Birthing a Book

It all began way back in the early 70's or so. Betty and her dear friend Joanne bought a trunk from the Alaska State auction list and found in it the last possessions of a fascinating English lady who due to strange circumstances lived out much of her life in frontier Alaska. Over the years Jessie seemed to become a member of our family as bit by bit a little more was learned about her story. Betty always said that if she ever wrote a book it would be about Jessie's life, so when she came across some useful on-line material in 2003, the research and the writing began in earnest.

Finally, after travels to the really remote village of Eagle on the Yukon River and research in dozens of places from California to England (via e-mail and on-line sources), interviews with dozens of folk, and the encouragement of many friends and family - especially daughter Patty - we can announce: The Book is Born.

On Monday, after three years of research and writing, the book went to press. The contents of the trunk had included remnants of Jessie's china, a British flag, Indian baskets and artifacts, and other small personal treasures, but the most valuable information for purposes of the book were in the diaries, photo album, postcard collection, a writing journal, and other documentation. From these items and other sources Betty has reconstructed the life story of this remarkable individual. At times quaint, and sometimes rather primitive, this ladies history is a wonderful blend of cultures and experiences, characters and peoples, places and events which intrigue the imagination. You will find Betty's account to be a capturing read.

Born to wealth and privilege in Victorian England and parlor educated as an English debutant should be, Jessie and her family embarked on a voyage in 1913 to America to visit her younger brother in California but had to travel north to find him instead in Dawson City, in the Yukon Territory of Canada. Her mother's illness brought them downriver to Eagle, Alaska, where they were stranded financially by the outbreak of WWI. Jessie's life was changed forever, and she spent the rest of her 88 years in the Last Frontier. Learning to survive, Jessie at times became a house cleaner, a placer claim gold miner, seamstress, and camp cook. Learning to live and enjoy the remote life brought her many special friendships, a few husbands, and a vast range of frontier experiences. The book tells her story in twenty-one chapters and included photographs of items and pictures from the trunk.

Living with an author is an interesting experience. Many conversations begin abrubtly in the midst of ongoing dialogue involving events in Jessie's life. Wrestling with the text often began at 4:00 AM, and the complexities of solving self-publishing puzzles required the combined efforts of several. The blessings included precious new friends, some unique travel experiences (like dragging a new camping trailer over a ragged 65 mile trail some 3000 miles north of home), and even generous gifts of well-wishers who gave Betty additional items which had belonged to Jessie. This has truly been a community event in many ways.

I hope you will be interested enough to purchase a copy of "Jessie: the story of a genteel lady in frontier Alaska" when it soon become available for purchase. We will be letting you know how to obtain the book either from us or directly through the publisher. If you are interested in having it autographed, I know the author well, and I think that could be arranged for you.

A Happy Addendum

Friday's Followup: After little more than 48 hours in the hospital, that special lady was able to go home this evening. That's a wonderful answer to hosts of prayers in her behalf.

PS Well due to complications, she returned to the hospital for some pain management, but otherwise everything seems fine.

PPS And she is home again and all is again OK. Let me mention how faithfujl and caring her husband has been. I think the greater strain has been on him through this past week. Among the blessings that have lightened the pressures of these several days has been strong and daily support from many of the legions of friends our heroine has gathered in the decade she has lived in this community. Thanks to all who have been involved.

Praying For Our Sister

Many of you who drop in on this blog from time to time will recognize these folk. The men here (and three others) serve as elders of our congregation. On this occasion they gathered around this precious sister to ask God to protect her during surgery to remove a kidney in which a cancerous tumor had been found. Such prayers are offered in faith and obedience because we are confident in God's mercies and compassion and love and because we understand scripture to instruct us to call upon God with all of our needs. It is not a duty, but a privilege to praise, thank, and petition the Creator of all which exists since he is able to provide relief and satisify our petitions.


After the operation, the doctor reported that everything was fine, the kidney was out, recovery was well under way, and in fact , since she was already coming around, family could see her in the recovery room in just a few minutes. That news spread rapidly through cell phone calls to many of the Wednesday evening LIFE groups which were meeting throughout the area. We are much relieved and grateful that this part of the treatment process is successfully past.

A gathering of elders (or others) like this for specific prayers in case of medical emergency is not rare. We also pray with families and individuals concerning other kinds of problems, and challenges, and important decisions, and in cases of special thanksgivings. Many times we soon hear reports of wonderful, even unexpected outcomes. A job offer comes from out-of-the-blue, a diagnosed condition turns out to be false or benign, impossibly angry relationships are mended - all of these have happened. One constant I notice, however, in all of these cases is: there must be faith, trust, and hope both in those who are praying and in those for whom we are praying. Doubt or self-will or any lack of submission to God seem to negate the relief which could be sought from the Almighty Lord.

The power in prayer in never found in the ones praying, whether elders, others, or the petitioners themselves. In fact "prayers" offered as ritual or as a formality are not prayer at all. The words we form have in themselves absolutely no power to bring solution or resolution. We and our feeble words are empty and ineffective to control anything in His creation. The "Power of Prayer" is solely in God, who hears and grants loving relief; in fact, I am coming to understand that God listens little to the actual words and instead reads the intent and plea of our hearts and souls.

It was an honor to add our requests to those of many other family members and a host of friends throughout the church, indeed throughout the community, country, and world (as the people who love this lady are truly everywhere). And we are pleased, but not surprised, at the favorable results from yesterdays surgery. Now, will you add your prayers to ours for her ongoing recovery in times ahead as her doctors may elect additional medical treatments. We will continue to boldly take this sister's needs before a beneficient, loving God, who is our ultimate Healer.

A Singing and Ice Cream Afternoon

Today we attended the third annual outdoor ice cream social and singing on the grounds out at Jerry and Sue Seal's lovely country cottage and flower garden. My guess is that there were at least forty folk (counting the kids) who came to visit, share goodies (all sweet and sugary) and ice cream, some of which was home-made. It is a wonderful time to visit and swap news and stories, and hopes and dreams, and meet a new person or two. I intended to take a few pictures to share, but got caught up in the visiting and treats and left the camera sitting all alone out in the car. Sorry!

Sue's yard was lovely and colorful with dozens of kinds of blooming flowers and shrubs. Jerry's hand at making the lawn and yard and vegetable garden look good was evident in the complete tidyness of the whole area. It's a big piece and it all was snazzed up real pretty and amazingly clean. Thanks guys for the loving effort.

Out came the "old songbooks" - Songs of the Church - in this case in green covers (much nicer and newer looking than my old set of loose maroon jackets). Alas, I seemed to be the only "songleader", but no one complained too loudly as we spent over an hour singing the favorite "good-ol'-songs" many of us grew up with so many years ago. Many of the selections were fun songs that were never quite usable in services, but which were the first and regular choices whenever anyone held a singing or a songfest at home. Maybe a couple of time a year a Sunday or Wednesday night would be used "to practice" singing, but we knew the music - we just needed a good reason to sing the songs we really liked to hear.

I think everyone today got to select something they enjoyed. We got stumped a time or two on songs we couldn't seem to get going - thanks, Dave - but that's OK. I used to be able to lead every song in the book we were using, but that was half a century ago. I'm a little rusty having not had to sightread the music for a long portion of eternity. In the long run, all types of songs were included, excepting perhaps the shorter "high church" hymns which sound pretty thin outdoors if not all four parts are equally balanced. What a treat it was. What a wonderful reminder of our a'capella character as a singing people who don't need pipe organs or drum-driven bands to make a joyful noise.

I had a great time and completely enjoyed the afternoon. Thanks to the Seals and to all who came and offered their support and voice to the songtime. Let's do it again soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PATTY.

YOU ARE A DELIGHT TO ME,

MY WONDERFUL DAUGHTER.

INPRESSIVE WIFE.

AWESOME MOM.

CLEVER SISTER.

CREATIVE GENIUS,

MARVELOUS FRIEND TO MANY,

A BEAUTIFUL CHRISTIAN

AND DESERVING OF THE TITLE

"WORTHY WOMAN"

(SEE PROVERBS 31:10-31)

Speaking for myself but echoing the thoughts of many,

I am glad to know you and have frequent opportunities to be

around you. You are a most impressive and special Christian Lady,

much like your mother, and I am mighty proud to be your Daddy.

May God Always Bless You Richly.

Have You Been To A Farmer's Market?

I am developing some happy habits like this.
Each Saturday and Sunday beside a central downtown park occurs an interesting event called Farmer's Market. Many communities host them, but the "New and Improved" local version has a different flavor now that it has been recast as a high tone and somewhat artsy community activity. I kind of like the upgrade, and now that it is in it's second or third revival year and also in a newly renovated park and street area, it is worth an occasional visit. This week Daughter and the littlest Granddaughter and I spent a while crusin' around and shoppin' for fresh farm products.

I ended up with a load of vegetables to support my "Daniel's Diet" this week. (See Chapter One of Daniel in the Old Testament.) At Betty's request I also sought out the goat cheese booth and bought her some feta and for me a spicy spread. Wonderful stuff. A Hermiston watermelon rounded out my purchases. The rest of the time we just wandered and looked and finally selected lunch from among many booths in the food area. We decided on home-made tamales, and salsa, and it was very tasty.

Originally the market idea was to give folk a chance to buy freshly picked foods right from the fields, and indeed many of the vendors are offering a wide and colorful variety of veggies and fruits and products like honey and smoked meats and nuts and such. But there are also flowers, cosmetics, decorative plants, a wide variety of foods and confections - many with ethnic origins - and crafts. There are also table areas of demonstrations in progress, and information kiosks for religious groups and political committees and social issues. Street entertainers abound: balloon clowns, musicians, magicians and illusionists, and face paintings for the kids. There is a lot to see and do.


The wide range of arts and crafts intrigues me. Graphic arts in clude watercolors, oils, pastels in originals or nice prints, and you can see jewelry, garden decor, steel bells, wrought iron, furniture, birdhouses, birdfeeders, and trellises, leatherwork, pottery, art glass and other glassware, mounted butterflies, knitted items,
cloth and textile items, gadgets and clever items, all of which share one common characteristic: They were all made by the vendor. Many are quite attractive. It is hard to capture such variety in a few photographs, so you should visit your market some weekend. There is probably one or more in the villages and towns near you. Go early, and plan to stay for lunch. Enjoy.

Driving Lessons.

Can you remember how you first learned to drive? If your early experiences were anything like mine, you had a chance to drive various little vehicles long before you were allowed to actually drive an automobile. I remember peddle cars, carnival bumper cars, a neighbor's battery powered go-cart, and later a farmyard tractor.

Figuring the twins might finally be long-legged enough to reach the brake/clutch pedal on my riding lawn mower, I decided to let them try. Let me tell you that caused some excitement.

I must compliment both girls for their willingness to listen carefully to Grandpa's explanation of the significant control features: ignition switch, dash mounted throttle, pedal for braking or shifting gears, gear selection lever, etc. They also learned which controls were off limits: blade engagement and deck height lever. After demonstrating a clear understanding of each item and providing correct answers to some pop questions, each was given a chance to start the mower and put it in gear.


After a few minutes of successful driving at a very slow speed (and Papa being sure that steering skills were safely mastered), the novices were allowed to select range 3, and then range 3 1/2.
With plenty of room to maneuver in the big back yard, it wasn't long before the realization came that they were d-r-i-v-i-n-g! It was a good start, at least, and they were very careful to miss grandpa's trees and the rainbird sprinklers, and the rest of us.
Good job, girls. Maybe next year you will be mowing the grass!!

Just remember that this was only the first lesson and there are several more lessons to come and a lot of safety rules to master and a lot of practice, practice, practice ahead of you. Driving any vehicle requires your complete attention, following all safety rules, knowing where everyone around you is at every moment, and much more. Good drivers are not only careful, but they are thinking ahead all the time. But that will come. Meanwhile, I'm proud of you now.

Opening Day at the County Fair

What is more fun than a Day at the Fair, especially if you can see things through the eyes of your grandchildren. Yesterday we did just that. The Clark County fair and its constantly improving facilities opened for a 10 day run, and we were there by late morning. Color and sound was rampant; the crowd was large, spurred on by the free admission and the annual pancake feed.
(And yes, bashful is hiding behind her mother.)

Clearly there was much too much to see in a single trip so we first headed to see things fresh kids would enjoy. That meant animals.

Starting with a show featuring the local Police Dogs and their handlers, we soon moved over to the animal barns with their many critters. Cattle of every sort, sheeps, goats, rabbits and fowls, and the annual (enormous) nursing sow and a host of piglets all caught the girls eyes. So did the man sitting calmly inside a huge screened cage with an open beehive at his knees and a hundreds of honeybees in his hands. Eewehhh!! I always admire the finely groomed animals of the 4-H and FFA kids, and as usual, they were washing and combing their various project animals and trimming diligently for the upcoming judging sessions. Devotion!

Another thing I enjoy is the collection of old-time farm machinery always nicely displayed by the fellas who collect and restore such equipment. This cute little hay bailer is probably more for show than for field work as the bales I currently see around the county are easily ten times or more larger. Lunch was a crowded affair, but as so often happens, we met up with friends from church in the crush and enjoyed brief, hollered visits. If you go, remember that Fair food is extremely high priced but part of the experience.

My final explorations with the twins included the reptile and dinosaur exhibits and most of the commercial booths in the hugh new pavillion building where all the community entries were also on display. I may have to go back on my own 'cause there is a lot I did not get to see for myself.Art, canned goods, clothing, jewelry, photograpy, crafts, plants and flowers were all nicely on parade. Finally, with Uncle Geoffrey's help, each kids got to experience a carnival ride of choice: can you guess what each girl chose? - The Ring of Fire (a giant, hairy loop-de-loop), the (milder) Roller Coaster, or The (gentle) Merry-go-'Round? Which two did Uncle Geoffrey ride? And which one did Patty ride as chaperone?

(The answers in order: J+UG, B+UG, T+P)

A Heart for Missions

At a recent prayer and Bar-B-Q meeting of the Vancouver Missions Committee, we had the opportunity to pray over these four of our several missionaries. Several of our committee members are not in this shot, but the key players standing here are (from L to R) Ron a former missionary to Chile and the past chairman, June and Gene who are very active in liaison support of the Rogers in Ukraine, Scott and Kara with Scott being our Chaiman now,and Steve who is one of the congregation's elders.

More importantly, however, are the four special individuals for whom we were praying. At the left is Jillian; she is currently with the AIM program and is serving in Australia. To her right is Amy who has been on a missions track for a decade. She is departing for Togo in about a week to serve as the teacher for the missionaries children in Tabligbo where we maintain a continuing interest in church work. The remaining couple have come to us recently upon their retirements from public school teaching. Meet Carl and Kathy who have already arrived in the Republic of China to serve as teachers in a private Christian academy. Part of their own time will be spent in teaching Bible to Chinese students.

We want to be especially supportive of these four and our other missionaries as they serve in countries so far from home. If you would like to write to any of them, contact me for further information.

Our Purpose Statement says: The Mission Committee of the Vancouver Church of Christ exists to promote and support missionary efforts which result in the preacing and sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ domestically in Clark County, -WA, the Pacific Northwest, the greater USA, and in selected foreign countries around the world.

Togo, Australia, China - what a spread. It is certainly in the spirit of Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:15-16. May they be safe, happy, and successful in their ministries.