FAMILY

   

Here I am in 1950 with my sisters.  I'm the cute one in front!  I was just 1 year old.  My sisters, starting right behind me are Sylvia, then 12 years old; Charlotte, 11 years old and Sharon, 9 years old.  At that time in my life, I was still cute and fun and the little doll to play with. 

There are so many happenings in the ensuing years that I can't tell them all.  As you know by my journal, I will tell a couple of stories. 

Sylvia spent a lot of time with our paternal grandmother.  My grandmother, Spring, was an eccentric.  Sylvia became kind of hi-brow because Spring was very wealthy.  By 16 years old, she was living with Spring, driving around in a brand-new T-Bird - the one with port-hole and both hard and soft-top.  I thought she was wonderful, exotic.  Then Spring took the T-Bird and Sylvia was driving the Willys around.  Do any of you remember the Willys?

Charlotte was the only one with naturally curly hair.  When they were in their early teens, Charlotte got a duck tail cut, leaving curls or waviness on top.  When Sylvia and Sharon were complaining about their hair, Charlotte would pass by them saying, "I can't do a thing with my hair . . .I guess I'll wash it"  When I was about 4 years old, Charlotte was my favorite sister.  In fact, I so loved her that I put my snails in the bed with her.  She woke up screaming! 

Sharon was jealous of me.  She had been the baby for 8 years and here comes a new "baby".  She did help spoil me when I was tiny, but always had something up her sleeve.  She would turn off the lights because she new I was afraid of the dark . . . and there were other little things she would do to get me.  Sharon was the first to get married.  She had fallen in love with Jay at age 13.  They wanted to get married back then, but my mom did not agree.  Finally, when she was 16 my mom signed the papers.  I thought that she was so cool.  Then Charlotte married Don and Sylvia married Mark.  I was jealous because those guys took my sisters away.

Now . . . about the "baby".  Like I said, I was a doll to play with.  My sisters spoiled me rotten.  I mean rotten!  By the time I was about three years old, they had done themselves in.  They didn't want to take care of me any more.  I was a real PIA.  I wanted everything my way.  After all, for 3 years, they had given me my way.  When they all got married, I became the only child.  I was only 8 years old, but I ran rough shod over my mom.  Rather than have me have a fit, she gave in.  I never cleaned up, except when I wanted to.  By 15, I was drinking beer with my friends, smoking and worrying my mom.  The rest is well known - you can check it out at my other journal My Story - My Way.  If you do that, start with the first entry.

Well, we all grew up, older and somewhat wiser.  Sylvia and Charlotte are still married to Mark & Don - some 49 years now.  Sharon didn't fare so well - she's married the 3rd time now about 30 years.  Well, you know about me . . .Rob is my 5th husband.  I know he's going to be the last.  I don't think I have another "getting to know you" in me.

Two years ago, just days after we came home from Mexico, we all got together.  It might have been the last time we all get together in one place.  I hope not.  We gave our mother grandchildren and great-grands before she passed away.  Here is how we looked: 

 

Do you see how the years between us have diminished?  From the left are Sharon, Sylvia, Charlotte and myself.  Sharon and I have become closer over the years.  Charlotte and Sylvia seem more alike.  They are both very artistic with things.  I'm a klutz and Sharon is easily more artistic than I am. 

I wanted to share with you just a tad of how it was for me having 8 years with 3 other girls in the house.  Mom was divorced around the time I was 18 months old.  I never really knew my dad.  The girls loved him dearly, as did my mother although she never let on.

By the time I was in junior high school, I was calling them the Three Musketeers.  I miss seeing them.  They are spread wide apart . . . one in Alabama and Florida - one in Arizona - one in Nevada and I live in Southern California. 

I am thankful today and always for my wonderful family.  I pray that you will all be blessed this wonderful day.

                 "The Baby"

THANKFUL TUESDAY

Yes, today is a thankful day.  The sun is shining, no wind, aaahhh, lovely!!A perfect day to head for the beach.  We didn't do it, of course.  the girls were in school, Rob was busy with laundry and I am just plain lazy.  I slept in until 10 am, with just a few interruptions.  Still feeling pretty tired. 

Above are  about the most wonderful, reasons for our gratefulness - Mandy, a dear friend of the girls; Kayla, Andrea & Mandy,  Andrea and Lupe.  We'd be less busy, but there would be less joy and a lot less fun.  There are days, well I guess a lot of parents have them, that we'd be grateful to have them grown and gone . . . but then of course we'd be OLD!!  As long as there are children in our lives, there will be joy and we will stay young . . . at least at heart.

On my shoulder is a young yellow bird we call Rascal.  He reminds us very much of our Dufus.  It's possible that he has one parent in common.  We got him from the same breeder.

Speaking of breeders, we have two new cockatiel chicks.  They popped out of their shells a couple of days ago.  They are so tiny!  These little guys are the first born to this pair.  It took them six eggs to figure out what to do.  I wonder if they are thinking now, "Don't they give out user manuals for them?"  Here is a photo of the second, but largest that I took out:

Rob says that   they look like little dinosaur chicks.  They are possibly 1 or 1 1/4" long now after about 2 1/2 days of feeding.  My thumb is not that big, really!  Because I wanted to get close, it's blurry.   Next week I'll try to post their progress for you.  I'm thankful to have these birds that give us so much joy. 

How can marriage, kids and animals bring us all so much joy?  God ordered it for us.  In Eden, Adam was given the responsibility of naming and caring for the animals.  It has been our responsibility since then to do so.  Then God gave Adam a wife (the first marriage) making them a holy union, the two becoming one.  Then he commanded them to multiply (have children).  Isn't He awesome?  For this, we have joy, sorrow, laughter and tears.  Seems our lives were set up for us long before any of us was born.  For this, I am truly grateful.

Please share your thankfulness with me through the rest of the week.  If you post on your journal or blog, send me the link and I'll post it on Saturday.  

Blessings to all of you, my J-Land family.

                

 

 

Honoring Our Veterans Today

               THIS IS OUR VETERAN!!

                   

 HE PROUDLY SERVED HIS COUNTRY FOR     OUR FREEDOMS AND YOURS IN VIETNAM

You know today is Veteran's Day.  Perhaps you watched a ceremony or a parade on the television.  Maybe you attended one of the local events.  Perhaps you took advantage of Veteran's Day sales.

We went to Oxnard, a bit south of where we live.  There is a plaza in the middle of one street, with a little park surrounding it.  The war memorial is the focal part of that plaza.  Five obelisks grace the square.  They have written on their faces the names of fallen heroes from WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq/Afghanistan.  I took a few pictures while we were there and put them in a slide show for you all to see.  Click on Veteran's to go there.

Today I am thankful for the veterans who have served our country over the years.  Their names are inscribed on memorials, those who are still with us participate in Veteran's Day activities and we are so thankful to them.  About four of the veterans we saw in the plaza today came in wheel chairs, with walkers and canes, proudly wearing caps that proclaimed their service. 

There is another veteran in our family as well:  my son Robert served in 1991 in Kuwait during Desert Storm.  He was apart of a special forces group there and other places.  We are so proud of him.

I would love to hear how you spent this day and also what you are thankful for this week.  I'll post your thoughts tomorrow.

  Until then . . . I am.............................

                        and a ...................

  VETERAN'S WIFE

Early veterans Day

                         

 

This is the weekend to fly our flags, shake the hand every veteran you kow or see proudly wearing his medals or sporting a vertern hat.  These man and women saw their friends fight and die for freedom.  They may have been injured mentally and/or physically.  Show them how grateful you are to them. Send a card. 

I just got this in the mail and thought to send it to my friends and family.  But most of you are here in J-Land.  It's a wonderful idea, worthy of your time:

Everyone should do this!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />  Something cool that Xerox is doing    If you go to this website, www.letssaythanks.com  you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it, and it  will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Iraq .  You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some  member of the armed services.  How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!  This is a great site. Please send a card.  It is FREE and it only takes a second.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our guys and gals over there need to know we are behind them...  I just did it!

 

Today has been a wonderful day for us.  The Lord has answered yet another prayer . . . this time even without our asking!  And I know it's not the day I have set up for thankfulness (Saturday), but I must tell and show you a little bit of my gratitude.

          

First, I would like to share pictures of my daughter's children.  I was so happy to get them yesterday that I cried.  So I went to Photobucket, uploaded them and made a slide show for you all to see.  If you click on the link here you can see Heather's children and a preview of her husband-to-be, Jason.

I got an appointment for my glasses today.  My prescription is two years old and there is much change.  Tomorrow with God's blessing, we will pick them up.  I am so happy!  The birds have chewed these glasses up.  They sit on my shoulder, nibble on my ear, then move to something more solid . . . the sheath of plastic covering the ear pieces.  I thought I was safe after we removed all but the tiny bit over the back of the ear.  NOT!!!  Still pulling hair out every time I take them off.  The new glasses are some kind of metal, but have no plastic stuff for them to chew off.  Tomorrow then, I will be able to see you all better.

                        

No school tomorrow.  The schools, banks, post offices, government buildings will all be closed in honor of Veteran's Day.  I know that tomorrow & Saturday I will be honoring the Vietnam Vet that lives in this house as well as the many veterans who have fought so diligently for freedom.  Our freedoms here in the United States are unparalled around the world.  I am so grateful to call this great country my home.  My years in Mexico only served to prove that there's nowhere like home.  The flag will wave proudly at our home until Monday.  No flag like it!  I may have times when I do not agree with the government's way of doing  things, but at least here, I have the Veteran-given right to say how I feel.  Thank God for the U.S.A.

I am blessed to have J-Land as a part of my life.  I wish there were enough hours in the day to read every journal.  Alas Rob, Andrea, Kayla, Lupe, the birds and Sammy need my time.  So here's how it goes for me:  GOD FIRST, FAMILY SECOND (that includes alot of stuff!), FRIENDS THIRD and somewhere near the bottom of this list is my want (never in capital letters)

May the good Lord bless and keep you all,

                   

PS . . . don't forget to be Thankful

A Blessed and Thankful Tuesday

            

I've had some "Thankful" comments and notes from people and have read a couple of journals that have those kind of entries as well, whether participating with me or not.  Here's one by my friend Chuck whose journal is Dribble by Chuck Ferris:

Thankful.  I wrote a full page about the old folks home where I live, telling why I was thankful for living here.  I posted it on the bulletin board and sent copies to the landlord, owner.
  Some few people stopped me in the hall to say they agreed but usually kept their mouths shut because the popular thing here is to COMPLAIN... about the food, about the service, about the rent, about the music in the halls, about the temperature, about the activities.  
  Somehow it is easier to complain than it is to express thanks.  Why is that, and why does it increase with age?
Comment from chasferris - 11/6/06 3:38 PM

And one from my friend Lisa in Florida:  Hi Penny!!!  Very lovely entry!!!  I agree we should all be filled with thankful thoughts this time of year!!  We have so much God has blessed us with.  Hugs,
Lisa
As well, from Natalie.  Please check here for the responses she has gotten from journalers:  Dear Penny
RIght now I want to mention how grate ful I am that my family is doing okay Penny! thank you!
love,natalie

Carolyn said this:  That's so great that Andrea is really permanent now!!!  I'm making happy noises for you all!  2 Things I'm grateful for is all the new friends that God has blessed me with through journaling!  And I'm thankful that my Husband was finally able to afford to take a week off, and that we were able to save up to take our little guy to Disney for the day on his birthday!  We desperately needed (still do) some real family fun time, and I'm very grateful that we got some!!!  HAve a great weekend Penny!  I'm real happy for your family!  Love Carolyn
Comment from lifesabench6 - 11/3/06 7:55 PM

I just want to tell all of you - those who wrote in my journal, Natalie's and in your own journals of your gratitude - how very very grateful I am to be in this community.  We all seem to get closer every year, don't we?

Now on the home front.  We have all been struggling through the heat wave here in Southern California.  The Santa Ana winds have made us drip with the heat.  It was about 94 degrees here.  I'm grateful that we live in a place that has plenty of water for drinking, showering and rinsing off our beleaguered pets. It isn't this way in Mexico or in many 3rd world countries for that matter. 

The girls have received their first quarter report cards and all are B or better!  At this school the achievers are members of "Renaissance" to reach Honor Roll you must have a B+ or better.  They will all get a t-shirt, a trip to miniature golf and lunch.  I am so proud of them!  Guess what we are thankful for today???

We are so blessed!  In our struggles, we see that the Lord has always carried us through through and will do so now.  So even the bleakest days have a little blue skies and sunshine for us. On this awfully hot day, we had a cool fruit salad for supper, making us all comfortable and refreshed.  The fans are running still although it has cooled down outside, the girls have fallen asleep and I'm about to do that very same thing.

Please leave the things you are thankful for in my comment section or write it in your journal and leave me the link. I'll be back on Saturday to print up what you have told me. I pray that you will all have a wonderful night - turn off the election results, my friends.  The news will be there in the morning.  May the Lord bless and keep you
                                      

                              

 

Thankful

I actually started to write this entry around 4 am this morning, but time passed so quickly and we had to leave for Los Angeles.  I want to talk about thankfulness.  November is a month when we have a chance to remember our gratitude and thankfulness.  Merriam Webster describes it this way:

Main Entry: thank·ful Pronunciation: 'tha[ng]k-f&l Function: adjective 1 : conscious of benefit received <for what we are about to receive make us truly thankful> 2 : expressive of thanks <thankful service> 3 : well pleased : GLAD <was thankful that it didn't rain> - thank·ful·ness noun

I mentioned in my last entry (way too long ago) that I would like it if we all shared our gratitude about two times a week.  I have enough thankfulness to share daily.  It's just too tough for me to do.  So I will make a list and share it twice a week, normally on Tuesdays and Saturdays.  Those who want to join me in this month of thankfulness, can put it in their journals and leave me a link or leave your thankfulnes in my comment section.

       

First this week I want to show my gratitude to U.S. Congressman Elton Gallegly and his staff for working a miracle in our lives.  For nearly two years we have been attempting to obtain Andrea's permanent residence status.  The process is slow to begin with and when we missed an appointment with USCIS lat March, rather than making another appointment as promised, we received a denial notice, telling us that we had abandoned our claim and that Andrea was deported and had to leave the country.  No way was I going to send her back!

As it turned out, Mr Gallegly's office managed to get this appointment for us where no other person could.  15 minutes after the interview started, It was over and Andrea is a permanent. 

We had a lot of prayer about this.  I want to thank  everyone who prayed for us.  Never doubt the power of prayer.  I want to thank Rob Sanders for okaying our petition.

I am so thankful that his is over!  The Lord has been with us all this time, even when we believed we were doomed to start a very expensive process from the beginning.  We are truly grateful that this is over.

These things overwhelm my sense of thankfulness - all I can  say is WOW and Hallelujah!!!  I hope to be back before Tuesday when I will place my thankfulness on my journal again.

Bless all of you and please continue to pray for the little doll pictured above. 

                      

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