In Memory Of Sam And Katie

Forgive me for not posting lately.  It has been hectic with Jim’s health problems.  Also, Vera has had a very serious bout with her lower back that kept her from making her May 6th flight to Kansas, City Mo. for her internship.  Seventeen years ago, she fell  43 feet and the older she gets–the more trouble she has with her lower back.  Hopefully, she will be leaving on May 22.

Inbetween all of these circumstances–we noticed that Katie, our 15 year old cat, was not eating much nor grooming herself.  She has had bad times before but we’ve always been able to get her interested in food again.  Katie had a bond with Vera that was special.  Vera always went the extra mile with our geriatric Katie.  Katie was so afraid of our dog.  She lived on our fridge.  We would put the dogs up to have special “Katie” time.  She always knew when Jim and Vera were going to play table games.  Her eyes told us that she wanted to be a part of the game.  So that would be one of her special times.

 

Jim and Katie

Jim liked to put Katie in his lap while he was playing table games.  He claims that she helped him win against Vera.  Friday evenings have always been our movie night.  Katie would know it was movie night and motion for us to take her off the fridge.  So we would put the dogs up and let her enjoy movie night with us. 

She didn’t always live on the fridge.  However, she has always been very afraid of things.  When we rescued her as a three year cat in l997–we still had our original dogs.  She lived upstairs for almost a year.  Then around the time Vera started college–Katie started living behind our entertainment center. 

When Sugar and Lucy got old–Katie began enjoying more freedom in our home.  Then in 2005–I had to put them both down.  That same day, Rudy came along.  I had never planned on getting another dog.  Sandy, my oldest daughter owned Rudy but gave her away.  Rudy was found in Cadiz , Kentucky by a couple passing from Georgia on their way to Chicago.  They rescued her and brought her back to the vet clinic where we live.  I was called and asked if I would get Rudy.  I made a quick decision to keep her.  And that is when Katie started living on the fridge.

A few months later another daughter asked me if I would take their dog.  I accepted “Tickie”.  The two dogs have always been a bit much for Katie.  So she has lived a very secluded life.

When Vera came home to help me through my breast cancer operation–Katie was so very happy.  I personally believe that Katie knew Vera was going to leave and decided that she no longer had the will to live.

The decision to end Katie’s life was extremely hard on us.  In February –it was also hard to have Sammie, a 12 year old cat, put down.  They both started going downhill very fast. 

In memory of these precious cats–I’m posting a video of them together back in October of 2008.  Katie loved Sammie –so occasionally Vera would put the dogs up and take them both up to her bedroom.  They really had a great time with each other that day.  So in memory of our dear cats—-I hope each of you enjoys this video. 

A Christmas Past/ A Christmas Present

My grandsons and I were cleaning out a drawer and found my album of photos from the first ten years of our marriage.  It was in complete disarray.  I knew right then that I was going to get new photo albums for my pictures.  The boys and I went to the store to buy some albums that very morning.  Later, after the boys went home –I began putting my new albums in order.  There were two items of furniture constantly used for a photograhic background in those pictures.  Each new school year our four children would line up in front of our old piano for back to school photos.  The other piece of furniture is a bookcase.  It was also a very popular backdrop for family pictures.  We no longer have the piano but we still have the bookcase.  There is a story about that bookcase that I would like to share.

The summer of l982 was very difficult.  My husband was self employed working at various jobs.  Work was scarce and we were short of money.  I had already sold my mother’s fine china and silver ware to help make mortgage payments.  One day that summer Jim came home with a bookcase that he had torn out of a house.  One could tell that it was very solid and worth keeping.  The only problem was that it had been painted so many times over the years that it would take a great deal to restore the bookcase.  Neither Jim and I have that particular talent to restore furniture.  Thus, we put the bookcase on the street with a for sale sign.  We were asking $20.00 for the bookcase.  I didn’t have much faith that anyone would buy it. 

Within a couple of days a family came by and decided they wanted the bookcase.  The husband of the family did like to restore furniture.  While we were talking –we realized that our children went to the same school.  Matthew was in the same grade as Ben and Sandy. Tina, Matthew’s mother, was looking for an after school sitter.  She asked me if I would be interested.  I agreed to look after Matthew.  I was already baby sitting two other children in the evening.  She also asked me if I could take care of Matthew on certain days during the rest of the summer.  So not only did I earn $20.00 but I gained a job. 

Matthew was to be a part of our lives for the next three years.  I also seemed to become the sitter for many other children as well.  Those were busy years but the most interesting part of this story is that John and Tina gave us back our bookcase as a Christmas present.  John had stripped off all of the many layers of paint and refinished the bookcase.  Today in 2009, we still have that bookcase and it is one of our favorite pieces of furniture.  I shall always cherish the day that I met John, Tina and Matthew.  Tina and Matthew even came to visit us in Kentucky after we left Alabama.  And our bookcase is still a favorite backdrop for photo sessions.

Now for the Christmas present.  I was deeply touched when Ben and his wife gave us a card telling us that our Christmas present was to move our washer and dryer up into our kitchen.  One of my brothers fell down his basement stairs in November and had to have three surgeries.  I must confess that I have been worrying about my basement stairs.  I’ve been taking laundry up and down our stairs for 23 years.  And I’ve fallen several times with one fall being so serious that I had to have surgery.  Evidently, Ben and Linda have been worrying about us , too.  Ben has the skills to do all of the plumbing for us.  I’m so excited about not ever having to do laundry in the basement again.

Another wonderful Christmas present was having our former Mennonite friends and their six children come sing for us.  Daniel and Ruth were old order Mennonites until about eight years ago.  They left their order to start a new life.  Daniel learned to drive and they put electricity and plumbing in their home..  They also have phones, a DVD player,  a fax machine and a computer. They still live much like the Mennonites in that they are self supporting.  They farm, sell goats and rabbits, do carpentry work for others, and run a bookstore from their home.    We enjoy visiting their bookstore.  In fact, I did much of my Christmas shopping at their store.  Whenever we visit them–their children are always busy with projects to help around their home. The past two times we have visited them–some of the children have been busy baking.  The oldest son has been involved in building on to their home.  He helped his father with the blueprints and studied the rudiments of electrical wiring so he could do the actual labor of wiring their new addition.  They are an amazing family.  So we were delighted when they came to sing for us.  We took many photos of them as they are no longer under the ban of not taking photographs.  They had fun looking at our family pictures on display.  I had one picture of my birth family during Christmas time in which I was just six years old.  Daniel got very sad as he has no photos of his growing up years, of his parents and siblings nor of his wedding to Ruth.  However, he smiled again thinking of how it would be different for his family.  We had a lovely time with Daniel’s family.  It was an experience that I will always cherish. 

Christmas comes and goes each year but these two Christmas seasons will always stand out in my mind.  I’ve been busy working on my albums.  It looks like I will need four albums for my one huge torn up book.  There are many pictures of Ben as a child building all of his treehouses.  He was already developing his life work as a child.   The picures reflect many birthdays and Christmas seasons.  There is a space in my new albums to write about each picure.  This project will keep me busy for a number of days.  And to think all of these memories started from just cleaning out one drawer. 

May God bless each of you!

My Dad, Part 4

The most exciting part of our train ride was stopping in Chicago.  Mom treated us to a nice lunch and let us buy all kinds of comic books.  Those comic books kept us very entertained.  We would swap our comic books with each other the rest of the trip.  We arrived in Hopkinsville, Kentucky on July 4, l961 at around 8:00 a.m. in the morning.  My mother’s brother and sister meant us at the train station in downtown Hopkinsville.   Grandmother was waiting for us and had cooked hotcakes for us.  She had her table all set with her finest dishes.  It was wonderful getting such a welcome greeting.  Grandmother showed us the sleeping arrangement for our family.  Since she ladysat each evening–mother and I would sleep in her double bed.  My youngest brother would sleep in the twin bed in the same room.  My other two brothers would sleep on cots in her hallway. 

Grandmother allowed us to have a few days of fun and then she presented us with a schedule of chores.  She made us wash and dry all of the dishes.  I had to learn to iron.  My brothers did all of the yard work and took out the garbage.  I had to help my grandmother clean the formal living room each Saturday morning.  I had never had to do anything but wash dishes my entire life.  We also had to learn how to say “yes, m’am” and “no m’am” and “yes, sir” and “no sir”.  Grandmother would shake our little shoulders when we slipped up.

For the last two months of summer vacation I ironed all of the clothes in the family.  There were no permanent press clothes in those days.  Grandmother had me sprinkle the clothes with water then I would begin ironing.  I didn’t sass my grandmother because I knew she meant business with each of us.  (Later, as a teenager I sassed my dear grandmother a great deal.  I deeply regret that.)

When school started– grandmother and mother hired a woman to help with cleaning and ironing.  Never again did I have to iron any of the family clothes.  However, I will always be grateful that my grandmother started right in with teaching us that it takes every member of the family to do their share. 

We moved upstairs in September to our own apartment.  Grandmother was a heart patient.  In those days with heart patients– the medical thought was that climbing stairs was too stressful for the heart.  Thus, grandmother wasn’t always watching everything we did.  Mother assigned our dish washing schedule for our new apartment.  However, grandmother still made me help clean her formal living room each Saturday and the boys had to continue to do the yard work.

Gramdmother was a Southern Baptist and she insisted that we attend church.  She made us go to church not only on Sunday morning but any time the church building was opened.  I had to go to “training union” each Sunday evening and “G.A” activities each Wednesday evening.  We lived right in the heart of town.  Our church was just a few blocks from our home.  So we walked to church.  We also learned to walk everywhere because Mother didn’t have a car.

Dad had written to mother shortly after we arrived in Hopkinsville.  He wanted a divorce.  We all knew that was coming or else my mother would never have moved us to Kentucky.  Nevertheless, we all wept when mother read the letter to us.  Thus, began a long series of my mother meeting with her divorce lawyer.  There were no quick divorces in those days.  I think it took nearly a year for the divorce to be granted.

Now Dad did write short notes to each of us the first year he was gone.  He claims that he wrote letters to us throughout our growing up years but that mother just didn’t give them to us.  To be fair–Dad might have tried to write us those first couple of years we were in Kentucky.  But by the time I was in Junior high school–I checked the mail a great deal.  There were never any letters from Dad.  Mother claims that she never knew where dad was.  At any rate–there was never any money coming to our household from Dad. I don’t think my mother had the emotional strength to fight for child support.  It was all she could do just to keep our household running smoothly.

Now I’m not going to write every detail about our growing up years.  We all did well in school.  My oldest brother was the family scholar.  He earned a naval scholarship to the University of North Carolina. In his early 50’s he earned his master’s degree in English Literature and currantly teaches at Hopkinsville Community College.  I ended up going to our local community college then transferring to Southeastern Bible College in Birmingham, Alabama.  I met my dear husband of 34 years at Southeastern Bible College. I have gone back to college at various times in my life but have never earned another degree.  I have taught as a subsitute teacher off and on for almost 20 years. All of our children were born in Birmingham.  My brother who goes by “David Web” on this blog had years of  doing various things.  He did earn a two year business degree.  He has lived in Denver, Co. for 23 years now and has a great job working for the state.  My youngest brother earned in undergraduate degree in Art and his master’s degree in  English Literature.  In his thirties’s he earned a law degree.  Today he works for the state of Tennessee as a lawyer. 

In l979, we found out where our father lived.  Thus, we all began corresponding with him.  Dad came to visit my family in Birmingham in l985 for a week.  I have written the details of that in my Vera stories. ( I have an entire category devoted to these stories.) Dad worked for years in the space program at Hunstville and was part of the engineering team that made Apollo 11.  I have documentation of his work on Apollo 11 that was given to me after my dad died.  Dad fathered two other children.  They live in the Detroit area.  I have been in contact with my half sister but my half brother is not open to getting to know my family.  My dad divorced their mother ( the secretary) and married another woman.  That marriage lasted to the end of his life.

Dad lost everything he had in l994.  He hadn’t filed taxes for many years.  The government seized all of his assets.  His health declined from that point and he died of a stroke in l996.  It has been a difficult journey for me learning to forgive my dad.  At times we were very close and then he would brush me off.  I know my brothers have had their own struggles.  My oldest brother feels strongly that Dad had a death bed conversion while he was in a coma those last days of his life.  Dad was baptized in his youth and was a very devout young man of faith during his growing up years.  I like to  believe that my brother’s “knowing” is true.  At any rate, I do forgive my dad.  As an Orthodox Christian–I’ve come to understand that we are all sick and in need of help.  Christ is our great physician.  The Orthodox Church is viewed as a hospital.  We are continually getting well by obeying our church.  We get our nourishment through taking the Holy  Eucharist and by having regular confession with our priest.  We also get our nourishment by obeying the fasts that our church has.  We strongly rely on the Gospels of Christ for lessons about daily life.  The most important lesson Christ taught us was to forgive each other.  If we can’t forgive others then Christ will not forgive us.  So today I pray for my reposed father each day.  He made many mistakes.  But then so have I.   I hope my story will help each of you to let loose of resentment and bitterness.  May the Holy Gospels work in each of your lives!

God bless each of You!

My Dad, Part 3

My dad lost all interest in keeping up traditions in our family.  Our last Christmas with us he just frankly told each of us that there was no Santa Claus.  I was 7 years old and I still loved Santa.  What a heartbrake that was for me.  I know now that he was brutally honest with us because there was no money to buy Christmas gifts. 

We did have one lovely occasion our last summer with Dad.  He was working for an insurance company in downtown Detroit.  The Queen of England was to be on her ship on the Detroit River.  He took our family downtown to his office building so that we could see the queen on her ship.  We did see the ship but of course could not see the queen.  However, we knew she was on that ship.  That memory is something special that I have always carried in my heart.

Mom started talking about how she was going back to college for refresher courses so that she could teach school again.  I enjoyed my mom being a homemaker.  I loved her presence in my life at all times.  She was a very elegant lady in all ways.  Mother always dressed up each day unless she was doing housework.  After her chores, she always dressed up again.  She spoke softly to us in her reprimands.  Thus, I felt very bewildered when she started talking about going to college.

Dad kept his mysterious plans going strong.  We had already met his secretary.  She went out to eat with us on my 7th birthday.  I remember Dad making me sit in her lap.  I had a creepy feeling about that lady.  Dad knew he was going to leave us.  That is why he pushed mother to take college courses. One of my brothers told me that at least dad had some integrity left by pushing mother closer to the field of teaching. I wasn’t sure I agreed with my brother at first but now I realize that he was right.

Dad had a little conference with each of us children.  He told us that he got an engineering job with Boeing Aircraft in Seattle, Washington.  Likewise, he told us that he would be leaving in June.  Dad assurred us that he would be writing to each of us and that within a year that he would have us join him.  I thought it a little strange that we couldn’t be with him from the beginning of his journey.  Don’t ever under estimate the discernment of a child.  Children are very perceptive.  I knew in my heart that Dad was gone.  I knew that we would never join him anywhere.

That June day came when Dad kissed us all goodbye and drove away.  Later we found out that Dad picked up his secretary who was pregnant and took her with him.  Mother had already arranged for a sitter to take care of us while she took courses at Wayne State University in Detroit.  We had no car so mother took a bus each day to and from college.  Our sitter only lasted a couple of months before she got burned out with taking care of four children.  By the time school started mother found another sitter.  She lasted the entire school year.  My youngest brother was still at home all day. 

Now that I’m grown and have raised four children with the help of my husband–I feel such admiration for the courage that my mother had.  She didn’t have money to go back to college.  One family loaned my mother the money.  Later, after mother died –the man of that house told me that mother repaid every dollar that she borrowed.  Thus, Mother took a cab to her school each morning.  She was an elementary school teacher once again. 

I grieved so much.  Dad had been overly strick the last couple of years he was with us but I still missed him.  I cried myself to sleep each night.  Many times I would wake up with terrible stomach cramps and would beg my mother to let me stay home from school.  Mother relented many times with me.  I know I missed at least a month’s worth of school during the third grade.

Mother made a real effort to make our Christmas special that year.  She made all kinds of homemade treats .  I especially remember the peanut brittle she made and put in candy dishes in the living room.  After Christmas, she began talking to us about moving to Kentucky.  Mother was raised in Western Kentucky and wanted to go back to be with her family.  By spring she had already landed a job with the school system in her hometown of Kentucky.  We all began to get excited about taking a long train trip to Kentucky.  The plan was that we would live with my grandmother.  Grandmother had a house that was made into three apartments.  For the summer we would live in Grandmother’s apartment but in September we would move to the upstairs apartment–after the young couple who was renting it moved out.

There had been so much confusion and grief our first year without our dad.  Mom did the best she could do to keep up with housework and laundry while teaching fulltime.  She didn’t push us to do chores and we didn’t volunteer.  I looked forward to grandmother taking care of us and that life would be neat and orderly once again.  What I didn’t know was that grandmother was about to be the character shaper of our lives.  She was 69 years old and a breast cancer survivor.  She was not soft spoken like my mother.  Grandmother was all about discipline and hard work.  It is a good thing–I didn’t know that while I was dreaming of my perfect world.  That train ride wouldn’t have been as much fun.  

So we left Detroit , Michigan around noon on July 3, l961.  All of us were excited about the long train ride to Kentucky.  New adventures were just around the corner.

One Person Can Make A Difference!

I’ve known Wally since I was 17 years old.  Until then, I only knew of him by looking at my brother’s high school annuals.  Our church had a big youth revival the summer I was 17 years old.  Wally preached the Sunday morning sermon at the conclusion of our revival.  He didn’t attend our church but somehow–he was invited to give the Sunday morning sermon.  He was dressed in a white summer suit.  His text was from the book of James, chapter l.  This is a chapter of the Bible that tells people that the rich are not to have exultation over the poor during worship.  Wally had a heart for the poor in his early youth.  And that compassion has never left him.

Wally went on to become an astute businessman.  He founded his own real estate business.  He married and had three children.  In l990, he became the mayor of our town.  He went on to serve a second term as our mayor.  When he was still selling homes, he went to great length to help us buy our home.  He even hired us to do an extra job which helped us with our down payment on our home.  We were a struggling family in those days and we would never have been able to buy our home without Wally taking a very personal interest.

After he finished two terms of being the mayor of our town–he went back to school and earned his master’s degree in public service.  After that–he taught high school for a few years.  Wally, now a single person again, ventured out into a new dream of helping the poor.  With the backing of our YMCA  and the local development corporation–he moved into an apartment located in the inner city.  He started his adventure by riding his bike each day all around the inner city.  He would stop and greet people.  He then started inviting businessmen to join him on a bike ride throughout our city. Next, he started a Bible study in his apartment.  Later, the Bible study was moved to the home of an elderly lady in his neighborhood.  And finally, a church in town started using one of their mini vans to give tours of the inner city.  Wally would be the host of those bus tours.

In August of 2005, Wally invited Jim and I to dinner at a little country restaurant.  During our dinner, he told us about a home in the inner city that was once a beautiful brick home–now in bad disrepair.  No one had lived in it for years.  Drugs dealers had used it.  There was a minor problem is getting the deed.  After our dinner, we walked along the country roads.  Wally began telling us more about his dream of how this home could be used to help so many people.

I reminded Wally of the work that Jane Addams had done in Chicago in the late 1890’s into the 1900’s.  At that time in America, all kinds of immigrants were pouring into our nation.  There were no government assisted programs.  People lived in horrible poverty.  The streets were filled with garbage and raw sewerage.  Sweat shops abounded in the big cities.  Women would have to leave their small children to work in the sweat shops.  Likewise, many children had to work long hours to help their families.  It was a horrible time for the poor people.  Middle class living did not exist.  Either people had plenty of money or they struggled with poverty.  I was so inspired by Wally’s idea to start such a home in our town–that I read Jane Addams’s book: Twenty Years At Hull House. I found the complete book online at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/ADDAMS/title.html

It took a full year to get just the basics done on the house.  Many church groups volunteered to help clean all of the debris out of the house.  By the summer of 2006, a plan for restoration was started.  Again, many volunteers helped restore the once beautiful home.  The garage was restored to make a workshop to teach trades.  The home didn’t really open for full use until the summer of 2007.  It took two long years to fulfill Wally’s dream. 

A young girl in Viginia, who was a friend of Wally–had a dream for another home to be opened up.  She raised the money to buy another old home.  I think the price of the home was around $12,000.  Then she raised another $12,00 to $15,000 for the beginning restoration costs.  Again, volunteers went to work on this new home.  LIke the first one, many business people and churches donated money.  This home has been ready now for several months.  Recently, Wally gave us  a tour of the home.

Currently, Wally lives in the upstairs of the origianl home.  However, at night –he sleeps on a sleeping bag at the new one.  He is looking for volunteers to live at these homes and manage them.  However, the network of services has begun at both homes.  There are GED classes currently being taught.  There is also a program called Jobs For Life being taught.  Recently, a $5,000 grant was given to help those who successfully complete the job program.  The money will be used to buy gift cards for these people to buy gas for their cars and the proper clothes necessary to enter the job force.

Occasionally, Wally will stop by our home for a spontaneous visit.  Recently, he popped in while we were eating our supper.  We just set an extra plate at our table for Wally and enjoyed asking  him questions about the programs at both homes.  Our inner city is divided into six networks.  Already, (again through Wally’s leadership) there are neighborhood associations that have been started.  Wally would like to see each of the neighborhood associations have a home restored for spiritual and social needs. We already have two homes up and running thanks to the hard work and vision of just one person.

I know many people in our town thought that Wally was crazy when he moved into the inner city.  He moved in 2004.  Today, in 2008 we have two homes for social and spiritual services and six neighborhood networks in full swing.  Yes, one person can make a difference!

God bless each of you!

Saying Goodbye to Fr. Isaiah and Kh. Beth And A New Mission Starts

Jim and I have had close ties to the Orthodox group that meets at Ft. Campbell, Ky.  In fact, we left St. Elizabeth in Murfreesboro, Tennessee for six months to worship with the community at Ft. Campbell.  However, we missed the active parish life of St. Elizabeth and went back there to worship with our daughter, Vera, who was still living in Murfreesboro. 

During our six months at Ft. Campbell–Fr. Peter and Fr. Isaiah talked about the need to get an Orhtodox Church off post.  Fr. Peter had the director of missions for the Orthodox Church of America come talk with us.  Nothing concrete seemed to ever come out of that meeting.  But last October, Fr. Stephen Freeman ,who is the dean of the South from the Orthodox Church of America  came and talked with the community.( Unfortunately, we were not at that meeting. ) The vision became stronger and there seemed to be more hope of establishing an Orthodox Church in our area. 

In  February of 2008 an official bank account was opened at Fr. Stephen Freeman’s parish so that we could make contributions toward the starting of a mission.  I, more so than Jim, longed to be a part of the groundwork of getting the mission launched.  We talked with our priest in Murfreesboro about it.  He advised us to stay put for awhile.  He told us that he  knew Fr. Stephen very well and that he  would keep us informed about what was happening.  I went along with Fr. John’s plan for awhile.  Eventually, I just became very intense in my desire to be a part of the new mission.

My restless spirit just wouldn’t accept not being a part of the new mission.  So about a month ago –we approached our priest again.  He was relunctant to let us go.  His reasoning was that he didn’t want us to be hurt if the mission was slow in coming.  Very furvently, I pleaded with JIm to consider moving our bodies and our money.  Jim just wasn’t ready.  Fr. John would not give his blessing unless Jim was on board.

Finally, Jim began to see how silly it looks for us to be driving 100 miles and giving our money to St. Elizabeth when the community right in our backyard– so desparately needs our bodies and our money.  So he asked Fr. John to release us.  At that point, Fr. John was happy to let us go.  St. Elizabeth even sent a check to help with the new mission.

Fr. Isaiah and Fr. Peter are first and foremost military chaplains.  Fr. Isaiah received orders after Christmas to be deployed to Korea for three years.  Fr. Peter was sent to Iraq in March for a short deployment.  He will be back soon.  However, he will be leaving Ft. Campbell in August for good.  He has been at Ft. Campbell for ten years.  Thankfully, they both have had a vision for the future of the Orthodox Church in our area.  They have spent hours researching and praying for that vision to come true for us.

Although we didn’t stay a part of the community–Fr. Peter and Fr. Isaiah have been good to us.  Fr. Peter came to the hospital and prayed for me when I had my breast  cancer surgery.  Fr. Isaiah and his wife Beth came that evening to check on me.  Beth cooked some wonderful food for my homecoming from the hospital. Many times Beth and some of my other girlfriends have gone out for lunch or coffee.  So the bonds of love and friendship were never broken.

Last week ater the Divine Liturgy, Jim got up and announced that we were back to stay.  The community had some gifts for Fr. Isaiah and Kh. Beth.  The community bought Fr. Isaiah a brand new set of vestments.  The color of the  vestments are a bright red trimmed in gold.  Fr. Isaiah just couldn’t believe the community would do something like that for him.  Kh. Beth got a lovely  necklace and some ear rings.  We had a wonderful coffee hour talking about plans for the new mission.

Last night, Fr. Isaiah and Kh. Beth, Nancy, Susie, Jim, Vera and I went to the  monthly Amish meal in Croften, Ky.  It was highly unusual for an Orthodox priest to attend such an event.  Fr. Isaiah is required to wear his clerical clothes in public.  I wondered what everyone was thinking.  Nevertheless, we had a wonderful dinner.  Everyone came back to our home for some more fellowship.  We took pictures with our new digital camera.   It was an occasion to remember.

Tomorrow, Fr. Isaiah will wear his new vestments.  We are all excited to see him in them.  We are looking forward to one last coffee hour with Fr. Isaiah  and Beth.  I’m sure we will talk again about getting a place off base.  By the end of the summer, we hope to have a space we can rent just on Sundays.  We are not ready for the expense of maintaining a building.  Fr. Stephen Freeman is supposed to come again sometime this summer and help us refine our ideas.

Our area  is filled with Southern Baptist, United Methodist and Church of God folks. Not to negat their good works–but we want people to know about the Christian Orthodox Faith.  We want people to have that choice.  It will take a great deal of sweat equity to make this mission happen.  We will water our efforts with prayer and with our money.  Someday, the word Christian Orthodox will be familiar to all who live in our area. 

Fr. Isaiah and Kh. Beth will spend about a month traveling and visiting with their families.  They will leave for Korea in July.  May God grant them many years.  And someday–we hope they will return to visit our mission.  I can just see Fr. Isaiah wearing his red and gold vestments and performing the Divine Liturgy in our little mission.

May God bless each of you!

An Era Gone By

Since Memorial Day weekend, our neighbors to the left of us have been busily packing to move to their new home.  The “For Sale” sign has been up since Labor Day weekend.  I had been hopeful that we would have them as neighbors for a while longer.  Alas, they worked fast and hard to get all of their possessions packed last night.  Jim woke up and saw they were still packing at 1:00 in the morning.

We have been neighbors for 23 years.  We were not the kind of neighbors who invited each over for meals.  Nevertheless, there was a comfort knowing that we were available to help each other.  For many years, I’ve walked with Mrs. L each summer.  Last summer, I broke  the news to her that we would be moving.  She laughed and told me that they were wanting to move, too.  It looked like we would be the first to leave.  Our house sold almost immediately.  However,  because of various circumstances we canceled the sale of our home. 

The L’s took their time putting their home up for sale.  The had their old wooden garage demolished.  My grandsons had a wonderful time watching that event.  Then they were absolutely in a trance when a large truck came to pick up all of the debris.  Mr L.  bought one of those ultility sheds that looks like a little home.  He had a whole new concrete pad poured.  Again, my grandsons enjoyed watching the Mennonites bring that in and place in on the new concrete pad.

Mr. L is a banker.  He has gotten steady promotions and now is one of the top executives at the bank.  Mrs. L has taught school all of these years.  They have two children.  The oldest went all the way through school with our daughter, Vera.  Mrs. L was on the school board for 8 years.  Both of them have served on many community boards.  They are such busy people that they used to honk for their children to come out of the house for the next appointment. 

Most recently, we have all been involved with the neighborhood network for the older parts of our town.  Mr. L  is currently the treasurer and Mrs.L is the secretary.  They have worked hard for 18 months getting all of the legal ramifications completed for our neighborhood network.  Mrs. L told me that she will still keep coming to the meetings.  Knowing her community minded service attitude–I’m sure that she will continue to support our neighborhood.

We have had fun watching Mr. L take off for his long biking treks.  He will bike up to 50 miles at a time.  For a 57 year old–he is in fantastic shape.  Mrs. L and I take our walks but we are not in fantastic shape.  We have had fun through the years discussing the lives of our children and our female problems.  The summer was the only time I really got to peak into her life.

My grandsons are crazy about Mrs. L.  They love to greet her when she arrives home from her school teaching job.  She shows them real warmth and asks them about their little lives.  John and Alex are really going to miss the L’s. 

We realize now with my being a breast cancer patient–that we just need to stay put in our neighborhood.  We will work toward improving our part of the neighborhood network.  It is time to elect new officers.  I was afraid to volunteer.  I just don’t feel like I’m talented enough for leadership.  However, I was asked to be the President.  At our next meeting–I will be on a slate of nominees to be voted upon. Since we don’t have a real strong showing at our meetings–I probably will be elected president.

It will be extremely hard to fight for the good of our neighborhood without the daily interaction of the L’s. I have been a little blue today remembering all of the years we have been neighbors.  The new neighbors move in tomorrow.  I’m sure they are nice people.  However, nothing can take the place of such strong and faithful neighbors as the L’s.  May God grant them many years of happiness in their new home.

God bless each of You!

The Memory Boxes

Recently, I took down all of my memory boxes on my closet shelf.  Many of them had not been opened in years.  Plus, I had a variety of other nostalgia.  My son’s first baby blanket and his very first stuffed animal.  Then there was the baby quilt that Jim’s mother made my son.  Lastly, there was Vera’s stuffed pink panther that she got when she was four years old.  Those were the days when our children only got one gift for their birthday because we were very limited on our finances.  That pink panther was so special to Vera that she told me never to give it away.

Still out of necessity, most all of the toys etc. have long been given away.  However, certain boxes of treasures will never be thrown out.  It was fun to find the letters Jim wrote me when I was on a summer choir tour.  In was early summer and Jim had moved from the dorm into the basement of a couple that he knew.  We were not officially dating yet–but he wrote warm letters of what he was doing. 

Then there were the letters I wrote to him when I went home for spring break in March of 1974.  We were engaged and planning on a May wedding.  I wrote about shopping for clothes with my mother.  I also wrote Jim about how I was addressing the wedding invitations.  I wrote him four times that week.  However, the last letter of the week– I expressed my desires for our marriage to bring glory to God for the rest of our lives. 

I’m going to share that letter with each of you:  ” Darling, It is 4:00 p.m. and I am very lonely for you almost to the point of tears.  It has been a wonderful week–yet because my place is with you–I’ve missed you terribly.

I believe that spiritually and emotionally we are already united.  I feel like God has give me the most wonderful sweetheart. I could never have picked one so suitable.  I’m thankful we have a Heavenly Father who brought us together.

Honey, love just wells up inside of me with the kind of intensity that is very deep.  I know now –more than ever–that to live on this earth without you would be impossible.  This week has been one of real testing–for  I’ve been used to being with you each day.  These 10 days apart have been very difficult.

I know when you receive this letter that I will be there with you once again.  However, I just had to write you again.  I miss you so much!    I love these words from the late Rev. Peter Marshall that he wrote to his future bride. ” Our life together will be a poem ,a song, a monument to love, and a memorial to the Holy Spirit who brought us together…I hope there will never be any real good-byes…God gave you to me and I’ll leave you in His hands. May He keep you always.”

Our love has been tested many times through 34 years of marriage.  Taking a peak at the memories is helpful  to cement the glue of our love.  Also in our letters there was a comical poem I wrote.  This poem was written before we were sweethearts.  However, there is an unusual line in the poem that bears witness to our lives now.  I have a close friend named Susie.  I call her Mary in these blogs.  She came to the Christian Orthodox Faith through our friendship.  Also, Jim’s baptismal name is Herman–after the saint–St. Herman of Alaska.  I had no way of knowing how special these names would be 35 years ago.  However here are some lines I wrote: ” There was a young man named Jim who was very ingenious and smart.  After studying his Greek–he used to swim in the creek.  For He took homeletics (the study of giving sermons) instead of athletics.  In hopes that one day he would preach a sermon to people like Susie and Herman.”

That was an astounding little riddle to find.  Susie is so close to us that we often get irritated with each other.  I have wrongfully given her many sermons and so has Jim.  She is good hearted and forgiving though.  She got a real kick out of that little poem.  And Jim (Herman) has to practice what he preaches to others.  I haven’t read that little ditty since we were engaged.  It got stuck in a box that has rarely been opened.  It is full of all of the letters and art work that we shared when we were friends and then sweethearts.  There is no way I could have ever known that I would have a Susie and a Herman in my life.

There are a few choice letters (including that little poem) that I will put in our lock box.  All of the other memories are now packed in a big rubber bin that will soon go into the attic.  I also kept some special art work from each of my children.  I have placed their art work in a spiral  organizer.  I need to be able to look at these treasures on a regular basis.

Memories can bless or burn a person.  I’m thankful that I have some precious tangible items to remind me of our long journey together as a family.  I hope each of you have some memory boxes to go through, too.

God bless each of you!

Piano Lessons And Bread Making

I enjoy playing on the piano that my father gave my mother about l948.  As a little girl I was fascinated with the piano.  My mother gave my older brother lessons.  However,  she didn’t think I was old enough to teach.  I used to open the beginner book and teach myself the very basics.  My brother only got through  John Thompson’s  first grade book. The allure of playing neighborhood baseball with all of his friends took precedence.   My parent’s marriage was crumbling and music lessons of any kind ended.

My mother moved our family to her hometown in Kentucky.  The piano was shipped and we were all excited when it arrived.  Mother never enjoyed playing the piano again.  She rarely played for her own joy.  A cousin taught me how to put my two hands together.  Later, mother let me take piano lessons.  However, most of what I learned came from my own teaching.  Later in college I took lessons once again.  The icing on the cake for me was to take from a very professional teacher for about four years and polishing that off with a year of professional music studies at Austin Peay State University.  This was in my late forties and early fifties.  Inbetween all of this training I played the piano for several churches.  I studied organ with my professional teacher and substituted for him at his church for three summers–as he  and his wife spent each summer in Maine.

Now I’m trying to build a small business out of my home.  I keep my prices very modest because I want to attract either young people who can’t afford music lessons or older adults who would never pay the professional price to learn.  My nitch is teaching older people or young adults.  Word is spreading and I’m getting more students.  I have two inspirations.  One is a lady of 68 who is taking piano to keep her brain in good shape.  When she came to me in January– she knew very little about music.  Now she is learning all kinds of musical concepts.  My other inspiration is my daughter, Vera.

I taught Vera when she was a small child.  Her interest waned and thus we stopped.  I’ve discovered a wonder series for adults.  It is the Alfred series.  By the time one is finished with the first adult book–one will have learned  a great deal about music theory.  Vera took herself through the first book.  She really didn’t need my help.  In fact, she didn’t need my help until about the middle of the second book.  Now I schedule her in like I would any other student and help her fine tune the pieces she is working on.  She has accomplished all of this in eleven weeks.  However, she has spent about an hour a day on the piano.  I love teaching young and older adults.  I try to stress the joy of music first and foremost.  Probably none of my students will ever do professional things with their music.  But they can feel good about themselves for learning a new skill much later in life.  And there is another skill worth learning for people of all ages.  That is the skill of baking bread.

My bread making started in my early married years.  I failed in making yeast bread.  My attempts always met with defeat.  I finally gave up and just made dessert breads with baking powder.  Later, I learned that one can make yeast bread in a crock pot.  I ordered a bread and cake pan to go in my crock pot.  I then had success with making yeast bread.  However, I yearned to be successful with kneading dough.

I attempted this again in 2004.  I devoted an entire summer to learning how to make bread by kneading the dough –then letting it rise.  I had some real disasters at first.  Cookbooks make it look so easy.  They fail to give little tips.  One day when I was browsing through books at a Goodwill Store , I found this book:  Beard On Bread by James Beard.  He gave steps and tips that are just not available in the general cookbook.  The primary reason many yeast breads fail is because the temperature is not correct for the yeast.  The temperature has to be just warm enough to dissolve the yeast.  Sugar then has to be added.  He says to wait for a couple of minutes after the sugar is added.  Bubbles will pop up all over the place.  When this happens the other ingredients can be added.  Bread is always messy at the beginning stages.  Another tip I found was to put my bread batter on floured wax paper.  Keep a cup of flour ready to deal with stickiness.  Eventually the sticky dough will give way to a smooth satin like quality.  It will be easy then to knead.

I made all of our bread when Jim was off work for four months recovering from major surgery.  Then when I went back to work as a substitute  teacher–bread making ended.  I lost interest for almost two years.  However, a couple of weeks ago the desire came back.  In a sense I am working about 25 hours a week between my piano students and taking care of my grandsons.  So time is still a factor for me.  I’m using an old recipe from a l960’s Betty Crocker Cookbook.   The recipe is for  Potato  Refrigerator Dough.  It is wonderful because I can make the dough up after supper and it rises in the refrigerator all night.

I’ve made these  adaptations to the recipe.  It calls for 2/3 cup sugar.  I use only 1/3 cup of sugar. It also called for 2/3 cup shortening.  I use 2/3 cups of olive oil.  So here is how I make it.  Before supper boil some water and mix with enough instant potatoes to make one cup of potatoes. Let it cool while you are serving supper.  Then dissolve 1 package of active dry yeast in 1 1/2 cups of warm water.  Add 1/3 cup sugar.  Wait for it to bubble.  Pour this into a large bowl.  Mix with the 2/3 cups of oil, potatoes, 2 eggs, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and four cups of flour.  Then add  another 3 cups of flour.  Put wax paper down and flour it.  Place this mixture on the waxed paper.  Keep a cup of flour handy.  Work with this sticky dough until it becomes like satin.  Then make a ball out of the dough.  Spray it with vegetable oil and play in a large bowl that has also been sprayed.  Cover it with dish towels and place in the refrigerator overnight.

In the morning punch down the the dough and divide it into two balls.  I place each ball on waxed paper.  I roll it out flat then roll it into a cylinder shape.  Pinch the ends and place in a greased pan.  Once again, cover the dough with a dish towel.  Let it set for an hour and half.  I bake it slowly at 300 degrees.The bread is done when it has a nice brown look.  I would rather do this than have it accidently burn.  The bread comes out beautifully.  It makes wonderful toast.

Happy Breadmaking!

 

Another Mennonite Story

My mennonite visits are nearly always associated with the community that my daughter, Maria, lives in.  Maria comes to our town once or twice a week because there are no places to shop where she lives.  There isn’t even a gas station. Sometimes, I take her visits by our home for granted. Moreover, I don’t make enough effort to visit her these days. 

Last Friday, she called and asked me to spend the day with her.  She wanted to make homemade laundry detergent.  She said:” It’s just no fun making laundry detergent by myself.”  I  hestitated because I was thinking about all the things I wanted to accomplish.  That is getting to be a real hang up lately for me.  It seems like I’m not as sharp as I used to be and I’m struggling to find my ground in keeping up with my priorities.  I had plenty of excuses to stay home but I relented and told Maria  that I would take her up on her invitation.

Dealing with cancer has slowed me down.  I take a very heavy duty pill each morning called Arimidex.  I’ve noticed some real personality changes in my life.  There are times when I don’t want to be around or talk with anyone. My energy is not the same as it was before I started taking this pill.  However, I don’t want to whine or make excuses for myself.  It is a battle that I fight and hope to make progress.  So it was very important to take the opportunity to visit Maria.

When I arrived –I told Maria to jump in my car.  I wanted to visit my Mennonite friend, Rebecca.  I had not visited her home since last summer.  Each trip I made to Maria’s–it just seemed like we were to busy to visit Rebecca.  Rebecca was working in her garden when we arrived.  The youngest daughter was carrying around a baby goat that was just a few days old.  The other little girls went and got a couple of their puppies and showed them to us.  Rebecca took a break from her gardening.  We all went inside for visit.

The girls seemed so happy to see me.  Maria had been down to their home twice that week.  Rebecca’s family who live in Pennsylvania called Maria to tell her that a sister had died of cancer.  So Maria delievered that message early in the week.  Thus, we sat and talked with Rebecca about her sister.   Her sister had won the battle with cancer and had some goods years. Then a couple of months ago–cancer raged through her body once again.  She didn’t feel strong enough to go through treatment again .  Sadly, she died within a couple of months of finding out she had cancer again. 

While we were talking, the girls were wrapping their puppies up in little receiving blankets and putting them in the little doll beds.  The family is training a miniature pony.  They had to go get the pony to show me.  They also had two sets of kittens in the barn.  We were on our way to the barn to see the kittens–when  Rebecca stopped me in the doorway and told me that she had a lump on one of her breasts.

I talked with her about the importance of getting the lump checked out. Right now, she is too afraid to seek medical help.  I offered to come get her and take her to the doctor.  I told her I would try to help her find just the right medical help each step of the way.  Rebecca just can’t face dealing with her breast lump for right now.  I know that I will pray for her and at some point go see her again.  Most of the time–by the time one finds a lump–the cancer has become way beyond stage I cancer.  My heart really aches for Rebecca.

Maria and I did make our laundry detergent.  We each got a real big bucket of detergent from our efforts.  We ate a nice lunch then I was ready to go home.  We did drive down to another Mennonite  family’s home to buy some strawberries.  Then I dropped Maria off at her house and drove home. 

By the way –for those who remember that Kirk and Maria almost lost their trucking business–they are doing great now.  KIrk has signed on with another company and is making some good money these days.  Maria is getting more work as an assistant postmaster  in another little hamlet.

Cancer is not something that we can ignore.  Please, my readers, if anyone has a lump or something strange going on–get the medical help that you need.  And if anyone has a similar experience with the cancer drug , I Arimidex, I would like to hear your story.

God bless each of you!