Lady Traveler : 08/01/2016

Monday, August 29, 2016

Lady travels across America, one state at a time ... Part 1

California, we're coming ... after we stop in Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and Utah!

My bionic knee is well enough,
so I'm taking my E-ped bike to California!
August 2016

To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.

Happy September!

Let me begin by reminding you that

my iMac went kaput,

so there won't be many recent pictures on this blog.

But I'm still in good working order so

I shall write on Rob's laptop.

Finally, the day has arrived and we

have hit the road to California.

We spent the first night at

The Walmart Resort

in Cookville, Tennessee.

Such entertainment at that place!

Sunset at Kentucky Lake

Day two we arrived at the KOA

Kentucky Lake campground.

Oh, so beautiful and peaceful.

AND a large swimming pool

all to myself.

I've already swam twice

(my bionic knee is rejoicing!)

and I'm getting ready to trek over in about an hour.

Poolside at Kentucky Lake campground

We will head for Springfield, MO tomorrow

where we'll spend a week visiting

with our son, Shawn,

and his beautiful wife of 20 years,

Frances Watson,

journalist and anchor for

ABC news, Springfield MO.

Yes, we are very proud of her.

This is a short blog.

Don't sound so happy.

I shall return,

and hopefully I can figure out

how to post the pictures from my iPhone.

Until next time ...

Light is sweet and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.

However, many years a man may live,

let him enjoy them all.

Ecclesiastes 11:7-8

www.sharonleaf.com

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Lady Traveler heads to California!

Lake Murray, SC 2016

I have good news and bad news.

Bad news: my iMac computer went kaput!

Lost everything. Ugh!

But I choose not to dwell on it. I'm writing on Rob's nice laptop

So I shall survive.

California, here I come!
Right back where I started from!

Good news: I passed my written driver's license grade F test yesterday.

That means that I have a temporary license to drive a truck.

Or better yet, our forty-foot RV, Moon River.

Rob is so proud of me.

I'm proud of me.

Now I'm ready to hit the road to California next week!

There is beautiful country to see.

I'm hoping to show plenty of photos to you.

I don't consider myself a bonafide travel writer.

I can't keep my mind on one specific topic.

I just write what I'm feeling at the moment.

Famous authors tell the young aspiring writers,

Write what you know.

That's what I do.

Sweet thoughts after my knee replacement surgery
from family and friends. Love you all!

I want to encourage those of you who are going through

challenging times with your health.

After going through my knee replacement surgery,

I feel more pain for those who are going through an illness.

My knee is still swollen and painful,

but nothing to compare with family and friends

who are fighting cancer

and other so-called non-curable diseases.

My prayers are with you.

I'm not one to write about politics and religion.

They are both so misunderstood.

I don't talk about politics and religion

unless asked

because no one really cares.

Most people on both sides are so unbent on

their beliefs that it is a waste of my time.

But I will always take time to talk to

the person who has lost their way

and who is looking for truth.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life.

Jesus

He's my favorite topic

because He has changed my life.

Still is.

He makes life worth living.

He is simple.

Straightforward.

And fun.

I wish you oceans of truth from the truthful one...Jesus.

www.sharonleaf.com

Comfort or Challenge? Decisions that direct your journey

I was living a comfortable life in Southern California when the opportunity came for my husband and I to volunteer on a World War II ship to transport Russian Jews from Sochi, Russia, to Haifa, Israel. Rob jumped at the chance to live on a World War II ship for 14 months, but this 48-year-old lady panicked. You see, I couldn't swim, so I had to face my biggest fear--water. Sailing across the Atlantic was my worst nightmare, so I had to make the decision: Comfort, or CONFRONT my fear. Comfort, or step up to the CHALLENGE. After much prayer and inner conflict, I inhaled a deep breath of faith, waved farewell to my safe shore, and dived into a new ocean.

I had gotten my sea legs by day four, when out of nowhere, off the gulf of Mexico, the MS Restoration caught the tail-end of Hurricane Hector. Panicked, I dropped my cleaning bucket and staggered to our cabin and jumped in my bunk. My life jacket fell from the rafter above, so I grabbed it, wrapped it tightly around me, and prayed as I fastened each buckle. If I had been Catholic, this would have been the perfect time to repeat the rosary. Instead, I cried out, "God, help me! Remember, I can't swim!"

As the ocean's surge tossed the ship with a vengeance, my Bible fell off an overhead shelf and landed on my bunk. With trembling hands I thumbed through the pages until I stopped at Isaiah 43. I tried drowning the sound of the waves beating against steel by shouting, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you." While the Pacific raged, it was God's peace that flooded me, and I knew we would somehow survive Hector.

I had read this scripture before, but it had never given me as much comfort as it did that day at sea. I love how God gives us the right words of encouragement at just the right moment.

Now, back home on dry land, whenever I feel challenged, I recall the sound of the ocean's mighty roar, and I quote Isaiah 43:16, and once again, I am at peace.

A Season for Love...my short love story

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

For the single, for the lonely, there is hope, and a season.

Here is my seasonal love story:

The year, 1984. Forty-one-years-old. Two failed marriages. The recent loss of my beloved Mother. 1987, life didn't look too promising. After working all day, I'd come home, and after a three-mile run and a cold shower, I'd indulge myself in my latest adventure-filled book. But this night I threw the book across the room. "God, please tell me there's more!" Then the phone rang. It was my friend, Tia, begging me to accompany her to a new singles meeting at a nearby church.

"I don't want to go alone," Tia moaned. After surviving her own divorce, she was tired of dating too many I-like-you-I'll-call-you guys. That's why I'd given up dating months ago. Stop-looking-and-let-God was my new motto, thus the reason for my nightly runs and cold showers. Tia, on the other hand, had been visiting churches with large singles ministries. "You have to go with me," Tia pleaded, so what could I say?

So the next night Tia headed for the front row. I insisted on the seats nearest the back door. I yawned as a young slightly-built blonde announced their upcoming March beach trip, and I glanced at my watch as the mild-mannered speaker closed the meeting. The only intriguing part of the evening was a tall, tanned, blue-eyed man wearing cowboy boots who was giving directions and moving chairs. Stop-looking-and-let-God I reminded myself. It didn't matter anyway. I had no plans of returning.

The following Thursday night I was half way out the front door for my evening run when the phone rang. "Ignore it," I whispered, but something inside said, Answer it.

"I'm Rob and I'm calling to thank you for attending our meeting last Friday night." Within minutes we were talking like we knew each other. Now I was curious.

"Are you the guy in the cowboy boots?" That made my heart skip a beat?

"Guilty," he answered.

My heart began to pound as I dove in. I had nothing to lose. "I was married sixteen years."

"I was married sixteen years too."

"I have a twenty-year-old daughter."

"So do I."

This will cause the conversation to come to a screeching halt. "I also have a thirteen-year-old son," I added.

"Me too."

An hour later he asked, "Will you come to our meeting tomorrow night?"

What could I say?

The next evening I scoped the room, but the cowboy was nowhere in sight. I turned to make my exit, but as my shaky hand pushed the door handle, a voice inside said, Don't leave! I reluctantly found a seat on the back row, and unknowingly, the handsome cowboy sat in front of me. I tapped his shoulder. I had nothing to lose.

"Are you Rob?"

"Yes. Are you Sharon?"

I nodded.

I returned that night to check out the stranger who invaded my life over the telephone. Little did I know that the next season of my life had just begun.

I proposed a year later.

What could he say?

A major moral to this story: Always answer your phone. You never know who is on the other end.

(For more details, read LADY and the SEA, a novel based on a true story--mine. www.sharonleaf.com. Available on Amazon.com and e-books.

Pages

Monday, August 29, 2016

Lady travels across America, one state at a time ... Part 1

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Lady Traveler heads to California!