FIRST WEDNESDAY IN SEPTEMBER!

Guten Tag,

I cannot believe the last quarter of this year is here. That in three weeks I will be on my way to Paris to meet much missed and adored friends from the North Country and than MADDIE AND SAMANTHA arrive! Think Papa and I are anxious, not a bit...ha! The time just seems to be flying by. That is bittersweet. For many reasons it will be good to get home but for other reasons....maybe this will be my last time here and that does make it bittersweet.

You, know when I was a kid, I would walk almost 3 miles one way, just to go to the library. I started doing this when I was five years old and was old enough for my first library card. That card was like a ticket to a world that would allow me to be lost for a hour, hours, weeks, depending how long the book was. The first book I ever remember reading and bringing home from the library was "Blueberries for Sal" and it just so happened to be one of the first books I ever bought for my 1st grandchild. I LOVED and still LOVE this book. From there I graduated to Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, The Bobbsey Twins and anything else I could get my hands on. As the years went by and the books became more and more my world where I could run away, dream and hope and wonder if I could ever go to these places that I only had gone to in books. When I landed in Italy in 1990 I had tears of joy in my heart from knowing after 40 years God was giving me a chance to "live" and "see" those things that had only been dreams! I cannot imagine not knowing how to read it truly is a magnifcant gift we take for granted. A few years ago I met someone who was just learning to read at age 20 and that is when I, realized for the first time in my life, this was something else I had taken for granted most of my life. Reading has brought me so much joy and happiness. I think about just the hours I have spent reading to my grandchildren and picking out "the" book for them. Without reading I do not believe I would have the walk I do with the Lord. I cannot even fathom not being able to read the Holy Scriptures...the precious Truth that has helped me get through the worse of times and the best of times!

When I read Heidi all I wanted to do was someday go to Germany and see where Grandfather lived. After I read Madeline I could not wait to go to Paris. When I was in Corrie tenBoom's house seeing the "Hiding Place" I could not believe how small it really was. How many books have I read about Italy....every spot was better than the next. When I first saw the Alps that I had read about in "Hannibal" I could not imagine people besides elephants going over these majestic mountains, by foot! Seeing where Paul supposedly wrote some of the Letters of the Holy Bible, as we strolled the Forum, and seeing "the" prison that He might have literally wrote these words. Eloise, what can I say I am still waiting to go to the Plaza but I will get there if "god willing and the creek don't rise!" I think you get what I am saying today.....all those books came alive but even if I had never seen any of these places for real I had them all in my imagination and for many that is all it will ever be and that is okay, that is the very reason we have books, oh to take us to the places we may never go! Yes, I do love books.

I have truly been blessed beyond measure and every thing from here on is cream on top! I said this a year ago this month, when we took our whole family to Disneyworld.....I still mean it....every thing from that moment on has been and is a special gift from the Lord....the biggest gift so far a NEW knee and the other one will be here soon!!

Have a blessed day.....

Tschuss
Debby