blessings

We've all  heard stories about communities coming together helping others when something catastrophic happens. They are heart-warming and encouraging... but not really unexpected. It's not difficult to give your time or money or resources to those who have lost everything in a hurricane or fire. But this past week I witnessed a community helping people who are not in the midst of a catastrophic "act of nature," who have clean water, adequate food and are not injured or sick. While I expected there would be "some" help, I was astonished at the over-the-top generosity.

We belong to a smallish church with about 90 regular attenders each week. Many of these people are personally struggling with joblessness and under-employment or cancer and other horrific medical conditions. There never seems to be enough hours in the day to meet the needs of their families.

The church recently had a birthday celebration and as a "birthday gift,"collected non-perishable food and hygiene items to send to deployed soldiers through the Any Soldier program, an organization that connects a group of soldiers with willing supporters. I was in charge of coordinating the Any Soldier boxes and had a goal of sending four or maybe five boxes to a unit of eight men stationed in Afghanistan.

We collected items for just two weeks. This table is 43 inches wide and 72 inches long. Over 115 pounds of food and hygiene items are stacked as high as they will go without toppling over. Instead of four or five boxes, I packed eleven boxes! We sent boxes to our original unit as well as a unit of 30 men also serving in Afghanistan. 

While I was thinking small, God was thinking big. 

Several people told me it was good to focus on the needs of others rather than their own problems. One older gentleman, stooped from age, made several trips to his car to bring his goodies into the church before telling me about his military service decades ago and how much he appreciated the opportunity now to "do something for the boys!" 

The soldiers will be blessed with some comfort foods from home, new toothbrushes (apparently highly coveted items!) and a letter from grateful strangers new friends. But I think we were blessed even more. Our God is so good!!

what's next??

I enjoy reading books on my Kindle. The only down side so far is that you have to turn it off  on planes during take-off and landing. It's during that time that I peruse the SkyMall Magazine to see what outrageous, often humorous items retailers think we cannot live without. This quest not only distracts me during the most vulnerable times of a flight, it also allows me to contemplate the state of our society.

On a recent flight I was... intrigued... bewildered ... aghast... and appalled by a very aptly-named clothing item - a pillow tie! 

For only $19.95 plus $7.25 for shipping/handling, you can order an inflatable tie made of microfiber/silk in your choice of black, maroon or blue as the dominant color (patterns vary). And what, you ask, does one need an inflatable tie for?

I'm curious about the "most functions that require a necktie deserve to be slept through" part of their advertising. Would that be meetings with your boss and/or customers? Or perhaps that very special, romantic birthday dinner with your wife? A wedding? A funeral? Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize? The only tie-requiring events I could come up with that a guy might want to sleep through were the opera and a ballet- but that hardly qualifies as "most." 

Ahhh... I get it! It's a gag gift! Well, not really, according to the reviews posted online. "This is a great buy ... stylish ... I've had several compliments from friends and family... stain-resistant fabric is awesome... attractive ... extremely comfortable ... looks good" and the accolades go on and on. 

I'm not sure which bothers me most- that people buy it or that guys actually wear (and use!!) it. 

wisdom from an 8 year old

Our oldest grandson, Christopher, celebrated his eighth birthday earlier this month and it was our privilege to help him celebrate in person this year. I absolutely love that childhood birthdays are looked forward to, a time of anticipation and great delight. Somewhere along the road of life, we lose that exuberance for being a bit older, for blowing out one more candle on the cake and proudly telling anyone who asks how old we are. But at age eight, birthdays are FUN!!

Instead of a party with his friends, Christopher wanted to see Smurfs in 3-D with his family.

(With six people in their family, going to a movie theater is a very special treat!)

When I went in Christopher and Ben's room to get them up on the morning of his birthday, I discovered Christopher dressed in a button-down shirt, tie, jeans and wearing his good shoes. Normally I find him in his boxers (what he sleeps in) and have to convince him to get dressed if we're not going somewhere. He told me he got dressed before he went to sleep the night before so he would be dressed up for his WHOLE birthday. Yep... he slept in his clothes... but NOT his shoes, he assured me! When was the last time you wanted to celebrate your WHOLE birthday, to not miss even a minute of it?!?!

He may be a year older but he still likes to make silly faces!

Christopher has lots of friends at school and in their neighborhood.  Some are girls (but he's only had two girlfriends!) and some are boys. He told me the most important thing he's learned about friendship is that "you never cheat on your friends. If you promise you'll give them something, you don't trick them." Wouldn't the world be a much better place if grown-ups understood that concept and lived by it? I wonder if all children know this but somewhere in the journey to adulthood our selfish desires convince us it's a childish notion.

**Notice the "11 ft" marker!**

Christopher (and brothers and sister) took swimming lessons this summer. Some children are risk-takers or dare-devils... Christopher is not one of them. He's naturally cautious and jumping into a pool of water deeper than he is tall was not his idea of fun. In fact, it terrified him. After the first session of lessons, try as he might, he just couldn't jump into the deep end of the pool and his dad had to toss him in. The last day of the second session was right before his birthday and we were there to watch. It took him a few moments to get enough courage to jump, but finally, with a smile on his face he jumped off the diving board into eleven feet of  water... not just once, but several times! He told me afterwards that "the secret is to keep doing what you're afraid of because it gets less scary." Hmmm... more wisdom we "forget" as we "mature?"

Christopher... a young man with BIG dreams!

One of my favorite things to ask kids is what they want to be when they grow up. Christopher told me he wanted to be an artist- a much more realistic goal than his three year-old sister's... to be a kangaroo! His answer was not surprising to me since art is his passion (his mom sometimes takes away his art supplies as punishment!). But when I rephrased my query asking  what he was looking forward to doing when he was a grown up, I realized he had spent some time thinking and dreaming about this; it's not just the "career of the week" answer. He wants to "open a restaurant named 'Christopher's Place' and do all the artwork inside." Will he do this? I don't know. But I certainly think it's within the realm of possibility. LeAnn Rimes decided at age eight, after seeing Reba McEntire's show, that she wanted to be a performer. Herb Alpert, at age eight,  began practicing every day to be a musician and performer. And Academy Award nominee Frank Langella did his first piece of acting at age eight.

What I do know is that children are often wiser than we give them credit for.

gettin' our kicks on route 66

U.S. Route 66... aka the Will Rogers Highway.... aka "Main Street of America"... aka "the Mother Road"... was one of the original U.S. highways and was established in November, 1926. The original route meandered across the country from Chicago down to St. Louis and across to Los Angeles covering a total of 2,448 miles. Towns grew up and prospered along the route. It became the inspiration for songs, stories and a tv show. I remember family road trips as a child driving along Route 66 . We played Auto Bingo (the kind with the red windows you shut when you found an item) looking for a gas pump or a tow truck. We stopped at diners for meals and mom and pop gas stations to "fill 'er up!" and get a soda. A "full day" was traveling 350-400 miles.

And then, in 1985, U.S. Route 66 was removed from the U.S. Highway system when it was deemed "no longer relevant" after being replaced by the Insterstate Highway System. Booming towns became ghost towns almost over night. People were more interested in getting to their destination fast. Then a few baby boomers who remembered the nostalgia of traveling the Mother Road fought to preserve it and portions are now designated a "National Scenic Byway."

Our MR KLUD group decided to make a short Route 66 road trip after Mike read about three eating establishments on Route 66 in Phoenix Magazine (we did #4). We met in Flagstaff on a Friday night so we could be ready to start our road trip early Saturday morning.

Richard, Doug & Mike

Our first stop was breakfast in Flagstaff at the Galaxy Diner, a 50's-style diner with walls covered with pictures of old movie stars. They also have a great assortment of historic Route 66 memorabilia that was fun to look at. For just $6.49 I got a galaxy-sized breakfast of two giant flapjacks, two scrambled eggs and bacon- more than I could finish.

Our next stop, for lunch, was about 40 minutes away in Williams, Arizona and we were stuffed from breakfast. We stopped at Bearizona, a drive-through wildlife park along with a more traditional zoo and petting zoo, to see the wildlife and walk off our breakfast.

Seeing such huge bears up in the trees made us wonder how many times we have walked past bears up in trees as we hiked in the forest! Although they all look like cuddly teddy bears, they are wild and dangerous!

We saw a variety of wildlife but my favorites, besides the bears, were the lynx and raccoons because they look so friendly (they aren't!) and the white bison because they are so big and unusual looking. 

There were LOTS of wildflowers blooming all around the high country- beautiful!

The bird show, featuring several raptors, was impressive. They flew just above the crowd making more than one person duck!

MR KLUD with our new friend

Traveling on highways like Route 66, with its slower pace, allows you to really see the country-side as you drive through small towns or follow the railroads. While at first it seemed like we were crawling along, I soon began to appreciate the ride and not zipping by the scenery at 80+ mph with everything within a half mile of the road a blur. We spied small ponds, cattle, lots of flowers, farms with colorful barns and "interesting" roadside decor along the way. 

We passed dozens of colorful double-decker trains. I tried to count the cars- a favorite game from my childhood- but always lost count. I guess some things don't change!

Our lunch stop was Twisters Soda Fountain where the chili dogs and fried zucchini sticks are must eats! I thought their color scheme of "Barbie pink" and bright red was a bit different, but the food was good and it was a fun place to walk around. 

After lunch, we continued our trek along Route 66 headed to Kingman. One of the great things about the Mother Road is all the interesting and odd things you can see along the way. Our next stop was Grand Canyon Caverns...

... where a very, very cheesy dinosaur greets you!

The natural limestone caverns are 200-300 feet below the the surface and were discovered in 1927 when Walter Peck stumbled into them. Thinking he had found a gold mine, he purchased all the land around the caverns but when that didn't "pan" out, he began selling tours. The rest, as they say, is history.

The caverns are a geological treasure and quite beautiful. The tour begins with an elevator ride down about 20 stories where the walking portion of the tour begins. Parts have a steep incline and there are a few stairs. The best part? The COOL temperature!

Besides being a natural wonder and pretty to look at, the caverns also doubled as a bomb shelter in the 1960's when President Kennedy ordered enough food, water and medical supplies to last two weeks for 2000 people loaded into the bottom. I bet those 50-year-old crackers and drums of water taste great now!

And, for the super adventurous, there is a hotel suite (minus the walls) inside the caverns that accommodates up to six people. Water is hand carried down (up to 100 gallons) and an attendant is stationed at the top of the elevator should you need assistance. For just $700 (double occupancy- $100 each additional person up to six) per night, some consider it a bargain for a night in the oldest, quietest, deepest, darkest motel room on the planet. We, however, decided to pass! And headed on to Kingman for dinner.

Laurie, Kristin and Ursi

Mr. D'z Route 66 Diner was the dinner destination for delectable root beer floats (made with homemade root beer!) and cheeseburgers. Once again, while the color scheme was a little different, the restaurant was clean and the food was good and at a good price. In fact, while none of the diners served "out of this world" food, it was all good and I would definitely go back.

It had rained on and off all day. As we were leaving Kingman heading back to the Valley, we were treated to a glorious rainbow touching the ground at both ends and going through the dark rain clouds in the middle. It was one of the most vibrant rainbows I've ever seen; we enjoyed its beauty for about 45 minutes.

At one point we could see both the rain coming down in the distance and the rainbow! It was actually a DOUBLE rainbow- look closely! What a treat!!

queen of drama ... and proud of it!

Do you ever think there is entirely too much drama in your life? Is that co-worker who has a "situation" every day starting to drive you crazy? Do you have teenagers? Is there a Facebook friend who makes mountains out of molehills  and then wants to share every thought? Are you a drama queen?

I think we've all been a drama queen at some point in our lives or about a certain thing. But that kind of drama on a daily basis wears me out and drags me down. Fortunately, I've discovered an antidote!

Real honest-to-goodness drama! As Alfred Hitchcock once said, "Drama is life with the dull bits cut out." He, of course, was referring to motion pictures, but the same is true for live drama... and it's even more exciting since there are no retakes!

I had been feeling a bit dragged down by the drama in my life over the past month or so. And then last week I went to THREE live productions with three different friends.

The first one, Over the River, had me laughing in the aisle (okay... my seat!) as well as shedding a few tears at the family dynamics and antics of an Italian family (boy, could I relate!). The Herburger Theater in Phoenix has a "Lunch Time Theater" that does short productions during, you guessed it, lunch time. I saw With Friends Like These mid-week and howled (ok... quietly roared) through a play about three types of friends... ones we ALL have! At just $6 (you can bring your own lunch in or buy theirs for an additional $6) it is a bargain! At the end of the week I saw Little Shop of Horrors, a play I've seen several times but always enjoy- especially seeing how they will do Audrey II. Although the plot is preposterous, the music is uplifting and, as anticipated, I left the theater upbeat.

Side Note: Two of the plays were at the Hale Centre Theatre in Gilbert, a small, family-owned and operated theater. Their prices are very reasonable (we got tickets for one show through Groupon at 50% off- an even better deal!) and every production we've seen there has been top-notch. 

By the end of the week... and my theater-going... I was able to put the silly drama in my life into perspective. And became a queen of drama... not a drama queen!...  in the process! 

a dirty story

I have lived in the Valley of the Sun most of my life and am no stranger to monsoon storms. Sometimes they are mostly noise- lots of wind blowing patio furniture around, booming thunder and streaks of lightning. Other times they consist of bright heat lightning followed by a gentle rain storm. There are "dust devils"-swirling funnels of dust and debris that arise suddenly and disappear just as quickly- that roam across the road leaving a layer of dust on your car but not the car in front of or behind you. And occasionally we get the storm you can see, hear, feel, taste and smell... a haboob.

The term "haboob" is derived from the Arabic word "habb" meaning wind. It is basically a wall of dust created by the downdrafts during a thunderstorm in a very dry desert. They occur in three regions of the world- the Sahara desert (particularly Sudan), the Arabian Peninsula (Kuwait, Iraq) and the southwest United States (Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas).

The week before last we watched a haboob roll in as we were driving home, hoping we would get home before it overtook us. We later learned it was the largest haboob to hit the Valley measuring about a mile high and more than 50 miles wide as it rolled through the Phoenix area. As I watched this storm and the effects afterwards, I was reminded of some similarities between the storm and sin.

At first, it looked like a cloud... soft and billowy... beautiful even. It's often the same with sin... it seems benign when we're first seduced. We see what we want to see and rationalize its effects. 

We were still several miles from home when we realized it was not a pretty cloud but a wall of dust rolling our way. The air was still and quiet. You knew the wall was there but could look the other way and ignore it... just like sin.

We made it home before the haboob hit and stood outside quietly watching it roll in. A musty, dusty smell filled our nostrils as our eyes were drawn to the powerful wall of dirt plowing through our neighborhood. And the closer it got, the dirtier and uglier it looked!

Soon the haboob was right behind the houses across the street and we had a choice to make. We could either stay outside in the dust storm or we could turn around and go inside. We have that same choice when it comes to sin- stay, indulging our selfish desires, or turn away from it.

Leaves on the trees began quaking as the wind started to kick up and the air was thick with dust. We were inside but people who were caught outside during the storm said it was hard to breathe, almost suffocating, and their teeth were gritty with dirt. Sometimes the Holy Spirit gives us a nudge about a sin- that uneasy feeling that we've done something "wrong" (guilt) that makes us feel like we just... can't... catch... our breath. 

Several minutes later the storm intensified. We could hear the howling gusts as our wind-whipped tree hung on for dear life. Darkness descended like a shroud as the storm seemed to dig in, not wanting to let go. Finally, about ten minutes later, the wind lessened and then was gone. It was once again still but with the smell and taste of dust hanging in the air. My eyes felt gritty with sand after being outside for just a few minutes. Sometimes sin also likes to dig in, taking root in our hearts. And it takes the power of God to shake it loose just as the power of God moved the storm along.

The next morning, in the light of day, we could see the aftermath of the haboob. Everything- and I mean everything!- was covered with a layer of silt about a sixteenth of an inch thick making sidewalks slick and pools filthy. The air was still thick with dust. Thousands of homes were without power- thankfully not ours! Health experts predict there will be THREE times as many Valley Fever infections over the next two to three months  as is normal for this time of year as a result of the haboob. The consequences of this storm will touch many people, some living in places where the storm did not hit. Sin is like that, too, with far-reaching effects and consequences. 

Much time, money and effort was spent on clean-up across the Valley of the Sun- road crews cleared debris, power companies restored power, pool cleaning companies were working overtime. We hosed down our house, washed furniture, scrubbed windows, cleaned out the pool pump and filters several times, and dusted and vacuumed INSIDE our house (houses are not air-tight!). After four or five days the air began to clear. What had been dirty was now clean. When Jesus died on the cross and rose again, He cleansed us of our sins and clothed us with His righteousness. But unlike hosing off the patio- which had no choice but to be cleaned- each person must choose to accept the gift of salvation and eternal life that is offered. 

"Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood."  

Romans 3:24-25

4th of July with our peeps

The 4th of July is a time to celebrate the birth of our country. Our wise Founding Fathers stated in the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." During the recent 4th of July weekend, our MR KLUD group met at Mike and Laurie's place in Payson to pay homage to those unalienable rights- life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Bet you're wondering what these kind of peeps have to do with this...

The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution gives Americans the right to bear arms. We decided to honor "liberty" by exercising that right. Doug brought his bb gun and several boxes of really stale peeps and the guys set up a target.

Yep... now you're getting the picture!

Standing on the deck about 30 feet away, we took turns taking peep shots. Everyone shot at least one peep with Ursi in the lead for the girls and Richard taking the lead for the guys.

The New Charlie's Angels? 

Laurie, Kristin and Ursi

Doug, Mike

Richard, Matt (Mike & Laurie's son)

Shooting is hard work requiring steady hands, good concentration and factoring variables like wind speed and direction. After several rounds we needed a break so we examined the peeps to determine "cause of death."

Poor Peep didn't stand a chance!

We "pursued happiness" as we played games with friends. Amid much talking, good-natured kidding  and laughter, we played Mexican Train Dominoes, a game we frequently play when we're together. Ursi was happy she won (score 236) and she says she "always loses!" I was happy the game was finally over and I had exactly 500 points- yeah, I lost! 

Win or lose, it's always FUN!

Doug and Richard played Washers, a game similar to Horseshoes while the rest of us got dinner ready.

Boys and their toys!

What could be more "4th of July-ish" than a backyard cook-out? Chef Mike donned the BBQ apron and grilled delicious hamburgers and corn-on-the-cob!

There is one "unalienable right" left- life. Before we ate the feast Mike prepared for us, we gave thanks to our Creator for our lives, for living in a country where we enjoy so many freedoms and for the people who have fought for our freedoms. 

MR KLUD

Without a doubt, it is the peeps... friends, family, neighbors, acquaintances... in our lives that make life memorable!