Journeys in September

September, what an amazing month!  It started with a birthday party for Zoe, a journey with my best friend Terri to visit her brother at Camp Hope in Connecticut, on to New Jersey to see Jeremy and Crystal and my three handsome grandsons there, a side-trip to Amish country in Pennsylvania, a visit with  Susie and her family, a beautiful wedding back in California, another journey with Jen and her girls to attend a lovely wedding for my niece up in Washington and then back home again by way of my brother Stephen's house.  (And that is all in one sentence!)   

We experienced joy, anticipation, thankfulness for friends and family, a splash, a smash and towards the end a sigh of relief. Throughout the month I was again reminded how precious and fragile life is. And as my adorable daughter-in-law Sunnie jokingly asked me, "We needed to be reminded of that?"  I don't think so, Sunnie, but we were and I am not sure why?  Questions.  

Zoe had a joy-filled, beautifully decorated birthday party complete with tutus, pompoms, princesses and cake pops made by her mommy. 

Christine, Terri and Christina

The next day I flew to Atlanta (thank God for safe flights) and Terri and I embarked on a wonderful journey up to Camp Hope where I was privileged to meet her dear friend, Christina. Terri had told me so many stories about this lively young lady and I was blessed to meet her.  She never loses a game or if she does Terri wins. (I had a bad month where games were concerned. Next time! Oh, I think I did win a game of Rook up at Jason's house! Woohoo!) She does everything to make a person as comfortable as possible and her Russian accent is the cutest.  She works at Camp Hope in the summer and then goes back home to Russia and ministers to orphans and children in need. She is an extremely loving and gifted young lady.  

She treated us to a ride on a Sea-Doo and assured us that we would not get wet.  We didn't (well, she and I got splashed just a little but not Terri) until the very end when we all "gracefully" tumbled into the surprisingly warm Connecticut waters. It was hilarious! The splash! 

We had sweet times of walking, talking, going to rain-soaked Brimfield, worked on projects or just fed the birds and marveled at the beautiful skies. We left Camp Hope on 9/11 and attended a wonderful church service on our way to Jeremy and Crystal's new home.

We were so thankful to spend time with Jeremy and Crystal and their precious family. I think they have their hot water turned on now! :) We had fun walking to the ocean just blocks away, playing ball, seeing Logan and Elijah go off to school and come back again, learned another card game which Terri won, loved experiencing their family together and watching the boys eat red ice cream (they choose ice cream for its color). Thanks, Jersey Barkers, for a great time! We love you!

Eventually, we headed south after visiting Pennsylvania and picking up some treasures in what I affectionately call "Amishland."  We love to visit there. We were blessed to see Susie and her family. We were treated to delicious food, great fellowship, a private concert by Ann, and a trip to a very cool fabric store the next day, oh and Susie's famous bread! Yummy!

Our next goal was to get to Atlanta so I could fly out the next morning back to California.  We had driven maybe 30 minutes when the "smash" happened. A utility van with ladders on top suddenly had some cement siding boards catch in the wind and two of them flew off and came right toward us. I was able to dodge one of them but the other one hit us directly in the front window.  


Thankfully, Terri and I were both fine, not a scratch on us, but the window was shattered and we were stunned. We called Mike, took pictures and waited on the side of the road for the highway patrolman to come. He deemed it an "incident" not an "accident"! We were so grateful for God's presence with us and that we had worn sunglasses that morning and had even joked about them when we put them on. (Life is precious!) The man from the van was very helpful to get us to a glass shop to have the window replaced and within two to three hours we were back on the road, watching every truck or vehicle that was hauling anything and thanking God for His protection. We arrived in Atlanta at 2:30 a.m. and I flew out early that morning.  Terri drove safely back home. Thank God! 

Lunch with Uncle Stephen

After celebrating Nicole and Andrew's incredibly beautiful wedding, Jen and I took off for Washington for my niece  Lindsay and Jeff's wedding. We had a safe journey to Washington and we stopped along the way to enjoy lunch with my little brother Stephen.  


We enjoyed the children's playing together and fun times with Jason and his family, Tiffany and Isaiah. We had sweet times with Lola's family and my baby sister Karen. (We had a great time with Steve and Kristi and their children and grandchildren on the way back to San Diego. Thanks to all for your love and kindness to us!) 

Jen and five little ones with their Zobo Dolls

At the rehearsal dinner little Zoe started running a fever, was very hot and lethargic. She had a very croupy cough. I was holding her and she suddenly began to jerk and tighten her hands and legs. I motioned for Jen and Jason to come out into the hallway and she was full-on having a seizure which later we learned was called a febrile seizure. She was not responding to her mommy when she would talk to her, just looking off into the distance. 


We were in a fancy restaurant lobby area calling out to Jesus to heal her and stripping off her clothes to cool her body. The  people working at the restaurant were so helpful, giving us cold compresses, cold water bottles to put on her back and doing whatever they could to assist. They called 911 and the emergency technicians soon came and Zoe started responding. I had never experienced anything like that with our four children and our sweet daughter, our Jason and I felt helpless except to call out to Jesus and try to do everything that people were calling out for us to do. Jen was in anguish and my heart was breaking for her and her precious Benji who flew up to Washington the next day to be with his wife and daughters.

Thank God, (sigh of relief), Zoe is back to her liveliness, improving everyday, cough is dissipating and she is making us laugh and causing us to be filled with thanksgiving. Zoe means life and we are reminded again how precious life is. Jen and I talked today and wondered how many times God protects us from things and we are totally unaware. 


Zoe's going to dance class today! I'm praising Jesus!

So, Lord, we will trust You for You hold it all together. You are the Giver of Life, You love us and You are with us.  We will trust You for our hope is in You.


Our September journeys were made complete with signs of God's presence, protection, love, healing and hope everywhere even as we experienced fear and shock. I am thankful He is always with us. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5). Some things we just don't understand.


"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope" (Romans 15:13 ESV).