OCTOBER

"How will our children know who they are if they don't know where they came from?"
~MA in Grapes of Wrath

1. WHO ARE SOME OF THE BEST SPEAKERS YOU HAVE EVER HEARD? WHY?

As I think back over the years, I really can't think of many. One person that I think is a great speaker is Paster Scott Sampson. One of the best ministers I've heard in a long time. Haven't found anyone to date that can match him. Down to earth, 'real' and biblically based sermons which everyone could understand; his sermons were packed with practical information daily living. Currently I like Joel Osteen. His messages are uplifting and positive.

2. WHAT SPIRITUAL LEGACY WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEAVE FOR OTHERS? WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO YOU?

I think the spiritual legacy I would like to leave for others would be summed up in the following:

"Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not unto your own understanding; in ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path"

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"Where it is possible by you, live at peace with ALL men"

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"Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure and of a good report -if there be any virture or if there be any praise - THINK ON THESE THINGS!"

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" If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

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If I had to paraphrase these and put this into a more current lingo I would say:

"Don't worry about anything, Trust your higher power for everything"

"Try to get along with everyone"

"Think positively and about good things"

"Love unconditionally"

3. TELL ABOUT A CANNING OR HARVESTING EXPERIENCE.

Both of my mother and grandmothers regularly canned. So I helped with the canning here and there as I grew up. Snapping beans, husking corn, etc. When we lived in Oregon after I was married, I'd go to 'up pick it' farms and get corn, tomatoes, etc. and can several jars of vegetables, apple sauce and tomatoe sauce.

Recently my girlfriends and I have started an annual pomegranite canning event. My friend D'Aon has pomegranite trees and we got together and made pomegranite jelly. Yum!

4. WHAT BIBLE VERSE OR SCRIPTURE PUZZLES YOU THE MOST? WHICH BLESSES YOU THE MOST? WHY?

I can't think of any verse that puzzles me at all. Over the years I've read the Bible through a couple of times. I think there are "schools of thought" that puzzle me than anything - but no actual verses.

There are really too many verses to site that "bless me" - my favorites are those sited in Question #2 above along with the 23rd Psalm.

5. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN AN ACCIDENT, HAD SURGERY OR A LONG ILLNESS? TELL ME ABOUT IT.

Oh my goodness, let's see - over the 46.5 years I've been on this earth there have been several incidents. As far as long illnesses go, as a child I had allergies and asthma. I was allergic to cats, household dust, molds, feather pillows and every grass and tree pollen in Coos County, Oregon. My parents would drive me to Coos Bay once (and later twice) a week for allergy shots. I remember being proud of the scar tissue that developed in my arms and being able to "take a punch" in my arm and have it not hurt! ha! I also remember playing games with new nurses that would try to give me the shot with the "dart" approach. I would tawnt them sometimes by telling them not to do it that way, that they were going to break the needle. They would look at me with that "don't tell me how to do my job you snot nose kid" and proceed. I would smuggly gloat as their attempt proved fruitless and they broke the needle. I remember learning to fill out insurance forms at an early age at the clinic where I got the shots. Asthma was a horrible feeling - nothing worse (too me, that is) than feeling like you can't breathe. It kept me from doing alot of activities when I was younger (running, etc.) as I would start to wheeze. Most of my asthma attacks were allergy induced. My Granny had cats over the years and that was always an issue. When we moved to California in the mid-80's everyone tauted "oh, you're going to hate it there - Sacramento is the allergy capital" but once we moved here my allergy issues have seemed to have all but vanished for the most part. I even went and had some allergy testing done and was surprised to find that my reaction to cats is pretty much nil! I am deathly allergic to household dust. The welt on my arm left from that test lasted 3 days! As you can imagine, any 'heavy' dusting is done by someone other than me!

I've been in several accidents over the years - some minor fender benders but the most significant one I can remember is when I rolled my brand NEW 1996 Volkswagon Jetta GLX five times in the median on Interstate 5 between Woodland and Arbuckle on October 15th. I was on my way home (we lived in Arbuckle then) and I had purchased my FIRST brand new car ever, that January. I really 'treasured' that car - parking in the back lot at work, etc. etc. I had worked late and it was about 7pm and I stopped off in Woodland to get gas and grabbed a soda pop while I was getting fuel. I got in my car and being the soda drinker that I am, my cup holders were already full with 2 empty cans. I was talking on my cell phone to a friend of mine that I worked with about some client/system issues and just leaned my soda up in the seat next to me and continued on my way home. I got back on the freeway at the end of town and the on ramp was a tight hair pin entrance. I had finished talking befor then and just plopped my phone in the seat next to me. About a mile or so up the freeway, I thought 'oooo, no....I hope my soda didn't spill on that tight turn'. So I popped on my map light and looked over to see if there was anything spilled. I didn't want soda on my new leather seats and I didn't want the liquid shorting out my cell phone. (Phones weren't as small as they are these days and I had one of those grey flip phones - so ugly now that I think about it) When I looked back up I had drifted across to the edge of the road (they had been redoing the road and they hadn't replaced those 'rivots' that make that horrific sound letting you know you're on the edge of the road yet) and then I over corrected and headed to the other side and tried again to get control of the car and ended up going the to the other side and in the median headed straight for a semi-truck who was traveling the other direction. At that point I figured I can hit the truck or throw the wheel...so I did. I threw the wheel as hard as I could and I began to roll. I remember hearing myself say "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God" after that it's a blur. The car landed right side up and the first thing I thought was to grab for my cell phone to call Mike. I definitately had an angel looking out for me that night. What I didn't know was that there had been a Tri-County (Yolo, Colusa, Sutter) Emergency Rescue mock training session that day down in Yolo Co. where teams from the three counties get together for emergency training. There had been an ambulance RIGHT behind me on the freeway (unbeknownst to me) and by the time my car came to a stop, they pulled up right next to me and told me to stay put, they'd get me out. The truck driver had also stopped and the rescue guys and the truck driver helped get me out of the car and onto a stretcher. It's crazy what goes through your head during times like this. Here I am lying on a gurney in the ambulance and all I could think about what keeping my legs together so people standing on the ground looking in couldn't see up my skirt! Ha! I remember an officer coming up to the doors of the ambulance and I just kept asking him if he found my purse and all it's contents. He was nice enough to have collected all my credit cards and wallet contents from inside the car and the ground around it. I had paperwork with me from work which was then strewn all over the freeway. My laptop was destroyed pretty much. Inside the ambulance, the EMT was prepping me for travel and trying to make sure I was conscious, etc. I remember being annoyed (which now as I understand it was a good thing) that he kept asking me the same questions all the time "What's your name, where are you, etc. etc." - I remember them cutting up the sleeve of my favorite suit jacket and then cutting the strap of my bra and cracking a joke - not sure why now that he had to do that but I'm sure it was necessary at the time. I had to be transferred to another ambulance (jurisdicational issues) and then transported to the ER at Woodland Memorial. I was in the ER from 7pm until 6am the next morning. I was in x-ray three times as they x-rayed once so they could remove the back board...then I went back when they thought I had a broken jaw, collar bone and ribs...last but not least was the x-ray of my arm which was broken in five places at the wrist. It took 44 stitches to sew my ear back on and I had to return for surgery on my wrist to repair it. I was out of work for three months and it took a few more after that to get the strength back in my left arm. I remember not wanting to get back in a car when we left the hospital and was emotionally drained and quite traumatised for a few days after. In situations like this - drugs are a wonderful thing! Haha!