"I Love America"

She told us last week that she would be providing the donuts for the Annual Fourth of July Prayer Breakfast, but wouldn't be able to attend because she had to keep her shop open. The donuts and coffee were served before the featured  speaker told an amazing bit of local history about the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) training days in Sweetwater, Texas. My eighty-five year old cousin told me later that he remembers standing out in the cotton field waving to the planes of women pilots.

The story and music and flags and veterans recognition moved me to hopeful and proud tears. 

I love America. 

After driving our '69 Chevy Pickup in the parade, we made our way back around to her Donut Shop, where there was the usual long line in the drive-in window. We had a nice visit over donuts and coffee  with friends. We talked about our old cars and family and old cars. 

All the while she was hovering over us with us with  "honeys" and "sugars" and  free donut holes. She says she gives them to her friends, but I suspect that we are all in her special friendship circle.

When she stopped again at our table, I asked her to tell me her story. She said it was long and complicated, but she gave me her shortened version. 

She had been born in the Kingdom of Cambodia to her Vietnamese mother and Chinese father. Her father spoke Chinese, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, French, and English. He was the King's interpreter. He and the King were very close, and she attended school in the palace. When the Communist came in and started a program to redistribute the wealth, her father sent her mother back to war torn Vietnam. He asked an American military doctor to adopt his daughter and take her to America. She was four years old. Her father was killed. Her adoptive parents eventually moved three of her siblings and her mother to the United States. 

She brought us more donut holes and refused to charge us for anything. Of course hubby laid money on the counter anyway. 

As we walked out the door, she finished her story with,

"That is why I tell everyone that

 I love America."

Konnie.

Tiger Donuts, Snyder, Texas.

Goodbye North Dakota

Oh, North Dakota. How I will miss you.  Yes, the time has come to move back to Texas. You have defined and refined and changed me forever. This adventure with you has enriched my life so much that I will probably forever be driving my southern friends crazy with, "when we were in North Dakota" stories.

We came for work in the boom towns of your Bakken Oil Fields. We got here in June when the crops were lush and green, and some of the roads getting here were closed because of the record breaking Mouse River Flood where 12,000 of your neighbors were washed out of their homes. Oil workers were living in tents in the parks and sleeping in Walmart parking lots. When we found housing for rent, it was crazy expensive.  Things have leveled out a little now. Your town now feels like my town. Our little town of 1250 (2010 Census Count) has new houses, apartments, and hotels for all us new people in town to lay our heads. Because of low oil prices, budgets are cut and some workers (like us) are going home - it they have one elsewhere.

We were here for your first man camps, your first traffic light, and your rail terminal. We saw in your little peaceful valley town, a new grocery store, a new swimming pool, a new convenience store, and new pastors. We celebrated your Fire Department's centennial - "100 years and still making house calls", they said. 

I am sad that we (the oil industry) have destroyed your rolling prairies. However your canola fields of brightest yellow, the purple flax blooms, wheat harvest, hay fields, sunflowers, and corn rows have amazed us. You have a short growing season and long days. In July your sun rises at five and is not completely gone until eleven. Your Fourth of July fireworks celebration get started at my bedtime!

You native North Dakota sons and daughters are so close to your roots - as in knowing that your grandparents were Scandinavian immigrants. I have loved the stories of your grandparents coming over on boats to settle on free land and learn a new language when they got here. Your folks homesteaded land, built houses, built churches, and grew families. Some of their homes are still around. Yes, I have noticed how you proudly hang on to the family farms. You farm their land, live on their land, and love their land.  I've wondered away lots of traveling hours thinking about how life must have been in those tiny homes, especially in winter.

Oh, yes. winter. Your first snowfall (usually October) is exciting and beautiful and breath taking. Then your last one seems like it will never come. You taught us to shovel the white fluff, warm the cars, walk like a penguin, and bundle up.You have taught me more than I ever wanted to know about coats, and gloves, and scarves. You have shown me how to be stylish and warm at the same time, but all I really ever wanted was a nice warm hoodie - nine months out of the year. You don't let the cold and snow stop you - not your work, not your church meetings, and certainly not school. I  learned that it doesn't really matter how far below zero your temperature is - it's just cold. You are amazing, tough, resilent people (even those of you who go south for the winter!)

When your spring thaw finally comes in mid-May, so do your robins and your flowers and your road construction. You say there are really only two seasons - winter and road construction. I believe it.  After a long hard winter - yards and flowers explode in beauty. I have certainly enjoyed the fruits of former owner's labor in my yard. You have shown me how to fully enjoy those few months of warm weather.

Then there's your food - lefse, lutefisk, knoephla, borscht, meatballs, and slush burgers. Some I love. Some I like. And some I leave untouched. You have inspired me and stretched me. Thank you for your recipes and your cooking classes!

Some report I read has said that you have more churches per capita than any other state. I don't know if that is accurate since the population explosion, but you have a lot of beautiful, historic churches in North Dakota. You in the Lutheran church on the next block have welcomed and loved me since my first Sunday. From you, I have learned the apostles' creed, about Ladies Circle Group,and hot dish dinners. . You precious ladies I've been in Bible studies and circle groups with gave me a wonderful going away bash - and you brought your husbands along. You Baptist and Assembly of God girls have loved me more than I deserved, too.  You've welcomed me into your Bible studies, even when I talked too much. Your community church services inspire me to believe that we are not all that much different. And thank you for tolerating me when I tried to sing in the church choir

More than anything you have taught me "North Dakota Nice". That's when you say things like, "Oh but we were so glad to have you in our choir", even though the girl can't carry a tune in a milk bucket - bless her southern heart. I'm sure you would never even think such a thought. You stop your car a block away when I am crossing the street. You have brought me homemade bread, juneberry jelly, chokecherry jam, pickled beets, and have taught me how to harvest rhubarb for pies. You gave us your extra snow blower and loaned me your sewing machine pedal when mine broke and you hardly knew me. You closed our garage door when we left it open, you raked the sticks out of the yard, you hauled off our broken tree limbs, and you invited us over for holiday meals.

My man and I will love you forever, and our time together will always be etched in our memories.

The LORD bless you and keep you.

The LORD make His face shine on you

and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn His face toward you

and give you peace.

(Numbers 6:24-26)

One Snowflake at a Time

It makes me smile - the sound of that snow thrower blower thingy running out there.  It is seven below zero. The real feel is seventeen below. I can't help it.  I just have to go look.  

The first time we lived in North Dakota, neighbor Smitty, advised us that we could not survive a winter without one.  We bought it across the border in Montana because there's no sale tax there. Then the first snow came in October before we were ready (as if anyone is ever ready) while the magic machine was still in it's box under a blue tarp. That first dreaded snow was measured in feet, not inches.  Three of them. 

Before we could uncrate it, south Louisiana called. Warm winter called. Palm Trees called. And we loaded the big box in the back of the truck, hooked up the trailer and headed south with a brief stop at the home improvement store to return our precious unused merchandise

Less than a year later, Louisiana ended with Mardi Gras, and North Dakota called again. In a new town, new neighbor Bruce offered a broken snow thrower blower thingy to my handyman. Handy man had it running before another snowflake could fall.

So there's my handyman out there, clearing the snow from around the house so that the basement will stay dry during spring thaw next June. He is cleaning neighbor Clarice's drive and sidewalk, blowing Gloria and Joe's walks, and making a path for the snowbunnies who cut the mustard across our yard on their way home from school. 

He starts on the northside neighbor's walk, but the mama sends the boys out with shovels to help before he is finished. He is cleaning up the neighborhood, one snowflake at a time. It must be that North Dakota Nice thing where everybody really does watch out for their neighbor. Maybe he just really likes his machine. Maybe both.

There's this crazy thing my crazy handy man likes to say:

"If the women don't find you handsome - they had better find you handy."  

"...and love your neighbor as yourself."

because Jesus said it.

Dream Trickles

How does it start?

Where does it begin?

The Great 

The Successful

The Big Business

The International Ministry

The Mission

It seems it's just always been there

Grand and Beautiful 

Ebbing and Flowing

the tides of success rolling in and out

seemingly without end.

The rushing rivers of hard work

and perseverance and patience

that have flowed into it

can't be seen from there.

You have to back up to see them.

These rivers transport life and
provide refreshment and growth.

But where did the river begin?

Has is always been too wide to wade across?

Did it start that way?

Did other rivers of inspiration merge into it?

Maybe somewhere along the way, 

it wasn't alone,

but in another larger body of water

influenced and encouraged to start out on its own.

Beginning as a small stream

of ideas and dreams

that came when one Aha! Moment of a thought

dripped into a heart

and a dream trickle began it's course.

Here in Itasca State Park, Minnesota,

1475 feet above sea level, 

the mighty Mississippi River

begins to flow on it's winding way

2552 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.

Ezekiel 47:1-12

Now he brought me back to the entrance to the Temple.  I saw water pouring out from under the Temple porch to the east.  The water poured from the south side of the Temple, south of the altar.  he then took me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the gate complex on the east.  The water was gushing from under the south front of the Temple. 

 He walked to the east with a measuring tape and measured off fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water that was knee-deep.  He measured off another fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water waist-deep.  He measured off another fifteen hundred feet.  By now it was a river over my head, water to swim in, water no one could possible walk through.

He said, "Son of man, have you had a good look?"

Then he took me back to the riverbank.  While sitting on the bank, I noticed a lot of trees on both sides of the river.

He told me, "This water flows east, descends to the Arabah and then into the sea, the sea of stagnant waters.  When it empties into those waters, the sea will become fresh.  Wherever the river flows life will flourish - great schools of fish - because the river is turning the salt sea into fresh water.  Where the river flows, life abounds.  Fishermen will stand shoulder to shoulder along the shore from En-gedi all the way north to En-eglaim, casting their nets.  The sea will teem with fish of all kinds, like the fish of the Great Mediterranean.

The swamps and marshes won't become fresh, they'll stay salty.

But the river itself, on both banks, will grow fruit trees of all kinds.  Their leaves won't wither, the fruit won't fail.  Every month they'll bear fresh fruit because the river from the Sanctuary flows to them.  Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing."

This is for you who have held that drop of a dream

in your heart, winding your way,

picking up steam

and are seeing the fruit

of those healing trees and refreshing waters 

along the banks.

You know who you are.

And it's for you whose dream is still just a 

a drip, a drop, a trickle, a stream,

a crik, or a creek

hang on and don't give up hope.

You know who you are, too.

We look forward to enjoying

 the refreshing benefits of your rivers.

"If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Rivers of living water

will brim and spill

out of the depths of anyone

 who believes in me..."

John 7:38 (The Message)

Winners All

My North Dakota friend, Elaine invited my out to her farm to harvest the last of her rhubarb to take back to Texas.  After a beautiful garden tour, we went inside and compared travel notes about her upcoming trip out west, which included Cody, Wyoming.  "Which road is best?  Which is most scenic?  The Beartooth Highway had snow higher than the truck last June.  Don't miss the museum.  Ride the trolley.  Look at this brochure that mentions Meeteetse.  Where is that?  How do you think it's pronounced?  It must be close to Cody.  You should go there too!!"

The next day we played musical gates at the Denver Airport when our flight was delayed and a group of  red-shirted high school boys made all three changes with us.  I finally got close to read the printing on the shirts - "Meeteetse Fighting Longhorns".  What? Meeteetse?  A Wyoming football team going to Texas?  Unheard of.  And to think that I had just heard of Meeteetse - population 327 - just south of Cody, Wyoming.  And going to Robert Lee, Texas (population 1049) of all places.

The coaches of the two teams had met at something like a football camp and made a plan.  After months and months of fund raising, which included building a mile of fence for a rancher, the six-man team's dream was turning to reality.  Their ages probably spanned four years.  They came in all shapes, sizes and athletic abilities.  These well-behaved young men wore naturally faded jeans, scruffy boots, and a little peach fuzz on the chin.  I imagine that not only can they play football but can also rope a calf, skin an elk, and shoot a coyote.  Who knows - they may even carry shotguns in their pick-up trucks.

This team that practices in 80 degree weather under the backdrop of the the Beartooth Mountains, Yellowstone National Park, and the Tetons were headed straight to triple digit heat, and a town whose water supply has completely dried up.  The host team is another gritty group of kids who live in rugged rocky West Texas ranch country.  They can sheer a sheep, ride a horse, and chop down a cedar tree. They too can rope a calf, skin a deer,and shoot a coyote.  Who knows - they may even carry shotguns in their pick-up trucks.

As there is no lodging in Robert Lee, the guests will be staying in the homes of their opponents.  Before going back home, they will attend classes together for a day.

AND - get this - Robert Lee, Texas residents did their own fund raisers to get those guys here.

The Friday night lights are probably turned off by now and the score board is dark.  But no matter what the score was - they are all winners! ALL.  Both teams.  Both towns.

Let's send up a big "YEE HAW" to the Longhorns and the Steers for good news and hope for the future of America!

(from the Park County School District #16 website)

YEE HAW!

Grace

I asked my 85 years young friend, Lila,

"How is it that you came to be born again?"

She said simply,

"Grace".
  

"Years ago," she said, "I went to the pastor in my misery

and he sent me to Grace"

For by grace you have been saved through faith;
and not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God.
(Ephesians 2:8 NASB)

"And Grace prayed with me.

That started years of praying and studying the Bible together."

Lila drove me out to the homestead 
for a visit with Grace, who will be 90 on her next birthday.

 She lives alone, mows her grass, rakes the clippings,
plants and tends her garden.
She takes no medication, not even a vitamin.
She says she cooks one good meal a day
 - meat, potatoes, gravy, and a vegetable.
Every morning she has her devotions,
a doughnut and the first of
 10-15 cups of coffee during the day.
Then she knits a little.


Over doughnuts and
  delicious cinnamon yeast rolls -
both homemade, butter,
 and a cup of her strong coffee,
 I asked:
"If you could tell the world anything, what would it be?"

She replied without hesitation,
"Tell the young women, to get involved in church,
 and Bible Studies, and women's groups.
It will help them."

Then scripture began flying between the two 
like easy conversation.

"Oh, and tell them:"

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known to God;
and the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, 
will guard your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:6-7 KJV)

"How about:"

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
and lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct thy paths.
(Proverbs 3:4-5 KJV)

"And:"

 You will keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
(Isaiah 26:3 NKJV)

It was a perfect day here in North Dakota,
with temperatures in the seventies,
 a gentle breeze,

and grace and peace between friends-
just the way it should be.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all.
Amen.
(Romans 16:24)

One Year

Thanksgiving Day 2011

- a Thanksgiving in North Dakota without family.

 

The Lovedahls, neighbors and native North Dakotans,

not wanting us to be alone, 

 invited us over for a beautiful and delicious lunch

 

 

and then we moved into this house with a lot of

potential...

 

The beveled leaded glass window faces the east

and gets my attention every morning.

It's been the subject of a lot of pictures in the last year.

 

May 2012 -

Spring had never been more welcome.
Pansies in the pots and rockers on the porch
helped me forget about the needed work out there.

 

July 2012

Summer was perfect, the tree stump is gone,

fern in the pots, and a lamp in the window.



October 2012

Fall - the leaves turned colors, then turned loose.

We finally have new boards inside of the porch.

 



November 9, 2012

Winter arrived with a foot of snow,
(and the ferns were still green.)

 

 

Thanksgiving Day 2012 -

more snow and a chance to pay it forward

 

 

by sharing our blessings, our home, and a meal

 

 

with some RV dwellers here in this oil patch town.

 

Our Guests:

A California commercial building contractor and his wife,

 working here and living in a small motorhome,

trying to keep from losing everything

after construction came to a halt there. 

 

Another young couple finally back working

 months after being in an accident-

living in a trailer and looking for a house.

 

A missionary couple here on a working furlough

from the mission fields of Indonesia,

and their son, working to pay off student loans 

so he can go back to Indonesia also,

 all living in a tiny used FEMA trailer.

 

Another man from Washington,

also here escaping the terrible economy -

sending money home to his family

 

Not only would a turkey not fit in their RV ovens -

but a turkey breast wouldn't even fit!

So, yes they really enjoyed a chance to be able

to be in a house for a change.

 

We all still missed our families and traditions from other places,

but we felt a little like family after eating together,

and sharing stories

(and I was so caught up in the moments,

that I forget to take pictures of our group

around the table).

 

 

I can hardly believe it's been a year since our neighbors

and now good friends

opened their home and holiday to us.

But we thought of them as we followed their example

this year.

 

It was a good day

 and we certainly have a lot to be thankful for.

 

Giving thanks always

and for everything,

 to God the Father

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(Ephesians 5:20)