Tuesday June 30, 2015  DAY 118 THE CHOICES WE MAKE

Our lives are the sum total of the choices we make.

So where do I begin.  Or perhaps I should say, where do I end?  I had planned to take a lot of time just tonight reflecting on my trip but plans have a way of changing.  I was once told by a friend, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans”.  That is pretty much how this entire trip has gone.  I make the plans and God takes me where He wants me to go and brings tome the people He wants me to meet.  And so it was tonight.  A good plan change, especially when God is in it.

I was up by 5:30 a.m. this morning and on the road by 7:30 a.m.  Traveling home.  I have never felt like I was traveling away from home but for the first time today I actually realized I was traveling toward home!  My entire trip has always felt like I was on my way home but now I realized I really am going to be home.  Tomorrow.  How did that happen so quickly?  After all, there is still so much to do.  These past four months have been an absolutely amazing gift to me.  A gift first from God because I believe He put the desire in my heart to make this journey and retrace my life, stopping to see all I could fit into the schedule, seeing people I haven’t seen for years who are growing old as I grow older, friends from my childhood when we were both still in diapers.  A friend of my heart who has been my friend since we were six years old, friends from high school, friends from my adolescence from church, my closest friend that I met when I was in college, my spiritual mentor when I was a young mother, my children’s day care provider who gave me peace of mind to work when my babies were young, the beloved lady who found Rebecca for us so we could adopt her, my daughter’s mother’s mother and her father’s father, my aunts,  my uncle, my cousins, my sisters, nieces and nephews and grandnieces and a new step grandnephew, and all the people I met along the way that I call “divine meetings”.  Divine meetings are the people I believe God intended me to meet for some purpose, for some reason.  And even today that happened.  Remember the one named James who knocked on my door when I wasn’t going to go anyplace that day?  If I wasn’t going out God would bring them to me.  Well today was another happenstance such as that.  I never know when these meetings will happen and sometimes when they are happening I don’t realize it until the meeting is ending.

I traveled from 7:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. when I arrived at the Capitol in Lincoln Nebraska.  I prayed for a close parking spot and God took to the very one that was just opening for me.  I stopped (on a very main thoroughfare, waited a second and a car pulled out exactly as if I knew she was going to pull out, left the empty space and with my little Grey Fox I was able to front drive right into the space and park it perfectly on the first try.  It was smack, dab in front of the Capitol building.  Two hour parking from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m..  No meter!  There were only three such spots on the street for public parking.  I was there 5 minutes before the next tour began.  Well, when I got inside I asked for the time and found out it wasn’t just the next tour at 3:00, it was actually the LAST TOUR at 4:00.  I had forgotten that there would be a time change.  I barely made it.  It was so worth it.  I have never seen a capitol such as this one.  I think I shall explain it at a later date if the opportunity arises n order to save time tonight.  But I will say that I again was allowed to go to the top of the capitol and take photos from a bird’s eye view.  I included a picture of the building, which I could get all in the frame, even when I tilted the camera, and one from the tower of a church and my car parked in front of the capitol.  The building inside is unique, creative, very symbolic and made me fall in love with Nebraska because of all the symbolism and plans that when in to designing something for the people of that state.  The building is an amazing gift to the citizens of Nebraska.  I hope they realize what their state stands for.

After the tour I came directly to my last night’s stay on the road, an Airbnb residence.  I have not stayed in one hotel room on my entire strip.  My Airbnb nights were from $40 a night to one that was a last minute booking and nothing else was available that cost $100 and it was ocean front property. The rest were about $50 or $60 per night and some were absolutely luxurious.  Hopefully I will never need to stay in a hotel again with the ease of booking with Airbnb.com.  You must have a background check, so if you are ever interested in using this service you would need to plan ahead so you have time for the background check before you leave on a trip.  Tonight I have an entire house minus one bedroom that is being rented out.  The other guest also has use of the house except for my room.  I am sitting and a lovely kitchen dining room table, comfortable in my surroundings, and feel very much at home.

I met the Airbnb host, Don, at the house and he helped carry my luggage upstairs, clean up a mess of spilled water in my car, showed me around the premise and where things were.  He was polite and delightful to talk to.  I am in a beautiful neighborhood with my car tucked in the driveway off the street and three dogs who live in a house built for a dog in the garage, air conditioning, couch, and accessibility to the back yard who will bark if anyone comes on the premise.  What more could I ask for?  Oh yes, free WIFI, a refrigerator stocked with boxes of drinks, cans of seltzer waters, water and several other things.  I don’t know if the other things belong to the other guest or if there is always milk and condiments and vegetable juice and butter available.  There is even food in the freezer but I didn’t feel like cooking a turkey tonight.  I did eat a popsicle, at least a little bit of it.  Hope they were for the offering, I can’t remember what he told me about those.  Oh well, it’s gone now, melted on my plate.  Thank you Don for the Popsicle if it was meant for me, and thank you even if it wasn’t.  But…my husband will be happy to know I DID NOT HAVE EVEN ONE PIECE OF CHOCOLATE and there is a big jar of all my old favorites.  It has been several years now that I haven’t been able to eat chocolate because of the caffeine, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want too.  However, because of the seriousness of eating it, I have promised Dave that I will not eat it.  It causes me to go into serious Atrial Fibrillation and he has had to witness my being defibrillated too many times.

As you can see by my description above I have a comfortable place to stay.  And the best part I even had great company for a while this evening.  Don and I started talking and he stayed later that I expected he would or that he expected he would.  He asked for my blog and pulled it up for him, ended up reading last nights because I felt like it might be something he would enjoy.  After I read it Don said he felt as if he was listening in a dream.  He had just mentioned to a friend the very things I discussed in my blog and he felt like this was confirmation that he was supposed to hear what I wrote and that it would make a difference in his life with some decisions he needs to make.  When I write, I think I am writing for my pleasure and over and over I find that God is using the words to help others in ways I never thought of.  God direct me to write, the day before I meet Don, and Don tells his friend this morning the situation about wanting to make some changes in his life, and then I read to him what it is he just discussed with statements that give him pause to think of what it is he should be doing.  Who knew but God, that our lives would be coming together today for this short meeting and have that transpire.

We serve a mighty God!  He never ceases to amaze me.  His protection, His love, His guidance, putting words in my heart to write, bringing the right person along that feels those words are for them personally is way more than just chance or happenstance.  I asked Don for his wisdom.  He said that this is something that he heard once.

Don’s wisdom: “Our lives are the sum total of the choices we make.”

Oh my goodness!  I so agree.  It goes along with the talk I did at church before I left about intentionally thinking about what we do and the outcome it will have on our lives tomorrow, next week, and next year.  Everything we do has consequences, intended or unintended.  What choice we make from thinking intentionally will create the sum total of who we are.  Think about the fact that we, you and I , do have choices.  Make choices, don’t just go through life and “let” things happen.  Become the sum total of being the best you, you can be.  There is no one else who can be a better “YOU” than you.  Make the choices that will give you the sum total of who you want to be, one choice at a time, one day at a time.  Remember they will all accumulate to create the sum total of who you are.  Thank you Don for sharing that wisdom with me today.  It was a pleasure to meet you.

Now, back to my trip.  This is my last night on the road.  Tomorrow is a new beginning.  Both for Dave and I.  His life as he has known it for the last 50 years will change.  He has worked for 50 years.  He worked his way through college and worked all our married life.  For me it will be different because I will have a man under foot full time for the first time in 42 years!  SMILE!  I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT! And there is no other man I would want under foot more than the man I married.  God shined down on me that day!  I too will be retired (actually as of December 31, 2014) once I finish post production on two weddings from last summer and fall, one senior portrait’s art work, and one newborn session.  About two months more of work, then the sale of my equipment, teardown of the studio, and emptying everything out!  There is always one more thing to do.  And I am so looking forward to getting it done.

But before I go to what I have on my calendar to do, I want to say I am not finished with the summation of my trip.  I just need more time to contemplate.  Don helped me tremendously to do just that.  I don’t think he even realized it.  He was the first person to actually take my phone in hand and look at every picture.  I sat beside him at the kitchen table and told him some of the stories and looking at the pictures and telling the stories brought them all back to me, made them come alive in my heart again.  I have lived these four months in total connection of the moment I was living in.  No thought about what had transpired and no worry about what was to come.  I did have to do some midterm scheduling a places to stay but other than that I lived in the moment.  As most of you know, I didn’t even have a minute to make phone calls because I was always so engaged in whatever I was doing, with whomever I was with.  Every moment of most of my days were extremely busy and full with people and places and activities.  Hopefully I will be able to reconnect by phone and in true life.  I look forward to seeing everyone again.

Thank you for your prayers and your comments on my emails and texts.  It has been an unbelievable four months. I am now ready for the rest of my life.

One last detail.  As many of you know my trip was postponed at the beginning due to my diagnosis of two breast lumps.  I must have surgery when I return home and it is scheduled for July 27^th.  I will be going in for surgery for a partial mastectomy with the possibility of a complete mastectomy depending upon the outcome of the mass on my chest wall being removed easily or not.  I have not had one day of stress, worry, or fear about this situation.  It shows no cancer but because it is a return of a previous mass it must come out.  It is also quite painful.  I have not lost any sleep over it and I have not really even thought much about it until now when the reality of it coming up has surfaced in my thoughts.  Well, I just wanted you all to know so that you could continue to pray for me, and know why you may not see me again for a period of time while I recover.

I plan to write a closure to my trip (was going to do that tonight) and will do it either tomorrow night or in the next few days.  If you are interested in reading it just check back.  I also plan to reorganize all that is in the blog and put it where it belongs.  Then, my next step it to include more poetry, both from past writings and from current and future writings.

I know I have asked for lots of wisdom from friends, family, and strangers.  I was going through some previous poetry I wrote and found one about wisdom.  I will share it with you tonight.  Remember that today is the day when you should make a choice that will take you one step closer to where you want to be.  And the most important decision you will ever make is to be sure and partner with God and let God direct  you as to what choices you make.

WISDOM IS THE TOOL

By Kathleen Martens

January 23, 2013

So much truth

You Give Lord

That we should

Seek to find.

Your Instruction…

As love from a Father.

Your Knowledge…

That which we learn.

Your Understanding…

So to comprehend.

And that which results

In use of knowledge, instruction, and understanding

Is Wisdom

The beautiful tool

That allows us

To use the knowledge, instruction and understanding

Which you have provided

In Your Living Word.

So where do I begin.  Or perhaps I should say, where do I end?  I had planned to take a lot of time just tonight reflecting on my trip but plans have a way of changing.  I was once told by a friend, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans”.  That is pretty much how this entire trip has gone.  I make the plans and God takes me where He wants me to go and brings to me the people He wants me to meet.  And so it was tonight.  A good plan change, especially when God is in it.

I was up by 5:30 a.m. this morning and on the road by 7:30 a.m.  Traveling home!  I have never felt like I was traveling away from home but for the first time today I actually realized I was traveling toward home!  My entire trip has always felt like I was on my way home but now I realized I really am going to be home.  Tomorrow.  How did that happen so quickly?  After all, there is still so much to do.  These past four months have been an absolutely amazing gift to me.  A gift first from God because I believe He put the desire in my heart to make this journey and retrace my life, stopping to see all I could fit into the schedule, seeing people I haven’t seen for years who are growing old as I grow older, friends from my childhood when we were both still in diapers.  A friend of my heart who has been my friend since we were six years old, friends from high school, friends from my adolescence from church, my closest friend that I met when I was in college, my spiritual mentor when I was a young mother, my children’s day care provider who gave me peace of mind to work when my babies were young, the beloved lady who found Rebecca for us so we could adopt her, our daughter’s mother’s mother and her father’s father, my aunts,  my uncle, my cousins, my sisters, nieces and nephews and grandnieces and a new step grandnephew, and all the people I met along the way that I call “divine meetings”.  Divine meetings are the people I believe God intended me to meet for some purpose, for some reason.  And even today that happened.  Remember the one named James who knocked on my door when I wasn’t going to go anyplace that day?  If I wasn’t going out God would bring them to me.  Well today was another happenstance such as that.  I never know when these meetings will happen and sometimes when they are happening I don’t realize it until the meeting is ending.

This trip has also been a gift from my children.  The gift they gave me was their encouragement, their support, and their love.  They never once told me I was too old, or too frail, or it was too dangerous.  They didn’t accuse me of being self centered or selfish. They believed in me and said they knew I could do this.  They have seen the challenges I have had over the past few years and I think they both knew how important is was for me to fulfill my dream  of seeing my friends again.  Their support has meant the world to me.  Thank you Rebecca and Courtland.

I traveled from 7:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. when I arrived at the Capitol in Lincoln Nebraska.  I prayed for a close parking spot and God took to the very one that was just opening for me.  I stopped (on a very main thoroughfare, waited a second and a car pulled out exactly as if I knew she was going to pull out, left the empty space for my little Grey Fox to drive in forward and park it perfectly on the first try.  It was smack, dab in front of the Capitol building.  Two hour parking from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m..  No meter!  There were only three such spots on the street for public parking.  I was there 5 minutes before the next tour began.  Well, when I got inside I asked for the time and found out it wasn’t just the next tour at 3:00, it was actually the LAST TOUR at 4:00.  I had forgotten that there would be a time change.  I barely made it.  It was so worth it.  I have never seen a capitol such as this one.  I think I shall explain it at a later date if the opportunity arises in order to save time tonight.  But I will say that I again was allowed to go to the top of the capitol and take photos from a bird’s eye view.  I also included a picture of the building, which I could capture totally in the frame, even when I tilted the camera  I also included a photo of a church and showing my car parked in front of the capitol.  This was also taken from the tower.  The inside of the capitol is unique, creative, very symbolic.  I fell in love with Nebraska because of all the symbolism and that went into designing a building with such thought and integrity for the people of Nebraska.  The building is an amazing gift to the citizens of Nebraska.  I hope they realize what their state stands for.

After the tour I came directly to my last night’s stay on the road, an Airbnb residence.  I have not stayed in one hotel room on my entire strip.  My Airbnb nights were from $40 a night to one that was a last minute booking and nothing else was available that cost $100 and it was ocean front property. The rest were about $50 or $60 per night and some were absolutely luxurious.  Hopefully I will never need to stay in a hotel again with the ease of booking with Airbnb.com.  You must have a background check, so if you are ever interested in using this service you would need to plan ahead so you have time for the background check before you leave on a trip.  Tonight I have an entire house minus one bedroom that is being rented out.  The other guest also has use of the house except for my room.  I am sitting at a lovely kitchen dining room table, comfortable in my surroundings, and feel very much at home.

I met the Airbnb host, Don, at the house and he helped carry my luggage upstairs, clean up a mess of spilled water in my car, showed me around the premise and where things were.  He was polite and delightful to talk to.  I am in a beautiful neighborhood with my car tucked in the driveway off the street and three dogs who live in a house built for a dog in the garage, air conditioning, couch, and accessibility to the back yard who will bark if anyone comes on the premise.  What more could I ask for?  Oh yes, free WIFI, a refrigerator stocked with boxes of drinks, cans of seltzer waters, water and several other things.  I don’t know if the other things belong to the other guest or if there is always milk and condiments and vegetable juice and butter available.  There is even food in the freezer but I didn’t feel like cooking a turkey tonight.  I did eat a popsicle, at least a little bit of it.  Hope they were for the offering, I can’t remember what he told me about those.  Oh well, it’s gone now, melted on my plate.  Thank you Don for the Popsicle if it was meant for me, and thank you even if it wasn’t.  But…my husband will be happy to know I DID NOT HAVE EVEN ONE PIECE OF CHOCOLATE and there is a big jar of all my old favorites sitting in a glass jar on the counter.  It has been several years now that I have been unable to eat chocolate because of the caffeine,  But it doesn’t mean I don’t want too.  However, because of the seriousness of eating it, I have promised Dave that I will not eat it.  It causes me to go into serious Atrial Fibrillation and he has had to witness my being defibrillated too many times.

As you can see by my description above I have a comfortable place to stay.  And the best part, I even had great company for a while this evening.  Don and I started talking and he stayed later that I expected he would.  Probably longer than he expected he would.  He asked for my blog and I pulled it up for him, ended up reading last nights because I felt like it might be something he would enjoy.  After I read it Don said he felt as if he was listening in a dream.  He had just mentioned to a friend the very things I discussed in my blog and he felt like this was confirmation that he was supposed to hear what I had written.  He indicated that thought it would make a difference in his life with some decisions he needs to think about.  When I write, I think I am writing for my pleasure and over and over I find that God is using the words to help others in ways I never thought of.  God directed me to write what I wrote the day before I meet Don, and Don tells his friend this morning the situation about wanting to make some changes in his life, and then I read to him tonight what it is he just discussed with his friend and the words I wrote give him pause to think of what it is he should be doing.  Who knew but God, that our lives would be coming together today for this short meeting.

We serve a mighty God!  He never ceases to amaze me.  His protection, His love, His guidance, putting words in my heart to write, bringing the right person along that feels those words are for them personally is way more than just chance or happenstance.  I asked Don for his wisdom.  He said that this is something that he heard once.

Don’s wisdom: “Our lives are the sum total of the choices we make.”

Oh my goodness!  I so agree.  It goes along with the talk I did at church before I left on my trip about intentionally thinking about what we do and the outcome it will have on our lives tomorrow, next week, and next year.  Everything we do has consequences, intended or unintended.  What choice we make from thinking intentionally will create the sum total of who we are.  Think about the fact that we, you and I , do have choices.  Make choices, don’t just go through life and “let” things happen.  Become the sum total of being the best you, you can be.  There is no one else who can be a better “YOU” than you.  Make the choices that will give you the sum total of who you want to be, one choice at a time, one day at a time.  Remember they will all accumulate to create the sum total of who you are.  Thank you Don for sharing that wisdom with me today.  It was a pleasure to meet you.

Now, back to my trip.  This is my last night on the road.  Tomorrow is a new beginning.  Both, for Dave and I.  His life as he has known it for the last 50 years will change.  He has worked for 50 years.  He worked his way through college and worked all our married life.  For me it will be different because I will have a man under foot full time for the first time in 42 years!  SMILE!  I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT! And there is no other man I would rather want under foot more than the man I married.  God shined down on me that day!  I too will be retired (actually as of December 31, 2014) once I finish post production on two weddings from last summer and fall, one senior portrait’s art work, and one newborn session.  About two months more of work, then the sale of my equipment, teardown of the studio, and emptying everything out!  There is always one more thing to do.  And I am so looking forward to getting it done.

I am not finished with the summation of my trip.  I just need more time to contemplate.  Don helped me to do just that.  I don’t think he even realized it.  He was the first person to actually take my phone in hand and look at every picture.  I sat beside him at the kitchen table and told him some of the stories.  Looking at the pictures and telling the stories brought them all back to me, made them come alive in my heart again.  I have lived these four months in total connection of the moment I was living in.  No thought about what had transpired and no worry about what was to come.  I did have to do some midterm scheduling of places to stay, but other than that, I lived in the moment.  As most of you know, I didn’t even have a minute to make phone calls because I was always so engaged in whatever I was doing, with whomever I was with.  My days were extremely busy and full with people and places and activities.  Hopefully I will be able to reconnect by phone and in true life.  I look forward to seeing everyone again.

Thank you for your prayers and your comments on my emails and texts.  It has been an unbelievable four months. I am now ready for the rest of my life.

One last detail.  As many of you know my trip was postponed at the beginning due to my diagnosis of two breast lumps.  I must have surgery when I return home and it is scheduled for July 27^th.  I will be going in for surgery for a partial mastectomy with the possibility of a complete mastectomy depending upon the outcome of the mass on my chest wall being removed easily or not.  I have not had one day of stress, worry, or fear about this situation.  It shows no cancer but because it is a return of a previous mass it must come out.  It is also quite painful.  I have not lost any sleep over it and I have not really even thought much about it until now when the reality of it coming up has surfaced in my thoughts.  Well, I just wanted you all to know so that you could continue to pray for me, and know why you may not see me again for a period of time while I recover.

I plan to write a closure to my trip (was going to do that tonight) and will do it either tomorrow night or in the next few days.  If you are interested in reading it just check back.  I also plan to reorganize all that is in the blog and put it where it belongs.  Then, my next step it to include more poetry, both from past writings and from current and future writings.

I know I have asked for lots of wisdom from friends, family, and strangers.  I was going through some previous poetry I wrote and found one about wisdom.  I will share it with you tonight.

Tuesday June 30, 2015  DAY 118 THE CHOICES WE MAKE

Our lives are the sum total of the choices we make.

So where do I begin.  Or perhaps I should say, where do I end?  I had planned to take a lot of time just tonight reflecting on my trip but plans have a way of changing.  I was once told by a friend, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans”.  That is pretty much how this entire trip has gone.  I make the plans and God takes me where He wants me to go and brings tome the people He wants me to meet.  And so it was tonight.  A good plan change, especially when God is in it.

I was up by 5:30 a.m. this morning and on the road by 7:30 a.m.  Traveling home.  I have never felt like I was traveling away from home but for the first time today I actually realized I was traveling toward home!  My entire trip has always felt like I was on my way home but now I realized I really am going to be home.  Tomorrow.  How did that happen so quickly?  After all, there is still so much to do.  These past four months have been an absolutely amazing gift to me.  A gift first from God because I believe He put the desire in my heart to make this journey and retrace my life, stopping to see all I could fit into the schedule, seeing people I haven’t seen for years who are growing old as I grow older, friends from my childhood when we were both still in diapers.  A friend of my heart who has been my friend since we were six years old, friends from high school, friends from my adolescence from church, my closest friend that I met when I was in college, my spiritual mentor when I was a young mother, my children’s day care provider who gave me peace of mind to work when my babies were young, the beloved lady who found Rebecca for us so we could adopt her, my daughter’s mother’s mother and her father’s father, my aunts,  my uncle, my cousins, my sisters, nieces and nephews and grandnieces and a new step grandnephew, and all the people I met along the way that I call “divine meetings”.  Divine meetings are the people I believe God intended me to meet for some purpose, for some reason.  And even today that happened.  Remember the one named James who knocked on my door when I wasn’t going to go anyplace that day?  If I wasn’t going out God would bring them to me.  Well today was another happenstance such as that.  I never know when these meetings will happen and sometimes when they are happening I don’t realize it until the meeting is ending.

I traveled from 7:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. when I arrived at the Capitol in Lincoln Nebraska.  I prayed for a close parking spot and God took to the very one that was just opening for me.  I stopped (on a very main thoroughfare, waited a second and a car pulled out exactly as if I knew she was going to pull out, left the empty space and with my little Grey Fox, was able to front drive right into it and park it perfectly on the first try.  It was smack, dab in front of the Capitol building.  Two hour parking from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m..  No meter!  There were only three such spots on the street for public parking.  I was there 5 minutes before the next tour began.  Well, when I got inside I asked for the time and found out it wasn’t just the next tour at 3:00, it was actually the LAST TOUR at 4:00.  I had forgotten that there would be a time change.  I barely made it.  It was so worth it.  I have never seen a capitol such as this one.  I think I shall explain it at a later date if the opportunity arises n order to save time tonight.  But I will say that I again was allowed to go to the top of the capitol and take photos from a bird’s eye view.  I included a picture of the building, which I could get all in the frame, even when I tilted the camera, and one from the tower of a church and my car parked in front of the capitol.  The building inside is unique, creative, very symbolic and made me fall in love with Nebraska because of all the symbolism and plans that when in to designing something for the people of that state.  The building is an amazing gift to the citizens of Nebraska.  I hope they realize what their state stands for.

After the tour I came directly to my last night’s stay on the road, an Airbnb residence.  I have not stayed in one hotel room on my entire strip.  My Airbnb nights were from $40 a night to one that was a last minute booking and nothing else was available that cost $100 and it was ocean front property. The rest were about $50 or $60 per night and some were absolutely luxurious.  Hopefully I will never need to stay in a hotel again with the ease of booking with Airbnb.com.  You must have a background check, so if you are ever interested in using this service you would need to plan ahead so you have time for the background check before you leave on a trip.  Tonight I have an entire house minus one bedroom that is being rented out.  The other guest also has use of the house except for my room.  I am sitting and a lovely kitchen dining room table, comfortable in my surroundings, and feel very much at home.

I met the Airbnb host, Don, at the house and he helped carry my luggage upstairs, clean up a mess of spilled water in my car, showed me around the premise and where things were.  He was polite and delightful to talk to.  I am in a beautiful neighborhood with my car tucked in the driveway off the street and three dogs who live in a house built for a dog in the garage, air conditioning, couch, and accessibility to the back yard who will bark if anyone comes on the premise.  What more could I ask for?  Oh yes, free WIFI, a refrigerator stocked with boxes of drinks, cans of seltzer waters, water and several other things.  I don’t know if the other things belong to the other guest or if there is always milk and condiments and vegetable juice and butter available.  There is even food in the freezer but I didn’t feel like cooking a turkey tonight.  I did eat a popsicle, at least a little bit of it.  Hope they were for the offering, I can’t remember what he told me about those.  Oh well, it’s gone now, melted on my plate.  Thank you Don for the Popsicle if it was meant for me, and thank you even if it wasn’t.  But…my husband will be happy to know I DID NOT HAVE EVEN ONE PIECE OF CHOCOLATE and there is a big jar of all my old favorites.  It has been several years now that I haven’t been able to eat chocolate because of the caffeine, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want too.  However, because of the seriousness of eating it, I have promised Dave that I will not eat it.  It causes me to go into serious Atrial Fibrillation and he has had to witness my being defibrillated too many times.

As you can see by my description above I have a comfortable place to stay.  And the best part I even had great company for a while this evening.  Don and I started talking and he stayed later that I expected he would or that he expected he would.  He asked for my blog and pulled it up for him, ended up reading last nights because I felt like it might be something he would enjoy.  After I read it Don said he felt as if he was listening in a dream.  He had just mentioned to a friend the very things I discussed in my blog and he felt like this was confirmation that he was supposed to hear what I wrote and that it would make a difference in his life with some decisions he needs to make.  When I write, I think I am writing for my pleasure and over and over I find that God is using the words to help others in ways I never thought of.  God direct me to write, the day before I meet Don, and Don tells his friend this morning the situation about wanting to make some changes in his life, and then I read to him what it is he just discussed with statements that give him pause to think of what it is he should be doing.  Who knew but God, that our lives would be coming together today for this short meeting and have that transpire.

We serve a mighty God!  He never ceases to amaze me.  His protection, His love, His guidance, putting words in my heart to write, bringing the right person along that feels those words are for them personally is way more than just chance or happenstance.  I asked Don for his wisdom.  He said that this is something that he heard once.

Don’s wisdom: “Our lives are the sum total of the choices we make.”

Oh my goodness!  I so agree.  It goes along with the talk I did at church before I left about intentionally thinking about what we do and the outcome it will have on our lives tomorrow, next week, and next year.  Everything we do has consequences, intended or unintended.  What choice we make from thinking intentionally will create the sum total of who we are.  Think about the fact that we, you and I , do have choices.  Make choices, don’t just go through life and “let” things happen.  Become the sum total of being the best you, you can be.  There is no one else who can be a better “YOU” than you.  Make the choices that will give you the sum total of who you want to be, one choice at a time, one day at a time.  Remember they will all accumulate to create the sum total of who you are.  Thank you Don for sharing that wisdom with me today.  It was a pleasure to meet you.

Now, back to my trip.  This is my last night on the road.  Tomorrow is a new beginning.  Both for Dave and I.  His life as he has known it for the last 50 years will change.  He has worked for 50 years.  He worked his way through college and worked all our married life.  For me it will be different because I will have a man under foot full time for the first time in 42 years!  SMILE!  I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT! And there is no other man I would want under foot more than the man I married.  God shined down on me that day!  I too will be retired (actually as of December 31, 2014) once I finish post production on two weddings from last summer and fall, one senior portrait’s art work, and one newborn session.  About two months more of work, then the sale of my equipment, teardown of the studio, and emptying everything out!  There is always one more thing to do.  And I am so looking forward to getting it done.

But before I go to what I have on my calendar to do, I want to say I am not finished with the summation of my trip.  I just need more time to contemplate.  Don helped me tremendously to do just that.  I don’t think he even realized it.  He was the first person to actually take my phone in hand and look at every picture.  I sat beside him at the kitchen table and told him some of the stories and looking at the pictures and telling the stories brought them all back to me, made them come alive in my heart again.  I have lived these four months in total connection of the moment I was living in.  No thought about what had transpired and no worry about what was to come.  I did have to do some midterm scheduling a places to stay but other than that I lived in the moment.  As most of you know, I didn’t even have a minute to make phone calls because I was always so engaged in whatever I was doing, with whomever I was with.  Every moment of most of my days were extremely busy and full with people and places and activities.  Hopefully I will be able to reconnect by phone and in true life.  I look forward to seeing everyone again.

Thank you for your prayers and your comments on my emails and texts.  It has been an unbelievable four months. I am now ready for the rest of my life.

One last detail.  As many of you know my trip was postponed at the beginning due to my diagnosis of two breast lumps.  I must have surgery when I return home and it is scheduled for July 27^th.  I will be going in for surgery for a partial mastectomy with the possibility of a complete mastectomy depending upon the outcome of the mass on my chest wall being removed easily or not.  I have not had one day of stress, worry, or fear about this situation.  It shows no cancer but because it is a return of a previous mass it must come out.  It is also quite painful.  I have not lost any sleep over it and I have not really even thought much about it until now when the reality of it coming up has surfaced in my thoughts.  Well, I just wanted you all to know so that you could continue to pray for me, and know why you may not see me again for a period of time while I recover.

I plan to write a closure to my trip (was going to do that tonight) and will do it either tomorrow night or in the next few days.  If you are interested in reading it just check back.  I also plan to reorganize all that is in the blog and put it where it belongs.  Then, my next step it to include more poetry, both from past writings and from current and future writings.

I know I have asked for lots of wisdom from friends, family, and strangers.  I was going through some previous poetry I wrote and found one about wisdom.  I will share it with you tonight.  Remember that today is the day when you should make a choice that will take you one step closer to where you want to be.  And the most important decision you will ever make is to be sure and partner with God and let God direct  you as to what choices you make.

WISDOM IS THE TOOL

By Kathleen Martens

January 23, 2013

So much truth

You Give Lord

That we should

Seek to find.

Your Instruction…

As love from a Father.

Your Knowledge…

That which we learn.

Your Understanding…

So to comprehend.

And that which results

In use of knowledge, instruction, and understanding

Is Wisdom

The beautiful tool

That allows us

To use the knowledge, instruction and understanding

Which you have provided

In Your Living Word.

Monday June 29 2015 DAY 117 ALWAYS ANOTHER THING TO DO!

How is it that my saga is almost over?  There is always another thing to do.  I am visiting Cynthia and Chris in Denver Colorado, the mile high city.  And boy can I tell the altitude difference.  Yesterday I had to abort a trip I would have enjoyed taken to the top of a mountain range but had to turn around and continue on my journey to Denver in order to arrive at my planned hour.  Today I did not go due to “always another thing to do”.  If you read the blog a few months ago you may remember Chris and Cynthia.  It was here in Denver that my previous IPhone died and Chris was able to transfer all my photos to his computer system, save them, then download them to my new IPhone.  For that I am forever grateful.  When I drove into Denver I realize I had made my first complete circle.  It was my first point of starting where I have now actually returned.  I guess my next circle will be Madison Wisconsin.

Cynthia has two little boys, one 4 years old and one 3 months old. I see how busy she is, nursing, cleaning, preparing, taking care of the children and it so reminds me of 40 years ago.  Courtland as a baby, Rebecca as 4 year old, me working outside the home, and Dave commuting long hours away.  I remember the comment that Cynthia said to me earlier this morning.  “There is always another thing to do”.  Yep, been there, done that!  And…it was one of the best times of my life.  At least I tell myself that now when I look back.  It seems however that that statement still rings true.  I believe if we are a person who loves life, loves learning, loves new experiences, there is always another thing to do.  Time never stretches long enough or far enough or high enough or deep enough for me to accomplish all I have to do.

A man who attends our church, worked hard all his life late into his retirement and had such a zest for living told me something a couple of years ago that still rings in my heart as a piece of insightful wisdom from someone who could only say it if they lived it.  He said to me, “do whatever you desire to accomplish starting today because there comes a time when you will no longer care.”  I looked at him quizzically and asked how he knew that.  He told me “because it had happened to me”.  Yes, he is older, a little slower, had a major injury later in life and now is winding down.  Sometimes things just don’t matter anymore he said to me that day.  “Do what you want to do now”.  He knew I was planning on retiring and he said to just jump in and DO IT.  Whatever the IT is.

I’m not there yet.  Perhaps someday I will be there.  I should leave the “perhaps” off the beginning of that sentence.  Should I live long enough I will be there.  So, I decided to take the bull by the horns and line up all that I want to accomplish in the next few years of life, places I want to see, books yet unfinished, books I want to publish, and to love and love those who mean so much to me.  It brings to mind the wisdom written earlier in this blog from a woman I met at one of the Botanical gardens.  She said whatever you plan to do, start it today or will never get done.  Does that mean I must do everything I plan to accomplish all in this one day?  No, but it does mean I have my priorities in place, I intentionally look at the avenues I need to go down to complete the project and put a tentative timeline as to what I am doing, will be doing, and make it a priority for today.

For instance I write.  I’m not going to write someday.  I write every day.  One line at a time, one poem at a time, one story at a time.  Now it is time for me to finish transcribing and organizing and editing that which I have already done.  I wish I could explain to you the reams of paper that are printed out that now will be in the sorting and organizing stage along with the computer organization.  It overwhelms me sometimes to think that I have written so much.  Who would ever want to read it, I wonder?  Does it matter if anyone reads it?  I would hope that it would matter if others read it so they could enjoy my words, my poems, but even if no one else in the world reads what I have written, it is what I wanted to accomplish and I did it one day at a time.

My trip is one of those endeavors I have wanted to do for the past three years.  I planned for it, saved for it, contacted people to see and stay with, made reservations across both the U.S. and Canada, took the training I needed to learn a PC instead of my trusty old MACS (which I regret not buying another MAC), took lessons on using a new camera (supposedly easier than my Pro Cameras) and learned a new program to work on photos.   It took a lot of time, a lot of thought, and I just did it a little at a time over months of preparing.  And now I have done it.  And there is always another thing to do, another place to see, another journey that is calling me, beckoning me from the ends of the earth.  And right now it still matters.  Someday it won’t matter anymore.  Perhaps someday I won’t even be able to remember what I’ve done, where I’ve gone, or even who I am like my mother and aunts experienced at end of life.  When or if that time comes it will not matter.  But you know what, what matters is that I did it and I enjoyed each and every moment in the present I lived.  If there was one things I would bequeath to others it would be to learn to live in the moment.  When you live in the moment you experience the fullness of life as you live it.  You are not storing up memories for later, or worrying about what is yet to come.  You are enjoying the very second, the very experience, and the very moment of now.  As I’ve often said, LIVING IN THE MOMENT it is a beautiful place to live.  LIVING IN THE NOW.  It was about a year’s learning experience for me to really grasp the true meaning of NOW.  It was through scripture, prayer, insight into others’ lives,and listening to the voice of God speaking to my thoughts.  To paraphrase a scripture, there is no need to worry about tomorrow for today has enough trouble of its own.  And  aother scripture that talks about we are like the grasses and flowers of the field, alive today and then withered and gone.  Think of the scope of eternity.  Our life is not even a drop in the ocean in eternity’s timeline. You might want to stand still a moment and contemplate on what difference can your drop of life mean, to yourself, to others.  Is it worth worrying about what may never happen?  No, I don’t think so.  Just live in today, live in the moment and so much more can and will be accomplished.  Just write one poem a day for years and see the pile accumulate.  In other words do what it is you want to accomplish in life one day at a time.  Begin today.  And feel blessed when there is always another thing to do.

Well, today I had a tour of the Denver Colorado State Capitol Building.  What an awesome place.  Sometimes we just go in a building and never think of the history, the whys of being built, how it was built.  Well today was very fascinating learning about the history of the Denver Capitol Building.  I won’t go into all of it because it might bore you even more that my reflections above might have done.  Don’t know how many of you will even get this far reading what I wrote.  But remember, I am doing this because it is what I want to do.  If you are reading it I hope it is because reading it is something you want to do.  If you get this far send me an email to wkmaratens23@gmail.com and let me know.  You can go to the contact page to do so.

I will tell you that the Denver Capitol allows visitors a tour up into the dome of the building.  The dome rises 272 feet above ground and is covered in real gold.  It took 200 ounces of gold to gild the dome when it was originally built.  In 2013 it had to be gilded once again and because of new techniques it took only 64.5 ounces.  Except for the brass and wood in the capitol building everything else was harvested from Colorado.  All the granite, onyx, and marble were from the mountains of Colorado.  The people of Colorado felt it was important to use local supplies even though it would have been less costly to order the marble from Italy.  I was amazed at the beautiful, one of a kind marbles they used.  Some of the marbles were literally used completely up.  There wasn’t even enough to finish some of the areas originally designed for it.  I took some photos and will include them when I can get online.  As I write I am unable to access the internet but perhaps I will be able to have service tonight.  It is only 4:24 p.m. and I am writing now so I can go to bed early tonight because I have a long drive day to Lincoln Nebraska and I need to leave very early.  I thoroughly enjoyed the tour today and only wish I could have toured Cheyenne’s Capitol yesterday since I was right there on the premise.  I will also include a photo of the City and County building that I took from the outside height of the dome on the capitol.  I walked up and up and up forever to get there.  I had to do it slow as not to go into Atrial Fib.  This high altitude does a number on my heart rate.  I just took it slow and rested a couple minutes when I needed to.  Some people in the tour could go to the top.  I am so glad I was still able to do so.

Tonight we will eat out, hopefully get home early and go to bed.  It was and still is a wonderful day.  Every moment filled with the joy of the Lord in my heart.  For this is the day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it!  And I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

I pray God’s blessing on you this day.  Two more nights on the road if all goes as planned.

One more thing.  Just so you can see how quickly plans can change.  Last night I stepped off a step in the garage without realizing it was there.  Caught unaware I started going down and my face was aiming right at my car’s right hand mirror.  It was as if it happened in slow motion.  All I remember is saying to myself “Oh Lord” and I felt an unnatural pressure on my chest, my feet came forward from the step and it was if I was caught in midstride and quickly walked off that step, returning to an upright position.  I felt a little twinge in my right hip as I stumbled somewhat, quickly righting myself.  With the dynamics of what was happening that should not have been the outcome.  I was left with that little twinge of pain in my hip for a while, slept well, and could walk up all those steps today.  I give praise and thankskgiving to God for having His Angels surrounding my every step.  And I thank God for his protection.  How quickly my plans could have changed in that twinkling of an eye.

TO BE IN THE MOMENT

Kathleen Martens

June 29, 2015

So much to do

When do we live?

Time has a way

To others give.

Is any leftover

To use as we may

Do we worry about tomorrow

Or in today stay?

What must be done

To accomplish our goal

To have things happen

That speaks to our soul?

Do we spend time

On yesterday’s regrets?

Or worrying about next week

And all of our frets?

To be in the moment

Is the place to be

In the here and now

You are forever free.

So slow down and keep

The promises to self

To finish your desires

Upon your shelf.

Sunday Sabbath June 25, 2015 DAY         LIFE IS A HIGHWAY!

It certainly seems life is a highway.  At least for me at the present.  I have roads to travel, experiences yet unknown, people to meet, and I’m behind the wheel for hours.  And today I met two more interesting people to talk to on the steps of the Capitol building in Cheyenne Wyoming.

Once I determined my route home I decided that I would see as many of the State Capitol buildings as possible in this last week.  My trip is winding down and I’m still wound up and ready to go.  I don’t know if I would ever be ready to settle back in place if it were not for the loved ones I desire to return to.  I never suspected that I would learn to love to travel as much as I have.

My Airbnb experience was wonderful last night.  I had the entire lower level of a home.  Beautiful neighborhood, and beautiful surroundings.  Last night after some browsing on the internet I discovered that the Cheyenne capitol building was not open today, as it is Sunday.  I just assumed that since the Madison capitol is open on Sunday so should all capitols.  Not so.  But, decided I wanted to spend some time there anyway just looking around the outside.  And wouldn’t you know it, up rides my special meeting of the day.  A big burly man from a distance with a little lady on the back seat of a two seater motorcycle.  I asked to take their picture and the conversation ensued from there.  And of course I asked if he would take my photo.  He didn’t but his wife did.  We talked for quite a while and I learned some very interesting stories about their lives.  It is so interesting to talk with people in an unthreatening atmosphere with no ulterior motives except to just hear their story.

The more I talked with them the more I liked them.  The more of their life that I heard the more interested I was to hear more.  This couple is Dave and Angie.  Dave looks like the “stereotype biker” that you might be afraid to meet in a dark alley.  He had a head kerchief tied around his head, a bright red shirt and the ever present leather vest you might see on so many bikers.  And…some interesting patches.  I liked him at first sight.  He allowed me to get on his new motorcycle so I could have my photo taken on it.  I don’t know if many of you who know me realize I loved to ride a motorcycle before I had kids.  After the kids were born I never wanted to get on one again because I valued my life too much from that point on.  I was no longer living just for me but I had someone I loved very much who was  dependent on me for everything.   I wanted to be the one to raise my children because no one else in the whole world would ever love them like I did.  My kids are grown. Now that desire to ride, has again crept in.  This time however,  I think about my husband and my grandchildren and realize “how could they live without me”, especially without all my unsolicited opinions?  So I probably never will again…well maybe just a short ride.

Dave and Angie were delightful to talk with.  This new bike of his was a very important step for him.  He was in a serious motorcycle accident and had numerous, severe injuries.  It sounded like he was fortunate to still be alive.  This was a big step for him to get back on the bike.  I could tell his wife seemed to enjoy biking too and was happy for Dave’s recovery.  Dave and Angie helped me map out some afternoon driving plans.  I was able to accomplish one and even snag a photo of the beautiful yellow fields of blooming flowers.  I so wanted to go to the mountains again but decided I needed to be with my friends who are like family to me, more than I needed to go to the mountains.  Maybe I can fit it in tomorrow.  My days are so packed with fun things to do that I don’t always get them all in.

I asked Dave and Angie for their wisdom.  When you read it think of it in context as coming from bikers who love to travel and see the world.  I invited them to come and stay with us in Wisconsin.  All we need is another Dave in our life.  I would enjoy hearing more of their stories.

Dave’s wisdom:  “Life is a highway and when looking in the rear view mirror it’s closer than you think.”

Angie’s wisdom: “Watch out for people because they are not going to watch out for you.”  In reference to riding a motorcycle.

I loved their wisdom.  It is so true.  So bikers out there, take heed!

I drove the country roads to Denver Colorado and even drove out part way to Estes Park where the mountains are.  I realized I would have a late night if I went all the way and then all the way back.  I didn’t want my friends to be waiting.  Usually when I’m out like that I don’t have cell service to call either.  So instead, I stopped at a Goodwill Store and only bought two little books.  Can’t look at clothes right now because I have gone up one size and must come home to reality, workouts and smaller portions to fit back nicely in my current clothes.  I can still fit into them but don’t like the way they feel or look on me.  So I’m wearing the same things home as I did when I left, only they look and feel a bit, shall I say, tight?

Arrived in the front of Chris and Cynthia’s apartment just as my phone rang and it was Cynthia calling me to see when I would be arriving.  She was surprised to know I was actually just outside her door.  So was I.  I didn’t know which door I was supposed to be in front of.  Her baby, 3 ½ month old Noah, who was two weeks old when I was here previously has blossomed like a spring flower.  He is beautiful.  Sorry I forgot to take a photo of him this evening so you could see how cute he is.  His older brother David has even shot up.  David calls me grandma and I love it.  He was so excited on the phone talking to me yesterday when he knew I was coming.  I hope Zach and Xander will be as excited  to see me.  I know I am excited to see them and see how much they have grown.  Oh wow!  I bet they have grown noticeably in 4 months time (just like grandma did).

How am I going to end this trip?  I take just one day at a time and keep each day full to overflowing.  It may take me awhile to come down.  It has become my normal to do, do, do, and to go, go, and go.  How will it be to sleep in the same bed every night again and not have to pack up day in and day out?  I certainly know the next trip I take I will have A LOT LESS STUFF TO TAKE.  I can hardly wait to see if I stick to my promise to myself to travel light.  I do not what I don’t need to take.  I just hope I’ll remember when we take off again.  I’m already formulating plans to drive to Alaska.  Don’t know when and don’t know if it will ever happen but I do know it will never happen if I don’t plan.

I am so looking forward to what life has for Dave and I.  No matter the ups and downs we may someday find ourselves in, we are together for a reason.  The first is the love God put in our hearts for each other.  The second is for what good we can do together rather than just singly.  We are a team and I am so thankful for that.  I am excited about the transition we are entering with his retirement.  I wish I could have been in two places at once these past four months.  Now I will just be there to step into the nitty gritty of the day his retirement begins.  One day you work, the next day you don’t.  I’ve yet to feel that for me because I still have work to complete when I arrive home.  My goal is to have it all done in as little as two months.  Then I too will step into that world that is always the dream but never seems it will really happen.  And so much of what happens to us is out of our control.  That is where taking life one day at a time comes into working.  Regardless what this day will hold we must just always remember that our strength is from the Lord and He will help us through it.  I have just a few more days on the road and I ask you all to pray for my protection and safe trip home.  I have some long drives ahead of me this week.  The drives have been my most favorite part of this trip.  I love the hours in the car, the solitude, the time with the Lord, the peace, the beauty of what my eyes behold, stopping and talking to people along the way, eating out of my little red cooler bag that sits on the front seat beside me with all my snacks and food arranged for the day.

I did a first today.  I had not eaten at a fast food restaurant (except for a MacDonald’s soft serve ice cream) until today.  My food is gone for the most part and I haven’t been to a grocery store for fruit and veggies. Well, today I chose to eat at the one fast food place that for me seems to work the best BECAUSE THEY DO IT MY WAY.  I bought a subway tuna sandwich on flatbread and had ½ of a 6 incher for lunch in Cheyenne.  Then when I got hungry in the afternoon I ate the other half.  Then I came to my friends and had a delicious dinner of chicken and potatoes and carrots and grapes.  Oh yes, and asparagus.  Lots of asparagus.  The asparagus was a gift from Carrie and Blake two days ago.  They go down to a river bank close to their home and pick it by the bundles.  It was starting to go to seed so they picked as much as they could and came home and refrigerated it.  I just happened to luck out and be the recipient to their generosity. I have been eating that for the past two days.  I even had a snack of it tonight.  For some reason not many other people like it raw.  That is my favorite way to eat it. Cold and uncooked and crisp.  Thanks Blake and Carrie for my wonderful green food.  I have enjoyed it immensely.

I did another first at Blake and Carrie’s house.  I washed a load of clothes and it wasn’t until I was taking them out of the dryer that I realized I had forgot to use the detergent in the wash cycle.  Oh well, I wore them anyway.  I guess they were a little cleaner than they had been, even without the soap.  I did another first a couple of months ago (and fortunately did not do a second of the same) but haven’t had the guts to tell about it in my blog yet.  I finally did break down and tell someone the other day.  It is funny now, it wasn’t then.  The first person that asks me about it after I get home, in person or on the phone I will tell it to and then to no others (at least until I am over the embarrassment of it).  This will just let me know who is reading the blog.  Dave you don’t count because you will see me first.  I’ll tell you anyway.  And no, it’s not about my checkbook that I lost.  I haven’t told that story either.  If I ever get a book written about this four month saga there are a few other tidbits I might put in for public knowledge.  Not quite certain what will make the cut.  After all, I need to preserve my dignity!  Just needless to say.  The blog only has a little of all that transpired.  So, so many wonderful memories I will have for  as long as my brain functions. NO COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY (that means you Dave, and Courtland).

I think my biggest fear in returning home is that people will not even know that I’ve been gone. even though they haven’t seen me for 4 months.  When I worked so much I wouldn’t see or talk to some of my friends for a year.  I do hope that changes with our retirement.  I have discovered that relationships are the most important endeavors to  undertake.

Remember…LIFE IS A HIGHWAY AND WHEN  YOU LOOK IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR IT IS SHORTER (my word) THAN YOU MAY THINK!

Good night everyone.  Have a great tomorrow.  Remember it is you ATTITUDE that determines what kind of day you will have.  Smile…it goes a long way and is always free to give away.

LIFE IS A HIGHWAY

by Kathleen Martens

June 28, 2015

A highway is but a road

Laid out smooth and straight

One that you learn to love

Or one that you may hate.

The decision is all yours

For many things will come you way.

How you deal with what comes

Determines how you stray.

And if you stray too far off

The path laid out for you

Becomes blurry in your quest

And you can’t see through

So look ahead for each moment

The past is no more

Live with truth in your heart

Then your life will score.

When you dwell on what is past

It smacks you in the face,

Live each moment as it comes

Let NOW occupy your space.

Worry not for the unseen

Enjoy each moment alive

For it is in the present

That we are revived.

Life’s highway stretches out

So many bends and turns

Be thankful for each one

For that is how  you learn.

Inspired by Dave on the Motorcycle.  Thanks Dave for you wisdom today.  It is so true.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WERE DOING 42 YEARS AGO TODAY?  Well…I do.  I remember it well.  It was the day I married my wonderful husband Dave.  And it was a God-thing!  A wonderful, blessed, God-thing.  I’m going to tell a little story that has absolutely nothing to do with my blog.  If you don’t want to hear about it just skip down to the next heading on this page.

In the summer of 1972 I broke off a relationship with a man I was in love with.  It was very painful for me.  I remember crying across my bed and saying to the Lord that if I was ever to get married He (God) would have to point him out to me because I was through dating. (You know…all the theatrics of the young).  Well fast forward to a few months later.  I meet the roommate of my cousin who attended college in Southern California.  She asked if I would come to her wedding if she married.  I didn’t really think she would ever get married so I said yes.  I lived in the San Francisco area at the time and we lived about 500 miles apart.  Well, wouldn’t you know it, I receive an invitation to an October wedding. I kept my word, and my friend and I drove 500 miles away to attend the wedding.  I stayed with my cousin who was the maid of honor.

The wedding happened and something else happened.  Dave ushered me to my seat. Hmmm…I thought.  Little did I know but he was “Hmmming…” too.  While the ceremony was taking place a thought came to my head, a very loud thought, “That is who you are going to marry”!  I took a double take on that thought and turned to look at that handsome man, standing over there in a line of about 8 or 9 ushers, sweating and looking uncomfortable.  Hmmmm…that’s who I am going to marry?  I questioned.  It was as if it was a voice outside of myself.  Well, I had earlier told the Lord that He would have to tell me who I was going to marry if I was ever to marry.  Was this the Lord telling me that now?  I actually remember hoping so.

One problem, I didn’t even get to meet him during the reception.  He was disappointed that he didn’t get to meet me so he left for home.  Remember, that we are in Southern California far away from where I lived.  Dave left and I left.  I went with my cousin to the Bride’s parents home after the reception for a private wedding party dinner.  I was hopeful of meeting that handsome man.  When I got there he wasn’t there.  Oh well, maybe he isn’t the man I was supposed to marry.  After all, if I’m going to marry him I at least had to meet him.

Well, back to Dave (that handsome young man), as he traveled down the LA freeway system something told him to turn around and go back.  He hesitated and had that feeling again.  He got off the freeway and decided to go to the Bridal dinner.  After all he was single and it was a free dinner!

About a half hour later he walked through the door.  MY KNIGHT IN SHINING TUXEDO!  He was surprised to see me there because he had no reason to know that I would be coming.  He had actually left because he hadn’t had a chance to meet me and was disappointed.  But there we were, our eyes locked, as if a “knowing” passed between us. (I totally made up that last sentence because it sounded like it was supposed to be there)!  He followed me around, we talked a little, flirted a lot, and he asked me out on a date two weeks away.  I said yes.

Well, it finally came time to say goodnight and go our separate ways.  He asked me for my address and I wrote it down.  I lived in Alameda at the time and when he looked at it he said, oh is that over by Pasadena?  I said no, it is by San Francisco.  He looked at me with bewilderment, looked at my cousin and asked her, “is she kidding”?  He looked back at me and I said “no, are you coming”.  There was a long silence in the air.  Then he looked at me and said, “Yes, I’ll be there”.  And he came.  And the rest his history.  We traveled by air up and down the coast of California for four months before he asked me to marry him.  We married 4 months later on June 23, 1973.  Before we married we had spent 23 days together when all our visits were totaled.  He stayed at the home of my friend’s parents when he came up and I stayed with his parents when I went to Anaheim.  It made for an interesting courtship.    And here we are, 42 years later and still in love!  I do think it was God that spoke to me that night at the wedding.  Dave was the best thing that ever happened to me.   HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HONEY.  I LOVE YOU.  AND I AM PROUD TO LET THE WORLD KNOW!

The End

NOW FOR THE REST OF THE BLOG

The last full day before taking off for my home stretch.  I have a little less than 4,000 miles to go.  Actually it is about 1700 miles to go if I were to go the most direct route.  But direct I am not.  I have lots of little adventures planned, places to travel, more things to experience.  I worked at home all day preparing for my last jaunt.  I still had a lot of Airbnb places to schedule.  The last night on the road is still up in the air but that can wait.  The next 8 nights are all booked.  8 nights 7 places.  I will pack everything up for the last time tomorrow.  I have a little bag that I will take in each night that holds only that which I need.  My days will be full, my nights of sleeping taken seriously.  I must have proper sleep to drive so much alone.  I’ll try to write in my blog if I have a chance but don’t be surprised if I don’t make it every single night.  My sleep will be more important than my writing.

Back to today.  I stayed at home all day but something kept drawing me to go and have some prints made of something I have been giving to people.  I had run out and needed to have more done before I left this area.  So I went to the UPS store and had copies made.  And there was my divine appointment for the day.  I met Robin, the UPS proprietor and our talk ensued.  Robin is a believer but has not fellowshipped within a church for a long while and feels the draw and need to do so.  She opened my eyes to a lot of situations that are happening in the Coeur d’Alene area in regards to churches and fellowships with other believers.  She confirmed how I felt when I attended church on Sunday.  I won’t go into it now but I will say that I did not sense the joy of the Lord present in the worship time.  After spending a week in Redding where the main purpose of “church” is worship and praise (for a long long time) is a key central part of the service I just felt a lacking of spiritual joy.  She is frustrated and longing for that time of closeness and praise and communal worship unto the Lord.  I think we had a fruitful discussion and I was able to pray for both her and her worker right there in the UPS store.  It was awesome!  I see only one other person (2 counting her employee) during the whole day and God opens the door for me to bless them and to be blessed by them.  Perhaps as I write these little stories you may not see the significance in them and wonder what is so great about them.  There is so much said that I can’t say here because of time and space, but believe me, if one word I say is encouraging or opens someone’s eyes to a new and deeper longing for the Lord, it is worth it.  I call it a divine meeting.  A meeting that God orchestrated.  God often times orchestrates those meetings just for me, for the word I will hear and receive, or the lesson I need to learn from the conversation.  And, as I’ve said before, every day I am learning.  And I hope that part of that learning is learning to love God more and more each day and to know just how much He loves me.  I AM A CHILD OF GOD AND HE LOVES ME WITH A LOVE THAT PASSES ALL COMPREHENSION.  HE LOVES YOU THE SAME WAY!

I asked Robin what her wisdom was.  She was quick to respond.

Robin’s wisdom:  “Life is too short to worry about your house being clean or your kids growing up—you blink and you are there—enjoy life’s moments.”

I also talked to her employee who loves the Lord. Here is Krystal’s wisdom.

Krystal’s wisdom:  “I wish I had known when I was younger how important school is.”

Krystal is 21.

Before I left to go to the UPS store I ate some popcorn and had a lot of debris in my mouth from the kernels.  (An important fact to know).  I needed to rise my mouth.  I saw a bottle of water in a plastic bag and thought I would just use that.  I took two big mouth pulls of “water” into my mouth (now remember I was going to rise so had my throat closed) and I immediately realized I did not have water in my mouth.  I had two big swigs of Woolite laundrey detergent in my mouth.  I quickly went into the bathroom, spit it out and started rinsing my mouth over and over.  Oh my goodness it was gross!  I rinsed and rinsed and could not seem to get it all out.  I tried to gargle because some had settled in the back of my throat where I had it closed earlier.  I started gagging and the burning was bad.  I kept rinsing to dilute the substance that had made a thick soapy coating on all my membranes.  What kept me safe was the fact that I had intended my pulls of water into my mouth for rinsing rather than swallowing.  After I felt a little better I called poison control and they said I did the right thing but not to drink anything for a while.  I was to crunch on ice cubes to dilute the coating in my mouth and then should have something cold like a popsicle.  I asked it a McDonald’s soft serve would work the same and the person on the line said yes, but to have the ice chips first.  So that is what I did.  I was forced to go down to buy an ice cream cone.  What a prescription!  It seemed to work.  There is still a little burn spot in the back of my throat when I swallow but if I am not thinking about it there is no pain.  Now I just want all of you to know that it is sometimes hard to admit some of the things I do.  But oh well, I guess I’m just human.

Came back to the house and Brian and Tracy and daughters were here.  We had a dinner of leftovers from the fridge and we still have leftovers.  We ate very well and I enjoyed the times I cooked.  I have had such a good time getting to know my nephew as an adult.  I love all my nieces and nephews but it is difficult to have close relationships with each of them because we all live so far away.  This week had brought a new closer relationship with Brian that I shall always cherish.  Ericka and her daughter Lilly are also part of the wonderful time I have had.  Ericka is such a special little lady.  I have truly been blessed to be in her company and to get to know her daughter in a special way at such an early age.  It will be fun to watch Lilly grow and mature through the years and she will always have a special place in my heart.  She is a very special, amazing little girl.  I am so grateful for the generosity of Brian in gifting the time to us to stay in his rental house.  He rents his house out by the night and it is a great venture for him.  A lot of work but good returns.

Brian works for FIRST RESPONSE FIRE RESCUE.  After he left the house he was called to report to a fire in Medford Oregon.  It is a 10 hour drive and he and a group of other men from this area will be heading out in the morning.  He works with the first response rescue, providing equipment, personnel, and fire retardant.  WOW, we were so fortunate to have had him present with us this entire week.  This time of the year Brian is out fighting the fires that rage across the U. S.  He is only home for short periods.  I miss him already.

So the end of the day has come.  Everyone is still talking to me and I am still writing.  So I guess I will close and hope that I will be back tomorrow evening.  Nine days and counting.  I don’t dare come home early.  I want Dave to have plenty of time to have the dishes done.

Good night.

BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES

By Kathleen Martens

June 23, 2015

Day is done

Week gone by.

I must leave

Time to cry.

But instead I

A smile I chose

These beautiful memories

I will not lose.

But tuck away

Deep in my heart

Separated in time

Memories won’t part.

I am doing something novel this day.  It is only 4:16 p.m. as I start this blog and the day is not over yet.  Who knows what could happen between now and nightfall.  It has been extremely peaceful due to lack of people around me.  Just Mr. David S. and that his been hit and miss as he is in and out.  I have not gone out into the world yet today but today God brought the world to me.

Ericka and Lilly went to play with cousins and I decided to try and get the rest of my reservations booked for my return home.  I am waiting now to find out if I have one or two days in Billings as a guest of Brian’s friends who live there.  Then I can complete the bookings.

While sitting here minding my own business someone knocked at my door.  David S. was out on a bicycle ride so I was all alone.  I cautiously peered out between the cracks in the living room drapes and saw a tall, well dressed young man standing on the porch, a comfortable space away from the door.  Not exactly what I wanted, someone knocking at my door but my heart quickened and I knew this person had come on this porch for some reason.  That reason was to hear the words I said to him.  I didn’t know that then, or even expect it.  Actually, I had no clue that I would even be talking to him other than to find out what he wanted.

The man at the door was James.  He was representing Edward Jones Investment.  After hearing what he had to say I told him my situation was temporary in the home and that I didn’t live in the area.  And so we started talking.  One thing led to another and the discussion of my trip came up, thus the discussion about asking him about his wisdom.  I picked up my phone, put it on record and he spoke his wisdom into my phone before I even knew what he was going to say.

James’ wisdom: “My wisdom is not to settle.  Don’t settle with things you are not happy with. Don’t settle, just keep going and keep trying new things, seeing new places as my new friend here is and I think that is where the enjoyment of life comes from.”

And then I knew I had words for James.  I shared my love and life and joy and peace with James.  He was so kind and considerate and listened so patiently.  I shared about my love for Jesus and how he could know him too and how to ask Christ into his life.  I actually felt led to give him a poem I wrote a few years ago about “God of the Scriptures” and gift him with a “Jesus Calling” book by Sarah Young.  He received them and said something that touched my heart.  He said I was his last call for the day because of the words I spoke he had to leave and reflect and think about what I told him.  I may never see James again on this side of eternity but I do hope that I will see him in heaven.  I will be waiting for him.  James is a person, who to me, is just waiting for God to happen to him.  Just by looking at him, hearing him speak, seeing his demeanor, hearing his wisdom, he has so much potential and so much value to God.  God is just waiting for him to open the door of his heart to let him in.  I asked James If I could pray over him and he accepted my offer.  I really do pray that God will bless him.

James was very helpful in pointing out places of interest to me on the map (which I brought out to the front porch).  We had a very nice conversation and I am so amazed how, when I chose not to go out, God just brought me the one he wanted me to share with.  It was such a privilege to be able to share my love for the Lord with James.  Thank you James for your receptive heart.  And all along he knew that I was leaving town and not a potential client.  Maybe that means he was really sincere in listening.

James’ wisdom was very intriguing to me.  As a writer who wants to know “the rest of the story” I could not help but wonder the root of where that wisdom came from.

Plans have changed.  We were planning to go out to eat tonight but instead of (as David S. said to Brian: “oh, you want to eat at home rather than take the traveling zoo?”) eating out David and I are going to pick up the order at the “Whitehouse Grill” and take it over to Brian’s house.  I ordered   The most popular item:  THE MIXED GRILL: Grilled Chilean Sea Bass, Tiger Prawns, Curry chicken placed over our house rice and served with garlic green beans.  Plus we ordered:  Shepherd salad with chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, Kalamata olives, onions, tossed in our Greek vinaigrette topped with Feta cheese.

I’m down to my last nine days and one pair of pants.  I might as well have those tiger prawns!

I think I will close this blog for the night even though the day is not done.  In a nutshell, we plan to pick up the food, take it to Brian’s place, eat it, pick cherries, eventually come back here and get to bed too late with too many calories sleeping within us.  Sounds like a good rest of the day to me!

Woke up without an alarm!  That is always the beginning of a good day.  Prepared for church and left for the 8:30 a.m. service.  I attended REAL LIFE MINISTRIES.  They have three Sunday morning services, 8:30, 10:00, and 11:30 a.m and two Thursday p.m. services.  Fast quick and right on time.   And that was with communion!  The church is having a month long series on investing in the youth of today.  The young people preached and led worship service.  The worship was beautifully done but very short.  The people were very friendly.  I met someone there and it was like God fulfilling another little desire I had expressed in my thoughts yesterday.  In order to explain I must go back and touch on something that happened on Friday.

If you read Friday’s blog you may remember that my car has a mind of its own and it took me to the HUGE-MEGA-SALE!  It was a happening place.  Lots of people and lots of items being sold.  Well, today at church I was leaving the first service and I saw a sign up for ushers needed for communion and for taking the offering.  I thought, why not, no one will even suspect that this is my first and only day of being here.  I signed up and had a two minutes instruction plan given to me.  There are many sections and four ushers per section.  Two start at the front and two start at the back.  I was at the back starting position.  I took two trays of rectangular plastic trays with a center area of about 2X3 inches for the “bread”.  The trays are light and easy for my hands.  I watch my opposing usher and I give my two trays to the two rows in front of the two back rows, as she had given hers to the first two back rows.  Then I go back, take the two trays when they get to my side and carry the two trays forward.  Communion is passed out in about 3 minutes or less with the entire facility handled this way.  Signing up for communion automatically positioned me as the offering usher.  The buckets, (literal buckets) were in all different colors.  They looked like children’s plastic sand buckets but without the handle.  Offering was taken in the same procedure as the communion.  Like I said before…very efficient and quick!

I successfully returned with two partial trays of leftover communion cups and crackers to pick up my buckets.  A lady came up to me and reminded me that she had met me on Friday at her garage sale.  You remember, the HUGE-MEGA-SALE!  Then I really looked at her and realized who she was.  I so much had wanted to return to her sale on Saturday but if you read yesterday’s blog you’ll know that was impossible to do.  Well, I had a lot of questions I had wanted to ask and asked her if we could talk after the offering was taken.  When we were finished with offering we walked to the foyer and had a good time talking.  She had mentioned on Friday that the items of the sale were from a storage unit auction that she and her husband had purchased. I asked her if I could ask questions.  She gave me permission to ask and permission to tell her story on my blog.

This is the story of Melissa.  After the service I was introduced to her husband but I have forgotten his name.  Sorry Melissa.  Melissa and her husband are hoping to be able to move from town to a place that has some acreage so they can have more freedom of allowing their children to have places to play, have chickens, a large garden and live closer in harmony to nature.  I could feel her passion and desire for this as she spoke to me.  She touched briefly on how her life had become so out of control, she used drugs, was not living a godly life and was in a difficult position of life.  Though she was raised in a church she didn’t really feel she had a relationship with Jesus.  She made a new commitment to God and now is living a life she never dreamed of.  She has a four year old son and a daughter due in September.  This investment in the auction could mean a great deal to her and her husband and their hopes and goals.

She shared with me that she had taken the storage unit for $2700 and had to figure in about $300 to pay the taxes on it plus an additional $200 to rent a U-Haul truck and trailer.  She had 48 hours to remove the items from the large storage unit or she would have to pay $500 for rental fees.  So making haste was the underlying priority.  It took one U-Haul truck, one pickup truck and one trailer to empty it out.  It completely filled their garage from floor to ceiling.  I saw what was still in the garage when I was there and it appeared there was more in than out.  They were constantly unpacking.  She indicated that they financially broke even this weekend and now the rest was for their real estate investments.  There were a lot of things that would be sold in other ways than the garage sale because they were more valuable collectable items.  There were several different collections and nice furniture.  We had a short prayer and I told her that I felt this had been a divine meeting.  She agreed.  I then asked her for her wisdom.

Melissa’s words of wisdom: “Everything roots back to the Lord.  If you have a relationship with the Lord everything will prosper. There are so many opportunities out there.  When opportunities arise go for them, grab them.  You never know what life journey you will go on.  You may just live out your dreams.   LIVE**LOVE**LEARN!  Yes, live, love, and remember, everything all goes back to the Lord.”

An amazing story.  Thank you Melissa.  Melissa then told me that yes it was indeed a “divine meeting”.  Then she tells me her name is Melissa Divine.  How sweet that name is!  I left knowing that my hopes in meeting her again had come true and now I have heard part of her story.

I went to my borrowed home, prepared a snack and left for some shopping.  While there I had opportunity to meet a young lady and talk to her.  I asked about a large tattoo that went across her back and asked about the skull and its significance.  She told me the skull represents a dark time in her life and the wings coming out from it represented hope and her new freedom of flying away from all the bad.  Her life was now on an upward road and things were better.  Sheree is 24 years old.

Sheree’s words of wisdom:  “Just keep going in life and never give up and be around positive people.”

I asked Sheree if I could pray for her.  She excitedly and positively said yes she would like that.  I feel so honored to be able to pray for strangers and know that God is hearing these prayer and perhaps starting a greater work in the lives of those I meet.

Her wisdom came without hesitation.  I could tell that Sheree has had quite a journey.  I am proud of you Sheree for being such a positive young woman regardless of what you have faced and battled in the past.  I shall continue to pray for you to be strong and to come to know the Lord in a closer and deeper way.

I then went to a wonderful place to eat.  There was a young man working behind the counter cooking my chicken.  I asked him what wisdom he has learned.  His quick response was so straight forward and immediate that I knew it was a lesson he had learned recently and meant with sincerity.  This young man is 19 and his name is Sam.

Here is Sam’s wisdom:  “The most important thing in life to to be honest with yourself.  I just graduated from high school and when you are in high school you try to act the coolest, trying to act like someone you are not.  That is not important.  When you want true friendships and people to truly love you, you have to be yourself and act on the strong impulses that you know are true and not what may seem logically true or fashionably true, but what is true to yourself and the person you want to be.  Always be honest in everything you say and do.”

It is so interesting to hear the wisdom of the young.  Sam, if you ever read this blog know that there is an absolute truth and that truth is Jesus, the son of God.

After I left the mall in downtown Coeur d’Alene I drove up second hand street.  I call it that because there are so many resale shops on it.  Being Sunday I found only two open but only shopped at one.  It was half price off all books!  Oh what a deal!  How could I pass that up?  When I found out that information I went back and bought a few more, mostly to give away.  When I told the cashier that, (a man that looked a bit like Santa Clause with a long white braid), he gave me a big price cut.  That was even a better deal!  Maybe he really was Santa Clause.  I wish I had taken his picture.  I didn’t think of it at the time.  Oh well, can’t remember everything.

When I arrived back at home base I could not get into the house.  My code would not work.  So I called everyone I knew that could help and no one answered.  So what is there to do in a crisis when you can’t get in, you need to use the restroom, and you have food in your iced bag?  That’s right!  You eat.  So I did.  And it was good!  Then I got the call.  Everyone was 45 minutes to 1 hour away.  So I had to go shopping again.  This time closer and to only one place.  And it was good.  They had a restroom!

Home again and everyone comes over and the men BBQ’d and Ericka and I concocted side dishes from leftovers.  It was delicious!  I could learn to live like this except I soon would not fit into the clothes I brought with me.  I’m already having a bit of trouble buttoning my britches!  PRINCETON CLUB HERE I COME!

It is 10:05 and I shall plow my way through to the bed in my messy room.  Hope it all fits back in my car.  What a mushrooming mess I have.  Oh well, I’ll not think about that now.  I’ll think about that tomorrow.  Now is for sleeping!

Good night everyone.  I had an awesome day.  Hope yours was too.

Uh Oh!  I have one more story to tell before I go to bed.  I called Dave on his birthday and it reminded me of the story I am going to tell.

Several years ago I would go away on some weekends to speak at women’s retreats.  I would be gone from Friday until Sunday afternoon.  One particular weekend I told Dave I should be home by 5:00 p.m.  Well I came in the back garage door at 3:00 p.m.  I hear Courtland running lickity split down the stairs saying in a harried, hushed voice, “Dad, dad, mom’s home!”  I then see Dave walking up the stairs.  I walk into the kitchen view and notice the sink and counter are PILED WITH DIRTY DISHES!  My eyebrows shoot up and I look at Dave and he looks at me.  He says: “Oh I thought you would be home at 5:00”.  I said, “Yes, that’s right.  I’ll be back at 5:00”.  I turned around without another word, walked back to my car and drove away (probably went shopping).  I came back at five.  The kitchen was spotless, the house was picked up and all was well.  I later asked him if this is what they did every weekend when I went away.  He admitted that yes it was.  They don’t do any dishes until just before I come home and then they all rush around and get the whole house back in order just before I arrive.  Hmmm…You see, there is a rule at my house that no dirty dishes are ever parked in the sink because then you can’t wash your hands and use the sink for the other uses it has.

Back to the conversation from Dave’s birthday call.  I asked him how the house was.  I was wondering if there were dirty dishes in the sink.  He tells me that he guesses he better start now getting things back in order because since I’ve been gone so long it might take him a couple of weeks to do it instead of a couple of hours.  Oh well…just hope there are no rings in the toilet.  However, I just made sure that he knew when I would be there.  I won’t dare come home early.

Goodnight again.

Some days are so packed with activity that yesterday actually seems to be two or three days ago. I asked Dave S.  a while ago if this was really the same day that started out this morning.  We were up and out of here early to tackle Tubbs Hill.  Here is a little excerpt continuing from where I left off last night from the web page:

“Tubbs Hill and the City of Coeur d’Alene were once part of the vast 4 million-acre territory claimed by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. The Coeur d’Alene’s were a semi-nomadic tribe with an estimated population of 3,000 to 4,000 people. They refer to themselves as Schitsu’umsh, meaning “Discovered People”, and acquired the name Coeur d’Alene from French Canadian trappers. According to one popular story, the trappers attempted to trade for valuable furs with insignificant items. The Native Americans were shrewd traders and stated that the trappers had hearts as small as the point of an awl. Accepting the retort, the trappers called the tribe Coeur d’Alene or “Heart of the Awl.”

Well, you don’t walk too fast with a two year old in tow.  She tired quickly and would only progress reluctantly.  Daddy Brian did a lot of carrying.  It was a challenging, rocky course, but with many wonderful lookout points of interest.  It was worth it to go to the downtown area of CDA early today.  Not only did we enjoy our two hour hike in the cool of the morning but we also had opportunity to get great parking spots for the Car d’Alene.  And boy did they ever have some beautiful old classics.  I especially enjoy the ones I remember from my own childhood.  I didn’t take many photos but I did include a 1954 Chevy similar to the one we owned when I was a child.  We had that car for many many years.

After the hike we all went to the children’s climbing park and I enjoyed everything the kids enjoyed.  Especially the kiddy slides.  The spiral was my favorite.  We were there until lunch time.  I had a date with 9 year old Ashton and we went strolling to lunch.  He chose to eat at a Bakery and we had some great food!  Afterward we headed on foot to the Car show which was just one block away.  Ashton and I spent most of the afternoon there eating Kettle corn.  We finally met up again with all the other people in our group.  We had to take three cars because of all the children’s car seats (3). Two cars full, which included mine, went to Costco.  Afterward my car stopped at another store and we finished getting our last items needed to prepare tacos for the dinner meal.  We have been hosting the meal here most nights as a way to say thank you to Brian and Tracy for allowing us to stay in their rental home at no charge for 8 nights.  With 5 in their family and 4 of us that is a big dinner each night!  It has been great to cook in a kitchen that just belongs to the guests (us)!  But it still feels like it is not my kitchen.  Everyone is great in chipping in to either help in prep or do clean-up.  I have done the cooking.  So far I have had no complaints so until I do I’ll just keep trying to come up with some interesting and delicious food.

After dinner, I was still eating, there were guest that came knocking at the door.  They were neighbors who recognized Brian and Tracy were over and they came over to visit.  Brian and Tracy formerly lived in this house.  There were four who came in so that made 13.  Two of which were babies.  THERE WAS A LOT OF NOISE!

I needed to get a reservation for the Wednesday I am leaving so I set up my computer on the kitchen table adjacent to the open living room.  One or two babies crying, (loudly), five adults talking loudly in the living room, and Ericka and I having a conversation in the adjacent kitchen, it sounded like bedlam.  Plus Sam and Buddy (the dogs) scampering under feet as they wanted to play fetch.  They even brought their own slimy ball.  Everything was cleaned up by David S. and Ericka as I just sat here hunting and pecking at keys and studying maps.  I never leave anything out on the table when I am finished and put it all away in my bedroom when I am finished working!  And long about now I wonder if I will finish tonight or fall asleep and fall off my chair.  Seriously, that was what I was thinking.

Much has been left out of today due to fatigue setting in.  More sleepy that fatiguing but it causes me to be unable to stay a wake.

I  just wonder how it took such a long day to do all I did today!  It will soon be tomorrow, so must close.  Be certain you to view the photos.

One last thing.  Ashton and I were in a toy store Pig Pickles and I met a young lady named Katherine.  Katherine is 19 years old and here is her wisdom: “Value things in life that don’t go away.  Value your family. Invest your time in them.  Find that one thing in your life that gives you meaning and for me that is living my faith because that is what I have invested my time in because it is the one things that isn’t going to go away. Find that one thing in your life that has meaning and invest in it.”  

Good night.  It is 12:05 a.m.  I’m off to bed via the dryer to take out my washed and dried clothes that just buzzed me.  Now it really isn’t just one day because now it is tomorrow!

The romance of Coeur d’Alene has been a long one.  I was once here for a week’s visit about 15 years ago go visit my niece Kathleen and her husband.  At that time I was shown the most beautiful pristine lake that I had ever seen up to that point.  Coeur d’Alene is located in the upper part of Idaho between a two or three hour’s car drive from the Canadian Border.  As I left the Canadian border the landscape changed dramatically.  All of a sudden I was simply out of the mountains, the trees were sparse and the kinds of trees were very different and there were a lot more people.  The beautiful mountains that I had fallen in love with were now behind me.  I think the mountains draw me back even as I sit here typing. But, I knew I was on the way to the most beautiful lake in the world.  Thus, I said goodbye to the hours and hours of winding mountain roads, climbing to spectacular vistas and verdant valleys.  But…I was going to Coeur d’Alene and its lure was calling me back.

It wasn’t the same.  What was once a little sleepy town with uninhabited beaches and shorelines was now full of houses and more houses and more houses with big beautiful grandiose mansions that hogged the shoreline for miles.  Following are some statistics from a web site in relationship to the growth of Coeur d’Alene.

“Coeur d’Alene has the second largest metropolitan area in the state of Idaho. As of the 2010 census the population of Coeur d’Alene was 44,137.^[5]The city is located about 30 mi (48 km) east of the larger Spokane, Washington. After the 2010 Census the two metropolitan areas were merged into a single Combined Statistical Area with a population of 679,989.^[6] Coeur d’Alene is the largest city in northern Idaho Panhandle. The city is situated on the north shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene, 25-mile (40 km) in length. Locally, Coeur d’Alene is known as the “Lake City,” or simply called by its initials: “CDA”.”

I was looking through older eyes that have seen a great many more places since my last visit to this area.  And I was saddened…until today.  I had a trip of a lifetime today.  Not only did I get to view the River Coeur d’Alene and the Lake Coeur d’Alene, I had the opportunity to explore them from the water.  My nephew Brian invited me to go on all day boat ride with his family, sister, niece, and father.  And of course I accepted. Yes, the houses  still crowd the shoreline as well as spilling out to the farmlands but what I didn’t know was that there were still miles and miles of undisturbed shoreline and natural habitats left in its natural state.  We road in the boat for hours and went further and further into the recesses of the lake.  The lake is large with winding turns and coves.  Oh so beautiful!  I was falling in love again, but not quite as much as I had with the mountains of Canada.  However, I again saw the beauty of what I dreamed Coeur d’Alene was like from memories of my last visit.  The lake was so beautiful and it was such fun to be in close quarters of the boat and feel the comradery of those aboard.

I was taken on a walking tour of the very place where my nephew and his wife were married.  It was beautiful. They were married on a bluff overlooking the water amidst the pines and deciduous trees.  The weather was an awesome 84 degrees, sunny with beautiful white clouds scuttling by and a breeze to cool you.  The two year old, the five year old, and the nine year old were all so full of life and joy that only young children out on a summer day’s excursion can exhibit. They behaved amazingly well, got along with each other and the sound of laughter was pleasant to hear.  The little two month old baby was content to sleep most of the day due to the constant lulling of the boat and the hum of the motor.  Because of this great escapade I was becoming reacquainted with a long lost love.

When we arrived back to Brian’s house I stayed a short while and since I had my own car there I took off and left brother and sister and dad to visit without me.  I have done some disastrous cooking, ate too much dinner, and must now finish putting food away and cleaning pots.   And I am sleepy.  Not so much tired as just sleepy.  It is now 10:45 p.m. so I’m heading to bed.

Good night!

P.S.  Wisdom from Brian’s dad, David:   “I wish I had learned more patience earlier in life”

Here is Erick’s wisdom: “It is okay to take time out for yourself whatever that may look like to you, a time of reflection, even if it is just five minutes.”