Tuesday, November 20, 2007

A Blessed Thanksgiving to YOU

We are thinking of you at this season of thanksgiving, and rejoicing that you are our friends and that we are sharing this journey together. "I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith int he Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints." Paul wrote that to his dear friend Philemon, Jerry preached on that text last Sunday as we spoke about thankfulness, and now we send it on to you --grateful for your friendship. These are views from our apartment balcony as we overlook the Sammamish shopping area. We are about to see a glorious sunrise. Or perhaps we will be having low-hanging clouds and drizzle. And then we close the day with this gorgeous view-- May you take time to reflect on all your blessings, even in the midst of hard or difficult times...even those of you special folks who are dealing with new knees...and know that we are grateful for our friends and family. Love, Mary and Jerry

Sunday, November 11, 2007

First Sunday at SPC

The family of God - there is absolutely nothing like it, is there? Jerry's first Sunday in the pulpit was a glorious day for us--folks were warm and welcoming; the music was absolutely heavenly--a choir (containing more men than women--who else has that kind of situation?)--with an anthem that fit perfectly in to the theme of the sermon and worship, a praise band that contained not only 3 guitars, drum and piano but also included a flute and trumpet (warmed Jerry's heart, needless to say); and many new folks to meet and greet. But the best part of all were the old friends who were present for this first Sunday at FPC: Joe and Jane (Imlay) Skeen, who reside in Port Orchard. Jane's family are friends from Marshall MO days..Jerry and both her parents were in college together, both families moved to Marshall about the same time, where the Imlays were active at Covenant Presbyterian Church, while I also worked for her Dad at Missouri Valley College. Jane often looked after our girls, who were five years younger, while we parents did fun things together. Kate Massie and Adam Hedgepeth...Kate is a college student from Midland TX where Jerry served as her pastor for twelve years of her life. Adam is also from Midland and his Dad and Jerry know each other well. Katie is doing a brief physical therapy internship in this area, while Adam is employed by Microsoft in Redmond--and because Kate's Mom shared our new address information with her, she and Adam showed up. Kate says she will be back for the time she is here--for its a little bit of home out in Seattle! Diane and Peter Wilson, friends that we met at Bloys Cowboy Camp in Ft. Davis this past August. Diane's family is one of the Bloys families and they return for Cowboy Camp Meeting every year. The Wilsons worship at University Church in Seattle - and we are about to head over that way to go to an evening service with them, and have the special opportunity to hear Earl Palmer preach. Earl is one of Jerry's favorite preachers, and he is very excited to get this opportunity. Plus you remember in our last blog I told you that Greg Calmes is a member of SPC, and our biggest supporter in getting us out here - and Greg was a youth in our first church in Hobart OK. So add it up - three folks in worship this morning represented three of the church congregations Jerry has served--and he's only served in five! I keep telling you, like a broken record, that there is NOTHING LIKE THE FAMILY OF GOD!

Monday, November 05, 2007

Sammamish Presbyterian Church Interim

Back in 1964, Jerry Hilton received a call to serve his first pastorate at the First Presbyterian Church in Hobart OK - a small church in a small town in southwest Oklahoma. That small church family loved us, nurtured us, and enabled us to grow in our faith, as Jerry began to develop his style of ministry. Serving on the Pastor Nominating Committee for that call was their youth delegate, Greg Calmes, then a senior in high school. Greg's family became very special friends--in fact, our living room in Midland TX still centers around a marvelous round oak coffee table that once belonged to Greg's grandparents. Fast forward a number of years - and you see the Hiltons visiting Greg and Bobbi Calmes in their home in Sammamish WA in 2005, when we were on our way to Vancouver BC to meet Carla. Fast forward two more years - and our youth delegate on the PNC is now a retired (yes, you read me correctly--one of our "kids" is old enough to be retired!) Alaska Airlines pilot active in the Sammamish Presbyterian Church, and he calls Jerry to tell us that his pastor is resigning and Greg wants to submit Jerry's name as an interim candidate. If you cannot locate Sammamish in your atlas, your atlas is probably a few years old. Sammamish is a new city, formed by incorporating a portion of Redmond. The church is only 20 years old and has had only one senior pastor in its history. We are eager to learn about SPC, our new community and the great northwest as well. Here you see a photo of the rest of the campus of SPC - these buildings house the church offices, classrooms, youth building and meeting rooms. The church sanctuary would be to the left of the photo, while up on the hill behind these buildings, you will see part of our apartment complex. We are so excited about getting moved in to our apartment, which has been furnished through the generosity of our church family, under the leadership of Greg and Bobbi. There are very exciting days ahead of us - and we will love sharing this adventure with each of YOU.

Sunday, November 04, 2007

Treasures in friends and scenery

What a glorious day we spent yesterday, Saturday, November 3rd. We were camped at a KOA campground just outside of Corvallis OR for two reasons: 1) the drive from Corvallis to Newport came highly recommended to us (by both the Houston-Henckens in Las Vegas and our niece Sally in Las Vegas) as something we should NOT miss and 2) a very special friend from Marshall MO days lives there. So, thanks to Carol's generosity with her time, the two things were combined, and Carol became our driver and guide for the entire day as we saw some of the most magnificent ocean sights we have ever witnessed.
When we lived in Marshall MO (from '72-'85), our girls had a surrogate grandmother in "Grandma Marge"--what a blessing she was to our entire family. (On the other hand, is it a blessing when Grandma Marge tells your daughters not to be too concerned about their grades because no one goes through life with their GPA tattooed on their forehead!) Carol is Marge's daughter...and over the years in Marshall, Carol and her brother Frank both became our friends--after all, we had been adopted into Marge's family! We have all kept in touch over the ensuing years since Marge's death. and we have seen Frank on a couple of occasions, but this was our first personal visit with Carol--and what a great time we had. We shared stories about Marge all day and evening (and there were MANY!).
Carol took the pictures of us as we walked an area of beach and rocks and later explored a majestic lighthouse, where we climbed the 114 steps to the top--with great admiration for those persons who kept those lights burning to guide the sailors to safety!
One thing the signs warned us: don't turn your back on the ocean. But the waves were not coming in very far, so we were intent on trying to find a starfish nestled in the rocks...when a "sneaker wave" (aptly named, I must say!) came in on us and caught us unawares--and the rest of the day we hiked with wet jeans from the knees down, cold feet in very wet socks, and squishy tennis shoes!
Over supper at Carol's home, we had the opportunity to share more stories with Carol's husband, Dave...look at more family pictures that hung on Carol's walls... and a very special opportunity to get acquainted with their AFS (American Field Service) son, Michael, from the Ukraine. Talking with Michael brought back so many memories of our year with our AFS daughter, Ani (from Indonesia). We rejoice with Carol, Dave and Michael for the experiences they are sharing this year - and building a relationship that can last a lifetime.
His presence is enriching their lives as well - in fact, Dave is studying the Russian language at the university with Michael there as an at-home tutor! The city of Corvallis has a sister-city relationship with a city in the Ukraine and Dave &/or Carol have made 7 or 8 trips to the Ukraine before this year.
Our trip to Washington has been on-going for the last three weeks -- its been incredible, gorgeous, glorious and amazing - and tomorrow we will arrive in Sammamish WA, where we will make our home for the next year. As soon as we have internet service at the apartment, I will tell you all about that!
Love and prayers, Mary & Jerry

Friday, November 02, 2007

Earthquake!

On Tuesday evening, we were sitting in our motor home watching TV and enjoying ourselves when the coach began to sway and shake...we heard dishes hitting each other....and decorations hanging from the walls were moving. We were very startled, needless to say, and Jerry questioned if the wind had suddenly come up. So we opened the door and looked out, but all was very still. And it was over. We wondered if it might be an earthquake - but there was no one around to ask. Now we have read in the newspaper about the 5.6 quake that struck just east of San Jose CA, with shaking felt as far away as Sacramento - and there we were, right in that location! So now Jerry has experienced his first earthquake tremor ever (and hopefully his last), while it brought back memories for me of earthquakes when I was very young and lived in California. Another new experience for this trip!! Yesterday the drive up I-5 was spectacular (I am running out of adjectives for all of God's glorious creation!). Mt. Shasta was awesome - but the sunlight was so bright, I don't think I got any decent pictures. While my husband is a superb RV driver, I must say I didn't much enjoy those steep downhill grades (seeing run-away lanes beside us!) But all went very well. Today we are going to camp near Corvallis OR with a drive to the coast to see more of beautiful Oregon and a very special friend from Marshall MO days - more about that later! Love, and happy November (my but time is flying!), Mary

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