January 2005 ...My body is almost 73 years old - and I can't believe it. I used to think anyone or anything over 60 was old!? I now feel like I've just begun to live! So many more dreams to fulfill . . .

Raised on a farm in the Pacific NW in a more traditional and conservative church, my parents had a loving and vital relationship with the Lord. As a girl, He became my lifelong Friend and Companion, and His Word a necessary part of my life. In His Word I found - and still do -strength and reality on the roller coaster of life.

In 1950, I married at 17, to a young man who planned to be a businessman. I don't know which of us was most surprised when several years later he decided to go back to school to be a minister of the gospel (and one thing I always knew: I never wanted to be a minister's wife!) God had different plans than I did - and my education was vastly increased in the role of pastor's wife!

The next major change in our lives was that of being thrust into the position of forming and leading a large group of people (total of 68 ) from all over the states to move to Brazil in 1967 & 1968. (Another thing I'd always known was that I never wanted to live outside of the United States, thank you! I certainly knew I never wanted to be a missionary! ) The process of putting together this group and moving all of us from the states took five years - and I learned even more! Once again, God's plans were different from mine.

Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 1967 with husband and five children (16 years to 3). CULTURE SHOCK and bonding into a new culture - a painful process. Not believing in evil spirits and demons and miracles - and placed into a society where spiritism, demons and miracles are only too real and interwoven into daily life. Having to re-evaluate everything I had been taught and believed. Learning the power of Jesus' name to cast out demons. Adopting a Brazilian baby girl. after our two oldest children returned to states to college. Rejected by our denomination (that still didn't believe in demons and miracles.) Without any financial support in Brazil we were determined to stay: I knew I simply did not want to ever live in the states again.

We experienced God's faithfulness, time and time again, in ways that left me amazed (like stretching our food on the table whenever extra people showed up and we didn't have extra food.) I learned to depend upon His faithfulness.

My experiences were rich and widely varied.

Besides being a wife, mom and homemaker, I served as a missionary, taught school, helped run an English language school, taught private English classes, and on. . . We were without any financial help from the states for over six years . . . yet our children never went hungry. (Yes, I did greatly simplify the meal menus.)

I developed a children's theater/music group , working with children from many different backgrounds and social stratas. We translated three Kid's Praise records (Maranatha Music): trained the children (can you feature teaching children to march when some don't know which is their left foot? They learned!) These same kids developed to the point where they performed before thousands, and also helped record three CD's in Portuguese! I have every right to be proud of them - and of their lives since then!

Our family began working with another denomination, that we learned to call our family in Foursquare. (International Church of the Foursquare Gospel). I was ordained a minister/pastor (another major change, for in the church I was raised women take no public roles in ministry )

. . then in 1987 my world collapsed around me when my married children discovered their dad's unfaithfulness to me, them, and the Lord. He had other children outside of our marriage and was deeply involved with his "other" family. .(A real tragedy, for so many people were hurt!)

The leaders in Foursquare Missions asked me to do the very thing I did not want to do; return to the states to live, in the fall of 1987, to "give myself a chance to put my life together." What they didn't realize was that after 20 years in Belo Horizonte, my life and emotional support structure was in Brazil, not in the states. But we had betrayed their trust in us. They had every reason (and God was involved in their decision) to ask me to return to the states.

My husband chose to abandon us - and Christmas 1987, found my youngest daughter (then a teenager) and I living in a small apartment in Portland, Oregon, the rest of my children scattered over two continents. I returned to a country I didn't know, a culture that was totally strange to me, and with no financial support. It was the most difficult time yet - but God remained faithful! I discovered that He cares for me in the US just as He did in Brazil. Humbling and amazing! - I still consider that time with awe and with pain, and gratitude to my Father God. I learned much more about Him, about the faithfulness of my Lord, Jesus, and the guidance of the Holy Sjpirit.

. . .In these last 18 years, I (then we) continued teaching trips to Brazil every year (the last 14 years with a surprise gift from God: a husband who loves the Lord -and me -with integrity! He's the neat guy whose lessons you're finding on these web pages.)

Today, we are in the process of spending more and more time in Brasil. We are buying an apartment in Natal (northeast of Brasil) where we can live and teach. and the Lord is stretching our pension and social security checks so we can be in Brasil. Once again, God's faithfulness! My six children, 18 grandchildren and now 4 great-grandchildren live on two different continents. My heart is Brazilian, and I'm married to a Yankee. . .the roller coaster ride of life continues - and God is still in charge. . . . . . . . .

I've walked through the valley of the shadow of death of all my dreams and lived with the uncertainty of who I am. I still (after all these years) face the daily challenge of finding time with the Lord, that I might identify myself through and in Him. . . .

As I look at my life today, I still see holes and gaps, areas where I need to grow. I'm trusting God to fill them in. Perhaps that sounds simplistic? I don't mean it to be so. This process of "walking with the Lord" is not easy, and sometimes the path is not clear. I just know that if we are honestly searching, He's promised to answer.

My prayer is that each of us search for Him and with Him in integrity. And, when we come out on the other side of our "educational experiences" we can look back and say: "I wouldn't want to go through it again - but how glad I am that I've learned what I have!"

May God bless each one of us on our journeys!