Month: July 2016

Another day down, two more to go!

We left Price, UT just after 9 am this morning.

It was a much better day than yesterday.

Being purposeful in stopping to eat played a major role 

in being a better day.

We are now settled into our room in Farmington, New Mexico.

We have about another 875 miles to go to 

What a few crazy days it has been ~~~

Saturday, July 23 ~ Brandon, Max, Ron, along with the help of Christopher, Treyson and Alex the truck got loaded.  We had requested a 22′ truck and they upgraded us to a 26′ truck.  We had lots of room left over.  

Saturday also foound me 

finishing this afghan

(yes it’s huge ~ it is on a California King Bed)

As I sit here this morning

in the peaceful quiet of dogs snoring,

pen to paper,

newspapers and coffee cups 

being moved around

I am reminded

how precious life is.

I am reminded that the past is in the past

and that each new day

brings new opportunities to enjoy 

my life and my surroundings.

We have known of death this week

but also the birth of a precious baby

We have shed tears of pain

and tears of joy

We have laughed and cried

but most of all we have loved.

Isn’t that what life is all about

Loving

one

another!!

So go out and spread the Love!!!

Reflections

One of the pictures I took this week, not the best but do you see the reflection in the water?

It looks like this house is on fire

when in actuality it is the sun reflecting on the windows of a gorgeous home on Drayton Harbor;

the reflection looks like the bay is on fire too.

It’s been a good week here in Blaine,

We have reconnected with many old friends, spent a bit of time with Jamie and his family, slept ~ a lot!!  One night my Flexbit told me I had slept 11 hours 11 minutes!! Ate way too much but enjoyed every bite.  Gave and received a lot of hugs, enjoyed some great jazz music, shared laughter and tears and just had an amazing week of relaxing and reflecting.

Woke up before 7:00 this morning ~ guess my body/mind knew there was much to be done this morning before getting on the road to continue this new adventure.  And then I think, “is it really a new adventure or just a continuation on a journey that has taken me places I would never have imagined ~ either way life is good and we are anxious, in a good kind of way to see what is around the next curve or down the straight long road.

One of the things I have enjoyed the most this week is the quiet and serene setting here at Pastor Charles & Margaret’s home ~ it is like being at a park out in the woods.  I have seen little yellow rosebuds open into gorgeous yellow roses, deer eating the grass in the back yard and takenn a few two-hour naps in the peacefulness of the surroundings.

And then I think about a time when my life was anything but peaceful.

Anger ruled my life, spewing words to others that never should have happened, struggles with feeling loved and understanding the many hurts I experienced in my childhood and teen years.  It seems like a lifetime ago and maybe it is but really only 10 to 15 years.

And God reminds me that those struggles, that time in my life has made me who I am today.  This morning my verse for the day came from Psalm 73:26

In The Message it states

“When my skin sags and my bones get brittle, God is rock-firm and faithful.”

And in my mind I picture my whole being, my heart, my soul, my physical body ~ ALL of me being surrounded by God and held by God and being comforted to know that HE always has his arms around me.  I see a picture that my friend Bev drew for me after I shared with her about one of my many counseling sessions.  I wish I could find the picture but I will just have to use words to describe it ~ A big chair, like a King’s throne chair or even the chair the size Abe Lincoln is sitting in in Washington DC ~ but GOD is sitting in that chair and on his lap I sit, a young girl of 3 or 4, being held and comforted by the best Daddy in the world ~ that’s how I see God: holding me on his lap, loving me in every way possible, reassuring me that He is always here for me, never to let me be alone in this world again.

And I feel all warm and loved!!

I am enough!  all the way around ~ I am enough.

With all the talk in today’s world about Black Lives Matter ~ the world needs to realize

I don’t want to get into a political debate, I say this because I am reminded this morning that each of us are important, each of us matter and most of all we matter to God!!!

And I thank him for that reminder this week ~ as we have sat and talked with people this week, as we have been preparing for this move to Texas and during my devotions this morning I am reminded

It’s easy to love those who love you, those who are kind and nice to you

BUT

it is hard to love those who have hurt you, hurt me, said and done things to me that are uncalled for.

YET

God tells me I am to love them, be kind to them, not speak harshly of them

AND

so today I ask the Lord to give me words of love to say over them and to remember it is not my place to judge them or tell them what to do but to love on them.

And yes I am human and some days I find myself saying things or thinking of things I could do and that’s when I get on my knees and tell Jesus I am sorry for failing once again.  And I know he hears my prayers because he helps me to see the good in the situation with those who have hurt me.  

Sorry for rambling, its just something I do once in a while or even a lot ~ as Ron likes to say I haven’t met a word I didn’t like and so I pour them out from my soul, getting all the hurt, pain and yuck from inside out to where I can acknowledge them and deal with them.

And I will stop now before I ramble on some more!!

Praying that all who read my blog have a blessed day and remember

You Are Enough!!!  

Just the Way You Are!!!

Things are moving along as we prepare to move to Texas.  

We had a list of things that needed to get done for Methodist Children’s Home 

to get our employee paperwork in order.  Our list included:

 ~ transcripts for each of us

~ fingerprints for a background check

And then our own list of stuff to do:

~ order my medications ~~ being processed and sent to our new home in Texas

~ arrange for a rental truck to get our stuff to Texas ~~ picking it up the morning of July 23rd

~ make an eye appointment to get my eye polished ~~ done will do that on Monday, July 18th 

~ make lists of what we need to take with us in the car

~ planning our route ~~ Ron has it pretty much figured out

and then of course see friends & family, rest, see friends & family

As I have said many times

Yesterday morning I was reminded of Paul’s statement

and realized it is not something that just happens,

it is LEARNED ~ which means some days 

I grasp this very quickly and other days it is harder than ever.

Then reading about forgiveness in Isaiah 38:15-20 I was reminded that when someone hurts me I need to forgive them just as God has forgiven me over and over. Specifically a situation that happened last week where someone said and did something that through me for a loop and I was hurt, wanted to spout off my mouth and yet I held my tongue, kept off my phone so my fingers didn’t write something that I would later regret and then yesterday I was reminded not only do I need to forgive that person for how they hurt me but also pray for blessings for them and not harm or pain to come on them.  I just need to love him/her and pray for them, for everything about them.  It was really humbling for me to stop and think about my relationship and what is the most important thing and that is to love them as they are and pray for God to put people in their lives to do the things I am unable to do.

As I sat in the living room of the home where we are staying I had many memories flooding through my mind ~ some hard and yet so many fun times shared in this home, sometimes crying out in fear and the feelings of uncertainty and coming full circle to a place of excitement and peace.

So thankful for the graciousness and hospitality of friends and family to open their homes to us as we are in a state of transition. And how the Lord has used this time to remind me of his mercies and grace in our lives.

This morning during my quiet time 

We have been on quite the journey throughout our 40+ years of marriage and when we look back at just the past six years we can see how the Lord has been with us every step of the way ~ maybe our journey has not been the way some would have liked to see us live YET we can look back and see how the Lord was right there.

We may have not taken the shortest or easiest routes to get somewhere but we have never been alone and for that I/we are very thankful.  

For the rest of this week to Monday, July 18th,  we will be in Blaine 

Our schedule as far as we know it is:

Wednesday ~ Ron is going to Bible Study in the morning

Ali is going to spend the day with her bestie!!!

Thursday ~ we have plans to join friends in Bellingham for dinner

Friday ~ we will be in Ferndale visiting Jamie and his family

Sunday ~ we will be at Northwood Alliance Church for Sunday morning worship

Monday ~ we head back to Gresham, OR making a stop in Kirkland to see my ocularist for a very important and necessary eye polishing.

Wishing each of you a great day!!!

What a

Whirlwind it has been!!!

First off, thank you to everyone who has been praying for us, loving on us, sharing your home and meals with us over the past two weeks ~ we love each of you!!!

As we began 2016 we thought we were pretty much settled but alas not so true

~ being told we were no longer welcome at Astor House ~ WHAT?

~ tried to get answers, which we still have not gotten ~ FRUSTRATING!!

~ hearing via email what day we were being terminated ~ SO UNPROFESSIONAL!!

~ still seeking answers and receiving none ~ FRUSTRATING!!!

~ finding a storage unit ~ SUCCESS!!!

(so thankful we had totally emptied out the one in Blaine just a month before)

~ praying, praying and praying ~ TRUSTING in difficult times

~ feeling peace about what was happening even though we still didn’t understand the WHY???

~ accepted the position as a Flex Manager; still wondering about the WHY???

~ and moved one foot in front of the other

and put all we owned back into a storage unit

and began a new 

feeling

 

YET SO AT 

and so we packed up our apartment,

stayed with our son and his family in Gresham, OR

went to Flex Manager Training in Salem, OR

spent a wonderful five days at the Lang Hotel, Blaine, WA

spent time with our family at Northwood Alliance Church

had coffee with my bestie

and just spent time being loved on and cared for

as well as spent time applying for different jobs:

caretaker, property managers, house parents, 

apartment managers, storage unit managers

and like in the past

we heard from one place

and we found ourselves once again

stepping out in 

or in our case

flying to Waco, TX

for a two day job interview and shadowing.

And we asked for lots and lots of 

I don’t think we have ever had so many interviews,

prayers, observations (us of them and they of us)

and more interviews

and going to bed after the first day wondering

where would this lead to?

waking feeling encouraged and yet very nervous,

and yet praying for the Lord to

either 

or

something we have done many times in our 40+ years of marriage

and

once again

as HE clearly has opened the door

for a new opportunity to serve Him,
share our love for and of Him
as
we were offered the position  of
House Parents
at
Methodist Boys Ranch
in
Waco, TX!!

And we accepted!!!

Our tentative start date is
August 1
and for that we are excited.

And again the mind begins to race
with all the things we need to do
to prepare for another big move
and more steps on this
Journey we call Life!!!

But that’s for tomorrow to write about ~
tonight we rest in peace,
knowing the Lord has answered our prayers
and the prayers of so many others.

Stay tuned for the next part of our journey!!!

It has been a couple of crazy and uncertain weeks but we are making our way each day.

Last Wednesday, June 22nd, was our last day of work as Co-Managers at Astor House.  For the most part it was a good day and yet hard in so many ways.  

Wednesday evening we were treated to dinner by one of our sweet friends of Astor House, Terri took us to Mazatlan for a wonderful Mexican dinner.  Thanks Terri for all the laughs and encouragement.

Thursday was a busy day of packing and packing some more with a couple of trips to Fred Meyer to get some more totes!!! Oh why oh why did we give all those totes away??  Thursday evening we were treated to dinner at the new Old Spaghetti Factory in Sherwood by Harry & Judy and Jim & Patti..we had a great time of fellowship, eating delicious food and spending some time in prayer about our future and our journey as we leave Holiday Retirement.

Friday was more packing, picking up the Uhaul truck and me accepting the position of Community Flex Manager.  We are not sure how it will work out but we know that we are moving in faith as God opens doors for us.  In the evening we had another evening out with two of our co-workers ~ Shirley and Marcia took us for drinks and appetizers at Trees in Sherwood.  It was a lot of fun, great food and terrific conversation.

Saturday found us up early and doing the last of the packing.  Brandon and all four of his boys arrived at 8:30 and we got to work loading the truck.  About 9:30 Bill showed up and helped us finish up two truck loads and lots of stacking and restacking and the storage unit is full as well as the back of our car.  By 3:15 we were done and headed to Applebees for a late lunch/early dinner.

All in all the move went smoothly.  We couldn’t have done it without all the helpers.  

Sunday morning I was off to Madrona Hills in Salem, OR for two and a half days of training as a Flex Manager.  Learned a lot of questions to be asking managers upon arrival at a new community.  It was interesting to see how two communities that are supposed to be the same are not exactly the same yet similar.  I look forward to my first assignment sometime after the 7th of July.  

While I was busy “flexing”  Ron was busy as Grandpa.  They went to Bridal Vail Falls on a hike with Brandon and the three little boys.  And then on Monday they played games and read stories together.  Monday evening they went to swim lessons.  Tuesday I joined Ron in the afternoon and in the evening we made garden burgers for supper before it was time for another round of swim lessons.

Wednesday was a catch up day, applying for new jobs, running errands and then in the evening Brandon took the little boys to swim lessons and we were off to the airport to pick up Danalyn and then we along with Danalyn and Max went out for sushi at Sushiland.  Yummy food and great conversation made for a nice way to end a busy first half of the week.

Thursday morning found us having a phone interview for a position in Waco, TX.  Yes, thewanderingworkentins may be traveling once again.  We have put the whole job situation in the Lord’s hands and will see where He opens doors for us.  

After an hour on the phone we loaded up the car and made our way to Blaine for a few days of rest and relaxation.  We will head back to Gresham on Tuesday as Ron has a doctors appointment on Wednesday afternoon.  

So in the meantime have a great

I will write more later!!!