Happenings in Mt. Home while I was gone

While I was enjoying the warmth of Hawaii, Ed was plugging away with ministry here. Ed got to take 17 men from the base to the Iron Sharpens Iron conference in Boise.

Our guys had matching shirts and got to sit right up front. The conference organizers were so impressed with the Mt. Home group, they were awarded a trophy.

Chaplain Anderson wanted to be there but he was in a Boise hospital recovering from major surgery. Many of the guys crowded into his hospital room.

Chaplain Anderson is the one holding the trophy.

The young adult ministry (Velocity) had a costume party the last Friday of October. The group decided to go bowling and here is what some of them looked like going in.

We are thankful God gave us such a fun group.

Aloha!

From October 21st to November 4, I got to enjoy being with Julie and Jesse in their new home in Hawaii. Unbeknownst to me, Ed had been saving money for a travel fund for me. Thanks Ed!

Julie is 5 months pregnant. It just so happens that I got to be with them when they had an ultrasound.

Here is my grandson’s foot.  That foot kept getting in the way making it hard to get good ultrasounds of other baby features.

I then got to attend the Pacific PWOC conference with Julie in Waikiki at the Hyatt. It was great getting reacquainted with ladies I knew at other places and meeting new friends.

Here we are at the Hyatt wearing our Mt. Home AFB PWOC t-shirts. Next, I’m with Michelle Crump. She and I were on the board together at Ft. Lewis. She and husband, Skip have blessed us so many times. This time, they let me borrow their car while on the island.

This is the view from our room on the 33rd floor.

 

 

I also got to attend the regular Hickam PWOC which meets at the Chapel Center about a block from Julie’s pad. Below is: Julie, me, Lori Klein (we were with her at Ft. Lewis) and Jewlee Knapp (who is actually from Boise).

After PWOC, Stacy Cassidy picked us up and we went to lunch with the other Cadence ladies (Connie Cady and Char Hauser) on the island. It was great fellowship.

 

What a treat to be able to attend a Friday night meal and Bible study at the Cassidy’s hospitality house. I’m pictured below with Stacy Cassidy who is due to deliver her third child around Christmastime.

Julie, Jesse and Jeenou came along. It was a great time with great teaching.

Another highlight of the trip was to spend most of Sunday with the Mike Klein family. Chaplain Mike knows all about water sports there. He took us out on kayaks and showed Jesse how to snorkel. Jesse is hooked and went and bought his own snorkeling equipment. Jesse is pictured below with their daughter Azelyn.

Mike poses above and Lori poses below.

I love spending time walking through the warm water looking for treasures.  Lori and I searched for sea glass for Julie’s collection. We found other treasures as well. Sometimes, the waves knocked me down.  I’m pictured below on the left.

Below, Mike and Jesse examine a sea urchin.

I wore a nice, modest swim top and matching board shorts as my swim suit. It was comfortable. I like the laid back fashions there. I never thought I would be comfortable wearing a swim suit out in public.

The sunsets sure are gorgeous in Hawaii.

Another huge highlight for me was visiting the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Julie was sick, so I went by myself. First you view a movie, and then you get on a boat to get out to the memorial. Here is a view from the boat.

While at the memorial, there was a great commotion. The admiral in charge of the whole Pacific Command and the first or second highest (I’ve been told both) Chinese military commander (and their entourages) arrived for a tour. You can see them in the picture below. The Chinese commander had just met with President Obama.

This was a very BIG deal.  The bag below caught my eye. It says “Chinese People’s Liberation Army”.

This wall below lists the names of those who died there. It was very moving.

It was very strange being surrounded by Japanese tourists whose forefathers had taken part in this slaughter on our forefathers. I talked with a Viet Nam veteran on the way back and he told me he was not bothered by the Japanese people there. He was very bothered by the Chinese there who were his enemy in Viet Nam. After the military contingent left, most of the people from our boat lined up to get back. We weren’t leaving for awhile, so I had my picture taken with nobody else in the background.

Here below, the last bits of sunshine go down on the horizon on my last full day in Hawaii.

 

I will miss that girl so much! I hope to go back in February when the baby is due. Aloha.

Early Fall

A lot has happened since I last updated this blog. Ed is not home right now and I can’t get to his pictures so I’m just putting in mine. Ministry here is definitely looking up. Two airmen have accepted Christ this past week, Velocity is doing well and our Monday evening group at our house is still going strong.

The Truth Project going on at our home on Monday nights.

I was blessed to attend the Ore/Ida CBA women’s retreat in Cascade, Idaho the middle of October. I locked my keys in my car and had to get a ride with gals who would be going later. It turned out to be such a blessing to get to know Marilyn and Alice.

I had two great room mates, Judy and Cheryl.

I also got to go on the zip line…. ok the kid’s zip line but it was still fun.

The speaker was Becky Grossenbach. I had met her back in the 70’s at camp here in Idaho. She now works for the Navigators in Colorado.  She taught on courage. It was great.

September Happenings

Things are looking up here in Mountain Home.  We lost many of our folks over the summer but some new folks are coming in.  Attendance is up in the ministries we are involved in on base and here at our house.  On the personal side, I have lost quite a bit of weight.  I’m happy to share my tips with anyone. I got to visit my wonderful aunts and uncles (the Barnes’ and the Halversons) and grandma on the 12th. I love spending time with them.

Ed and I travelled to Washington to meet with Cadence co workers last week.  We took one personal day and spent time in Leavenworth, WA.

This bench in Leavenworth says “Grandma and Grandpa”. We always enjoy our time there. We also stopped off in Cashmere to visit the Aplets and Cotlets factory.

Ed, modeling the fashionable headgear there.

After our meeting with Cadence co workers, we drove to Cascade Idaho for a team building retreat with the National Guard chapel staff at the Ashley Inn and Trinity Pines. It was a nice perk of Ed’s job.  Ashley Inn is one of Idaho’s finest lodgings.  We felt pampered and enjoyed getting to know each other.

Here, Ed is taking part in a confidence course activity at Trinity Pines. We were getting ready to go down the humungous zip line but someone got injured and we had to stop.

After the retreat, we raced down to Mountain Home in time to attend Velocity.  We had been meeting outside.  Here is Chaplain Craig speaking a few weeks ago.

Velocity, this past Sunday was indoors because Aaron got baptized!  We saw an increase in attendance.  How exciting!

 

Next is Aaron getting prayed over and then baptized!

Major Changes

Many of you know that our precious Julie and her beloved husband Jesse moved to Hawaii on the 24th of August. 

Here they are saying goodbye to the morning chapel congregation as Chaplain Jones gives them a coin for their service to the chapel community. The next picture is their farewell from Velocity.

After this, Jesse and Julie decided to get in one last game night at our house before they left.

I already miss them so much!

Velocity has been having outdoor services in the dorm area.  The picture below shows, Stephen, our worship leader.  He just got orders and is leaving next week.

Stephen has done a phenomenal job! He will be sorely missed. But, we also got to say hello to Mike Davis. He is the new Young Adult Ministry Coordinator for the chapel. We very much enjoy working with him.

Mike is the one teaching the lesson in this photo.

This past Friday, several of us from Mt. Home AFB went to Caldwell for an event called “Worship in the Park”.  It was truly worshipful and I’m so glad we all could go.

Vance and family and Aaron, with raffle tickets for a very fancy guitar.  No, they didn’t win…

Here we are enjoying the concert. Life is sure strange now without our kids here. My friend Nancy says that this will be the new normal. I think it might take me a while to get used to it.