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Wednesday May 20 2015 DAY 73
Another one of those WOW DAYS! Long and interesting. Four classes today. 9:00 to 12:00; 1:30 to 3:30; 4:00 to 5:00; and 7:9:30 with prayer for healing afterwards. Left Bethel Campus at 10:15 p.m. Now that was a long day. After class I take my little “hitch hiker” back to her place which is in the opposite direction of my final destination. I don’t mind. It has been so good to get to know Jessica. She is so bubbly and full of life. She has two little girls so this is wonderful get-a-way time of freedom for her. I can see she is thoroughly enjoying the classes and worship and freedom.
Speaking of worship. The worship service we have each morning before we start our day is out of this world. And I actually mean out of this world! It is as if you we are in heaven. The sound of worship is so beautiful, especially when there is no music and the voices blend together in a heavenly language and sound like what I imagine a choir of angels would sound like. A chill just came over me as I thought about it and typed it. The class allows 750 students because the sanctuary seats 750 people. I would imagine there are about 600 or a little more in session. The entire church building seems to be full with just scattered empty chairs. I faced booked Dave tonight, stood on a chair (as everyone was already standing) and let him see and hear the music and praise. We couldn’t say one word to each other because of the high volume of sound but I just panned the room and platform and let him enjoy what I was hearing. I don’t know what he heard or if I had the phone on speaker or not. Hope he heard something. I’ll find out tomorrow when I speak with him. My phone must be off most of the day from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. because of being in the classes.
My cousins Joyce and Daneece are making life too comfortable for me. Joyce is so generous and wants to buy all my food. I am taking my lunch and dinner because it makes it easier for me to continue to eat healthily while I am traveling. There is a Costco here so I have been able to go there and get some of the foods I enjoy. I only see Joyce and Daneece a few moments before I leave and they are both in bed when I arrive home. I’m trying to figure out how I can get some time to plan the rest of my trip so I’ll have the dates lined up when it is time for me to depart. I do plan to stay here part of next week also (by popular demand)! God provided these wonderful accommodations just for me. Now I know why Daneece moved to Redding all thouse years ago. SO I WOULD HAVE A BEAUTIFUL HOME TO STAY IN WHILE I AM HERE. Isn’t it amazing how God’s timing works out? God is looking out for us even when we don’t know what we’re going to need or when. I just love that about Him.
No time to read. Very little time to write my poem daily. I have been faithful lately, however, today’s poem will not be added to the blog due to my time constraint.
I have enjoyed getting to know several people while here. Jessica, my little passenger lady, Linda, who sat in front of us on the first night, and Angelica who God pointed out to me. Don’t have a picture of Jessica but I can post pictures of Linda and Angelica. It is amazing what the sweet spirits of others does to your heart when God is involved in new relationships. I hope I know them for years to come. I also met another family, a mom and her almost 11 year old son and 15 year old daughter from Saigon. Beautiful people to speak with and to look upon. They are Chinese and speak English fluently. They came all this way to come to this class. I hope I have the mom’s name right, Shin, because she is the source of my wisdom to depart this day. Shin’s wisdom: “I have learned that salvation is through Grace and not through trying to earn your way. Grace is freely given and it is because the Lord wants to give it to us.” Such a great truth spoken so simply.
Grace’s son Benjamin had a word for me. He said he saw a picture and I was up front in a church and I was alone. He didn’t know what it meant and neither do I. I believe in God’s timing I will know the revelation of this word given to me.
This morning all the different countries represented by participants was called out and the people of that nation were asked to stand. I wish I had written the down the names of all the countries.. I found it astounding how many people came from all parts of the world and all parts of our country to participate in this week’s session. It is a mighty work that Bethel does in equipping people to go out and minister to others with boldness and confidence because we know the source of our power is the One who lives within us, which is the Spirit of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Many healing miracles have happened just this week in the services. I am praying for healing of my disfigured and painful hands and the breast tumors I need to have removed when I return. Tonight I prayed for a 24 year old man named Brian whose kidneys are failing and his back is rounded and humped. I ask that you believe with me that God will work a miracle in Brian and heal both of these conditions. We have a mighty God! Believe with me!
It is 12:34 a.m. and 6:30 comes early. Must go. Goodnight.
P.S. I am down to the last few oranges I picked from Bett’s tree in Orange Ca. They are still wonderful and fresh tasting and extremely juicy oranges. Supposedly juice oranges but I love to eat them. I will miss them. Carole, if you read this please call your mom and tell her Thanks for me again. I don’t get to make or receive many phone calls due to my time constraints. None this week at all (except to Dave).
I love you guys out there in the real world!
May 5 2015 Day 59 Another Desire Fulfilled!
God is so good!
So many wonderful experiences to remember. I just hope writing the blog will help me remember more than I forget. Any one else out there have that problem?
Today was a lovely, busy day. To just arise in the morning is always a joy to me, no matter what the weather, no matter where I am, no matter if I am to work or play. To just awaken again knowing I have the chance to live another day makes morning all worthwhile. The earlier I rise the better I like it. Someday I will awaken on my last day and perhaps not even know it is my last day. And even that day will have its own wonderful experiences. Perhaps not to remember but to be enjoyed while I have every breath left in me. And oh what an experience it will be to awaken in a new place and be able to stand boldly in the presence of the Almighty God. I actually look forward to that amazing experience but on the other hand I am in no hurry to make it happen.
So, back to my lovely, busy day. Early workout to start the day. And then…I actually walked into a Great Clips by the gym and gave a perfect stranger the privilege of cutting my hair. Now I know my hair doesn’t look like much (that’s because there isn’t much of it) but I only allow one person to cut my hair and that is my sweet hairdresser Angela back in Wisconsin who owns Bonjour Barber. She cut it very short before I left on my trip so I thought it would outlast my journey. I guess I should have had it shaved. My hair had crossed the line into shagginess and I couldn’t stand it one more day. God provided a superb lady named Jennifer the opportunity to work her magic. And magic she worked! It is SHORT again. Not quite as short, but short indeed. Jennifer was wonderful. Not only did she cut and style it, she washed it, (remember I was all sweaty from the gym), massaged my scalp, wrapped my face in hot towels and put me in a vibrating chair while I lay back for the shampoo…then…gave me a short shoulder massage with a hand held vibrator. Oh man…I felt wonderful when I left there. And the best thing of all Jennifer was in love with the Lord too. She was a good listener too. Hmm…does that surprise you?!
When I arrived back at home base my friend Wendy from High School was sitting on the door step. She was early and I was a bit later than I had intended. I changed and we high tailed it out of there like two giggling teenagers we once were. It matters not how much time passes between visits or phone calls, we can just pick up from where we left off and still feel the comradely feelings we shared as teens. We had an enjoyable time together, eating lunch out, driving around awhile on side roads and stopping at the Meadow Lark Dairy in Pleasanton again (for me again) for an ice cream cone. We had great conversation and we had to part. I wish I could share all our conversations but of course I cannot so I’ll just say that God was in them.
After Wendy left I readied myself for the next event which was to leave in a short while to go to Jeanette’s sister’s house for dinner. Linda and Ron live about 5 miles from Jeanette in Danville California. The homes in this surrounding area are all beautiful, well kept homes. The property values in this part of California are exorbitant. I suppose if something retains such a high value it is well cared for. The homes are close but not as close as they are in other areas. So many people have cultivated beautiful flower gardens in both front and back yard. So much warmth and growing season that much can be accomplished in the growing season. I saw flowers I have never laid eyes on. Ron cultivates roses and another exotic flower that he gets from Japan or China (Sorry Ron, I guess I wasn’t listening too well) which are one of a kind here in the states. He orders them and has a collection of them in pots in his side yard. His yard is beautiful! On the other end of his house he has a gorgeous rose garden with a collection of extremely exotic looking roses. Amazingly beautiful. I took a few pics on my cell phone so I could send you some. Most I took with my real camera because they will be beautiful on cards.
I told Jeanette this morning that I wanted to stop in some of the yards in the neighborhoods around here and just pick one rose from each bush (especially at one house I drive by everyday). I told her I would love to have a boquet of the beautiful roses I see. They are so huge and diverse in color, style of blooms, sizes, and smells. When I was admiring Ron’s rose garden he said I could pick any I wanted! WOW! WOW! WOW! There it was again! God just giving me another desire of my heart! Linda came out with the clippers and kept encouraging me to cut more. In the photos I posted I included the bouquet I brought back to Jeanette’s from their backyard. They sit regally in a vase behind me in the office where I am writing and the fragrance mixture of all the varieties smells like a lush wonderful fruit drink of some sort. Sort of lemony and subtle and yet spicy all in one inhalation. I shall sleep with them in my room and then place them in a communal area for all to enjoy while I am gone tomorrow. Perhaps I’ll even take one to each of my sisters whom I will see tomorrow. That is…if I can part with two.
Linda and Ron set a beautiful table and the food was delicious! I’ll try to remember to get the name of the dish Linda served. It was a bit different and ever so wonderful. It will be interesting to find out if anyone has ever heard of it before. Not only is Linda talented in cooking she is also very artistic and creative and prolific in the quilt making department. She showed me many quilts and pillows that she has made and they were all exquisitely and finely made. She does all the quilting herself. Some she actually uses a straight stitch sewing machine to quilt curved repetitive designs in the quilt patterns and they look beautiful. I posted a few of her quilt photos that I snapped this evening. Enlarge them and look at them closely. I shot a lot of the quilts with my real camera too.
I returned to home base, leaving Denny and Jeanette behind to watch a basketball tournament game. Don’t know what team, can’t remember the team name and don’t recall even seeing them on screen to tell you the color of their uniforms (which I don’t know if that even matters). Some pro games to do with basketball must be going on right now because everyone here is ensconced in it. I am happy for them. But…their team lost tonight on this 5th day of May. (I included the date because my computer is blogging things with the wrong dates attached. Even when I put the correct date on tonight tomorrow it will show May 6th. I change it or at least try.)
I will close with Wendy’s words of wisdom she would like to tell others:
“Do not gain weight. Do not let yourself go because it is so hard to get yourself back. Stay active and work on being healthy”.
Thank you Wendy for your honest words to others.
And thank you God for all your blessings on this day. I love my roses!
Oh, and thank you Linda and Ron for allowing God to grow them in your back yard. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. It was so good to see you both and look through your old albums!
Good Night!
P.S. Note to cousin Joyce: I’ll return your call tomorrow but don’t know when.
April 18 Day 42 Battleship Iowa
Well, another Surprise Day!!! I found out last night that there is a Farmer’s Market here in Orange California close to where I am staying. Linda’s husband Bob said he gets up every Saturday and goes and asked if I would like to go. I followed him in my car as I had only about 45 minutes to stay before meeting my husband’s two sisters in Anaheim to go out for breakfast with them (Faith and Jon) and with Faith’s son Wade.
The market was spectacular. Such beautiful displays of fresh fruit and produce I’ve never seen. So different than our farmer’s market in Madison Wisconsin around the capitol. Ours is also a spectacular event but has very different offerings depending on the season. I think the Madison farmer’s market opens the last week of April and goes through part of October. I was so surprised to see such an array of food so early in the season. Oranges and lemons and grapefruits and avocados and blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries all fresh from farms in the outlying areas. Not much farmland close by. Lots of nuts with various flavorings and seasonings, jams, and personal products such as soaps and oils. Breads and cakes and cookies and unbelievable pastries that I could’t even begin to name. All so amazing. Vegetables so big that I could hardly believe they were real. Every kind of vegetable that we don’t usually have available until late July or August. Squash, Shallots, greens of many varieties, even dandelion greens, sweet potatoes, several varieties of onions, carrots, farm fresh organic eggs for $7.00 per dozen. Yes, I said SEVEN DOLLARS PER DOZEN. (I didn’t buy any). So many foods to feast my eyes upon and to take pictures of. Took them all with my camera so don’t have any to post. I get so focused when I am intent on camera work that I forget to get my IPhone out and take a few. I was exhilarated with just feasting my eyes upon the beauty of the “REAL FOOD”, to smell it and at times caress it. I just couldn’t help myself. I love working with live foods. I love eating live foods, foods that have not be processed, cooked or boiled or baked. Just to smell the food made me happy! But I only purchased some Brussels sprouts and some fresh picked oranges. You see, Brussels sprouts are one of my most favorite foods. Bob brought home some bread that is so tasty that I even ate a piece. I don’t normally eat much bread but this bread was so exceptional. Ciabatta bread is what Bob called it. Crispy crust with lots of air holes in it. I loved it. Glad we don’t have it accessible close by where I live. And if it is accessible please don’t tell me where.
I left the market and drove to Anaheim on the grid layout of the city. This must have been a very planned area at one time. Before homes were “planted” on the flat coastal lands the grids marked the boundaries of the orchards. Orchards of oranges, lemons, and grapefruits in precision rows, defined the first roads, Before the citrus were planted the area was planted in vineyards. In the late 1800’s a blight killed off all the grapes and the fields were planted in groves of citrus. Dave’s father came to Orange County in the early 1900’s. At that time he could have purchased as many acres as he wanted for $2.00 an acre. He didn’t have the funds to do so. Orange county was originally part of the Los Angeles County. When all the orange groves were planted the area was separated from Los Angles County and called ORANGE COUNTY. When I moved here in 1973 many of those orange groves still existed. The are all gone now. In their place are high density apartment buildings and closely crowded homes, all in straight squared blocks. Major streets stretch from east to west with other major crossroads from north to south. The major long streets are at least 4 lanes wide and the most of them are 5 lanes wide. The middle lane is enclosed with double yellow lines and is a turning lane of safety when trying to turn left or right against the traffic, either crossing the traffic to turn or when trying to get across the street to turn against the traffic. Wish we had this safety lane in Madison. There is a lot Madison planners could learn from the both the flow of traffic in this heavily traveled area and in the designs of their parking lots.
Well, lets’s get back to my visit with my sisters-in-law. We went to Denny’s which is their favorite eating place. Wade met us there and we had a nice breakfast. It was too short and I didn’t even get to take one picture of Wade. He does not like his photo taken and I honored his request to not take any pictures of him. My loss. After our breakfast Wade left and we three women headed out to Long Beach to visit the docked Battleship IOWA. I would like to share a bit from the brochure I received this morning:
“Battleship IOWA was designed as the lead ship of the world’s last class of battleships. She was completed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during the frenzied early months of World Ward II, and joined at the Navy’s Atlantic Fleet in February 1943…IOWA’s designers created an armored steel box about 500 feet long and about 80 feet wide, put all the critical components of the ship inside it–the big guns, machinery, fire control , magazines, engines and boilers, communication and navigation systems, and then they built a ship around it. This armored box is called the Citadel, and it extends from just forward of Turret One to just aft of Turret Three below the second deck.”
So many other interesting facts I learned. To just walk on the decks and climb the steep ladder stairs and gaze out on the waters of the Bay gave me a melancholy feeling as I thought of all the perils and horrors of war, wondering how many men walked on those decks who did not come back. That ship played a strategic part in the war. To see the close quarters that housed 3,000 men gave me a reality check of what it would be like to live in such a confined area for months and months. There are way too many facts to relate in my short time frame. Finding out what I did makes me hungry to find out more.
We finished the tour and headed home. The day was clear and light winds blew. It was so beautiful down by the water. We crossed a beautiful bridge and scooted in to the traffic lanes of frenzied drivers. A bit a rudeness goes on on those freeways. If you put your blinker on the car to signal a lane change the car on your blinker side will accelerate and try to block you from coming over into their lane. My little Kia Soul has learned how to change lanes without signals. When in Rome….
On the way home Faith drove by the home where she and her siblings (one being my husband) grew up. The house was ready for Dave’s family to move in to in July 1948. Dave was just a baby and lived his life in that house until after he graduated from Fullerton State University. The house was sold after his mother died. I can’t remember the date. The house brings back nostalgic memories of my children going to grandma and grandpa’s house. Our little toddler stretching to reach up and touch the chimes of the doorbell on the outside of the house. Memories of our little two and three year old walking with Grandpa to the corner store for a treat. They loved going to grandma and grandpa’s. And of course they were always angels!
We had a nice afternoon eating at Faith’s house, sharing stories and taking photos. All too soon my wonderful day with my family was over. Linda had dinner waiting for me and I knew I couldn’t miss it. LINDA IS A REALLY GOOD COOK! And it was delicious. There was trout, asparagus, rice pilaf, a grand salad, and I contributed a strawberry.
I made some phone calls long overdue, planned my itinerary for next week (sort of) and wrote this blog. I know these blogs are long but since my days are so packed I haven’t had much time to write in my journal so this is the part of the journal writing that I can share. I will close with a Goodnight!
April 14 Day 38 Life is different here
Everyday is so different. When you walk into someones life, their life must go on. So today I lived in the shadow of my friend. When we say we are busy what does that mean to each individual? My busy is different than the next persons busy and the next person’s busy is different than the next and so on…It was a busy, lovely shadow to live in because I was not the one that had to do all planning and work and schedule or deal with the traffic and rushing not to be late. So I just sat in the back seat during California rush hour traffic as Linda was busy maneuvering in and out between cars and constantly being certain that the exit she was taking was the right one. We left the house at 6:50 a.m. and arrived SAFELY (whew!) at 7:30 a.m. to the school where she drove her granddaughter so she could attend a class many miles away.
Today is Linda’s birthday and her driver’s licence is now expired. So…we drove down to San Clemente (where the crowds would be smaller) to go to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles so she could renew her expired licence. We stood in a long, long line for quite awhile (and that was before we got into the building) and by the time we got into the building, where the line was about three times as long as the line outside, it was time to leave so we could pick up granddaughter because her class would be over by the time we arrived back to the school. So no licence renewal today. Picked up granddaughter and then made a potty stop at McDonalds and drove to another school for another class. We drove around looking at multi-million dollar houses until time to pick up granddaughter at school number 2. It doesn’t take much to make a house be a million dollar house in this area. A normal three bedroom ranch in a nice neighborhood, probably 1800 to 2000 square feet will sell for about $500,000 plus. It is crazy!
Back to the busy day. Granddaughter was picked up after the second class and then we were off to do some birthday shopping for the birthday girl. The item she was looking for was not there so we left and drove back toward home to meet Linda’s daughter, (mother of the granddaughter) for lunch. Had a delicious Mexican lunch and left. I was dropped off at home because I needed to go and pick up another friend so we could continue to have a busy day.
This friend is a woman I first met almost 40 years ago. As I briefly mentioned in a previous blog post, our daughter Rebecca is adopted. This friend I speak of now is our daughter’s birth mother’s mother. My husband I first met her when we were interviewed by her daughter as possible parents for her unborn child. We found out later that no other couples were interviewed because once they (Carole and her mother) met us it was decided that we would be offered the position as parents to Carole’s unborn child. Well, to fast forward 30 years later we located both Carole and her mom, Betts. Through an amazing work of God our lives were reconnected. The entire story is awesome so if any of you who read this blog is interested in knowing more just let me know and I’ll write up the whole story. Well since we found Rebecca’s birth family, her maternal grandmother has come to our home every year in the summer to visit us for a short while. Needless to say we have become good friends. Betts is an amazing woman! She has given me much encouragement and inspiration in many areas of my life, one being the writing of my memoirs and the other, regaining my health so that I could be healthy and vital going into my later season of my life. She is true inspiration not only me, but to many others whose lives she’s touched. Betts is a published author and has accomplished many awards in her life for her outstanding works. She received the most prestigious award from China that is given to a non- citizen. I read a quote once that went something like this: “To inspire someone actually means to blow new breath of life into them”. That is what she did for me.
Well, I picked up Betts and we had a wonderful afternoon together. First we got lost in a construction zone and turned around and went the wrong way on a street that only went the other way. But we wove ourselves out of that mess and ended up where I intended we should go. We visited the first home my husband and I purchased 6 months after we married. Next we drove by the next house we bought 3 years later. The first house we purchase was $33,000. Now it would sell in the ballpark of about $600 to $700 thousand dollars. Yes, you read that right.
The second house sits on a high hill that overlooks the Anaheim valley area. When I say “overlooks” I mean it only overlooks the valley when you can see through the smog.” It was sunshine and hazy today. I could actually see the Anaheim hills a few miles away. While at the last house I introduced myself, explaining that we were previous owners of the house. We were invited into the back yard so we could see some footprints we made of our daughters feet in 1977 when my husband poured a concrete piece covering a drainage area in the back yard. There they were, little footprints and the date still clearly marking the slab. I’ll post a photo.
After leaving the Yorba Linda Hills we drove to Anytime Fitness where my friend works out. She was able to sponsor me for a guest past. When they heard the story of my trip and my 80 pound weight loss they offered me a pass for the days I would be in town. I thank you Anytime Fitness for your generous gift to me. And what a gym! Never was I so impressed. It is in a large mall. You enter on the main level and then go downstairs into a massive group of rooms filled with up to date exercise equipment of all varieties. After having the rapid heart episode in the mile high cities of Denver and Albuquerque and not being able to exert myself, this workup was my first true equipment work out in a couple of weeks. It felt good and I pushed hard. Hope to be able to attend each day I am here.
I took Betts home and then came back to my current place of residence and freshened up and changed clothes so I could attend a family birthday party for Linda. Pizza and salad. Very delicious salad. I took a bite of pizza but was too full to eat more. Now the party is over and I am tired after that one and a half hour workout without a hydro-massage afterwards. Bed beckons. There is always so much more I would like to write but must turn in as I want to get up very early tomorrow to work out, come back to the house and leave by 9:00 a.m. I’ll be off to see some more very important people in my life. Tell you more tomorrow evening if the Good Lord wills.
Goodnight.
p.s. Posting a photo of a quilt that Carole made for her mother. All the photos on the quilt are of Betts and family throughout her life. I even took a couple of them when they came to see me in Wisconsin.
Visions of Poetry 