Tag Archives: Memories

Church-Part 7 B

20 Nov

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

The Music

Still making that detour…. 

Our church in San Jose, California was small, but  I do remember they did a “musical” that Christmas, Love Transcending by John W. Peterson.  I remember the songs in that musical and how I loved it.  Apparently it made quite a impression on me.

Credit Google search and Amazon

Our church in San Antonio, Texas, was a HUGE church!  We had a nice-sized choir, and each Christmas we did some sort of musical.  I don’t remember much about acting done with the music, but there probably was some.  I do remember that the musical Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian Carlo Menotti was done one year with actors/singers playing their parts.. The “mother” in the musical was the wife of our Minister of Music.  She was a good friend, and a wonderful singer.  

Credit Google Search and Central City Opera

I also remember one Christmas season we did Sing We Now of Christmas by Mark Hayes.  Wonderful, beautiful piece of music.  And the final year we were there, we did Messiah by Handel.  That piece of music will always be a favorite of mine.  It is magnificent and full of praise to our God.

Our church in Panama City, Florida had a wonderful music department and Sanctuary choir.  I can’t remember much about “musicals” we performed, but I do remember one special program we did that had a lot of patriotic songs in it.  I suspect that we did more than one Christmas performance, but that it was probably more of a concert than an acting musical.

Our church in Seaford, Virginia was relatively small – about 200 active members when we joined there.  The choir wasn’t huge, but we had some great voices in that choir.  While I don’t remember all the names of the musicals we performed, we did them with such professionalism that people from around that area of Virginia would come to see our performances.  We usually performed more than just one service – three or four times – enough anyway that we could accommodate all who would like to see it.  Very seldom did we do just a concert – it was almost always a musical, with acting.  I remember one Christmas musical that had images of Christ going through his torture before His crucifixion, and I wondered why they put that in a Christmas musical!  But of course, we couldn’t have salvation without Christ coming as that baby and going through all He did on the cross.

I remember one Easter musical we did at Seaford, where they had rented a lift and a smoke machine, and actually had the actor playing Christ ascending in the “clouds.”  WOW what an impact THAT made!

We did another musical at Seaford Baptist church, that required our music director to purchase a recording of thunder.  During the performance, we had a thunder storm pass over.  The director said she wished she hadn’t spent the money on the recording – God provided the sound effects better than the recording!

I remember one of the Christmas musicals we did there, Christmas is Calling You Home by Mark Hayes, and that was a huge hit.  It was just so well-written, and well performed.  Fred and I enjoyed it so m

uch that we impressed it upon the Minister of Music at our present church to try it out – which we did.

Credit Google Search and Cloniger and Hayes

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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The Seamstresses in my House-Part 6

17 Apr

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Previously, I mentioned the old sewing machine that my parents gave me as a wedding present.  It was an old treadle machine that had the treadle removed, and a motor attached. 

Credit:Pixabay

It had a long bobbin (which I had never seen before then!).

Credit Google Search and Treadle Lady

But it was quite efficient in any case, and I was able to sew many garments on it.

While I don’t have pictures of all the garments I made on that machine, I do remember some of them.  For instance, I made this “shirtwaist” dress out of cotton – perhaps a cotton blend.  Polyester/cotton blend was making its appearance about that time, and a lot of the “cotton” fabrics were that blend.  This picture shows more of the cat we adopted than my dress, but the color and style is there.  It was a work dress, for sure.

I remember making a skirt and blouse/top out of nylon jersey.  While it wasn’t terribly easy to work with, it made a very comfortable outfit to wear.

I remember making a “shell” top for Fred’s mother for a Christmas present one year.  I made it out of an off-white satin and lined it with an opaque nylon fabric.  I don’t know whether or not she ever wore it, but I made it with care, just for her.  Fred’s father was still in the U.S. Air Force at that time, and they attended many formal occasions.  I thought it might be something she could wear to one of those.

Here is a picture of my dad and myself in Albuquerque.  I am holding my niece, fresh from her bath.  The suit I have on was one that I had purchased (probably at a thrift store), but didn’t like the collar on it.  So I took off the collar and made it a jewel neckline that buttoned to the top, and wore a jeweled pin at the neckline.  It was of an acetate fabric.

This picture is of a fellow worker, Melba, who became one of my best friends.  While we are about eight or nine years apart in age (she’s older), we are quite close.  This is a dress I made out of a light green (almost chartreuse) gabardine fabric.  It was another work dress.

Here is a picture of Fred, my parents (then his parents) and myself.  I had made this top and skirt for other-than-work-or-church times.  It was a cute cotton or cotton-blend fabric, and I remember wearing and enjoying that outfit a lot.

And here’s a picture of Fred and me at Mesa Verde, Colorado.  We had made a trip to Albuquerque to visit my parents, and we went together to Colorado.  I had made this top out of cotton, and the pants out of chino.  Both were quite comfortable to wear.

And one last picture – a perfect example of what NOT to wear!  I don’t remember just where I obtained the fabric – it was a silky, acetate fabric – but that’s not the problem.  That shows me that orange is NOT my color!  Again, we were visiting my parents at Easter time in Albuquerque, and that was my Easter outfit.  Never again orange!

~~~~~~~~~~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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The Seamstresses in my House-Part 1

6 Mar

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

My wonderful, delightful, loving sister-in-law DiVoran Lites, suggested recently that she would like to see some blogs about the clothes I have made and purchased.  She is interested in the fabrics, colors and things related to that.  Well…that is certainly a subject that I never thought to write about…yet definitely something to consider.

So, let me start with the blog that I did write about the “Fiesta Dresses” I made years ago while growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  (Please see my post of December 9, 2012 – Fiesta Dresses)  That was my beginning experience learning to sew.  You see, my Mother, her sister (Aunt Jessie), and their Mother (Granny) all worked in a handkerchief factory in San Antonio, Texas when they moved there.  So sewing was in their genes, so to speak.  And, of course, back in those days, store-bought clothes were more of a luxury – everyone made their own clothes!

  • 1954
  • 1954
  • 1954

1959 – originally white with red trim, but the red “ran” when washed.  So we dyed it beige.

1959 – light green with white and silver trim

I remember my Mother being a working woman most of my life, and while she did a fair bit of sewing, I seem to remember that Granny was the one who taught me to sew.  It was Granny who showed me how to work the sewing machine, and how to sew those very straight rows upon rows of trim and rick-rack on the fabric to make the fiesta dresses.  Fairly boring sewing, but gave me a sense of what sewing was all about, and a great sense of satisfaction with the finished product.

I remember several garments Granny made for me.  Here is a turquoise velveteen jumper that I wore over a shirt/blouse.  

1953

Turquoise is probably my favorite color in all things, so you will see Granny made several items for me that were turquoise in color.  For instance, she also made me a turquoise velveteen housecoat.  And a turquoise overcoat – I believe it was wool with a lining and filling that made it toasty and warm.

1953 – Me in my overcoat – Granny and her sisters (Lillie in the middle, Loa next to my Mom)

I am fairly sure she made this dress for me – it was the dress I wore for my initiation into Rainbow Girls when I was 13 years old.  The dress itself was out of a taffeta fabric, with a sheer overlay of chiffon.

1952

I am fairly convinced that Granny made my Mother’s wedding dress. 

1937

It was a taffeta fabric, and the skirt was full-circle.   Aunt Jessie took it following the wedding and wrapped it in tissue paper and kept it in a cedar chest in her garage.  All that to say that, when it came time for my wedding, we took Mother’s wedding dress, removed the sleeves, and had an entire over-dress made from Belgian lace.  I thought it was beautiful.

1961

My brother, Bill wrote about Granny sewing for him, as well:

During my teenage years, Granny kept an up-to-date (as I got bigger) long sleeve Western Shirt pattern, so all I had to do was find a fabric and pattern I liked and buy (3) yards of that material and give it to Granny. She would make the shirt and then she and I would install the pearl snaps (front, sleeves, & pockets). Granny also made a Red Corduroy Ike Jacket for me that was one of the items, along with the Red Corduroy pants from Penney’s, that got DiVoran’s attention in Miss Millers English class the day I wore that outfit to school.

1955 – This shirt shows the pearl buttons quite well

A good example of  Bill’s shirt made by Granny

Another good example of one of the shirts Granny made for Bill

~~~~~~~~~~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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Dressmaker

10 Jan

My Take

DiVoran Lites

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Letters from Mother 12

16 Aug

My Take

DiVoran Lites

September 6, 1983

Dear ones,

This day in 1957, you and Bill have been married twenty-six years. You share this anniversary day with your grandmother and granddad and Grandmother’s sister, Helen, and her husband, Ray.

Photo credit Pixabay

We arrived safely at Helen and Ray’s. Ray and your dad have gone to get repair parts so that Ivan can fix their toilet. As you know, he does things like this for people wherever he visits. We had a long weekend up at Ernie and Audrey’s place above Sonora and Twain Heart in the high Sierras. You’ll recall that Ernie has been Ivan’s best friend since they were boys back in Canon City. Dad got a lot of things done for their house and grounds and loved doing it. They put R-30 insulation in the eaves of the attic room and repaired three door locks. They also got the shower fixed. The bathroom upstairs is a shower with a 2×4 frame around it, but there is no wall yet. We call out: “Lady in the showe,” when we go up there, and the guys respond: “we’ll be right up.” 

Photo credit Pixabay

They brought a gramma and grandpa with them and their great-granddaughter, Zoe. Everyone was either eating and drinking or thinking about eating and drinking. 

It wasn’t a bad weekend/slumber party. I especially enjoyed Zoe. It was a joy to take her for a walk in her stroller; everything is exciting to a baby that age. We communicated with grunts and groans and later did some finger painting.  Yes, I cleaned it up when we were finished. 

Now back to Ray and Helen. Ray is so very tired; they shopped for lumber and stuff for your dad’s jobs.

Our visit with Mary and Jerry was nice. We had corned beef and cabbage again. We had it at Audrey’s too, but we didn’t tell Mary. She also got a big ham and cooked it one night, and the next night she got a turkey from the deli, all baked and ready to eat.  All delicious. 

Oh, yes, I am skipping around a lot because a lot is going on. We went to a barbeque. They served a delicious salad from a large trash bag with a rubber-gloved hand. There were shredded cucumbers in it, and it was nice. We chose our tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions. They also dipped the roasting ears into a big pan of melted margarine when they were done. We had cantaloupes, watermelon, and Crenshaw melons. I thought they had some very good ideas.

Helen’s so pleased to have us share the load for a while. It gives her a break from her immediate care of Ray. She loves following Ivan around and handing him things.  They have been good friends since they were born. Helen is Ivan’s and Lowell’s aunt, which means their mother, Marie, was the daughter of Helen’s mother. Figure that one if you can. 

Well, I’ve put my painting aside for now. Dad built a rack up and the shelf in the back of the truck. I’ve been crocheting pillow tops for Lowell’s two bar stools.

Lowell and his friend another Helen went to Canon City to see your grandmother; then he told Aunt Helen that Grandmother hasn’t been feeling well and hasn’t slept lying down for a long time. 

Guess I’ll close for now and think of more to say in the morning. 

Love you,

Mother

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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Fishing With Ivan Part 8

19 May

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

I believe it was somewhere around 1995 that I had another business trip to Edwards AFB to support a Space Shuttle recovery operation.  DiVoran flew out with me a nd stayed with Ivan and Dora in Vista, CA for the week I was at Edwards.  After the recovery operations were complete, I took a week of vacation to visit with Ivan and Dora.  In addition to the local fishing that Ivan usually did, he had obtained a commercial license, to take lobsters from the waters off the coast of southern California and sell them locally.  I went out in the boat with him one day, while we were there in Vista, to help him with the boat while he pulled in his lobster traps.  He showed me how to inspect the lobsters for gender and how to measure them for legal size.

Photo: https://pixabay.com/photos/lobster-trap-wooden-lobster-fishing-4346279/

Ivan regaled us with his frustrations about some people who were stealing his lobster catches.  It had been going on for a while before we got there for our visit.  He had called the local Sherriff for help about the problem, but they were never able to catch the poachers in the act.  That didn’t stop us from having plenty of fresh lobsters from Ivan’s traps, to eat while we were there.  They were plentiful and they were delicious!  Every dinner with Ivan and Dora on that trip was an ‘All You Can Eat’ lobster feast.   

Photo by DiVoran Lites

DiVoran’s brother, David, and his wife, Susan, lived just a mile or two from Ivan and Dora, there in Vista, so they would join us occasionally for a lobster dinner at Ivan and Dora’s.  David is an avid hunter and he invited us all to his house for dinner one evening.  He had just returned from a bird hunting trip to the interior of Mexico.  He told us many of the local farmers there, were being inundated by doves, and that the Mexican government had requested hunters to come help reduce the threat to the crops.  After the hunt, the hunters were allowed to freeze and bring back as many of the birds as they wanted to into the U.S.

Photo: https://www.getducks.com/hunts/mexico-white-wingeddove-hunting/

These were fairly large White-winged doves and we all enjoyed that tasty meal (except for DiVoran who never eats any kind of wildlife). After that interesting meal (being careful not to bite down on a lead pellet), the six of us continued a wonderful evening together with a walk down memory lane. 

Photo by Bill Lites

If I remember right, I don’t’ believe Ivan’s commercial lobster business lasted very long after our visit that year.  With the high price of fuel, the cost of commercial licenses, and the fact that the Sherriff was never able to catch Ivan’s lobster thieves, he just didn’t think it was worth the effort.  That was a shame because I believe he enjoyed the work and, if it hadn’t been for the poachers, it could have helped with his retirement income.

Photo by Dora Bowers

Ivan was good at, and had always liked, tinkering with mechanical things, and as it turned out, he bought a vacuum cleaner repair shop, there in Vista, and worked at that job for several years (between fishing trips).  But that’s another story for another time, and doesn’t involve fishing.  This concludes the series of memories we have of ‘Fishing with Ivan‘ and I hope you have enjoyed our memories of the times we have spent with Ivan and Dora as much as I have enjoyed writing about them.  Join me next week for a surprise blog that I hope you will also enjoy.

—–The End—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 63 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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Music and Me-Part 1

21 Mar

SUNDAY MEMORIES

My husband, Fred, suggested that I write something about music and me.  Music has been such a part of my life, that I thought it might be a good topic to write about.

I don’t remember a whole lot of music in my life when I was very young, but I do remember that I started taking piano lessons the day I started first grade in public school.  I believe my teacher’s name was Mrs. Allen, and I went to her house to have my lesson.  I don’t remember what “books” I was given to play from.  I’m sure they were quite simple.  I know that now, most professionals won’t start teaching a new student unless the student knows how to read.  After all, the piano keys are “lettered” with A-B-C-D-E-F-G.  And then it starts over again – we call those “octaves” as the eighth key starts the alphabet over again, just either higher or lower all across the keyboard.

In that vein, I must have been reading by 1st grade.  And back in those days, kindergarten was not part of the public school system.  So my Mother and Father must have taught me to read.

1950 – Judy at the old upright piano – nine years old

1950 – Judy at the old upright piano – nine years old

1952 – Mother, Agnes, and Judy with the new piano
1956 – Judy at the piano – 15 years old

1958 – Judy at the old pump organ in Aunt Jessie’s house – 17 years old

1963 – Judy at the piano with her favorite niece, Charlene Lites

In any case, I took piano lessons from 1st grade all the way through 12th grade.  The teacher that I studied with the most, Mrs. Jordan (later Mrs. Larsen) also had me enroll in a correspondence theory course with the Sherwood School of Music.  I completed that course.  However, I was not a “prodigy” with the piano.  I could play the music, and usually with some feeling or emotion, but I didn’t have a “gift” of music.  I cannot play “by ear” as so many I know can.  I have envied that gift, but am comfortable with what I have, and God has used my talent for His Glory….and that is all I can ask.

From a previous post, I wrote:  I always remember there being a piano in the house.  Mother would sometimes sit down and play her favorite hymns from memory, with embellishments.  Occasionally we four would gather around the piano and sing along – Mom playing, Daddy on bass, brother on tenor, me on soprano. 

1952 – Mother, Dad, Bill and Judy around the piano

I have been church pianist in several churches, and even organist occasionally – much to my regret!  I am NOT an organist!  While I don’t usually have problems with my right hand coordinating with my left hand, I do have problems with both of those going along with my feet!  I have accompanied singers.  I have accompanied violinists.  I have accompanied group singers.  So I haven’t wasted my talent.

I remember one summer, possibly following my senior year in high school, Mrs. Larsen encouraged me to try a two-piano duet.  She had me play with another Judy, who was a distant friend from high school and the head cheerleader of our high school.  We had great fun playing together.  It was a rather difficult piece, but the final product was fantastic!  We played “Malagueña” from the Andalucia Suite, by Ernesto Lecuona.  It’s a magnificent piece.  I don’t remember that we actually performed it anywhere, just for ourselves, but we loved it.  I purchased the sheet music for that as well as for Andalucia itself, and learned to play it myself.  Really beautiful music.

~~~~~~~~~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. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Random Memories of Germany-Part 4

21 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I mentioned last time that the pastor of our English-speaking Baptist Church in Heidelberg became our Karen’s future father-in-law.  And this is how that came to be.

The congregation of Grace Baptist Church called Greg to be our pastor in the Fall of 1981.  He and his family arrived shortly after Christmas that year.  They spent Christmas with family in Florida before coming to Germany.

Greg and Carol – welcome reception – 1981

The church congregation had a tradition that was established before we arrived, in that as many as could go together, hired a bus and went to one of the American resort areas in Bavaria between Christmas and New Years.  We went with the group to Berchtesgaden for Christmas 1980.  During the year, our family had also visited Berchtesgaden, Garmisch and Chiemsee (which has a Ludwig castle modeled after Versailles in France).  Therefore, when the church group wanted to go to Chiemsee for Christmas 1981, we declined. Essentially the only thing to do around Chiemsee was to ski, and since we didn’t ski, we decided to stay in Heidelberg, so we could be in town  to meet our new pastor and his family.

Chiemsee – 1969

Chiemsee – Hall of Mirrors – 1969

As it happened, the church as a group had fixed up an apartment for Greg and his family, in a town just a short ways away from MTV, so when they arrived in town, they were taken straight to the apartment to settle in and rest.  We had invited them to come down the hill and have supper with us that evening, so Carol wouldn’t have to fix a meal right away.

As it turned out, two things prevented that event: 1) Greg had pulled a muscle in his back shortly before leaving Georgia and coming to Germany and had been in traction.  Also, the long flight from the U.S. to Germany aggravated his injury.  2) Heidelberg had received quite a few inches of snow, and Greg had helped a German push his car out of a snowbank and re-injured his back.

So even though they declined to come to our house, we decided we could take supper to them!  I had made a big pot of spaghetti sauce (with noodles, of course).  I had a salad made, and then I went to our local bakery for bread.  I really LOVED the German bakeries.  My favorite one was just around the corner from our building, and I had gotten to know the owner reasonably well.  She spoke a little English, and I spoke a little German, so we got along famously.

The symbol for a bakery in Germany – the pretzel – 1982

Well, I went to her store, and in my halting German said I needed just a small loaf of bread.  She was already getting ready to close for the night, but she pulled down a long loaf, cut it in half, wrapped my half, then wrapped up the other half and put it back on the shelf!  I was amazed!!  I don’t believe ANY bakery in the United States would do such a thing!!  WOW!

So we made our way up the hill and to their apartment.  Greg was laid out on the sofa and didn’t move until supper was on the table, when he came and sat with us.  Then back to the sofa.  After the meal, we told Karen and Brian (their son – Karen’s age) that they were to do the dishes.  No dishwasher there, either – hand washing and drying only.  Karen told me later that, as we walked in, Brian, after spying Karen, leaned over to his mom and said, “She’s tall.  I like her!”

And that was the beginning.

Brian and Karen – 1985

Greg’s family stayed a total of five years, and we rotated back to the States after our three-year tour ended in 1983.  Brian came to Virginia the following Christmas to spend it with us.  They married December 30, 1986.  We always said Brian took advantage of the tax credit that year – at the last minute!  But they are still together, after all those years, and we love them and their family.  God is good

~~~~~~~~~~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. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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A Morning of Memories

16 Jun

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Monday, I sat on my porch savoring the morning flurry of bird’s wings as they enjoyed breakfast at our feeder. My tablet was open to a daily reading and I soaked up the peaceful combination of nature and scripture. One verse brought a chuckle to my heart.

“So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” HEBREWS 13:6

I recalled the first time I claimed and clung to this verse, especially the last part. What can man do to me?

It was 1978 and I was a stay at home mother of two small children. After years of a stagnant economy on the Florida Space Coast, my husband was blessed with a job offer working on the Shuttle program. The downside was that for a time, he would be making less money than he was earning as a gas station attendant.

By coincidence…? I was taking Medical terminology courses at our local hospital and was currently enrolled in a class teaching the duties of a Ward Clerk. ( I figured out the only way to be sure to get some me time was if I was taking a class.)

My husband was definitely taking the job at the space center and on a whim, I asked the instructor if the hospital hired part-time clerks. Part time work would keep us afloat financially.

Before I knew it, I had a part time job working 2 days per week on second shift. I even had a neighbor’s teen lined up to watch the children until my husband got off work.

There is a thorn in this story, though. Although most of the doctors were kind, there was one who was a terror. I think the man lived to yell and belittle people. Every time he made rounds on the unit, I was terrified.

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

That’s where the verse comes in. As the doctor created chaos I would silently repeat…The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can MAN do to me?

It worked and I have called on that verse many times. And the best part? Several months later the doctor went into semi-retirement and no longer admitted patients to the hospital where I worked.

Once my husband got his foot into the door at the space center, he soon transferred to another company that paid more. I continued working for the hospital for 32 years.

I'm a winnerAfter 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  where we frequently host the best in up and coming authors.

My 2019 goal is to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

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Time to Reboot

19 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

From time-to-time I go through some of my “stuff”  –  mostly papers – and run across some things that I’ve saved for one reason or another.  That happened recently, while I was searching for a particular photo I wanted to use in one of my postings.

So I hope to treat my readers to some humor to start their work week.

This week, I found this cartoon from Shoe.  We don’t take the daily or weekly newspapers anymore, so I don’t know whether or not Shoe is still appearing in the funny papers.  According to the date on it, it appeared in 1993.  But this one seemed to “hit the spot” with me, and a lot of computer users, I’m sure.

I remember when our oldest daughter, Karen, was in high school, and taking a computer class.  She would frequently spout off with:  THIS THING HATES ME!!

And so, I give you….Shoe:

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. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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