A Blast From the Past!

This is what you do in Ukraine when you are waiting and you can't communicate very well because she speaks Russian and even though you studied Russian for 6 months before going, you can only remember Spanish! Precious Erika!!! This was 20 years ago! My how we have changed!

Just Keep Blogging!

I've had a few folks ask if blogging is a thing of the past. Many of my fellow bloggers, who were regulars and we followed each other's blogs have stopped. I know I slowed way down due to needing to take care of personal needs within the family and then cancer hit along with a bit of old age. Then, when I tried to post one day, bammo... my blog had been taken over by bad malware. Thanks to dear Erika, she saved the day and the blog!

The last few years the girls have asked if I was going to keep it up. They certainly want me to. It is a good exercise to get things out of my mind and in writing. Many years ago people had very secret diaries. They wrote all their personal thoughts in those books under lock and key so nobody could see them until after they were gone.

I don't want to do that! I want my family to know what I think and how I feel, what I love and how I view life. I also love that we can all share our thoughts. I have a few boundaries to respect. Our sweet Sarah doesn't want photos of the children on the web due to the sad state of our world, extracting photos for ill purposes. I totally respect that, and it is why only My Mike was seen having a tea party. LOL

Our lives have changed so much. I have written about it a lot over the years, and the focus was on adopting the girls and raising them. But now, they are all on their own, all living lives that could have never been possible had thy remained in Orphanages. I'm so thankful to just be a fly on the wall of their lives, watching them embrace everything about family life, marriage, children, and Jesus. What miracles they are. What miracles our sons are, all grown and married and now OUR AGE when we started this blog! HAHA


We have 2 grandsons in the military now. We have a grand daughter that delights in being a lumberjack. We have a grand daughter in art school, one who is learning guitar and ukelele, a grandson who is interested in astro physics, a grandson who is excelling in math and science, a grand daughter who loves tea parties and was just introduced to "Toy Story 5" last might. She was carrying around a very old Jessie doll from the "Toy Story 2"and hugging her like she hugs her new baby sister. Our grandson stopped by yesterday for Pizza and fellowship. He is flourishing on his own. He looks great!

We have a grand son living on the East coast, 2 more in the south east enjoying school and a grand daughter there who is on a cometitive swim team. We have 2 more grands in elementary school on the west coast. I THINK that is everybody. Ha.

It was suggested I use a different blog for what is going on now, but I don't think so. I tried to do that a while back here, but it doesn't feel like home like I do on the family blog. I'd like to keep this one as it morphs and changes because that is how life is. We are older, and it is good to express how older folks feel about life. Our perspectives might change a bit, or while we reflect, that isn't all of life, we have much ahead of us, as far as we know. Life is lived one day at a time because tomorrow isn't guaranteed.

I want to share my heart about things not for my kids to find out about them after I'm gone, but for them to know about them now. I appreciate EACH one of our children for how they have enriched our lives and helped us to stretch and grow in ways we never knew we needed to. :) I'm thankful for our church family that loves us well and I'm thanful to the Lord for HIS lifegiving word, for His Salvation and endless kindness and mercy. He has blessed me with what I do not deserve and lavished upon me blessings that are not material and cannot be bought.

AND THAT, I will comntinue to share as I keep this blog going, and morphing. I pray it will be a testimony of the Glories of God in a simple lady's life, who happens to love Jesus, converse high tops and blogging.

Trying to Learn Piano, AGAIN!

I took piano lessons when I was 6 years old by a sweet woman named Mrs. House. After 2 lessons she told my mother she couldn't teach me, because I wasn't following the notes. It was so simple to just hear it and repeat what she was doing. So, that was the end of lessons for me. I have always wanted to play and have picked things out over the years, but what I'd really like to do is start with beginning piano theory and actually learn to play correctly!

SOOOO! Today I started! I am on PRE book A. I'm learning to keep my fingers in the correct place and read the notes on the treble cleft and then on the base cleft. Both thumbs share the middle C. :) So, I was able to play "I want and Ice Cream Cone" and "Old McDonald had a farm"... and then I broke out into the "Doxology" and "Fly Me to the Moon."
I think there is still hope for a willing participant! I made my self stop and go back to reading those little notes. But I admit, "Fly me to the moon" was a lot more fun! :)

FRESH WATERS POURING OVER MY SOUL

I don't know why but today has been a day of brain fog, and feeling kind of meh... I don't have these days very often and busied myself with other things, like looking back at old memories and re reading some old posts. Doing that didn't really help. Then, it was obvious that I needed to refresh myself with scripture. I needed the pure milk of the word to overflow me. And THEN....
This happened!
I never just "open my bible and see where it will fall open". But I sat down and opened it, and it DID fall open to a very familiar passage that has washed over my soul many times. The first time was when I was 25 years old. I was in a very difficult situation and a few months before had given birth to my fourth son. Things in my home were terribly difficult. My then husband had walked away from Christ and embraced a life I had never dreamed could happen. But it did. My Dabba, his mother was a wonderful mother to me and a fellow sister in Christ. She brought to me my VERY FIRST study bible. It was an Open Bible, NKJ version which I loved. As I poured over the pages of this bible and learned about each of the books, the time it was written, how it relates to Christ, or prophecy, who wrote it, etc. ; I was drawn to the book of Isaiah. And then drawn to Isaiah 55.

This has become one of my favorite passages in scripture. I remember reading it and tears welling up as I read and knew it was speaking to me.

Here is the Passage: Isaiah chapter 55.


Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. YES, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to ME and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me, Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David.
Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander for the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know and nations who do not know you shall run to you. Because of the Lord your God, and the Holy one of Israel. For He has glorified you.
Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near, Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on him and to our God for He will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heaavens are highter than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down adn the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth adn make it bring forth the bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my WORD be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void; but it shall accomplish what I please adn it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

For you shall go out with joy and be led out with peace, the mountains and the hills shall break for into singing before you. And all the trees of the fields will clap their hands. Instead of the thron shall come up the cypress tree and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree. And it shall be to the Lord for a name for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
So here I am, 68 years old being refreshed in my soul once again by the scripture that calls me to come, eat, rest and be satisfied in Christ alone.

The Natural Longing for Change: An Observation

I have been longing for it to rain. It has been over a month since we had any rain. It has been over 100 degrees for a long time. It cools down at night into the upper 80's and then comes the 100's. My desire is that it will rain and then that the temperatures will cool down. We are in the last few weeks of summer and then comes FALL!

Fall is one of my favorite times of year and I am always longing for it to arrive. It is so exciting to see the leaves change color and begin to drop to the ground.

After Fall arrives, then we desire snow. Sometimes our desires are fulfilled, sometimes not and we just get ice!

The fall and winter can cause us to LONG for the warmer days of Spring and Summer and we start all over again with the seasons!

I have been working on trying to embrace each season fully. When I am satisfied with the season I am in, I can be content in the heat as well as the cold! The same goes for the seasons of life. We have been through many seasons in our lives. Learning to embrace the season we are in is a lesson in trusting the ONE who created them all. From Birth to the End, God knows our days! Just as we can count on the sun to rise and the morning without question, we can count on the fact that our Heavenly Father placed it there and He is in control of all seasons, both in Nature and in the seasons of life.
As we learn to embrace where we are, there are many treasures to be found. The wisdom God gives us as we grow cannot be traded for earlier times. The rich blessings of being satisfied in Christ cannot be traded for our younger lives. It is often asked, "If you could do it over again, would you go back to high school, or being in college?, etc." The answer is NO!!
I love how Mike and I are growing old together with each other and in the Lord. I love our morning coffee and bible study and discussion that can go on uninterruped until he looks up and sees he is late for work. (in the back yard) :)
I love how our kids have grown up and while it is fun to reminisce, it is even more enjoyable to see them all embracing life, walking with Christ, and raising families.
This season is longer than the 4 three month seasons that divide our year up. This season can be long or short; that is up to God, but it is a season where we continue to learn and grow. It is a season of blossom and pruning. It is a cup of finely aged wine. It is a cup of reflection, but also a cup of joy. God created the seasons for us to experience and lift up praise to Him. The scripture says that the Trees of the field will clap their hands! He created our seasons in life to do the same. We clap with thankfulness and joy and we give praise to HIM, the author and creator of our faith.

Me as a young baby, a teen, and then as a new mom

I'm A Coffee Roaster

I started roasting my own coffee about 5 years ago after Mike and I visited our grand daughter at a fresh coffee house called Michael Thomas Coffee in Albuquerque NM. She worked there and inspired us to start roasting!

So the first thing we did was research roasters and read roasting reviews.

We settled on this machine which was warranteed for a year. We used it for 3 and then ordered a new one when that one wore out. We are on our 3rd year with this one and it is going strong! Our favorite roast is Red Sea Blend from Coffee Bean Corral, and then LaLaJa Honey from Coffee Bean Corral. We also purchase from Sweet Maria's. We drink both caffinated and Decaf coffee. The newest DeCaf is La Victoria, an organic Decaf from Peru.

Even the Cat likes coffee! :) Erika has started roasting coffee too. She just upgraded to a fancier roaster. And she has become quite the barista! She has a new fancy coffee pot that makes regular coffee and specialty coffee! I could learn much from her expertise!

CHEERS to a great cup of Coffee!!!

Erika and Donato

During the time that the kids were getting to know each other and beginning their relationship,they determined to go to museums and parks and try to go to as many as they could in a year. They were quite creative in their dating. I seem to remember one particular time, they decided to rent a scooter in Down Town Dallas and Donato would drive while holding onto Erika. She has that daring spirit in her that wants to do things! He obliged...

All I know is, a couple of weeks later, I was told of the "incident", where they hit a bump and she slipped through his arms and then.... he stopped, tried to get to her to help her and accidently stepped on her chest. LOL There is a song we wrote about that. ......HAHA His description of taking her into a local CVS to buy bandages and going into the bathroom to bandage her up was hilarious. He said, "It looked like a murder scene." Haha The DR. however (Love that Dr. at Scottish Rite Hospital) , said, "It looks like you've been having fun!" Ha. She was fine; just a bit of road rash. These two grew together as a sweet couple that would come over and play spades with us, go to his family and visit, and just be adorable!

Donato's mom and I decided to "meet" stealthfully....

We had such a great time. We met for breakfast and talked and talked and talked, and then we sorta got kicked out of Denny's, which BTW was NOT crowded at all! HOW do you get kicked out of Denny's???? Anyhoo. We took that photo and sent it to the kids, who btw kept telling us, "You two are really going to like each other!" ... We got this in return.

So we sent this in return!

We had a great time! And then our families began to blend together and here we are 5 years later with the kids married 4 plus years and all of us loving them and each other! They are perfect for each other. They are both adventurous; you will find that out for sure if you follow their You Tube Channel... I'm so proud of them.

(Donato's brother is the photo bomber) Haha.

Adventures at The Grand Canyon

Mike and I only took short vacations to visit family in Oklahoma on holidays like Memorial day or Labor day. We had one unusual trip to Michigan for Thanksgiving, and it was great seeing more extended family up there. When we married we already had 4 sons, and there was not a lot of extra beyond clothing and groceries to spend. Family was lovely and the perfect place to vacation with the children.


When we had just 2 girls at home, we surprised them with a trek to the Grand Canyon. It was their first REAL getaway and we knew that our time with them was very short. We wanted to give them some great memories.
I hiked the Bright Angel Trail as a teenager and had such fond memories of falling stars at night, sleeping by the Colorado River and the treacherous climb up. Going down was Easy Peasy. Going up? It took me about 12 hours. Now, we knew we were not going to Hike down to the bottom and back up at our ages! So, we started our treck by stopping in Albuquerque NM,

then the Petrified National Forest in Arizona, and our final destination, The Grand Canyon.

I told the girls to close their eyes until we were right at a place driving to the South Rim and the Bright Angel Lodge so they could take in the whole scene at the same time. There were Oooh's and Ahhh's and much excitement!

We had such a lovely time that Mike and I went 2 years later for our 35th Anniversary. :) When the girls went with us we stayed in Williams AZ which was really fun. We stayed at the Rail Road Car Motel right near Bearazona, which is a Bear drive thru and zoo.
This time we won the Lottery getting a slot at the Bright Angel Cabins! We had such a wonderful time together! Here are some highlights:

What an amazing trip we had! This was our cabin.

The Cabins do not have AC so it was a little warm during the day, but we were out hiking anyway. At night we decided to go and lay on the ground outside by the mouth of the trail to see the stars. As a Kid, I had no worries and just enjoyed the sight. As an adult, after about 15 min we looked at each other and said, we are in a desert, National Park, and there could be snakes! So we went back inside... Ha. We had the best time, and I was so happy to share my great memories of the Canyon as a kid, with the girls and with Mike. It was a dream come true!