Let There be Light, Comin' Up on Forty, and Trying Something For the First Time

Hi,

It feels like forever since I've been on here. I've got more time on my hands but I'm sure filling it up fast!

 

Beth's and Sharaya's birthdays are in a couple of weeks so we've been working on that. They're two years apart but Sharaya's is October 6th, and Beth's is the 10th. Beth turns 40 (!!) so we've got a few surprises planned.

I've been making my own greeting cards for many years and for the first time ever I'm going to try selling them. Our church has been hosting a holiday market every October and that's also coming up in a couple of weeks. It's a lot different making them for fun, vs needing a certain amount and having a deadline. I've reserved a little 6' table at the market and I'm trying to figure out how to fill it up. Many of the sellers have two-to-three times that much. I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and got some fall flower arrangements that match my cards (sunflowers, etc.) and little boxes to display the cards. I'm excited, and nervous at the same time.

 

When Beth isn't at work or bowling or church... she sits at her desk, watches TV and draws. She has stencils and draws the alphabet over and over. It's a common thing among people who have Down Syndrome. Not necessarily drawing, but things with repetition. That's why the same schedule each day works best for them, rather than constant change. Beth is right-handed and her ceiling light is on her right, so she wears a light, like a miners light on her head. Hers is attached to a soft headband. Well I have a lamp at work that I thought she might like, it's got a USB port where she can charge her phone. And it can sit on her left so her right hand won't block the light while she writes. She chose the pink one of course and it arrived the other day.

So far she loves it. I hope it works for her. New things are sometimes hard for her to accept into her already set routines.

I should get started on my day. Even though it's already noon on a Saturday. I'm tellin' ya the days are absolutely flying by! I hope you have a great weekend!

Chicken, Past the 'Best By' Date, It's been Five Years

One thing I didn't write about in my last post was that my dad died on 9/11, in 2019. We had seen him in August and he was doing pretty good for 93. Just a couple weeks after we left though, he fell and broke his hip and was put on hospice.

I flew back to San Diego and got to be with him when he died. Most of the family got to say their goodbyes. We all flew back down in October for the memorial. I sometimes dream about him. The other night I had a dream about him, my mom and my sister. An interesting thing, whenever I dream about someone who has died, they never speak. They'll laugh, we're doing things together, but they never talk.

Okay, on to lighter things. Beth has been asking me if we could make chocolate chip cookies so Monday night after work I got out all the ingredients. Since our kids have grown up I just don't bake anymore. So all of our flour was expired. Well I don't know, does flour actually go bad? It was definitely past the 'best by' date so I tossed it. Same with the vegetable oil, we were out of butter... sigh. So I jumped in the car and ran to the store.

Beth puts in the flour, baking soda, salt, she helps add the eggs, runs the mixer, then puts the dough on the tray. I let her make one tray, then she gets to take those downstairs for herself. In this picture she's telling her friends, "Hey everyone at All Aboard! I'm making cookies!"

Have you been able to see the Aurora Borealis this year? It seems to be happening a lot lately. I headed outside this week and looked up through my camera and all I saw was pitch black. Holding my phone up and looking at the screen, there was nothing. But as I took pictures, I could see a light image appear. When I got in the house, this is what I had:

 

 

Just a little bit of pink, but it's there! I was shocked! There really was nothing to see with the naked eye, not even the clouds. It was dark. I don't like the dark so I'd be outside for just a minute, then come back in. Then I'd go out again a few minutes later. I'm such a chicken. 

Honoring

Honoring 9/11 becomes more important the older I get. I'm not sure why. I was no where near there when it happened. I don't know anyone directly impacted by the attack. But each year it seems to hit me harder.

 

(Please forgive me if this post causes anyone pain. That's not my intention at all. It just breaks my heart when I think of what the men and women who were impacted by this attack had to go through that day, and the months, and years following. I'm sharing this out of deepest respect.)

 

I spent most of Wednesday morning going over in my head what I wanted to write on here. I thought about the pictures I wanted to include, the stories I would tell. Then after work I picked Ally up from school and took her home, I stopped at Target to buy Beth an ottoman, came home, fixed dinner, showered, Chuck came home, and by the time I sat down here to write, all I could think of was "What have we been up to?" Completely forgot what day it was. When I went to bed that night I couldn't believe I didn't write about it.

The first time we went to New York was in 2004 and we stopped at Ground Zero. They had cleared most of the site and were now starting to rebuild.

 

 

These beams were found like this in the rubble. It became a source of hope for all the men and women working at Ground Zero. It's now in the 9/11 Museum in New York.

This firehouse was across the street from the Twin Towers and was demolished when they fell. They lost five men that day. Last week we watched a documentary that included some of those men.

 

This was shown on a documentary I saw a few years ago. You can see the firehouse on the left. (Sorry it's such poor quality. It's a screen shot from the TV.)

Twenty years after 9/11 we were in New York again and stopped at the beautiful memorial fountains that are now in the exact places where the towers once stood.

Plus thanks to our girls, Chuck and I got to see a play about 9/11, on Broadway in New York, the week of the twentieth anniversary. It's one of our favorite productions of of all time. We watch it again every year. (You can find it on Apple TV.)

 

We've had the honor of visiting the museum, a place we'd love to see again. There just wasn't enough time to see everything that day.

I took Ally home from school on Wednesday and I asked her if they did anything for 9/11. She asked, "What's 9/11?" When I told her then she remembered, but no, nothing was mentioned at school. What are we doing to make sure it doesn't happen again? I hope we truly never forget.

Planes, Busses, and Shampooers

Hey everyone,

 

I was planning to sit down and write a quick post but I got distracted and already a half hour has gone by and it's getting late. Let's see how much I can get done before my body says, "All done."

I bought a large carpet shampooer for work a couple weeks ago and when it came, it wasn't as advertised. So I've spent the last week trying to get this thing shipped. Not an easy task: all the emails and phone calls, little details, the paperwork... yesterday UPS packed it back up and today the shipping company picked it up. Hallelujah! I was so glad to see that thing go.

I bought a new tunic. I don't know about you but I could live in these things. I love the length, the colors, and the collar (sometimes the collar is too wide and low, and I feel... exposed.)

 

I caught a picture of Beth going out to the DART bus last week. She was headed to All Aboard for Karaoke and Art classes. You can tell because she always takes her Disney backpack filled with lined paper and gel pens. 

I spent some time at the waterfront on Sunday. I talked with the youth group about volunteering in Special Connections, and afterward headed down there for a while.

My eyes are getting tired but I want to tell you that Diana went to London over the weekend. Can you imagine? She hadn't been there in a few years so she booked a flight and was there for three days and four nights. It's the first time she was away from Adelaide for that long. I wonder how she reacted when Diana got home. I'll try to get some photos from her.

And, Sharaya has been learning how to drive a school bus and she passed her test on Friday! She now has a CDL. My dad always had one. Chuck has one. I just love that. Just one more thing she knows how to do at the school district! I'm so proud of her.

 

Well, I'm done. Does this happen to you? The end of the day your body is just like, "Okay. I'm finished." I hope you get a good night sleep tonight!

 

It's Official - A Week of Encouraging Change

I have officially stepped back from my job as Custodial Supervisor. I'll continue to be the Facilities Admin but the responsibility of every event set up, cleaning the building, and overseeing the custodians with their different personalities and work ethics now belongs to someone else.

When I closed our Sunday school class Special Connections, in January due to the extreme behavior of the kids (biting, kicking, knocking over furniture) I spent some time fasting and praying about what the Lord wanted for this ministry. One night in prayer He told me, 'You are anointed for this ministry. I have anointed you. You carry the mantel.' That kinda took my breath away. 

 

He began to show me His vision of ministry to the parents who have kids with special needs; ministry to the youth and young adults who have special needs; as well as continuing with the Sunday school class for 4yrs-6th graders. His heart is toward the entire family.

So I prayed and asked Him, if this was really what He wanted me to do, would He please release me from my supervisor position. That was back in April.

And in June I just knew it was time. I met with my boss and told him in order to focus more on ministry, I needed to step back. He asked if I could stay on through the summer which I did. On Tuesday we had a custodial meeting and announced the change to them. (One of the custodians has been promoted to Lead Custodian and will be taking on some of the supervisor duties.) Wednesday we announced it to the office staff.

I feel such a sense of relief. Even though he and I will be working together for a few months as I train him, he's a custodian so he knows how to work some of the machines better than I do, he's very outgoing and the other custodians really like him. I know he's gonna be great in this position.

So, my life is kind of taking a turn. I spent some time last night looking through resource guides and notes about the class. And I believe I'm to wait to reopen until January. As busy as our church is in the fall, this will give me more time to create a training manual, and recruit more volunteers. Plus redecorate the room. Change brings anxiety to many kids with special needs so we've left it as is for a long time. I'm looking forward to the change.

So, things will be very different for me going forward. And I'm excited to see what the Lord is going to bring about in this old, but new ministry at our church! I appreciate your prayers.

 

What We've Been Up To

August 31 was my moms birthday. It dawned on me recently that she's been gone for 19 years. Her birthday has been less significant as the years go by but for some reason this year I've been thinking about her a lot. It blew me away when I realized it's been nineteen years. I'm really missing her this year.

 

This was around 1978

 

 

Let's see, we've been to the dentist; did some grocery shopping; checked the mail; just basic day-to-day stuff ~

 

 Our church held it's annual water baptism service in the Puget Sound. I heard the water was 56 degrees! 😬 But we had 16 people get baptized! There's always a lot of people from the congregation that come out to cheer them on, it's such a joyous time!

 

 

Chuck, Beth and I went to see The Forge. Have you had a chance to see it yet? It's the story of a mom concerned about the path her young adult son is taking. It's about mentoring, and forgiveness and the power of prayer. It reminded me that every person has a story. It's really good. We all cried.

And, our church had a week of prayer and fasting. We had prayer meetings every morning and evening at 6AM and 6PM. We set up 100 chairs in the foyer and the very first morning they had to set up more. We ended up with 150-175 every single meeting! Morning and evening. That's never happened before. Usually it trickles off by the end of the week to just a handful of people but it didn't this time. (Chuck went to some of the mornings and all of the evenings. Beth and I didn't make it to any of the morning meetings. I knew I wouldn't make it the whole day if I did, so I just prayed at home.) This picture didn't capture everyone, there's more people to my right, a few more rows in the back, plus people in the stairwells to my left, it was so powerful!

 

Chuck and Beth both take meds that require food so it's difficult for them to fast food. Chuck suggested we have dinner at the kitchen table (we usually eat in the living room) while reading the prayer guide they gave us and praying over each item. Beth would read the prayer points out loud and then pray with us. (I'm glad I was able to sneak this picture. She was praying out loud when I took it.)

 

 I'm writing this on Labor Day. We slept in today, watched a movie, and just got to be lazy all day! I hope you had a relaxing day too.