"Princess and Daughter of the King"

Create a photo slideshow This was what the middle school choir did for our Veteran's Day program. There were several representatives from various armed forces. The kids did a great job. This was my first time leading choir for middle school kids.

The following link is a video I presented to the class Music Helps for Class Time Since my last post, I've been working in a new position. Instead of worship leading, I'm working with Middle School age 6th and 7th grades as a choir director. My class is small, 14 students, but that leaves more for a personal approach.  The class is pretty structured and I've put together a curriculum that has kept them busy. We started out the semester with music history and I used an online free course. Lately, though, that same link is no longer available. I used a place called music history lessons which was made on weebly. One day, as usual, I would go to the link but received an error report. I'm thinking they must be revising the link. Anyway, we began our history from the year 0 to 450 A.D and proceeded to the current era. I found the "Odes Project" cd that recorded music to several hymns written during the 3rd and 4th century and taught them one of t...

This is a wonderful view of Arizona back in the 1930's.  So many changes have occurred these many years. Still Arizona is my home and will be for the rest of my life. I really love the natural beauty here.

http://www.smilebox.com/playBlog/4e4451794d7a4d774d7a493d0d0a&blogview=true These flowers are from my garden. The very first roses in this slide show are those my sister sent to me when I turned 70. I really enjoy gardening. It's a big responsibility to get up early, water and make sure everything has enough moisture.

  This was a dance I presented at our Easter "Passion" program in 2013.

Unbelievably, I will be turning 70 this month. I've enjoyed my life with the Lord   for over 50 years. I've been married, had children and have now six grandchildren. I've traveled many times with my kids, lived on two reservations, moved over 30 times in my married life and now happy and content in a place that my dad would call "God's country". I had a knack for selling and loved meeting new people. I started as a teen selling "Vanda" cosmetics, then a pre-paid insurance program, then Amway where my former husband and I sold mostly laundry soap and a coffee service. We excelled in it but later ended up moving again. To help with our finances, I went to school and received an Associates Degree in Graphic Design but had no place to use what I learned. We ended up in Holbrook, Arizona and not finding work there, I used my education to make business cards, forms and ads. Now that I'm in a place where older, retired and semi-retired peo...

The following link takes you to the parade held in Payson, Arizona before Christmas. I went by myself since my hubby was not feeling well. I took my campstool and wore my long coat. It was very cold, probably in the 30's but I was warm. There were several large fires in drums along the route for those who needed hands warmed. http://www.smilebox.com/playBlog/4e444d324f544d304d44553d0d0a&blogview=true

I've been working over a month now. I was checking my care.com site and there was work involving taking care of a 75 year old woman. It involves preparing food, making up her bed, changing her depends which could sometimes be messy (the bad part). I also play games like Scrabble and 500 Rummy. I also do dishes and laundry and right now my hand is sore probably due to folding clothes.  One day I went in and the dishes were piled up and the laundry included about six loads. I would say it's been beneficial in having a good relationship with a lovely Christian woman and being able to share some of my pictures and music with her. She enjoys being entertained. She asks for very little and probably would like to get out of the house once in a while. Her daughter teaches at a Christian Elementary school and her son-in-law is a cook at a Christian camp.  I do wish I could work at a desk but for now I'm thankful to the Lord for the work I do have. I'm so used to shufflin...

It's been very difficult to find work in Payson. I'm thinking it's because of my age. I may be past retirement but I can and want to work. I'm experienced in office work, management and have done tutoring, substituting in the schools, worked in a law office for three years and a collector for various businesses for 8 years. I had two interviews recently, one at Payson High School and the other at Head Start. The interviews went well, I thought but maybe they are looking for someone younger. I can't help but think there just isn't a job here for me.  I'll go to the DES office if it would help but they don't have any jobs for me either. I could talk to someone even if it would help me not give up.  I wrote a letter to the Payson Roundup editor about how hard it was finding a job and two days later I was called for interviews. Was it the letter to the editor? I wonder. Over this past year, I've applied online to various job sites and we...

Create a slideshow We went fishing and camping a few days at Knoll Lake north of Payson, Arizona. We only caught two small trout but the scenery was great. We came back home by way of the Colonel Crook or Rim Road 300. It's high atop the Mogollon Rim. We saw some beautiful views.

September 22, 1988  Letter to the Editor It has been my undoing or my chagrin to have worked for a law firm that doesn't know when they have someone good to work with them. Truth, justice and the American Way is no longer exemplified by the legal body. The firm, I won't mention, due to the fact that not everyone in the barrel is rotten, has denied my most unalienable right, to grow, to flex my muscle so to speak, to be trained and to move upward, not downward.  But as it goes those in high office do tend to compromise.   The case in point is the neglect and feeding of secretaries, staff and help, not just in this particular law firm but other businesses as well. People seem to forget that there is a world out there. A world depending on our expertise and wisdom, knowledge in various areas to help the destitute, the floundering, the poor managers, the oppressed, the defrauded, and the denied of society.   Is it right for fledgling in house secretaries and s...

Recently, my son asked my husband if he could help out with some smoked meat for a reception coming up. We both agreed it would be a good thing to help since he and his wife were putting it together with little help. Terry bought the wood chips and both of us bought plenty of chicken and we took his smoker, propane and ice box and headed to the valley.  Terry is from Texas and his expert smoked meat and beans and bacon were just a few of the potluck dishes to be presented. We reserved an inexpensive room not far from him and set out to help on a Friday. My son took me to the Home Depot where I surveyed the flowers and figured the color scheme out with the bride's colors. Then back to his place to start planting pots and decorating the stage that he and a house guest put together.  The pots were of various sizes and colors so with another bolt of fabric, my daughter-in-law and I glue gunned the fabric onto the pots. The fabric looked like brocade with leaves ...

It's been a year since I left the church in Gallup. I spent hours in preparation each week for worship. As a leader, I felt it was time to leave as my husband didn't like the town. I had to wait for the Lord to give me the OK and a peace before we continued looking for a new home. The first thing we did was look for work and also a place to worship. I didn't know that it would be so difficult to leave what I loved doing, that is the teaching, the playing keyboard, singing and encouraging others in the congregation to love the Lord with all their heart. I have this fire in me that wants to do more than I am. I find it difficult and painful to be out of the loop, so to speak, when the church we attend doesn't function like a church but a Bible study and brings a few songs to sing. I'll continue to pray about this and the emptiness I feel when I can't share the music that the Lord has given me. The music is part of who I am. I read an article recently from an...

The following is a poem I wrote several months after my eldest son was born and was included in a Christmas letter I stumbled on recently. "This Christmas brings our hearts and minds To God's greatest gift, the person of Jesus. It is He who imparts His love as we find, Not the babe in the manger but the man Jesus. His gift to us was himself when He died On that cross, oh the love of our Jesus. What joy we share as our hope is found Not in the baby lying so sweetly but in Jesus, Who shares our joys and our ups and downs. It is He we worship each Christmas. It's Jesus. We're so thankful for His great love profound Someday soon the world will bow down to Jesus. This Christmas let us sing praises to our King and not be all tangled in the world's riches. This Christmas let us remember Him and bring Gifts of the spirit that cross the bridges between ourselves and men in the world's ring. Let's meet Him this Christmas and His riches. So this...

We prepared for a snow but not as much as that which fell New Year's Eve and New Years. My husband and I traveled to the town park Green Valley. It was packed with Phoenix valley people and their families, sliding and throwing snowballs. They were there because of the 8 to 12 inches of snow. It was like Christmas at the Walmart because of the crowds. The cashiers there weren't used to the crowds. We took videos and pictures of this rare occasion. Last year, in fact, we hardly saw any snow. At Christmas we had a sprinkling, I call powdered sugar snow.  This year the snow was powder but eventually thawed and froze overnight making travel dangerous. My son and daughter-in-law had to come up too and enjoy what they don't see in Phoenix. http://www.smilebox.com/playBlog/4e4445354f5455354d54593d0d0a&blogview=true

This year just flew by. Two jobs under my belt and out of work again. Had a good holiday Christmas and praying this next year I will not only be older but wiser and have a job too. Terry has been doing handyman projects working with a realty company where we live and has been able to supplement our income. He painted inside our new home covering all the flower prints throughout the house. Before Christmas, he painted most of the front of the house. It looks amazing with white trim.   The first job I had was at an apartment complex where I was being trained for a Community Assistant and work toward being the manager. My boss worked in Phoenix but because of the distance, my applications had to go through her. She said I just wasn't getting it. That wasn't true. I had almost all the apartments rented. I think she had a problem with me and it wasn't the work I did. I was given two verbal warnings, something that hadn't happened to me in all the years working. I'm ...

5/7/09 to 5/11/09 Trip to San Antonio I left work on Wednesday and traveled to Phoenix. There I would take a flight out around noon the next day. I spent some time with my son Matt and wife Lesli that night. As soon as I entered his house, Lesli was wondering what to make for dinner. Matt was taking a nap after working hard on a 33,000 sq foot house, tapping and plastering. Lesli doesn’t cook and wanted to fix something for Matt. I suggested chicken tacos. She had all kinds of leftovers and together we had a great combination. Chicken, onions, pineapple chunks, chili powder, grill seasoning; a few cloves of garlic all cooked together then put on corn tortillas with cheese and lettuce. Wow, they tasted great. Lesli has to eat gluten free food and I told her to write the ingredients down for another time I slept at Steven’s house and got up and made it to the airport on time. Of course there was the other car that was impounded by Phoenix police cause Daniel had it parked in the wron...

I married a man who came from an Ash Arbor Pentecostal background. It has been difficult at times because of his beliefs. I have been a Christian for over 50 years now and the Holy Spirit came into my life in 1966. Because of my involvements with various denominations, I have been taught by the Holy Spirit and have been careful what I hear and what is taught to me. I base what I hear upon the Word of God. If we are not careful, it is easy to be deceived. My background came from several denominations so the Lord allowed me to see all of them in different lights. I was raised in a Lutheran church, then Methodist, then a combination when our family moved to Flagstaff, Arizona called Federated. In college I was exposed to Baptists, conservative, belonged to a youth group, Presbyterian, near the college in Tucson. When married, I attended a Baptist church, then Melodyland then Calvary Chapel. When in New Mexico, a Baptist church. In Page, Arizona a full gospel church, nondenominational. I...