I believe everyone will be blessed by Janet’s message this week.
So, Why Should I Be Thankful?
17 OctFrom My Heart
Louise Gibson
A thankful heart causes us to look upward.
It causes us to look around,
and causes us to look within
where the peace of God is found.
The number one secret to happiness
is a grateful heart.
Beginning our day with a prayer of gratitude
brings tranquility from the start.
Fear is the father of failure-
a negative emotion, to be sure.
Replace it with a positive thought-
Failure you will no longer endure.
Quote:
When we choose not to focus on what is missing
from our lives, but are grateful for the abundance
that is present- we experience heaven on earth.
Share this:
The Best Job I Ever Had~ Part1
15 OctA Slice of Life
Bill Lites
Ever since I was a young boy visiting my relatives in rural Louisiana, I have been playing with fireworks. Back then we could buy fireworks year-a-round, so my cousins and I used them in every conceivable way. Of course, as I grew older, the challenge for bigger and louder projects eventually culminated, when I was a teenager, and learning how to make my own black powder. I’m not going to tell you what all kinds of projects my teenage friends and I used that black powder for, but then maybe you have an idea of how mischievous young boys can be. What finally cured me of playing with the black powder was when I tried to use it to fuel a model rocket (that didn’t work well, and luckily I still have all 10 fingers).
After my stent in the US Navy (one of the best character builders there is), I went to college in Los Angeles where I met my future Aerospace supervisor. My first job with him was as a Hydraulics/Pneumatics Engineer in the company’s Test Group. That was a great job where I learned many of the basics of being a test engineer. The company’s work load was building up about that time, and it wasn’t long before a position opened up in the Test Group for an Ordnance Test Engineer. I must have been in the right place at the right time, because the next thing I knew that was my new title. After much schooling, the Ordnance Technicians taught me the safety procedures and rules for the handling and testing of explosive devices, and I was on my way to enjoying “The Best Job I Ever Had.”
What was so great about this job was that my responsibility covered the testing of any Ordnance Test Specimen from beginning to end. The Test Group performed testing for the Apollo Spacecraft Engineering group, as well as the Second Stage Booster Engineering Group, both of which were for the Apollo Space Program’s Saturn V launch vehicle. The respective Ordnance Design Engineer would write up a test requirement plan for his system specimen and submit it to the Test Group. As an Ordnance Test Engineer, I would estimate how many man-hours it would take for the Test Group to test the system specimen in all the different parameters (high temp, low temp, vibration, etc.). That included the time necessary to design and have built any test fixtures required for the various tests, support personnel (photographers, etc.) and equipment required (high speed cameras, cranes, etc.).
I would then submit this estimate to the Ordnance Design Engineer, and, if he agreed that I had covered all of his requirements in my estimate, he would get the necessary monetary approval from the company’s Engineering Department. It was then up to me to establish a testing work schedule to perform all the specified test requirements in a timely manner and within the estimated budget.
—–To Be Continued—–
Share this:
I’m in the Hangar Again
13 OctMy Take
DiVoran Lites
I
‘m in Bill’s hanger in the backyard with my two cats, Jasmine and Lily. I come out here when the flea spray man comes once a month. It’s a beautiful workshop with door sized counters on three sides where you can work, 117 framed pictures of airplanes, 67 airplane books and two shelves of three ring binders with airplane pictures in them, many airplanes, and a lot of equipment. Bill cleaned off a space for my computer, and it feels good to write someplace else for a change. The cats don’t like change though so I’m playing, “Through a Cat’s Ears.” In order to keep them calm. It helps me anyhow, even if they still aren’t happy.
Today we’re out here because we’re having our bathtub painted. We moved into our house in 1965 and the fixtures in the family bathroom were sea foam green as was the tile. About six years ago, when we got new cabinets, the toilet tank broke. Bill epoxied the toilet and it held together, but it now showed an ugly scar. Then the sink started rusting where the little metal stopper goes and I couldn’t get it clean.
Eventually, I got tired of the bathroom looking so bad and we started shopping for new fixtures. We could get a nice toilet and sink and have them put in, but we didn’t want to remove the tub and take a chance of breaking the tiles and having to replace them all.
So Bill called the company that had painted our friends’ tub. Today when the man called to tell us the techs were on their way I ventured the question I’d been pondering the past few weeks: how toxic is this stuff, anyhow.
Bill told me they had explained the whole process to him. They remove the grout, clean the tub, repair any dings, ETCH the tub, and spray on the paint. That did sound toxic, and I was right.
I asked the man with the beautiful Irish accent whether the stuff the tub people use is toxic or not and he said, “Ah, yea, it’s nasty stuff. Yea, best you go to another part of the house while they’re spraying. Afterwards, close the door and stuff towels under it, if you have a window, open it.”
“No window — exhaust fan?” I asked.
“Yea, that will help.”
So here we are in our safe place.
Epilogue: the new tub is beautiful and matches the other fixtures. The sea foam tiles all around are still sea foam. I intend to keep the bathroom the cleanest it’s ever been. And yea, I think I’m going to have to do something about the grout now, but what?
Share this:
How We Met~Part 2
12 OctSUNDAY MEMORIES
Let me add a bit of Fred’s history here. He is the oldest of four children in his family.
Judy’s Father in Law
His father had been in World War 2 as a Chaplain, after being through seminary and pastorate. When the Army Air Corps decided to break apart and the Air Force became its own entity, his dad went with the AF rather than Army. So the family moved around quite a bit – not only in the States, but also had a tour in Italy after the war.
When Fred was in high school, his dad was sent to Japan.
The family followed, but it took a while. The year they moved, Fred went to three different high schools! (In his public school years, he went to 23 different schools!) They started in Panama City, Florida, then moved to Danville, California (near Walnut Creek) for a while, then on to Japan. He was ticked that the California school he was in – San Ramon Valley Union High School – which was supposed to be top-of-the-line at that time, didn’t offer either Latin or advanced Algebra – both of which he’d studied in Florida. The California schools also didn’t want to let him take upper-level American history (a junior course, and he was just a sophomore), saying that he couldn’t possibly be ready for that class. His father convinced them to let him take a test to measure his level – and he aced the test! In any case, they were there only a few months before the move to Japan.
Fred’s sisters told me later that he went straight from age 12 to 20! He apparently got serious about his studies and girls just fell by the wayside! I guess it was a good thing, since he was Valedictorian of his high school graduating class in Japan! None of that moving around stunted his brain power, it seems. He actually said it was an education within itself, and he was grateful for that opportunity.
Because of his grade average, he had applied to – and been accepted by and had a line number for – four universities: Purdue, Florida State, the University of Illinois, and Washington State. He just hadn’t made his choice yet.
Fred had always had a bit of a problem with hay fever, but it got worse while he was in Japan. He was talking with the librarian in his high school on Johnson AFB, Japan, one day. She was from Albuquerque, and she suggested that the dry climate in New Mexico might actually be good for his hay fever. So, late in June that year, he applied for admission to the University of New Mexico – and was accepted.
And that’s how he came to be in Albuquerque. God just brought him there for us to meet. Isn’t it amazing how God works things out?
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~
Share this:
Fighting Fear: Three ways to live without fear.
11 OctCan you imagine traveling alone and blind? I can’t. Janet share her secret today.
Share this:
Attitude is Everything
10 OctFrom My Heart
Louise Gibson
If you can’t change your circumstances,
Change your Attitude.
A dramatic benefit you will see.
An acceptance of things that we
Cannot Change
Will develop a sense of serenity.
God uses life as “on-the-job training”-
He never promises A life free from care.
But He does promise never to leave or
Forsake us,
And never gives us “more than we can bear.”
God could spare us from hardship,
But, then how would we learn,
How would we grow?
Problems prove our integrity,
I learned far more from my losses in life,
And reached a higher plateau
Food for thought:
“Our character, if genuine, is never altered by circumstance”
Share this:
How Did I Get Into The Race
9 OctOn the Porch
Onisha Ellis
Do you ever feel like you are losing a race you didn’t know you entered? Since the incredibly busy days leading up to the release of my daughter, Rebekah Lyn’s new novel Jessie on July 20,2014, I can’t seem to slow down my days. I feel as though life is plunging ahead and I am merely hanging on.
Last week our son, Matthew was scheduled for a long awaited surgical hip repair. God had graciously given me His assurance that he had every detail under control yet I still found myself fretting as snags popped up. Why do we do that?
The surgery was wonderfully successful and God did indeed work out every snag or worry that cropped up. After two years of almost continual pain, our son is now almost totally pain free, What joy!
A big thankful shout out to Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Dr. Allston Stubbs for accepting Matthew as a patient. I am confident even though the road to surgery and healing was long, God had this plan all along.
Matthew is only thirty seven years old. Contrary to what we think, hip problems are not limited to the elderly. In younger people the correct diagnosis is often missed. If you have hip problems, Wake Forest University Hip Center has an informative website.
I can’t end this post without mentioning the blessing the SECU Family House was to our family. It is funded by donations from members and employees of the State Employees Credit Union. Thank you to everyone. Matt and April were made comfortable and their needs were generously met.
SECU Family House
Leaving the Hospital
Share this:
An Everglades Adventure~Part 3
8 OctA Slice of Life
BIll Lites
That evening after supper, we built a campfire and were enjoying “S’mores” when we heard rustling in the brush around our campsite. Now we were all veteran nature lovers, but, we had heard tales of what kind of critters called the Florida Everglades their home, so were extra 
cautious. As it turned out, it was a mama Raccoon and her three little ones looking for a handout. We tried to discourage the children from feeding them, but you know how kids love furry creatures, and they don’t realize how dangerous wild animals can be. We shooed them off, knowing they would surely be back to try their luck again. It was a fretful night for me since it was a strange place (many of the night sounds were different from those we were used to in our woods at home) and I kept waking up, worrying about the raccoons coming back and trying to get into our food.
After breakfast the next morning, the ladies packed a picnic lunch, we all covered ourselves with sunscreen, and insect repellant and headed off with the canoes to see what we could see. It was a beautiful day and birds of all kinds were everywhere. DiVoran was especially thrilled to get to see her first Rosette Spoonbill and we all were excited to see a nest of Pileated Woodpeckers.
There were egrets and ducks of all kinds, on the water and in the air, and we had a contest to see who could name the most correctly. Of course, being in the land famous for alligators and snakes, we were constantly on the lookout so as not to be surprised by one of them. By the time the sun was high overhead, we were tired of paddling, so we found a small clearing, beached our canoes, and shared our picnic lunch with the ants, flies and mosquitoes. Then it was time for more sunscreen and insect repellant. We found our way back to the boat landing and decided 25 cents was not too much to pay for a shower.
If you have ever done any camping, have you ever noticed how the mosquitoes seem to attack much more after you come out of the shower? I don’t know what it is about a clean body, but for me, the race is on to see if I can get to the insect repellant before they can find me. Earlier we had seen some very unusually shaped old dead trees not too far from our campsites, so we spent some time scouting the area for driftwood.
That evening, after supper, we sat around the campfire and Dwayne showed our daughter, Charlene, how to play cords on the guitar. We had another visit from the raccoon family, but they didn’t stay long this time, as the boys chased them off.
So much for our “Everglades Adventure.” We all agreed this sort of “Primitive” camping was not exactly what we had in mind for a relaxing weekend camping trip. The next day we packed up all our equipment, canoes and children, and began the long drive back to Titusville. Other than being long and hot, the return trip was uneventful (if you can ever begin to call 4 adults being cooped up with 5 kids for 6 hours in a hot car, uneventful). We stopped for lunch and potty breaks, but didn’t stop in Melbourne for my car, since we couldn’t pull both the camper and the car. I would have to make that trip another day, and that is a story in itself that I will have to share with you some other time.
—–The End—–
Share this:
The Science Project
6 OctWhen I invited my friend, six-grader, Natasha, to allow me to help her where she was stuck with her reading I never dreamed the connection might morph into that dreaded thing, a science project!
I don’t think I’ve ever done one. I would remember, wouldn’t I? My son turned out to be a scientist (biologist) so I suppose he did one or two. I taught him and my daughter to cook, does that count?
The first time Natasha and I worked on the science project after school was the first day I decided to have decaf coffee for my afternoon cuppa. My brain was totally fried, I was confused and had the beginning of a headache which later developed into a real zinger. In one place Natasha put her head in her hand with her cornrow braids and their big beads hanging down. I thought the gig was up for me.
We did get some things done and another day we worked on it some more, then yesterday I picked her up from chorus and we came to my house. I had my coffee this time. I’m going to have to break myself of it grain by grain, I guess.
Anyhow, we had done some work on the botany-type project. We got our containers, and mediums and she’d written her hypothesis, and her question and we’d read the instructions – goodness how hard they are! I should have only read the numbered topics. Those I understood.
Before she came I was getting that tight feeling in my chest that tells me I’m anxious. Oh, what shall I do. I don’t want to be like this. I prayed. As always I asked God to show me the truth of the situation. The thought came to me that I might as well stop acting like a big-shot who knew everything and tell her I’d never done one before.
As it happens Natasha has done at least three of them. She was undismayed at my confession. I think putting our heads together did help her.
We got it all started, and then we took photos. I showed her how to use the digital camera and the computer to enhance and print them. We’ll take more sets of pictures as time goes on. She will measure the progress of the items ten times over a period of a couple of months. Her mom is going to have a baby soon. We talked about this project being Natasha’s baby and how she’ll have to think about it and write something every day, because that’s was in the instructions. We had fun. We talked about doing some art to go with it. We like to do art. Natasha said she has to do a graph. I nervously asked if she knew how. She described the process to me and then I knew I could lend aid whenever possible, but that she’s going to do a good job and I completely turn loose of it. What a relief.
I think I’ll look up the website printed on the instructions and learn something, http://www.sciencebuddies.org/ We’re on our way.
Share this:
Old Things R New 