Life Layers

On one of my walks this week I spotted a small tree stump overgrown with fungus. It reminded me of my many layered life story. 

Though I am currently focused on writing about my early childhood, I come across memories (artifacts, photos, documents, letters) from one of the many other periods of life.

Digging through files I discovered this layered family schedule--all six of us living under the same roof and each going in a different direction. Michael's 40-hour week schedule was not listed, nor baby Kayla's. We're guessing it was 1992 or '93. How did we survive those crazy days?

Some interesting comments and memories are trickling in on the family Facebook page. 

I came across a photo that reminded me of what I recently read in those early letters when my parents were setting up housekeeping in Argentina.

Last Tuesday the 9th [April 9, 1946] our expensive washing machine came. It is a beauty and we believe we are going to like it very much, but right now there is some defect with the roller gears. The bowl or tub is a green and white mixture. All the other parts are white. Kathryn said she surely didn't want green, but she likes this very much. We have washed with it once and it seems to clean the clothes well. We already had two large tubs for rinsing and so I made two small benches for them. They will be on castors, so it will be handy for her to handle. We also bought a rubber tube to run the hot water into the tubs. right now we are washing in the bathroom because there is a mechanism there for heating the water. It operates like a gasoline stove and heats the water as it runs through a coil. It has no storage tank, but it heats as you draw the water. I imagine you wonder if we can get the water hot enough. Yes, I got it almost too hot last time. We hope however to get a storage tank, sometime, so that we can have hot water for other purposes.

I have memories of helping occasionally with the complicated multi-step process. From my current perspective, I almost wonder whether washing by hand would not have been simpler. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to wash sheets or jeans by hand.


We listen to the Daily Audio Bible Chronological as we eat breakfast. Repeatedly this week I heard, "The Lord said to Moses." And then I could see my two-year old self in an anecdote from the ancient letters.

The other evening we were getting Rita ready to go to the evening service and out of the silence, she spoke up and said, “And the Lord spake unto Moses”. We certainly had to laugh. We didn’t think she was getting anything out of our devotions in the mornings from the Pentateuch, but apparently she had. She also says the word, tabernacle, once in a while around the house. (July 23, 1946)

Moving on to another era, our life on the M/V Doulos in the early 1980's. 

Eduardo from Uruguay, one of our shipmates at the time, wrote about a vivid dream he had, and he mentions me among the few he remembers. Read about it in Servants at Sea, if you can read Spanish, or translate it-- el Doulos en marcha otra vez? (Doulos sailing again?)

Coincidentally, also this week, a photo surfaced from those Doulos days. Our children have such fond memories of their five years onboard.

Doulos children on deck

Valentine's Day had us reminiscing about our love journey of over 50 years--two years of correspondence, 49 of marriage. 

However, the story that blessed us in a special way that day was of a dear couple in our community, also in my writers' critique group--T.R. and Angie Knight. I encourage you to read the blog post and listen to the podcast linked at the very end--Knight Rider--a tale of true love. You will be blessed!

The salient events of the week:

There were multiple accidents due to hazardous weather conditions. Among them was our 21-year-old grandson Skye on his way to work in Fort Wayne early Monday morning. To avoid a truck he was forced off the road, hit from the side or behind, spun around, totalled the car, but gratefully no one was hurt!

That same night, we warned Moriah that our lane and driveway were impassable and she should spend the night on campus. She told us the next day that even walking from the Science building to the dorm was tricky and treacherous.

Michael spent many long days at Madjax as the deadline to pack up the robot fast approaches. Next Tuesday is Bag Day.
I could watch him walking to and fro in the mechanical room, furthering the process of finishing, fixing, fine-tuning the robot they designed, all the while trying to teach and guide young students.
I have trouble recognizing others with this particular live stream camera view. What is the tell-tale feature that allows me to spot Michael?

Saturday, I had a new experience--I joined a group of friends that like to hike/walk/bike. I was slightly outnumbered, they were all men, ha! We walked the Taylor Cross Country course and enjoyed conversation.

  What adventures await in this eighth week of 2019?