Small Town America

I have been working with students, staff, local law enforcement and the fire department of a small town in Oregon, just over the state line from Idaho, to help them coordinate an "Every 15 Minutes" program. The town of Adrian, Oregon, has a population of less than 150. In fact, in 2007, the official population was 141. The high school has 88 students in grades 9-12.

Over the weekend, we decided to take a drive to Adrian so we could take some photos and enjoy a picnic lunch. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. We enjoyed our picnic lunch in Parma, Idaho in the privacy of our van as the rain pelted the roof. It was a rather relaxing sound, and we stayed high and dry. After lunch, we continued the drive to Adrian, Oregon.

Because it was raining most of the time, we really didn't take as many photos as we wanted, but we did take a few photos of some interesting buildings.

As a small town, Adrian is very interesting. They don't have a McDonald's or Burger King; in fact, they don't even have a gas station. There's only one main street through town, which is the highway, and most of the buildings and storefronts sit empty, derelicts from a bygone era. I'm not really sure which businesses are actually open because everything looks abandoned, even during the middle of the day in the middle of the week. I think I saw a market that might be open, and a bar, but that's about it.

However, the people are wonderful to work with. We've met several people from the community, who are actively involved in putting together the "Every 15 Minutes" event. They are all dedicated to their community and to their school.

Would I want to live in a community that small? Probably not, since I have almost always lived in larger communities. But I can appreciate the closeness that the smaller towns have and envy their dedication.

Change: Why is it Difficult to Accept?

Change is a word that strikes fear in the hearts of many. Change can be defined as an alteration, a transformation, a substitution or a variation. We see change in the growth process, from babyhood to adulthood. The seasons also reveal signs of change. Change is extremely important in our lives. Without change, life would be boring, and we would be stuck in a rut. You've heard the saying "same old, same old". And I'm sure you've heard someone (especially a teenager) utter those two infamous words, "I'm bored". Actually, I have uttered those two words on occasion myself.

Change means survival. Some who see changes around them that they do not approve of become bitter, angry, disgusted or unhappy. They want "change" to go away. Does this also mean they would prefer to still be riding in a horse and buggy or storing their foods in an icebox? Probably not, but they are just not comfortable with change, even though it happens through a series of progressive events. Change usually doesn't happen overnight.

What we must decide is how we are going to respond to changes. How do we stay positive? Through transformation, which can only be accomplished through the Holy Spirit. We must be reconciled to God. We must accept His love without reservation and be willing to accept and to do His will for us.

Change, or transformation, is a painful, demanding process, and it takes time and perseverance. First, we must be reconciled not only to God (2 Corinthians 5:20) but also to our brothers (Matthew 5:24). Second, we must be willing to change our attitude, following the "advice" found in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). Third, we must count our blessings--all those things that God has given us. God cares so much for us that He knows us, inside and out. (Luke 12:7)



There is a great little book called, Who Moved My Cheese?, written by Spencer Johnson, M.D. The story is about four mice--Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw--and how they respond to change and how their lives were affected by changes (or refusing to change). Someone kept moving their cheese, and they either had to deal with the changes....or die. It's a very quick-read, only 96 pages, and each person who reads the book will find themselves revealed in the attitudes of one of the four mice.

How often have you heard someone say, "We've always done it this way. Why do we need to change?" We, too, are stuck in our traditions. We are unable to "think outside the box" because we are bogged down with our traditionalistic views of how things should be done. We are not able to see the "joy in Jesus" because of the anchor of tradition that is weighing us down. If we are stuck "inside the box", we can't reach out to others. We cannot show them joy when we do not see it (or have it) ourselves.

In today's economy, we will see more and more changes: more and more people either losing their jobs or having their hours reduced. Businesses are trying to find ways to cut costs without cutting quality. Change is inevitable, and it is how we react to those changes that determines how we will survive.

Change: it's all about attitude!

Excerpted from a sermon entitled, "Change or Die", written by this author but never preached.

Over....or Under?

Is there a right way and a wrong way to place the roll of toilet paper onto the toilet paper holder? Some would say "yes", some would say "no", and others would say "it's a matter of habit".

Why do we get upset when someone puts the toilet paper "under" when we prefer it "over"? The simple answer is: habit. We get locked into habits and and resist change. We think we have a better way of doing something and we want it done our way. Ah, selfishness! But are we always right?

I heard a great sermon at church last Sabbath called "From the Heart". The speaker emphasized the point that we are creatures of habit and that we do so many things out of custom and tradition that, eventually, they become rote, fixed, habitual, a mechanical course of procedure. He continued by encouraging us to do things from the heart rather than from tradition. He also asked some very pointed questions: Why do we come to church? Is it out of habit or because we truly want to celebrate the Sabbath from the heart. If you read Luke 4:16 and Acts 17:1, you will find that even Jesus and Paul went to the synagogue (church) because it was their custom.

Not all customs are "bad", but we do need to step back and ask ourselves why we are doing certain things. If we are doing them because "that's the way we've always done it", then perhaps we are not doing it from the heart.

Over...or under? Does it really matter?

Memories

There comes a time when each of us sits back and thinks about things that have happened in the past, and we either laugh or cry. Here are some of the things I thought about today:

• Les tripping over the curb as he was backing out of a horse trailer used for moving furniture and spraining both ankles. Not one....both!
• Linda falling down the stairs because she was thinking about reaching the camera bag hanging on the closet doorknob instead of watching for the last two steps, and spraining her ankle. Only one...not both!
• Becky riding her bicycle with a group from church; the bicycle wheel slipped off of the asphalt and she fell with the bicycle on top of her and ripped off a layer of skin from her leg.
• Les jumping off of the Little Red Truck full of kids after pushing it downhill and spraining his wrist. Children: Do not attempt this stunt without proper training.
• Becky crashing her Big Wheel into a parked car.
• Rachel hiding inside the play kitchenette/stove set that Grandma gave her.
• Ruth attempting to style her hair with scissors at the age of five. Bad idea!
• Linda being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Twice now!
• Becky and Rachel marrying the men that they love.
• Ruth moving to Ohio to go to college.
• Family vacations to Ohio, California, Canada
• Rachel dropping a full carton of eggs in the grocery store (or was it Becky?)
• Becky, at the age of two, hiding under a rack of men's suits in JCPenney, where we couldn't find her. Code Adam!
• Becky, at the age of two, hiding on the floor in the backseat of the car at Grandma's house, where we couldn't find her. Again?!
• Watching proudly as Becky, Rachel and Ruth graduated from high school
• Being served special meals prepared by 3R's Kitchen
• Listening to RFaith sing special music at church

Memories help us to remember where we have been, where we come from, and where we are going. They remind us that we, as a family, support each other in all things.

I heard a song tonight sung by Josh Groban called, "You Raise Me Up", and I especially like the chorus:

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains; You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas; I am strong, when I am on your shoulders; You raise me up...To more than I can be.

The Flight Home

In the past eleven years, I have been on an airplane twice, and both of those times were business trips in the past six months. Air travel hasn't changed much since that time: you still have to check in your luggage, sit around and wait until you can board the plane, and sit in seats that are too small. If the person in front of you happens to recline their seatback, you have even less room.

Denver Airport

Meals are rarely served on flights, even those that occur during normal mealtimes. Everything that is served has a price tag on it. And as my luck would have it, I either end up sitting right on top of the wing, with limited visibility, or I have the aisle seat where I can't see anything! Okay, so there are advantages to having an aisle seat--you can get up to go to the very small lavatory without climbing over people. (On one flight, I had a window seat and both of my seat-mates were sleeping when I had to go to the bathroom. Patience is a virtue!)

There are, however, some changes that are very noticeable. For example, security is tighter than it used to be. You have to take off your shoes as well as any metal items, all of which will be scanned by the x-ray machines. Family members can no longer enter the boarding area to wait with you until your flight is boarded. With most airlines now charging fees for checking luggage into the cargo hold of the aircraft, more people are cramming all of their traveling items into smaller suitcases that are bulging at the seams and then trying to stuff them into the overhead bins above the seats. I think that if the plane were to crash, we would all be knocked unconscious by the falling luggage before we ever hit the ground!

Headquarters of Corrections

Corporation of America

Sunset over Denver Airport

Trip to Nashville

I recently had the opportunity to visit the beautiful city of Nashville, Tennessee, since that is where our company is headquartered. I was sent to Nashville to attend training for Public Information Officers. That's a fancy way of saying facility spokesperson. There were eight of us from various states across the country: Idaho, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma and Mississippi. We became a very close-knit group in a very short period of time.

Nashville was experiencing a cold front, dropping temperatures down to thirty degrees the first day we arrived, and it remained cold for the duration of our stay. That really wasn't an issue, since the only sights I saw were the inside of the airport, the inside of the hotel, the inside of our company's headquarters, and the inside of the shuttle van that took us to and from work every day. Oh, yes, and the inside of the restaurant we went to one evening. (Did I happen to mention that we saw Tim McGraw at the restaurant?!)

The hotel, Embassy Suites-Vanderbilt, was awesome: they provided a free continental breakfast to surpass anything that I have ever seen in a hotel. Pancakes, waffles, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, cereals, toast, pastries, and omelets made-to-order. The hotel had a two-story waterfall that cascaded into the lobby area. The glass elevators looked out over the 11-story building from the inside. Very spectacular!

My room was a two-room suite: a living-room with sofa, lounge chair, worktable, and kitchenette and a separate bedroom with a king-size bed. It was HUGE! The view from the bedroom was breathtaking as it looked out over the city of Nashville. I saw buildings and places that I wished that I had time to visit.

The training was very informative and I learned to shed some of my shyness. (Yes, people, I really am a shy person.) I had to give a media statement, a press release, and a television interview, all of which was video-taped. In addition, those who were attending the training with me took turns being reporters as well as the public information officer. In the middle of my television interview, the president of our company walked in and sat down to listen. I could feel the pressure! I feel that I did very well, and I even put my training to use the first day I got back to work, having to give interviews with a local newspaper.

The trip back home was very long. After already working half a day to finish up the training, my flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 3:00 p.m. and then I had a 4-1/2 hour layover in Denver. It was going to be a long night. I finally arrived back home at 11:40 p.m., but it was nearly 1:00 a.m. the next morning before I went to bed.

At the Nashville airport, I couldn't clear the metal detector, so I was ushered into a glass cubicle where I was pat-searched and scanned with a handheld metal detector. Alas, it was my artificial knee that was setting off the metal detector. The wait at the Denver airport was extremely long, so I spent time eating, shopping, taking photographs, and reading.

In case you've never flown Frontier Airlines, every plane has an animal mascot. The mascot is painted on the tail, on the wingtip, and a poster hangs at the entrance to the plane. Frontier Airlines' motto is: "A Whole Different Animal." Hence the animal names. I flew on "Stan the Ram", "Hector the Otter", and "Clover the Fawn". I don't know what the first one was that I flew on because I didn't realize there was an animal theme until I got on the second flight.

Every seat in the plane has it's own television screen. Of course, you have to pay for it, but it is satellite television with many channels to choose from. They also serve the usual beverage service and snack foods which, of course, you have to pay for. (It was very strange, though, because I only had to pay for drinks/snacks on the flights going TO Nashville; the flights coming back FROM Nashville, the drinks/snacks were free. I don't quite understand that.)

As Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz, "there's no place like home." I love to travel, but I love to be at home more.

31-derful Years!

It's not every day that a husband and wife can celebrate 31 years of wedded bliss. In fact, there are very few couples who even survive 31 years with each other. Why? Because they haven't learned the secret to a good marriage.

First of all, marriage is not about love; it's about commitment. If you love someone, but you are not committed to them, the marriage is doomed to fail. People fall in and out of love, and people fall in and out of relationships at the drop of a hat. Why? Because they haven't committed themselves to each other.

Marriage is not a 50-50 proposition. It is not about each individual giving 50% of themselves and their time into the union. Marriage is a 110-110 proposition; each individual must give 110% to the relationship in order for it to succeed.

After 31 years of marriage, I think I may actually be qualified as a subject-matter expert! I have been married to the most wonderful, caring, supportive man for all of those 31 years, and I wouldn't trade him for anything. How do we do it? By giving 110% to our relationship. We listen to each other, we make decisions together, we take walks and hold hands, and we reminisce together.

Just the other day, we were remembering a time when Becky was riding her BigWheel and plowed into a parked car. Then there was the time when I was in the hospital and my husband and my mother were in the room with me. The nurse came in and said that my mother and father would have to leave. The nurse was very embarrassed when I politely explained that they were my mother and my HUSBAND. (My mom always looked young for her age, and at the time, I was 24 but looked like a teenager!)

We have made a lot of memories in 31 years, and while I am sure that I won't be able to recall all of them, I do recall that they were made with the man that I love AND that I am committed to. I look forward to another 31 years together!