My Reading Blog

In my last post on 10/17/17, I wrote about the anticipation of my 5th trip to Guatemala with Thrivent Financial and Habitat Guatemala.  Today and for the next few weeks, I'll write about my experiences from this trip. The first year that I went, I felt a lot of anxiety about traveling outside of the country and not knowing what to expect.  But after the last four year, I felt more comfortable in traveling and working in a foreign country.  I still haven't learned to speak Spanish, but somehow communication is accomplished. We began our trip flying into Guatemala City.  It took us an unusually long (about an hour) to get thru Customs.  The lines were long, but we met some nice people along the way including some soccer players from India who had been traveling for two days to get to Guatemala for their match that day. After gathering everyone together (there were 13 of us), we headed to Antiqua for the night and then to San Lucas Toliman for the rest of the...

The day is quickly approaching The packing has begun The airline tickets were purchased many months ago The itinerary is in hand Immunizations administered Checklists almost complete The anticipation is growing Saturday we fly from Fayetteville, AR to Dallas to Guatemala City.  There are 16 of us from various parts of the U.S. meeting together to work with Thrivent Financal and Habitat Guatemala, building a home or working on smokeless stoves.  This will be my fifth trip and as with each of the other trips, I look forward to working along side the Guatemalan people to help improve their lives in a poverty burdened country.  In the following weeks, I'll be sharing this experience with each of you.  We pray for God's blessings on our team as we share those blessings with others.

Three of my friends have been enthralled with the cards that I create and give out.  I suggested that they, too, could create masterpieces.  I attend a card class on the last Tuesday of every month.  We make five cards, have a light lunch and a glass of wine and lots of chatting and laughing.  I asked them to join me.  They were ecstatic and ready to join in the fun. I picked them up at 9:30 a.m. and headed to my friend's house who has everything ready and waiting for us to make our creations.  One of the gals had worked on cards before, one had done scrapbooking and the other hadn't ventured into this world yet.  JoAnn was cautious and wanted to do everything exactly like the sample card.  Stamping is an art and takes practice, but by the end of the class she had gotten the hang of it.  Even though Glo has done a lot of crafting, she too had difficulty with stamping, but progressed quickly.  Lavon, who had done cards before, struggled...

The leaves slowly drift to the ground The grass turning brown The mums in all their glory slowly fading The aroma of a wood burning fireplace The days ending earlier and earlier The sun moving to the south as it rises in the sky The coolness in the air each morning The hummingbirds deserting their feeders  The beauty of an early morning sunrise and sunset As one season comes to an end, A new one begins Preparing, waiting, smiling at us with  new colors and landscapes Fall is here.

Last week we traveled to the East and slowly made our way to Williamsburg, VA with stops along the way to visit various historical sights.  Andrew Johnson's museum, home and National Cemetery in Greeneville, TN.  Then to Appomattox and reaching our destination in Williamsburg. Williamsburg is a large, spread out city now, but back in the 1700 & 1800's it was a small settlement.  What history lies in the Colonial Williamsburg!  We walked thru the village, talked with those portraying people from the settlement, learned things we hadn't heard before and had our memories jogged with what we had learned in school (many, many years ago). The weather was perfect, not too many people and so many things to see.  We even walked around the oldest university in the United States - William & Mary College - a beautiful campus. We went to Yorktown Battlefield. took in the movie and again, was taken back in time when this great country was begun.  How the ba...

Eight months ago, Leonard's life changed. Eight months ago his wife, Argyle went to Heaven Fifty-seven years of marriage, travels, joys Five years of caring for her while she struggled with cancer He doted on her every whim They loved RVing and even though she was sick, they traveled Yesterday he said he was ready Yesterday he asked me to help Yesterday we packed up Argyle's clothes We prayed We cried We laughed He reminisced She loved to shop He loved to let her buy Today the boxes went to the church house to be sold at the Rummage Sale Today he said, Argyle would want me to do this Argyle would want me to move on Argyle would want me to purchase the larger motor home that we dreamed about Next month, he will travel and follow the last journey they went on together And their little dog will be riding along side of him And Argyle will be with them every step of the way The healing has begun and Leonard is moving forward.

I've been procrastinating all day or maybe it's just that nothing came to mind to write so, I'll try my "go to" when my fingers just don't know what to type. Currently Thinking/Feeling - My thoughts and prayers are with all of the people in Texas and Louisiana as they struggle with the over abundance of rain.  I cannot imagine all that they are going through.  I feel sad and frustrated that there is nothing we can do we stop the rain. Listening - This morning as I sat on the porch, I heard the birds singing their favorite tunes, the cows mooing their morning conversation and the rooster crowing that it's time to get the day started.  So peaceful. Enjoying - Our new front porch.  Our house projects are finished and we are content to just sit. Planning - Our next adventure.  This time we're heading East to Williamsburg, VA and then to visit my special friend in North Carolina and an Air Force buddy of Hubby's outside of Chattanooga in a...