Merry Christmas!

(Be sure to click the "pause" button on the music player located to the left of the blog, before listening to the music videos.)

Merry Christmas Greetings from snow bound western Washington. (Check out my Mother's blog for some snow pictures!) I've been pretty busy lately, but will (Lord willing!) get back to blogging about my Tennessee adventures soon! For now, I'll leave you with a tidbit about what I've been up to lately... A couple of weeks ago, I was blessed to go the the Fiftieth annual Julfest (featuring the Swedish Lucia Bride Service) at First Covenant Church in Seattle. The Shoemaker family took me, and we had a wonderful time!! The Julfest was so Christ centered and uplifting - truly an exciting pre-Christmas experience! The short clips of the service below are just a sampling of how awesome it really was. For a special touch to the usual program, a Swedish choir came all the way from Sweden to sing for the Julfest!! I really wish that I had more pictures, but it wasn't one of those situations where it was appropriate to be a 'shutter bug.' :o)

Next year, my parents and I are hoping to attend "Handel's Messiah" also in Seattle... wish we could have made it this year, but things were way too busy!


I was hiding behind a pillar, so the view isn't that terrific. In person it was breathtaking!

And just yesterday evening we attended the Shoemaker Brothers concert in Shelton. It was held at the Shelton High auditorium, and about 300 people showed up despite the crazy snow! The concert was amazing, the boys did so well, and we were quite proud of their sucess. Mrs. Shoemaker and I supplied the refreshments and it was a huge answer to prayer when my friend Lael showed up with a bunch of cookies. Thank you so much Laelann!! We were worried there wouldn't be enough, but God was in control and it all worked out beautifully! By the way, for anyone that's interested, the next local concert is January 9th, at Charles Wright academy in Tacoma, WA - 7:00 p.m - $12 at the door. Below are pictures from the concert and the boys' recent youtube video.

Samuel, Nathanael, Daniel, & Gabriel

Be sure to check out the Shoemaker Brothers Website for tour dates - they're embarking on a national tour and may be coming to a town near you...

Shoemaker Brothers - Dancing Girl

A Thankful Thanksgiving To You All!!

Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100: 4,5

Thanksgiving is a day when we come together to be reminded of God's many blessings to us throughout our lives and throughout the year. God is so good, and has richly provided for us as his children. I am so thankful for the freedom to worship and serve the Lord, a freedom for which our forefathers fought and gave up their lives. Freedom, and the chance to worship God was the reason that the little band of pilgrims set forth on a perilous journey to a new land. Now, almost 400 years later that group of less than 60 people have become a great nation. We have the freedoms we have, because many before us sacrificed so they could save the love and hope of their life: FREEDOM!

I am so thankful for God's gift of freedom, and for His never ending mercy and love. I recently read a really neat quote by Robert Strand. It goes as follows: "Those whose lifestyle is marked by thanksgiving will enjoy a sweetness to life uparalleled by any other."

May we be encouraged to give thanks to God in every circumstance this year, finding that a thankful heart is the secret to a happy life.

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gifts!

Love, Brooke

God Bless America!

God Bless America! May He stand beside our nation and guide and protect her through the following years. Who knows now, how long it will be that we are free to write, and speak, and publish what we really think.

Obama will 'change' America, yes he can and he will. But not for the better. America as we know her, has come to an end. At the end of Barack Obama's four years, so much liberal legislation and socialist agenda will have been put in place, that we will not know our free country any more. And we have stood by and let the communists put the nails in our coffin. It is true, our country has made history as they say. But the sacrifice of our freedom was a high price to pay.

May God have mercy on our nation, and forgive her, for she knows not what she does.

To Tennessee and Back Again...The Tale of Brooklyn's Travels-Part Five

The new day started out very warm. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell went to town, taking the Liberian's with them. Hannah continued to teach me about the office, and outside the storm clouds rolled. As the day wore on, it grew more and more humid, and lightening began. It was the scariest lightning I had ever seen, and more than a little unnerving. Hannah said that it was normal though and not to worry.

By this time I had met Serene, Pearl, Bowen (Pearl's 8 year old son), and Jireh (Evangeline's 8 year old son). My memory is beginning to fade now, and I can't remember which day I met them all!! But I do happen to remember Bowen and Jireh coming up to me and asking for rubber bands. "Sure!" I replied, then asked "And what are your names?" Bowen spoke up and said, "I'm Owen!" then continued to make up a name for Jireh, which I forget. That was so funny! They were confusing though because they kept switching it around. :o)

Anyways, the end of the day came, and Mr. and Mrs. Campbell still had not returned. So Hannah and I made our way upstairs and tidied up our room. Hannah packed a few things, and then wanted to watch "Madagascar" (which I had never seen). We also finished up the snacks that I had brought on the plane trip over. During all this, the telephone rang and Hannah answered. It was Mr. Campbell saying there was a tornado warning out, and we needed to keep an eye on the weather! That was so strange!! Curled up on the leather sofa in their living room, I kept looking out the window above it. The sky turned a dark greenish color, and it was very frightening!

When I called my parents that night, it felt so good to talk to them. I was starting to get homesick again, and the tornado warning frightened me. As I paced the deck, I encountered many HUGE nasty bugs of unknown origin. In the middle of describing one of these strange phenomenons, my cell phone went silent and I lost reception. For the rest of the trip, my cell phone didn't work unless we were outside of Primm Springs. I ran back inside to use the landline, when Mr. and Mrs. Campbell came home. I talked to them for a bit, then called my parents back.

After our conversation ended at 10:00 pm, I went back inside to get ready for bed. The next day was going to be a big change, because Hannah would be leaving, and I would be alone to face the office with all it's daunting tasks. A new girl named Kaylene, was scheduled to come in 2 weeks, but that wasn't soon enough for me!

I went to sleep and woke up againg quite refreshed. Since Brittnie was gone, I was able to take over her bottom bunk, which really made me happy. :o)

Now that the girls were gone, I had one-on-one time with the Campbells'. I began to realize that just about everything I had been told was wrong. Mrs. Campbell began to say, "Okay, forget what they taught you, just listen to me!" On my first exploration through the office, I came across a huge box of 'partial orders' which were Mrs. Campbell's especial abomination. Her theory is that if we are out of an item, go ahead and ship the rest of the person's order, just remember to include a kindly note explaining that it was on back order and would be sent as soon as possible. These particular orders had been left in a box with the packing slip, and hadn't been shipped out at all. Mrs. Campbell became horrified when I unearthed an order from 3 months before. She guided me through the steps of calling the customer, explaining, shipping, recording etc. The following weeks were so busy and stressful. Everyday Mrs. Campbell and I would hear of orders misplaced, misshipped, unsent, and more. Mrs. Campbell's best phrase for these misshaps was, "That's simply disgusting! I can't believe it!" Mrs. Campbell and I also ran several months back through the credit card machine, because they had been authorized, but not made out as a sale. In other words, Above Rubies made no money from all those transactions. That involved another large set of phone calls, and it was so intense! I daily looked forward to Kaylene coming, because by this time I was beginning to be lonely, and I desperately wanted a friend. Mr. Campbell was really sweet and was like a grandfather, but you couldn't necessarily talk to him all day long, because he had work to do. Mrs. Campbell was the kindest grandmotherly personage too, but the same thing-she was sooo busy.

The day Kaylene arrived, I made a sign for Mr. Campbell to take. Mrs. C was on a retreat and was not there to welcome Kaylene, so I cleaned our room and picked a bunch of wildflowers to put in vases. All that day and into the evening I was so excited I could hardly stand it. So when Mr. Campbell called from the airport, I couldn't resist begging to talk to the new girl. Mrs. Campbell had informed me that she was 20 years old, and from San Francisco, California, so I thought I knew a little about her. She sounded very nice but also tired on the telephone. The next hour was so hard to bear! I played the old piano in the basement some, and ate dinner, then went down to the office. I heard the other door open, and I ran out into the long room. There was Mr. Campbell and Kaylene!! I gave her a hug and started drilling her with questions. It turned out that she was really 17, and from Oregon! Isn't that a funny mix-up?? That night it was so great to have a friend. We talked about our interests and our families, and just everything. The next day was going to be so exciting!! I couldn't wait to show her Nikki's Cabin (A cabin up in the hills that Brittnie and Hannah took me to.), and fun places to walk, and the wildflowers and everything!

To Tennessee and Back Again...The Tale of Brooklyn's Travels - Part Four

My cell-phone morning alert (set for 6:30 am) jolted me from pleasant sleep, and I opened my eyes to a beautiful Tennessee spring morning. The Campbell's red mini-van (driven by Mr. Campbell), was heard going down the drive, and you could hear Mrs. Campbell stirring about in the kitchen. Hannah Arentson (age 19) and Brittnie Miller (age 19 too!) were groaning in their bunks and attempting to wake up. I gingerly crept down the ladder of the bunk bed and ran to the window, pulling the curtains back to get a peek outside. Since it was quite dark when I had arrived, I really
had no idea what my surroundings looked like. It still seemed unreal that I was actually in a different state, and at the home of Colin and Nancy Campbell! In fact, to this day, those two months shine like a bright golden dream and it seems as if I just imagined it all. Except for the fact that I keep in touch with everyone. Okay, enough of this rambling! Back to the original story...

Hannah informed me that I really needn't get up that early, and that Mr. and Mrs. Campbell didn't really care if we came to breakfast on time or ate in our room. (I found out after the girls left that that was not true, and yes, Mr. and Mrs. C are very strict about meal times and 'sitting up to table.' Oops!)

After I was ready for the day, I walked through the french doors into the main part of the house, and Mrs. Campbell greeted me with a strong hug. My first impression of her was a kind, cheerful, on task / duty driven person who steers a straight course throughout her day. Mr. Campbell came in a bit later, and he was very different from what I had expected. Tall, kind, with a commanding prescence, yet a bit of hillarity, he was the exact complement to Mrs. Campbell. During my stay, it was so neat to see how well they complemented one another.

Hannah, Brittnie and I had a hurried breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen, and then went downstairs to the office promptly at 9:00 am. There, they showed me the 'ropes' of office work. I learned how to locate and ship items, enter magazine subscriptions into the database (aka "Squirrel Mail"), take credit card orders over the telephone, do donation / money orders, and run credit card orders through the machine. This last task held a bit of difficulty, as one of the girls had been improparly running transactions through as authorizations instead of sales. In other words, Above Rubies was making no profit on items sold for the past 3 1/2 months. Hannah showed me how to run everything back through (force transactions) the machine, and what to do if anything went wrong. It was a long, un-eventful, yet rewarding day. I was beginning to worry about how I was going to manage without the two girls.

We climbed back up the stairs and began to help with dinner. Hannah and Brittnie showed me where all the dishes and food were, and disclosed the secret food stash in our clothes closet. They solemnly bequeathed all their food to me, since they were leaving tomorrow.

That night at the dinner table, Mr. and Mrs. Campbell and the liberian children went around and gave 'eulogies' to Hannah and Brittnie. Devotions were completed, we said our good - nights, and went off to bed. [Here I must note that Brittnie left after dinner to go stay with Rocky and Monique - the Campbell's son and daughter - in -law. She was to be their nannie for the next year.]

Bed time came and I wearily laid my head upon my pillow. It had been a busy day, and I was eagerly looking forward to tomorrow. Little did I know that on the morrow, I was to experience my first tornado warning!!

To Be Continued...Stay Tuned!

To Tennessee and Back Again... The Tale of Brooklyn's Travels - Part 3

Well, the airplane did not crash, and the terrorists must have forgotten to hi-jack it. We safely landed in Nashville, when I instantly became so nervous I started to shake. Joy graciously walked me to the baggage claim signs, and I placed a call to Mr. Campbell, informing him that I had arrived and was ready for pick-up. But, there was no answer. "Oh no!!" I was beginning to panic, "I'm alone in a strange part of the country, and no one is answering!!" Trying to calm down, I hoisted my bags and walked to baggage claim. On my way, I telephoned again, and still there was no answer. Then, there they were! Two Above Rubies Girls, and Mr. and Mrs. Campbelll's two adopted daughters. They were holding a sign, and I was so relieved to see them.

They helped me get my other two bags, and escorted me outside. Opening up the doors, I felt a blast of heat, and just about choked. When I left Seattle, it was 45 degrees outside, and had just snowed a few days earlier, and I was dressed accordingly. Let me tell you, DO NOT wear a wool skirt, long sleeved shirt, sweater, and heavy stockings to Tennesee if you are planning to visit. That simply is not the proper attire for 85 degree heat with full humidity. Imagine my discomfort when the girls laughingly said, "Oh, our Ruby mobile doesn't have air conditioning." "Oh, yeah, ha ha ha! Don't mind me if I just curl up and die back here from heat stroke."

Our journey ensued and there was another shocker in store for me. The speed limit on the freeway was 7o mph! Our freeways are mostly 6o, until you are about 1 hour, south bound only, down the road.

The Tennessee countryside was lush, beautiful, and green! It was so gorgeous that a deep part of my soul that loves natural beauty was satisfied. We were all having such a jolly time, looking out the windows and chatting that we made a wrong turn which resulted in an hour long detour. By this time it was dark, we were lost, and very hungry. At about 8:45 pm Hannah, (one of the Above Rubies girls) said, "Oh, look! We're somewhere in Dickson! Isn't that interesting that we're in a town that we know. Let's go to Shoney's for dinner..." Anyway, by this time I had contacted my mother with the comforting info that I was lost in a strange land with strange people going to some unique southern restaurant called 'Shoney's." She was quite worried, but was attempting to stay calm. I promised to telephone her after we were done with dinner.

Exhausted from my flight, and still dying in my wool skirt; the girls dragged me into the restaurant. It was buffet style, and I was to later learn that buffets are a Tennessee thing. It was so weird to hear all the people talking so strangely. I felt alone and afraid in this restaurant with options on the buffet like swiss chard and some beef / vegetable thing on rice. That was another eye opener for me, to learn that Tennesseans (sp?) love swiss chard. I mean, the swiss chard was good, it's just that it isn't served in Washington restaurants. Common restaurant vegetables are: potatoes, corn, carrots and beans, not swiss chard (or 'silver beet' as New Zealander's term it.)

We rushed through our dinner, then went to the counter and paid. Here was another 'culture shock' for me, as the waitress spoke so thickly with her unmistakable southern accent. Drawl would probably be a better term for it, as it sounded so slow and slurring. No offense to any southerners reading this, but I by far prefer our more cultured speech up here in the Northwest. :o)

On the road again, we drove down a long winding country road, and turned in at the driveway of a large house. "Here we are!" The girls said "The Campbell's seem to have gone to bed already." With that, we quietly walked through the large house and up the stairs. It seemed like a dream that I was actually here; in the home of Colin and Nancy Campbell!! The girls showed me to our room and we all prepared for bed. As I lay in the top bunk, I could hear frogs croaking through the open window. "Tomorrow is going to be SO fun!" I thought as I succumbed to the power of sleep.

To Tennessee and Back Again...The Tale of Brooklyn's Travels - Part Two

The woman next to me introduced herself and continued to chat away. "Isn't it wonderful that only two of us are here on this row...there is so much more room this way" and other comments helped ease my nervousness. She was such a kind lady, and sympathized with the fact that I was leaving my family for two months. Joy proceeded to tell me about her family and her two children (both boys), and all their interests. It was such a relief to realize that this was a kind woman who wasn't some crazed psychopath! But, when she realized that her youngest son and I were about the same age, she began directing more and more of her conversation in his direction. It soon became apparent that this mama was 'daughter-in-law shopping' and that became slightly disturbing until I was able to divert the conversation.

Note of warning: stay away from nice mothers who have eligible sons. It can be dangerous out there. Anyway, back to my story...

The flight was long and uneventful, and I snapped pictures at an amazing rate. My chatty companion didn't leave me much time to devour "Uncle Tom's Cabin", so the entire flight was punctuated with interesting remarks like, "Oh, these Oreo snacks are so good. You must try some. I had some on my other flight and they were really good. By the way, do you like soccer? My youngest boy is very athletic.." Here there was need for diversion so I remarked: "Did you see that interesting mountain back there? Here's a picture of it!" and "I have to use the restroom, will I die if I stand up and walk there?"

Oh dear, that was a bad decision on some one's part. Of course certain well meaning engineers designed airplane aisles to be about 6 inches wide, so of course unsuspecting passengers trying to walk somewhere will incidentally collide with certain grumpy travelers elbows. This situation can turn serious when the aforementioned grumpy traveler happened to be holding a cup of water in the hand attached to the elbow that was bumped. To top it off, when you apologize, the now irate traveler's wife will invariably shout "Of course he's not alright!! Just look at him! He's all wet!"

At least the flight attendant understood my plight and handed me napkins, which I in turn handed to the grumpy traveler's wife who was attempting to dry poor Herman's lap. Anyway, Herman and his wife continued to sizzle as I passed them on my return trip, and the glares scorched the very deeps of my soul. Dear Joy, inquisitive as ever, remarked "What happened back there?" I wearily related the events and she calmly berated them as 'creeps who could have for seen these events by keeping their elbows to themselves.' Since she was in an aisle seat, she kept me updated on how they appeared to be feeling. At this moment, the intercom system came on and told us to keep our seat belts fastened. The plane began to shake, and looking out the window, all I could see was fluffy swirling whiteness.

To Be Continued...Stay Tuned...This Could Take Awhile...Check Back Soon!!