Kina's Wedding, ETC

Wow, last week we traveled to Boilingbrook, IL to attend the wedding of a very sweet young lady we met about 9 years ago. Her name was Kina Fink. She was Jessica's room mate in college and they have been friends ever since. She spent spring break at our home one year and we had such a great time. She was in Jessica's wedding and then came to visit during Cassie's wedding when Josh and Jessica were home from China. Whenever she was at our home she was a delightful person and we are so glad that Jessica and Kina are friends. She had the sweetest wedding we had been to in a long time.

Kina's father is Pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Lockport,IL. We went there for church Sunday morning. What a loving and friendly church. Pastor Fink didn't preach while we were there. His new son-in-law's father did and it was really good. After the service the Finks invited us over for lunch. We had such a wonderful time of fellowship with them. They are such nice people. Now we know why Kina was so sweet.

We own a time share in Orlando. While we were moving we forgot to bank our week so we have to use it this year or loss it. We found out we could go to Myrtle Beach, SC so we booked a condo for 1 week. We figure it will take us 2 days each way to drive there. We invited Gary and Cassie to go with us but they just couldn't be gone that long. My wonderful husband called my mom and told her we would fly her out her so she could go with us. I am so excited. She will come the week before we leave and stay for a week after we get back. She hasn't seen Kayla yet and the last time she saw Kyndra she was about 4 months old. Can't wait for her to get here.

I have applied for about a million jobs since we have moved. I applied at the local Kmart when we moved here and I had an interview. They didn't hire me then. Tuesday I had another interview and they hired me on the spot. I will be working 12-20 hrs a week which is just perfect. I get Sundays and Wednesday nights off and I can have the time for our vacation off. I will also get Medical Benefits. I don't know all of the details yet. Tomorrow night I will start my training so then I will know more.

Bro. Darrel "Chainsaw" Cox preached for us Monday and Tuesday night. It was so awesome. He is a very powerful preacher. We certainly felt revived by his preaching. Tonight our Preacher preached and we all love to listen to him. He told us that another church was getting new pews and they thought that they had their old ones sold. The deal fell through so they offered them to us for free. Their church seats 500 so we will have lots of extra pews. God is so good to us. What a blessing. :)

A lesson learned

This week my husband has been gone. He went back to Oregon to finish up some business and visit family. I couldn't go because I'm teaching and because the tickets were just so expensive.
A couple of weeks ago he was at Pastors School. I missed him then but since Josh was also gone Jessica and I spent a lot of time together and did some girl stuff. This week it was just me. I popped in the house and said Hi once in awhile and I ate dinner with them but mostly I was on my own. I really really missed him.

This morning I was sitting by myself in church. It felt really odd to be alone. It reminded me how very fortunate I am to have a husband who goes to church. I thought back to all the ladies I have known over the years who's husbands didn't go to church with them. How they had to negotiate church activity time with their husbands. How they tried to raise their children for the Lord but their husbands weren't on board. Even if their husbands weren't against the church they sent a message to the children that church wasn't important. God tells us not to be unequally yoked. I never really thought about it before but this week made me understand.
As I was sitting there my friend who's husband died 4 years ago came it. She was looking for a seat for her and her daughter. The church was pretty full this week so I motioned her over. She came and sat by me and I have never felt so thankful in my life. I realized that every week she has to find a friend to sit with. Her husband can't sit with her anymore. In the pew in front of me a sweet older man in our church sat by himself. His wife has been very ill and isn't strong enough to come to all the services. He still comes faithfully and sits all by himself every service.

These people are my HEROES. It is so easy for me to go to church. They have to be by themselves and are still faithful to our Lord. I'm sure that God must have very special plans for them.

Thank-you God for giving me my wonderful husband to sit with.

Mom Continued

Well I finally got time to finish writing about Mom. The stories get all mixed up in my mind since I have heard bits and pieces my whole life. I remember Mom talking about after the war. The Red Cross put all of the children on trains to take them back to their families. They told Mom that her family was all dead. The train stopped in an area close to where her Aunt had lived. She wanted to get off the train and go check her Aunt's house. They told her there were no houses standing in the area where the house had been. Mom snuck off the train and found her Aunt's house. When she knocked on the door her father answered.

There was very little food in the area that they were in. Grandma and Grandpa divorced and Grandma took all of the kids and moved out to a farm where they lived and worked for the farmer. They slept over the goat barn. Mom said she woke up at night and there was a rat eating my Aunt Evelyn's hair. Grandma had twin babies. I don't know the sex of both of them because one died at birth. The other was my Uncle Mario. He was really, really small and couldn't drink cows milk. That's why they lived on the farm they lived on so he could have goats milk. Uncle Hans had really bad asthma and nearly died when he was a child also. I think the lady who owned the farm was Old Lady Klutzberger (spelling). After I was an adult my Mom said something about being terrified of lightning storms. I told her I never knew she was scared of them. She said she had been ever since she was working in the fields with some other people and the man right next to her got hit with lightning. I know this all happened when she was a teenager.

Some how my Mom's Grandfather was there. He would take my Mom out for special times. He took her out for rabbit at a restaurant. Mom had to go to the bathroom and as she walked down the hall she saw cats hanging in the kitchen. My Mom never again would eat rabbit.

My Grandma met and married an American service man. She went to America with the other 3 children. Mom was living with her Dad and Step-mother. Mom wanted to go to America also but she wasn't old enough to go with out her Dad's consent. He would not let her go so she married a young man who was going to America. When she got here my Grandma had a restaurant in Oregon City. Mom and her husband lived in Oregon City and my Mom worked at a huge hotel that used to be in West Linn. She was a waitress. The Americans made fun of her because she couldn't speak English so she learned English and would never again speak German. Mom says that Grandma interfered in their lives so much that her and her husband got a divorce.

Mom then met my Dad and after 6 weeks they got married. 10 months later they were blessed with me. My parents were married for 12 years and then they too got a divorce. Mom married my Step-Dad Tom about a year later. They were married for 31 years and Tom passed away.

Mom will be 77 years old in a couple of weeks. She is one tough lady. She has never given up and works from sun up till sun down. She was the best Mom she knew how to be. She took good care of me and loved me and did everything she could to help me to grow into a responsible adult. I am her only child and I feel bad that we live so far from her now. I think someday she will move to Illinois with us. Love you Mom!