The good Lord had planned to have me meet a wonderful woman named LeAnn upon my arrival to Anchorage. She explained to me what God's "back yard miracles" meant to her. Please read below and I will explain the rest later. How sweet the Lord's love is...
Erin (and Aaron),
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny how God is looking out for us? You are so right. Every time I start to doubt, He performs one of his "back yard" miracles and amazing things happen! I have always called them "back yard", because people keep looking for God in the amazing, part-the-waters kind of way and He is working his miracles in everyone lives every day. We just have to take the time to look for it. I mean, how incredible is it that you are sitting in Texas praying for an answer, and we are sitting in Georgia trying to sort everything out, and Edna is sitting in Alaska bending over backward to help wherever she can and God brings us all together? I think that's pretty high up there along with the parting the waters myself!
It is wonderful that you are following God's lead. It's a wonderful feeling when He puts us on a path and we follow. It sounds like you will have your work cut out for you at Willowcrest. It also sounds like it will be everything you hoped for. I am glad everything is working out for you. You are taking a real leap of faith!
I am glad that you feel your prayers are being answered. I know that we do.
It's hard for us to imagine moving to Alaska in 1945 and living in a tent while you built your cabin which is what Bill, Sr., did! And Ginny married him and came with him, which tells you a lot about the kind of people that they must have been to endure those hardships. One thing is sure, they must have REALLY loved each other to weather it out and stay during those early years.
As you know from my husband's story, there are a lot of gaps in the way that his father's life played out for all those years when they had no contact. We hope that we can find some clues. I know that Bill's father did not make all the best choices, but I am so glad that he made things right before he died. Because of the distance though, and the cost of long distance calls, there just was not enough time to catch up on 35 years! Bill, Sr., died 13 years ago before we all had cell phones, so even though our contact was limited, it was rich and very healing. Fortunately, Bill's mother, Charlotte, remarried when he was 7 years old, so he had a wonderful relationship with his step-dad, Bob. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to only see your father face-to-face for a few hours and then one more time for three days. I have such a wonderful relationship with my father and have known him my whole life!! I think that relationship is the cornerstone for why I believe that my heavenly Father, my Abba, is such a loving father!
We did not have a close relationship with Ginny (Regina) to tell you the truth. I am sure that she had some wonderful and endearing qualities, but it was always a little difficult simply because of the situation with Bill, Sr., leaving when my Bill was just 9 months old. Charlotte was very bitter and Bill always felt a strong loyalty to his Mom, of course. Ginny simply said some inappropriate things to us about Charlotte, so for us, out of loyalty and love for Bill's mother, we just simply did not pursue a close relationship. We called occasionally and we sent cards. We even offered to come to Alaska to visit, but Ginny did not seem to want us to do that. We tried to respect her wishes and we just did not push ourselves on her. We were a little surprised that she left Bill the house because we kind of thought she would leave it to the church or her niece, but apparently she and Bill, Sr. agreed that this is what they were going to do and she respected that. I must say, she was a woman of her word!
Bill and I have been married for 19 years (as a matter of fact, we got married one week after he returned from Alaska in 1989) This is the second marriage for both of us. Bill has 3 grown children in Maryland and I have two in Georgia, Dawn who is 38 and Barry who is 33. I have one grandchild, Ella Grace who was 6 in July and I spoil her rotten! She calls me Sassy instead of Grandma and I think it suits me! She and Dawn live next door so we spend a lot of time together and I love every second of it. Bill has 7 grandchildren and 2 great grand children! We don't get to see them as much as we like since they live in Maryland.
I better close. I have written a volume! I didn't mean to ramble on so!
Blessings from Georgia,
Lee Ann (Herbert)