The Good Days of Marriage

Dear Lord, thank you for the good days of marriage. The days when we wake up pleased with each other, our jobs, our children, our home, and ourselves.

Thank you for our communication-the times when we can really talk to each other; and the times when we understand each other without so much as a gesture of a word.

Thank you for our companionship-the times when we can work together at projects we both enjoy. Or work in our separate fields and yet have that sense of sharing that can only come when two persons' lives have merged in so many other ways so long. Thank you that we don't feel cut off from each other, no matter how divergent the things we do.

Thank you for our times of privacy. Our times of freedom. Our relaxed sense of personal trust. Thank you that we don't have to clutch and stifle each other, that we have learned to respect ourselves enough to respect the other's individuality.

Thank you, lord, that despite the many storms of marriage we have reached these particular shores. Help us to remember them. Help us to hold fast to them, Lord.

THANKSGIVING

Our family had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family this year. The ladies fix their favorite dishes each year. Delores baked the turkey and made the delicious dressings-both turkey and oyster. Corn and green beans are always on the menu. It would not be Thanksgiving without Aunt Ellora's pumpkin pie and cranberry salad. This year she threw in delicious pecan pie. Terry is not allowed to come if she does not bring the banana cream dessert. Her sweet potato casserole was very good. Candi's cheese cake is always a hit and those mashed potatoes she made was perfect for our dinner. Randy brings a large tray of shrimp each year. Irmalee baked the ham- made rasin sauce for a side dish. Her homemade chicken and noodles are a every year thing along with mashed potatoes. Her dessert was new this year-Fantasy Blackberry-Apple Pie. Brandi brought a very good broccoli caserole and Teresa tops everything off with the bread. As always we had lots of good food and some of the food I forgot who fixed what...

The guys watched ballgames on the TV and took naps. The ladies enjoyed visiting with one another and getting caught up on family things that happened during the last year. We will have two new babies by next Thanksgiving. Wayne and Irmalee invited the family down to their home to visit the chicken house to see the projects they have been working on the last few months. Wayne is restoring an old tractor and Irmalee showed the ladies the cast leaves they made. Candi painted and stained her kitchen cabinets so the ladies drove out to their home to see her new project.

We are very thankful for the years we have known each other and the things and times we have shared. God is good and has blessed all of us abundantly.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

FAITH IS OUR EYES

Jason's sermon this morning was very good. I liked the message "moving on to greater things". I also believe that Sunshine is moving on to greater things.

"Faith is our eyes". In Hebrews I the bible tell us - Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even it we do not SEE it. Faith is the reason we remember great people who lived in the past. It is by faith we understand that the whole world was made by God's command so what we SEE was made by something that cannot be seen.

Holy Spirit - Also, the Spirit helps us with our weaknesses. We do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us, even begs God for us with deep feelings that words cannot explain. God can see what is in people's hearts. And he knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks to God for his people in the way God wants. We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. They are the people he called, because that was his plan. Romans 8:26-28.

Jason also pointed out to us that we need to be "uncovering what are values are". I myself am not praying enough, not reading the bible enough, etc. and need to be looking at my values. "What am I doing or what am I about"? We all have to take a look at the "stuff" we have in our minds. Sometimes we lose sight that God is active, great and still willing to work in us. We take the Great Blessings of God for granted. Are we plugging into God's power by acknowledging God, laying everything out to God and asking God for help in specific terms. Oh how we (and especially myself) need to look to the Lord and not only expect things to happen but also know they will happen.

Thanks Jason for a wonderful lesson this morning. This post in no way expresses all of the wonderful sermon you gave and I hope I have not messed up your sermon too much but this is what I got out of the sermon.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

FELLOWSHIP

Saturday night seventeen Sunshine bloggers and friends drove to Huntington and eat at Uno's Pizza. It was a very nice evening to take a drive. Wayne and I enjoyed the drive and we took a walk around Pullman's Square before going into the restaurant. I noticed there are several places to eat in the Square but not many places for shopping.

Everyone had a good time laughing and visiting together. Wayne and I enjoyed playing with the babies. I was thinking later about what a nice visit we had with the young people. We sat next to Gary and Kathy Glispie and had a good visit and talk with them. We see them at church every week but somehow do not get to sit down and just have a visit. All in all this evening was a very good opportunity to fellowship with others.

After we had dinner at Uno's we walked up the street and had ice cream. This was really a treat. The best ice cream ever - anywhere.

Thanks to Tim and Jennifer for encouraging everyone to get together and for making the reservation. This was truly a nice evening.

TABLE CLOTHES

It is good therapy to get together with Christian ladies and do worthwhile projects.

I decided we needed more table cloths at Sunshine Church for the fellowship room. The old table cloths were too small for the tables and getting a little worn looking.

I approached my friend, Ruth Miller, about making some table cloths. Being the good friend and helper that she is, and also the best seamstress that I know, she agreed we needed new table clothes and would help make the table clothes.

Ruth and I set a day aside to shop for fabric for table clothes. We headed up route 23 to Chillicothe to check out Jo Ann Fabric and Hobby Lobby stores. Being lunchtime we had lunch together and spent some time just sitting and talking like women do at times. We spent some more time shopping for other things that we just could not live without. We did a pretty good job at shopping this day having found several things on sale and even some things half-price. You should have seen Ruth down on the floor going thru the sale items.

The fun for our table cloth project had just begun. We bought candles, napkins, flowers, flower arranging containers and a few other small items. When we started out we were only going to get fabric for table clothes. What's a lady to do when she finds so many things on sale?

God was with us, as always, and guided us right to the fabric department at Hobby Lobby and they had the fabric we needed for our table clothes. Guess what, thirty percent off sale. Just what we needed! We bought fifty yards of this fabric and headed back home.

A few days later we met at the church fellowship room to start cutting the fabric for our table clothes. We needed sixteen round table clothes and we had fifty yards of fabric. Ruth, being the good mathematician, figured the amount of fabric we needed for our table clothes and one yard extra just in case she figured wrong. We cut sixteen table clothes and had one yard left over. She should have been a math teacher instead of a seamstress.

The next day we gathered up our sewing machines and thread and started sewing the table clothes in the fellowship room. We sewed for about two hours on our table clothes. Do you know how much sewing there is to finish sixteen round table clothes? A LOT! We had faith that we could and would finish the table clothes.

About lunchtime, our friend Judi Allison, stopped in to visit and have lunch with us. Over to the airport restaurant we walked to get a little exercise and have lunch. I was telling Judi that it will take us sometime to finish the table clothes but we had faith and we'll get them finished. Hint! Hint!- we really need some help sewing the table clothes and I know she is a good seamstress. Also, I remembered that her husband had bought her a serger for sewing. This is the very piece of equipment we needed to finish the hems on our table clothes and Judi knows how to use this equipment.

After a few days rest, Ruth, Judi and I, got together in my home sunroom to sew on the table clothes. Judi brought her sewing machine and serger and helped us finish the table clothes. If not for Judi we would probably still be sewing on the table clothes. We all had lunch together (chicken noodle soup and Chinese salad) and enjoyed the fellowship together. We all three had faith that we would finish our project and that God was there walking beside us all the way.

Th fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness and FAITH. Galatians 5:22

"THE CHICKEN HOUSE"

Today I spent several hours in the afternoon working in my workshop in our chicken house. After a long winter it was time to put away things that got disorganized during the winter months- too cold to spend much time out there. Time to sweep the floor and organize the disorganized.

During warm weather I spend time in my chicken house just about every day. The gardening tools are kept in the chicken house. I keep all my collection of flowers, driftwood and containers in my chicken house. The lawnmower, lawn furniture, Scott's boat, Wayne's tractor and anything that needs storage is in our chicken house.

If you walk around and take a look you will see a lot of memories in this chicken house. The kids and grandkids wagons, scooters, bicycles, go-carts, table and chairs, high chairs and crochet sets are waiting for the next generation to enjoy. Sunshine Church has a corner upstairs in the back for storage. Christmas trees and wreaths are there waiting for the holidays. There are things stored in the chicken house from generations back. I like these memories.

There are items in the chicken house that belonged to my mother and father-in-law. The old mailbox we received the mail in for years at my parents home is sitting on the floor upstairs. An old cabinet from my parents home is still waiting to be repaired and painted. Way back in the corner is a sink that was in the utility room when we moved into our home here by the chicken house. By the way, my in-laws lived in this home before my husband and I made it our home. Our parents are all deceased now so we hang on to these memories.

I invite a lot of my friends to my workshop in the chicken house and now collecting memories of times spent in the chicken house with my friends. We like to get together in the chicken house and work on our flower arrangements and then have a cup of coffee and a cookie. Discuss whatever comes to mind. Anybody that wants to try a craft we invite to the chicken house. We have had garden club meetings, plant sales and auctions in the chicken house.

Ever now and then Wayne and I discuss the fact that we need to clean out the chicken house and get rid of some of this "stuff". Somehow we never seem to find time to clean out the "stuff" in the chicken house. I am thinking maybe deep down we like the memories of the chicken house and our "stuff", so we bypass finding time to clean the chicken house. Too many memories in the chicken house.

A few months ago someone tried to steal our lawn mower from the chicken house. They were unsuccessful. This called for new doors and locks on the chicken house.

So today I am thankful for the chicken house and the heritage and memories of families and friends. God has blessed us with a lot of "stuff" over the years.

February 2006 Travel - South Western States

I will try to highlight some of our travels during the 15 days we spent on this trip.

On Monday February 6 at 8:00 a.m. Wayne and I, Carolyn and Hayes Wilcox left Minford, Ohio and traveled 5,380 miles through the south western states.

The first day we traveled to Nashville, Tenn and spent the night there. We visited the Grand Ole Opry Hotel gardens and went to the Opry mall. The second day we traveled on to Texarkana, Texas and spent the night.

The third day we traveled to San Antonio, Texas and walked on the River Walk and visited the Alamo's. Originally named Misi'on San Antonio de Valero, the Alamo served as home to missionaries and their Indian converts for nearly seventy years. Construction began on the present site in 1724. In 1793, Spanish officials secularized San Antonio'five missions and distributed their lands to the remaining Indian residents. These men and women continued to farm the fields-once the mission's but now their own-and participated in the growing community of San Antonio. San Antonio and the Alamo played a critical role in the Texas Resolution.

The fourth day we traveled on to Corpus Christi Padre Island in Texas and spent the night there.

We stayed in the Gage Hotel at Marathon, Texas the fifth day. This was a beautiful old hotel decorated with antiques and served a delicious dinner that evening. The next day we visited the beautiful Big Bend National Park. From the Marathon Plateau to the Chisos Mountains, and south to the Rio Grande, Big Bend you will find beautiful scenery. Named for the great curve in the Rio Grande, Big Bend offers more than a million acres of public parkland, and millions more of endless landscapes where cloud tipped mountains rise above paint rock desert. The big large cacti plants were beautiful and some of them were just starting to bloom. There were very many different kinds of cacti plants in the park. Near Big Bend National Park's west entrance, Terlingua and Study Butte were founded at the turn of the 20th century as mining towns. Terlingua is now a "Ghost Town" and is a very poplar visiting resort. When the mines shut down people traveled on to other places looking for work to support their families. Some of the old mud houses these people lived in are partially standing and the old cemetery is still there.

The next day we traveled on to Vanhorn, Texas and spent the sixth night. The next day we traveled to El Paso, Texas (El Paso is right on the border of Mexico) and parked our van in El Paso and walked over a bridge for a visit to Mexico. This did not take a very long as our stay in Mexico was short. The streets were very dirty and for sure you did not want to eat anything in this area. I am sure there are much nicer areas in Mexico but we did not have the time for exploring different areas. We saw the high fences between El Paso and Mexico that are to protect the border. Also, we saw the border patrols parked along the border.

The next day we traveled to Tombstone, Arizona and visited the famous O.K. Corral Gunfight Site. We saw an enactment of the Gunfight Show, toured the 1880's newsroom and print shop of the Old West's most famous newspaper. We traveled on to Benson, Arizona where we spent the seventh night.

The next day we traveled to Saguaro National Park Arizona. A variety of plants live here and there are more than 50 types of cacti. Among the most spectacular is the saguaro cati. The saguaro begins its life as a shiny black seed no bigger than a pinhead. But what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in numbers. One saguaro produces ten of thousands of seeds in a year, and as many as 40 million of seeds in a lifetime of 175 to 200 years. From the start, the odds against survival are great. Out of all the seeds that a saguaro produces in its life, few will survive to adulthood. By 100 years the saguaro may have reached 25 feet. Saguaros that live 150 years or more attain the grandest sizes, towering as high as 50 feet and weighing 8 tons, sometimes more. These are the largest cati in the United States. We traveled on past Tucson, Arizona to Coolidge, Arizona and visited the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. This ancient building is four stories high and 60 feet long. It is the largest structure known to exist in Hohokam times. Early Spanish explorers called it Casa Grande (Great House), and to them it was a mystery. Its walls face the four cardinal points of the compass. A circular hole in the upper west wall aligns with the setting sun during the summer solstice. Other openings also align with the sun and moon at specific times. Apparently, the builders of the Great House, people who knew well the ways of the land, gathered inside to ponder the heavens. Knowing the changing positions of the celestial objects meant knowing times for planting, harvest, and celebration. Casa Grande Ruins National Monument preserves the remains of an ancient Hohokam farming village as well as the Great House. After visiting the ruins we traveled back to Tucson, Arizona and spent the eighth night.

We traveled on to Sedona, Arizona and this was a very beautiful vacation spot. The massive red-rock mountains and Oak Creek flowing thru the town was spectacular. We enjoyed the most beautiful sunset that I have ever seen. The town was beautiful and this is one place I would love to go back to and enjoy spending some more time. We spent our ninth and tenth nights in Sedona.

Heading on to Las Vegas, New Mexico is where we spent our eleventh night.

The next day we traveled on to Bloomfield, Colorado and spent two nights at Steve and Debbie Gampp's home. This was our nicest hotel so far. We had dinner in the evening with Beth, Austin, Brenna and the new baby Steven Reid and Steve and Debbie. Steven Reid was only 2 1/2 weeks old and so so cute. There was snow on the mountains and it was beautiful. We drove to Estes Park and looked up the campground that we had camped in when we visited Colorado when the boys were small. Brought back a lot of good memories. This was the twelfth and thirteenth nights.

After a nice visit with family we headed home and stayed the fourteenth night in Salina, Kansas and the fifteenth night in Effingham, Illinois.

The next and last stop was HOME. (February 21) No place like home. Was a wonderful trip but enjoy being back home.