OLD FRIENDS

We went to Portland last week to visit. It just so happened that friends of ours from Brookings, who had moved to Idaho quite a few years ago to be near their kids and grand kids, were going to be in Portland at Oregon City Nazarene where Dani and Sterling are members.

The Keech's Harold and Lilace are a part of a 45 member choir of people all over 60 years old. From Nampa, ID. They did a fantastic job .
Afterwards I got some pictures at the fellowship.

The first one is Margie Shankle . Shelby, Shawna and Marcus Wilcher.

Second one Dan, Harold and Marcus

Third one Lyle and Malina Hamilton I don't know where Dona was.

Fourth one Harold and Lilace Keech on the ends Pam Carter in the middle.
Last Harold and Lilace they haven't changed a bit.

RETREAT

A month or so ago I went with my daughter Dani's church on a women's retreat.
It was a very nice weekend, at a beautiful retreat center. The facilities were wonderful. I made a lot of new friends.
The speaker Janet Reeder was fantastic. She's one of these women that isn't to good to sit and eat a meal with the women who came on the retreat. I've been to some where the guest speakers sit at a table with the organizers or even in a separate location.
It was really nice to get to know her. For one thing she is very kind,compassionate and hysterical. Her stories she shared were very interesting and we could relate to them.
We also had a wonderful group of women who led worship they were from the Newport, Or. church of the Nazarene. A very wonderful thing happened to me the end of the first evening. I got a tap on my shoulder, turned around, it was one of the women on the praise team. She asked me if I remembered her. I told her I thought she looked familiar. Well, she was a friend of mine from Hope Wesleyan Church in Escondido, Ca. I hadn't seen her in over 25 years. Not only had we both moved to Or., we had both changed Church denominations. She had moved to Az. and lived there for a number of years. It was just so cool that we met up again.
The facility there has a golf cart for use to take people from the dining room to the area where the actual conference takes place and back to the house you're in, so people like me with mobility issues and elderly people can get around. So Mona was our driver, what a character she is. She asked Dani one morning Where's Joe? Dani said Joe who, she responded Joe mama. So now she calls me Joe.
I get to see her and the other ladies from her church when we go to Portland to visit.
If you ever get a chance to go on a retreat you should go. They are a lot of fun. This was way out in the country. No cell service, tv or internet. Guess what? We all survived.

TRYING AGAIN

One of the reasons it's been awhile since I posted. The last 3 times I tried I've accidentally deleted it. In trying to fix things, I've deleted the entire thing. This last time I had a picture sideways. I followed the instructions and just marked the picture I wanted to delete. Well the whole thing was gone.

So here goes again, this time no corrections. ha ha

I wanted to say we had a very nice time in Portland for my birthday 12/21 Christmas and Dani's birthday also on Christmas. We were able to see Ashbie and Mercy sing a Christmas special while Ashton accompanied them on the drums. It was a proud moment. We also saw the kids Christmas program at Church and the Christmas Eve service which was wonderful.

Angi was able to come for Christmas also. It was a full house, but that's fun.

January was pretty quiet around here, I don't do much when it's cold and rainy outside.

Thank goodness for my computer and FACEBOOK. I love keeping in touch with my family and friends I assumed I'd lost touch with forever. I also love playing several of the games. Our Church does a daily Bible reading which I love to take part in. I also love to read. I got several new books for Christmas, so that keeps me busy too.

Well tomorrow is Valentines Day. I hope all the people in your lives treat you special not only tomorrow but always.

OCTOBER IN PORTLAND

Mercy and her friend Malena

Mercy getting her bicycle

Kids playing pin the nose on Mario

Malena and her mama Dona

First we start with Mercy's birthday. She had a party with a few of her friends.
There were games and food and lots of fun, and oh yes presents.

A LITTLE MORE ON THE REUNION

STANDING AT THE END OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK TRAIL MONUMENT




This is a picture of Dave and I the day we met, right in front of the condo office, we both were so excited. I think we look alike, even with his beard I see a resemblance. I've had others tell me this too.

Since Dan and I had never been to Seaside, Or.we were excited to have a vacation too. We had good weather. The first day we were there it rained. But, the rest of the week was good, oh wait the day we drove to Tillamook to take them to the Cheese Factory it rained too. Well, you know it's Oregon.
We also went to Astoria which I really enjoyed. I would recommend if you go there to be sure and visit the Maritime Museum it was really interesting. I posted pictures of that previously.

HAVING FUN AT HAYSTACK ROCK IN CANNON BEACH, OR.

I also mentioned going to Cannon Beach they were looking for sand dollars, it was the wrong time of day. But, they had fun none the less. It was windy that day ,but didn't keep them out of the water. Gidget and I stayed in the van and took a little nap where it was warm.We also had lots of pool time fun.

MISSING SIBLINGS

My brother Dave and I in Astoria at the Maritime Museum
Dave showing his strength
My SIL Judi

Dave and Judi at Mo's at Cannon Beach
Dani and Sterling at Mo's
Ashton at Papa at Mo's


I recently was able to meet a brother who was separated from me when I was 6 mo. old and he was 4 yrs old.
Let me go back to the beginning.
It's difficult to write these words without making my mom out to be a horrible person. Which I think is why I blocked out things I was told or hints that were dropped in conversations.
My mom was not a horrible person, but she did make mistakes. My mom delivered 8 babies. Three of these she kept including me, my brother Larry and sister Lori.(As I mentioned previously when I came down with Polio, Larry and I were in a home where the people were going to adopt us.)But, this was stopped and we were not adopted.
Four brothers were given up for adoption and one went back to live with his father.
I give my mom much credit that she did not abort these babies.
To protect someone in her 80's now, I will not go into many details which involved her in all of this. There was good and illegal matters.
I don't know if this was widespread in those days. But, it seems cover ups and lies were my families daily routine.
It's very hard for a child when they're told you better tell me the truth, your punishment will be more severe if you lie to me. But, in the next breath we're being sworn to secrecy about matters we know are wrong. Don't ever tell anyone this or that. Or being told what you saw happen really didn't happen that way and if anyone asks what happened you tell them what I said happened. So many double standards.
Sorry I digressed.
Well this is a great story, to get back on a positive note.
About 3 years ago, I received an email from a brother Leslie. He and his brother Phillip were adopted together. We all have different fathers.
Les found me through Classmates.com, we were very excited to talk on the phone, he and Phil had been adopted through a friend of the family. We lived in the same neighborhood. Les and I went to the same high school, he was a freshman I was a senior. He knew who I was. Someone in our family gave them pictures of us. I was blown away when I heard this. He said he almost spoke to me in school one day, but never did. I mean what would you say? The adults in our lives should have told us.
After talking to Les, I've emailed Phil and sent both of them pictures that I had of our mom. Phil is not healthy and is having a difficult time dealing with this at this time. So I'm not putting any pressure on him.
Well, I decided to once again try to find David an older brother. Both Les and Phil are younger. I had done the Classmate search the previous year. My aunt had given me the information on all 5 boys. So this time when I searched I found a David Beal in a Mo. high school, he was around the right age. So I sent him an email. I gave him some facts and asked him if he could possibly be my brother. He wrote back and said I can only HOPE that you are my sister. He gave me his phone number because the things I asked him he knew about. I called him and it was so exciting. He had only registered on the website because the ship he was on in the NAVY was having a reunion and he was looking for friends.
He had tried to find me for years. The sad thing is we lived in San Diego at the same time. He was stationed there for several years. He didn't know our last name, the name he had was wrong, and he was looking in Long Beach, Ca. which is where we lived when he went back to live with his dad. WHY DID HE GO BACK TO LIVE WITH HIS DAD? I was shocked when I heard this. Are you ready?
My mom and Davids mom were married and lived in Mo. when David was a baby my mom and her best friend (I referred to her earlier as an aunt. Because my mom took off from her home as a teenager I never had blood relatives so this "aunt" her family in San Diego sort of adopted my mom and then us kids as their family, a very wonderful thing for them to do, so I had wonderful aunts, uncles and cousins)so they took off for San Diego and left David in Mo.. When David was 4 years old my mom and her went to Mo. drove up in a car, David was playing outside I think with his older sister. My aunt got out and picked him up, the sister said, "Hey what are you doing"? My aunt said were taking him for ice cream, and she put him in the car. David said the next thing he knew they were on a train.
It took his father several months of talking to attorneys and getting legal matters settled in Mo. and Ca. papers filed showing that he had a home for him in Mo. to live. So he went to Long Beach, Ca. picked him up and took him back to Mo.
Can you imagine how scared that little boy was. He had no idea who these women were. They told him he had a little sister he needed to meet. He said we shared a bedroom he would lay in his bed and talk to me in my crib. He told me he knew he loved me then. He spent years trying to find me. So glad we finally did.
I wasn't going to tell that part of the story, But, that's a huge part of his life. No more secrets!!!
When he and Judi said they wanted to come out here and meet us I was thrilled. They own timeshare condos. So they got a 2 bedroom condo on the beach in Seaside, Or. They wanted Dan and I to stay with them. So we did, and Dani, Sterling and the kids came up to visit for a few days. We also made some day trips to Tillamook to the Cheese Factory. Astoria and went across the bridge into WA. and Cannon Beach one day.
We had a marvelous time.
David was able to get closure on things he had wondered about for years. I do feel guilty about having time with mom, that he didn't get. My mom and I were really becoming close around the time I met Dan my husband. She really loved him. When we had the girls she was a devoted grandma. Unfortunately she died when Angi was 2 and Dani 3. She was 55.
Well, I still have 2 brothers to find. Both older than David. He and I have tried all sorts of searches and called many men with their names, but no luck yet.
I am hoping for a reunion one day with ALL of us who have been found.
Here are some pictures of our fun time together.

AUGUST WITH THE SNOWDENS

Eagles in the nest

They are chipmunks sitting in their tree, they are even wearing the chipmunk vests

Ashton and Papa building something.

Mercy is building a computer

Ashbie hard at work making a paddle boat

Ashton and I watching the jet boats take off next to a submarine

Ashton is filling a bottle with air and water and then launched it pretty high

Sterling and Ashbie making a ball launcher

Mercy showing what you do in case of an earthquake

Mercy in the Earthquake

Mercy at the end of a long day

THE SMITHS MINUS 1 AVA MUST BE OUTSIDE

BEDTIME STORIES

Papa and Ashbie playing Pictureka

Snowdens Joining the Church: Pastor Shankle and Margie

We spent 2 weeks with Dani,Sterling and the kids.
Our first Sunday we were there The Snowdens joined the OC Naz Church. Dani and Sterling sang. Shawna, Marcus and Shelby Wilcher were there visiting that day. They are moving back to the Portland area so they were there looking for a place to live.
Dani and Sterling had a group of their friends over Fri. night from Church for a nacho pot luck. YUMMY.
Then on Sat. night we had a BBQ with a bunch of Brookings friends who have relocated to Portland.
Dan and Sterling and Ashton went golfing one day. Papa and Ashbie had a day to themselves at The Bite of Or. they were gone from 11 - 9 they had a blast. Dan spent a lot of days at The SOFTBALL LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES. Sterling and the kids joined him there a few days. The kids really enjoyed watching the softball games. Dan was even seen on ESPN one day sitting behind home plate.
One of those days Sterling had to go to work so he brought Mercy back with him. So her and I played games all afternoon and let her mom have a nap. This was on Mercy's list. The day we arrived she informed me she had a list. And her and and I had to do everything on it. Mind you this list was in her head. But, it included reading lots and lots of books, playing lots and lots of games, playing on the computer, playing Wii with me. We played Cooking Mama, and a few others. I enjoyed her list very much.
On the 18Th Dani and I drove to Jacksonville, Or. near Medford to the Outdoor Britt Festival and we saw Trace Adkins in concert, it was a great concert. It was fun to get to do something with Dani. We drove back the same night arriving back at her house around 3 a.m. The boys let us sleep in that morning.
Another great thing we did was go to OMSI Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Sound boring? It's not believe me, ALL ages enjoy it there. There is so much to see and do. Kids love it because it's hands on. It was a great day.
So that was a good part of August all wrapped up. Sept. is looking like it will be pretty busy too.
I will be meeting one of my 5 brothers for the first time. Teaser alert!!!! So look for that story.

MORE AUGUST DOINGS

Well a day after the big party. All the family left to go home. We sent Gidget home with Dani and Sterling. Because Dan and I started his 4 week vacation with a trip to Eureka, Ca. to see Boz Skaggs in concert. I realized while we were there that we're old. Everyone there was either our age or older. The youngest one we saw was around 35. It was a great concert. He still sounds good. He use to sing in one of my favorite bands from the 70's and 80's The Steve Miller Band.
We spent the night in Eureka. We stayed at the remodeled Best Western. I was really impressed with the room. I've never had a motel room with decorative pillows, a real bed with a real headboard. Here's my favorite thing a flat screen TV mounted on the wall at least 42 ".
I found out why? They didn't have AC. Granted how often does Eureka, Ca. need AC. well it just happened we were there when it had been warm. The room was trapped at 85 all night. I thought I had turned on the AC only to find out when Dan checked it in the morning it was only a fan. When he opened the door it was nice and cool outside. All we needed to do was open the bathroom window. It was a high window, no one could have gotten in and killed us.
Dan mentioned to the housekeeper in the morning, oh yes we provide fans if you ask. Well, had I been smart enough to realize there was no AC I might have done just that.
All in all though it was fine. I would rather have clean than AC. But, a fan would have been nice.