The Night Before

It’s 10 p.m. the night before. 

Tomorrow morning, I will get up at 6 a.m. to do a last checking of my suitcase and my backpack before heading out the door of my house and leaving all that’s familiar to go to SFO and take a Southern China flight to Bangkok, Thailand via Wuhan, China.

Okay, I’m not really leaving all that’s familiar as I’m going with a longtime friend, Indira, to visit her daughter (who is also my friend) who lives there. From Bangkok we board a smaller plane north to Chiang Mai, where Martha will be waiting to meet us.

Lots of butterflies in the tummy. I’m brought back to the words of God to Joshua:

⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9 (NKJV)

I can do this! I can be strong and of good courage! I will not be afraid or dismayed! I do not go alone either physically or spiritually!

I actually am thrilled to have this opportunity to go. Martha has planned a wonderful three weeks for us. We had our family Christmas celebration this past Sunday and our staff gathering at work today. I’ve downloaded plenty of Christmas music. I’ve added international texting to my phone plan. I’m ready!

I’m shaking in my flip flops.

Ten years ago I went to Europe….but with Jeshua, a tour group, guides, and interpreters. Then three weeks in England, Ireland and Scotland (where they spoke English-well kind of ☺) with my friend and co-worker, Leslie. It was a wonderful experience. Still makes me smile to think about it.

I think I’m getting a cold.

And I’m avoiding going to bed. It’s a half hour closer to 6 a.m.

p.s. See Bangkok kind of in the center…then north and a bit west to Chiang Mai…and we’ll be going to Mae Hong Son also…a little farther north and west. 

(http://www.kohjumresort.com/map_thai.html)

A Teacher Changed My Life

Most mornings I get up at 6ish, fix a cup of coffee or tea, spend some devotional time and, if I have a minute, check the obituaries in the Modesto Bee. 

Go ahead and laugh. I've heard (and told a few myself) all the jokes about folks who compulsively read the obits, but I'm confessing that I've totally joined their ranks. I cruise through them for the obvious reason of seeing if I know anyone who has recently died. I tell myself that surely I would hear from other sources than reading about it in the paper, but the many incidents of seeing a old friend's face there keeps me cruising. And I find myself reading about the lives of people I don't know--but someone who was important to the folks in his/her realm--whose life stories I also find interesting. This morning, as I sipped my vanilla coffee and turned the pages of the Bee, a name caught my eye, though the face was a much younger version of the man I knew: Dr. Marvin Goodrow, my chemistry professor at Modesto Junior College in the '80's. He left Modesto many years ago and we gradually lost touch, so seeing the article in this morning's paper was a poignant moment for me.

Dr. Goodrow changed my life! As an adult mom with 4 children and involved in the homebirth movement I decided to start a more formal science education by taking the pre-reqs for the nursing program. I had failed chemistry in high school, therefore a general chem class was on my list and happened to be the one class I could get into. I had a bachelor's in elementary education and knew I was plenty "smart", but I had been a mediocre student at best. Dr. Goodrow changed all that. I'm sure part of the change occurred because I was coming to classes as an adult with a different life perspective, but from the very first lecture class, he captured my interest and attention in an area of study that I expected I would be unable to master. He, however, assured me that I was perfectly capable! 

We were also homeschooling at the time and over the semester as he and I became friends as well as teacher/student, he sent home with me all kinds of fun projects to help introduce my children to the sciences and to chemistry. He invited them in and did real experiments with them. Virginia was interested in our homeschooling and she joined the circle. Over the next couple of years, as I homeschooled and went to school myself, they were my cheering squad. Even after they moved north, they stopped by now and then to see how our family was doing...always encouraging. 

Adjusting to an unexpected pregnancy at age 40 added another dimension to my life and our conversations. When that baby came stillborn at 21 weeks gestation, Marvin & Virginia checked in with me regularly, brought me tea and flowers and generally held my hands and heart as I walked through the sorrow. 

As time passed, their new life in a new place took on more of their time and my busy family & homeschooling consumed mine, and we drifted back into our own spheres. But I have never forgotten the man whose love of chemistry was actually contagious, as was his love of learning. He was demanding as a professor and did not "suffer fools gladly" but offered his help to any who really wanted to learn. We were saddened to learn of Virginia's death--and have wondered through the years where Marvin was and how he was getting along. We had long meandering talks about God and science, always respecting the other's position, but not afraid to push and tug at assumptions and untested ideas. 

I am a different person than I would have been without Dr. Goodrow in my life. I'm so thankful my life intersected his...for both the chemistry and the life lessons he taught me. No reminiscing about our 19 years of homeschooling is complete without an appreciating nod to Dr. Goodrow. He would be pleased to know that two of those little boys he "played chemistry" with grew up and chose areas of science as their life work and another is a college professor with the same love and zest for learning. 

I wish I was free to pay that last tribute by being at the service on Wednesday, but I wanted to take the time to write down my appreciation for him. In many ways, by taking chemistry, I took "the road less traveled." And yes, "that has made all the difference."

Mom Alice Warner

On this day, October15, 113 years ago Albert and Clara Myers of Waddams Grove, Illinois welcomed a new daughter, Alice, into their family. They had three older living sons and had also lost two children to diphtheria several years before. Alice was a bonus baby, born late in their marriage, but a welcome joy to their lives. 

The Old Myers Farmhouse (now gone)

 

Brother Clark and Alice with their father, Albert, 1903 or 1904

Alice grew up there on the farm and then attended Bethany Hospital in Chicago for Nurse's training where she met Arthur Warner, an Indiana Quaker farm boy turned preacher attending Bethany Seminary. They met in Greek class. : )

They married and spent a lifetime together raising a family and serving the Lord and His church via the Church of the Brethren. Together they served in North Dakota, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Virginia and Maryland. What an extraordinary life journey they had. 
 

Pop & Mom, Ralph, Barbara and my birth mother, Janice; Lynchburg,VA sometime in the mid-late 40's

I entered their lives as their first grandchild in 1953 and then became their adopted daughter in 1963. Mom always said it was like having a second life...and I suppose it was--as, while their peers were retiring and doing "age appropriate" things, they filled their 60's and 70's with carting carloads of girls to high school football games, chaperoning dances, camping, leading 4-H Clubs, having a house and yard full of teenagers, projects scattered everywhere and all the rest that goes with having a teenager in your household. And they did it with such grace and love and enthusiasm. Amazing!

At age 60, Floyd, VA a year before they adopted me.

Nurse Alice, 1968; Selma, VA

1969-Mom in the kitchen; She always wore an apron!

1970 in the best chair EVER...red leather rocker; Selma, VA

Mom at my wedding, February 15, 1975

Mom on her 90th Birthday; October 15, 2002; Thurmont, MD

So today, on her birthday, I raise a glass of Dr. Pepper (mom's favorite) in honor of a woman who had an inner strength beyond my comprehension and who loved her family unconditionally...every single crazy one of us--no exceptions! And all deeply rooted in her love for God which started back there in 1902 on the Myers Farm when the family thanked the Lord for her arrival.

All the birthdays of my life and on the occasion of many other friends and family, Mom recited this little poem:

Many happy returns on the day of thy birth-

May sunshine and gladness be given;

And may the dear Father prepare thee on earth

For a beautiful birthday in heaven.

Happy Birthday, Mom! Gone from this life and into eternity and the presence of her Savior. Beloved. Never forgotten.

Birthdays, 2015, Part A : )

On this past Thursday morning, as I was waking up and thinking about the day ahead, I came to the conclusion that for the first time since at least a week before I officially went back to work in early August, I was reasonably caught up with myself work-wise. Whew! Almost 2 months of frantic, always feeling behind, definitely stressed and over full days. It's not that I'm now on top of every detail, but I've shifted into being out of constant panic mode and into manageable. A nice place to be! (Deep breath!)

One of the blessings of a large family is that there seems to be a birthday around every corner. We start off the year with Stephanie and Claire:

Then come the birthday twins Simeon ...
 

...and Jordynn, who was 18 in January--an important milestone;

LIz was 10 in February, a double digits celebration; 

Cherith was "Sweet 16" in May;

June gives us both Micah at the beginning of the month and Alice at the end. This year they celebrated with an "Alice in One-derland" theme;

 
Melissa, Phil and I are May, June, July. Phil finally got his yearly made-from-scratch German Chocolate Cake when we celebrated while we were at Jeshua and Sara's in late June. Nice to have Grands helping make and decorate!

After we all came home from camp, Andrew turned 5 in July (caught him in a still moment--enjoy it while it lasts as he's usually in motion!).

Jeshua finally comes along at the end of August (photo taken in June).
 

Then we get a break until this past week, when Jen turned 33 on October 5. If we're calling "10" double digits, I guess we'll call this "repeating digits!" 

For her birthday I gave her a craft morning. And those words bring me back to the beginning of this post...I finally felt like I could share my time without adding to my stress level. So this morning, the children, Jen and I had a Hobby Lobby field trip, added our pretties to some treasures out of her craft stores and mine and made good use of the leftovers of last year's Christmas tree that Phil had cut into slices for me for a school project. 

 

Busy at work.

The finished product...

 ...and on the door.  Beautifully adds a touch of fall!

A nice stress-free way to spend a morning. 

So now we get another break until November, then the December deluge comes!! But I guess I'll save that until they have come and gone...a Part B to look forward to. 

Meanwhile I'm enjoying the calm, engaging in a few projects of my own and am counting my blessings! God bless us, every one!

The Bowditch

I have totally bombed as a blogger! I think about writing. I plan to write. I want to write. But somehow I just don’t do it! Then something happens and I think, “I should blog about that.” But I should have blogged about something that happened before that, I don’t really have time to do both and anyway somehow the timing is off…etc. Oh my! We all know where that well paved proverbial road is going!!! 

So I’ve spent some time rethinking about blogging…what my purpose was when I started. And I’m not quite ready to give it up. I like sharing my life with my friends and family—many of you at a distance. I think I’ve settled for Facebook instead, and I so appreciate the connections it has made possible, but some folks in my “target” group are not Facebook folks. Plus I like cutting and pasting my blogs into a word doc so I have an automatic journal with photos ready to print if I so desire. Maybe my grands (or even theirs) will enjoy it when I am long gone. : ) Surely I can do better than once or twice a year!

So I’m just jumping back in with last week’s family get-together—a ½ year birthday celebration for Simeon and Cyrus, totally put together by Phil. It all started when he found the perfect gifts for them last spring and didn’t want to wait until their birthdays (January and December) to give it to them.

(A little Franklin family history is in order here. In the summer of 1990 we sold our life--meaning our stuff and Phil's business stuff--to sojourn to The Bruderhof community located in Connecticut. 6 weeks later we were asked to "take a distance" (leave) and found ourselves "in exile" in the town of Torrington, a New England factory town. With very little in the way of school materials we depended on the library as our main curriculum resource. We also purchased a large world map that had all the flags of the world alphabetically in rows across the bottom. We put it up on the wall at the head of our bed which was the only large enough wall space in our little 2nd floor apartment. The children would lie on our bed and have intense geography challenges matching flags to countries. Then, in that delightful merging of interests and materials (who knows which comes first?) that often comes to homeschooling families, we checked out the book Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. What a treasure! Our family life was never the same! We learned about the life of an indentured servant and were impressed by his work ethic. We plotted his voyages on the map, studied the places he traveled and learned nautical terms. Nathaniel Bowditch, mathematician and navigator, became a beloved part of our family.)

 Phil had the idea of a ½ birthday…and exactly half way between Cyrus’ Dec. 21 and Simeon’s January 16 would have been July 4^th! We were all planning to be at camp together-the perfect spot for our celebration, but then Phil wasn’t able to go due to compressed disk in his back resulting in severe nerve pain in his leg. So we put it off till last Sunday. Of course the down time gave Phil’s imagination an opportunity to grow and he put together a Jeopardy game for the guys to compete in. (Note: I found my spelling mistake and corrected it before we got going...but forgot to take a picture of the corrected categories).

They earned Monopoly money for correct questions and there was even a Final Jeopardy category “Nautical Publications.” That final clue: In 1802 the publisher renamed this book due to the many mathematical corrections and contributions to the science of navigation made by its contributing author. Over the years it colloquially was referred to by this single word.

The correct question: What is the Bowditch?

Which was the present Phil had found. He tracked down two reasonably priced copies. They have a short biography of Nathaniel Bowditch and everything you ever wanted to know-or not : ) - about navigation. And in a pinch, it would make a great leaf press or door stop. Oops! The American Practical Navigator-The Bowditch

It was a delightful evening. Simeon brought his guitar...and at some point Phil, Simeon and I slipped over to Casa de Modesto to lead the singing and do the special music at the evening service. It was a joy to my heart to sing together with the guys. The folks there really seemed to enjoy it, also.

 Realizing that since Jordynn and Simeon share birthdays, I made her the apple pie I had promised her on her birthday, plus a little one to eat that evening. 

She has started her Freshman semester at California State University, Stanislaus...and, like college students everywhere, is appalled at the cost of her books!

 Cherith had come up on Saturday and spent the night. Micah, Andrew and Claire played lots of running/jumping/hiding games while Liz and Cherith hung out with Alice. She kindly allowed them to be her servants for the evening.

All in all, it was a delightful time together...just catching up and enjoying being together. We are so blessed!