December, 2006

Greetings!

         Thanksgiving day has come and gone, and we were happy to spend some time with several members of our family. Now as the year is coming to an end, we look back and realize how much we have for which to be thankful.

         Last spring we spent many hours getting exercise in the outdoors as we cleared off brush on a neglected 20-acre parcel that we had owned many years ago and just recently bought back with the help of our daughter Linda. She joined us on many weekends, as she didn’t want to miss out on the fun, and it was a welcome change from her job as an emergency room doctor in Los Angeles.

Although we weren’t able to go on a mission trip this year, some of our grandchildren had that privilege. Ben Medina spent ten days in Ecuador helping to build a church during spring break.

Ben has really outgrown his grandparents!

Daniel Adams kept busy translating for doctors, flying, and exploring in Venezuela for about three months.

Ben & Daniel are planning to return this coming year; also the whole Medina family and Dr. Linda will be spending this Christmas in Peru on a mission trip.

After a cool wet spring we were happy to start some garden around the middle of April. Many things grew well this year including corn, tomatoes, grapes and boysenberries.

Granddaughter Krista Medina enjoys sweet, juicy grapes right off the vine.

In fact, we are just finishing the last of our fresh corn and tomatoes now with lots of tomatoes and grape juice canned to enjoy during the winter.

Our oldest grandson, Troy Keeping with wife Maryann and daughter Laurel live near Chicago, so we only see them every few years.

Betty Adams, great-granddaughter Laurel, her parents Maryann & Troy Keeping, his parents Ron & Gloria Keeping, her dad Celian Adams.

Father’s Day brought one of those rare visits, and it was a treat even though it was a surprise to see that our oldest great-granddaughter is now taller than we are!

The other two great granddaughters, Gillian and Emilia Trujillo are five and seven years old and live in Reno, so we enjoyed visiting with them this fall also.

The end of June we flew east to visit the Medina family in Maine for a few days. It was a rare occasion when all the family were there together, since Kandice is a Nursing student in Texas and Ben is finishing high school in Pennsylvania. Lanita is still busy with her Creative Memories home business with Krista and Kami Kay as helpers while Norman spends his time as a successful dentist.

About a year ago Celian was able to change his medical care from the Reno VA, a three hour drive from here, to Mather, only a little more than an hour away. We were especially thankful for this change in July when Celian suffered a fall.

For many years he has kept a few hives of bees as a hobby, and in mid July as he was coming into the house with a pail of honey, he tripped and went down. Trying not to spill the honey and make a mess for Betty to clean up, he hurt his hip instead. After several hours of severe pain he decided to go to the VA hospital for treatment and drove himself, since Betty doesn’t see well at night and he didn’t want to bother any of the neighbors.

Yes, he had a broken hip, and soon was taken to San Francisco VA hospital where he had surgery on his 86^th birthday. Betty and Linda stayed nearby and brought him home four days later.

Maybe he was down, but certainly not out. Family and friends came from east, south, north, and west and he kept everyone busy helping with all his projects in progress, along with a new one or two.

The garden went on in spite of a ten day spell of triple digit temperatures at this critical time.

Only five days after hip surgery, Celian was out in the garden, watering the corn!

Since we don’t have air conditioning, we were thankful to be able to spend the hottest days in the home of our son Fred and wife Diana who live nearby.

Victor and Becky, a young Mexican couple, have been especially good helpers.

Around the first of October several of our kids and grandkids got together and bought us a golf cart–the best present ever!

It quickly and quietly takes Celian from one project to another, carrying tools or bringing firewood, etc. and he hasn’t found any place it won’t go on our 120 acres–yet. Betty and Victor get to use it now and then also.

We enjoy living here in the country with wild turkeys and deer all around.

But we really felt like we live in a zoo a few days ago when Betty was out by the clothesline and looking down toward the orchard about 50 feet away, there was a big brown bear! He didn’t seem in any hurry to leave as he munched on some apples. Too bad we didn’t have a camera to document that visitor.

The fall colors in our area out-rivaled those in the east this year, and lasted longer with some beautiful sunsets. As the days grow shorter and cooler we know this year is almost gone and we look forward to messages from friends and family such as each of you. Our wish is that you have been blessed as we have during this year, and that your new year will be filled with joy.

~ Celian & Betty Adams ~