Face to Face...Again...A Tribute to Special Friends.

What a month it has been!  Like a roller coaster ride of emotions,  I have been saddened by the loss of friends and exhilarated by the reuniting of old friends, accepted and rejected, dismissed and included, recognized and ignored, discovered the lost and forgotten and hugged and squeezed the brand new!  Well, isn't that just a picture of life itself?   Sharing today, a definite climb up, a reunion of many school friends. 

All Class Reunion

Last Saturday, our 7th annual all class reunion was held in the local park in the city where we grew up.  The weather the week before was delightful, beachy and pleasant.  The weather this week...the same. So why did our reunion have to be over 100 degrees in the shade?  Whew...it was hot! 

The night before, Ted and I enjoyed a quick get away time while waiting for my one of my best friend's plane to come in from Boston.  We left a little early from the stifling inland and headed towards the Coast, Long Beach to be specific. I was expecting a great crowd of people and to our surprise, we parked in Sea Port Village, walked over to a nice, quaint little grill and got a table overlooking the harbor while sharing a meal.  Ted was already making plans to come down again as soon as possible.  We (Ted and I) get so caught up sometimes in the day to day routines. I really think this is good therapy for us to be more spontaneous despite our lack of funds.   Sometimes a "break" is only a few miles down to the beach or up a hill over-looking a valley.  That is one reason I love California, we have a lot to offer very close by and it can be refreshing.

Our view from our table. 

Well, back to the Class Reunion.  It was a  marvelous turnout despite the heat; the air  filled with "oldies and rock and roll."  (I am talking about music here).  Name tags and crazy stories, tons of laughter and inspiration, group photos and  surprises captured the spirit of the day.   The most familiar quote?  "Wow, you haven't changed at all!"  After thinking on that one for awhile, speaking for myself, I have changed.  Physically for sure, but I am  more than anxious to share that my life continues to be transformed.  Some change is very hard, while other change I embrace. My friends these last few years of my life have meant more to me than at any other time and I forsee that this special gift God gives us in our later years, the transparency and the deepness of friendships serve to  enrich each other's lives.  This bond  will carry us through the next 10 to 20 years.

BFF'S

Left of me is Annie Kay, as she now wants to be called.  We didn't know each other that well in High School, but she has a great way of reconnecting and establishing a friendship on-line. We have shared many things.  Annie, you are still so beautiful and young!  Thank you for all your support these last few years, my newest BFF.   

  To  the right of me is Lynn.  I think I would need a whole new blog to post what she means to me.  We became tennis partners in PE at 14 years young our freshman year and our friendship has never taken a break since.  We stood up in each others weddings, and served together in YFC.  We held each other's newborns, and comforted each other at our parent's funerals. We  have gone crazy at concerts and had one too many beers at Dodger games. We have laughed until we have cried and cried together until we have laughed.    The Lord has been our Solid Rock throughout our individual walks.  I recently came across this picture of us taken in 1979...a few years after graduation.  Check out my perm!  Thank you my forever and Eternal BFF!

                                                 

Below me is Joyce.  If you look up positive attitude in the dictionary, you will see Joyce's picture. Joyce is full of wisdom and understanding, she is passionate and perserveres.  Her MS has not sidelined her personality or dignity and she continues to reach out to others.  Joyce has a great sence of humor which is one thing I love most about her. She is very down to earth.  We used to  "double date" a lot back in those days and I talked to her a lot about "boys."  (Will we ever understand them?)  Thanks my smart, big-hearted BFF!

Last but not least for sure is my BFF, Diane.  Diane and I share the love of art; creative souls bound by  a special understanding.  We both went to college at CSU Fullerton, majoring in fine arts.  Those were the days of gas lines so  we car-pooled to school.  A very  special friendship formed in those college years.  Diane is a gifted artist and a great communicator.  She gives fully of her gifts and her heart is in everything she does. She has bounds and bounds of energy and I wish we could all bottle it sometime and keep it in our pantry.  Diane as an artist, appreciates beauty and the beauty within us all.  She encourages me always and I adore her.  She has recently moved back to Boston, (after being there earlier in life as her husband finished his schooling at Harvard), but I feel our relationship is as close as it has ever been.  I cannot wait until Ted and I can go visit the East Coast.  I wouldn't want any other tour guide; no detail will be left out.  Thank you Diane, my BFF for all your words...every one of them,  for they make me smile!

One day, an even better reunion will take place in the Heavenly realms where God plans out our blessings.  I know for sure, the weather will be perfect, our spiritual bodies will be pain free and jumping for joy, the music will be glorious and  the conversations?...Well, I just might finally understand boys...

1 Corinthians 13:12 (New International Version)

12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Brent, my neighbor as well as school mate, another special connection. Thank you again for always letting me tag along.   Rick, thank you for sharing and reflecting the Lord's Grace and forgiveness. Candace, your story is one all should hear and learn from,  for your ability way outshines your disability.  I love you all. 

Have you had any great reunions this summer? 

Glitches, Great Kids and Grammy Awards in the making...

Hello out there.....My blog has been silent because something evil was keeping me away...some computer gliches, viruses, something ugly for sure.   Well, these gliches are not fixed but I found a way  around the problem today.  I am using a different browser...one I thought was messed up  too, but it seems to be allowing me access today.  Computers never get easier!  Yes, I see a lesson in all that.  Ignoring a "problem" and going around it... I have done that a lot in my life unfortunately.  I have found though as my faith and trust have been put to the test that  God  ultimately always shines  through. I am facing issues better than I used to, giving things over to prayer first instead of last.  If I could, I would have some "Geeks" out here vaccinating and surgically removing that which "bugs" my computer, but it is not in the budget right now.  I am sure glad my spiritual "bugs" can be dealt with in meditation.  What it costs comes in the form of time, and pride.  I think I can afford both, when Peace is the result. 

I just completed my "Third" Freshman year in High school.  (and I thought it took Corey a while to get finished...)  Just kidding.  Well, of course my original was back in well, 68-69. What a volatile year! My 2nd was my 2nd year with the school district when I was assigned to my special student Michael, both of us starting out as "Freshman" at Don Lugo High School. 

Here is Michael with another special lady, Art Teacher, Anita Hunt.  Anita helped to ressurect the dormant artist within me and showcased Michael's fantastic artwork as well. 

After completing four years with Michael, I am reassigned to another high school with another special kid, and together, we made it through our freshman year again.  It was hard for both of us for different reasons.  For my student, he had never been in a school setting or classroom where everyone could "hear."  Being 80% deaf and reading lips, his adjustment was more to the outside,  everyday noices of  special kids with hyper tendancies and  the busyness of high school life.  He has an amplifier which helps him to hear.  He is a very conscientious hard working student who also finds time to play baseball, both at school and a club team.  I am blessed to be able to work with this great kid.  Next year we are both taking a sign language class together.  I look forward to that.

For me, it was a hard adjustment to a new school, one very different from the one I came from.  It is a much larger campus, both is population and size, and the kids come from a different socio-economic background.   I wasn't well accepted by the kids and some classrooms and situations were a challenge. 
God allowed for friendships to form though,  and by the end of the school year, I felt more comfortable and knew I had once again formed special friendships.  Thank you Lord for my "lunch bunch."  You always know what You  are doing. 

On my campus as well is another freshman student named Haleigh Bowers.  Finally, our paths crossed.  Haleigh's mother is my husband Ted's, 2nd cousin.  Haleigh is very special and more than talented; she is a gifted  singer and song writer who I know God is going to use in mighty ways.  Please log on to her Demo CD sight and check out her music. 

As I was leaving my lunch hideaway,  I walked by this girl sitting with a friend strumming a guitar and singing with a voice like an angel.   I had walked right past her, then I stopped, turned around and walked back to her thinking...This has got to be Ted's cousin...

"Hi, I just heard you singing...What is your name?"  I boldly asked and with grace she said, "Haleigh" with  her beautiful smile. Ungracefully I said..."we are related...I am Coleene...I mean... your mom and my husband are cousins...well,  your grandma..."  by then we were laughing for she had heard that I existed on campus somewhere from  her mom who I chat with on Facebook. 


Please listen to her Demo CD
and YouTube performances. 

www.cdbaby.com
type in Haleigh Bowers in the search box and please listen.

check her out as well on YouTube:  Haleigh Bowers:  "Have it Your Way."  

Triple Scoop of God

Welcome to followers of Momentous Monday and anyone else glancing through today.  It's been birthday week around here.  My husbands was first last Monday and now mine today.  Another year...moving on, closer to God ,  and closer to Home!

 There are  many thoughts from this previous week I am sharing  with you today.  So,  let's see if I can just give you some highlights, without too much detail on our amazing God and His invaluable lessons in life.

Seeing Red

I work at a high school.  I continue to be shocked and saddened by today's youth.  While I know there are many amazing and God fearing kids out there, they do not seem to be in my classes. One particular fiery red- headed young man seemed to make it his duty to verbally abuse and disrespect me when ever the opportunity arose. He eventually stopped coming to class all together.  I heard he was being home schooled.  I was thankful  God had given me more than just grace for the moment, but had removed at least one source of anxiety at work.  Last Sunday in between services at church, I look across the cafe' and see this young man's silhouette shrouded behind his hoody,  his bright red hair sticking out.   "Hi Eddy...."  (I have changed the name) I say.  He looks up, quickly drops his head and barely mumbles what I think is a greeting.  So...God, you remove  him from my classroom only to  bring him to my church, my peaceful sanctuary?  You are so funny God....Ha ha ha ha.... I am reminded that God has a plan in everything.  I need to be a part of it.  This skateboarding,  vulgar-mouthed kid could be the next Billy Graham. My prayer for this young man now takes a different shift.  So do  I...again.


Testing the Waters.  
Like for  many, the economy is difficult right now and some bills are not being paid in a timely matter. There are many things on hold and sacrifice is being made.  God knows my prayers.  This month has especially been rough,  for Ted had to take several days off for two injuries and we now have to pay 100% of his health insurance since his job no longer pays. Furlough days at my job added in,  results in a steady loss of income.
Instead of  trusting God, I tested Him by making a phone call to the credit union which I already knew the answer to. Suddenly, the lady on the other end of the phone asked me if I have read "The Secret".  (One of Oprah's New Age wisdom books).  I had to laugh (at myself)...it was a  duh!  moment.  "No", I said, "I read scripture everyday, the Bible."  God screamed in my ear in his loving voice,  "You said it, you read scripture...Do I not give you wisdom and a promise that I will take care of you right there in my Word?"  I had to immediately confess my stupidity and lack of trust...The tough thing is,  I'll probably do this again, and that is why God makes us wait.

II Corinthians 1:6

"But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort, and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same suffering which we also suffer."

This has become one of my life verses.  Suffering  the loss of a child, just what do I do with that other than offer my own personal insight and experience and  try and give back what God has given to me, a peace that surpasses understanding.   Last Saturday in our local paper, I see an obituary of a young man, a classmate of our son Tim. I recognized the name immediately, for he had sent me an on-line message on Tim's obit. page during the time of his passing.  Now, here was his own obit three years later.  I never met the young man, but through Tim's life and death we made brief contact.  Friday, I purchased a card to send to his mom. Saturday, I sat down and filled up the card with words I asked God to give me. I spent the next hour trying to find an address or someone on-line who could give me the address to mail it.  It didn't happen, so I set the card aside ready to try again later.  That evening, my husband and I went to a school function and I saw a teacher I normally only see a few times a year.  She came over to me said Hi and quickly asked me if I knew this young man's mother.  I couldn't believe it,  for just an hour or so earlier, I had written this note to a stranger and God was now providing me with an address to mail the card.  Did I pray about this? I don't remember asking God...?  My teacher friend had a considerable thought,  that her friend's son and my son might have known each other...and she was right.   This morning as I was reading my weekend devotion from Pastor Greg Laurie, you guessed it,  his devotion was centered around this exact verse.  Sometimes we go through what we go through so that we can give comfort to others.  Greg Laurie would know, for he too, has lost a son.  (GregLaurie@harvestdirect.org.    Devotional for May 1st, "Why Does God Allow Trials in our Lives?").

This morning, the sermon starts out with these words:  "God has a plan and the power to complete it."
 He doesn't need us to complete His plan.  He is after all, God.  Yet, if we let go and trust Him, we will have the privilege to partake in  the incredible opportunity; a team player in His plan,  and recipient of the  blessings that come from obedience.  Are you fighting His plan?  Are you ignoring it?  Is that  working for you?
Today my friends, think on this,  "Do not let your faith rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." I Cor. 2:5