We had a friend named Leon Chambers . We met him and his family, Sandi, Lavonne, and David in Gabbs Nv in 1981. I was in a place where I didn't want to be, and our church in Ca had a big split which left me devastated by so-called Christians. Leon and his family came to the ranch to buy hay for their horses. He was wearing jeans, and tee-shirt ,boots, and a cowboy hat with a little cross on it.

He was very likable, friendly and outgoing. Then I found out he was the preacher at a little church in town. After what I told him about what happened to us he said he didn't come to preach but to buy hay. After that him and his family came to visit us and we hit it off. Pretty soon I decided to try his church. It was an Assembly of GOD.

Leon was like no other preacher I'd ever seen. There were horse correls in town and the Indians would hang out there and some of the cowboys but not really together.
But Leon got out there and got bucked off and fell in the manure and talked to everyone. Pretty soon the Indian famliles starting coming to church. He went on round-ups and got friendly with the ranchers. He wasn't afraid to get dirty He'd go into the bar and sit and have a cola and talk to whoever was there. not just about church but whatever and then if someone asked a spiritual question he'd be there for them. All these things won respect for Christ because he reflected Christ.

Jesus went where the sinners were and so did Leon. He didn't just talk his ministy he lived it. I remember going to their house in the mornings before school and as a family they always held hands and prayed for the day before anyone left.

He was always there for his friends or even strangers. He once brought us a car load of groceries because we had nothing and GOD told, him to.

He had diabetis and when his physical strength left him and he had to start using a wheel-chair he was an inspiration to the rest of us who tried to use excuses why we didn't want to go to church. Then we'd think of Leon, who never wanted to miss. After he went to the hospital you would go to visit him and he'd be in somebody elses room talking to them about the Lord. or just passing the time.

He once said to me that he didn't feel he had accomplished much and I told him he reminded of the song, "Thank You", were the guy goes to heaven and people walk up to him and tell him they were there because of him. and I told him when he got there that is what would happen to him. He went on to be with his (Aba Father) which is what he always called GOD. on Nov 25,1995 at 50 years old.

I thank GOD he was in our lives and that we will see him again someday.

Remember the day of Leave it to Beaver and Father knows best, When the men were the head of the house and was respected by the wives and the kids? The wife always wore her pearls and her dress and an apron and had the meals ready when dad came home and the kids would greet him at the door with hugs and smiles? Was that really real? Did people really act like that?

Things have changed conciderably from those days. The wifes entered the work force when the men went off to war and found out they could do it without the men. So in came divorce and latch key kids. and men with low -self esteem that decided they weren't good enough or responsible enough to be part of a family. The latch key kids had nothing to come home from school to and got bored so they went ouot and found ways to entertain themselves. Mom was busy and dad was out of the picture.

The kids grew up to be hippies that said free love, free sex, do your own thing. and 20 years later became politicians. (OOPS, DID I SAY THAT)? anyway they found a way to make money to run the government by making it legal to grow pot, and you we have lost our freedoms because now it is wrong to offend anyone with our religious Holidays and we can't teach about Jesus in our schools but it's ok to teach the kids that gays getting married is a perfectly normal way of life.

And we wonder why pride and respect in our country and schools is going down the drain. God will honor us if we honor HIM. but that doesn't seem to be happening!!

when I was little I was not allowed in the kitchen because I would get burned or in the way. So needless to say when I got married 41 years ago, I could barely boil ,water. That was the year they came out with "Hamburger Helper", which made me look good in the kitchen and fed us. Then the next year I graduated over to tuna helpers. Eventually Vern got tired of them and bought me a Betty Crocker cookbook. but the impatient person that I was, didn't want to take time to see how to put it togethher so I just took the ingredients and mixed them. sometimes they came out, but mostly they didn't. Vern showed me a few times how to make homemade bread. and it was good and smelled good but looked like too much work so I kept asking him to show me again and finally he said forget it.

When we moved to Nevada I had to learn to cook from scratch because we didn't have the money for fancy stuff. Once the girls and I made homemade eggnoodles and that was fun. we rolled them out as flat as we could get them and cut them and hung them all over the kitchen. Plue our neighbor showed me how to make wonderful sweet dinner rolls. So that was the beginning of my actual cooking experiences.
Since we've been on the ranch I've canned peaches , frozen corn, made bread and butter pickles, grape jelly and even tried my hand last summer at mild salsa. Oh yeah and I also make home made biscuts that aren't tooooo bad. so guess Vern isn't going to starve. By the way, I see in the store there are all kinds of new hamburger helpers but when I mention them to vern he just looks at me funny and I figure I better not. Beside, now that I can cook vern and I are overweight and there are alot of things we shouldn't have. go figure.?

Hi, there well this was a wonderful weekend. Kathy and Roy, and Miranda and Sharon came up and had a nice relaxing time. they rode quades and looked at the stars (which is something they don't get in Sacramento. haha and ate squash and tomatoes and corn straight out of the garden. Sometimes when your around it all the time like I am you forget how special that can be. All I know is we had a great time. Everyone was here except mikes family and they were helping Nancys mom move to Redding. Someday we'll get everyone at the same time.

I cut grass today and tomarrow I'll start on peaches and believe me we have a bunch. Still a little solid but almost ready. If I don't get them the chickens and the birds will.

Oh yeah. kathy and roy talked to rosalie about buying the 5 acres next to us so it looks like we're gonna be neighbors. Not really for about 8 years until roy retires so there won't be anybody to borrow sugar from for a while. haha. It's so funny that when kat was a kid she couldn't wait to get away from the ranch and now for years she has tried to figure how to get back on it. so far mike is on the ranch and kathy is coming back so next will be sharon, then it will be time for me and vern to move back to squim, haha. the old saying "what comes around ,goes around". that's what happened to us when we lived here for 14 years and then moved to squim f Washington or 1 year and then to sac for 4 years and when I quit fighting with GOD and said ok what ever you want then He sent us right back to the ranch , same address, same phone number. and we've been back 7 years august 16th. In all that moving around we had lots of adventures and made lots of new friends.

One thing I have found is that good can come out of bad. you just have to look for it.