We are closing down my computer in a few minutes. It is Thursday, the house is clean and packed. We pick up the truck in the morning. We will load the truck, have lunch and drive 5 hours to Bakersfield, California. Saturday we hope to make it as far into Arizona as possible, probably a few hours short of Phoenix. This is our longest day. Sunday we go to Wilcox and regroup, have the kids swim and sleep really good. A late breakfast for Monday, and arrive in Alamogordo hopefully about lunch time. We are excited that there is a revival in progress in our church, and I invite you to join us at 7PM for services on the corner of 16th and Florida @ the Potter's House! We don't move to our new home til the 1st of June, and our internet will not be hooked up until the 3rd at the soonest. I hope to update you all on the adventures on the ride home then!
" I am thankful that in God's design he planned it so your path crossed mine."
My friend Peggy and her hubby came down from Oroville last night and we had Japanese fast food, and then to the house to laugh and reminisce over the last few years and rejoice that we are friends.
Peggy is a giver, I mean she loves to give and what she finds is always perfect, I mean she spends time finding the exact right thing. I was almost speechless with this beautiful necklace. It is an infinity necklace.
I love it.
The first quote is on the necklace and then in the box is these additional words:
Finding one true friend in life is good fortune,
but keeping them is a true blessing.
I am very fortunate and blessed to count Peggy Jamison as my friend.
I will miss her most of all I believe, she and her hubby have labored and prayed for No. California, and I feel a bit bummed not to stick it out as they have. They are made of some strong stuff and God is just beginning to pour out major revival in Oroville. Please my friends throughout, mention their town and them by name to God for blessings and revival!
Good bye for now Peggy, but I know conferences are not far in between!
Yesterday we had the garage sale of all garage sales! We got rid of EVERYTHING! I am so amazed and happy about that. One of the items that left made me cry, our cat Lady Fluffypants went home with a new owner. Geez, I have a bit of a lump just typing this, but this is the end of the saga of the cat that came to our home. We moved here to California, March 2008. The second day we were here, this fluffy black and white cat walked up to me, did a handstand and flipped on her back so I could rub her belly. I tried to pick her up, but she didn't want anything to do with that.
One of our neighbors, told us she had been abandoned by neighbors and her name was Lady. She was spayed and that if we wanted her........oh no, we could not have pets.
Northern California, especially inland where we are in the agricultural center gets wicked hot. We would look outside and our big sprinkler would be doing it's arc across the yard, and Lady would be drinking water out of it, oblivious that cats are not supposed to like water.
My hubby looked out and saw that and said, okay, you can feed her, but I don't want her in the house. OKAY!!
So, I fed her, and she slept in the van! She was hilarious! Then the rains came, and I let her in, but she wouldn't leave the front foyer of the house. I added to her name, she was now Lady Fluffypants, because of her fluffy pantaloon fur on her legs.
But, Tony was liking her, because she was invisible really, and didn't make a fuss. I loved her so much, cause she made me smile. She would actually run over to me to get a pet, and loved to be picked up and held. She would just purr and purr.
Before we knew it, she was on our Christmas card as part of the family, and sleeping by my legs on the bed at night. Well, she kept sleeping on the bed after we got up:
She then made her place on my computer desk, and would beg for Kitty Treats:
Yeah she was spoiled, and loved to drink out of anything that wasn't a cat bowl, I had been watering the little plants by my desk, and left the water on the desk.
Her head is all the way in there! Goober. Yesterday a young boy, that went to school with my kids years ago, wrapped Lady in a towel, and took her away. I broke down and cried and cried.
She came in our lives and brought much laughter and amusement.
Now she goes, and I will always remember her fluffy pantaloons!
I missed you a ton this morning Lady Fluffypants! Victor, take care of her!
Hey all! My family and I are moving from California to New Mexico, so my scrap blog is gonna be a bit slow until we get in and back on grid the first week of June! I leave with a layout I did with Tangie Baxter's newest kit; A Door Just Opened. It is a remarkable kit:
I have to admit, I opened the kit, and looked through the elements and cried. There is a quote in there, by Helen Keller, that I used on my layout, that I had been given by a sweet young woman who is also a Pastor's wife, and the quote touched me so much in her letter, and then to see it in the kit a few days later was pure providence.
My family is going through this open door and having to close others, so here we are mere silhouettes on the page, but we are together in it and that is the most important part. I hope you enjoy this layout, I was honored to be selected on the GSO FingerPointing thread with it also:
Be back in June with lots of pictures to scrap and memories to hold on too!
Friday afternoon, my "lists" was done, and so was school. Tony turns to me, and says, "Wanna go for a hike at the Dam in Oroville?" Now you have to know me, I am not a spur of the moment person. I like to plan, have snacks for my kids, figure out what is needed and time preparations. I smiled and said, "Let's do it!" We did! We all grabbed a bottle of water and jumped in the van, and drove to Oroville (40 minutes away) We drove up first to see the water level to the dam, see we had been in a bit of a drought last year, but the rains we had this winter have filled it up: Look at this from last year:
You can see how low it was, the boys are walking down to the edge, Now look at how it was just yesterday:
One more from last year:
notice the shore line across the lake, then feast your eyes on how full it was yesterday:
The kids were loving just being out and about! One of them is a bit of a joker, you can try and guess which one?
Due to all the water, the power that be, open the spillway to the dam, and that is what we wanted to see. We had gone up between services in Oroville a few Sundays prior, but Annabo and I had sandals on, so we didn't hike down to the shore, and the boys wanted to explore more. We tried to go to the top of the spill way, but it was closed, so we went on a trail that was straight down and crazy!
It was an intriguing hike, pass cows. Now, get ready to laugh, cause there was a huge herd of cows we had to walk through. They are so HUGE, and well, they scared me, I wasn't sure if cows attacked people, especially people that were walking through by their babies. The twins were a bit scared too, okay they were really scared. I wanted Tony to call our friend in Oroville and ask if cows were dangerous, he refused and said we will walk through. We did and the cows stared:
Then the cows showed their true colors!
They ran! We were emboldened! They were still big, but we felt rather brave and the nervous giggles from the girls and I were a relief! We went for a while longer straight down, and Tony says, this is gonna be a bear to get back up! OH my, perhaps we should go back? We discussed it and since we were walking away from the spill way it was getting hotter and hotter. We decided to go back up and then go to the water. Oh my, going back up! I am so glad that I have lost weight and have been walking, or I could never have made it! It was fun, hot and hard. But we did it!
This is almost back to the top, I was breathing hard, but felt alive!!
WE headed to the water! IN the van! ha ha
Oh yep, another hike! Straight down also, and hey this was okay, cause we would be going down rocks, instead of a nice trail! I am insane! There is huge power lines and poles and this bird's nest with babies was in view. Our friends say it is a bald Eagle nest! That excites me so much:
The spray from the spill way was tangible now and the sound was growing louder!
Here is why we were hiking down! I have to tell you it is beyond remarkable!
I will add some more pics tomorrow! But now, I am exhausted!
We are moving and grooving....the truck sold yesterday, and the piano should go today or tomorrow. We are gonna push and see if we can see everything this weekend, and then not have to do a sale the following week! We can go see friends instead and say good bye!
