We’ve had a wonderful streak of sunshine in the Pacific Northwest. It really has been a blessing for all the back and forth trips we’ve been making to the garage to store some of our furniture while we get all our floors redone.

Monday is a big day as we celebrate my youngest siblings turning 50! I remember the day that Leonard and Lana were born in Montebello in 1963. We had just gotten home from a week of family camp at Forest Home. The only way we could afford a week at family camp was through scholarships that Forest Home gave us after I wrote a letter to request some funding so we could go. In 1963 I was 12 and I’m so grateful that my family was afforded a way to be able to spend this time away from home. While at camp my mother hiked around and everyone was so concerned she’d go into labor any minute. We arrived home on the weekend and then on Monday my dad went to work and my mom went into labor. Although my Pop was fully aware my mom was pregnant he did not know that my mom was pregnant with twins. My mom was too upset to let him know that she was having twins.  At the time of this pregnancy my parents already had 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls. She didn’t know how they would be able to afford one more child and then to learn she was having two shocked her into secrecy. On that Monday we were thankful to the Lord that my mom had a good friend close by who could take her to the hospital. A relative of my mom’s sister in law, a wonderful lady we called Aunt Zena came to our rescue and transported my mom to the hospital and then let us all know that my mom had delivered twins, a boy and a girl.

Here’s my mom with Aunt Zena in 2007.

When my dad finally got home from work my little brother Tim ran out to our station wagon and announced to our pop, “Pop! Not one but two babies! We have two babies” My poor father was in shock now, too. He came into the kitchen and asked for a glass of punch!

Here’s a photo of “our twins” taken at Disneyland in 2011. It’s always fun to celebrate with these two! What an adventure it was for the whole family to raise twins.

This year Dear and I were able to celebrate the big 5-0 with Lana, Lana’s husband Steve and Steve’s parents here in the great Northwest. We tried to plan a combined birthday bash for both the twins at our home this summer but it wasn’t to be this year. We plan and God directs what will be.

It was a great treat after a day of hard work at this old house. Have you ever eaten Beef Cheeks? Oh my did they melt in your mouth.

I leave you with this sweet photo of our little twins from 1963!

Happy 50th Birthday Leonard and Lana! What a joy it has been to be your big sister all these years. God bless you both with many more years of celebrating life!

1963 was a landmark year for my family. In September of that year our pop accepted Christ during the Billy Graham Crusade at the Los Angeles Colliseum. This decision changed the course of our family forever. My decision to follow Christ earlier that summer during Hume Lake Junior High Camp at King’s Canyon National Park made attending the Billy Graham Crusade even more meaningful to me and to witness my pop accepting Christ the same year was life changing.

Night after night we filled our station wagon and drove downtown to the coliseum. It was so cool to listen to that many people singing Just As I Am…

We worked very hard at this old house this weekend. We have our living room and 2 bedrooms on our main floor emptied out and ready for the old carpeting to be removed. Our garage is full of furniture and every available space on our new hard floors is being used to also free up the rooms that will be carpeted soon. We managed to take a break to go to dinner to celebrate Lana and a break to attend church on Sunday. How did you spend your weekend?