It's A Small World (and God's Providence)--Story #3

The first weekend that Nathan was home for his 2-weeks-at-home (I’m sure there’s an official Air Force “title” for this—you’ll have to let me know, Nathan) we received a phone call from our friends the Powells from Bakersfield CA. Back in the day—1988-1993—our families had been friends before we moved to Minnesota; Nathan and KJ and Bethany and Dustin were all very close in age, all in the same Sunday School class during that time. Major IASW here: Dustin is now a student--and quarterback on the football team--at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, MO (SEMO), just 100 miles from Dyersburg. The Powells were traveling out to visit Dustin and would we like to meet at Lambert’s Café, The Home of Throwed Rolls, for dinner on Sunday night? Oh, but of course!

As we waited on the sidewalk outside Lambert’s (anyone who has ever eaten at Lambert’s knows about the wait, but oh, is it ever worth it!) visiting with Keith and Renee, Nathan caught sight of Stewart, who is now a friend of Dustin’s. Stewart is on staff with Campus Outreach at SEMO. Back in Summer 2005, Stewart was one of the CO staff members at Summer Beach Project in Panama City, Florida in which Nathan participated! It was a good time to reconnect and, I trust, for Nathan to be encouraged in his walk with the Lord as he looks toward leaving for Germany.

It's A Small World (and God's Providence)--Story #2

To follow through with my California post, I have a story in my on-going IASW series. As Willis flew from Reno to Oakland to Phoenix to Nashville, my flight plan was scheduled for Reno to Dallas to Nashville. Our planes were to arrive within 35 minutes of each other AND Ben’s plane from the DR was to arrive during that time too. Well, due to a medical emergency on our flight, we made a stop in Albuquerque. That put our arrival in Dallas past the time that I could catch the plane to Nashville. My friend Carolyn and I had talked about being disappointed to not get a face-to-face visit, but God scheduled one for us! She picked me up from the airport, I spent the night at the Kotyk’s, and I flew out early the next morning. (Thank you, Carolyn!)

As I was going through the screening process to board the plane the next morning, I met Jeremy. Turns out Jeremy is home visiting his family, but for the past year he has been living in Seoul, Korea teaching English! Since Ben was leaving in three days to spend a month in Seoul, Korea, he kindly wrote out for Ben the must-see sites of the city. As a bonus, Ben strolled up as we waited in the baggage claim so Ben was able to visit with Jeremy himself!

50th Year, 2nd Quarter

1st quarter (see May 10, 2008 post) covered 01-10-08 through 05-10-08; 2nd quarter covers 05-10-08 through 07-10-08. Yes, my dates were a little off, but now I’m on track!

Print books: Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller
Blue Genes, Paul Meier

Audio books: Just Shy of Harmony, Philip Gulley
The Reagan Diaries, Ronald Reagan
I Am Charlotte Simmons, Tom Wolfe

Most meaningful movie: “August Rush”, hands down

California: Alturas and Chester

Willis and I planned a trip to California to visit family during the time Ben was in the Dominican Republic (May 19-June 24) and Hannah was in the Rising Senior program at Union University (June 1-28).

Saturday June 14: Willis traveled on a plane with Ideal from St Louis to Reno while Bethany and I drove home. When we purchased the tickets in March the plan had been for Willis to start work on a deck off the back of Les and Ideal’s house in Chester. That was before Willis needed hernia repair surgery on May 8! But there were plenty of other, less strenuous projects to complete, including helping in her embroidery business.

Tuesday June 17: From Nashville, Bethany flew to Hartford CT to spend some time with Josh and family before reporting to her job at Camp Joy in Carmel New York. And I flew to Reno where Willis picked me up and we drove to Alturas. Our time with Mother and Daddy and Carolyn and Johnny was very good but different: Carolyn’s three children were all working out of town so none of our 7 children was with us. We have certainly entered a new season in our lives……….

Saturday June 21: Willis and I drove to Chester. Since the storms with lightning occurred that night, we were able to enjoy a nice meal with Ralph, Cecilia, and EmmaLey (up from Woodlake) and Ideal, Les, and Kurt before Les headed off to fight forest fires. Helping Ideal with Stitch It and More projects and preparing for vacation Bible school plus some scrapbooking and a trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park—yes, that’s ice on Lake Helen!—filled our wonderful time in the mountains.

Tuesday June 24: Kurt drove Willis and me to Reno to catch two different airplanes to fly home to Nashville. Willis flew to Oakland, then to Phoenix, then to Nashville. I flew to……………well, that’s the subject of a future post!

Lockett Family Reunion.........from the Archives

Some old pictures, to bring back memories.