It has been an adventure living in a 55+ park. We moved in here in June of 2017, and I love it. We went from a four-bedroom house to a two-bedroom manufacture home. When we were in the house it was a lot to take care of the yard was very big and the pond and fountain in the back were a lot of work. Our home now is so much easier to take care of.

Harold and I have made some very good friends in the park and have had quite a wonderful life here.  The amazing thing is we have some good stories to tell.

One is the lady across the street from us named Dee. We met her when we moved in. She was a widow with a little drinking problem.  Harold is always willing to help anyone, so when she asked him to work on her yard, he was very willing (because retirement bores him).  He did an amazing job on her yard. It was picture perfect when he was done. She wanted to pay him, but he refused. I heard a knock on the door one morning so when I opened it there was and envelope with a check for $1500 in it from her.

 Harold didn’t want to go to the bank with it, because of Covid so I ask her to change it with my name on it. She went crazy and instantly said we were trying to do something shady. I tried to explain to her that Harold didn’t want to go to her bank because of Covid, and we were just going to cash it and get a new sliding door with it for our in-closed patio.   She started saying that she was going to call her attorney and turn us in. That should have been a clue that she was losing it. Finally, I took the check back and put it on her porch, since she wouldn’t answer her door.  The next morning there was another check with my name on it at the door. It was very early, so she must have done it the night before.  I called her and she said she was sorry for accusing us of doing something weird.

Harold continued to help her with her yard and odds and ends around the outside of her house.  She would never let us in her house. The other neighbor next to her said it was as disaster inside.  I really liked her; we would pray together on the phone and visit when she was outside.  She was a very sharp dresser, always neatly dressed and her personal grooming was very stylish.  She always had her hair up and, a hat on, depending on what she was doing.

One day she called me and told me her best friend had gone to California to visit her daughter and had hung herself at her daughter’s home in the closet. She was devastated and crying.  It was very hard on her since her friend, and she would travel all over together. 

She started calling me and asking for me to pray for some man that needed money and prayer because of his health.  She said she was sending him money to pay his medical bill. He didn’t live in Oregon, and she never told me his whole name or where he lived. She also told me she was sending her daughter money.  I never met Debbi since she lived in Florida on a dry-docked boat that Dee said was falling apart. Debbi had been out once to see her mom, but I never met her.

It has been an adventure living in a 55+ park. We moved in here in June of 2017, and I love it. We went from a four-bedroom house to a two-bedroom manufacture home. When we were in the house it was a lot to take care of the yard was very big and the pond and fountain in the back were a lot of work. Our home now is so much easier to take care of.

Harold and I have made some very good friends in the park and have had quite a wonderful life here.  The amazing thing is we have some good stories to tell.

One is the lady across the street from us named Dee. We met her when we moved in. She was a widow with a little drinking problem.  Harold is always willing to help anyone, so when she asked him to work on her yard, he was very willing (because retirement bores him).  He did an amazing job on her yard. It was picture perfect when he was done. She wanted to pay him, but he refused. I heard a knock on the door one morning so when I opened it there was and envelope with a check in it from her.

 Harold didn’t want to go to the bank with it, because of Covid so I ask her to change it with my name on it. She went crazy and instantly said we were trying to do something shady. I tried to explain to her that Harold didn’t want to go to her bank because of Covid, and we were just going to cash it and get a new sliding door with it for our in-closed patio.   She started saying that she was going to call her attorney and turn us in. That should have been a clue that she was losing it. Finally, I took the check back and put it on her porch, since she wouldn’t answer her door.  The next morning there was another check with my name on it at the door. It was very early, so she must have done it the night before.  I called her and she said she was sorry for accusing us of doing something weird.

Harold continued to help her with her yard and odds and ends around the outside of her house.  She would never let us in her house. The other neighbor next to her said it was as disaster inside.  I really liked her; we would pray together on the phone and visit when she was outside.  She was a very sharp dresser, always neatly dressed and her personal grooming was very stylish.  She always had her hair up and, a hat on, depending on what she was doing.

One day she called me and told me her best friend had gone to Florida to visit her daughter and had hung herself at her daughter’s home in the closet. She was devastated and crying.  It was very hard on her since her friend, and she would travel all over together. 

She started calling me and asking for me to pray for some man that needed money and prayer because of his health.  She said she was sending him money to pay his medical bill. He didn’t live in Oregon, and she never told me his whole name or where he lived. She also told me she was sending her daughter money. Her name is Lilly.  I never met Lilly since she lived in California on a dry-docked boat that Dee said was falling apart. 

 

Then Dee’s neighbor didn’t want her to cut down the arborvitae between her house and his. He is a very private person. So, she proceeded to cut her side down to 4 feet. Which looks horrible and left his side up.  I think this was when she started to go downhill.

One day her neighbor on the other side, who she was good friends with, called me and ask if I had heard from Dee, they hadn’t heard from her for three days. I had not seen Dee either.  The meals on wheels driver tried to deliver her meals and she wouldn’t answer her door. He tried to take her screen off and open her window but didn’t get it done so he left her food with LeeAnn her neighbor.

Then LeeAnn and I went over to see if we could get her to open her door to no avail.   I remember it was on a Thursday because I was doing my infusion (which means I have three needles in my leg and hooked up to a pump). Suddenly the doorbell rings and when I got up to answer it, I had to carry my pump and all with me.  There were three policemen at the door with their hands on their gun.  They wanted to know if I lived here. Dee had called the police and told them that I had moved, and a squatter had taken over the house. They said that Dee had told them that I was holding her attorney in my bedroom and his name was Harold, and I was trying to kill her. I said do I look like I am a killer. 

I went and got Harold in hopes that he could go with the police and calm her down. That did not work at all. By this time, she was running around on her porch in her nightgown and her hair was flying all over the place and she was screaming like a banshee at the police to get the _____ off her property. 

When I went over to talk to her, I took LeeAnn with me.  We didn't even get to her door, and she came out yelling for us to go back to jail where we belonged. She was still in her nightgown and her hair was flying all over.  It was so sad. 

Later that day Harold and I was working in the front yard, and she yelled at me that she was going to kill me. I called the police because I was not sure what she was capable of. When they came, they went over to talk to her, but she just yelled for them to get off her property. They couldn't do anything because I didn't want to press charges. 

She would sit out on her porch with a big butcher knife and yell at everyone. She would steal my amazon packages and call me all hours of the night. I would answer the phone, but she wouldn't say anything. Then it got to where she started calling me at work. I called the police to do a well check on her since I wasn't sure if she was okay. I ask for the officer to call me and let me know if she was okay.  When he called me back, he said he gotten nowhere with her. In fact, she had told the officer that he really wasn't a police officer but that he was building a Frankenstein and he was just trying to decapitate her for her head to put on his creation, so she ran him off. He said she called the police on a regular basis and there was nothing they could do for her. 

I called Linda in the office and ask what could be done about it and she told me she was three months behind on her rent and they were going to evict her. from the park.  I told her that she wasn't in her right mind, and they couldn't do that.  She had nowhere to go and no one to help her. Linda told me to put that in writing and she would see what she could do with the main office. She said to have LeeAnn write a letter too.  

I kept seeing her friend Larry and his wife go over there so I finally got hold of them and they were doing their best to help her.   She was terrorizing the neighborhood.  She went over and told LeeAnn that she wanted her cigarettes back. She told her she didn't have her cigarettes and Dee insisted she did.  She went over multiple time saying that the police had given her cigarettes to LeeAnn.  Screaming I want my cigarettes back now. 

Dee continued this path for weeks. She came over and wanted her talking devise that I had taken it and she wanted it back. My daughter Jill was over to see me, and she started to yell that she wanted the box of food and that it didn't give it back she was going to hurt me. I just laughed at her by now I was getting use to her antics. Jill thought she was kind of crazy.  

My Creations

What Are You Thankful For

We were unable to go anywhere this year or have anyone over due to Harold's illness. You see when you have Rheumatoid Arthritis they give you all these medications to suppress your immune system because basically your immune system gets confused and it injures your joints. This leaves someone with no immune system so Harold got pneumonia and was wheezing. All this to say we were pretty much left to our own devices this year on Thanksgiving, which leads me to reflect upon our day.

It started off okay since we knew that we weren't going to be able to go anywhere which was real hard for Harold since we were looking forward to going to his daughters house for our Thanksgiving dinner. This was very special to him since he had never been invited to visit there before and was looking so forward to it.  As the day went on we only had one call from our kids (we have four) and that was the youngest one and her daughter who is 5 called to wish Papa and Nana a happy Thanksgiving. It was so sweet. She had been sick herself and we were so glad she was getting better and was able to go eat Thanksgiving with the family. 

Jill who is one of my many adopted kids called and brought us a wonderful turkey dinner and this was such a blessing. I had been sitting around feeling like these two old people no one wanted to call or even think about. I know that sounds terrible but it is what was going on in my mind.  I started thinking about my Mom and Dad and wondered if I ever neglected to think about them on any of the major Holidays because I was so wrapped up in my agenda and what I wanted to do. Did I forget to call them or acknowledge they were unable to attend a family function? I sure hope I didn't but when you have your own kids and lives it is sometimes hard to keep all the balls in the air when you have so many things pulling at you.  Then the 700 club came on and there were so many stories about being thankful for what you have and not dwelling on what you don't have. There was one particular story that made Harold and I look at each other and then we both expressed to each other how we had been feeling.  I even told Harold at one point, at least  people in nursing homes have nurse aids to give them turkey dinner even if it's ground up and feed to you with a straw. LOL

Well I got sick of the pity party and started thanking God for all He has given us and for me this turned our whole day around. I had been feeling or trying not to feel anything. I am blessed to have a wonderful husband who loves me and cares for me when I can't care for myself and that I am able to care for him when he needs it.  I started praying for Harold to be healed and not worrying about what anyone else did or didn't do.  I was blessed to have a wonderful dinner brought to us and then the door bell rang and a friend of mine who lost her husband a few years back showed up with more food for Harold and me.

God is so good to us. I just don't know how people go through life not acknowledging the love of the Father. What do they have when things don't go the way they think they should or bad things happen.  Where do they find their joy in bad situations? I know for me I desire to give glory in all situations to the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  I really desire all my children and their children for generations come to know and accept the love that God has for them.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.

I'm not sure who has heard of John Bevere but he has this new book out called Good or God. I recommend that if you haven't gotten it and are reading it that you do. He has some good information in it.  It is like everything else pray over the information and search the scriptures for yourselves. This book gives you a good starting place to study and know the Word for yourself.  One thing he talks about in the book is that if  a soldier was going into a mind field and the soldier had a detailed map of where each bomb and booby trap was would he glance at it and then put it in his back pocket and proceed or would he try to look over and study it for a while and then put it into his back pack then proceed out into the mind field on his memory our would he  hold it in his hand and sturdy it as he walked through the mind field carefully watching every step he took with the map.  Well that's how we should look at the Word of God as our map through the mind field of the enemy's camp. So as I see it, the best place to keep the Word of the Lord is in our hands studying it so that we don't fall into a trap of the enemy. That's kind of how I started out the day yesterday on Thanksgiving with my map in my back pocket then once I realized it I took it out and started to study the ground I was treading on. Thank you God for Your grace and mercy which is new every morning.

Life After 60 Years

Life has been something else these last few years. If I had one piece of advise for the young people of this day and age it is learn to eat right and teach your children to eat healthy.  I wish I would have been better at teaching my children to eat right.  Harold and I are just now finding out how important good food is to our bodies. Better late than never. We are retraining our taste buds to enjoy good foods.

The reason I find this so important is that Harold has been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and palindromic rheumatism. We are getting help from Nancy who has been in remission for sometime due to diet change.  She is a real blessing and is very kind to help us with this. 

We sometimes question whether we're in the right place and under the right circumstance as though God somehow lost track of us while we are in a predicament.  Then I spend way to much time and energy praying asking God to get me out of the situation instead of asking God how he would like to use me in the midst of whatever is going on. I want to use every situation to learn to be Jesus like. I want to see every problem as an opportunity.

God has given Harold a vision to get a trailer set up to take to disaster areas with chain saws, generators, gas and cooking supplies.  So today we decided that no matter how much he is hurting, we are going to look for a trailer and carry on with the vision God has given Harold.  We did find one for $1500 and are just going to believe that God will supply the money it takes to get it.  We already have a lot of the supplies needed to fill the trailer.

So if anyone wants to pray for us please pray that God supplies all the needs and encouragement to help us to keep on going forward in this endeavor God has put on Harold's heart. 

Praise God in all things and all situations for guidance and what will Glorify God.

 

The Calm After The Storm

2010 was a long year.  Praise God my surgery is behind me and I am doing great.  It has been a while since I have had the opportunity to write in my blog and I am only going to make a short note for now but will write something more profound latter this week.

God's Healing Touch

Life seems to go by really fast. I had a procedure on Friday that will tell the doctor how well my colon has healed and what will need to be done to do my take down from the ileostomy. Dr. Jamison is going to look at if he needs to do it in two surgeries or one. I would rather have only one but have full confidence in my doctor and his ability to make the best decision on my behalf. God had given me such a peace in this whole situation.


I was telling Harold the other day that I think that sometimes people get so hung up on physical healing that they forget to look to God for the best possible way to deal with the spiritual side of things. I know that God has healed my spirit and given me the ability to go through anything that happens in my life and still give God the glory and praise with joy in my heart. This is the true healing when you can look at your situation and know that God is in control no matter what happens. I am not saying that God does not heal people physically because I have seen that in my life and others. God had the ability to do what ever He chooses to do. I will write later when I find out more of what is going to take place but for now I am just resting in knowing that God is in control.

God's Purpose or God's Permission

It has been a while since I have been able to blog.  In my previous blog I said I was having some problems with my back and that it could be weight related.  Well the doctor did an MRI and they found a mass in my pelvic area then an US was ordered and it showed a 9cm mass in my pelvic area on the left side.  From there things just went really fast.  The Salem surgeon would not do anything because they felt it was cancer so they sent my to the Rose Quarter Cancer Center on a Monday and by Thursday I was in surgery.  The surgery was to be a 3 hour surgery and a 6 day hospital stay.  It took Dr. Tseng 2 1/2 hours to get to that mass and in doing so he had to cut up my colon then he found a 8cm mass on the right side.  He called in Dr. Richard Jamison and he had to remove some of my small intestine and colon.  Well 6 1/2 hours later I came out of surgery with a NG tube and a loop ileostomy leaving me with an ostomy bag.  This was one of the hardest things to adjust to.  Dr. Jamison will be doing a reversal at the end of July if all things go good.  I ended up being in the hospital for 16 days.  Then a week later I stopped taking the pain meds that I had been on and went into a drug withdrawal causing me to have to have to return to the hospital for a few days.  In the mean time my wound became infected with staff infection and had to be opened up down to the muscle.  I only looked at it once and could see the muscle and the sutures in that.   After that my husband had to take over and do all of my dressing and wound care because it had to heal from the inside out.  Then last week my ileostomy scared shut and had to be reopened (with out and deadening  I might add).  This caused me to lose a lot of fluid and then my blood pressure went to 80/40 and I went into renal failure causing me to go back into the hospital.  I now have a pic line and have been having to go to STEPS in Silverton for IV therapy.  Finally yesterday my blood levels came in as normal and I am done with the IV therapy and Dr. Jamison will be pulling out the pic line ( IV line going to the heart since all my other veins are not very good at this time) on Friday.   I am getting real close to having my wound healed and that is all doctor is waiting for to do my other surgery.  All this to say that God is very good to me.  I am having a hard time getting the strength to do much so I am getting to spend time with God and that has been wonderful.  We do not know how we cram our lives full and leave a few minutes for God.  When you are able to take time to get to know Him it is awesome. I am still trying to figure out what it is going to take to keep myself in touch with God all the time but I do know that I am getting closer to figuring it out. I do know that I want God's purpose for my life and I do not want to just get by with His permission.  God bless you.

Do I Listen For God?

One of the things I am personally going through is asking God and then listening for Him to answer, instead I ask God and just going on as if He didn't hear me and take care of it to the best of my ability. I work in the medical field and it is very easy to just ask for healing and when it doesn't happen instantly running off to a doctor. My back has been bothering my the last few weeks and it now is getting where it is hard to walk in the mornings due to the leg and hip pain. Of course as I am complaining and going on how bad the pain is to Harold, he says "Cherylynn just ask God to heal you". So I started to pray and ask God to heal me, but in the mean time I make a doctors appointment. Well I work for the doctor that I go to and you would think that I could get seen right away, which for the most part happens. Well not this time. I had to schedule an appointment for the 15th of April and then the doctor decided to change his schedule and I had to put my appointment off until the 21st. In the mean time Harold and I are discussing my situation and he says to me " I don't think you are listening to God " of course I say "what are you talking about I have been crying out to God for 2 weeks now and have heard nothing" well then of course Harold ( very lovingly by the way) says " I have heard you complain about your weight and how if you lost 20lbs your back would of course not have the pressure on it and would feel a lot better so why don't you go to Jenny Craig and try to lose some weight I think that is what God is trying to tell you." Well I now have been going to Jenny Craig's for a week and have lost some weight and will be continuing to lose weight and feel much better physically and mentally. It became very clear to me that I was living outside of what God has for me. He has provided a way for me to eat healthy and to get exercise and I have ignored it most of my life. I thought getting rid of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes was it, but I just traded one addiction for another. Now is the first day of the rest of my life and I want to spend it giving glory to God, listening to God, and loving God with all of my heart. I also want to thank God for giving me such a wonderful husband and partner in life that obeys God even when it is not easy. It had to be hard for Harold to speak to me about my weight, but he was very obedient to God and it will make a big difference in my life. That to me is an example of speaking out of love. I must say that if it had not been spoken out of love I would have been angry and hurt because my weight is a big area if shame in my life that the enemy has used against me for a long time. Well no more of that, God has now brought it out into the light and the enemy can no longer use it to shame me and make me feel yucky any more. So please pray for me in this area. Blessing everyone!!

The Tail of the Mighty King and Beautiful Daughter Kendra Lynn

By Nana
(Cherylynn Moore)
2010

Dedicated to her beautiful granddaughter
Kendra Lynn Lunsford


Once upon a time in the Land of Is lived a mighty King who ruled the land good and true. Now this King had a beautiful daughter named Princess Kendra Lynn. This mighty King loved his beautiful little princess with all of his heart. They would spend hours and hours talking and walking about the land of Is.

One fine morning as they were having tea Kendra Lynn’s father began to tell her of the mean troll of the land of Is Not. He warned her to beware of this troll because he was a very tricky and angry troll.

You see he once was a Handsome Prince in the land of Is, but had become power hungry and tried to turn everyone against the Good King. One day when the Good King could take no more of the Handsome Prince’s evil ways and nasty tricks the Good King turned the Handsome Prince into a troll and sent him down to the land of Is Not.
Now the troll had tricked some of the King’s followers and had them taken with him never to return to the Good land of Is.

The Good King warned his beautiful Princess Kendra Lynn to beware and not to go out of the land of Is. He then gave her guards to watch over her.

Now Kendra Lynn loved to wonder all over the land of Is even into the Outer City of Is. She became very weary of always having the guards watching over her, so she started planning how to sneak away from the guards and wonder on her own.

Princess Kendra Lynn sneaked into the secret room off of the King’s Library where he kept the Good Laws of Is. Once in the secret room she changed in to a man’s hat she had put in her bag and a pair of the King’s own britches. She took a rope off of the window curtain and put it around her waist to keep the britches on. She rolled up her beautiful dress and hid it under the good book of Is. Then escaping out the back door she headed for the woods that were not to far and where she could hide and watch the good people of the outer city of Is.

As she sat watching the town’s people she became very tired so she started to look for a place to lay her head. When she awoke it was much later and it was very dark. She could not see anything not even the outer city lights. Then came a soft voice that sounded like velvet saying Kendra Lynn this way, Kendra Lynn this way. She just knew her father the Good King of Is was calling her name so she quickly got up and headed towards the voice. All of a sudden she fell in to a deep hole sliding down, down, down until she landed in the land of Is Not.

The troll was so excited and elated that he had tricked the Good King of Is’ beautiful daughter he began to laugh and then he had a big party with all of his troll friends. He had her cast into the dungeon and there he left her.
Now the Good King of Is serched and serched for his Kendra Lynn for she had not shown up for their walk through the good city of Is. He sent out many guards to find her but to no avail.

The troll was so excited that he had finally had something of the Good King’s that he sent his followers out to the edge of the woods by the outer city of Is and told of the Princesses captrue. He then had her put into a deep sleep.

Word spread quickly about Kendra Lynn’s plight and it did not take long for the Good King to hear of the capture. He sent out the Knight that had been with him since the beginning of time.

When he had heard of the Good King’s problem and the Princesses plight the knight of Rescue came riding in on a white horse. Oh what a beautiful sight to see.

A long with the Knight Rescue came a band of Angels that went everywhere with Knight Rescue. The Good King was so excited that he told Knight Rescue that Kendra Lynn would be his bride forever and ever when Knight Rescue came back with the beautiful Princess.

The battle raged all through the night and into the next morning. Then the enemy troll was finally defeated.

The Knight had finally been able to put the trolls to rest and to start to look for the Princess Kendra Lynn. She was to be his beautiful bride.

The minute he looked at her they fell deeply in love. They had a long trip ahead of them but it was hard for Knight Rescue to take his eyes off of the beautiful Princess.

They were married and they lived happily every after in the land of is. And the Good King of Is was a very happy King.

And the angels sang.

The End

My Words to God

Be Still

Be still and know He is God
Sit quite and feel His presence

He desires an intimate
Relationship with each of us
And we are designed for and
Intimate relationship with Him

The King of Kings and
Lord of Lords is waiting on us
As we reach out to Him
He will reach out to us

Listen can you hear it
Sit quite and feel His presence
The mighty One is speaking
To our heart with care

Oh to smell His sweet presence
Oh to hear His sweet voice
Is a gift to not miss out on

The Princess of God
By Cherylynn Moore

I am a princess
I am Gods Rose of Sharon
A lily of His valley

He has me dance before Him
I delight in His joy
And He delights in mine

He supplies all my needs and
Gives me the desire of my heart
He is the lifter of my head

As I dance before His thrown of Gold
I see the King of Kings
Look at me
Our eyes meet and we become one in Spirit

So intertwined are we
That nothing else matters
I am truly His princess and
He my prince

This is more than I could ever imagine
He arises from His thrown
And as the Angels sing we dance

We float into the garden
Where He walks and talks with me
Among the roses He named after me

I am truly His princess
I am the Rose of Sharon
He is my prince
He is my King of Kings

to Rose Zemp
01/02/2010

My Will Be Yours

Oh that Your will be my will
Oh that I love as You love
May Your glory shine down upon us
May Your majesty be known to us

Seek and we will find
The splendor intertwined
Look and you will see the glory
In you and me

Rain down oh Majesty
Help us seek Your will
Through Your Holy Spirit we grasp
What you have revealed to us in the past

How can anyone not see
Your splendor all around
When in your Word you see
That is where it will be found

Glory to your name my Lord
Holy are You
Glory in Your ways oh Lord
Holy one and true

How Majestic Are You

Oh Lord how majestic
Are the mountains
You created
How beautiful are the painted
Desert to behold

Yet eternity is what I yearn for
I long to see Your face

To dance before You
And praise Your name
Is where my heart is all the same

My children and grandchildren
Are a special delight
My husband Harold is the
Wonder of my life

Yet eternity is what I long for
I long to see Your face

To walk and talk with You
To sing Your praise
Is where my heart is
All day long