Found

Mary Copeland was found at 9:30 am in Arkansas. She had ran out of gas and the police had found her on the side of the road.

Thanks to all who prayed and looked for her.

Missing Kingfisher, Oklahoma Woman Mary Copeland

Silver Alert issued for Missing Kingfisher Woman
Mary Copeland, 76, of Kingfisher, left her home about 2 p.m. for a doctor's appointment in Oklahoma City, but never arrived, police said.

KINGFISHER — A Silver Alert has been issued for a Kingfisher woman who never showed up for a doctor's appointment Monday afternoon.
photo - Mary Copeland, 76.
Mary Copeland, 76.


Mary Copeland, 76, left her home about 2 p.m. for a doctor's appointment. The doctor’s office may be located at 2700 N. Rockwell near NW Expressway and Rockwell Avenue in Oklahoma City. She never arrived, police said.

She may have been wearing black slacks and a hot pink T-shirt. She drives a white, 2003 Ford XST pickup with Oklahoma tag 305-ASG.

Copeland reportedly has borderline dementia.

Anyone with information about the missing woman is asked to call Kingfisher police at 375-4311 or 911.

Please pray for Mary and look for her as you drive or go into stores or where ever you are.
Link to the Enid News here: http://enidnews.com/localnews/x94878257/Kingfisher-woman-reported-missing

http://www.koco.com/news/29237289/detail.html

4th of July Accident

On the 4th of July 2011, my husband and I went to one of the many events here in our city. As I parked my car I started having a feeling I shouldn't park there. I wanted to please my husband and tried to ignore my feeling. I kept looking back at my car and wishing I'd parked it some where else. We walked into the grounds where the event took place and watched fireworks. We also listened to a terrible rock group play. Disgusting. When all the fireworks were over we walked with thousands of others to our car. Things were okay but would soon change.

We were waiting in line for traffic to move when someone backed in to my car. They dented both passenger doors. I got out and got a paper and pen and wrote down all the info on the car I could gather. I asked the people for their insurance info and license but they wouldn't give it to me so I called the police. We waited for at least 45 minutes to an hour. The man who was driving the other vehicle asked me if I wanted to continue to wait or would I accept his information. I said I would take his insurance info and license number. He said he wouldn't give it to me because he didn't want the insurance involved because his insurance would go up. I prayed and prayed for God to give me wisdom. The police finally came. I handed the police my info and waited more. When the police finally came back to me and gave me a paper with info on it I found out these people have no insurance. If I had just taken this guys phone number and name I would have lost out in every way. He can change his phone number easily enough. And being Hispanic he could have changed his name easily enough too.

The policeman told me to leave first so he could deal with the people who backed into me. I don't know what happened to them yet. I still have to go get a copy of the accident report. What is the penalty for driving without insurance in my state?

My state law requires minimum Bodily Injury Liability coverage of $10,000 per injured person up to a total of $20,000 per accident, and Property Damage Liability coverage with a minimum limit of $10,000. This basic coverage is often referred to as 10/20/10 coverage.

My state Motor Vehicle section 7-606 is the state law for failure to maintain security on a motor vehicle. Here it states that an owner or operator who fails to comply with the Compulsory Insurance Law of my state shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be subject to a fine of not more than Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00), or imprisonment for not more than thirty (30) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, and in addition thereto, shall be subject to suspension of license and registration.

When I got home I started to read my insurance policy. I didn't have enough insurance to get my car fixed. I called the company the next day and even though I pay plenty of money for insurance I don't have collision. You know you have to have all kinds of insurance in order to be covered. Made me sick.

I cried for the next two days. I kept telling God how sorry I was I hadn't listened to Him when He warned me not to park there. I just knew something was going to happen to my car. Why didn't I listen? I called my insurance agent and he said that he would try to help me. He would call the man who backed into my car and try to get him to pay for the damage. He told me to go get an estimate. The next day I went to get an estimate and I went to a boy shop. I went in complaining and they people there were so nice. A young man came out from the back of the shop to look at my car and he said he thought he could pop out the dent. He told me to go inside and wait. I did and he came for me and showed me the door and he had pulled out almost all of the dent. I thought that was the nicest thing someone had done for me in a long time. I hope God blesses these people for that kindness. They didn't charge me a thing. I'm still amazed. Thank you God for hearing my cries. I hadn't asked God to help me fix my car. I had only told God how sorry I was for not listening when He warned me.

I don't think I'll be going back to another event in that part of town and if I ever do I'll be very careful where I park. I will be paying more attention to what I'm feeling and any premonition I may have.

Now He's warning me to get some sleep. GN

My Turtle

Chiquitita is my turtle's name. She's lived with me for the last 30 or so years. She is the perfect pet because she never screams like my parrot, she never barks at anything, she never has an attitude, and she never complains. She likes to eat sweet potato, mango, fish, shrimp, melons, and her dried turtle food. She is partly blind so I have to feed her by hand every day. She has to be placed in her water dish several times a day. Each time she finishes drinking I wash the dish with soap and water.

She stays outside during the daytime in the spring and summer. I mist her with cool water during the hot days. She used to stay outside at night but something caused her front legs to get her hide torn off. We think it was a possum that roams around our neighborhood at night. One morning my husband came in the house and told me not to panic but something had chewed my turtle's legs. He showed me her legs and I started to cry. Then I grabbed the phone and called my vet. My husband wanted to look for what every had done this to her but I told him to forget that and get ready to take her to the vet. We were at the vets within 30 minutes. Our vet sewed up her legs and gave us instructions on how to clean her and put salve on the wounds. We kept Chiquitita in the house for a long time after that. I was very careful not to put her in anything that could possibly infect her legs. Her legs have healed up now but we always bring her inside at night.

There have been times when she would get lost outside in the yard but we would search until we found her. She is so small that any large bird could pick her up and fly off with her. She has a corral where she stays during the daytime. I have bars from an old bird cage on top of her corral to keep out any bird or squirrel.

Here are some pictures of Chiquitita I took yesterday.

I think my husband love this little creature as much as I do.

I took this picture with Chiquitita beside a kitchen knife because I'm pretty sure most people have one and you can tell how small she really is.

Sunday Blessings

Some where around 3:00 am, and sometimes later, is usually the time I get to bed. That in and of it's self makes it a little hard to rise and shine by 7:00am. I did just that last night or should I say this morning. As I prepared oatmeal with chopped apple, cinnamon, and blueberries I debated in my mind about going to church. I thought of all the places I've attended in the past and didn't know which one to go to this Sunday. It would be nice to at least have someone say hello and smile at me just to acknowledge I'm a person and alive. Gas prices are so high it makes it difficult to go to the place I have been attending. No one notices me when I'm there anyway. My mind went back in time to the church I'm a member of. What memories.

My recollection of that place was the man who held the door open for people as they arrived. One Sunday morning in particular I arrived late (as usual) and this dear man said something to me that hurt me deeply. He said, "I'm disappointed in you." I told him that God was not disappointed in me and went into the service. His words rang in my head over and over. My way of handling this person was to avoid him totally. I started going in another door. Problem solved. Right? Well, kind-of-sort-of.

The thing is, this was not my only problem at that church. Next was the problem with the pastor making comments that were not appropriate. At a Wednesday night service the pastor wanted the congregation to give prayer requests for people we had meet. I remembered one person I had meet at a flea market. The man at the flea market sold videos. He had indicated to me that some of the videos he sold were not kosher. If you get my drift. I requested prayer for the flea market video man and prayers were said. After the service was over the pastor shook my hand as I was leaving and he told me, "You really know how to pick'em don't you." Needless to say I felt really stupid, inept, dumb, sad, betrayed, hurt and who know what else. I had also noticed that the pastor did not give invitations for salvation during his sermons. One day after a sermon I asked him why he never gave invitations for salvation. His answer was, "I know everyone here and their all saved."

Seems I have trouble every where I go. Another church I have attended I noticed the pastor had an anger problem. I didn't wait around there to have him say something to me. I liked the people a lot. The women in the Sunday School were the sweetest people. I could call them and they'd pray for me and whatever was going on in my life. So it was off to the next place.

There was one place left but I'd had my problems getting along with people there too. This one was probably my fault. I attended a Hispanic congregation and things were okay until one day we meet at the pastor's apartment for Bible study. They were wanting each of us to commit to having a Bible study in our homes. I didn't like the idea and didn't volunteer. The next thing that happened was what I said to the pastor's wife some nine months after she had given birth to her baby girl. Understand that I love babies but I know that when they begin to crawl, walk, and jump around they can seem pretty much like little monkeys. I didn't mean to offend these people but it certainly did. I asked the mother if her little precious angle was a monkey yet. I was trying to say, 'Does she move around and jump all over things like a little monkey?' This woman got furious. I tried to call her and apologize but she would never answer her phone. I left messages but it didn't matter. I'm wondering if there was something lost in the translation. They were from either Chili or Peru.

While I'm confessing I need to tell about two other churches but it will have to wait because I can't keep my eyes open.

Oh, I nearly forgot to talk about the real blessing I got. I went to a church close by our house and sat down on the back row in an empty space. When the service was over the man sitting next to me spoke to me saying he was glad I had visited their chruch. He smiled at me and shook my hand. That was a real blessing for me today.

Later in the day I went to Red Earth Festival down town. I walked around looking at the art work of the many, many Native American Artists. It was fantastic. One stall had the art work of Dorothy Tidwell Sullivan, a Cherokee Master Artist. I really liked some of her work that had turtles on it. I bought one greeting card that had turtles on it. As I was paying for the card I mentioned to her that I had a trutle at home. She said she had had a turtle also but it passed away. She said she was really sad that it had died. I understood. I asked her how long she'd had her turtle and she said about 17 months or so. I told her about my turtle who was blind and we had to hand feed her every day and give her water in a bowl. She poops in the water so we wash it with soap and water each time she uses it. The bowl is stainless steal so it comes clean. I told her that I'd had my turtle for over 30 years and her name is Chiquitita. This dear lady gave me the cutest print of three turtles dancing. I love it.

NDN Art Gallery: Dorothy Sullivan {Cherokee}
Dorothy Tidwell Sullivan "Cherokee Master Artist" Norman, OK.
"Dorothy's Art is Inspired by pride in her Cherokee history,
culture and legends. She was selected as the Honored One and
Master Artist of the Red Earth Festival 1999. Her painting,
"But This Is My Home" was the poster for the 1999 Trail of
Tears Art Show at the Cherokee National Museum, Tahlequah, OK."

http://www.southwestindianarts.net/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=461&=SID#MOREINFO

http://www.southwestindianarts.net/shopping/start.php

What a priceless gift Dorothy Tidwell Sullivan gave me today. She was so kind to me. It was like having a real mother for just a few moments. Thank you so much Dorothy.

As I left the convention center there was a black lady who had been cleaning. I was wondering how the carpets were vacuumed because it was so big. I couldn't imagine this small lady pushing a giant vacuum around. About that time I looked down at the carpet. This lady turned to me and said, "Hello, how are you today? Have a wonderful evening." What a blessing.

Sunday Blessings were the man at church saying hello to me, Dorothy Tidwell Sullivan's lovely gift of Dancing Turtles, and the black lady saying hello to me. You see I have to go most places alone and I wonder what it would be like to be cherished enough to have a friend or husband who would go with me. Today was God's way of saying he went with me, he noticed me, he cherishes me enough to have others notice me.

Hormonal

My amazon parrot has been extremely hormonal the last two months. She is starting to calm down but she is still temperamental. Looking at the word temperamental I see two words; temper and mental. This parrot does have a temper and at times drives me mental. When she wants out of her cage and I don't take her out right away she tips over her food and water dishes. The food flies all over the floor and if the water dish is close to the outside edge of her cage that goes on the floor as well.

She wants me to hold her all the time. If I do hold her she starts doing a little dance that is known as a mating dance in the animal kingdom. Yes, she thinks I'm her mate. She is very jealous of my husband. If he talks to me she starts screaming. If she were out of her cage when he is home she would attack him and try to kill him. She has done this many times before. Now she is making a small noise that drives me crazy. It's constant. I don't know what she wants. I think it's because she wants to mate and have eggs and nest. She shreds all the papers in her cage or on top of her cage.

I've stopped giving her eggs and that has helped some but she is still very temperamental. I wish I knew what foods would stop this. Maybe birth control pills? Na.

In my kitchen there is an open shelf that goes from the floor to eye level. It has cubby holes in it where I store canned foods, oatmeal, juice, and other things. I put her cage close to that cubby cabinet and she wants to get inside the cubbies. I've put her in the cubby hole and she gets very agitated if I reach in to move a can so it doesn't fall on her. It is very difficult to get her out of the cubby hole. I have to put a towel around her in order to extract her. I feel sure all these signs can be attributed to one thing, SHE'S HORMONAL !!!!!

Judging

Funny isn't it? I think someone else is judging me and it turns out that I'm judging them because I "think" their judging me. Don't try to figure that out because I need to chew on it a while too. I try to figure out why someone does or doesn't do something and I usually don't get it right.

Finally Open

I had locked one of my filing cabinets when I left the house one day and when I tried to open it with the same key it wouldn't open. That was about two weeks ago. I went to the locksmith and ask if they could make a key for the number I found on the outside of the lock on the filing cabinet. I told them it was a HON cabinet and they looked but didn't find the number listed under the HON filing cabinet keys. I kept trying and trying to open the cabinet but it wouldn't budge.

Today I called HON and ask them if they could make me a key and I told them the number on the lock and they told me the same thing the locksmith did. There isn't any such number in their keys. I ask the HON service person if another companies lock would fit in the filing cabinet and he said yes. I asked more questions and hung up the phone. Then I called the local locksmith again and asked them questions. They told me that there were other lock manufactures and the number I gave them could be anyone of 60 keys. I asked the locksmith which way the key turns to open the cabinet and he told me to open turn to the right. I got off the phone with him and put the key in the lock and moved both drawers a little bit and turned the key to the right and it came open right away.

I was so happy because all my bank records are in that file cabinet. After getting the file cabinet opened I have been trying to balance my check book and it never fails that I have the balance off. Seems like I have a problem to solve every day.

I don't know if I should try to replace this lock on the file cabinet or not. I guess I'd better or I'll be sorry later when I want to lock the cabinet again.

Some Mother's Aren't Remembered

Update to my Mother's Day Pity Party.

It's Tuesday and now I hear from my sons. My oldest son was still in the hospital with his wife on Mother's Day. My youngest son was caring for a five month old baby who had sinus problems. He and his wife had to sit up all night with the baby so he could breath. He couldn't breath lying down so they sat up in a chair and held him. My son said he thought of calling me once and then it slipped his mind. His oldest son had music lessons Sunday and the middle son had a baseball game Monday.

My job as mother is over and now it's their turn to go through what I went through. I'm still going through a lot of wondering if... if I'd done something wrong, said something wrong, or I needed to just wait longer to be cherished.

We don't know sometimes what is going on inside other people unless they tell us. That's why it's good to let mom know what she means to you. If you want to.

I asked my son what the word "Dream" means on the card my daughter-in-law sent me.
My son said it means that the baby in the picture was their dream. I asked my son to tell his wife thank you for the card but next time please use more than one word. I had no idea what it meant and was racking my brain over it.


My Mother's Day Pity Party.
Today is Mother's Day. It's supposed to be a day of get together and remembering mothers. I waited all day for the calls that never came. I went to church this morning and saw all the mother's being loved by their families. I didn't feel sad then. I used to feel sad and cry when I saw a woman with her husband and family sitting together in church. I didn't cry today. I did think it would be nice to have someone there with me. But I knew that God was there with me. When church was over I was given a pen and bookmark. It was really nice to get a gift on Mother's Day. It was the only gift I got for Mother's Day.

How long could it take to pick up the phone and call a mother?

I feel as though I must have been a terrible mother or my sons would remember me. One daughter-in-law sent me a Mother's day card with a picture of my littlest grandson on the front. She had hand made the card and hand written the word "Dream" on the front. There was no explanation of what that signified. Inside the card she had written "Happy Mother's Day!" and signed the grandsons names. I haven't a clue what she was trying to say.

I finally wished myself a Happy Mother's Day. During the day when I cried I heard God say that he loved me. He said that I had all his love. He said He had died for me and no one else has offered to even call much less die for me. He told me all kinds of nice things and comforted me. God has been there for me after my mother died. He has comforted me many times. Every time I start to cry he speaks to me.

I feel really sad that my own sons whom I bore, changed their diapers, washed diapers and clothes too, made their meals, cleaned their room, read hundreds of stories to, prayed with and prayed for, bent over and held their tiny hands to teach them to walk, stayed up with them all night when they were sick, worried over them, cried for them, loved them, and still do, can't call me on Mother's Day.

Do I try to call them? Don't know the answers to any of my questions or I wouldn't have questions.

Well, the pity party is over but the feelings remain. Sad. Sad and confused. Wondering if I'll ever be forgiven for what ever it is I may have done to not at least get a phone call. Surely God would have told me I'd done something wrong today when He was speaking to me. He never said I needed to apologize for anything.

My mother kept all the Mother's Day cards I'd sent her. One Mother's Day I had made her a beautiful cake and drove two hundred miles to give it to her and spend the weekend with her. She's gone now and I'm glad I remembered her on Mother's Day every year.

This is another cake I made for her. Each slat on the Fan Cake took about four hours to make. My teacher at cake decorating class told me she wouldn't have tried to make the Fan Cake. It was very difficult but I wanted to see if I could do it and I did.

Carol Ann Wiebe

Carol Ann was my cousin. As children we played together and went to church together. I wanted to honor her memory by uploading some photos of us together and then some of her alone. She died of leukemia at a very young age.

I am the one pouring out the dogs water. Carol is a good girl and not about to pour out the dogs water.

This photo is of our grandparents and their grandchildren. Grandmother Mary Sarah is holding Carol Ann. Laura Jane is standing in front. Skippy is held by grandfather Abraham.

This is Carol Ann's last school picture before she died of leukemia.

This was of her funeral.

I have been weeping over her today. Her short life was hard and sad. I hope to see her one day in heaven.

It's Cry'en Time Again or "It's Tax Time Again"?

Tax time and I'm feeling ?????? like crying, like hiding, like running away, like, Why me? I have two different taxes to fill out. My mother's and mine. I keep putting it off. I think because it will bring back memories and I'll start to feel sad again. I'm not sure what to do because my mom always used a CPA to fill out her taxes and that costs about $350. She isn't here to pay for it now so I'll have to fill it out. I'm not worried about filling out my taxes but for some reason I want to clean things instead of doing what I know I have to do. I keep putting it off. It's not a pleasant task, it's the last legal thing I must do for my mother, and it's time consuming.

I'll have to drive to the IRS office and find out which forms I need. Yuck. Not looking forward to driving downtown because of all the construction going on all over the city. Parking is soooooooooo much fun. I guess I'll have to force myself to do it. Hopefully I'll get started tomorrow. The question is, what questions should I ask at the IRS office? No idea.

Don't know why I continue to stay up all night? I feel so good when I get enough sleep. I sleep all night when I go there. I think I'm just addicted to this blog. God only knows because I sure don't. Say a prayer for me that I'll go to bed at a decent hour from now on. I sit here sometimes and my head nearly hits the monitor because I'm falling asleep. That's crazy. Totally crazy. What's that saying? "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results." I'm not sure what my expectations are when I stay up all night. I do know that I won't function very well later today.

Good night Seattle. Good night California. Good night Australia. Good night mom. Good night dad. I'll see you later.

Love ya.

Wild Life In Our Yard

Sitting here in my office I happened to look out my window and saw a remarkable sight in a Photinia fraseri tree.

http://www.villagesbotaniques.fr/IMG/jpg/Photinia_fraseri_2-2.jpg


It's really a shrub that has grown as tall as our house. There were at least two dozen Cedar Waxwings flying and hoovering all around this tree.

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/Birds/Most-Wanted-Birds/Cedar-Waxwing

I had just recently ordered a subscription to Birds & Blooms magazine and only yesterday seen the picture of this bird. I watched the birds flutter around this tree for about two minutes and then they flew off.

On Saturday I had seen a hawk sitting in a very tall tree a few houses away. I tried to take his picture but was out of film. I'm wondering if the Cedar Waxwings caught sight of this hawk, who lives in this area, and fled for their lives.

Last summer while taking a walk I saw a bunch of black birds screaming and chasing a hawk through the air. I watched in amazement as they screamed and chased him to one of the very tall trees in the neighborhood. I'm sure it lives here in the neighborhood because I watched him eat and devour one of the doves that lives here too. It happened in my backyard. I have photos to prove it. I'll have to find the pictures and upload them later.

I know there are other wild life here because I've seen them. One night I came home about sundown and my husband was waiting for me. He had been observing a Opossum slinking around our house. He has seen it before and now I got the chance to see it.

Last summer our box turtle who stays outside at night in a well protected corral was found with her front legs bloody and the skin off the top part of them. We called our vet and rushed her over to have a LOT of stitches put in. We will make her corral is much safer and she won't be out at night again. I'm feeling safe to say the Opossum was the one that injured my turtle. The vet, who attends the Bird Club I belong to, said she didn't think it was an animal that caused the turtle's injuries. She came to the house to see the corral and couldn't find any place the turtle would have injured herself. I still have the feeling the turtle was injured by an animal but the vet says it would have been a different sort of injury. Regardless, we will have to protect this little creature from Opossums and Hawks.

I'll try to find those photos of the turtle. I suppose I could take some new photos with my digital camera and upload them sooner than looking through a lot of old photos. I'll get right on it. After I finish sewing a pillow case I'm making for a neighbor's grandson. After I finish the laundry and checking the Craigslist account to see if anyone wants some of my old stuff.

New Design

Finally it's finished! The new design that is. I've spent far too much time on this but I wanted something to honor my grandparents. The pictures in the header are just some of my grand-parents, and great-grandparents on my father's side. I don't have pictures of all my great-grandparents or I would have added them in the header. It would have been hard to see them if I had to make them any smaller. I'm not totally satisfied with the way it looks but I'll learn more in Photoshop and change it as I get time.