Quick Catchup

It's been several days since I last posted. Mostly, I did not try to keep up while I was traveling to and visiting in California as this was a trip specifically to spend time with my Mom and to visit John Lee. I was pleased to get the opportunity to visit with my lovely granddaughter, my son and Shawntea, Brianna and Aiden while Mom recuperated from our various excursions.

It was an interesting week and I was thrilled to make a new friend in DeVawn, Johnny's home caretaker. I wish she had been around during the many months that I fought to bring my hubby back from his strokes! A positive attitude with a gentle heart and a spirit of joy makes the perfect compliment to her bright mind. Jordon and Janet are so lucky to have found her.

But I am not recovering as quickly as I should from the trip. My stomach still doesn't know what time to get hungry and I want to nap in the middle of the day. I am beginning to wake up at the right time but I still have nightmares about the 2x2 coach space that bounced me through the storm front making it difficult to control my claustrophobia. Or maybe the memory of the airport food is the real nightmare!

Emotionally drained, hurting for those I care about and missing others that I care about; my thoughts don't seem to want to coalesce into the good, and often funny things that I can share.
Soon, the chemical imbalances will level out, the memories of herd travelling will fade and I will have a more holiday-like outlook.

I hope all the preparations for your holiday celebration are going well. Remember a little prayer for me - and lots of prayers for John Lee; my mom, Joan; my son, Greg; Jordon; Janet and Kimberly. I hope the season is filled with joy and peace and the sure knowledge of the Christ whose birth is celebrated.

Southern Family

Meet my sweet hubby (shown here with his daughter, Kimberly at the Mountain Ministries location in Washington) John W - Jack to his southern family and Papa John to almost everyone else. Born in Georgia and raised in Florida, he is definately the southern gentleman.

Visiting here in the south has certainly been nostalgic for him. A couple of weeks ago, we went to Georgia to visit an old high school buddy and to see the "farm" where John spent a lot of his childhood. Shelly and Louisa have a great spot in the Georgia countryside and they welcomed us with typical southern open arms even though they hadn't seen "Jack" in over 30 years. After sharing lots of pictures and family history, they started teasing each other and talking about things done during high school days. Understand, this is two guys - each has had a stroke - each is at the age that they can barely remember what they had at their last meal - but neither has forgotten a single drag race, girlfriend, bad boy prank or other minutia from high school. I guarantee that one day was not enough for these two and we will be visiting with them again. I found it so very interesting to learn so much about the history of this man I live with!!



Shelly & Louisa's Home & Shelly




The Old Farmhouse - now abandoned.

Life on the farm must have been a great time in his life, too, because as we were travelling to the site of the "old homestead" , he regaled me with stories about the way they lived and then insisted that we eat some boiled peanuts! Now, I've actually learned to tolerate eating black-eyed peas even though they are somewhat like chalk with salt and pepper! But the boiled peanuts!!! YUCK!!! That's chalk without the salt and pepper with an added greasy mess of soft shell fragments to clean up!!! Well, okay - so I am a California salad with sprouts kind of girl and boiled peanuts, collard greens, grits and other such southern dishes do not tickle my pallet. It was fun watching John enjoy this mess, tho. He attacked them like a kid in a candy store - and for those of you that have seen him eat candy, you know what I'm talking about!!! But boiled peanuts is one southern delicacy I think I can live without.


The cottonfields in GA were mostly harvested. We were lucky enough to run across this one that was going to be harvested by hand. I have lots of other pictures to share like Charleston, Myrtle Beach, the campground that we are working for, etc. If one of the smart people out there would care to share how I can turn these into those neat little slideshow files and post them here, I'd certainly be grateful.


But, for now, it is about time for Shabbat so I must leave this story. More on our southern adventures next week. For now, please continue praying for those on the prayer list and may G-d grant you a peaceful, blessed Sabbath - whenever you celebrate your Sabbath. Shabbat Shalom!