Inbox

This morning, in my BodyTalk inbox, I received two emails from the International BodyTalk Association of which I am a practicing member. One was written for the German BT conference and the other was for the European BT conference. After I deleted the German one, I got inspired to share this one with you.

You see, in Dr. Veltheim's business DVD he encourages us to share with the world that BodyTalk is REALLY big. It's in 47 countries around the world and growing every day as it is SOOO effective in bringing lasting health progress. Anyway, here is my invitation to attend the BodyTalk conference in Europe. I hope that you enjoy browsing through it as I did. Who knows, now that I'm a "Seasoned" traveler of one trip to Georgia, I may broaden my horizons someday and attend. I wonder what language this is? Anyone know?

Have a great week everyone,

Dawn


Europäische IBA-Mitgliedskonferenz 2010

Unsere erste europäische Mitgliedskonferenz (offen für IBA-Mitglieder aus aller Welt) rückt in Windeseile näher und wir freuen uns über die großartigen Referenten, die schon zugesagt haben! Wir können es natürlich kaum erwarten, sie euch zu präsentieren, und deshalb stellen wir sie hier gleich vor!

Weitere Details

Die erste europäische IBA-Mitgliedskonferenz ist eine Veranstaltung für alle IBA-Mitglieder aus aller Welt.

Tagungsort
Haus der Bayerischen Wirtschaft
Max-Joseph-Straße 5
Munich, 80333 Germany

Unterbringung
Über das Münchner Tourismusamt – Weitere Infos bitte hier als PDF herunterladen.


Jetzt Anmelden! Bitte hier klicken


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Now, thanks to the fact that Jacob just came in and read this, we have the translation into English. THANKS JACOB!!! For privacy reasons I took out the names of the speakers, with regrets, as that took out the topics as well. Still, I think it's interesting to read this to see the way the English language is used elsewhere--you get the point, but it seems to lack something.


Translated by Google Translate:

European IBA-member Conference 2010

Our first European Member Conference (open to IBA members from around the world is becoming) closer in no time and we are pleased with the great speakers who have already pledged! Many speakers are expected! Be surprised!

** Each lecture series will be simultaneously translated by professional translators into English, German and Italian.


-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------

More Details

The first European IBA-member conference is an event for all IBA members from around the world.

Venue
Haus der Bayerischen Wirtschaft
Max-Joseph-Straße 5
Munich, 80333 Germany

Accommodation
Download via the Munich Tourist Office - More details here in PDF format.


Register Now! Click here

Tiger Creek Falls Inn at last

We're in the middle of harvest here, and things are VERY busy, so I will only say a few words about each picture.

After we hugged Gloria B, who owns the Inn along with her husband Larry B, who seemed like a long-lost friend, we registered after she showed us her prize suite #8. She said, "Do you like it?" a little bit nervously, but we reassured her that we LOVED the rooms AND the great outdoors all around them.

We had stopped at a Sam's club along the way to lay in a "Load of provisions" for the week, so we carried everything inside and put the food in the freezer/refrigerator. After putting a frozen pizza in the oven for our Sabbath feast, neither Jacob nor I could resist exploring our new home a second longer. I'll share the outdoors pictures first and save the inside ones for the next post.

Looking up into the massive trees which smelled oh-so-Heavenly. Once again, my flash was unknowingly turned off so the pictures are fuzzed, but they'll be better soon.

"Let's go down to look at the waterfalls, Mom!" Yes, lets. Of course, down was the easy way. Keep in mind that at this time I'd been awake, and stressed out, for about 17 hours. This was taken at the half way point down the loooooooong decline.

At the bottom we found a beautiful porch swing just perfect for weary travelers! The air here was so cool, as the water sprayed up from the small falls just 10 feet away from here.

Of course, my boy couldn't resist sitting on the railing and getting as close as possible. Actually, you could get close enough to walk in the shallow area ahead of the falls, but that involved a LOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG hike the other way around. This was good enough for me at that time.

When I finally made it back up those steps, I collapsed in the nearest rocking chair although this wasn't by "Our" house.

You can't even tell any wear and tear on Jacob, can you?

Right outside our window was this cool playground which came in handy later in the week when we hosted a deck party for a family we'd met in the class.

The only real frustration there was that cell phone coverage was sporadic way down at the bottom of our hill. This was one place that I found I could reach out and guess who I was talking to. :)

This was our sweet, little domicile for 6 days while we were away from our precious farm. Gloria had told me on the phone that she was going to give me her "Best rooms," as Jacob needed his own room and bath and so did I. It was oh so lovely there!!!!

Right above our door was a welcome sign. You have to look closely to see that it's a bear with a fishing line--he was successful too!

Well, there are peaches, apples, green beans, laundry, and clients all calling my name so I really must go. Watch for pictures of the inside of our sweet home away from home.

Hugs from home,

Dawn

Day 1/Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

After almost 3 hours on the Boeing 737 (I just asked Jacob what kind of plane it was and he knew), we landed in the Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Our friend, Frank, was such a blessing as I simply could not find my receipt slip for our checked bag although we searched through everything as the people in front of us were leaving the plane. He reassured us that it wasn't needed unless our bag didn't arrive. Later on I found the receipt hiding behind the receipt that I had in my billfold for my $10 sandwich.

Frank gave us both hugs as he was headed to Florida somewhere. He blessed us with his big grin and pointed us in the direction of the checked bag area. He made it sound as though it was just around the corner but that's just because Frank is a seasoned traveler. We learned soon that "Baggage Claim" was NOT just around the corner. Actually it was about an hour's foot journey away but sometimes, "Ignorance is bliss."

I actually lost track of how many signs with big arrows we followed that said, "Checked bags." Jacob had a blast on these horizontal escalators, or whatever they're called. It was such a relief not to have to lug all of our stuff on foot all the way. He liked to go ahead of me and then walk towards me with a big grin which said, "Come along now, Mother. Don't you realize that this is all just one, big adventure?" Once again I apologize for the blurry pictures which were caused by someone turning the flash off on my camera. This is one of the good ones. :)

Well, to make a long story short, our ignorance cost us some time and lots of steps. You see, all of those big arrows for "Baggage Claim" kept pointing to a place where people were always gathered. There was lots of noise so it was hard to figure out what was going on. I noticed that there was a subway which kept coming and going and people kept getting on it but nobody ever got off when it came back.

As we walked along, there were more of these little alcoves where people were gathered and there were numbers which meant nothing to me so we kept walking. Finally, after about half a mile of this, we came to a wall and there were no more big arrows pointing to "Baggage Claim." This was when I realized that it was time to sit down and defer to male logic even if it was YOUNGER than I was.

"OK Jacob. I don't get it. What do you think we did wrong?"

Puzzled, Jacob studied the situation and, going back to the little alcove that we had just passed, my son figured out what I had missed. He said, "Oh Mom, look at all of those arrows. They all point to the subway. I think that we have to get on it and it will TAKE US TO BAGGAGE CLAIM." DAH!!!!!!!!!!

He was thrilled and I, being a little bit on the claustrophobic side, got the willies. Never the less, the next time the subway returned, we got on it and I SAT DOWN!!! The sign said that the bench was only for handicapped people; pregnant women; or small children. I added one, "People who have been up since 4:30 AM and have just walked half a mile for nothing." There was hardly anyone on the subway anyway, so I actually took a few moments to relax.

It didn't take long and we were in the huge room where all of the luggage was that had just come in from the planes. We were discouraged when we waiting for all of the luggage to go around on the Delta luggage carousel. However, just then Jacob looked up and saw that there were no less than 7 Delta carousels. When we took the time to check for our flight number, we found the carousel with our checked bag on it--YIPEE!!! That was when we realized that, had we checked the flight numbers as we went walking along, we would have been delivered right to the exact spot where our checked bag was at. WOW--that place is massive but it sure is well planned out. Jacob calls it, "Streamlined," and I think that this is a good word for it.

Well, we found our big suitcase and, after it came around the second time, Jacob got it pulled off of the moving conveyor. Then we were set, except where to go. Frank had told us that the checked baggage department and the rental car center are always right next to each other. We kept looking and looking for something that said, "Rental Car Center" but finally had to ask someone.

"You go through those doors; across the walkway; into the transportation building; and catch the sky train." JACOB WAS ECSTATIC WITH EXCITEMENT--A SUBWAY AND A SKY TRAIN ALL IN ONE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Following the directions, we ended up in the transportation building looking at another loooooong escalator. The only trouble was that now we had our huge suitcase and we could not figure out a way to get that big thing onto the escalator. We were pondering all our different options when a wonderful man came along and said to us, "Right around the corner is an elevator." I swear that he got the biggest grins that anyone has ever gotten and I even blessed him--not the first person that I blessed on my journey.

Once we got into the elevator, it was a quick ride to the top and we found ourselves in a HUGE room with glass windows everywhere. There were only a few people there at the moment but we made our way towards them. Just as we arrived beside the group; the sky train opened up and let out it's passengers. Then we "Hopped" into the sky train and off we went to the rental car center.

The sky train was almost empty so we both got to sit down and take a rest from lugging all of our stuff around all day. On our return trip, this car was so packed with people that we both had to stand and hang on to the handrails but this time we rode in style. :)

Jacob resting a bit as he tried to grasp all of the new things all around him.

Well, the sky train deposited us at the Rental Car Center which was another mammoth building. After the necessary paperwork was signed, the lady told us that we could go through, "Those glass doors" to space #787 and we would find our car.

By this time I was very tired but I felt it best to look for the restrooms as we had a 2 hour drive yet to Tiger. This meant that we had to drag all of our things, including the huge suitcase on wheels, to the other end of the center. Don't ask me why they didn't put the bathrooms on the end of the building where the sky train dropped people off.

It had to be done, so we slowly made our way to the restrooms and rested a little bit while watching the stuff so the other one could use the restrooms. They had said in the airport that we were in ORANGE alert which meant that you must never leave your things unattended unless you didn't mind if they weren't there the next time that you turned around.

After we had recuperated a little, Jacob urged me to "Let's get going, Mom." He knew that I was dreading the drive through Atlanta up to Tiger but putting it off would only make it worse as that would mean trying to find the Inn in the dark.

We made our way back to "Those glass doors" and walked through them. I had hoped that #787 would be close by but, if you were numbering a bunch of spaces, would you put #1 closest to the door or would you put #787 closest to the door? That's right--it was another football field distance further along on our journey until we found IT!!!

Not only did we drag ourselves over to #787, but we drug ourselves over to what would be our wheels for the next week--a 2010 silver-colored Nisson Versa. Never have I been so glad to see a car in all my life and I took a liking to it right away!!!

The first thing that we needed to do was walk around the car and make note of any dents or scratches in the paint, which we did. There were a few on the front side but it was in pretty good shape.

I, on the other hand, was NOT in good shape with 2 hours of driving ahead of me. I asked Jacob to take my picture so that I could remember this moment years from now and so that you all could laugh at me as he did when he snapped this one.

This is what Jacob looked like. Wouldn't it be nice to be young again with a STRONG sense of adventure?

"Well," I said, "we might as well put all of this stuff in the car. It's our wheels now, you know." And so we did--big stuff in the trunk...

and little stuff in the back seat....

And that was when I'd had enough. I crawled in behind the wheel and did cortices. THEN I CALLED ROBERT!!! Of course, I didn't get him but it made me feel better just to know that he was still somewhere on the planet. He was grateful, he told me later, for the update as one does get a little bit edgy when a loved one is flying on an airplane.

I was pretty nervous as I left the parking ramp and began my descent to the road. Jacob helped me watch constantly for where to turn and soon we were at the checkout point to leave the airport. The woman there was an old grump, which didn't help anything, so when she said in a business-like voice, "Have a nice stay in Atlanta," I very coldly said, "We're TRYING to." Jacob chuckled softly, said calmly, "Take a right, Mom," and we were off in search of I 85.

Being I needed Jacob to help me watch constantly for lane changes, I don't have any pictures of this part of our journey. I would like to say, though that I have never driven in such polite company. There were 6 lanes of traffic going one way, in down-town Atlanta, but not once did I feel overwhelmed. Jacob and I were constantly amazed how the drivers would let other drivers switch lanes when necessary. I said to Jacob, "I'm not sure if it's because Southern people really are more laid back than Northern people, or the Lord is just making them all be nice to me today, but this is such a relief." He smiled and relaxed.

Two hours later we arrived at the Tiger Creek Falls Inn in safe condition. Actually, we only got lost once and that was within walking distance of the Inn. At another time I'll explain how the "Off ramps" are built in those forested areas, but when we did the necessary U-turn into oncoming traffic (something I never did get comfortable with) I headed straight into the driveway at hand.

The Inn had a big lighted sign there after all, but when I got to the bottom of the hill, I could see
that I was NOT in the right place. Very calmly I called Gloria at the Inn and she explained how theirs was the next exit to the right. Turning around then, and climbing the huge hill out of the gorgeous estate, we soon were driving into the place that would be our home for the next 6 days.

In under a minute we were entering the REAL entrance to the Inn and we both fell in love with it immediately. As I pulled into space #8, which I knew was our number cabin, we both took a HUGE sigh of relief and I called HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still Day 1--Minneapolis to Atlanta

I really HAVE been trying to write here but my computer would not let me in to post for the past 4 days. I used to get upset about things like that, but I figure that the Lord knows best when I need to post and when I need to keep my nose to the grindstone. It's been a LOT of grindstone this week, but that's good too. I started this post a few days ago, so some of this is old news, but it does give you an idea of a few things that I've been up to.

Anyway, these are STILL pictures from July 30th--the first day of our trip to Tiger, Georgia. Today I have limited time to write as Cora and I picked chokecherries and we are processing them PLUS applesauce PLUS we're going through dozens of eggs that she found in the barn. Did you know that, if an egg bounces when you put it in water, you know that they are dog/cat food?
Well, we finally made it to the Minneapolis airport just a little bit late. We came in gate F1 and just had to walk down this very crowded hallway to gate F7. We were a little bit early and had to wait until they boarded another flight which left that gate before us. When they all cleared out, I went up to the desk and asked if we had to go through security or anything. The very kind man asked, "Did you just come in on another plane?" I said, "Yes," and then he said, "No--you're good to go then." WOW--THAT WAS A RELIEF. Can you tell that I know absolutely nothing about flying by air? Well, I guess that is no longer true anymore, but it was then. Once again I apologize for the fuzzy pictures but they do get better once we hit day 2 or 3 of our journey. :)

Jacob and I went and bought a $10 sandwich then. It was a pretty big sandwich but still, $10 for a sandwich????????? We shared it and then went back to the waiting area and waited.

I took these pictures while we were waiting. This is a map of the Minneapolis airport.

You can see our plane through the big window here.

I had asked Jacob to wear his bright, yellow shirt so that I could spot him in the crowd if we would get separated. Even with these bad shots, I'm sure that you can see him. :)

It didn't take long until we heard the woman announce that they were boarding all handicapped people on our flight. Shortly after that she announced that the FIRST CLASS passengers could board. Then she said, "Zone 1 passengers may now board the plane." A few minutes later, "Zone 2..." and finally she called out, "Zone 3 passengers may now board the plane." That was us.

She kept announcing that the federal inspectors were there to inspect everyone and that we should be prepared to step out of line if they needed more information about us. I guess we must have looked honest as the federal inspector just waved us by after looking at my driver's license.

The lady who scanned the boarding passes was rude enough to make up for the pleasant federal inspector. Later a smiling face at Sam's Club told me that, "It's a requirement that people be grumps if they work at airports." :) Most weren't, but that one sure sticks in my mind as she pushed Jacob forward towards the plane as if he WERE a cow.

This was a bigger jet with over 200 passengers and it was FULL. Once again Jacob and I lugged our small suitcase; my book bag; my purse; and Andrew's laptop down a long, narrow aisle looking for our number. I can say it now, because it's behind us, but what made us the most nervous was the fact that we were carrying over $800 in those bags. We each had to pay $350 in cash to our instructor so we were both edgy until we safely put that money in the right hands.

You may recall that my first flight didn't go so well. If I wasn't totally committed to helping Jacob get the information that he needs to start his business, I'm not sure if I would have BOARDED this jet. Now I'm very glad that I did.

The Lord had a special treat in mind for Jacob and I and it came in the form of this man who sat next to me. It didn't take long to see that Frank (not his real name) truly loved the Lord. I told him that our first flight was pretty awful and he listened sympathetically. He was a wise traveler and he shared some thoughts on how to keep your ears from building up pressure; how to keep from getting airsickness; and how to look at life as if it's one big adventure--which it is. It didn't take long until he had my spirits a LITTLE bit lighter.

However, when we were moving towards the runway, I looked at the window and saw that that huge tail fin was shaking terribly. I tried not to look at it, but I was glued to it, and had a sinking feeling in my already queasy stomach. I said to Jacob, "Doesn't that thing look as though it's going to fall off?" He and Frank had a good laugh at my expense. Jacob told me later, when I was finally relaxing at the Inn, that this was happening because we were turning and it's hard to get both of the engines to turn perfectly in time. With the plane being so large, this led to lots of vibration in the wings and that huge fin showed it the best. It made me decide not to ever fly on airplanes with big fins like that ever again. Go ahead and laugh all you like--I am serious!

On the contrary, Jacob was fascinated with this plane because it had little computers on the back of the seats ahead of us. We could watch the trip on a little map on this screen so we got a little geography lesson as we whizzed along at 575 miles per hour!!!

I guess it didn't fall off after all and as soon as we got turned onto the runway, it quit wobbling.

Soon we were up in the air again and on our way to Atlanta, Georgia. Good job, God, for sending Frank to me to help me get my mind off of the fact that I was zooming along VERY quickly.

We had an unforgettable conversation about life. That seems rather vague, I know, but things take on a different perspective when you're in an airplane. I wasn't the only one who was fearful as I saw lots of people with their heads bowed asking for a safe flight--especially on our first flight. All I can say for sure is that every time Jacob asked me to look out of the windows, my stomach started churning TERRIBLY. I kept trying but then I gave up and concentrated on my discussion with Frank about God and what it means to be a Christian in our world.

Frank told me that he belongs to a church which has a healing ministry. Now THAT really got me interested and I asked him to tell me some stories about folks who have been healed--events that he, himself, has seen. Now that was an interesting hour as Frank shared stories about his own ankle injury and other healings that he had witnessed. He told me that his church has a website called, "Spirituality.com." Now that's so easy to remember that it's still in my memory 2 weeks later and I didn't even write it down.

Frank is the kind of person who is easy to talk to so I shared about MY healing ministry and gave him my business card. I encouraged him to come to my blog to read about our time together but, if he did come, he probably got tired of waiting for me to get this far. Anyway, thanks ___, for being there for me that day and sharing that ALL of life is merely what we perceive it to be. After all, as Christ said to His disciples right before He raised the little girl from the dead, "She isn't dead." See I haven't forgotten! :) I may write a separate post about your philosophy later as it truly was life-changing for me, Frank! May God bless you richly for being there for me that day!!!!!!!

So, after nearly 3 hours visiting with this man of God, we safely landed in Atlanta, Georgia. It's the busiest airport in the world and my heart was filled with trepidation at the thought of having to drive out of there into a city of 5 million people. However, the lesson that Frank had taught me over and over had sunk in and I un-boarded (what is that called anyway?) the plane a new person. If God said that I could do it, I COULD DO IT, AND I DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But that's the post for another day.

Well, my guys are home for supper. Cora is decorating a cake so it's up to me to serve my hungry fellows some of our wonderful organic beef with carrots and a goat's milk shake. Want to come over for supper?

Blessings to all who take the time to listen to the quavering voices around them and speak peace into their trembling hearts,

Dawn

Day 1 continued/flight to Minneapolis

In case you, like me before last week, have never been on a commercial airline, this is what they look like on the inside. There is VERY little room between the seats and the seats are VERY close together. Above the seats there is a small amount of room for your carry-on bags. You also have space underneath your seat for small items, but our big suitcase had to be checked. This means that I had to pay $23 to have it be handled by the airline's people with the hopes that it would end up in Atlanta. Just in case you're wondering: Yes, it did arrive just fine!


This pretty lady was my very first stewardess. This isn't a very good picture of her, as she was very pleasant and had a gorgeous smile--not like a couple of grumps that we got later on during our journey. She made sure that everyone found their way to their seats and had their possessions in the right location above or beneat the seats. Then she closed the storage compartments above the seats to prepare for the flight and ran through the safety precautions of what to do if there should happen to be a crash. YIPES!

This is how I looked before the plane left the ground. I was so excited for Jacob to be getting his dream-come-true trip that I was sure that everything would work out fine. I took this myself so it looks kind of goofy. I would have preferred Jacob to take it, but he was off on Cloud Nine!

Once again I need to mention that my camera wasn't working very well because some how or other the flash got turned off. Most of the pictures that I took on the first day had to be deleted because when we were moving they were totally fuzzed. I couldn't stand deleting ALL of them, though, so you'll just need to put up with the blurr.

Anyway the point that I was making here is that, as the flight progressed, my smile disappeared. I have been told many times since then, as I related the story of this flight, that other travelers have never once been on a flight when almost a dozen people lost their breakfasts. There was a LOT of turbulence!!! I am fully convinced that, had I not brought along the bottle of water with the few drops of lemon essential oil, I WOULD HAVE JOINED THEM! I cannot recommend too much getting in the habit of taking along lemon essential oil on any trip that you may take as it has many useful purposes of which I will relate as we go along.

Suffice it to say, I did NOT look out the window at the pretty clouds as Jacob so frequently requested me to do. I sat quietly, sipping my water, and kept doing cortices whenever my stomach got REALLY upset. At one point I thought, "OH MY GOD, WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?" I even told myself that I'd have to rent a car in the Cities and drive myself home as I simply could NOT imagine myself EVER going on another airplane in my entire life.

More than one person told me since then that I can rejoice because now I have had the very worst flight of my life and that dreaded event is already behind me! From the perspective now of having had 4 whole flights on our trip, THAT so far is indeed the case. In fact, on the way home from Minneapolis I asked Jacob to let me have the window seat for a few moments so that I could take some pictures of the beautiful cloud formations. Those pictures, though, will have to wait about a week to show up here.

Jacob is one cool cucumber. His enthusiasm carried me through the whole trip! One time on this flight, though, I was a little worried about him when he closed his shade and turned towards me for a swallow of my lemon water. It didn't take him long, though, and he was back to cloud gazing--from the top down. This whole thing was a dream come true for my 14 year old son!

FINALLY we felt the wheels of our plane touch ground about an hour and a half later. This is a picture of the part of the Minneapolis airport where we landed. As you can see, there was a light mist on the windows which didn't exactly match with the sunny forecast for the Minneapolis area that they were displaying in the Bismarck airport.

Once we were on the ground, I suddenly felt MUCH better. Things began happening as soon as the planed was parked in the right spot. We were encouraged to pick up all of our things and leave the plane as quickly as possible. We had a little over an hour to get to our next plane and I was VERY nervous about finding the way, but that is the subject of my next post.

Did I say that the pilot greeted us from the cockpit as we left the plane? This was truly exciting for Jacob as he STILL has dreams of being a pilot someday.

More later,

Dawn

PS. Today was a lovely, quiet family day at home which I soaked up in preparation for another wildly, busy week of alfalfa and wheat harvest; BT sessions; canning garden produce; and apples, apples, apples...............

Day 1

I'm just going to start. I don't know if any of you are like this, but I tend to think that when everything is perfect, I will start. I know that things will never be perfect here on this earth, so I am learning SLOOOOOOOOWLY that I just need to jump in and do SOMETHING and then things start to flow.

Anyway, the most frustrating thing about the first part of our journey to Georgia is that my camera wasn't working. ALL of the pictures on Day 1 were fuzzed and I was UPSET. Later Andrew told me to check if somehow the flash had gotten turned off and that was it. As long as we were relatively still, the pictures were only mildly fuzzed but almost all of the ones in the Atlanta airport were hopelessly flawed. So these pictures from day 1 are NOT perfect. SORRY!

Well, Jacob and I woke up at 4:30; lugged all of our stuff out to the old Chevy car; hugged Cora; kissed Robert (well, at least I did); and took off for Bismarck. Andrew was a sleepy head so only got a toe-pull before I left.

I was a little miffed when we had to wait for the train up in Steele but, praise God, He always has a reason. We decided to cut through town to get to the end of the train sooner. As we pulled up to the flashing lights, my eyes were drawn to the town's billboard. It was brightly lit in the darkness of late night and suddenly all of my fears about the trip vanished.

I have been accused of writing on the side of emotionalism but, you tell me, if you knew that you were leaving the safety of home for 6 days to travel almost 2,000 miles without your husband, would these words shining in the darkness, bring peace to YOUR troubled soul? It read:

WE CANNOT BECOME WHAT WE NEED TO BE BY REMAINING WHAT WE ARE!!!!

As you can tell, I wrote these words down. I tapped them into my heart and prayed a prayer of praise to my God who sent the train so that I wouldn't take the back road and miss the point entirely. I showed the sign to Jacob who was as amazed as I was. We both knew that God had put those words there for us; sent the train to show them to us; and we went on our way rejoicing.

Well, we got to the airport in time and went through security without any trouble. Later I will tell you about the security in Atlanta because it is a much more interesting story. Here we were cleared for boarding (as Jacob reminds me constantly--you LOAD cattle, Mom, and you BOARD people on airplanes.)

I was having trouble with my stress levels even with the words of the sign encouraging me to go on. My father taught me to dread flying on airplanes and I found myself dealing with extreme stress symptoms. I hated to do it, but I had to take some Loratadine, as that is what keeps me from going into shock. If I had it to do all over again, though, I'd have been like those smart people in the restaurant behind those lovely doors and eaten something substantial.

I am VERY grateful, though, for my bottle of lemon essential oil in my purse. We bought a bottle of water and I put in 2 drops which I kept drinking on the flight. Even Jacob found it helpful on THAT flight but that story will have to remain for another day. I decided that I'm not stressing myself out here by trying to tell the whole story all in one day.

Anyway, here I am in the Bismarck terminal enjoying the beautiful sunrise. What a view that was. I was admiring the gorgeous colors over the surrounding countryside while Jacob was admiring the AIRPLANES--of all things. :) I wear my glasses to see clearly from distances and I found myself wearing them a lot on our trip. I just feel better when I can see what's going on around me when there are LOTS of people whom I don't know.

A fuzzy shot of Jacob but he was ELATED at the prospects of the day. What would I have done without his enthusiasm?????????

They told us that the flight to Minneapolis was leaving from Gate 3 so we went over to check it out. Sure enough this sign told us that we were at the right location.

This door opened up a whole new world for me. I conquered my fear of flying on airplanes by taking the first step through this door. I kept telling Jacob throughout our 6 wonderful days together (when I was feeling frightened, you understand), "You can know how much I love you, Jacob. The fact that I am conquering my fears to be with you on YOUR dream-come-true journey should say SOMETHING to you." :) He'd just laugh or put his arm around me and say, "Thanks, Mom." It was worth everything to grow so close to him throughout all of the challenges of the trip.

This is what the ceiling in the Bismarck terminal looks like. I remember looking at it that morning and thinking, "I wonder what it will be like to be higher than the clouds." I soon found out but that is the story for another day.

I hope that you don't mind my breaking up the trip into bites that I have time to write about.
It's either that or not write at all and I definitely do want to share about all of the wonderful adventures that Jacob and I shared together in the past few weeks.

More later,

Dawn

We're home!

Jacob and I are extremely excited about our trip to Kelly Research Technologies this past week! The trouble is that when you are extremely excited for a whole week, and then you spend a day on airplanes or in airports, you get extremely TIRED. I am so amazed that neither one of us felt the least little bit of jet lag when we got down there. Why oh why are we both dragging something awful today then? Could it be that we're both just a little bit down because our trip is over?

I don't have the energy to go through the 499 pictures which came home with us right now. Actually Jacob asked me to do a BT session for him as he needs to be out working on moving hay all afternoon. However, I wanted to share at least one picture from our trip seeing as you have all been waiting patiently.

I actually was NOT patient when Andrew's laptop died on us down there the first night. We couldn't even send pictures home for the family to be able to keep up with our doings. Last night, then, Robert, Cora, and Andrew were eager to sit down and look at all of them with us as we reminisced.

At first I was upset down there that I couldn't blog on things as they happened, but then I came to understand that the Lord really wanted me to focus on spending LOTS of quality time with Jacob. I'm VERY glad now that I did that, as it was a life-changing experience for my son, as I watched him rub shoulders with some of the most brilliant minds that I have ever met.

We spent most of our time at Kelly Research Technologies which is built in the shape of a dome. We sat in class from 9:00 to 11:40; 1:00 to 4:30; and 6:00 to 9:30 on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday was the same except that there was no night class the last day. Here is the link to their website if you are interested in learning about the research that we learned how to do there: http://www.kellyresearchtech.com/

We drove "Home" to where we were staying at, "Tiger Creek Falls Inn" for our meals. Once we learned of the shortcut, it only took us 15 minutes to drive one way. We had stopped at a Sam's Club on the way up to the Inn and put in a stash of supplies which proved ample seeing as Jacob lost his appetite as soon as we got down there. I was a little worried about him not eating much, but his energy didn't wane, so I figured that he was just too excited to eat.

Later I will post some pictures of the Inn; and our flights, but now I need to get back to this mountain of laundry. Still, I just cannot leave you without at least sharing one picture of me enjoying my learning vacation.

Jacob had been wanting me to go down to the foot of this immense hill to see the "Big waterfall" ever since we got to the Inn. I kept putting it off, for one reason or another, until right before we left. I think now that it was so that we could spend our last glorious moments at the Inn in this gorgeous spot.

As usual, I was following him. When Jacob had gotten to this tree, he stopped and looked up at it. All of the trees were incredible around there. I said to Jacob, "Give it a hug," so he did. When I got down to it, I felt a strong impulse to do the same thing but there was no way that I could have gotten my arms all the way around it. I just leaned up against the tree then, with deep affection in my heart, while Jacob snapped this picture of me.

Well, I am hoping that soon I'll have more energy to post LOTS of pictures, but I am drooping today and the laundry is calling. Andrew gets to go away for the weekend. He's heading up to see his friends, the Bartlett family. I promised him that "We" would work on his laundry for him and, now that Cora is at work and the boys are working on hay, "We" has dwindled down to "Me." :) I'd best get to it.

I hope that this short post will help you to see how much Jacob and I loved our trip to Georgia. We learned much that will help our health; the health of our farm; and all who are open to this incredible form of natural healing.

Glad to be home,

Dawn