Welcome to California, Cousin Eliza

Today is our little cousin Eliza's 9 month birthday!

She is our newest "Girl from Williamsburg," great-great granddaughter of Minnie, who wrote the book of that name. You can see her welcome to our family story on December 17, '08 on this blog.

Eliza recently flew across the country to visit her California cousins for the first time, over the 4th of July week-end. It was so much fun to meet her and be able to hold her in our arms!

It was a very hot week-end, but Eliza is no stranger to heat, being from Williamsburg, Virginia. Here she is meeting my Aunt Dorothy, daughter of Minnie, for the first time. Aunt Dorothy just celebrated her 96th birthday this last May!

Aunt Dorothy lives on the site of our family's homeplace on the farm where we have lived since 1910. Minnie and C.W. established the farm and it has been continuously run by our family for almost 100 years. We will have to have a celebration next year!

We took Eliza on an up-close-and-personal tour of Aunt Dorothy's orchards and gardens.

She loved the holly hocks, and my jewelry!

Here are Aunt Dorothy and Eliza visiting with her family on the front porch of the "new" home built in 1970 by Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Ronny.

Heather tells me that since returning back home Eliza has learned to stand on her own, sit up and crawl with her tummy off the ground.

She loves swinging in the park, riding on the Busch Gardens merry-go-round and going swimming.

We hope you can all return to California soon!

An Historic Day!

Forty years ago today, our country reached a milestone that was previously thought to be impossible~ Apollo 11 landed two Americans safely on the moon, while a third astronaut orbited overhead.

President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961 had challenged our space program to achieve this lofty goal as a response to the achievements of the U.S.S.R.

I was a little girl living on our family farm on the night that the Russian satellite Sputnik 1 first passed overhead in low orbit. It was October 4, 1957. My dad took us out in the dark to peer up at the night sky; I remember it clearly.

The Russians had a good head start in the space race, and it was up to the U.S. to catch up and overtake them as quickly as possible. It was unthinkable that the U.S.S.R. might beat us to the moon...

On July 20, 1969 I was home from college for the summer. I had a date that night, and he had just arrived at our house when it was time to turn on the black and white T.V. and watch the landing on the moon. You need to understand that even Neil Armstrong only gave about 50% odds that the mission would be completed successfully!

My mom and dad and my date and I gathered around the small set in the kitchen and proceeded to hold our collective breaths while the Lunar Module searched for a safe place to land. The tension as we waited was unbearable...would they make it, would they live? What would happen when they stepped outside? Then those wonderful words came flying back from the moon to us, "The Eagle has landed." I get chills even today just remembering the thrill of that landing...we were all so proud to be Americans!

What the general public didn't know at the time was that Aldrin and Armstrong had overshot their landing site and only had 1/2 of a minute's more fuel left when they landed on the other side of a crater in the Sea of Tranquility.

Buzz Aldrin had arranged with his pastor ahead of time to bring consecrated bread and wine so that he could pray, read from the Book of John, and take communion. This was the first food consumed on the moon!

Then Neil Armstrong descended the ladder and uttered one of the most famous quotes in history:

"One small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind."

I read recently that many of the scientists thought that Armstrong would sink down many feet into moon dust when he stepped off the ladder. They literally did not know what would happen! Watching Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin cavort around on the lunar surface had to make for some of the most exciting T.V. coverage ever aired. And let us not forget Michael Collins, who kept the Command Module safely orbiting overhead...

I am so in awe of the courage it took to fly that mission into the unknown...

Neil Armstrong is a bona fide American hero. He has led an exemplary life since that mission,

turning down lucrative offers to make endorsements and choosing to live a quiet life with his family. This is a man we can continue to admire, and I thank him for that!

When I was teaching kindergarten, I used to enjoy telling my classes about the times that our country landed astronauts on the moon. The students were always thunderstruck when I told them that an American flag is still standing on the moon, even when I showed them the famous photograph. That flag was designed to be forever unfurled, looking just as if it is flying in the nonexistent wind, a lasting testament to the ingenuity of the American space program.

When I look up at the full moon, it is still hard for me to believe that we actually accomplished this great feat. I read this morning that Armstrong's footprints (and those of the other astronauts) will remain on the moon undisturbed because there is no wind, as long as the moon exists. That alone is an amazing thought!

The following school year I was a senior at the University of Oregon in Eugene. I stood in line for an hour or so to file by and view the "moon rocks" that Apollo 11 had brought back to earth. It was pretty exciting! Actually they looked a lot like our rocks: sharp edges, small in size, dark grey in color as I remember. That is the closest I will ever come to the moon!

Here is one of my favorite quotations I frequently shared with graduating classes at our school:

Shoot for the moon; even if you miss, you will land among the stars!

"Auntie's Little Angels" by Elizabeth

One day recently my grand niece, Elizabeth, came to visit. She is eight years old, soon to be nine in August. We have been having a lot of fun during the last few months thinking about how to write a story about my doggies, Chloe and Max.

We wanted to make it funny, with the dogs doing naughty things that Auntie (that's me) never figures out. So Eliz. sat down at the laptop and we started writing, bouncing ideas off of each other so fast the story practically wrote itself!

Just so you'll know, neither Eliz. OR the doggies are ever naughty. This is a complete work of fiction! We hope you enjoy reading Elizabeth's first published story, with a little help from Auntie. ;D

Auntie's Little Angels

One hot summer day I was at my house helping my mother and father pack for their trip to Hawaii. I was supposed to go to my grandma’s house to stay while they were gone, but my grandma plays Bridge almost every day. So I’m going to my auntie’s house for the week.

When I got there, my aunt was making lunch. She came over to me and gave me a hug and went back to what she was doing. I said my last “good-byes” to my parents and then they left. So I sat down at the table. I called Max, one of my aunt’s dogs, to come over to me, but he wouldn’t come. He just gave me a dirty look!!

Then I called Chloe over, but she only made it halfway across the room before Max stood in front of her looking bold. Auntie was busy making lunch, so she didn’t see what that rascal Max was doing!

Auntie brought a sandwich for me to the table and one of the pieces of meat from the plate fell to the floor. Then Max and Chloe made a dash to the food and quickly gobbled it up!! I told auntie, “Oh no, Max and Chloe stole some of my lunch!” But auntie said, “They’re my little angels. They would never do that!!”

I was starting to think to myself that auntie never sees her doggies being naughty because she thinks that they are ‘her little angels.’ I wondered if I should help her see that her dogs are taking advantage of her sweetness, or should I tell her what they are doing. I thought to myself, “Decisions, decisions!!”

After I finished lunch, auntie took me outside to go swimming in the pool. Auntie went back inside for a minute because she forgot her iced tea. While she was gone, the dogs ran outside to me. Then Max bravely took a deep breath and jumped into the pool with a big splash, even though he doesn’t know how to swim! He had to use all his energy to try to swim to the wall, and he barely made it. Max let out a terrifying bark just as auntie was running outside.

Auntie said, “Elizabeth, what has gotten into you?? My poor little angel almost drowned in the pool!!” She fished Max out of the water and rolled him up in a towel like a little baby and took him inside and laid him down on the sofa.

I sat outside waiting for auntie, because I knew I was in trouble! I could hear auntie inside saying to Max, “What did that girl do to you, my poor little angel?” Auntie came back outside with a stormy look on her face.

Then auntie said, “I don’t know why you did such an awful thing as pushing my little angel into the water, but now you must be disciplined. So Elizabeth, please go to Olivia’s room and stay in there until I say you can come out.”

I went in to Olivia’s bedroom, but I kept the door open a little crack. Then Chloe pushed the door open and ran in. Chloe gave me a strange look and then she let out a big bark, falling to the floor with her leg curled up. While I was trying to pick her up, auntie ran in the room and thought I was going to give her another slap! Auntie was horrified. She said, “Elizabeth, now I have no idea what to do with you! My little angels are getting hurt and it’s your fault!” Auntie pointed her finger and shook it at me in a sassy way. I knew I was in really big trouble then!!

I heard the front door opening, and I realized that uncle David was home. “Thank goodness,” I said to myself. “He will help me get out of this mess.”

I ran out of the bedroom and into the front hall and threw myself into uncle David’s arms. He said, “Well, hello there, little missy. What are you doing here?” I said, “Long story, but the dogs are being so naughty today, and auntie thinks it’s all my fault because her doggies are ‘her little angels.’”

Uncle David said, “I’ll have a talk with auntie while you go get washed up for dinner.” Auntie was sitting on the sofa, holding her little angels in her arms. Uncle David tried to sit down to talk to her, but Max and Chloe both bared their teeth at him. Auntie missed it because she was so distracted by the news on the TV! Uncle David said to himself, “Why have I never noticed this naughty behavior? I must have ‘auntie’s little angel-itis,’ too!”

When I came back to the family room, I saw auntie and uncle David talking so I ran back down the hall and poked my head around so I could listen to what they were saying. While uncle David was talking, I could hear auntie sniffling. Then he noticed the sniffling, stopped his sentence, and uncle David said to her, “Is there something wrong?”

Auntie said, “They couldn’t possibly do such things because they’re ‘my little angels.’” Uncle David said, “Even angels lose their halos once in a while.” I peeked around and saw Max and Chloe walking toward me wagging their tails. I knew then that we would have a fun week together after all!

The End

Chloe, on left, and Max~ Auntie's real little angels

Happy Birthday To My Sister

This last year has been a memorable one for my family, with two of us reaching those decade marks in our lives, and one more to come in August. Today it is my sister Jan's turn!

Happy birthday, Jan! Even though it's just a half-decade mark, it is still memorable and important to all of us.

And I always take note that what my sister experiences, will happen to me in a few years. :D She is the trailblazer!

Jan and Sylvia among the blossoms

Jan and I grew up on our family farm together, attending the same elementary school that several generations have now attended.

We rode our bikes to school with the two neighbor boys, John and Tom, who have always been like brothers to us. Jan is the oldest of the four of us, and I am the youngest, so they all had to look after me, the tag-a-long!

We grew up picking peaches, prunes and walnuts, and learning how to drive on the tractors, then we graduated to the pick-ups. We worked on crews with our cousins, throwing out lug boxes for the pickers, accompanied by our faithful dog, Joe.

Our childhood consisted of summers filled with fun, playing cards, eating watermelon, climbing trees and swimming in the river. The school years passed oh-so-quickly! We had weekly piano lessons and school band to practice for: Jan played the clarinet.

All ready for church on Sunday

Jan went to a private girls school for her high school years. She played the organ in the church for services, further developing those musical skills.

During that time she met the young man who was to become her husband. They married and raised their two sons, Jim and Chris, on the farm as well.

Jan became involved in many community activities over the years. She was a private piano teacher, a member of the local school board, president of the Middle Mountain Foundation, a member of the county planning commission, and active in Junior Women and Toastmistress, just to name a few!

When I married, Jan was my matron of honor, and when my children came along she became known as "Auntie Jan." She used to invite both of my children separately at different times to spend the night with her family, cooking special meals and doing fun activities.

Syl and Jan under the Blue Oak with Jan's dog, Freckles

Jan and I had a lot of fun over the years planning get togethers for family and friends. We organized hot dog roasts on the sandbar, camping trips to the ocean and the mountains, daddy's fishing trips with all the men in the family, and our annual trek into the Sutter Buttes at Easter time.

What fun we had! Now Jan's days are filled with caring for her granddaughter, Elizabeth, and occasionally Lizzie's baby cousins.

Recently Jan has taken up playing Bridge again, which she dearly loves. Life should be all about continuing to do what we have always enjoyed, while adding new and interesting activities as well!

Best wishes, my sister, for a year filled with good health and happiness.

Joy's Birthday

Our retired pastor, Joy, is celebrating her birthday today. Everyone in our church wishes her a very special day!

We have been very privileged to have Joy and her husband, Steve, as our pastors for several years. They helped us found our new church and have enriched our lives greatly.

Joy is an awesome woman of God. She has encouraged all of us to read the Bible daily and study the scriptures. It has made an incredible difference in our lives!

Joy is loved not only by her family, friends and church members, but by many others in our community whom she has ministered to over the years.

We all join together in praying that Joy has a wonderful year filled with good health, happiness, and God's abundant blessings. We love you!

Phil. 2:13 For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

An Unexpected Gift

Yesterday was an amazing day. On Saturday I was happily busy getting together some things to give various friends at church on Sunday: a birthday gift for my deacon sister, a photograph and a book for one woman who had requested them, and another set of photograph and book for a woman friend who is ill, along with a card to send her prayers and best wishes.

I was so happy to be taking these things to my dear friends, and I was feeling that special glow of the giver. Do you know what I mean?

When I saw the expressions of happiness on the faces of those receiving my offerings I was doubly happy. What a blessing it is to give!

My husband and I were sitting in our seats, waiting for the service to begin, when in walked John and Kathy, a couple who I had not seen in church for awhile. I was so excited to see them, I just jumped up and gave them both a huge welcoming hug. I was so glad to have them at church with us again!

After hugging Kathy, I looked down and saw that she was wearing the most gorgeous necklace. I was immediately struck by the bright, sparkling, heavenly colors of the crystals, then I saw the incredible cross and I was amazed by it. It is made of crystal prisms that reflect all of the other colors, and it has a silver cross imbedded in the center.

I told Kathy how beautiful it was, and she said she had made it. Thinking that she might be making them to sell, I told her I would love to order one and pay her for it, whatever she asked. She just smiled, and we sat down to get ready for the service.

During coffee hour, Kathy came up to me, and I could see by the look on her face that she was experiencing some strong emotion. She started talking, and holding up her hand, and the necklace was nestled in her palm. My heart began to constrict when I realized that she was giving the cross to me...

My mind was tumbling, as I tried to grasp what she was trying to say. She wanted to thank me, I think, for the warm greeting of love I had given them before the service, and she told me how much it meant to her. By this time I was feeling all the conflict of the receiver of a spontaneous, unplanned gift, especially a gorgeous gift handmade and obviously loved by the giver.

Some kind of confused protest started coming forth from my lips, but she would have none of it. I realized immediately that to accept her gift was the kindest, most loving thing I could do.

I put it on, and wore it for the rest of the day, all the while trying to think of some way to reciprocate. Sometime, and in some way, God will open a door for me to do something so special for someone else.

The hardest thing is that Kathy mentioned to someone yesterday that they were going to move away, and I didn't find out until after they had gone. I am so saddened to think that we might not see John and Kathy again, but I will always have Kathy's Cross to remind me of her gift of true, Christian love.

Proverbs 18:16 A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers her into the presence of the great.

Jerry, Awesome Dad

In honor of Fathers' Day I'd like to share a little bit about our friends from church: Jerry, his wife, Darlene, and their daughter, Genni.

Jerry has had a number of careers in his life, as well as fathering six children. He's been a drywall contractor, a commercial pilot and a flight instructor, and he is retired law enforcement. Now his favorite way to relax is playing golf. He plays 36 holes, three times a week!

Jerry was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. He met Darlene in Eugene, Oregon, and they were married in 1972. Their daughter, Genni, pictured here, is their 5th child out of six. She is 33 years old.

Genni was born with Rett Syndrome, a genetic disorder that presents itself in early childhood. It is a very rare disorder, occurring almost exclusively in female children. Genni needs total care from her parents. She comes to church every Sunday with mom and dad and is an important part of our parish family.

Jerry spent a lot of time growing up with his grandmother, a woman of strong Christian faith. She was actually a member of the Womens' Christian Temperance Union. Jerry received a strong foundation in Christianity in those years, but he really began building his faith while searching for answers about why Genni would be born with this disorder. He started to read the Bible from first page to last, and in the reading of it, he found the answers he was looking for.

Today, Jerry is an awesome man of God, and a wonderful dad. He recently shared his testimony in the form of a sermon, titled, Sermon on the Amount. What can I say? Jerry and Darlene both have great senses of humor. So here is Jerry's testimony. What they say is true: without the test, there can be no testimony! May God bless Jerry, Darlene, Genni, and their family.

Most of us are probably acquainted with the scripture that admonishes "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." We may not know exactly where it's located in the bible, or who said it or even the circumstances under which it was said, but we're at least familiar with the idea of the warning and most of us tend to take it seriously. I think we all agree that it's a very bad idea to challenge God to any kind of a contest. One place where we can find this warning about not testing God is in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 4. It was at the end of Jesus' forty days and forty nights of fasting in the desert. Satan had taken Him to the top of the temple and said to Him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' " Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the Test.' " It was good advice then and it sounds like real good advice now!

Interestingly, however, there’s a place in the scriptures that's not as well known, where we're specifically invited to put God to the test. This lesser known invitation is found in the 3rd chapter of the book of the Prophet Malachi. Verses 6 through 10, where the Lord is speaking: "I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord Almighty. "But you ask, 'How are we to return?' "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse__the whole nation of you__because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."

I became aware of this scripture about thirty years ago and when I first read it, it spoke directly to my heart. It was just as if my name was written there on the page. I was instantly and acutely aware that God was speaking directly to me through this passage. It was I who was robbing God. I’d gone through all of my adult life, to that point, without ever giving a second thought to giving anything at all, let alone a tenth of my income, to the church or anyone else having anything to do with God's work. But just like that, I knew, beyond any questioning, that God was speaking directly and personally to me. I prayed to God right then and there, "Forgive me, Father, I didn't know. From this day forward I promise I will return to you a tenth of everything you give to me.” Prior to this time, I had the attitude that whatever money I had was mine because I earned it, and if God wanted money, he could get a job. He was better able to earn it than I was. But now I knew, without a doubt, that everything I had, or would ever have, belonged 100% to God and all He required of me was to return a paltry 10%.

I wasn’t expecting anything in return but I was, nevertheless, confident that God would, indeed, 'Throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing.....' that I wouldn't have room enough to hold it all. The thought of all rewards aside, I was driven by the knowledge that it was my absolute, non-negotiable duty to return to God a tenth of all that I received from that moment on; for the rest of my life. And, did God open those floodgates like he promised? Did he ever!!! Instantly! I’d like to share with you, very briefly, a few of the things that immediately began to happen to me and my family. At that particular time our family was as financially challenged (that’s a euphemism for broke) as we've ever been and we had virtually no discretionary income. A friend came to me and asked if I would like to have his Ford pickup. It was an older model but it ran good and had a nice straight body. I told him "Sure, I'd like to have it, but I don't have any extra money." He said "Did I ask you to buy it? If you want it, it's yours. I'm giving it to you!" I thanked my friend out loud and thanked God in my heart.

Well, the Lord must have figured that a pickup wasn’t complete without a canopy so a short time later, on a Sunday morning, as the family was driving to church, we went past a house that had a pickup canopy sitting in the front yard on a pair of saw horses. It had a large sign on it which read, simply, "Free." For one second I considered stopping but I knew my duty was to God and that if God wanted me to have that canopy, it would still be there after church. And, of course it was! So, after church I put my new canopy on my new truck.

It wasn’t long after this happened that we moved to Montana. We took very little of value with us; Mainly personal items. One of the things we took was an old couch. I don’t know why we bothered to take it with us because all we ever did with it was store it here and there. It was primarily a nuisance and so we finally decided to just take it to the dump. One Saturday night shortly before the couch was dumped, I was standing out in our rented garage talking with God and I said, "Lord, I know I don't have to tell you that I don't have any money to put in the offering plate tomorrow morning but I just thought I'd mention that if you wanted something you'd have to get busy pretty soon. Within minutes my next door neighbor showed up and was standing in the garage with me and said "How much do you want for that old couch?" I didn't know what to say and so he offered, "I'll give you ten dollars for it." I said "You just bought yourself a couch." I went into the house and told Darlene what had just happened and she was tickled. She said "That's really great. I was wondering how we were going to buy bread and milk." I told her that we couldn't use any of the money, because it all belonged to God and every cent of it was going into the offering plate at church the next morning. Her faith was strong enough that she didn't argue the point. When we got home from church that morning, the phone started ringing and didn't stop until I had $500 worth of sheetrock jobs. A cynic might say, "Aw, God just wanted another $50. bucks out of ya." You can bet he got another $50. bucks.

A short time later, near Halloween, I'd used up all of the money that God had given us and was on my way down the Bull Lake Road to give a bid on a sheetrock job. As was and is my custom, I was talking to God as I drove along, and I mentioned that it would be nice if I could somehow get a pumpkin for the kids to carve for Halloween. I realized it wasn't a priority and that their lives wouldn't be ruined if they didn't have a pumpkin. But I mentioned it to God anyway. Well, I didn't see this pumpkin fall out of the sky, but I've driven many tens of thousands of miles all over this great, God-given country of ours, and I've never, ever, before or since, seen a whole, undamaged, fresh pumpkin sitting upright on the shoulder of any highway anywhere. But there it was, looking for all the world as if it had just been placed there by the hand of God. There were no houses for at least a mile in either direction.

God continues to perform miracles in our lives to this day. Sometimes we have to stop and think about them because we're so used to having them happen. It's all too easy to take God's constant love for granted. No one has appointed me to tell you, or anyone else, how to live their lives. I have been selected, however, to testify to the love and goodness of God and to give witness to the miracles that God has performed in my life. I know, just as surely as that pumpkin was sitting alongside the road, that God is waiting anxiously, eagerly, patiently to perform the same kinds of miracles in the lives of all His people who put their trust in Him. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Many thanks to Jerry for allowing me to reprint his sermon on my blog.