Returning to Israel

Here we sit, at SeaTac airport, waiting for the first leg of our trip back to The Land. The 4 of us again, Ron, Candi, Julia n myself, second trip together to Israel for Sukkoth. This trip, also for Yom Kippur.
Next stop Chicago, Illinois, for  2+ hour layover.

snow 2017

it began to snow about 2:30 p.m.on sunday, the 24th of December. i watched it till 4, then made the call to my employer, asking if someone would drive me to my shift, when they phoned back, i was told to try it on my own. so I left my home earlier than usual, made it to Hwy 101, where traffic was crawling along at 25-30 mph. i felt comfortable with this. made it to Blyn, turned off the Hwy, to a much less traveled road. it was dark, but light because of the  snow! the road was covered, about 1" in snow. i crawled along the curvy,  hilly 2 lane road for over 2 miles going 20-25 mph. reached my clients driveway, which makes a hairpin turn off the road, and is very steep down to another hairpin curve. i thought i would turn around, and leave my car up there, and walk down. it tool about 7 tries to get backed up, it was very slippery, and i was on the level area! finally got enough traction to back onto the road, and found a safe level place to park. bundled up, grabbed a flashlight, and trekked down to the home of my client. got in, greeted the family, the previous care giver left. however, she could not get up the driveway. so the family went out, and got her to the road, came back in, and told me to go home. Oh GREAT!! i just did this drive, now i get to do it again!! so i bundled up, the family drove me up to my car, then escorted me to the Hwy. I stopped to tell them tank you, and had to give my bluebelle alot of gas to get going. thankfully, there was a break in the traffic on the Hwy, so i didn't have to stop at the stop sign, but eased right onto the Hwy, and crawled back to Sequim at 30mph. 
so now i have really driven in snow!! 

then monday morning, i had a shift, just south on 3rd, 1 mile. tried to pull bluebelle out tof the garage, and wasn't getting traction. so backed right back into the garage. came in phoned my employer, no one available to take me, so i bundled up again, and headed out. it was so beautiful!! snowing all the way there. it took me about 20 minutes to walk up the hill, then had to  guess which driveway to use to get to her apartment. Father guided me, and i was at her building. spent my 90 minutes, then bunldled up and trekked home again. the snow had stopped falling, the snowplow had plowed 3rd, several times, made it home again in 25 minutes. so NOW i can say to my kids n grands " i walked 2 miles round trip, in the snow to get to work"!!!

I drove in Israel!!!

At 7:30a.m. , Peter, Ron n I headed to the light rail, rode it down the hill, then by foot several blocks to the car rental place (which did not open for another 15 minutes). After 8, Ron walked in and told them he had a reservation, they said they had no cars. Peter asked if some were being returned? They said yes, Ron again said i have a reservation, they said they had no cars to rent, so Peter n i went next door (from AVIS to HERTZ) they had cars, AND wanted to rent to me!! So the process was started, and  i rented my first car!! AND i drove in Israel!! We, Peter n I, returned to the apartments to pick up Kenzie n Boaz, Ron returned and got Julia n Candi, the taxi had arrived for the Knudsons, so we were off to Caesarea. It took just over an hour, and was a pleasant ride(Peter drove). Only a few highway changes, and we arrived at Caesarea National Park. The ruins were magnificent!

Sukkas everywhere

As the High Holy Day ends, i find it amazing how Jerusalem comes alive! After about 7p.m., most shops open. The light rail trains begin again to transport peoples from here to there. Restaurants are packed with peoples eager to eat. Streets are crowded with walkers. And there are Sukkas everywhere! Most restaurants have sukkas to eat in during this week.

Sukkas on balconies

Sukkas on terraces

Sukkas in alcoves

sukkas on rooftops

More sukkas on rooftops

Sukkas at restaurants

20th century kid

Wow!! Today is day 4 in Israel. Last evening, 6 adults & 3 boys under 3 years, went to the Western Wall. With the start of the Feast of Sukkot, which begins with a High Holy Day, there were many families already there. My first visit there, and my oh my! THIS is the West wall to THE Temple mount!! You know, The Temple where Yeshua taught His disciples, where HE ran out the money changers, where HE taught the elders at age 13! All that remains, is this wall of the west side of the mount.
Growing up on the west coast of the United States, i have never seen buildings very old, and certainly, not centuries old like here. I wish these rock walls could talk. I would sit all day to hear the stories of what they have witnessed. I suppose that must have been how the disciples felt about Yeshua, they would sit all day listening to him talk, teach, instruct and pray.
Walking thru the 'old city', realizing HOW OLD this place is, is...............mind numbing. I can't get my brain around it! I'm a 20th century kid, in a 1st century, no, even BEFORE YESHUA's time, place. I am BLESSED beyond words, that Father invited ME to come to HIS chosen land to celebrate the Feast of Sukkot.

First trip HOME........

Here i sit, in The Land!!! Wednesday n thursday were travel days. Slept well last night, and today have been out to the shuk,( open air market), a few other shops, grocery store, and now resting in our (brother Ron, sis in law Candi, sis Julia n I ) A.C. apartment.
Here is the view out our (Julia n I) bedroom window

sewing for ........

WOW!! how time passes by! here i am 6 years later, ready to try this blog thing, again! most of my sewing these days, is for my granddaughters. they need clothes, and i love to sew, its a win win!!

these are the most recent, for my Posie, august 2016.

We'll be careful to give YOU all the praise,

Well, here I am, 6 years later, and maybe now I'm ready to be a blogger??! My life has undergone massive changes in the past 4 years. I became widowed, moved 200 miles, & became employed. My Heavenly Father has, and still, carries me thru this new adventure, I'm being careful to give HIM all the praise!!

numbers

august is a very busy month for our family. we have 3 birthdays and an anniversary in 13 days. this month our oldest son turned three four, then our daughter turned two three, just a month earlier our grandson turned one two. it struck me as odd, these numbers we assign to our age.

re-styled bag

several years ago, i made this lovely bag from an INDIGO JUNCTION PATTERN . upon carrying it, it did not suit me. so it sat, for a long period of time it sat. then in april 2011, i decided i would pull it out, and give it a facelift. so what exactly was it that i did not care for? it had a 'knife edge' bottom, so it did not stand well, and was too shallow, and the handles were too short. so i unsewed the bottom, added a 3" vinyl piece, resewed the bottom making it flat on the bottom. i then cut the handles in half, found in my stash 4 square napkin rings that i thought would make nice handle rings, sewed from the same yellow vinyl, 2 handle extensions, that were attached with wooden bittons. tried carrying it again, just to discover, it was still too shallow! so unsew the bottom AGAIN, remove the yellow vinyl i had added, cut a new piece of copper vinyl 11" tall X the width of the bag, about 19". resewed the bottom, added a piece of 'stiffener'( i like to use stiff plastic placemats i find at $ TREE, cut to fit the bottom measurements of the bag)) for the bottom. carried it for about 4 weeks, and decided i don't like how 'tight' the opening is. so it is once again .............sitting, waiting for a re-restyle.

FERMENTED beads

for more than 10 years now, we 5 sisters have set aside a time every even year, to spend time together. 3 years ago Candi hosted, and arranged for us to go to this beadmaking class, with someone she knew.  it was loads of fun, and we 5 came away with a nice collection of beads we had made. my beads had not spoken to me about how they wished to be strung, untill this past week. so here are my FERMENTED beads, in thier strung state. i shall wear them often, and remember the summer of '08 in Sequim washington.

Susanne graduates from Seattle Pacific University

so saturday afternoon we headed to Lynnwood Washington, where our daughter and her family lives. we stopped in Toledo Wasington to get our tent trailer, then headed up. we arrived in Lynnwood, checked in at the North Sound RV park, put up our accomidations, then off to see our daughter & family (nearly across the street). sunday was commencement for Seattle Pacific University, held at SAFCO Field in Seattle. it was just the 3 of us(plus her 2 babies) there from our family, showing our support for Susanne. i think they said there were 13,000 people in attendance. her recognition was very near the end, we managed to keep Loerlai entertained, and Melanie happy. then they said her name...............SUSANNE RUTH THIELMAN..cum laude................i felt so proud!! in the past 5 years my daughter has moved away from home, gotten married, had 2 babies, and gotten her Bachelors Degree, and she is only 22 years old! such an accomplishment! i am so grateful i was able to be there for that final conclusion of her education. then back to her home for the party, then off to bed at 11pm. up monday morning to tell her goodbye before she headed off to work, pack up our trailer, say good bye to her family, and we were off, headed south. arrived home, after leaving our trailer again on Toledo washington, about 6 pm, tired. but oh so glad we went!!!!

Jade's graduation

so friday June 10th, 2011 was Jade's high school graduation. it brought back so many memories of my own graduation from AVHS, june 10th 1976. we had a great time at Newberg high school's stadium for the commencement. the speaker was interesting, the beach balls were fun to watch bobble over head, the Lei's that Jade got from her Hawaiian family were BEAUTIFUL, talking with her dad Don and hearing the heritage of giving lie's at graduation was great, so glad we were invited to be there!! thank you Jade & Susan for inviting us and saving such great seats for us as well! it was an event i will not soon forget!

children's visits

so son#2 called the other day, asking if he & girlfriend could come stay the weekend with us, i told him, "sorry both bedrooms are already reserved for those nights!" he said 'oh, by who?' i told him his nephew was comming and staying in one room, and his aunt n uncle were also comming and staying in the other room. i do believe i heard dissappointment in his voice. so we worked it out for the 2 of them to come for just one night, which works out well all around. its funny how sometimes our children think we have no life when they are gone, and we are just waiting for them to come n visit. i love my children, and i love when they do come to visit, don't get me wrong! i just thought it was funny!

slow start

so here it is almost 9 months later, and i am finally posting my second instalment!

 i wanted a way to share my accomplishments with others of like interests and i thought a blog was the best way to accomplish that.

i went to beautiful Ariel Washington the other day, to hear a friend speak at a tea. She was fabulous, and i met a Cheryl, Jean, Sara n Katie, 3 generations of women in one family. Katie was about 17 years, and was very proud of the dress she was wearing, as she had sewn it herself, with help from Cheryl(gramma). i wished i had some way to show her my sewist endeavors, to give her encouragement, but i was not wearing a single thing i had sewn! what a shame i felt. so i decided it was time indeed, to begin BLOGGING!! so here we go, i will add pics of my accomplishments, give detailed descriptions of what i've done, and hope you like it enough to return often!

just so you know, i'm not a fan of capitalization, so i seldom do it.

beginning

so here i am, blogging!!