#14 - Meeting another blog friend!!!

As I have said, many times over, blogging has been such a fun adventure for me and added so very much to my life.  One thing that still amazes me is that I have been able to meet some of these blog friends in REAL LIFE.  And you know what???  I am never disappointed.

So I was delighted early this week when I received a message from Joy, of Joy In The Burbs, telling me she was making a trip from her home in Houston to Branson and wondering if I was anywhere near to her route.  I IMMEDIATELY replied that yes we were not that far and would be more than happy to meet her in either Muskogee or Wagoner for dinner.  Then the next day, when I found out she was talking about staying overnight at Muskogee invited her to come and be our guest in our little guest room. 

Sharing a couple of the little snippets of our messages:  Joy to me:I can't believe I will finally get to see you in person this week. What a blessing! I've always told you if it works out I would do it. My husband thinks its strange I would stay with someone I just know thru the internet. But I feel like I know you and I'm good with it. 

My reply:Oh good!!! Yes, people think it is strange but they just don't understand the spiritual connection that God makes and has made with some of us through blogging and HIS Spirit!!

Can you tell by the happy faces the good time we were having and the wonderful connection!!!!  

Joy arrived on Thursday around 6 o'clock.  We brought her stuff in and let her rest a little bit from her long ride.  We also introduced her to grandson, Aric, and granddog, Shasha who had come over Wednesday to stay a couple of days with us when Marc had to go to OKC on business.  

I had prepared a simple dinner:  tossed salad, baked chicken breasts, mixed vegetables, mashed potato, whole wheat rolls.  For a later dessert with decaf coffee I had purchased a Red Velvet Cake roll. 

 I knew from keeping up with Joy on fb, since she no longer blogs, that she was interested in the Jewish faith and was actually studying Hebrew!!!  I am so impressed with anyone who does, or can study Hebrew.  If I were about 25 years younger I would be doing so!!! So, needless to say, we spent most of our time talking along those lines and sharing parts of what we are each learning.  Aric & Shasha had retreated to the office but Mickey was right there with us participating in and enjoying our discussion.  I just never cease to be amazed at the connections and workings that God makes in our lives. 

We ended up going to bed about 10:45.  We could have visited all night, but that wouldn't have been very wise or prudent!!

The next morning I served a breakfast of orange juice, biscuits, bacon & scrambled eggs and we got to visit a wee bit more and learning about Joy's husband and two daughters, Paige-17, and Leah-14.  Joy's trip to Branson was to pick up Paige who had been attending a Christian Camp there for 2 weeks.   

Saying our good-byes.

Joy had to leave around 10 so the visit was short, but oh so sweet!!!  

Thank you Joy for thinking of us and taking the time to bless us with meeting you personally and getting to know you a little better. 

Yes, Joy is #14 I've been blessed to meet.  Now, I wonder who will be #15 and wait patiently for God to bring it about!!!!

Another Adventure

Here I am, getting set to head out to one of these exciting adventures of meeting a blog friend!

They had arrived here the previous evening.  

 This motel is new and I had never been in it before.  The entry area was lovely, as I'm sure the entire motel is.

NOW, for the good part:  

This is Sharon-she is from Nebraska and blogs under New Country Girl.  She is the 14th blogger I have been blessed to meet in real life.  As always I was not disappointed.  Even after 5 years and 4 months of blogging, it still amazes me the connections that we make via blogging.  

Sharon, and her son, DIL, and 2 grandsons made the trip to Tulsa as her granddaughter was graduating from Daniel Webster High School that evening.  That was interesting, as both Suzette & Jacque graduated from DWH many years ago!!.  This was Sharon's first time to visit Tulsa.  She had posted about the upcoming trip and I immediately contacted her and told her I'd love for us to meet if she could work it into their busy schedule.  Fortunately she did.

 We met at 9:30 and talked, and talked, and TALKED until almost noon.  I teased the waiter and asked him if they were going to charge us rent!  One thing I learned from talking with Sharon is how my referring to Coweta, where we live, as a small town needs to be put into a better reference.  Sharon lives in a small town, I think she said about 300.  I looked it up, after I got home, Sharon, and Coweta had a population of 9,943 in 2010.  A fact I now know, which I didn't !!, thanks to our visit. So compared to where Sharon lives, Coweta is not a little town.  The other things I learned is that Sharon has the prettiest pure blue eyes!!! and that she is very short!!

Sharon came bearing gifts!!!  I did not  :o( -  She gave me a lovely ribbon book mark that reads "A friend loves at all times. Proverbs 17:17 and a refrigerator magnet that reads "Do not be afraid of tomorrow, for God is already there."  Thank you again, Sharon.

Sharon and I had already "connected" via the blog and now, thanks to actually getting to meet, that connection will be even deeper.

Thank you Father God for blessing me with these wonderful friends I would never have had except for Penless Writer.  I am grateful!!!

#13 - Meeting ANOTHER Friend In Real Life

I am always so blessed when I get to meet someone in peron who I've gotten acquainted with on-line.

This was my privilege March 23, 2012 when I got to meet Shari England.

Some background:  I have been blessed to meet 12 people who I met as a result of this PENLESS WRITER blog.  Shari, which makes #13, is the first person I originally met on fb.  My introduction to Shari was from my close friend, Jeanne, who told me one day, "I think you'd enjoy reading her posts."  Jeanne later blessed me with an autographed copy of Shari's book, Lesson's From The Sticker Patch.

So, in January when Shari contacted me about our meeting somewhere mid-way between her home in Medford, OK and mine in Coweta, OK I was more than delighted.  We settled on meeting in Stillwater.  I knew I wouldn't make that drive alone, since it was a couple of hours, and especially since I'm not at all familiar with Stillwater so I immediately contacted Jeanne and asked her to make the trip with me.  Since Jeanne knew her, since Jeanne's son had attended Stillwater, and since Jeanne is ALWAYS such a huge help to me (Christmas Party for The King's Kitchen the past two years - Co-hosting Britney's Baby Shower,- she and her husband have been on the delivery team of King's Kitchen from the beginning, etc., etc.) I felt she would.  

Picture of Jeanne & Tim.

I had my camera with me and I was mortified when I got home and realized I had not taken ONE single picture of us meeting.......so I lifted a couple of pictures of both Shari & Jeanne for this blog post.  Usually I am taking pictures right and left :o(

On with the story:  Due to one reason or another, each time we planned to meet something would come up and it didn't work out.  FINALLY, Friday, Jeanne and I made our way to Stillwater in my little orange HHR and Shari made her way from Medford.  We meet at 1:00 at Joseppi's Italian Kitchen.   At first they tried to seat us at a table in a noisy area but we wanted a quiet corner.  There was none but Shari had seen another dining area and asked if we could be seated there.

We all had a wonderful spinach with chicken and strawberry salad and water with lemon to drink.  Shari & I added dessert and coffee to ours, I had Creme Brulee and Shari had cheese cake with a strawberry topping.  

We talked, and talked, and TALKED some more.  We had arrived at 1 and did not leave until 3:45.  I even kidded with the waitress and asked her if they were going to charge us "table rental!".  It is truly amazing the connection that can be made, meeting someone for the first time,  because so much ground work has been laid through the prior network sharing.  

A BIG thank you from me to both SHARI & JEANNE for making this another occasion of meeting a cyber friend in REAL flesh and blood a reality.  

Now, who will be #14????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm ready - Are YOU?

THE BITTER - and THE SWEET

It seems more and more that 24 hours in 7 days is just not enough time any more.  Do the rest of you have this issue?  Or is it just us?

This last week-end was certainly one of these times for us.

THE SWEET - our excitement and involvement with Thanksgiving at the Glass Veranda set up by our daughter, Jacque; lots of family time; Marc's new house; involvement in the move and set-up; and a special evening spent with 23 of us going to ride the Christmas Train at Willie George's Dry Gulch. (which is about an hour from our church in our new this year people mover). Then of course Sunday small group and church and then out to Marc's where all the family gathered once again.  It was all wonderful, rewarding and a blessing

THE BITTER - #1 - Because of all the above we were unable to have the joy and pleasure of getting to spend at least a 1/2 hour or so with my wonderful blog friend, Ginger, and her husband, Dave, as they traveled back to their home from visiting their daughters in TX and were within 12 miles of our home :o)  We had been hoping to do this for several months and missed the opportunity of meeting on their way down on Tuesday because Ginger got to feeling bad and then on the return on Saturday we were already committed with our Church small group outing.  We had met these 2 about 2 years ago, and even though it was short it was so sweet.  We are still hoping for another chance in the coming years.  

THE BITTER #2 - Since we went out to Owasso and the family gathering right after church we missed a phone call from another blog friend, Lisa, and her husband who live in TX.  They have been on vacation and called us from Joplin and were heading our way as they were heading home and hoped to meet up with us.  We had also had the pleasure of meeting them, and their 3 lovely daughters, a couple of years ago.  So sorry we missed this second opportunity.

I know God has His perfect timing and plans and I hope my future includes getting together sometime with both of these two dear blog friends.

ANOTHER BITTER - I am having trouble leaving comments on some of the blogs I read.  If I read your blog I always want to leave a comment to let you know I've done so and how I've enjoyed the read.  Just recently I cannot leave comments on all of them.  IF your blog does not read as follows regarding comments:  CHOSE AN IDENTITY and then shows Susan(GoogleAcc) Sign Out.

If it shows:  CHOOSE AN IDENTITY and then has a drop down box, but doesn't give me any choice I cannot leave a comment.  I don't know if the problem is on my end or the sending blog.  If I need to do something on my end to clear this up and any one knows what I'd love to know.

Just wanted to explain why quite a few of you, who know I left comments, are not hearing from me any more.  I decided to post this here in an effort to clear up the problem if I can.  

HAPPY BLOGGING AND HAPPY COMMENTING!!!

  

MORE ON EMPOWERED21

Some events in our lives are life changing. I believe that attending Emplowered 21 is just such an event in my life.

We picked Wantha Ann up at 9:30 and headed to ORU as planned. We were all three eager and excited, especially after the wonderful opening session meeting of the congress we had attended the night before.

There were so very many speakers to choose from for the 3 sessions that day: 10:45 - 2:00 - 3:30. Mickey & I picked hearing Chuck Pierce speak on "Understanding the Times Through the Prophetic" at 10:45. Oh, what a treat to hear Chuck Pierce in person. I have read many of his articles on Elijah List and we had recently participated in his 28 Day Prayer focus.

Here are pictures of us outside the Howard Auditorium where he spoke.

The meeting ended at noon and as we were standing outside Brother Pierce walked up to us. Looked at Mickey's attendance badge to see where we were from and commented on our grey hair and that God was still speaking through us!!!! I asked him if Mickey could take a picture of him & I. He graciously asked the woman with him to take the picture of both of us with him.

We meet Wantha Ann, who had chosen a session on Fine Arts since she is an artist, and the 3 of us left the campus to have a lovely lunch together and catch our breath.

We got back to campus just in time for the 2:oo o'clock session. Our choice this time was "Ears to Hear (Hearing God's Voice Through the Noise of Culture". The speakers were Kelly Fellows and Jerry Dirmann from a Foursquare Church in California. We were not familiar with them and made our selection based on the topic which sounded so interesting. We were not disappointed. Kelly Fellows gave a brief story and then introduced Jerry Dirmann who gave absolutely the most moving, through explanation, all Biblically based, on truly hearing and obeying God Voice that we had ever heard. I have written his website about obtaining a cd or dvd of the program because it definitely is a teaching I would love to hear over and over again to truly get it down into my Spirit. If I ever get another chance to hear Jerry Dirmann speak you can be sure I'll be there!!!

We had to walk really fast to get to our the 3:30 session, which was clear back across the campus, and we were actually a few minutes late. This session was "Spirit Filled Publishing & Writing in the 21st Century" and the speaker was Ken Horn from The Pentecostal Evangel, a weekly publication of the Assemblies of God. He spoke of not only print writing but about blogs, FB, twitter, etc. Our Pastor Gary & wife, Paula, were also in this session.

We met up with Wantha Ann once again, who had run into our Music Minister Pastor Bobby and his wife, Dana. The five of us decided to leave the campus and shared a really good pizza at a place Wantha Ann knew about. We were having such a lovely time visiting and chatting that we barely made it back to the Mabee Center for the evening program.

The music, the messages by Ron Luce of Teen Mania, & Lou Engle of TheCall, and then the keynote message by Jentezen Franklin were wonderful. Jentezen's message was "CAN'T END THIS WAY" based on Ephesians 4:26 -32. This conference has been geared a lot to the young people and the next generation to step-up and take their places in the move of God. Jentezen, however, spoke of the importance for the "Old Pillars" to begin moving in prayer and fasting for so the glory will come back.

As we drove home we all 3 had heard so much and participated in such a moving service that we were spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically spent!!!! But, oh what a wonderful feeling.

We had planned to go back for another full day of three sessions and the final evening service but didn't because we were just so totally overwhelmed, and worn out.

If they hold this again next year you may be sure we will be in attendance and I would encourage any and all of you who can to come!!!!!!!

I know our lives are going to bear fruit from this conference and all we saw, learned, felt & participated in. PRAISE GOD!!!!

EMPOWERED21

This wonderful conference, being held here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, began last night, April 8th at 7 p.m. It will last through Saturday, April 10th. We have had our reservations since November of last year.

Last night Wantha Ann & I attended. Mickey is still not quite up to par strength wise so he stayed home. It was absolutely awesome!!!!! The Mabee Center was packed. The service began with wonderful praise & worship and then 9 people came on stage and each prayed a one minute prayer. BUT, each prayer was in a different language: Hebrew, Greek, Italian, (missed getting this 4th one down - definitely European), Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic & English. Southern English as they said because it was given by Billye Brim!!! It was such a wonderful experience to hear. The Arabic man actually had tears running down his cheeks as he finished praying. Then the entire auditorium, thousands and thousands of us all prayed, in various languages and in tongues. What an experience to be in the midst of this. At one point I was silent and listened to the wonderful sound!!!!!

The focus this night was PURITY. There were 3 speakers: Joyce Rodgers, Timothy Ross & Joel Stockstill. Purity is a subject we don't hear a lot of preaching on these days but it is something that needs to be preached. Jesus is coming back for a PURE Bride!!! All 3 speakers were moving but the 3rd, Tim Ross was dynamic. He is from The Potter's House and had a glorious testimony of the power of The Holy Spirit in transforming his life. When he gave the altar call THOUSANDS went forward and the majority of them were under the age of 30. They just kept coming and coming. Praise God!!!

Mickey & I will be picking up Wantha Ann and the three of us will be spending ALL day and night at the conference today. The day is filled with different 'Learning Conversations" of hundreds of topics. The three I've chosen for today are: 10:45 a.m. "Understanding the Times Through the Prophetic" by Chuck Pierce; 2:00 p.m. "Ears to Hear (Hearing God's Voice through the Noise of Culture) by Jerry Dirmann and Kelly Fellows; 3:30 p.m. "Spirit-Filled Publishing and Writing in the 21st Century" by Ken Horn. There are so many topics to choose from it's hard to pick.

The focus tonight will be PASSION. The 7:00 p.m. service features Ron Luce, of Teen Mania Ministries - Lou Engle of TheCall - & Jentezen Franklin. Hearing any one of these would be a blessing and dynamic but getting to hear all three in one evening will be overwhelming!!!!

I haven't even had time to look at the program of sessions and pick them out for tomorrow!!! But, be assured I will :o)

People are here from ALL OVER THE WORLD. Many nations represented from 5 continents. It is wonderful beyond words. Wish you were all able to be here. Can you tell I'm excited? I AM & VERY, VERY BLESSED to be able to be a part of this history making moment in The Holy Spirit.

I know I've been scarce in following your posts but there are just so many hours in the day and mine have been packed beyond packed!!!

NUMBER 10

But who's counting? I am!!! Yes, I got to meet my 10th blog friend in real life.

Yes, Dawn is the 10th one I've been blessed to meet since starting this exciting Blogland adventure 2 years and 9 months ago.

Dawn, of Call me Grandma Dawn

Dawn is attending her 40th College reunion in Bethany, OK this week-end. She & I have been talking about this event and meeting for months and it happened yesterday, November 6th.

Bethany is near Oklahoma City and 106 miles from Coweta. I found a spot 1/2 way between, which turned out to be Stroud, OK. Now Stroud is one of those towns, for us, that we drive by the exit signs on the Turnpike to Oklahoma City. It is also a city that a violent tornado hit in 1999 completely destroying an Outlet Shopping Center that was never rebuild.

We were to meet at 1 o'clock at 5 Star Bar-be-que. We got there about 25 minutes early and a yellow "bug" drove in just before us. We're sitting there waiting and Mickey noticed no one had gotten out of the yellow bug so he went over to see if it might be Dawn. Sure enough it was!!!!

Dawn is as vivacious, friendly, fun and talkative in real life as she is on her blog. We had a delightful hour visit and a delicious pulled pork sandwich and salad.



Dawn & I by our HHR,






Dawn & I by the yellow Volkswagen she had rented. She'd always wanted to drive one so this was her chance. Isn't it cute?

It was a beautiful, blue sky day with temps reaching 80 degrees. Dawn had just left a huge snow fall in her home in Colorado.

Dawn will be flying home and then next week she and her husband are flying to Maine where she will be meeting 3 other blog friends. I know you will all enjoy meeting her.

So I have to wonder who will be #11. I surely don't know, but God does and I'll be eagerly awaiting the event.

---------------------------

To the many who have asked, since I haven't posted all week......I am feeling just fine and all is good. Mickey & I have just been EXTREMELY busy this week and I just didn't have the time.

Monday we worked in the Klothes Kloset clothing room at church, putting on the finishing touches.
Judy & Thelma and the additional boxes of blessings that greeted us Monday morning for our final work day of setting up and getting ready.

Tuesday Thelma & I "opened" for the first time. We will be open 2 days a week from 9 to 3. Thelma & I are going to be working on Tuesday and Judy & Linda will be working on Thursday. We are just so pleased with the response we have had with people giving us really NICE clothing items to share with those in needs. We have infant, children & adult clothing for boys & girls and men & woman.

Tuesday night I rushed off to my Bible Study at 6:30. We had Aric both Wednesday & Thursday this week just because he wanted to come another night. Of course Wednesday is Church & Thursday night I had drama practice at church. Friday, after meeting Dawn we dashed home for our Friday night Prayer Meeting. There were 6 of us last night and it was totally AWESOME. God is meeting us in such a powerful time of praise & worship of HIM.

GOD IS GOOD

&

WE ARE BLESSED BY HIM

#9 And Counting

Blogging has been a wonderful blessing to my life and one of the exciting joys that I NEVER dreamed of, when I began this journey 2 1/2 years ago, was getting to meet some of my blog friends in real life flesh and blood form!!!!

I had this wonderful joy for the 9th time Saturday, when Mickey & I got to not only meet my blog friend Lisa, who blogs as My Homemaking Rurality, but her husband and 4 girls.

This family was going to Branson, Missouri for a weeks vacation and while usually they go up through Arkansas to visit family there, from their home in NE Texas, they decided to come up through Oklahoma. YEAH!!! That gave us a chance to set up a meeting at the Wagoner McD's. They were driving right through on HW69 and we live only about 12-13 miles from there.

Left to right - Keith, Elizabeth, Mattie, Reabeccah, Nathallie & Lisa

What a delightful visit and sharing we had with the entire family. Keith & Lisa have precious, very self-confident and assured young daughters. Testimony of the home & family.

Keith & Lisa had a leisurely traveling agenda so it was nice to be able to have a long, not rushed time getting to know all of them. Their older two, Elizabeth in FFA and Nathallie in sports, are distinguishing themselves and working toward College. I have no question the two littler ones will follow suit in their special interest.

The youngest, Mattie, jumped right into the chair next to me and as they were preparing to leave she ran around the table and gave Mickey this big hug. You can tell they were both enjoying each other.



Outside as we were saying our good-byes after a most vivacious and wonderful time of getting to know each other and enjoying all of them. Lisa is holding the jar of Mickey's honey we gave them and I am holding a small jar of some of the many antique button collection that Lisa has.

I knew instantly that the little button jar would be perfect on my little Angel shelf. Here you can see where it now "lives".

My thanks to God for blessing me again for the 9th time and for Keith & Lisa taking the time and effort to include us in their family vacation. Hope we can do it again.

MEETING A NEW BLOG FRIEND

I was blessed recently to win Tammy's (of County Girl at Home) drawing which she had to celebrate her 200th post here. The three items I won were wonderful ... but the winning didn't end there.

When the package came I, of course, noticed the return address. I had absolutely no idea where Tammy and her family lived. Imagine my surprise when I saw that she was in a state that we were going to be traveling in our upcoming trip that we were making to visit Mickey's family. I asked Mickey if I could locate it on the map and if it wasn't too much out of the way, if I could contact Tammy about meeting. My sweet, dear husband, said, "Of course". Thus I was privileged to meet my EIGHTH blogging friend since beginning this exciting adventure of blogging 2 years and 4 1/2 months ago.

Here are Tammy, Joy & Jason at the restaurant where we met for lunch. Tammy is undoing the knot on the gift bag she gave me. Sweet Joy taught Mr. Mickey to pick-up french fries with the chop sticks. What a bright, sparking young 10 year old Joy is. Jason is looking on.
Look at the lovely "Blessing" stitchery piece. Frame in a rustic gray and the stitching is pink letters to go into our guest room. Thanks Tammy!!!

Here are the 5 of us as we were leaving the restaurant. We asked the cashier to take a picture of the 5 of us so you could see us all together.

What a blessing and nice time and wonderful visit we had meeting and sharing a little with this delightful young family. Just sorry we didn't get to meet their 20 year old son, Colt, who was busy doing the Lords work leading afternoon worship at the Church he attends.

I know that God ALWAYS has plans and purposes, way beyond what we can imagine,
for those whom He places in our lives. The minute that winning package arrived, because Joy had picked my name out of many others, I just knew it was because it was in God's wonderful purposes that we were to meet. What an awesome, wonderful God we have. He blesses us in so many ways. He blessed us big time in making this connection. I was the first blogger Tammy has met so that made it even more special. Tammy is my 8th blogger to meet and "eight is new beginnings".

Thanks again, Tammy, Jason & Joy, for working with us to have this great time and joy of gettting acquainted in "real" life.

MIDNIGHT RENDEZVOUS

Now what in the world would Mickey & I be rendezvousing about at midnight?

I'm sure you are asking this question!

Well, it isn't the "what" but the "who".

The "Who" being my wonderful blog friend, Ginger, her wonderful husband, Dave,

their lovely daughter, Alicia, and new son-in-love, Alfred. Yes....ALL of them!!!

Ginger is one of the earliest blog friends that I made. We were trying to remember last night how we first "met" and I went back this morning and looked. I began my blog on January 21, 2007 and on February 9, 2007 I had this comment from GingerGinger said... Thanks for stopping by my site. Are you Amy's mom? I'm excited to read more about you!! Please stop back to my site any time. I love your profile. We have MUCH in common. It's NO secret....it's ALL God! February 9, 2007 12:22 PM

Now I remember, Ginger: Amy was one of the first to comment on my blog and when I followed her link I found you and read your post and commented and then you visited mine on February 9th and we've been building this wonderful friendship ever since.

Ginger & Dave have made several trips to Texas to visit their daughter during this time. Each time we have tried to put together a meeting and it just never worked out. This time we were both determined and sweet Dave said he was going to do everything possible to make it happen!!! Thank you Dave.....you did:o)

Here are Dave, Alicia and Alf right after they arrived at the Mc*Don*alds where we meet. McD*onal*ds????? Yes!!!! When they first found out their time schedule they were to be coming through Wa*gno*ner about 11 p.m. That is a small town about 15 miles from our house. So it being late at night we set up for them to call from Pry*or and we'd meet them there. Then Mickey thought we'd better check and see if Mc*D's was open that late. We called and "No, they closed at 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday". Another trip to see if we could find any place that stayed open until midnight. This is a small town and NOTHING!! Then we drove to the next town, Mus*ko*gee and located this Mc*D's right on the highway.

Alicia & Alf. What a sweet young couple and so co-operative and pleasant while their parents met us on this trip. Alf even gave me a big hug when they left. That was so sweet and pleased me so much :o)

Bless their hearts......they had been on the road already for about 10-11 hours and had 3-4 hours left to travel but took time to meet us.

We got to visit for about an hour and it was wonderful. Ginger is the sweet, gentle soul I knew she would be and Dave was a pure delight. We talked and talked and could have talked for hours.

As we departed the 6 of us joined hands in the Mc*D's and Dave prayed a wonderful prayer. He spoke of this meeting being just a taste of what Heaven will be like when we get to meet up with many wonderful friends.

Ginger, commented that I was shorter than she had pictured me. As I looked across the table at Ginger & Dave's beautiful blue eyes I knew for sure where those 3 beautiful daughters of theirs came from.

Thank you guys so much for taking the time and effort to meet us. You have made
this part of a Thanksgiving that we will always remember and cherish!!!!

This is my 7th blog friend to meet. Number 7 - the number of perfection!!! I am believing for the Lord to let me met many more of my blogging friends. What a joy.

Addendum:

I "snatched" this picture from Ginger's blog to show that my dear, sweet, precious Mickey was indeed along and present!! Thanks to two wonderful, special husbands, Mickey & Dave, for making this happen. Ginger & I are indeed blessed beyond measure with them. How many men would do all this for their wives? Ours will and DID :o)

THE TRIP TO CELEBRATE #3 - Meeting Brenda

Meet my 6th Real Life Blog Friend.

Soon after Mickey told me of his plans for us to go to Flagstaff & Grand Canyon to celebrate our 50th I discovered Brenda, It's All Good, lived in Flagstaff. I contacted her by e-mail and she graciously said she'd clear both Friday & Saturday, October 3rd & 4th, to meet with us when we called.

After getting checked into our Motel, on Friday, I called her and we made arrangements to meet at The Cr*ack*er Bar*rel, which was near our motel in one hour. I was on Mountain Daylight Savings time and would have gotten there at the wrong time had she not informed me Arizona was NOT on Daylight time. I was totally confused with the time the entire time we were in Flagstaff!!!

It was such a delight to meet not only Brenda, but her husband, Sunny, and youngest daughter, 7 year old , Grace Marie. All were a pure delight. Brenda is a new read of mine and someone I didn't know as well as other blog friends but when we are part of God's family there is that "instant" connection and that's the way it was with the four of us :o)

We talked and talked and talked as the four of us ate peach cobbler with ice cream and Grace had ice cream with whipped cream. It always amazes me how very close we all are when it is centered around our Lord and Savior Jesus. We had met them at 2:30 and at 4:30 we parted company. The really wonderful thing is that they come to Tulsa, from time to time, for conferences of a ministry here. We are already looking forward to getting to host them here on our "turf" in the future!!!!!

Brenda blessed me with this lovely basket filled with goodies. A sweet card, a large brown hanging leaf with a welcome sign, a small green leave that reads "Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye", another leaf & acorn with two tiny bells, and an Autumn Spice Candle. Thank you so much, Brenda.

Brenda may have been a new read when we met, but she, and Sunny, are now dearly cherished blog friends . I trust you will go and meet her.

THE TRIP TO CELEBRATE #2 - Meeting Kitty

Once I knew we were going to be spending 3 days in Albuquerque I contacted Kitty, At Home With Kitty. We were both so excited as we made our plans to meet for a GOOD Mexican meal at Padilla's. As it turned out, it was the only authentic Mexican meal I got to enjoy on this entire trip. Believe me, that was not how I had planned it to be.

Kitty, is my 4th Blog Friend to meet in real life. What a sweetheart and pure joy. She is everything I knew her to be........especially a #1 mom!

Because her daughter, Katie, was out of school that day I had the unexpected joy of meeting her, which made my 5th Blog Friend. Katie has her own blog, The Young Artist, and quite the young artist she is. She was as delightful as her mother, and such a wonderful young teenager and daughter. We also had the pleasure of Jamey, Kitty's 19 month old son. He was a real cutie, but a little shy with me at the restaurant.

My forever friend, Joan, accompanied me and was delighted to meet Kitty, Katie & Jamey. This gave her a little taste of why I love blogging so much. The 4 of us talked non-stop and it was such a fun time.

We wanted to meet Kitty's other children so at 4 Mickey & I drove over to Kitty's place as the other 3 children came in from school.

The Miss Kitty gang: Katie, Jamey, Kitty, Marc, Frances & John

The kids came right in and started on their homework, without having to be told!! All of them are delightful, polite and very self confident. John played his violin for us and is excited about going to be in a school program soon. The violin had belonged to his mom. Kitty. You held out on us not telling us you played the violin!! Katie showed us her art work and played the guitar for us. We "purchased" one of Katie's sketches and made her sign it for us. Frances is adorable and precious. She took the picture of the rest of us below. Even Jamey warmed up to us now that he was in the comfort of his own domain!!!

A picture is worth a thousand words and I think you can tell by our faces just the special time this was for us.

Keep Kitty and these precious 5 children in your prayers.

Hope to see you ALL again some time.

(click to enlarge)
Kitty presented us with these special gifts: a lovely Anniversary card signed by the entire family, a wonderful orange & cranberry candle and the cross with I Corinthians 13 description of "Love". Note the two tiny gold rings in the center and the 50 at the bottom.

A grand meeting with a wonderful person, a wonderful family and "2 for 1" Blog Friends. One of the special things about Kitty is she is one of the "Pray-ers" on The Hearts In One Accord 24/7 Prayer Blog and I know she, and these 4 young kids, were praying for our trip & Mickey's surgery.
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Tomorrow - meeting ANOTHER (#6) Blog Friend!!!!!!

THE TRIP TO CELEBRATE

Several weeks before our up coming 50th Anniversary Mickey surprised me saying he wanted us to go to Flaggstaff, Arizona, where we were married, and Grand Canyon, where we spent our wedding night. I, naturally, was very excited about this and we began making plans.

One of the first things that came to my mind was I wanted to visit as many of our friends as we could along the way. Mickey was most agreeable to that idea so we began to contact people and lay out our plans.

We left on Tuesday, September 30th at 6 a.m. and drove straight through to Albuquerque, NM where my forever friend, Joan, and her husband, Jim, live. Joan & I became friends in the 2nd grade and have been through it ALL together. She truly is more like a sister than a friend. You can go here to read more about Joan and our friendship. I am almost as proud of my 64 year friendship as I am with my 50 year marriage!!!! Both are rare things in today's world.

Here we are leaving our home. I drove every mile of this trip. As it turned out, it is a good thing I was prepared to do so..

We arrived at Joan's at 4:30 MT after our 9 1/2 hour trip. Here is a front shot of their lovely, very authentic Southwest style home. Joan was working that day so we waited on the back patio until she arrived. Here are these two friends greeting each other.

Naturally, after that long road trip we just hung out and went to bed early.

This picture is taken at a lovely restaurant, Yanni's. Joan & Jim treated us to a wonderful dinner to celebrate on October 1st, our 2nd day in Albuquerque.

This is one of the exciting things I had set up (in advance) and looked so forward to. Meeting a Blog Friend!!!!! This makes my 4th & 5th Blog Friend to meet and what a treat. Turn in tomorrow and I'll tell you ALL ABOUT IT.