Where Did I Come From?

Does the story of my life begin the day I was born? Or does it begin the day my parents got married? Or the day they met? Or does it begin with my grandparents? Does it begin even farther back than that? The tale of a life can be quite fascinating, even if it is a very simple life, such as mine. So, I'll begin briefly with my heritage, and then weave more of the stories of my grandparents in as they lend themselves to the story at the time.

Melchior Detweiler arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 16, 1736, on the ship "Princess Augustus" by way of Cowes, England. Melchior was a native of the Palatinate, a province of France. He was the father of four sons: Christian, Jacob, John, and Rudolph. The family settled in Berks County, Pennsylvania, near the Blue Mountain. They lived in various counties in Pennsylvania for several generations.

Solomon Detweiler, Melchior's great, great, great, great grandson (ie sixth generation), was born March 24, 1851, in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. December 28, 1876, he married Salina Byler, daughter of Rudie Byler and Mary Hertzler, in Lawrence Coutny, PA. Several of his brothers moved west to Ohio where they settled with their families. At some point Solomon and Salina moved even farther west, settling first in Hutchinson, Kansas, then on to Thomas, Oklahoma.

A Xanga friend sent these pictures to me after reading of my heritage.  She lives in the area. 

Wasn't that sweet of her?

Benjamin Harrison Detweiler was born February 13, 1888, in Hutchinson, Kansas, to Solomon and Salina (Byler) Detweiler. He was the seventh of fourteen children. Solomon died when Ben was eleven years old. The story of Solomon's death is a sad and a tragic one. Solomon had a dispute with neighbor John Yutzy over the sale of hay. I don't have the details in my memory -- I should get Uncle Johnny to dictate them to me sometime. And Aunt Edna has newspaper reports of the incident of which I should obtain copies. But at any rate, the dispute became physical. They were in the barnyard fighting, John Yutzy picked up a pitchfork and actually pierced Solomon with it. The wound was treated, but became infected, and as a result, Solomon died some time later of blood poisoning. This made a great impression on young Ben, and to the day he died he held a grudge against anyone with the name "Yutzy." The irony of this is that if you go to the little cemetery beside the Upper Deer Creek Mennonite Church in Iowa County, Iowa, you will see the headstones marking the graves of Benjamin H. Detweiler and his spouse, Anna J. Detweiler ... beside the headstone of a couple with "Yutzy" as their surname!!! And further irony that one of his granddaughters (me!) actually married a Yutzy. Well, the Canadians preferred to keep the Swiss/German spelling of Jutzi, but the pronunciation is the same and they all came from the same four brothers who came to the States in the early 1800's.

Anna J. Miller was born May 25, 1893, in Hubbard, Oregon. I know nothing about her family; when did they move to Oregon? How long were they there? Where did she and Grandpa meet? All I know is that she and Grandpa were married January 30, 1913, in Weatherford, Oklahoma. Their first four children, Solomon, Martha, Irene, and LeRoy, were born in Weatherford (Custer County). Their fifth child, third son, Raymond, was born in Keota, Iowa (Washington County). Their remaining 8 children were born in the Wellman/Kalona, Iowa, area. There is some dispute as to whether the section of Wellman they were in was in Johnson County or Washington County. I have tried to determine that from the internet, but Wellman is listed in both counties.

Ben and Anna raised 13 children to maturity. I don't know that Grandma had any miscarriages, but if she didn't I think that's quite unusual. My Dad told me that after Aunt Martha was born the doctor told Grandma she should have a hysterectomy, but she didn't pay any attention to him and had eleven more babies! After they moved to Wellman, they spent the rest of their lives in the Wellman area. The house I remember was on the outer edge of Wellman, across the road from the Wellman Mennonite Church, which they did not attend. They had been reared as Amish, so when they left the Amish church they found the conservative Upper Deer Creek Church more appealing than the more liberal "Old Mennonite" church.

Celebrating 50 Years Together

January 30, 1913 - 1963 

Grandpa was a farmer and the four boys learned to farm as well. The only two of the four who continued in farming were the first and second sons, Sollie and LeRoy, although Raymond (my dad) settled in the country on 7 acres of land, which allowed the opportunity of having assorted farm animals and large gardens. I will probably discuss various members of the Detweiler family in later pages, but I think this is enough for now.

KNITTING AND STITCHING

A year or two ago a number of ladies at church had expressed a desire to learn to knit, so my sister Jo Ann and the other Juanita in our small group agreed to be the instructors in this venture. Both are skilled at knitting, crocheting, sewing, etc., etc. (Jo Ann has done tatting, quilling, macrame, and other interesting projects over the years. I have a lovely quilled piece in a frame she made for me about 35 years ago.) I can both knit and crochet, so I wasn't planning to join the group, but Jo Ann insisted I could help ladies figure out a pattern, figure out where they might be doing something incorrectly, etc. So I joined them for a while. Then things came up and I wasn't going much any more. Well, about 8 weeks ago one of the ladies in the group, Penny, suggested it might be fun to do a group project. So it was agreed that everyone who felt comfortable with the skills they've learned or perfected would knit a 12" square, then the squares would be joined together to create an afghan which they would present to one of the older ladies in the church for her 79th birthday. Betty quilts, but she doesn't go out much at nights, and she wasn't interested in learning to knit, so she has never joined the group.

Jo Ann had a book that was perfect for the project -- it was a book of 52 knitted sampler squares for the express purpose of making an afghan. Jo Ann and Juanita both suggested I join them in the project. Each of us chose a square we felt comfortable doing -- some squares involved cabling, others involved some tricky stitches. Several girls feel more comfortable crocheting, so they were encouraged to find a pattern that coordinated with the knitted patterns. We had a lot of fun working on these. Two ladies ended up choosing the same pattern, so we had to put them in opposite ends of the afghan.

Several weeks ago half a dozen or so of us got together and determined where each square should be placed, then we began stitching squares together. After that was finished, Juanita G. took the still unfinished afghan home with her and corrected a few mistakes that were visible, and made sure all the squares were securely together. Then she gave it to Jo Ann who crocheted a lovely edge on it. The end result was quite lovely! I didn't get a final picture of the finished piece on its own, but I think you'll get the "picture"!

Determining the placement of the squares was like putting a puzzle together!!

I made the one with the zig-zag stitches running down the center - it's the one in the lower left, second one from the right. Jo Ann's daughter-in-law Jessica crocheted the one above it -- the one with a circle in the middle. I also made the one in the top left of the afghan (the one to the left of the ball of yarn) but I didn't get a good picture of it. It was called Shadowed Cable.

Beginning to stitch squares together. Left to right, Gloria, Patsy, and Carolyn.

Here Carolyn and Juanita G. work at stitching together while Hampton and Penny look on.

Two squares left to put together.

Two weeks ago we invited Betty to join us at our Thursday evening knitting to see some of the projects we've been working on. Carolyn had brought a couple coverlet quilts she's been working on for some time, knowing Betty would enjoy seeing them. Then we presented the afghan to Betty. Her birthday is this Tuesday, and it's her 79th, not 80th, so she definitely wasn't expecting anything. 
 

Betty talking about something.

After we presented the gift to her.

She admired the flower decorations Juanita G. had knitted for a topper for the package.

And she began to open the package.

And then she ooohed and aaahed over the afghan!

Carolyn held it up and pointed out various blocks.  It was the first time most of us had seen the finished product, so we were as excited with it as Betty was!

Jo Ann (in the center) explained who had made each block (I'm going to make a graph for Betty so she'll be able to know who made which ones.)

This shot shows the crocheted border.

Then Susan presented Betty with a birthday cupcake and candle. It was at this point that Betty's eyes welled with tears.

Carolyn demonstrated how the knitted flower would make a lovely boutonniere!!

And those are our most recent activities! We are well into spring -- I saw the first open redbud tree yesterday, and took a picture of dogwood beginning to open last week. Bradford Pears are beginning to finish their blooming and the white cherry blossoms have begun to turn pink, so they are on the wane as well.  Yards were mowed yesterday for the first time this season. We've had lots of good rains, so the water table is almost back to normal.

Dogwood blossoms beginning to open.

I'm not sure what this is -- perhaps a red maple?

The trees in the back are cherry trees in full bloom.  The one in the front has its florets open (I'm not sure what kind it is), the ones in the middle haven't begun to open yet.

This is a dogwood with its buds just beginning to open -- its in front of two cherry trees in full bloom.  These were taken at the Kings Charter Manor House where our offices are located.

Shalom, ya'll!  

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, here we are at August 15th already!! June was the hottest and driest June on record. July was the hottest July on record. Between the two of them we had another record – ten days where the temperatures were 100° or over. Add humidity, and temps felt 105° to 113°. The previous record with temps 100° or more was 9 days. We didn’t break too many daily records, though. Some of the record highs were set in the 1950’s, one was set in 1900. But record or not, June and July were much too hot and dry – much of our grass burned up; some of it is coming back, but we’ll be doing some major reseeding this fall. We’ve done well in taking care of weeds, so we don’t have the green weed cover that some have.

August has been beautiful so far! Temperatures have been “normal” for August – mostly in the upper 80’s and low 90’s with showers, thunderstorms (some quite damaging, unfortunately) and just really comfortable for sitting outside on the deck or front porch. With the cooler temperatures, the cicadas are buzzing in full force. They began buzzing in early July – normally they don’t begin until mid-July around Dad’s birthday. But they haven’t been nearly as loud as normal – until now. Today has been overcast all day; we had a heavy shower on our way home from church – after eating at the Track Side Restaurant in Ashland first. A neighbor couple just opened the restaurant several months ago. Good food – reminded us of the Smokey Pig, which is no more. Anyway – enough about the weather! Except to say that it’s really nice to see things greening up again!

Things have been really busy at work – I’ve been going into the office every day and will probably continue to do so until things get back under control and running smoothly! The end of June Jennifer called me into the conference room for a meeting with her; Tom (president/owner of the company) and Marie (HR Manager) were there as well. Jenn informed me that they were going to be putting a hold on the database for at least 6 months while they try to get the company rolling again. Some poor decisions have been made in the past year, plus with the sluggish economy things that are normally brisk are not doing as well. So Tom and Jenn decided to make some drastic cuts. They decided to let all the accountants go and bring all their work in house. (All the accountants except the one corporate accountant worked from home and were part-time employees). They were going to give the accountants the opportunity to continue with the company if they would come in house and if they would take a 50% reduction in pay. That’s like a blow in the face, and none of them took the offer. So 15 accountants were let go, three non-accountants were let go (two gals who helped me with data entry on the database and one who was a corporate accountant assistant handling NSF checks, etc.) A third gal who helped me with database and human resources quit about two weeks before the heavy news came down – Kathy had seen the writing on the wall and had found another job working in the document control department of one of the local hospitals. One of the accountants, Sheryl, was given a reprieve at the very last minute – they decided to let her continue working from home with the properties she handles. She has two year round facilities – one in Texas, one in Maryland – and all the seasonals. Once we get everything going smoothly, she may also “lose” Stonebriar and Reisterstown, but the seasonals can be a real challenge!

The good news for me – they were going to keep me on!! J I think that’s partly because I was in the office four days a week – had I continued working at home as I was originally hired to do, I probably would have been let go as well. However, my entire job was to change. The idea was to bring all the accounting work in house and divide it between three employees plus Jennifer, the controller. Karen (a friend/sister from church who was instrumental in my getting a job with Rink Management in 2001) is doing the banking and receivables – she makes calls to the GM’s if they didn’t send proper documentation for PO’s, etc. Amy will do all Accounts Payable (both Karen and Amy have signing privileges). Jenn will code all the bills. “All” I have to do is data entry! I enter all the revenue and bills plus print the checks for 13 properties. I had a TON of questions the first week and I still have a lot to learn with Quickbooks – especially how to pull the files in, where to park them, when to delete them, and where to store them!! I’ve made some boo-boos, but Jenn keeps assuring me she expects it to take me six months to actually master it. Because I’m not doing all the accounting, just data entry, I’m really hoping it won’t take me that long. We shall see!

So that’s why I’ve been super busy! I’ve been going in every day because there are times when Jenn wants me to do a check run, etc. But once we get things fully organized and in place, this is going to run like clockwork! It’s been stressful the past three weeks, but it’s going to be so much fun when I finally understand what I’m doing!! And I still assist Marie with HR – New Hire paperwork, entering and filing incident reports, etc. Plus I’ve been given the go-ahead that the two weeks between closing when there isn’t all that much for me to do, I can continue maintaining the database, sending out labels for birthday mailings, etc. This month I sent labels out to three rinks because they contacted me and requested them. All three are Texas facilities – Stonebriar in Frisco, ICE at the Parks in Arlington, and Ice Skate USA in Houston.

On to other things – John turned 61 August 4th. His sister Lucille was 67 the same day and niece Brenda’s birthday was the 5th (I’ll let her tell her own age if she is so inclined!) Because the 4th was a Wednesday, we celebrated on Friday, the 6th. We went to P.F. Chang’s with friends from church – Chuck and Joyce. Chuck will be 81 next month, Joyce will be 71 in December. We hadn’t thought about phoning ahead to make reservations, so we ended up sitting in the lobby visiting until our buzzer went off – about 45 minutes. We had a lovely, leisurely dinner and a bouncy server named Sarah – she asked us to call her Sarah 1 because there was another Sarah serving that night! John left for Ontario Sunday morning – there is major construction on the QEW and he gets caught in traffic for a couple hours, which delays his arrival into Kitchener to about 3:00 am. That’s not fun when he has to be in the office or at a meeting at 8:00! So he decided to leave before church rather than after. I got to church and saw Abigail with her camera hanging on her wrist – which made me think of my camera – I didn’t remember taking it into the house after we got home from P.F. Chang’s!! So after church I called Chang’s and sure enough! I had left my camera there. So I ended up driving back down the other side of Richmond, and across the “Rivah” to retrieve my camera. I stopped at Panera’s on my way home for a bite to eat.

The next big event coming up for us is our biannual family reunion in Indiana over Labor Day weekend. It’s going to be a sad one this year with four more family members gone – the biggest hole will be the one left by Aunts Dee and Ann who were killed in a single car accident in January. I still find it difficult to get my mind around it and realize they are really gone from us – temporarily, of course, but still gone from our presence.

I must go – no pix this time. Probably next time!

Trip to Oregon - Finished!

Okay, I'm back!! Finally! :) And back to Wednesday, July 21st, the last time I posted about our trip to Portland. We checked out of the motel at 10:30. The Lloyd Center was only a couple minutes from our motel -- we actually could have walked it. It's a big, beautiful mall; we found the ice with no difficulty. We watched Kool Kamp kids learning to skate. Took a bunch of pictures of the ice for people back in the office, then at 11:00 we went in to the office and asked for Pam. She came out and we enjoyed becoming acquainted with her. She showed us around the offices, then John took a picture of the two of us at the entrance to the rink. After we left her we went upstairs to the Food Court for a bite to eat. I ended up getting only an Orange Julius smoothie -- all the foods looked good, I just wasn't all that hungry. The smoothie was satisfying and held me until dinner later that evening.

The Ice at Lloyd Center in Portland

John at an Overlook of the Columbia River Gorge

Tuesday, July 20th

Mt. Hood

We left the mall and let the GPS guide us to US 26 East and then to US 97 South to Sunriver. Scenery was beautiful!!! We went around the southern portion of Mt. Hood again, then it wasn't long until we saw Mt. Washington, then the Three Sisters, and then Broken Top. It was difficult to get good pictures -- the snow caps on the mountains looked clear until I looked through the camera lens; then they tended to blend in with the sky.

In Sunriver John signed in for our room, we unloaded, then went back to the Lodge to register for the TCA conference. We had a lovely view of Mt. Bachelor from our room deck. The room was small, but sufficient. I had to sit on the bed to use my computer, but I did have good Internet connection -- that's getting easier and easier as the years go on. :)

At 6:00 we went back to the Lodge and outside to where the dinner was to be held. They began serving cocktails at 6:00 with dinner at 7:00. Kevin and Norma Cooper arrived shortly after we did. Kevin is Sr. VP of Finance for Erb. I forget how long he's been with the company, but it's a few years fewer than John. They live in Ontario, Canada. The guys enjoyed networking with employees from other trucking companies -- generally with trucking companies they have a relationship with. Norma and I caught up on our families, etc. The sun was setting over Bachelor Mountain as we finished our dinner. Kevin had registered a bit too late, so they were in a condominium just off the resort grounds, so they had to drive back and forth to the Lodge for meetings, etc.

Mt. Bachelor as Seen from Our Room Deck

Thursday morning I slept in -- it's always a challenge working on a three-hour time zone difference, so when I slept till 10:00 body time, it was only 7:00 Pacific Time. I didn't bother going over for breakfast, but did go over to the lodge around 10:00 PT. I didn't see Norma around, so I got a coffee and muffin at the café then went upstairs and found a comfortable chair where I could read, work puzzles, and people-watch. At 12:00 I decided to go sit outside so I wouldn't miss John if he walked by on his way from where their meetings were to our room. When he came by, we agreed that he would meet me back at the lodge after he had changed clothes and shoes, then we would meet Kevin and Norma for lunch around 1:00.

We had a nice lunch on the patio, then the four of us piled into the little two-door Ford Focus Kevin had rented, and we headed for Bend. In Bend we followed Norma's directions to drive a scenic route that took us between Mt. Bachelor and Broken Top. We stopped frequently to take pictures. It was a lovely loop tour. Back at the resort, we had time to relax a bit, then freshen up for dinner.

Lake Todd with Broken Top Mountain in the Background

Dinner Thursday evening was held at the High Desert Museum. We were bused there from the resort. Again, cocktails were served outside while a local Indian tribe entertained us with tribal dances. We were standing on the wrong side of the patio -- the drum was much too loud for my ears!! Dinner was inside the museum, catered by the resort staff. Foods at these conferences are always delicious and abundant! We lost Kevin and Norma in the crowds -- Norma wanted to tour the museum before eating -- so we enjoyed dinner with three people from a small trucking company in Fort Worth, TX; and three others from a Xerox company in St. Louis.

Indian Tribe of the High Desert Entertaining the TCA Group

John Posing in Front of a Teepee in the High Desert Museum

Friday morning John attended his final sessions while I packed up our things. They always have several gifts for us -- this year there was a lovely woven throw with the history of transportation woven into it. There was also a heavy wooden plaque depicting the history of transportation over the Oregon trail from the Pioneers to today. Unfortunately, it was rather large (11 x 14) and quite heavy as it was solid wood, so we decided to just leave it rather than packing it into our already heavy luggage. There's always a bottle of local wine from one of the sponsors, and we have to pack that in our checked luggage as well -- if we bring that home with us, I give it to my brother-in-law.

We checked out at noon, then began our trip back to Portland. This time we took a different route back -- from Bend we left US 26 and drove US 20 across the mountains -- a smaller highway and much more curvy, but we saw some beautiful scenery, saw acres and acres of mountains that had been destroyed by fires (tied right in with the book I had just finished reading comparing disasters in the US with actions taken by the US government against Israel.) We stopped in Sweet Home for lunch, then got on Rt. 228 through Brownsville to I-5. We arrived at our motel near the airport in good time.

Mt. Washington

We were up at 3:15 to leave for the airport -- the motel didn't have a shuttle to the airport (John thought they did when he booked it), so he had to take the car back before we could check in at the airport. Our planes were all on time -- although we were about half an hour late taking off from Dallas to Richmond. A latch had to be repaired before we could take off. The flight from Portland to Dallas was fascinating -- seeing Mt. Washington and the Three Sisters from the air was marvelous, although we didn't fly right over them. Then watching the topography change as we entered Utah, seeing the Great Salt Lake and the remnants of Lake Bonneville which had composed the Great Salt Lake many, many years ago. The Salt Lake certainly doesn't look like 80 miles long when you're flying 7 miles above it!!

We landed in Richmond at 6:30 EDT. Got our bags, called for the parking lot shuttle, got the car, stopped for gas, and were home by 8:00. John left after church the next morning for Ontario.
So that was our trip to Oregon. ..... It's been a super busy week at the office. There have been many changes, but this post is already too long to explain them, so I'll do that another day.
Shalom y'all!!

Portland - Part 2

This morning I will continue relating our trip to Portland....

After I posted yesterday morning, I walked across the street to the 7-Eleven I could see from our motel window -- we're on the sixth floor over the entrance. I didn't think to put a jacket on -- I had packed that in John's suitcase, but it's been so hot at home I didn't even think "cold"!! When you're used to temps being 75-80 and humid at 7:00 in the morning, 52° is downright cold!! And their was a fine misty drizzle swirling around me as I walked. I got a coffee and a bottle of grape juice -- one of my daily antioxidants -- then when I got back to the motel I stopped at the front desk and asked if my suitcase had come in. The lady said she hadn't heard that any had, but the gentleman said he'd check in the back. He came out of the back room pulling my suitcase!! Praise the Lord for His faithfulness! There was a (form) note of apology from American Airlines attached to the handle.

So now that I had my luggage I could shower and get ready for the day! John was finally able to get the car around noon, so as soon as he got back from that we headed out to find a Best Buy (I had gotten addresses online, figured out which one was closest to where we are, then plugged the addy into the Garmin. When we were flying out on Monday I tried to take some pictures from the plane, but realized when I turned the camera on that the battery was almost dead. I thought I had just charged the batteries, but either I hadn't or it wasn't holding a charge. Since that left me with only one set of batteries and tons of photo opportunities out here, I needed batteries, so we went to Best Buy and I got a set of 8 batteries and a new battery charger. This one is more portable than the one I have at home, so it isn't really money wasted.

From there we headed to drive through the Columbia Gorge -- John had gotten maps, directions, and notes on points of interest from the motel concierge. We got on the Oregon Heritage Road, stopping at interesting points along the way, enjoying the wonderful waterfalls, the beautiful views of the Columbia River and mountains. We stopped at the Char-burger for lunch -- the concierge had recommended their homemade pies. We sat at a table next to a window overlooking the river. The wind was blowing so strongly that an eagle had to struggle to fly into it. It was quite a site. Later a little wren was trying to fly to its nest next to the windows and was buffeted so much it could barely make it.

We finished eating and browsed the gift shop for a bit, then headed on east, then south to go around Mt. Hood. I had to think of how much my mom had enjoyed this area when she and her family wandered through here in the late 30's. She loved Oregon and northern California. I know she had spoken of Mt. Hood, but I don't remember her mentioning other volcanic mountains. Southern and eastern fruits could never compare to her memories of the luscious fruits in California and Oregon.

We arrived back at the motel between 6:00 and 7:00. Neither of us was hungry -- the hamburger and fries we had at 2:00 had quite satisfied us -- of course John had finished his with a piece of marionberry pie.

This morning John went out around 7:30 for his coffee and to read -- it's now 9:30 and he's not back yet. I've showered, put my makeup on, and am ready for the day. We plan to check out of the motel around 10:45, then head to the Lloyd Center -- I called Pam yesterday and she's expecting us. Rink Management, the company I work for, manages the ice at the Lloyd Center. Pam is the Assistant General Manager. I've met the GM, Don Baldwin, a couple times when he's been to Virginia, but he's on medical leave right now. He had surgery on his ankle again last week. He knew we were coming out, and we were looking forward to spending some time with him. But it will be nice to meet Pam, too. I have spoken with her and communicated via email regarding birthday mailings and new hire paperwork, so it will be nice to put a face to a name.
So, that's another day in Portland. After we leave the Lloyd Center we will head for Sunriver.

Shalom, y'all!!

Portland, Oregon!!

So many of my friends are moving from Xanga to this site, so I'm going to be posting duplicates of my personal updates both here and there -- for a while at least.

I was planning to update last Saturday, but then didn't get it done, so I'm going to start today with our trip to Portland. We've come out here to attend the TCA conference (Truckload Carriers Association - Reefer Division). We'll be here in Portland until Wednesday afternoon, then drive across the mountains past Mt. Hood to the Sunriver Resort where the conference will be held.

We flew out of Richmond on time Monday morning at 7:00. Arrived in Dallas, walked to our outbound gate, then determined what we were going to do. It was 10:00, so we decided to have a bite to eat at one of the food courts. John had a breakfast sandwich, I had a grilled chicken salad from Popeyes.

Then I sat and read a while, listened to a Koinonia House message on my computer (didn't feel like spending money to get online to check emails). We had a four hour layover, so we had lots of time, but when you have to lug your carry-on luggage everywhere, it's not as nice. There was an incident with my red makeup/toiletry bag -- John had that and his own small file folder bag. (I had my purse and my computer case, although we sometimes switched off between the computer case and the red bag.) John sat in the food court sipping a coffee and reading, then went to the wash room. He picked up his bag and forgot mine! He did his thing, then wandered to where I was sitting. First thing I said was, "Where's the red bag?" Oops!! He went racing back to the food court and there was a security officer getting ready to take it -- someone had reported an unattended bag. John said, "Sorry, sir; that's mine." He wasn't asked to identify it. But my bag would probably have been blown up to make sure it wasn't a bomb. :(

Just as we were about ready to board our Portland flight they asked if anyone was interested in giving up their seat for $300 and take a later flight to Portland as the plane was overbooked. John raced to the counter and said we would take them up on that. They took our tickets and put our names down. We were the first to offer, so we ended up waiting ANOTHER four hours to take off. They gave us two $300 ticket vouchers to use within the next 12 months, two tickets for the next flight, and two $10 vouchers for lunch. We had to go to Terminal C for our next flight; the agent who gave us the vouchers told us the best food options were in Terminal D, so we took the Air Tran to Terminal D and had a lovely lunch at a Tex-Mex style restaurant. Then we took the Air Tran to Terminal C. Our flight was out around 4:30 Central time. We arrived in Portland with no problem at 6:00 Pacific time, then went to get our luggage. As we were coming down the escalator to the luggage carousels we heard our name being paged -- we were directed where to go to get our luggage that had come in on the plane we were originally scheduled to come in on -- well, John's luggage made it. Mine didn't. In addition to all my stuff, it has John's dress shirts in it.

John called the Crowne Plaza for a shuttle and we checked in and settled into a lovely room. We had a good night. It is now 7:30 Pacific time. John is out having a coffee before he goes to get the rental car. I'm dressed in yesterday's clothes. I think I'll walk across the street for a 7-Eleven coffee. I'm not going to shower until I've checked to see if my suitcase made it in yet. I need to wash my hair but my curling iron is in my suitcase.

So that's our trip so far. It's overcast this morning; temperature was 72° when we landed last night. It's supposed to get up to 85° today. Nice break from the 100's we're having back home this week! We had 3/4 inch of rain the other week, but storms have been going around us. Ashland had a nice rain Sunday evening during church, and over 3 inches were dumped on Interstate 64 from Goochland to Short Pump. We got lots of wind and thunder but not a drop of rain from that one. But God is faithful. He knows our needs and He will provide in His time.

Reasons Why I Don't Wash

Someone else posted this recently. I've also received it as an email, but decided to share it here. Juanita

Reasons Why I Don't Wash

1. I was forced to wash as a child.

2. People who wash are hyprocites - they think they are cleaner than everybody else.

3. There are so many different kinds of soap, I can't decide which one is best.

4. I used to wash, but I got bored and stopped.

5. I only like to wash on special occasions, like Christmas and Easter.

6. None of my friends wash.

7. I'll start washing when I get older and dirter.

8. The bathroom is never warm enough in the winter or cool enough in the summer.

9. People who make soap are only after your money.

10. I don't like the songs that people sing in the bathroom.

11. I know how to stay clean without washing.

12. The last time I washed someone was rude to me.

13. What I do, or don't do, doesn't affect anyone but me.

14. I know someone who washes every day and still smells bad.

15. Washing was invented by people who knew nothing about science.

16. I'm so dirty now that if I washed, the drain would clog.

17. Cats, dogs, and chickens never wash, and they are happy all the time.

18. Prehistoric humans were happy all the time until the first soap salesman made them feel guilty.

19. If I start washing again, my friends will think I'm trying to conform to middle-class standards.

20. Washing is for women and children.

21. I will wash when I find the bathroom that is exactly right for me.

22. Washing is for people much dirtier than I am.

23. I only believe in things I can see, and I can't see bacteria.

24. I never wash when I have company.

25. Washing may have been okay in my grandfather's day, but it's not practical today.

26. I watch other people wash on TV.

27. We just moved here 6 years ago, and haven't had a chance.

28. I feel as close to washing in the great outdoors as I do in the bathroom.

29. Washday is the only day I have to sleep in.

30. I know people who wash but don't act very clean.

In case you still don't see the analogy, these are the kinds of reasons some people give for not going to church. Of course, if you don't have a relationship with God, you probably don't really want to assemble yourself together with other believers, or to be taught His Word, or worship the Lord.