Fun Times!

Josie on the runway!

Sunday I was invited to attend a fundraiser for the YWCA here in Troy. They were raising funds for their WIT program, Women In Transition.  The event was being hosted by none other than the Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group whose President is none other than, you guessed it, my niece, Corey Jamison.  Check out their website http://www.kjcg.com/the-firm/our-team/  Corey is currently the President of their YWCA Board of Directors. She believes in the work the YWCA does and so do I.  I'm looking forward to becoming more involved in helping women change their lives and the lives of their families for the better. Anyhoo, this year was the first annual YWCA Fashion Show. It was a lovely event and included local designers, caterers, jewelry designers and accessories...and best of all, local models from age 2 and up.  I'm looking forward to next year!  Check it out http://www.ywca-greatercapitalregion.org/about/index.cfm

Last night we went to 16 Handles with Corey and the kids to have yogurt.  What a hoot it is to be with them.  Now this place, 16 Handles, is a super idea.  It's a self-serve yogurt shop.  As you would suspect, you have your choice of 16 different frozen yogurts.  You choose your size of cup, walk the line and select any or all of the flavors of yogurt.  I can't remember them all, but they had chocolate (that was to die for), coconut, raspberry, cheesecake, peanut butter cup, strawberry-kiwi, just to name a few. You continue in the line and have your choice of at least 40 different toppings.  They weigh the cup, you pay and savor every bite. It was all worth a 15 minute car trip.  Also, everywhere we go is new and someplace we've never been. Life is an adventure, don't waste it.

Ray & Jamison checking the mail on their walk.

Today is going to be a "down" day.  Yesterday was a very full day and a rough day for Ray.  He worked most of the afternoon with the landlord to get the washer up and running.  Now that in and of itself is not a big deal, but running up and down the basement stair for him is.  I so appreciate my husband. He will do and does, anything he possibly can to make my life easier. No matter how tired he is or how much pain he's in because of his knee he ALWAYS makes sure that Jamison gets his walk each day.

We are having such a great time being retired together.  It's so fun to get up each morning and say, "well, what shall we do today?".  As I write it's 9am and I'm still sitting in my robe with my feet propped up, writing my blog.  There is still much to do but we're doing it and having a good time.  Today, as I said earlier is a "down day".  This by no means we're sitting down all day.  It means we're taking our time this morning getting up and around, we'll run errands, at 6pm tonight we're picking up a hutch and cabinet I found on Craigslist.  Tomorrow I'll finish putting out my chickens and unpack the glassware for the hutch. Thank heavens for a basement!  Christmas and tools take up a lot of space.  I've unpacked almost all things for the hutch and so I now have room to move the boxes that need to be taken to the basement back into the spare room until we can get them downstairs.  We don't move many of those at one time.  The knees won't take it, but it will get done before guests begin to arrive...who knows when, but I'm expecting company. Lots of company from all of you in California, New Jersey, Springfield OR, Chicago and Maine and Kentucky!

Wednesday night we're going to the Annual Recognition Dinner for the Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group (KJCG).   Corey, as well as others are going  to be recognized  for their years of service with the KJCG.  It just so happens that this year Corey is being recognized for 20 years with the company.  The event is being held at the Hilton Garden Inn Troy. This hotel is Rensselaer County's newest and most distinctive meetings and hotel location! The Hilton Garden Inn is located near Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and in the heart of the Capital District of New York.  We 're very proud of Corey, she's a great wife, mother and friend...oh, and of course niece!  We're looking forward to celebrating with all of them.  Corey has a super great team.  They're a team and produce a great product.  Check out their website above. 

Okay, I could go on and on but it's after 11 am and the "guys" are going to be ready for lunch.  My menu today; eat out!  Talk with you soon.  Have a super great day! Choose Joy!

Chance? I Think Not!

 Just like many of you, we continue to have some very difficult decisions to make. They're not going to be easy, but I know that just as the Lord has directed so far He will be clear with what is to come; as we need the answers. Please continue to pray that God will continue to give us the wisdom to make the right choices. 

There have been and continue to be so very many miracles in this journey. Many times, over what to most people think of as very simple things    sometimes struggle.  Maybe we all do that everyday and it just seems more visible to me right now. I think I'm rambling right now and am not really being clear.  I believe all is as it should be.  I believe that Ray and I have done all that we can do .....this is getting depressing, excuse me as I switch courses.

Let's try this again. Life is great!  God is a God of miracles and while we plan, He performs....daily miracles.  Let me see if I can share a few of these with you.

As you know, if you've been following my blog, Ray, Jamison and I had a miraculous trip across the United States. We traveled a total of 4,100 miles before we arrived in Troy.  We were 13 days on the road.  We arrived in this beautiful "mecca" named Troy NY without mishap or having shed blood!   I think there's something about this trip that many of you may not know.  I'd like to share that with you now.

My very favorite picture of our son!

In February 2009 when our son Aaron was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer he set off on yet another journey.  A journey to see that his parents would be well taken care of because he knew he wouldn't be here.  He knows that as we age we will need help during coming years.  This journey his dad and I have made is because Aaron started making plans 2 1/2 years ago and it has been a dream of his.  We're here in this beautiful home and city, surrounded by friends and family because our son loves us so much he's willing to give up precious time with us so that we will be settled in a home when God completes his journey. Aaron continues to battle colon cancer.  He is now in continual pain that never leaves. He continues to find joy every single day and when we Skype with him it's still difficult for me to believe that there is anything wrong.  He's always positive!  He only shares the difficult times if we really press (or if his mother catches a post about something on Facebook!).  He's always truthful when we ask but most of the time I think he would prefer we not ask.  Unfortunately, Ray and I are not able to do that. Every time I might question the decision to come to Troy now he reminds me of yet another miracle that confirms the decision.  The perfect house, yard, town, the miraculous trip across the United States.  The family we have here that we are finally going to get to know after 40 years, tons of kids, new opportunities for Santa.  I too know all of these things logically, but my mother's heart still questions how I could leave my dying child.  Would another mother do the same even though it's the "dying wish" of her child.  Aaron says it took great strength from me and that it's the right thing to do. I am also trying to remember that he is an adult man with a wife of his own.  When he married Kristin I relinquished his care to her, I know that logically.  But my mother's heart is broken.  

As I think of Mary watching Jesus die that horrible death on the cross, watch them pierce His side with a spear, give him vinegar to drink when he was so thirsty, pierce His head with a crown of thorns, drive nails into his hands and feet, watch him suffocate on the cross my heart breaks for her in a way I have never recognized before. I'm not trying to compare myself with Mary nor Aaron with Jesus.  I'm just beginning to recognize that even though she was the mother of our Savior she also had a mother's heart and the agony she went through, I don't know how she survived it except to know that God had a plan.

There are so many "little" things that happen each day to confirm we are where we are suppose to be and yet that little nagging in the back of my brain that continues to ask the question, "you're a mother, how could you leave your son who is dying?"  I don't know that I'll ever have the answer to that. I don't know if that little nagging question will ever go away. I see little things every day that confirm I am where I should be but I can't get that thought out of my head.  I don't know if it's because I'm unsure or if because I'm afraid that's what everyone else is thinking. I've never really been into what other people think.  I try to live my life the way I know the Lord would have me live it.  I try to be the best example of joy I can be every day.  I try to treat others better than how I would like to be treated.  I try to always be truthful.  I try to lead by example.  




I was looking for bookshelves on Craigslist (one of my very best friends) and I came across an old antique hutch with wood shelves rather than glass, doors without glass but metal cross mesh and on legs with storage beneath.  I fits in the space like a glove.  I mean, 1/8th of an inch more and it would not have fit.  We rented a utility trailer and drove the 20 miles to pick it up.  It was only $75.  I couldn't find two bookcases for that.  The hutch had all the original hardware.  I was thrilled.  The one thing I had forgotten was how heavy maple is!  It took four of us to get it in the trailer and it was Ray and I to unload it when we got home.  Inch by inch we moved it off the trailer, stood it up, put the sliders under the legs and slid it into the house.  Inch by inch we slid it into the living room and began to slide it into place.  I knew Ray was thinking, "that's not going to fit where she wants it so where is it going to end up?". But to his amazement, it slid with a perfect fit right into the slot I had for it.  (Corey grounded us for moving this one on our own!) I do have my daddy's eye when it comes to "eye-balling" if an item will fit.  When we stood the cabinet up Ray noticed that the pull for the cabinet doors was missing.  He found the door pull inside the cabinet but when he tried to reinstall it it was too loose and just spun around in place.  He decided he needed to find a "lock washer" to hold it in place.  Since the cabinet is so old he thought it might take some time.  We put the door pull in a drawer and decided we'd work on that the next time we went to Home Depot.  We stopped for lunch and as we headed into the kitchen he spotted something on the kitchen floor.  Now remember, we're still unpacking and there's quite a variety of things on our kitchen floor.  He bent over and picked it up and it was a lock washer, the perfect size, perfect color.  Now folks, what is the chance that a lock washer, the perfect size and color would be laying on the kitchen floor.  Chance?  I think not


Then there was the cabinet I found, again on Craigslist, for my craft supplies in the studio. It was the first piece I found.  It's old, matches the wood floor perfectly and has a glass knob that matches the antique glass door knobs perfectly.  Not only that, but a friends son-in-law was working in the area and stopped by and picked it up and delivered it to us so we didn't have to make the trip.  Chance? I think not?


Us being here in Troy, now?  Chance, I think not!
 

And the beat goes on!

 I say this very, very tentatively when I say, "we're up and running"!  When we signed up with Time Warner it appears it has changed some of our settings so we'll have to see if we can find everything again.  I am SO thankful to be on line again.  What a bummer that week was.

Everything is going wonderfully.  We had a super great weekend with family and friends.  Our brother and sister-in-law came down from Maine for the weekend.  It was a very full weekend. "Moving up" as they call it for Josie, Jamison and Hunter, an all school picnic that afternoon and then Jamison's play that evening. Sunday it was pouring down rain.  Some of the braver ones went to the soccer game; Ray and I stayed in and dry and then went to Corey's for a BBQ.

Sorry, couldn't find a picture of chicks in a bathtub

!

Then, on Sunday morning,   The Troy 9 received 31 baby chicks via FedEx and we got a call, "HELP".  We finished our sandwich and headed over only to find that they had done a perfect job of setting things up....in the upstairs bathtub!  They now are down to 30 but the kids are having the time of their life.  Yesterday they were playing classical music to them because they had heard it would help them to learn to talk...boy I hope not.  30 more voices?!  Wow!

Well, Ray's computer is up and running as you can see, but we haven't found the router to connect the laptop yet but this is working fine for now.  I just set up Skype on his computer so he can talk with Aaron whenever he wants.  Things are moving slow.  Today the boys, Hunter and Jamison (and Diane because she's the one that gets them moving)  came over and helped us set up our new iron bed.  I bought all new quilt, shams, everything for the bed and then after it got set up today I decided I liked the old fashion bedspread I already had.  I'll just take all that stuff back and buy something else!

We bought a "child's gate" today so Jamison can play outside on the deck or the front porch.  He had a great time trying to find a way off the deck and out to the stack of wood where the woodchucks live.

We just got the TV hooked up.  I watched 30 minutes of HGTV yesterday and Ray watched 60 Minutes Sunday night.  Of course we're sitting in camping chairs to watch so it's not very comfortable.  Hopefully by the end of the week we'll have our new couch and chair in there and most of the boxes gone.  There are so many details to do that we seem to end up spending half our day getting those done.  Tomorrow I'm having a cabinet delivered for my "studio" to put, I hope, what will be most of my supplies.  The Goodwill's here suck!  They are small and even the large one we went to today has 99% clothes and very little else.  I think most of what we find is going to be at garage sales and Craigslist....which as you know, works wonderfully for me.

I just finished setting up Skype on Ray's computer.  Aaron had already set it up for me on the laptop but we didn't have it on Ray's.  It's so much nicer to be able to see the kids when were talking with them....and all of the rest of you too of course.  Please continue to keep our kids, Aaron and Kristin in your prayers. I know when you see Aaron he looks fine on the outside; please remember, he is in a great amount of pain and can use all the prayer support we can give him.

Corey has a new cupcake cookbook of 100 different kinds and has decided we need to set a specific amount of time and bake them all....and we're off!

Oh My Gosh!

Old Glory

As of tonight we've traveled over 3,500 miles!  We're just now getting settled in the hotel in Erie PA.  We hit road construction on I-90 about 12 miles from our turnoff and it took us an hour and a half to reach the exit.  Tomorrow morning will be the same thing as we hit I-90 headed to our final destination, Troy NY.  They say that the construction goes on for quite a way but they don't know how far at this point.  We don't care, we have a couple of books on tape and we play with Jamison and talk.  We refuse to get upset or worked up at this point of the journey.  We've only scheduled 200 miles for tomorrow because we're so weary tonight we're not going to rush in the morning. It will have us stopping within a 100 miles of our goal.  Some may say that's crazy and if were 10 or 15 years ago you'd probably be right.  But for us, right now, this is right.  We've come to far to screw it up now.

Speaking of screwing it up, I really did a humdinger this morning.  We stayed at a Quality Inn last night in South Bend, IN last night.  When I checked they said they had internet.  They had it alright.  You just couldn't connect.  When I called the front office the gentleman said, "sometimes your security is too high and you need to reduce your security".  We talked with Aaron and he advised against reducing our security.  We also had no cell phone coverage in the room.  Outside of the room yes, inside no. TV coverage was about 5 stations and two of those you could barely see.  Needless to say, we read.  I wasn't concerned about any of it except for the fact that the first thing I do when we get in at night is plot our route and reserve our room for the next night.  Since I couldn't do it then I had Ray stop at a PILOT Truck Stop on the road this morning, I bought 24 hours of internet service for $4.99, purchased a Diet Pepsi and set up shop.  I just about screamed bloody murder when I tried to log on to the internet and it said there were no connections.  I took a deep breath, sat back, drank some Pepsi and waited for about 20 minutes and thought I'd give it another try.  In the meantime, it was 93 degrees outside and Ray was trying to keep Jamison cool.  I was not a happy camper.  Guess God didn't care that I was not a happy camper.  He was probably grinning.   After checking with Ray, I made one more attempt and voile, connection.  Ray and I checked out several hotel options, picked one and he went back out to take care of Jamison.  Just as I clicked the "book the reservation" button, our of the corner of my eye, I saw that the room I had booked was in Westminster CO!  Even if I flew as the crow flies I couldn't get to Colorado in time to check in this evening!  Excuse the language, but CRAP! There went $69.  Once it's booked, it's guaranteed.  Lesson learned.  I turned around, made sure I was located on  the bookings.com site for Pennsylvania and booked the room.  Done. By that time is was after noon so we decided to order sandwiches to go and eat on the road.  We got about 100 miles down the road and Ray said, "don't forget to give me my debit card back".  We use his card so he can check us in.  I said, "I gave you your card back after we selected the room the first time". He said, "honey, I don't think so".  Panic!  I grabbed my purse, took everything out.  Nothing.  I grabbed his Day Timer, shook it.  Nothing!  I picked up the road atlas. (yes, even with GPS we carry an atlas!) Shook it, thumbed through it. Nothing!  We hadn't stopped anywhere between where we were and where we had been. It had to have dropped on the floor.  Again, crap!  I picked up the phone (and amazingly enough, we had cell coverage) and dialed our bank and told them our plight. They checked the records for the last couple of hours and nothing had been charged since we left.  They put a block on the card.  Now, I need to order a card and have it mailed to a business.  The only business I know in Troy is Corey's, the Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group.  They all know me as Aunt Jan and that's a good thing.  Problem solved.

Jamison had done extremely well.  I bought a couple of pull down screens because of the sun and heat and he stretches out  and watches out the windows and is quiet as can be.  Tonight it was so hot we stopped at a McDonald's off the Ohio turnpike and had a hamburger.  They had tables outside on the grass and lots of shade.  He had a great time running in the grass.  Earlier in the day when I was walking him he cornered a opossum. Believe it or not, they can really move.  Earlier in the trip we came out one morning to walk and he came face to face with a jack rabbit.  I don't think either of them knew quite what to do.  The jack rabbit took off and Jamison decided he'd like to follow.  He couldn't get far on a leash though.

Troy home for the Jamison's

So, how was your day?

So....THIS is Day 10

Iowa State Capital at dusk

Tonight we are in Iowa City IA.  In the last 3 days we have traveled through Wyoming, Nebraska and half of Iowa.  Anyone who thinks they would like to drive a long-haul truck should first make the trip by car.  Traveling through Nevada, Utah and Wyoming could give them pause to reconsider! Nebraska was beautiful.  Rolling green hills and beautiful green trees and tons of water everywhere.  Iowa is gorgeous as well.  It's amazing how beautiful the homes are.  Not because they are grand, most are farms, but they are well kept, look freshly painted, beautifully groomed...even where there are acres and acres.  The fields here are full of newly planted corn that is just beginning to sprout above the ground.  There are hundreds of windmills pulling in the power.  I've seen hundreds in CA but they are so far away they look so small.  These are right near the road and they are NOT small.  They are enormous!  Today we passed a semi-flatbed carrying one of the propellers.  It hung over the back of the truck by about 10 feet.

Iowa windmill

We stopped at a Denny's today.  We had to stop at least once on this anniversary trip.  Denny's is where Ray and I went on our first date.  We ended up at Denny's because Ray was suppose to pick me up at 7pm, not 11pm and the place we were going to was closed by that time.  We sat and talked until time for me to go to work the next morning. That was August 28, 1970.  There was no going back.  He proposed on September 10th.  Yes, the same year..  We married on December 5th, 1970, 40 years ago.  Denney's was the first restaurant we took Aaron to when he was a baby for his favorite meal, green beans! Denney's has some great memories for us as you can see.

Wyoming is beautiful....in it's own way.  There isn't a lot to see but I guess that's what the people who live there like about it.  It's miles and miles and miles of seeing nothing but the most amazing rock formations.  Guess I expected Laramie to be a cowboy town like in the old wild west.  All I saw were trucks, trucks and guys with ball caps.  Between Nevada, Utah and Wyoming I finally managed to see one "cowboy" in a cowboy hat!  All was not lost.
                                                   

Since John Wayne has always been a favorite of mine, and my dad's, I don't think there is a  John Wayne movie we hadn't seen together at least once and probably numerous times.  While we were visiting mom last week I noticed that she still has all of dad's John Wayne movie collection.  Those are some great times together with my dad, and my mom.  No matter how many times she'd seen the movie she'd watch it again with dad.  Yesterday we passed a sign of John Wayne's birthplace as we entered Iowa.  We didn't take the time to stop this trip but if you're coming this way and you've enjoyed his movies you might want to drop by.

Nebraska is beautiful.  Not what I expected at all.  A lot like Iowa I'm finding. Since my grandpa Bothwell (my mom's dad) came from Nebraska it was fun to drive through and think about his life when he was born  in 1899; of growing up and striking out on his own at 16 to head for Oregon.  Grandpa always believed he lived in the very best of times. He lived the life of a frontiersman by hunting, trapping and living off what the land provided. He met my grandma in Oregon and began their family there.  My mom was born at the old Sacred Heart Hospital.  They later moved to Watsonville CA where I was raised.  In his later years grandpa saw the flight of the first airplane and watched the astronauts walk on the moon. 

Today we're staying in and resting up.  We have a couple of errands to run but we're waiting until things calm down.  This morning we've had severe thunderstorm, high winds and warnings to stay indoors. They've warned people to stay in, if they live in a mobile home to evacuate and go to a safer place. The storm is moving east along 1-80, our route.  If we had left this morning we would have been right in the middle of the storm.  It was so severe they closed some roads and big rigs were overturned..  We're thankful we listened the God's prompting last night and stayed over for the day or we would have been right in the middle of the storm for a good portion of our next leg of our journey.  God is in charge.  Please pray for us that we stay alert and responsive to His promptings.  It's good to rest.  Things are quieting down now and this afternoon we head out to do some errands and then tomorrow head for South Bend, Indiana.  Talk with you soon.

Day 6-9? I've Lost Count

By the time I booked our hotel last night for tonight and played an hour of slots, I didn't have a brain cell left to post a blog so I'll begin this morning and try my best to get in step again tonight.  Guess not, Ray's out of the shower and about ready to go and I'm running out of computer power.  I'll have to do it all tonight.  See you then!

Okay, two days late but finally an opportunity to blog.  I've been taking pictures so I could share on FB as we drove along.  However, we've not had phone coverage through Nevada, Utah and now Wyoming. They do have some beautiful scenery of mountains, flat, mountains, flat, Great Salt Lake, mountains and flat!  No cell phone towers though.  The desk clerk here in Laramie WY says that it picks up and is fine east of Colorado so this afternoon we should be fine. I did manage to capture a few.

Road to NV, UT & WY.  Do you see a cell tower?

Ray has been doing all the driving because he says it's more comfortable for his left knee.  For some reason there is more leg room on the driver's side.  We put Jamison's bed right behind the passenger seat on top of a suit case and the bag of laundry (it's about time to do that too).  He's high enough he can see out all of the windows and is perfectly content.  He can curl up or stretch out, look out the windows or sleep.

We bought a book on tape, can't remember the title right now, but it's a murder mystery and we listened through all three states and it concluded about 20 minutes before we arrived in Laramie.  I think I would enjoy Wyoming more if I could see cowboys in cowboy hats but all I see are guys in big trucks and ball caps!  Kinda ruins the illusion of the wild, wild west.

"There's got to be more to see than flat land.  Not even a cow to bark at!"

We made one amazing stop yesterday in Wyoming. Both for Ray and me.  We found the little church where he was youth and music minister when the pastor told him he was leaving for Watsonville CA and asked Ray if he's like to go with him and serve with him.  If Pastor Claybrook has not followed the Lord's leading and asked Ray to go with him chances are I would not have met Ray nor shared the last wonderful 40 years with him.  I am so thankful they both listened.  The church was much smaller that I had imagined over the last 40 years and they have added an addition.  The town is now 11,000+ but back in the late 60's Ray says there were less than 2,000 people.  It was a railroad town then and is today. It was an amazing piece of history connection for me and has made this entire trip worth while.  If I don't see anything else, that made the trip for me.  We both stood and looked and got teary-eyed.  It was amazing to be able to see it together.  These types of things are the reasons for this trip for me.  For Ray, I think it's being able to fill all the "holes" of things that I feel like I need to fill. It's the best anniversary gift we could have ever given to each other.  And to think, this is just the beginning.  How great is that!  I truly thank the Lord for this opportunity and I'm sorry that I ever doubted that he would fill this desire of my heart.

Today we're headed to Grand Island WY.  Thank heavens for TomTom...I don't know what we'd do without him.  I just make the motel reservations the night before, give Tom the address and bingo...we drive right up to the motel.

Thanks for following along.  Please remember Aaron and Kristin in your prayers.  Things are not getting easier and I know that Aaron is hurting more than he is letting on because I know he probably thinks he'd ruin the trip for us if he really told us what is going on and we appreciate that but we're his dad and mom and we know he's in a lot of pain.

Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement.  Talk with you soon.

Day 5

Another super great day here on the mountain.  The sun was out, there was a breeze and all was right with the world.  Diane and I took mom out for the afternoon which is something mom doesn't get to do very often these days because of her health. We got up when we wanted to, had coffee together, laid around as long as we wanted, went to lunch, went shopping and came home and have been in our recliners since.

Ron had to go back to work this morning so Ray and Jamison were on their own.  It didn't seem to bother them at all.  They had lunch with Annie (Ron and Diane's little dog), had a deli sandwich, watched the news, washed the car, made phone calls, read and took a nap.  I'd say all in all we've had nothing to complain about.

Our belongings will arrive in Troy tomorrow by noon.  Our magic little elf has the key to our new home, is in contract with the driver and will be there when our belongings arrive. We leave tomorrow morning for Reno.  We'll be staying at the Grand Sierra.  Should be a lot of fun!  Nite all!