold to me

And showed me that you cared.

And now nostalgia rears its head

As I think about the recent past,

With hope that my thanks to you

In your heart will forever last.

There are still so many places to remember along my way.  I will finish at a later date to give my thanks to each and every one who had a part and made it possible for me to visit those I love.  There were so many I did not have opportunity to see for various reasons and that will forever be a loss to me.  I am just so thankful for all that I did have chance to visit.  Thanks for letting me relive my travels in this evening’s blog.

I shall now see if I can salvage this day and “feel accomplished” before bed time.  Perhaps I shall take another nap.  Now that would be an accomplishment.

God bless you, and good night.