Tag Archives: Christian bloggers

Church-Part 11

18 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

What have I loved about my church – going to church – being at church?  Well, I love being with fellow believers.  I love sharing events that happen in our lives, and that we can pray for each other, and see God’s hand in it all.

Photo Credit Pixabay

I love seeing people come to faith in God through Christ Jesus – both young and old(er).  I love to see the faith in older believers being given to the next generation.  I love seeing young families in church – just the fact that Moms and Dads come and bring their young children with them.  Perhaps the young ones don’t understand everything right now, but they will see the faith of their parents, and that will last them their whole life long.  

Photo Credit Pixabay

I love to see the Pastors and teachers willingly give of their time to study God’s Word and bring the truth of God to the Sunday School classes and the congregation.

Photo Credit Pixabay

I am grateful that we have the capability of the live streaming of the worship services on those Sundays that I am unable to attend the service myself for illness.  And that’s the ONLY reason I don’t attend church services.  While I am glad to have that opportunity…..it is just NOT the same as being in the same building with the same people, worshiping the same God.  I really LOVE that time together!  And, I must admit – I don’t usually sing along with the live stream!

I must say, however, that while I was Church Secretary all those years, it occurred to me that I was going to “church” six days a week and only getting paid for five days – because Sunday was one of my days “off.”  When I worked in the private sector, Sunday was a day that we went to church, as part of that weekend.  But here I was working at the same place I worshiped each week.  It was a strange feeling, and one I had to get past.

I love, here in Orlando, that we have such talented people in our body of believers, and that they are willing to share their talents with our church.  I love some of the decorations that our Disney Cast Members create for our special events – Christmas, Easter, military observances, etc.  We have former Disney Cast Members who work our sound and lighting equipment – and the live streaming.  Their talent is unmatched!

Photo Credit Judy Wills

Photo Credit Judy Wills

I love that we have, among our body of believers, those who work with Wycliffe Bible Translators and CRU (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ).  They are a fountain of information.  It amuses me/us when the guy in our Sunday School class, who works on the logistics for the Jesus Film, gets into a discussion with some of the class members and writes some kind of formula on the white board!  The rest of us, who are NOT engineers, just sit and laugh at them.  It makes for a fun class.

There is more I can tell, but that will have to wait for another posting.

WE….ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Bookmobile Girl

15 Dec

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I always wanted to be able to read.

Do you remember Saturday morning television cartoons? Each one began with opening credits and the cartoon title.

I remember lying on the floor watching them with my older brothers. And I would get so mad! I knew that when the music began, the title of the cartoon would appear on the screen and I couldn’t read it. And just to be plain mean my brothers would refuse to read it to me. I would whine loudly to our mother, poor mom.

Looking back on this memory, I realize I may have had some issues, like wanting to know everything.

I could definitely read by the time this picture was taken. Just threw it in for a visual.

And I really, really wanted to be able to read. Which is odd since neither of my parents were into reading.

I have two distinct memories of second grade. It was the year I gave my heart to Jesus and I learned to read. Both changed my life forever.

Second grade began badly for me. In my time, on the first day of school we went to the auditorium and we were seated by grade level. Then the teachers of each grade would call the names of their new students. The teacher would gather her new ones together and off they would go to their room. To my horror, my name was called by a teacher I was terrified of. She was really tall, thin and had red hair. She wore very high heels that looked dangerous but worst of all, she had a very loud voice. During first grade when she was the lunch monitor she yelled and looked menacing. Nothing like my sweet first grade teacher.

I would come to love that woman. She taught me to read. And unlike numbers, I had no trouble at all. Once I learned the letter sounds I began reading and never stopped. (Ha! So there big brothers.)

At the school library I checked out as many books as I was allowed, but the selection was limited. Then I discovered the Bookmobile.

“Photo courtesy Orange County Archives.” 

This is very like the one in Florida. I think it made its round to our area every two weeks. It was the highlight of my weeks. The “library ladies” were so kind. They knew what we regulars liked to read and made sure they had a selection. As I remember, the bookmobile came after school and I remember walking home, juggling my treasures.

I do most of my reading now on a tablet. I was a die hard hold out for paper books, but aging eyes nudged me into digital. A few weeks ago, I opened my tablet to bring up one of my devotional books. I was overcome with my bounty of books, good books, that I have yet to read. And I don’t even have to walk to the bookmobile. God truly does delight in giving us the smallest desires of our hearts.

Second grade was a very good year.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2022 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

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2022 Road Trip-Part 11B

14 Dec

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 11 Continued (5/26/2022)

The inside portion of the Grissom Air Museum displays various military aviation and space related artifacts and memorabilia.  These include photos of Gus Grissom and the Mercury Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7), in which he was the 2nd American astronaut to orbit the earth.   Grissom was the 2nd American astronaut to fly twice in space in the Gemini 3 (Molly Brown) space capsule with John Young.  I also checked out the cockpit of the museum’s restored F-4 Phantom while I was there.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Almost next door to the Grissom Air Museum, I stopped to see what they had going at the American Huey Museum, but it was closed.  So, before I left Peru, I drove over the check out the Peru Historical Circus Winter Quarters.  Since it wasn’t WINTER the area and buildings all seemed deserted, with just a few circus wagons scattered around the grounds.  I took a photo of their sign and was on my way to the next museum on my list.  

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now I headed northeast 15 miles on Alternate US-24 to visit the Wabash County Historical Museum located in Wabash, IN.  This museum is filled with local artifacts and memorabilia related to the history of the city of Wabash and the surrounding Wabash County area dating from the time of the Native Miami Indians and French fur traders of the early 1700s to the present.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Next, I headed northeast 20 miles on US-24 to visit the Forks of the Wabash Historic Park located along the Wabash River in Huntington, IN.  This village park museum is set on the site of the signing of the historic Treaty at the Forks, in 1838, that allowed the extension of the Erie Canal into the Wabash Valley.  There are restored original and replicas of 1800s cabins, buildings, and a church, with period furnishings, on the site to help educate visitors about the life and times of the early settlers to this area.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

While I was in Huntington, I checked out the Veterans Memorial located next to the city’s Memorial Park.  This memorial honors veterans from all branches of U.S. military services.  The Memorial 

is used to celebrate several military events each year, and historical markers around the Memorial honor past Huntington citizens who have contributed their lives and talents to our nation’s history.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

 It was only a short drive to where I visited the Corn Coast Comics, which turned out to be a computer games and all things ‘geek’ store and was closed.  So, for my last museum today, I drove over to check out the Sheets Wildlife Museum there in Huntington.  This museum is a collection of animals, fish, and bird taxidermy displays of hunter, Sumner B. Sheets, which he has taken during his many hunts all over the world.  A unique example is the 2nd largest polar bear ever known to have been taken.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now I gave Greta (My Garmin) the address for tonight’s motel, there in Huntington, and she took me right to it.  After I got checked in, I asked the desk clerk for good restaurants there in Huntington, and he rattled off a list of restaurants close by.  I selected the Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant, where I had their Chili Relleno plate which came with yellow rice and refried beans.  That was indeed a delightful meal. Back at the motel, I recorded my day’s activities and went to bed.  No TV tonight.

Photo Credit: https://www.nomascantina.com/items/chili-relleno

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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A Tribute

12 Dec

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Round up an orchestra to play for God, 

Add on a hundred-voice choir.

Feature trumpets and big trombones,

Fill the air with praises to King God.

Let the sea and its fish give a foundation of applause,

With everything living on earth joining in.

Let ocean breakers call out, “Encore!”

And mountains harmonize with the finale 

A tribute to God when he comes,

When he comes to set the earth right.

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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Church-Part 10

11 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I’ve written before about the “serendipities” that have happened in our lives.  I really enjoy them.  And a lot of them are related to church.  With the Air Force, we’ve moved around quite a bit, and so have been members of many different churches.  As result, we occasionally come across either someone we knew before, or someone we have known in common.  I really love that kind of thing!

For instance, just recently, I saw on facebook that some friends of ours from our church in Heidelberg were in town,

Heidelberg Castle

The building where Grace Baptist Church met – photo by Fred Wills

doing the Disney 

Credit Pixabay

and Universal parks

Credit Pixabay

I made the comment to her, after some of her pictures, that we wished we had known they were in town…we would have made an effort to meet up with them.  She replied they hadn’t known we lived in Orlando, and that they were in town for a few more days and their schedule was quite flexible.  And so, several days later, we met up at our favorite BBQ place.

Photo credit Judy Wills

They and their oldest daughter met us there – and we discovered it has been 39 years since we had seen each other!  WOW!  God is so amazing to bless us with friends that we have kept.

And another serendipity happened while I was Church Secretary at South Orlando Baptist Church here in Orlando.

This couple (Ted and April) came into the office one day…new to our church and community…and said they had just moved here from Virginia.  They had a lawn service here, but also had some lawn equipment they didn’t need, and thought the church might could use it.  I told them we had a lawn company as well that did the church’s lawn care.  And then I told them that we had moved here from Virginia, as well, and what part of Virginia did they come from.  They mentioned the Hampton Roads area – which was near where we had lived.  I mentioned we had lived in a small town, Seaford, just eight miles south of Yorktown.  They replied they also had lived in Seaford.  I mentioned we had been members of the Seaford Baptist Church, and they replied that they had been, as well.

Seaford Baptist Church as it was when we lived there.

Copied from the cover of a pictorial directory

I said that we had really enjoyed the Sunday School class, mainly because of the teacher, Larry Edwards.  Ted nearly fell on the floor and said, “WHO?”  I said Larry Edwards…and Ted said…(wait for it)…that’s my brother-in-law!  

Such a small world!  Larry and Janice came down to Florida at one time, and we met them at our favorite seafood restaurant for a visit.  When Ted and April arrived, they looked at the four of us, and said “it’s really strange seeing you all together.”  Again, God is so very good to bring people into our lives where we can become friends…life-long friends…and have the assurance of seeing them when we all get to our heavenly home.

And I doubt we would have had any of these connections without being part of the church.  God is so good!

WE….ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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2022 Road Trip Part 11A

7 Dec

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 11 (5/26/2022)

This morning, after a good breakfast, I went looking for the Frasca Air Museum which is located adjacent to the Frasca Field there in Urbana, IL.  I found the hanger where the museum is, but it was closed.  So, I headed east 30 miles on I-74 to visit the Vermillion County War Museum located in Danville, IL.  This museum is situated in the old 1904 Carnegie Library building and contains over 25,000 military photographs, artifacts, and memorabilia dating from the Revolutionary War to the present.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now it was just a few miles north of Danville to where I wanted to visit the ILLINI Glider Club located at the Vermillion Regional Airport.  I had been given a wonderful glider ride with  a friend a few years ago, and since it was a good morning for glider flying, I thought I might get to see a few flying.  But there were no gliders on the field and none in the sky.  Bummer!

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

So, I just headed east 50 miles on I-74, across the border, to visit the Linden Railroad Museum located in Linden, IN.  This small museum is situated in the original old restored 1852 Albany & Salem Railroad Depot that was move to this location in 1881.  The depot served the Nickle Plate Railroad and the CI&L Railroad until 1973.  The museum has a very nice display of antique railroad artifacts and memorabilia dating from the early 1800s.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

This museum also has several pieces of restored rolling stock, which includes a very old 1837 Norris 4-2-0 Steam Engine, coal car, and open passenger car.  In another building there are model railroad layouts.  A very impressive museum to visit!

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now I headed north 15 miles on US-231 to visit the Tippecanoe County Courthouse located in Lafayette, IN.  This magnificent structure was the third Tippecanoe County Courthouse built in 1884 to replace the second 1845 courthouse which replaced the first 1829 courthouse.  It has served Tippecanoe County for going on 138 years and looks as though it could last for another 100 years at least.  There was no museum located in the courthouse, as I had expected to see, so, I took this photo and was on my way.

Next it was northeast 40 miles on SR-25 to check out the Dentzel Carousel located in Logansport, IN.  This is another of the beautiful Dentzel Carousels that grace our country and provide entertainment for young and old alike.  This particular carousel was built in the late 1800s by the famous carousel maker, Gustav A. Dentzel, and was brought to Logansport in 1949.  It is located adjacent to the Riverside Park there in Logansport and hosts many event days throughout the year, including Carousel Fun Day.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now I headed east 15 miles on US-24 to visit the Grissom Air Museum located in Peru, IN.  I visited this museum on one of my past road trips and it is one of my favorite aviation museums.  The museum has an impressive outdoor static display of 27 restored aircraft dating from WWII to the present. The indoor portion of the museum displays many artifacts and memorabilia covering the life and achievements of Gus Grissom.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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God Sends Angels

5 Dec

My Take

DiVoran Lites


When we live our lives within the shadow of God Most High, our secret hiding place, we will always be shielded from harm. How, then could evil prevail against us or disease infect us?

God sends angels with special orders to protect you wherever you go, defending you from all harm. If you walk into a trap, they’ll be there for you and keep you from stumbling. You’ll even walk unharmed among the fiercest powers of darkness, trampling every one of them beneath your feet!

For here is what the Lord has spoken to me: Because you have delighted in me as my great lover, I will greatly protect you. 

I will set you in a high place, safe and secure, before my face. I will answer your cry for help every time you pray. You will find and feel my presence in your time of pressure and trouble.

I will be your glorious hero and give you a feast. You will be satisfied with a full life and with all that I do for you. For you will enjoy the fullness of my salvation!

Photo Credit Pixabay

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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Church-Part 9

4 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Back to my original thoughts on church…. 

Now I would like to talk about the church we are members of now.  We’ve been in that church since 1996, and love it.

Just six months after we joined this church, the pastor said the church secretary was leaving, as her husband was being transferred from the area, and they were accepting applications for the position.  I told Fred I wanted to apply.  He looked at me strangely and said, “are you sure?” (We had thought we would come to Orlando to play at Disney)  I said, “well, it feels right.”  And so I applied, and was hired.  That position lasted nearly nine (9) years for me.  I guess it was where God wanted me.

Judy’s picture as Church Secretary

Within just a few months of my becoming church secretary, both the Minister of Youth and the Minister of Music left to go to other churches – one in Texas, and one in Colorado.  There was no problem with the church – they both needed to take care of ailing parents.  The Senior Pastor was a bit beside himself!  When he found that Fred had two seminary degrees, he asked Fred to come on as a temporary/part-time Administrator.  That position eventually became nearly full-time, and he held that position for about 14 years.  Some temporary position, hmmmm?  He still dips his hand in whenever he is needed.

Fred’s picture as Church Administrator

This body of believers has about 40 different nations represented in our church – and we are all worshiping the same God!  It’s wonderful!  The first pastor we worked with said many times that “this is what Heaven is going to look like – all different nationalities and languages, all worshiping together.”

Recently our church held its 40th Anniversary as an established church. 

We had a Saturday evening worship service, with a young man preaching, that is the son of one of our members.  He is now a pastor in south Florida, and also a Seminary professor.  As a black man, growing up he said wherever his family lived, “there were white churches, and then there were black churches.”  Every single city/town/state they lived in.  However, he said, when he came to South Orlando Baptist Church to preach the very first time…he saw heaven – so many different races and tongues within the same congregation.  He was overjoyed with the blessing that gave him.  He is always willing to come and preach at our church.  That is another reason we love this body of believers.

I would like to quote myself from last week:   This congregation is not a mega-church, as so many are these days, but a nice-sized church of about 800 members.  Of course, not all attend at the same time, so we have between 300-350 attending each Sunday.  That changed when the pandemic hit, unfortunately, and we haven’t gotten back to full-strength yet.  However, between all those attending, and those watching through live-stream, we are close.  I am thankful for the live-stream, so I can still “attend” church when I am home on a Sunday for some reason or another.  But it’s just not the same as being with other believers and worshipers.

WE….ARE THE CHURCH!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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2022 Road Trip-Part 10B

30 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 10 Continued (5/25/2022)

While I was in Lincoln, I wanted to take a look at the World’s Largest Railsplitter Covered Wagon.  This tribute to Abraham Lincoln, and the historic western movement, was built in 2001 by David Bentley and was displayed on Historic Route 66, in Divernon, IL until 2009 when it was moved to this location, for all to see and appreciate.  I have to agree this IS the largest covered wagon I have ever seen.  I think it is much more impressive in some of the other photos I have seen, with the canvas cover in place.  The photo below will give you some perspective as to its actual size.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

It was only about four miles from the World’s Largest Covered Wagon to the Lincoln County Airport where I wanted to visit the Heritage In- Flight Museum, but they were closed.  So, I headed northeast another 10 miles on I-55 to visit the J. H. Hawes Grain Elevator Museum located in Atlanta, IL.  This is a fully restored, and operating, 1903 wooden grain elevator (amazing) that was used to store locally harvested grains until the Illinois & Midland Railroad could load and transport it to places like Terre Haute, Indiana and other destinations on their early 1900’s rail route.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

While I was in Atlanta, IL I wanted to visit the 19-foot-tall ‘Paul Bunyan’ holding a giant hot dog statue (one of the many Old Route 66’s mythic Muffler Man Statues) that was supposed to be located on SW Arch Street.  Greta (my Garmin) took me to the correct address, but the Paul Bunyan statue had been replaced by a large Golden Eagle Statue.  I took a photo of the eagle thinking I could read the wording on the plaque later, but the words came out blurred, so I’m not sure what the eagle is supposed to represent.  

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now I headed northeast 20 miles on I-55 to visit the Prairie Aviation Museum located adjacent to the Central Illinois Reginal Airport in Bloomington, IL.  This museum is filled with model aircraft, photos, and aviation memorabilia, while their outside airpark has a collection of several restored civilian and military aircraft on static display dating from 1945.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Next, I travelled 50 miles southeast on I-74 to visit the Illinois Terminal located at the Event and Meeting Center Plaza in Champaign, IL.  This famous MTD terminal was originally built in 1896 by the Terminal Railroad Co. to serve the railroad needs of the city of Champaign and the surrounding Champaign County during the late 1880s.  The old Terminal and Meeting Center have been renovated several times over the years to their present status as the Illinois Terminal.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now it was time to head for my motel for the night.  I gave Greta (My Garmin) the motel address and it only took her a few minutes to get us to the Urbana, IL location, which was only a couple miles east, on the outskirts of Champaign.  I got checked in, got my things into the room, heated up my leftover Riblets Dinner from Applebee’s, and enjoyed that delicious meal again.  YUMMMM!

Photo Credit: https://yahoo.com/applebees+riblets+plate

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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28 Nov

My Take

Divoran Lites

Photo Credit:Pixabay

Ps. 66:1-4

For the pure and shining one, 

A Song for awakening.

Everyone everywhere, lift up your joyful shout to God!

Sing your songs tuned to his glory!

Tell the world how wonderful he is.

For he’s the awe-inspiring God, 

Great and glorious in power!

We’ve never seen anything like him!

Mighty in miracles, you cause your enemies to tremble

No wonder they all surrender and bow before you! 

All the earth will bow down to worship;

All the earth will sing your glories forever! 

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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