It's been so difficult for me to blog since we lost our blogging community on AOL.  I know . . . it's been nearly 3 1/2 years . . . get over it!  I loved having a community of bloggers to encourage me, comment, etc.  Some of my dear friends still blog daily.  I read them all the time and comment once in a while.  It's just not the same. 

Most of the time, I just don't know what to say.  I've been sick a lot.  I don't want to talk about it.  It's bad enough that I know my health problems without whining to the world about them.  Here's the truth:  there are a whole lot of people out there in worse shape than I am.  I think every morning when I open my eyes that it's a good morning.  How can it be less? I know that the day I don't open my eyes will be a good morning too ~ I will be home with Jesus.  It can't get any better than that.

Rob and I celebrated 10 years of marriage last September. In 5 days, we will celebrate 2 years of home ownership.  We are incredibly blessed.  I never ever thought I would be living in Nevada.  I mean, really! Who would ever want to live in the desert? I guess I would.  We love it here.  I have 2 sisters living in the desert.  One lives here and one in Arizona.  That's pretty odd for girls who were born and raised in SoCal.  Our other sister is in Florida.

California is an expensive place to live, especially near the ocean.  Rob and I lived next to the ocean for 6 years.  I can count on the fingers of one hand the times we went to the beach.  We paid a premium to live in that area.  Rents were sky high, food more expensive, gasoline higher . . . all for the chance to live near the ocean.  Don't get me wrong.  It was beautiful.  I loved all the trees and greenery.  The temperature was nearly perfect.  The humidity?  A death trap for me. I couldn't breathe.  

For less than most of the rents in SoCal, we own a home here.  Living in a gated community is wonderful.  It's like a cocoon of security.  We know that thugs can get in and rob us or kill us, but for some reason we don't have that fear.  Little things tickle me:  I never had a garage door opener or a useable garage for that point.  I love that I can operate the garage door from the corner.  We have an opener for the gate to get in here, a clubhouse which we hardly use but a clubhouse nonetheless, private streets and cable built right into the walls.  I am not fond of having to answer to a homeowner's association, but like the perk of not having a "bad" section of the community.

We are truly blessed!  Sometimes I stop in the middle of the living room and just thank God for the opportunities in my life.  I've slowed way down since the days in Mexico.   I've had some wonderful jobs throughout my life: a waitress, a factory worker, salesgirl, oral surgery assistant, bartender, switchboard operator, office worker, public relations, missionary, wife and mom.  I think mom was the best job even if I didn't perform well.  Being a wife is tough - and I have had plenty of experience there.  I never thought being a missionary was a "job".  It was the best time of my life.  It was also the longest I've done anything other than being a mom.

There's not much to do now that I am totally retired.  Days melt into each other so that I often can't remember what day of the week it is or even the date.  I read a lot.  About a year ago I bought a Kindle reader.  It's been a joy to have.  So I bought the new Kindle Fire this year.  It's nice enough but I like the older one better.  Who needs color to read a book?  

We'll just see if I can get myself back into blogging again.  I miss writing my thoughts down.  I miss my blogging friends.  I wonder if any will find my blog again after so long a time?  

God bless you all.  Believe it or not you are still in my prayers.
 

A TIME OF PEACE

Early in the morning, just after sun-up. The kids are all sleeping and I step outside on the back porch. We've been living on the pastor's ranch for about a year I guess. I look out over the fields of green beans and pick up the hose to fill the tub. In front of me are two generations of laundry cleaning. The CC Mira Mesa brought us a brand new front-loading machine a couple of months ago. Next to it stands an old wringer washer, the kind my mother told me about when I was young. I love that machine.

As the tub fills, I sort the whites out first to wash. I pour in liquid detergent and bleach and start agitating. Dirtiest of whites is slapped wet on the concrete scrub-board for extra detail. Socks are the most scrubbed both with a brush and a rolling motion up and down the board. I have to be careful not to scrape my knuckles raw. Then back into the tub they go to finish with the other whites.

The process of pulling the clothes out and through the wringer is peaceful tedium for me. I push and pull the clothing through and drop it into a deep sink full of clear clean water, then step to the side to push the wringer over to the sink. I pull and rinse the clothes before wringing them again to be dropped into a basket for hanging.

There is something so calming about standing there in my bare feet to hang the clothes on the line. There are no people noises yet, just the birds chittering in the few trees, a horse nickering under the olive tree and the few dogs run, noses down searching for the leavings of yesterday's meals. My face is once again turned to the fields as I hang. I can see the fig tree down the way and off in the distance is the pastor's greenhouse.

It is good clean work. I feel satisfied as I finish the first load of the day. The towels are already agitating in the washer. It is the moment of peace I have searched for before the children rise and workers arrive. I have no decisions to make at this moment, no boo-boos to tend, no tears to wipe.

My time. My place. God's peace.

Oh, I don't know . . .

I haven't posted anything since June sometime. I've been lurking on other journals, but have not commented much. This morning I have been reading Donna's blog. A lot of my memories flooded in as I read hers. Go figure. City, suburbs or country, those of us who grew up in the 50's seem to have a collective memory. Here are some of my memories:

I was born in a 10-bed hospital in a small suburb of Los Angeles. By the time I was born, my parents had already separated. Women who got divorced back then were the subject of much scrutiny. But I didn't know that. I loved my mom. She took phenomenal care of her four girls.

I remember that we had the first television on the block. It was and awesome thing. At about 4 years old, I thought that the people lived in there and when we turned it back on, they would just start again where we left off. The television was in a very large cabinet, with doors you would close when you turned it off. It had a round-ish screen, 2 or 3 channels, and a really fuzzy picture. I remember seeing an Indian head when the stations had nothing more for us to view. I never knew that my grandparents had given us that wonderful box.

What a tender double memory I got while reading about cereal on Donna's blog. The first and most recent memory came as she posted that Cheerios was the common name for all cereals back then. In Mexico in the 80's and 90's, I learned that for them all cereals were called Corn Flakes. You could choose your poison, but it was still corn flakes. Back when I was small, I remember having Shredded Wheat a lot. My mother would offer one or two of the barrel-shaped pieces on top of which we put sugar and milk. We also ate a lot of oatmeal. Mom would cook the oatmeal with raisins while I stood on a chair to watch the "fishes" come to the surface. With all the instant foods these days, the kids don't get to watch this particular phenomenon. A shame, really.

I climbed trees a lot. When mom couldn't find me, she'd send the girls out to look in the trees. Once, our dog pulled me out of a tree. That hurt and mom got rid of him. Behind the second house I remember living in, there was a great big walnut tree. I loved it. I could take a book and my pillow to sit in one of the crooks for hours. Sometimes I napped there. I climbed trees and rocks and trails until about 20 years ago when my body started to limit me. I would love to do it still.

My mom didn't go to work until I was in school for a year or two. I would come home from school and stop by the pharmacy fountain where she worked. She would make me a cherry phosphate sometimes. Oh! What a delicious treat. When she went to work in an office, I would come home, change my clothes in the laundry room(refrigerator there, too) and go to the neighbor's house. Since I had my own key to the little room, I thought I was independent and that Becky's mom wasn't a babysitter. I think my mom paid her five hard-earned dollars a week not to babysit.

I loved that time of my life. We were not allowed to become television addicts. We played outside, climbed trees or sat with dolls to pretend we were grown-ups, even played board and card games out on the patio. We had a card game called Presidents, played slap-jack, war and even monopoly. Becky's brother always wanted to be paid with those "bluebell 50's". It was a magical time. We were all very healthy and happy. It would be wonderful if we could bring some of that play here to this time for our children and grandchildren. Just sayin' . . .

Blessings,

Sisters Day

Yesterday, my sisters (me, Sylvia, Charlotte, Sharon) and I were able to get together for the first time in six years. As we grow older, this seems to be more important each time. As you can see, I am the baby. I think we all look pretty good for being in the over-60 crowd.

Today is Sylvia's birthday. She's the oldest and says she is going to live to be 120. I believe it. She and her husband still get around on a Honda Goldwing motorcycle. The amazing part is that just a few months ago, Sylvia was thrown clear of that bike, breaking ribs, collar bone and shattering her lower leg/ankle. She followed her therapy relentlessly and is here visiting from Florida. They have a motor home and the bike to get around.

My sister Charlotte lives about 3 hours away in Arizona. Her husband races and builds stock cars. She is a breast cancer survivor and she's the one who spoiled me the most when I was a little kid. I hadn't seen her in 6 years either.

Sharon lives here in Nevada and with her husband raises and adopts foster children. It was when we came here to see the adoption of her son Chance that we decided to buy this home. Sharon and I are closest in age.

We all had lunch together yesterday followed by a photo session. The photographer was nice enough to snap the picture above with my camera. There was a lot of reminiscing going on. We just don't do this often enough. Travel is expensive and even at our ages, our lives are full. Praise God that we were able to have this very special day. I needed it very much. We kept in touch after the last visit, but e-mail and phone calls are not nearly the same as a full-on hug with your very own sister.

As my two oldest sisters travel back home, I am praying journey mercies for them and long, full lives until we meet again.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

I've only posted to this blog 8 times in the last year. Tomorrow is Mother's Day again. I want to wish my daughter Heather, daughters-in-law Krissy, Shaylin, Michelle, and Dixie, granddaughters Candace, Cassie and Cassandra all a happy day and tell you all how proud of you I am. I love all my children and grandchildren so much.

I miss my mom terribly at this time of year, more than at Thanksgiving, Christmas and her birthday. I have no regrets. I loved her well and was a pretty good daughter. If you love your mama too, please tell her often. I didn't know how much I would miss her until she was gone. It's never too late to re-open the door. Even if she hates what you have done or are doing in your life, she loves you more than you will ever know until you are a mom or a parent.

LORD, please bless all the Moms out there.

Blessed by God

We are so blessed! Last Friday, we finally signed the papers on our new home and moved in. We never expected at this time of our lives to buy a home. This is a young couple's dream come true in their golden years. We are exhausted from moving, but so thrilled to have our own home. Rather than post a few pictures, I've made another slide show with April's progress on the home, our signing at escrow, etc. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

There are so many things to do when you purchase a newly constructed home. We had no idea how complicated it could be and the delays that could happen. We were truly disappointed when the closing date was moved by about 4 weeks. We moved here to watch the house go up, but staying in a hotel/suites was tough to say the least. Praise God we were able to make it for nearly 3 months in that tiny place. We were always anxious for news. Our real estate agent, Gaby tried very hard to keep us informed, but with the sales office here, mortgage in Colorado and title company in Arizona, there were a lot of glitches. I have to admit that my patience was tried.

At the "suites" we met a lot of people who were as we, waiting to move to a new home or apartment. There were others more transient and some who were downright scary. By the grace of God we were blissfully untouched by the goings on and the staff there was really helpful. We made friends with a real nice couple from Arizona. They were able to find a wonderful mobile home to live in.

And here we are, living what looked 6 years ago like an impossible dream. Back then we were readying ourselves to leave Mexico and retire. Rob came back to the U.S. in June 2004, Andrea in July and I came in August. We had no place to live except for the kindness of our friend Hank, who later rented us the little house we called home for 5 years. On to the new adventure!!

Home Away

This is the surprise of a lifetime for me. The construction project you see will be our new home. We never thought to move from here or purchase anywhere, and now LOOK.

In November, Rob and I made a trip to Las Vegas to be present of our nephew's adoption. While there, we decided to look at homes. We fell in love with the model of this home and to our great surprise, we could afford to buy it! Much paperwork later, our new home is coming together.

We knew that we had to move out of this rental house. We live above a body shop in an industrial area. My breathing caused several trips to the hospital ER. The humidity here is not good. California has always been my home state. Other than Mexico, I've not lived any large period of time away from southern CA. What a change the desert will be! Believe it or not, we are ready for the change.

So much has happened since I last posted. The miracle of regaining a son in my life was stupefying. Since then, he and his daughter were reunited. She came to SoCal from Oklahoma last month, bringing her 5 month-old daughter with her. What a privilege for me to hold my great-granddaughter in my arms! I got to babysit for a whole day. It was wonderful. I feel truly blessed by the Lord.