3:01 p.m. Today's project was to welcome my dad over to visit with Steve and me, and hopefully to help Steve get the battteries put back into our RV correctly. Daddy brought us a nice surprise, lemon juice squeezed from his own tree's generous crop and frozen into large ice cubes. I believe he said that each cube would make a quart of lemonade come summer. Can't wait for either summer or its tastes! I was born in August, so summer is my favorite season, as long as air conditioning is available in Riverside, anyway.
I have so many amazing senior citizens in my life, chief of course, my 82 year old father, Oliver. He drives over from Redlands on sunny days, and is the one behind the wheel when he and Steve go get lunch or need to pick up building or mechanical supplies. It's such a good time of companionship for Steve, as well as assistance when he becomes confused or unsure, from a very experienced older man. And the fact that Daddy is a father figure makes it less threatening for Steve to follow instructions and accept corrections during a fix-it session. My dad takes a very logical approach to problem solving, as do I, but the difference is, that he actually knows what he's talking about!!
Since I retired, I have entered into a whole new world of weekday fellowship at morning Bible study, along with lunch and game dates, whenever Steve's needs and medical appointments permit. Every one of my friends has had her share of trials, especially the widows, but their joy is contagious. Always a kind, funny or gracious word, even if that good word is sometimes dampened by tears. Proverbs 25 :11 reminds us, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver."
My thoughts today particularly came to rest on an old friend, anointed Bible teacher Claire "Honey" Simons, long retired and widowed in Washington State, a real mentor and close buddy when she was here in Riverside and we both were active in women's ministry at Harvest. We met at a prayer meeting held at a mutual friend's home and quickly became as inseparable as a mother of little ones and an incredibly active great-grandma could be! One time, we were laughing so hard at the Tyler Mall that we were hopping around in a circle, completely insane!! Whichever of my babies I had in a stroller with me was looking on in unheard-of stunned silence--yes, mommy can have fun, too!
In addition to praying together by phone almost every morning, we would get together to cook healthy, delicious food from scratch a few times a month at one another's homes. I still use her granola receipe, treating individual ones of my kids to entire batches for their special occasions.
I'll probably enter Honey's granola recipe on the "Just a Pinch" recipe website, which features thousands of recipes of every sort imaginable from around the country. I actually won the above blue ribbon for Honey's "French Market Soup" that I have been serving on either Christmas Eve or New Year's Day for decades, giving her full credit as I entered the winter soup contest. Sent her a printout of the website's recognition and a photo of the batch that the website editor had made, thanking her for one of her many contributions to my life.
Back and forth we would consult on the Bible studies we wrote at the time: hers for the regular speaking rotation on Tuesday mornings, and mine for the home study I taught, occasional Tuesday treaching, and for retreat topical messages. An understanding set of "peer's ears" was invaluable to the creative process, confirming the Word of God to our hearts.
But Honey also taught me about being a godly wife, which is not based on having a perfect husband! Her Joe was many years unsaved, because she became a believer after their marriage. But what a great guy he was all of the time we knew him before he passed on to be with the Lord! He and Steve had both worked at Southern Plastic Mold in Anaheim at different times, and regaled one another with stories of the injection molding industry and their mutual colleagues over the years. She was head of the prayer team for my 1992 election to the School Board in Riverside, too--could not have thought of anyone better, or more faithful!
Because Honey's mom had succumbed to Alzheimer's, she has offered me notes of encouragement; as a cancer survivor, she bolstered me up a few years ago. How precious this sister is! But so far away!! Maybe Steve and I should make a plan to go up north this summer...
Honey's loving, bubbly personality and infectious passion for the Word of God have shaped me as a wife, mother, grandmother and Bible teacher. Truly, Proverbs 31: 20 can be applied to her:
"Many daughters have done well [Honey], but you excel them all."
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