Wednesday, August 26, 2009

p.s. Forget what I said about our doing a Blogging retreat at this cabin
Hi Ladies! We're home ... we got in late Sunday night and this is the first opportunity I've had to post anything on the blog. Unpacking takes longer than packing, for me anyway. Hope you're all well, I've not yet caught up on your blogs, but will do so after I finish writing.

Here are just a few of the photos I took and they're not in order....
The first is a sunset from the main porch of the cabin

Clyde's friend Rick & his wife Nancy came in on Thursday and visited with us at the cabin ... we left the next day for Georgia & the Army Reunion
This was the view we saw most every morning from the main porch

This is the way up to our cabin ... ours was the very last one at the very top of the mountain .. there are 8 cabins on this mountain ... one is a private week-end residence


A side view of our cabin ... the lower level shows one of the ways you can walk to the swimming pool ... I never walked there....I am afraid of heights ... yeah, just call me 'chicken'



Another view of our cabin ... the views were stunningly beautiful
and reminded me of God's awesome power



A third view, near evening time



This was the entry to the cabin ... so steep I couldn't walk down it. The first drive up scared me so badly Stephanie and I were shaking when we got out of the cars. The cabin sits 4077 feet above sea level ... the road up is one lane, narrow and so curvy people have been known to be throw-up sick as they come up. Thankfully I didn't do that, but I did try to apply my own brakes all the way up, every time we went up the road.



Another sunset ... makes the fear worth it I reckon


This was taken one afternoon when Jane, Stef, Erica & I saw a double rainbow at the front of the cabin. I don't know if you can see it in this photo, but there were two rainbows. I asked Stef if she remembered what a rainbow meant and she quickly said "God promised not to flood the earth again, times two!"


Me and the girls in Gatlinburg
Pat, we didn't make it to the Tea Room, you could spend a month in Gatlinburg and not see everything



My 'Fred' with Shawn & Jane, Stephanie & Erica in Gatlinburg



Me and Jane .. there are so many places to take pictures


The double rainbow!



Another sunset....so beautiful


Me & Fred & the girls on the front deck area of the cabin



Our kids & Louis


Me & Fred & our girls



'My' cow as Fred called him....he pastured in an area on our way up the mountain ... he was perty

Inside the cabin ... the girls and I are on the upper level game room
There was a flat screen TV, pool table, darts, books, chairs (one folded out to make a twin bed), full bathroom & sliding doors to a porch up here


The sunset the night before we left



We watched the rain move in the morning this was taken...at times we were literally above the clouds as the cabin is called ... other times we were enveloped in them .. all you could see was white

That's all for now...Lord willing I'll post more later and tell you about
our adventure with a bear and my run-in with Louis the grandpup and Jane's slipping and falling on the rocks in front of the cabin and our drive through Cade's Cove and my feet swelling so badly I had to go into the doctor on Monday ... I'm alright, just think I strained a tendon trying to stop the car every time we went up and down the mountain. From the passenger side it doesn't work by the way. We had a wonderful time and I'd do it again ... only I'd pick a cabin a little closer to the ground I think. We truly appreciate Jane & Shawn inviting us to go with them.
Bye for now, will write again soon! Love to you all!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

A favor to ask ....



There's a lady named Loreen Ittermann who is serving as a missionary in Moldova. To read about her and the work she's doing please go to
www.titusinternational.org/ittermann

I had never heard of this country until a friend shared Loreen's missionary work with me. Below is one of the emails I received recently from Miss Loreen & part of her 'team' ...

"Dear Special Ones,

We now are on our way with the chairs for the new church auditorium. We currently have 112 promised out of the 300 needed. Thank you for your prayers on behalf of this project.

Eugene Pokidko, the youth pastor of our church, took a group to Tartarstan, a difficult part of Russia to reach with the Gospel. What an experience they encountered! You will thrill to read how God provided for them as they faced many difficult obstacles and challenges. These young people are truly committed to serving Jesus Christ.

Eugene writes:
From all trips which we made for last three years, this, perhaps, was the most difficult, but, at the same time, - the most blest and fruitful.
We expected to take a train to Moscow, but ran into deep problems at the border of the Ukraine. Since some of the young people were minors, the officials would not accept my Power of Attorney and we were thrown off the train.


We made numerous requests to allow us to go to the capital city of Ukraine(Kiev) to wait for new documents allowing us to travel on into Russia. We waited for days. Finally the documents arrived so off we went to Moscow. We wanted to buy tickets for a train to our final destination, but we could not do so as the tickets had all been sold 3 days in advance.

We noticed a woman carrying heavy bags so we went to assist her. God used this woman to help us by telling us where we could go to find transportation. We knew that merchants often drove buses loaded with products to sell. We managed to find a ride on one bus and being exhausted, we fell asleep on top of the stuff being hauled about 820 kilometers! Often we thought about returning back home, but God strengthened us!

We arrived in Kukmor, a town of eighteen thousand population, but not one Protestant church. Even the Orthodox church is now closed down, but three Mosques are thriving. We began our mission by distributing information that people interested could receive a disk with the film JESUS. We gave a telephone number and we received calls; some who called attended the meetings.

One woman told us that in childhood she had seen a Christian film and it was the first time she had thought about God. Later, she saw the Jesus film in her teens and accepted Jesus. Since then she had been searching for other Christians. We enjoyed visiting with her, talking about the Bible and singing songs together.

We invited others to attend the meetings and heard such comments as: "My faith went out as coal torn from the flame of fire goes out, But you for me are as angels, sent from God for my strengthening."

Taking a guitar, we set forth for the city. Many interesting meetings with young people were prepared for us by God on these warm summer evenings. They listened attentively about Christ, to the Christian songs and the explanation of the 4 Spiritual Laws. They asked many questions and we spent hours with them.

Maxim, the leader of this group told us he had a dream where he saw a large room full of light and he appeared before the throne of the Great God Who carried the hammer of a Judge on His hip. God asked him many questions; he wanted to lie, but his eyes and lips always told the truth. Maxim saw the doors under his feet swing wide open and he fell into Hell. We were once again reminded how important it was for us to rescue the perishing.

We returned one night late only to find a group of older guys insisting we sing Christian songs to them. We wanted to refuse because it was so late, but they kept asking so finally we spent an hour singing not only to them, but to the whole neighborhood. It seemed everyone enjoyed the music.

The time for our departure came and we exchanged addresses, etc. with the young people. One of the fellows coming to listen to us the last evening said, "Please pray for us and about our faith in God." His words touched our hearts deeply and now we ask you to pray with us that their small faith will grow and they will reach others for Christ.

Through all our problems God was with us. We were very dependent on Him and Him alone, but He was faithful. And, I will say once again, that in spite of all the complications of this journey, this journey was blessed.

Eugene and our Church Youth"

Miss Loreen and her 'team' of nationals are building a church. It is nothing like the ones we have here ... this one is made of concrete and doesn't have air conditioning. They're blessed if they can have heat in the winter as the government in Moldova determines who has heat and how much can be used. Last winter Miss Loreen shared that it reached -30 degrees below zero and the government only allowed them to have heat that reached 50 degrees in their apartments. They slept in their clothes and coats. They baptized new believers by breaking the ice in the nearest body of water.

This blessed group of believers are in need of chairs. As her email said, they currently have 112 pledged. It only costs $20.00 to buy a chair ... would you consider doing that and letting Miss Loreen know? Her email is loreen_titus@yahoo.com

If you decide this is a worthy cause, please send your check to
Titus International
1515 McBrien Road
Chattanooga, TN 37412
and please put "Chairs - Miss Loreen" on the check and envelope.

She also asks that you pray for the person who will one day sit in the chair you've provided. I would so love to see this need met SOON! We've already bought a few and I'm praying for God to fill them with people who need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you'd do this, please let me know. If you can't, I understand. Times are tough and yet, we aren't where they are .... yet.

Blessings!

Monday, August 10, 2009





These are pictures from the deck of the cabin we'll be staying in. Can you imagine sitting in one of these rocking chairs and seeing the beauty of the Smokey Mountains? I am excited about seeing this beautiful place and Lord willing, will be taking lots of pictures to share when I get home.

Pat, you're more than welcome to come with me! Trish, you too!!! Oh ladies, wouldn't that make a wonderful trip? A blogger's retreat with open invitations to all our friends in blog world.

We won't be in Gatlinburg but will be visiting there so I'll do my best to find the Wild Plum Tea Room if that will fit with my daughter-in-law's schedule of things to do. Making time for a girls only outing sounds good.

Pat & Trish I deeply appreciate your kind and encouraging words. After listening to the sermon at church yesterday ... 'Distressing Times' .... I realized that God is opening the door for us to do this and I should appreciate it, stress and all. How many out there can even afford to do something like this right now? We're blessed that our son & daughter-in-law care for us enough to share this with us. As for them Georgia folk, well, I'll do my best there too and see it as God's providence in my life.

We leave on Thursday and I'll check on everyone before we go. I won't have a computer with me but know I'll surely be thinking about each one of you.
Our daughter-in-law has asked me to take my camera and get family pictures while we're there ... I'll have my tripod for that and truly look forward to seeing some unexpected treasures in the hills of Tennessee.

Shall get me to bed. G'nite. Blessings. I love you all.


Saturday, August 8, 2009


Where does time go?? I know I've asked that question numerous times before but I'm still wonderin' about it. Seems like forever since I've posted anything of importance. Tis been a bit busy around here. We now have care of two of the grand girls 5 days a week while their parents work. Their Mom recently started a new position and she's strictly on days now, she was working mixed shifts which can be difficult. We also have their dog Louis for part of the day too.

Anyhoo ... Lord willing, we will be going to Tennessee this coming Thursday with our son & his family. They've rented a huge log cabin in the Smoky Mtn's and insisted that we come along. We'll be taking our car because my Fred has an Army reunion planned the week-end of August 21-23 in Georgia. We've planned to leave TN on Friday morning and drive into Georgia with friends who will be coming in early from Massachusetts.

The week with the kids has me excited, I'll be going someplace I've never been before and seeing mountains that our God made. The Army reunion is another matter. For those who know me, you most likely know I'm not much of a talker, unless I know you really well that is. I'm usually quiet and reserved and would rather be home as any where. To think I'm going to meet 9 new couples doesn't thrill me in the least.

The itinerary says that there will be a 'Meet & Greet' at the motel on Friday afternoon ... dinner that evening (no jeans allowed darn it) in a restaurant's private room ... a barbecue the next day at the home of one of the couples who live in GA (the invite said to bring bathing suits ... ha!) ... and brunch the third day at a golf club (dress code there too). All in all I'd rather be headin' home with my kids the morning of August 21st. But, for my husband's sake and to get myself out of a comfort zone, I'll most likely be in the car with him going even further south.

I became curious and did a google search for the address of the home where the cook-out will be held. It's a mansion with an in-ground swimming pool. Situated on a LARGE lot on a cul-de-sac ... NO fences anywhere. I don't know why I feel intimidated by all this and if anyone out there has an inkling of an answer I'd sure appreciate hearing it. I've been this way as far back as I can remember and it's not a good feeling. I keep reminding myself that they're all just people ... apparently some are very well-to-do, but still just people. I've been saying "Lord, let there be at least one born-again Christian in the bunch" and "Lord, allow me to let my light shine and be a good witness for You" to those who perhaps aren't.

Another issue I have is clothes ... I don't have many 'cause I don't like to shop and I don't care for the styles that are out there right now. I didn't like them back in the 70's when they first appeared and I still don't care for them. I have a friend who looks fabulous most of the time and I asked for her advice in what to wear. She advised black slacks, and a couple of white blouses (with jewelry accents of course) (I don't like jewelry either) for the evening dinner & the brunch and a pair of cotton slacks and a nice t-shirt for the cook-out. She at first told me to wear capri's and a sleeveless cotton shirt but I reminded her of how bruised my legs are and that I am self conscious about showing my legs because of the bruising, so we switched to cotton slacks in a light color. I do not have to be concerned about taking a bathing suit ... NO ONE ... as in NO ONE will see this body in a bathing suit in public in Georgia or anywhere else for that matter.

So, the past couple of weeks I've scoured the thrift stores looking for bargains for things I'll wear not only in GA but to church too. And I've come up with some name brand stuff I'll have you know. All in excellent condition and cheap too! I bought a pair of jeans (had to, they only cost a $1.00) with a name I'd never heard of. Did some investigating on the Internet and found out they cost $195.00 new.

If nothing else, I've added to my up-till-now sadly lacking wardrobe and I'll get to see the Smoky Mountains and enjoy time with my kids and grand-girls and my husband. Lord willing I'll take lots of pictures and store memories that will last 'till I'm older and grayer. And when I get to that mansion in Georgia I'll remind myself that "ahhh....this is nothin' compared to what's waiting for me in heaven."

Blessings to you all! Have a wonder-filled Sunday!