God’s Grace is Like an Umbrella, Not a Raincoat

God spoke a word deeply into my heart in our first years in Lexington: My grace is like an umbrella, not a raincoat. It goes over me and may not prevent the rain from touching me. If I move out from under the umbrella and try to get ahead for fear of the rain, I will get soaked.” Ethan drew the following picture to illustrate!

This first year in Lexington included a tornado. There had been three tornados in my life now: the first in Nepal that tore up the mango grove and tore off the roof of our house. The second was my dream about the tornado that went through the school and divided it. And the third happened in our rented duplex, with broken windows, uprooted trees and much loss in the neighborhood. I’m grateful Father is with us in the midst of life’s tornados too.

Other tornados during this year included our son too. Jonathan was struggling with many areas of life. He turned 16 in April.  He was a joy to our hearts, but it hurt to see him wrestling with God and wanting his own way. We made a contract with him for life in the household—rules he helped create with consequences he helped create. These were effective for peace in the household, but not in his heart.  We later learned of the full impact of the turmoil in his heart. It was during this time that “I began to release Jonathan and my mothering and all that didn’t get taught. It was a death to my vision, but not God’s…. Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it can’t bring forth wheat.” We now have a wonderful relationship with our much-loved son and see him and Barry often.

Jenny was about to turn 14 and it was time to get medical help for her jaw and nose bone. She had to wear a mask appliance, but it didn’t help. I wrote, “Jenny has been so brave and cheerful in this all—an example to me and others.” That summer Jenny had the opportunity to go to Oklahoma to visit Alison, her best friend there. I wrote, “There’s an empty spot without her, but I’m glad she has the chance to do this and receive what God has for her in it all.” She was there for two weeks.

During the spring, in the middle of the night, Bill also had a grand mal seizure. This was the second one he’d had in six years. Dow talked to me on the phone until Orv and Nan came over to help while he was unconscious. Then he saw a doctor who “ran some tests and found he has ‘calcified granulomas’ on his brain, probably from parasitic infections as a child. We are at rest that what God is doing is good, and wait to see all He has in it. Bill has begun medication and hasn’t been feeling well"

One more big change-- a new house! We found a lovely home and was approved for the loan that summer. Dear friend Mary Fleming moved from Oklahoma to be with us and found a house up the street from us. And Dow and Lois found a new house just another block away. These were all close to my sister and her family, and Judy McCullough. It was great being near so many people we loved.

That summer we also had the joy of spending a week with Dow and Lois in Pennsylvania. Lois’ brother had a cabin in the mountains so we sent to rest and every morning Dow sat and taught us from God’s Word about the nature of God the Father, Son and Spirit. It was a memorable and deep privilege to have that time together in such a quiet and peaceful place. Isaac's rendition of the cabin and Bill. Lois is at the top. We also found a rustic bridge over a river for me to sit on!

Bill replacing a rotted step

The bridge rustic

Meanwhile I was busy working on more children’s primers. By the time I’d finished, there were 8 sets of books, three different grade levels (K-2) with different wonderful illustrators, and many schools, teachers, and kids, here and overseas, finding them a blessing. The Secret Keys was my favorite set, the story of two kids (Jon and Jenny) who go on treasure hunts to find 12 secret keys as character qualities, each with a unique shape that together form a heart.

I also had some more prophetic dreams, though I knew it not. “In one dream we were experiencing a year of great joy and blessing and then sent out into the darkness, with others, bearing lights. In another dream we were in a car touring beautiful countryside, then the ride ended and it was dark and our car lights were the only light as we went further on, leaving the place of blessing and light.” I was also given a word from the Lord I didn’t understand, as we had just moved: “The next move will be to Mobile.” There was no apprehension in the word and even excitement I didn’t understand. Little did I know that word would come to pass over five years later. “We shared the word with Dow and Lois and they didn’t laugh, but seriously received it. It is God who moves us on in His purposes and time.” God has always been so faithful to us. How grateful I am to Him and to the man in this picture. We just celebrated 48 years of marriage--50 years of knowing each other. God is so good.

One or two years have passed since this picture was taken but we're still happily in love.

A Sound Like a Train Engline--Yikes, It's a Tornado!

One of the first things that happened to us in Lexington, Kentucky, was the tornado. Remember, we’d just moved from Oklahoma, the land of tornadoes? Yet we had never seen or heard one before. It all happened so fast, but we took pics afterward to show how we were affected.

Here's the play-by-play: Every day after school, Joseph and Grace Wu came home from school with us til their mom came and picked them up. One stormy afternoon around 4:30, Jonathan, Jenny, Joseph and Grace were playing contentedly when we heard a loud noise that sounded like a train was heading straight for our duplex.

This noise was so startling that I hurried the kids downstairs into a closet where we closed the door and just waited until the noise stopped. When the noise stopped, I cautiously looked out to be sure everything was OK. The kids followed closely. What we saw was pretty shocking. Out the back patio doors we saw the garages next door at a scary angle, ready to fall down. There was debris everywhere. All our patio furniture was scattered for blocks around us.

The most impressive thing was the large tree outside our bedroom had fallen right on the roof! The roof was broken, but if it had been any worse, our bedroom would have been gone too. What we knew right away was that God had spared us each, remarkable. One of the houses across the street was leveled. We gave thanks to Him for sparing lives. And we took pictures. Isaac also drew his version of what happened to us.

Soon afterward, Bill came home from work, not knowing what had happened. He says, "it was late dusk in the day when I came back. As I entered the neighborhood, something seemed odd but I couldn't put my finger on it. Then I realized, the power had gone off. A little further in and I saw the damage."

Well, with electricity out, we took out our camp stove and invited neighbors over while we cooked up dinner with food from all our fridges, now starting to defrost. This was one way to meet neighbors we never thought of! No one we knew was killed or seriously injured. Like Bill, many were still on their way home from work. So again, we saw God's hand of protection and gave thanks.

A Promise about Aging as We Move to Lexington

First, a quote from a Hallmark card that Bill gave me--with a picture of two cute dogs: “In life, it’s not where you go, it’s who you travel with.” I was grateful for “who I moved and traveled with.” I had an amazing family and church friends, yet this move was not easy, even when I, the nomad, had moved so many times before. Guess who is the taller dog (carrying the bigger suitcase) and who is the shorter one.

During the summer as we prepared to move, I became sick with new and old body aches, pains and problems from our years abroad. I ended up spending 8 days in the hospital and survived many tests. It was a time of healing in body and soul; the best part was the relational healing with those we were leaving behind, and the new joining with those who would soon be our school and church family.

When I asked the Lord about all the physical ailments, He said, “You are getting old. Your body will do many strange and unexpected things in the process of aging. Receive these as aging and not illness. If there are no symptoms of real illness, you may rest. Recognize your body as decaying with all creation. Long for its completion in Me, to be set free. But for now, know and receive these changes and strangeness as a normal part of your life on earth—not to be feared or dreaded. But walk in life and the good I am doing and putting before you. Let this be your focus. I am the Lord God, Creator and Sustainer of the universe.” (Remember I was just 40 years old and now am 71!)

So, with God’s grace and help, we planned and executed this move. As soon as the doctor gave the OK, the kids and I went ahead in July to find rental housing. Bill came a couple weeks later, finishing up his work at the university first.

When we left Nepal, we left with 2 kids and 3 suitcases. When we left Mexico, we left with 2 kids and everything in one VW van. This time was totally different. We were leaving Oklahoma with a U-Haul truck hauling six years of furniture and belongings, 2 cars and 2 kids.

After the move, I wrote, “Seems like a year since Bill came, not 2 weeks. We moved in and I was shocked at what an effort it was. 2 weeks later we’re still unpacking. We’ve never made such a big move before. But it is a joy to be in our own home in Lexington where there is God’s grace for our daily needs.

Yet, even before we finished unpacking, we took off for California to celebrate Bill’s parents’ 50th anniversary. “When we first got there we were given tickets to the Hollywood Bowl to hear Itzhack Perlman. It was beautiful, though we were tired. It was 4 a.m. eastern time when we got to sleep.”

The celebration of their life was a great time for them to be honored by so many family, friends, missionaries and indigenous Zapotecos of Mexico, among whom they lived and worked doing Bible translation for so many decades. In this family photo, Dad and Mom are dressed in typical Zapoteco dress.

Bill gave a word in the service on investing in people, not projects, and commended his parents. It was good. That's our life theme song today. Then, after the celebration, we left for Santa Barbara for a “joyous time with Bobgans, and later visited Aunt Hazel and Uncle Bert who don’t seem to have aged at all.” That Saturday we had picnic day with the Leal family, including an evening with Al and Mary Ellen (Bill’s sister) and bill's parents. We have an amazing family and heritage.

So then it was back to Lexington, to settle in to our new assignment. In September I wrote from our rented duplex: “So many new things so fast: a lovely duplex close to school; new school for the kids; new school for me and new job for Bill who is away [as an instructor with SAS Institute] so much these days. Thank You, Lord, for Jonathan’s and Jenny’s being settled and helpful.”

So life in Lexington had begun with so much more than we could have imagined or hoped for....including living through our first ever tornado!

Gypsy on the Move: From Norman, Oklahoma to Lexington, Kentucky

Our years in Norman were amazing. God showed His faithfulness over and over. Our six heart-bound years in Nepal were similar to our six heart-bound years in Norman. We are still heart-friends with most of those from each place today. It was what soon became a pattern of six year time investments in the lives of people, and the binding of hearts. Personally, Norman was a time of healing, a time of resting from many moves for our family, and a time of finding an earthly father in Dow Robinson, our pastor of 40 years.

We had many festive times and many hours of fellowship in Christ during these years. Below are just a few pictures of those times. You can see Richard McAfee in the front of the group photo, with Lois on the left, Dow on the right and Bill and I next to them at table.  

Mike McKee was next to me and I tried to put some confetti on his head. I’m not sure what we were celebrating here, but it was fun!

I continued teaching and loving children in K-1, developing primers that revealed Jesus, and seeing kids learn to read and love to learn. 

We had a school board of godly men, shown below: Bill Leal, James Beale, Mike McKee, Dow Robinson, Mel Oxsen, and Dick Niven. The middle four are already in heaven--probably having a great time without us yet!

Ladies' Teas where we shared God's Word and encouraged each other and prayed for each other were also special. Here we are gathered at Miiriam Oxsen's home--treasured friends for this life and the next: Grace Robinson (Dow's mom), LiPiSu Wu, Mim, Lynn Fisher, Kim Foster and Frankie Senter. 

So we had a group of forever friends, many children’s lives invested in, and our house on the land nearing completion! Three years after moving out to the land, the house, windows and doors were finally in and it was beginning to look a lot like home! The kids and I had done much of the painting while Bill had done most of the hard work, including plumbing and electric, along with the help of friends from the church. Here's Joshua's version of the house after listening to my verbal description--without seeing any photos!

Meanwhile, Bill was still working full time for the University of Oklahoma where he was promoted several times, finally becoming the Assistant Director for Data Processing.

One funny memory was a surprise party Bill planned for my birthday. To do this he had Jonathan fake a fall and call for me to come upstairs. Meanwhile, Bill opened the door and let friends in for the party, who all yelled "Surprise" when I came down!" The grands love this story and Isaac did this picture. 

During these years I had many dreams that seemed to be prophetic. Sometime in the years, I had had a dream of a huge river that came and split the school house in half. (Ethan's signature is on the upper half of his drawing of my dream--he's our artist.) Half of the people were on one side and I and others on the other, floating down the river. I could remember exactly who was on each side. I shared this dream with Bill and with Dow. As it turned out, there were those in the church who objected to the leadership and were strongly critical. 

With conflict rising, it became clear that the school needed to close down for now. So we did, and the next year our kids attended the Covenant School in Oklahoma city where I taught 26 wonderful kindergarten and first grade kids. It was a long drive from Norman to OKC every day, but we spent time in the car singing to the Lord, and talking about life. There was also a black van the kids well remember that took a load of kids every day. 

Then, surprise, oh, surprise, we saw where the river in my dream was taking us! We received an invitation to move to Lexington, Kentucky where I would get to teach in the church school where one of our leaders, Paul Petrie, was pastor. Bill would work as a SAS instructor, and Dow had also been invited to move and set up a Bible and missions training institute. We were excited and prayerful. As it turned out, eight different families all decided to move to Lexington, including my sister’s family, and Mary Fleming, Bill’s boss who had given her heart to Jesus and had become a integral part of our family.

It now felt like Norman wasn't home anymore. But what do you do with an unfinished house on ten acres of land at the end of a quarter mile long dirt road? The housing market had crashed because of the oil and things didn’t look promising. We talked with our realtors and they said to wait to put it on the market until later. 

But a few days later Richard, the realtor, called and said they have a couple who were looking for an unfinished two story house on about ten acres in a wooded secluded place!!!!!  The couple came, saw our house, loved it and bought it.

One important change for me during this time was my name. For many years I had gone by the name Dotty. I had moved between sixth and seventh grade and began in a new school, Clark Jr. High. Being insecure, I deliberately changed my name from Dorothy to Dotty, hoping to attract more friends, thinking Dotty was a more popular name. 


So for 25 years I was known as Dotty. Many of you reading this still know me as Dotty. But the Lord said that He had named me Dorothy because I was His gift. Dorothy means “gift of God.” That was hard for me to believe until He healed my heart. So 25 years after being Dotty, I again became Dorothy, His gift. Below is Isaac's drawing of both names.

So now comes the next move. Are you dizzy yet? I think our kids were. Leaving friends, making new ones is not easy whatever age you are, but the teen years are hardest. Yet the kids voiced no objections for the move and we made plans to complete the sale and move to Kentucky in the summer. We know now this was yet another hard move, leaving friends, especially for Jenny.

Onward to Lexington!

Around the World in 18 Days: Our First Return to Nepal

In the midst of our flurry of life in Norman, our hearts still reached out to Nepal. We received letters from Kissan and family about how they were following Jesus. They wanted to see us and we wanted to see them again. So in 1984 we packed our bags and returned to Nepal. Afterwards we wrote a story about our trip for all our friends. I have scanned it in so you can see it page by page. The pictures are all hand drawn by our kids, of course! Jonathan was 14 and Jenny just turned 12 when we made this very memorable trip.

Missionary to the Sandpile Tribe: The Joy of Teaching and Writing Books for Kids

OK, here’s one of the most amazing part of my journey – one I never expected, the part that is pure gift from my Father. When our church decided to create its own school in 1980, I was asked to teach the kindergarten and first graders. As I had only taught middle and upper graders so far, I was a little unsure of myself. I had a Life Teaching Credential for K-9 from the state of California (the month before they stopped giving out life credentials), and had student taught in both first and fourth grade. But to shape the lives of little ones just learning to read and loving to learn? This was a heavy responsibility.

So, yes, I eagerly said YES! Then I began preparing. We were using the A-Beka curriculum for K-1 which was easy to follow. But half way through the year I realized the readers and curriculum touched on “God” almost as an add-on in some stories. I wanted the kids to receive heart training as they read that went beyond the academic and gave them an encounter with the Living God--with words that provided a foundation in Who God is and how He lives life and loves through His people.

So…..I began to write my own stories for the children to read and discuss. As the children read these stories, their hearts were drawn to Him, and I could only give thanks, and write more. All in all, over the next five years, I wrote 8 sets of primers for K-2nd grade and wrote both the phonics and math curriculum to have its focus on relationships and Who God is. Father Alphabet had 26 kids. Bet you can name them all! Can you guess how many were boys and how many were girls?

One of my favorite things I did with the kids was the character quality curriculum. I began to teach the children and write about the character qualities of Jesus, the ones the children could identify with, like neatness, gratefulness, and forgiveness. Claire Sawyer started writing songs that exemplified these character traits and the kids loved singing them!

Every year I also had my classes write a gratefulness journal (OK, the kids started writing early--you who know me know how important writing is!). The kids came to school thinking about something they were grateful for, and then wrote a brief sentence or story with accompanying picture. For Thanksgiving, these journals became gifts of gratefulness for the parents. The first ones were typically, “I am grateful for my mom,” and “I am grateful for my dad.” I treasured reading their thoughts. And you know, they came to school with a positive attitude and complaints were few. Discipline was not difficult. Oh, how I loved these kids. Every year, I was given a new crop or precious lives.

Soon other schools heard about these books and wanted to use them in their schools. So….we began our own publishing company called Burning Bush Publications. That was where God met Moses and I so wanted the kids to meet and know Him too. We had many contributing artists, starting with the very gifted Kim Foster and later including Gracella Cunkle. I’ll post a summary below of the book titles.

Little by little I started getting invitations to go and teach teachers at other schools in different parts of the country, and then England and Canada too. The books were even used in schools in Africa, with some language and picture variations. What a privilege that was. And these schools wanted the curriculum too! I was grateful to be a part of something much bigger than just us. Jesus was making Himself known one school at a time, one child at a time.

Meanwhile, our kids were daily doing their lessons in PACS, but all the kids had lots of extra-curricular things. You can see Jenny in dance, Jonathan at work and the kids in a school performance. Plus I'm the one in the blue school uniform!

Brochure for Burning Bush

Burning Bush Publications, a small, family-run business, was formed in order to allow public distribution of a new set of beginning readers for primary age children. Why a new set of readers? Aren't there plenty of good Christian readers now? There are many good books that can be read to children - but few books for children to read for themselves that are academically sound and which have solid Biblical content.

Academically Sound. The books and other teaching materials were prepared by Dorothy Leal who has a doctorate in reading education from the University of Kentucky. She is a veteran of the classroom who has successfully brought literacy to many young people. The books follow a phonics progression, and gradually introduce more complex grammatical constructions. Each book builds on the ones before until the child attains a fluency in reading. The books are being used by both church schools and home schools in the United States and abroad.

Solid Christian Content. The books were written in the belief that living in the Kingdom of God has practical applications to the daily lifestyle of young children. Each story and activity focuses in on a biblical aspect of life and provides a springboard for discussion and further teaching. Prayerfully used, these books will help change your children's lives.

The books are designed to be used by both parents and regular school teachers. Most books include two pages of Instructions for Parents which provide direction as the parents become involved in the teaching of their children to read.

Burning Bush Offers

(For those unfamiliar with US school levels, K is kindergarten, age 5-6, 1 is first grade, age 6-7, and 2 is second grade, age 7-8.)

The Top Ten: Pre-primers in two books (K)

God Made Life, God Made Dad, God Made Mom, God Made Me, God Made Us: God's purpose in life as expressed in families, in 5 books (K-1)

The Life of Jesus: Jesus as a pattern for life, in 3 books (K-1)

Jesus the Baby, Jesus the Boy, Jesus the Man, in 3 books (1)

God's Plan: God's: Love, Faith, Hope; Work, Rule, Rest; Ask, Seek, Knock, in 3 books (1)

The Work of Jesus: Showing God's Will, Showing God's Power, Showing God's Way, Showing God's Life, in 4 books  (1-2)

The Secret Keys: two kids discover 12 character traits; in three books (1-2)

The Life and Work of God's People: Pioneers on the Move,  and Pioneers Leading the Way: biographies of Godly people, in 2 books (2-3)

Character Quality Curriculum: a detailed discussion of 26 character qualities with a cassette tape and written music (K-2)

Battle for the Heart: a spiritual warfare game with game board and directions (2+)

The Kidnapper, the Hitchhiker, and Living on the Land

These years in Norman were some of the best of times. Building memories is simply building up relationships, friendships and family, which for us included being part of a larger family, both physical and spiritual. It was a joy to be in the community of believers that were “our family” in Norman. Plus our relatives came to visit.....and some like Orv and Nan came to stay and live very near us. We were bound together in love to walk with each other through thick and thin, and there were both.

There are many highlights of our time in Norman, Oklahoma and many of them were times spent together as a family. Grandma and Grandpa Leal spent as much time as they could with us, especially in the summers.

As a family we made as many fun and memorable experiences as we could. One time I kidnapped Bill from work and took him away overnight. I arranged this with his boss, Mary Fleming, ahead of time. The kids were in on this one. He thought we were just going out for lunch. I told him the restaurant was quite a distance and I kept on driving. He was very worried about getting back to work: "I have a meeting!" He began to get suspicious after half an hour. So I told him that Mary already knew and had given her OK. She was in on it!

Another time we had planned a vacation and Bill pretended he had to work and couldn’t go. The three of us went on anyway and hoped he would join us soon. Meanwhile a friend had dropped him off at the side of the highway where we would be driving, with his luggage. He had his thumb out and acted like a hitchhiker who wanted to be picked up! You should have seen the kids faces when they recognized who was standing by the road. Bill still remembers both children with their faces and hands plastered to the car windows, gaping. Of course we stopped and picked him up and went on to a fun vacation. Jenny says she most remembers how shocked she was that I would pick up a hitchhiker!

Here are a few pics from one of our vacations and an anniversary celebration in the early 80's. Note the amazing homemade anniversary cake made by our kids!

Having creative kids helps make a family memorable. Jonathan was by this time finding his stride in writing. He and Jenny developed their own magazine they self-published called "Pure Gold." They and their friends wrote the stories, poems and art work and then sold them for 25 cents each.

Jenny was a whiz with vocabulary. The kids had to memorize a lot of words for their different subjects. She did more than just memorize them and to this day can carry on spirited discussion with Bill, who also has a large vocabulary. Jenny was also a huge help to me in the home and in the classroom. She still is!

Both our kids were a delight to our hearts (still are!). They did well in school and their hearts were turned toward pleasing us and pleasing Father. We spent a lot of time in God's Word, memorizing some long passages. They both had good friends and played a lot with them, especially when we got our ten acres that they could roam, explore and claim.

So what else makes family memories unforgettable? Sacrificial love is what holds a family together. And that love is unforgettable. For us, showing love still means making fun, zany unpredictable memories. Jonathan likes the one about my birthday surprise and his "bad fall." Bill arranged for a (pretend) housewarming. After folks arrived, Jonathan faked an accident upstairs to get me upstairs and distract me while the people downstairs got out the presents.

We've been known to drive 7 to 14 hours to surprise loved ones on birthdays. Maybe Jenny can tell you how we drove from Alabama to Georgia to have a surprise lunch with her after church at her favorite restaurant, the Olive Garden (her friends and roommates helped get her there!). Surprises are kind of a tradition for our family. For my 50th, Jonathan dressed up as an uninvited old lady that was dying of throat cancer and couldn't speak. We allowed her to stay and I never recognized that it was Jonathan till he made it obvious. Then last weekend we surprised Jonathan by being at the restaurant he and Barry were going to have his birthday lunch at. Some pics are posted on Facebook: Jonathan's birthday surprise 2016.

Speaking of zany memories, that brings us to housing and land. Backing up a bit, after living in our first house in Norman for a year or so, a larger house with a swimming pool came up for sale.We all thought that would be a great idea and good investment. Little could we predict the future. Our smaller house quickly sold and we purchased a house that was really too big—but we did have room to share with single people in our community. We especially remember Gary Nishmuta who was single at that time and whose wonderful sense of humor kept us laughing. Then along came a young lady who stole his heart!

Later, three families in our community got together and decided to buy land and build houses near each other. We each purchased ten acres adjoining each other's ten acres: the Nivens, the Wimers and the Leals. What an adventure each one had, but I’ll only tell ours. Maybe they will add theirs to this rendering!

Again, we sold our house--the "too big" one with the pool--and moved out to a small three bedroom mobile home. We purchased a "build it yourself" kit from by Miles Homes so we could build our own dream house from ground up. We knew that would take time, which was why we lived in the mobile home while building. But before moving in, we had to get rid of thousands of cockroaches. We set insecticide bombs inside and left the place closed up. When we returned it had literally rained thousands of cockroaches all over the counters and floors. But apparently it did the job and we were thankful to not see any more of those menacing creatures

We called our land, “Redbud Acres” because there were so many beautiful redbud trees. We loved living on the land that also had a stream—especially strong in storms. It was truly beautiful in all seasons. I described the house to Joshua, our six year old grandson and he drew his picture--without seeing the real one!

We then began the process of house building. It was professionally framed and put under roof. Bill did all the interior work, little by little, after he got home from work. We had energy then!

The kids loved the land and built a clubhouse out of scrap lumber, seen in the photo. That's one of our nephews, David Hazelton, next to the clubhouse. It was great to have my sister and family near enough to share life together. We were surrounded and blessed by many gifted and loving people.