A pretty tree

Here is a picture of a tree! :) I love these trees and they are all over out here. I don't know what they are but they are so pretty! I can't figure out how to rotate it. It will rotate on the computer but when I upload it it goes back to the original. I guess everyone will just have to turn their heads sideways. Or pretend that the trees grow sideways out here.

Paul Washer

"I guess I call my self a five point Spurgeonist." -- Paul Washer. Gotta love it!

Meeting a Cousin

My dad has a cousin that lives about an hour from where I am living. When I found out I was coming out here we decided we wanted to meet. I have heard of her all my life but had never gotten to meet her. We discussed different options of when and where to get together. It ended up being the best for me to drive over to a ladies banquet her church was hosting. 

I drove over yesterday morning. That was the farthest east I had ever been in California. It was a beautiful drive even if the sun wasn't shining. I would love to have been able to look at more things but when you are driving it is kind of important to keep your eyes on the road. :)

The banquet was very nice. After the banquet I went home with Gay (my dad's cousin). I got to meet her husband and son. We had a grand time just chatting and getting to know each other. I spent the whole afternoon there and didn't head home until about 5. We hope to get together again sometime while I am out here.

The Quarterly Gathering

Last year I wrote a post about Resurrection Sunday and I called it a "Mountain Top Day." Here is a story of an other such day.

The last Sunday of April was the Quarterly Gathering for the Southern California Association of Reformed Baptist Churches. The church I have been attending hosted the gathering. They have been talking about it and looking forward to it ever since I first got out here. I really looked forward to it. There were about 10 churches involved. All the churches get together quarterly (hence the name) and have a Sunday evening service together.

The day before several member of the church got together and helped prepare. The ladies prepared food and did various other things. Pastor Curley worked non-stop (as always) getting all kinds of other stuff prepared. That kind of thing is always fun. It provides a wonderful time to visit with friends while getting something accomplished. We laughed and carried on and had a good ol' time. 

Sunday morning we had service as normal.  After lunch there was more work to be done. One of the ladies in the church, Christina, (who I think is an absolute doll!) and I filled the salt and pepper shakers. Christina got to laughing so hard that she had tears running down her face. Here we are working with black pepper, and making a mess of things, and it isn't bothering us at all. While across the kitchen the pastors sister can't stop sneezing. It was a riot!

I went home to fix Dorothy her lunch and take a quick nap in the middle of the afternoon. Rob and Chrissy were coming up for the gathering and so we were going to go out before the service started. They didn't get to come as early as they wanted to but we were very thankful for the time that they did get to spend.

I guess I am getting a little ahead of my story...

When I went back to the church I helped the ladies make sandwiches until Rob and Chrissy got there. I went with them and we drove up the road a little ways to a Cold Stone. I don't think I had ever been to one before. They had pistachio ice cream! I LOVE pistachio! It was fabulous. I had pecans mixed in.

We all got our ice cream and went and sat on a park bench and ate and chatted. In all the time I have been out here this was only the second time we have gotten together. Life is just too busy.

The meeting started at 5. It was fabulous. Pastor Curley said he thinks there were about 300 people there. It was wonderful to sing with that many voices. One of the hymns we sang was And Can It Be. That is one of my all time favorite hymns.

A pastor named Robert Elliott preached. His sermon was from Isaiah 40: 28-31. It was a FABULOUS sermon about our weakness and our great and powerful God.

After the service there was a HUGE dinner. I don't think I have ever seen so much food in one place! It was a nice time to get to meet people and visit with those you know. I didn't hardly know anyone. I only knew the people from my church here and Rob and Chrissy. I talked to several people though. As everyone knows I am not very shy.

All in all it was a fabulous day. 

Locked In

Here is a letter I wrote to Bethany about a month ago. I have been meaning to post it and I just never made it priority. I have a LOT of posting to catch up on.

I guess now is as good of a time to write as any. I am locked in my bedroom and I haven’t the foggiest idea how to get out. I was ironing some fabric that I was getting ready to cut. Dorothy’s ironing board is on the back of the bedroom door. I pushed the door all the way closed not realizing that the door knob was coming off. When I went to twist the knob it twisted but didn’t grab anything. So her I am. I can’t yell for Dorothy because she would never hear me. I can’t climb out a window because  there are bars on all of them. I just have to figure out how to open the door.

The bars on one of the windows are on hinges and has a padlock. I guess I will just have to go through everything until I find that key.I am hoping when Dorothy gets hungry she will realize I am missing. The problem is that will be at least an hour . Maybe a lot longer than that, you don’t know with her.

Are you laughing yet? If you are reading this letter it means I found my way out. J

The bright side is it gave me (or made me) the chance to get my room all straightened up. There is always a bright side to everything!

Here I have filled a whole card and only told you one thing! And the drama has just begun. I have yet to tell you how I got out. I guess I should go see if I can figure that part out…

Guess what?! I stopped writing, opened a drawer, saw a box, opened it up, and guess what was inside? Keys! Too bad none of them worked for the padlock. I then found a box wih a wallet inside. Guess what was in that? Yep! A key. Too bad it was a house key. On to the closet. I found a bucket of pennies with some keys on top. Guess what? An other house key and a garage key. I did find some pictures of the three oldest Portukalian boys when they were little. J

A bag – an other key. But I bet you can’t guess this time. ;) It doesn’t work. What is it with this lady and keys? A box with a key chain, (none of which work of course) and $16.50 in silver dollars and half dollars. One of them was dated 1882. How do you like my inventory?

OK, Bethany, the adventure has worn off and I am getting bored and hungry. I could hear my cell phone ringing but I couldn’t get to it. I have gone through all the drawers and tried to figure out how to take the hinges off,  but they have been painted over too many times. I fed a long incense thing down behind the latch and put the curved end of a Bobbie pin  in to pull the end out so I could make a loop; I was trying to be able to pull the latch but that plan didn’t work. I guess I am not a a very good McGyver.

I think I might have a soluion! I hear a lawn mower and weed eater. It is the guy mowing our yard. If I can get their attention I can tell them to ring the door bell and tell Dorothy what is going on!

So that idea didn’t work either. The men never came into view of my window. I finally just diceded to take a nap.

I woke up and tried the incense thing again. Guess what?! This time it worked I pushed in on the door while pulling on the incense stick and it popped open. All in all I think it was about two and a half hours. When I went out to see Dorothy she hadn’t missed me!