Friday, December 27, 2013

Ma's house on Bunker Hill

Picture of  Ma
                              My grandmother / Sarah Humes & Fred
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Dottie  This is my mother's mom and we always called her Ma!  She lived in Vincennes, Indiana ,  out of city limits and up on a hill which was called Bunker Hill. There is a history about a battle i think that was fought there many years ago.  Anyway , we would go to her home every Sunday it seemed to have dinner with her.  While the adults set around and talked we kids would play or just listen to them tell of the happenings of the week or the latest gossip. I remember Fred who was a relative that lived there and remember that he had this can that he spit chewing tobacco in, i thought it nasty looking.   Had fond memories of going to ma's though.  For one , she was a great cook and there was always the smell of something cooking in her kitchen. She had a feather bed which we kids loved sleeping in when we stayed overnight.  It was wonderful as i remember waking up to the wonderful smell of gravy and biscuits, the aroma filled the house.  At my home you didn't get that. Mom was nothing like her mother, had her good side but ma well,  her whole life centered around her home. My mom on the other hand wasn't happy being at home.  I don't know what all my mother had to deal with in her life but its sad to me that she was unhappy for the most part.  I think life was hard for my mom and also the role of motherhood. I  take after my grandmother in the fact that my home is my heaven on earth. I love being a homemaker.   I remember Ma would cook on a old wood burning stove which is unheard of today. ha.  Ma's life was pretty much a routine which she followed day in and day out. I put my glasses on first thing in morning and ma  well she put on her apron. ha. Life is certainly different today than those of yesterdays. I doubt that ma even  went out very often, perhaps now and then  just to purchase food  or necessities.

My sister Sarah /has this to say of Ma!  -She was a great lady.  I never wanted to go home when I was at her house.  She would walk me to bus stop on Willow Street and put me on the bus and I would tell her I was never coming back I was hurt so much because she was sending me home.
But I would go back the very next                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       chance I got.  I loved having her braid my hair.  She would wash it in rain water and then braid it.  I had long hair at that time.
My sister Donna /  Liked Ma's cooking and playing with all the kids on the Sunday afternoons when we visited  there.  But I stayed with our Aunt Lillie the most! I think she thought of me as the child she was never able to have.

Donna's Wild Adventures / the Up's and Down's


 
 You  are about to embark on some crazy up and down adventures of my sister Donna . I think last time i wrote about her it was on the "Attack of the Rabbit!" So decided to list and write more about some of Donna's fun,  and spiritual and not so fun events that have accurred in her life.  some are pretty amazing!
 Bank Route: this will be scary:
Donna did a bank route back several years ago.  She did this late at night when banks were closed.  It was a late run , like nine to midnight or so.  One night after leaving a bank and getting back on the highway this guy drives along beside her. Looks at her and it was intimidating and weird.  He kept driving along beside her.  When she would speed up  he would speed up also. This kept up and she was getting scared and started crying. She couldn't stop at a bank and couldn't get off of the highway.  Finally after playing this cat and mouse game with her she finally saw this exit coming up , she decided its now or never, she was going to have to dart across the two lanes and exit in front of cars fast if she was ever going to get rid of him.  So even with cars on other side coming up she thought I have to be fast and cut infront of them in order to lose this crazy guy!  So intense as it was ,  she came closer to the exit and at the last minute she cut across two lanes to quickly exit the highway.  doing this so fast and at last mins. that the guy couldn't get over to follow. Whew!  He did lay on his horn in anger!  Next day she saw the man's  picture on tv,  and recognized his face and said it was the same man who had followed her on the highway, he was that close to her. He was wanted for being out there raping women.  Talk about scary!!! 

Daycare: Donna had a daycare for several years. Was really good with the children .  She kept about seven children in all i think.  One day she was at our home in Pine Hills and we had the TV on and up popped pictures of two of the children Donna kept. They said a mother and two children had been shot.  It seems the mom went out near midnight to get milk for cereal the next morning and a couple guys on drugs forced her in her car where kids were waiting . Long story and sad .  The boys were quite young  and after raping the mom they then took them out and shot them.  The mother survived but the children did not. Donna saw this Headline with childrens pictures come up on tv and freaked and started crying uncontrollably.  These were her babies!  So awful! It was such a sad thing and it hit all the newspapers. Young boys on drugs and looking for action and it went too far.  So Sad!  There were three young guys and it took just one to come up with this bazaar thought and the others followed. :(

Experiment with Lye: Well this is pretty scary.   Donna decided she was going to make gravy one night for supper. She said she reached up into the cabinet and got down what she thought was flour.  As she was stiring the flour and added milk she said her eyes started to burn.  
Our sister in law came into the kitchen and ask what she was doing. She said "making gravy for supper" but my eyes are really burning.  Lillie our sister in law said what did you put in it. Donna said this here flour.  Lillie said let me see that jar!  she picked up the jar and said "Donna , this is lye!!!"  Oh my gosh!  You could have killed us!    Donna wasn't aware and said "glad I didn't taste it." ha. Wow!  Why was lye in our kitchen? Who knows!  Sounds like something dad might have done, always putting stuff any old place.   Lucky Donna, and lucky that Lillie walked in at that time.  crazy family!

Stranger in the house:
Donna actually got home really late one night and a stranger nearly knocked her down as he ran pass her and out the front door.  It was dark so she didn't get to see who it was . She said no one else was home at that time.  We always left doors unlocked in those days. More than once have we been scared that someone might be in our house but that night Donna said this man came running out the front door and nearly knocked her over.  
  Blue Baby: is name they gave to a guy they say that wasn't quite right mentally since birth /  someone said he lacked oxygen  as a baby so thats why they called him Blue Baby.  So as you got off the city bus us kids  had to walk around this long curve to get to our house.  One night it was dark when Donna was heading home . He jumped out at her(my sister may have been with her) from no where and it scared them to death and they ran like never before.   From that day forward when any of us kids got to that corner we would say GO  and take off running as fast as we could not stopping till we were way pass that corner.  Doubt he would have hurt anybody but no one was taking any chances. ha.  So it became a big thing , when you hit that corner, run for your life!! Blue Baby might just be waiting on that bend.   Wow, did I ever learn to run fast once I approached that bend.  I do remember Bump and I running like crazy once we hit that curve !  haha.  We thought blue baby might just be there waiting for us on that curve.  haha.
The Keys: Years ago Donna did a Bank Route late at night, very late! Well this is one story i will always remember cause on this particual night as she told me , a miracle took place.  Donna arrived at this one Bank as usual and it was around midnight and went inside. After making sure she had dropped off everything she prepared to leave as usual and found that she couldn't find the keys to lock up the Bank. She thought i can't call Bank Pres. this late and wake him. worrying what she should do she again looked inside and then outside and everywhere  /she cryed and finally dropped to her knees right there in the middle of the  bank and said a prayer. Said she told her problem to the Lord. When she was done, she said it felt as if someone had put there hands on her shoulders and led her directly outside.  She looked and saw this beam of light shining down from the sky right onto the keys . She said she cryed. She said the keys were shimming in this bright light.    A miracle ?  I choose to believe. I believe Donna  had a very personal prayer answered that night just for her.  With a experience like that how can there be any room for doubt.  Beautiful!

Whats on the fence?
This one has to do with Donna sometimes being in such a rush and leaving things behind. Donna is always watching the clock, she is always on a time line.  Picked her up one day and as we took off and headed out, we nearly arrived where we were going and she said where is my purse?  I said no idea and then she said i had it. Yikes!  worried we headed back home and there it hung on the fence post!  O my gosh she said, anyone going by could have taken it.  Yikes.  stay tuned,  more stories  to come on.
 Car Problem!  Donna was out on the road one night , thinking on bank route likely but anyway she had a car problem and pulled over.  It wouldn't start and out of no where this man is standing there and said can I help.  She said i heard no car or saw a car and told him what had happened and he looked under the hood and said get in car and try it.  It started right up and when she went to thank him he was GONE!  She said it was impossible that he could appear from no where and then disappear without her seeing him leave .   She called it a miracle and said perhaps he was one of the twelve apostles that wanted to stay on the earth till Christ returned again.                                                                                                                

The ice ride: this one a little crazy and wild:
Donna told me of a story about when she and Aunt Lillie took off to go visit Uncle Jim and Aunt Gerty .
They had to decide if they wanted to take this a old rickety traintrack that they had turned into a bridge which went over the river to Illinois. Taking this route would make the trip shorter instead of taking the long way around to get to Uncle Jim's place.  So they decided to take the short cut over the bridge.  Well they got to the old bridge and started across, unknown to them the bridge had iced over the night before.  Donna having had never driven on ice before, never realized how bad the traintrack bridge was, it became very scary! The road was very narrow and they would slide from side to side, back and forth till they felt for sure they were going to go over the side and down into the river below.  Donna told Aunt Lillie she better  pray.  For sure there was no way of turning around!  Another car headed towards them and seeing there situation he backed from off the bridge so he could let her come on through.  Now two cars could be on the bridge at same time because of it being so narrow.    Donna said that was " one scary day!"

 so stay tuned in, with Donna you just never know what will happen next!!

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

always and forever

We cannot pick our family 
                                          but they are our family just the same!

Sunday, December 15, 2013

What you think?

  •   What do you think about being with your family in the world to come? Can you really imagine not having  family with you in the next life? Isn't that where your happiness really comes from?  Some might say Not Mine but honestly what they may not understand is that in the next life, families will have a total different outlook because now they know the plan.  we will have a pure love for those that we may not experience it for at this moment. and yes our hearts will turn!
  •  What was the promise made to the fathers that was to be fulfilled in the latter days / its turning of the hearts of the children to their fathers? It is to connect families, and that is being done right now in the temples that dot the earth today,plus by people everywhere who are involved in geneology with a tremendous desire to connect families and they don't know exactly why.  Its the promise of the Lord made through Enoch, Isaiah, and the prophets of old, to the nations of the earth, that the time should come when the dead should be redeemed” “God made those promises to the ancient patriarchs—Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and on— we undoubtedly made them to our  lineal fathers and mothers, those who came before us to this earth before the gospel was restored. 
  • On 3 April 1836 in the Kirtland Temple, the prophet Elijah appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. why? What was Elijah’s purpose in visiting Joseph and Oliver?  He said he came to confer the sealing power of the priesthood on Joseph . This power makes possible eternal marriage, sealings to parents, and temple ordinance and work for the dead.  
  • My house is a house of order says the Lord!

  •  Why would the earth be “utterly wasted at [the Lord’s] coming” if we did not have these sealings  done?   the answer Because one of the primary purposes of life on earth is to establish eternal family relationships.
    This is the purpose of life and the temples! Without this it would be near impossible to connect families. and thats what its all about " geneology"  and dad takes it very serious, he says they were here just as you and i are here now and have families.
     “no family ties would exist in the eternities, and indeed the family of man would have been left in eternity with ‘neither root [ancestors] nor branch [descendants].’ as the scriptures say.
  •  A sealed, united, celestial family of God is the ultimate purpose of the church/  any failure here would be  rendering the entire plan of salvation ‘utterly wasted'   Wow!  Can you imagine! Hope you found this interesting and it touches your heart as it has mine.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Vertigo!!

For a good two weeks now, i have had VERTIGO!
 It is horrible!  Felt dizzy and like i was going to throw up. I feel life is not fair!! 
Does anyone remember seeing this movie way back when?  James Stewart was afraid of heights and would get vertigo . A murder mystery.
 Believe me when i say its awful having vertigo!  Its something that goes on in the inner ear and when you lay head down or move too quickly you start spinning.  Today feel much better, took motion sickness pills which helped alot but you really feel out of it and not at all yourself!!!  I pray no one gets this!!  This stops you in your  tracks!!

BPPV

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is caused by misplaced crystals within the ear. Treatment, simply put, involves moving these crystals out of areas that cause vertigo and into areas where they do not. A number of exercises have been developed to shift these crystals. The following article explains with diagrams how these exercises can be performed at the office or at home with some help:  The success of these exercises depends on their being performed correctly.
  • The Brandt-Daroff Exercises, which can be done at home and have a very high success rate but are unpleasant and time consuming to perform.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

the rainbow

"I have set my rainbow in the clouds, 
and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth."

It does bring a sense of peace and how much the creator of heaven and earth must love us.  

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Beautiful Saying!



"I have been happy my entire life but this is the happiest I’ve ever been.  I wouldn’t trade places with anybody in the whole world!"


Wow!  what a beautiful statement!!  Found this in a magazine.  I thought how wonderful it would be to be able to say that and mean it!  But the truth of the matter is that life isn't always fair and many  cannot say that in all honesty.  Life has away of taking a tow on even the best of people.  I think everyone at some point in their life will have to go through something. Stay strong and until that test comes in your life embrace all the sweetness life has to offer!  love , mamashap  

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Air Conditioner Broke

 

Well about a week ago our air-conditioner burned out.  It was nice and cool outside so was no big deal!  That was a week or so ago.  Now its a big deal!!  the weather went back to being like 85 the last three days so its been hot and I am hoping it will turn cool out again real soon.   Nights are awesome!  We really get a nice breeze coming through our  bedroom window at night so its been great! I am trying to have patience as we wait for the check to be deposited into our bank, as a signal we can start the process.    The company said they are ready and  set to go when we make the call. ha. Can't live in Florida without air! Waiting to see a thumbs up!!

Friday, October 18, 2013

Todd Kids

 Ask the guys and gals in the family to give me some tidbits of info on themselves when they were growing up, here is what I have received as of now. Hope all will answer my request.

Frankie-
Joe-
Roscoe-
Jean- 
Sarah- Said she loved dancing and started working at a early age.  Said she and Jean would fight over clothes. Jean had more than she.  Sarah loved to play softball and was only girl on a all boys team. There were no girl  teams back then. 
 Roy Rogers was her favorite movie.   She also had a speech problem and when she would ride the city bus to go to the movies downtown the bus driver always wanted to know what movie she was going to see. He told our Mom he liked to hear her say Roy Rogers.
Donna -was called "My little bed bug." guess she had some little bites on her , said as a endearment.  Donna was told also that mom left her crying in the crib after trying to get her to stop and finally just left her and walked downtown and back When she returned she was sound asleep.  [wonder how true this is?]
Dottie -I remember going to Sat. morning movies downtown by collecting milk labels and sometimes bottle caps. Bump and I would take this same path uptown and cut through this one block that was kinds wooded in where there was this hump covered in dirt that we had to walk over and we always pretended a dead person was buried there. ha. We spent are summers going to movies, skating, riding our bikes and exploring the neighborhood. Once we decided we would move out of the house into this old short trailer dad had outback.  We worked everyday fixing it up and proud of how good it looked.  Well after finished i think we only stayed in there two nights and got scared and moved back into the house. ha.
Paul-What he wrote here made me cry. Here it is.

JUST OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD,  TWO OR THREE THINGS COME TO MIND..
 ONE THING THAT STANDS OUT,  WAS WHEN I JOINED THE AIR FORCE AND WAS LEAVING VINCENNES FOR MY 4 YEARS IN THE SERVICE....THERE WAS ABOUT 10 OR 15 FROM MY HIGH SCHOOL CLASS THAT JOINED AT THE SAME TIME AND WE REPORTED TO THE BUS DEPOT TO SHIP OUT FOR BASIC TRAINING.....ALL THE OTHER GUYS  MOM'S AND DAD'S WERE THERE, GIVING THEM  HUGS AND SEEING THEM OFF..   I WAS THE ONLY ONE SETTING ON THE BUS BY MYSELF, WAITING TO SHIP OFF TO BASIC TRAINING,  I FELT VERY ALONE.....THEN A RAY OF SUNSHINE CAME WALKING ONTO THE BUS WITH A BIG SMILE,,,,,IT WAS "DON CLARK".......HE GAVE ME A BIG HAND SHAKE AND A HUG,  AND ASK IF I NEEDED ANYTHING "MONEY" TO HOLD ME OVER UNTIL I GOT TO BASIC TRAINING.......I HAVE LOVED THAT MAN WITH ALL MY HEART SINCE THAT DAY,  I WAS NOT EVEN HIS SON,  BUT HE SHOWED UP AND MADE MY DAY.............
WITH LOVE,,,,,,YOUR BROTHER PAUL  /   BUMP

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

The Church of Jesus Christ

Christ said he would give the Keys of the Kingdom  to his diciples and they would have Authority to act in His Name and His church would be called by His Name!

To think Christ would establish his church and call it by any other name  other than His own,  or of any man, no matter how faithful and wonderful he might be is just not right.  It is the church of Jesus Christ/  and not the church of any other person.  its his gospel and his church and should be called by whom church it is.   The  disciples of old called upon the Lord to know what name the church should be called and were told " And how be it my church save it be called by my name." if it be Moses its Moses church, if man/ its called by his name /  but if its my church it will be called by my name....if it so be that they are built upon my gospel!  ////////////wow!  so what are people doing calling these churches all these different names?  the Lord speaks of the Keys to the kingdom / you will find this memtioned time and time again in the scriptures, but  most have no idea what the Keys to the Kingdom even are.
 keys of the kingdom of heaven.”Said Jesus to his apostles of old: “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matt. 16:19.)

Prophets of old held these keys , You can read about it.  Authority to do all the things they did!!
  Like John the Baptist held keys to baptize , moses , abraham , they all held keys to do certain things and when the heavens were opened  these keys were given again.  on down to the Prophet today!
These keys give one divine authority upon which to act and build His Church!  there was no divine revelation, nothing for nineteen hundred yrs. all the denominations relied entirely on the dead letter of Bible for their authority. They didn't look to the heavens for divine guidance which later lead them to division, subdivision and multiplication of many churches. Each went their way blindly and confused on doctrine and the power of Priesthood was lost and the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ ceased to exist any longer.  No prophet, no revelation , no divine instruction.   From that time of the apostles of old until the Lord opened the heavens again and sent holy messengers to restore that which had been taken away.  Wow!  I would do same if i were a God.  I would go and find a righteous person  strong enough to bring it back and re establish  my kingdom again on the earth and thats just what the Lord did.  Search it out.  Its no mystery!  John held the Keys, that word again and said  one was coming mightier than he who holds the Melchizedek Priesthood and Keys to the kingdom of God.  Book of Mormon and Bible go hand in hand to bring the world his truth!!   Great Knowledge to have!!






















































































































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