December, 2014



Greetings!

As this year winds down we can look back on many blessings along with a few bumps in the road. It’s hard to know just where to start, but Thanksgiving dinner included sweet corn and green beans freshly picked from our garden! And we’re still enjoying tomatoes since we haven’t had a frost yet. It was special to have our doctor daughter Linda with us this year as she usually has to work on Thanksgiving. The weather was beautiful and she took us for a leisurely ride through the foothills to a mandarin orchard to buy some of our favorite fruit.
 

 

 

When we were married back in 1954 we had no idea we would still be together 60 years later. And what a lot of memories we have collected over the years! For many years Celian has read about his Grampa Tom Adams who grew up in Yadkin County, North Carolina, and fought in the Civil War, so we decided that a good way to celebrate our 60th anniversary would be to retrace his steps with the help of Dr. Linda. Our flight into Chicago was late but our pilot himself pushed Celian’s wheel chair to the next gate so we wouldn’t miss our plane to Charlotte–the last one out that night.

 

 

Since Ray Parker, a distant cousin, still lives on 40 acres of the home property, he really outdid himself as he showed us around.

 

 

We visited the Deep Creek Meeting founded by Tom’s father.

 

 

 

 

 

Bond School House Site where Tom was one of a group involved in a war incident.

 

 

We stopped at different cemeteries and places where Adams family members had lived and died. This was special because Celian enjoys reading the history of this area.


 

 

 

 

Heading up the Blue Ridge Parkway was a relaxing change from the fast pace on the freeways as we went to Petersburg and Fredricksburg in Virginia.

 

 

 

 

Then we went westward toward Cumberland Gap where Grampa Tom had served his time in the army after enlisting in London, Kentucky.

 

 

 

 

Cumberland Gap Overlook

 

Around Chattanooga, Tennessee we saw Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, but were kind of tired of battle fields so we were happy to see our grandchildren Kandice, Ben, and Krista Medina and Collegedale where they had all gone to school.

 

 

Krista had just graduated from nursing and was busy studying for boards. Now she’s an RN and has been helping dad Norman in his dental practice. Her big news is her engagement to Brenden Boyd, a future physical therapist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since older sister Kandice became engaged to Jason Bird who just graduated as a physical therapist a few months ago, there will be more weddings in the near future.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Our last stop on our anniversary tour was at Rogers, Arkansas where we joined many family members for the beautiful wedding of our great grand daughter, Laurel Keeping to Alex Fulgham in a garden chapel, with Krista and Ben Medina providing harp and cello music.

That was a very special ending to a very special trip where we visited 7 states and traveled 2,060 miles in the rental car before we flew from Tulsa, Oklahoma back to California.
 

 

 

 

 

For several years Fred has been wanting a motor home that would make it easier for him to travel so he was really happy when his son Daniel found one nearby that was for sale.

After a two week trial trip through parts of Nevada, Utah, and Arizona with Daniel driving and Fred enjoying the scenery from his bed in the back, they decided to make it part of the family. It has also served as sleeping quarters when we need a spare bedroom.

 

Our yearly trip to the church camp in the redwoods of northern California was special this year for two reasons. Daniel was happy to drive the motor home and have it all set up ready for our most comfortable camping ever.

 

 Then on the last weekend Celian decided to join the rest of the family including children and grandchildren who had already been baptized.

 

We were so happy when about 30 members of our family and friends, some who came from Maine, Michigan, Arkansas, Nevada, and Washington joined us on the bank of the Eel River for a special baptism with our long-time friends Pastors Paul Emerson and Dan Neisner officiating. Such a blessed experience!
 

 

One of the bumps in the road came a few weeks later. Since we live in a rural area, we always try to have our property fire safe, but we really weren’t prepared when a sheriff deputy drove into the yard and told us we had an hour to evacuate because of an approaching forest fire. In 60 years we had never had this happen and it was scary having to leave and not know where we were going or when we’d be coming back, truly homeless.

We were thankful for friends who offered us a place to stay and for the Red Cross who fed us and kept us updated on the progress of the fire for nine days while we were evacuated. And more thankful yet for the fire crews who protected our area so we and our neighbors had homes to come back to.
 

 

 

It was a great moment in the life of great-granddaughter Emilia Trujillo and her family when she earned her black belt in karate.

Her sister Gillian is performing with her high school choir this week.

 

 

 

 

Fountainview Academy and Students in Canada

Our youngest granddaughter, Kami Kay Medina, is in her senior year of high school at Fountainview Academy in British Columbia where she plays the harp and cello in their orchestra. We are looking forward to attending their concert near here in a few weeks.

 

 

 

 

Kami Kay with a friend at Fountainview Academy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we slow down the younger generation speeds up, including grandson Daniel Adams who has traveled all over the U.S. this year helping with youth meetings as well as going on a mission trip to Indonesia for a few weeks.


Well, enough of our blessings. We hope that this finds all of you finishing up a year with good health and many things to be thankful for. Our new email address is bjcladams@gmail.com.
 

~ Celian & Betty Adams ~


 

 

P.S. from Fred - After a meal at the Red Cross Shelter during the King Fire evacuation, my 94-year-old dad grabbed  my sister Linda's cell phone and started texting for the first time in his life - or at least pretending to!

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