Sounds of Heaven Memoirs: Remember The Prophetic Word I Am Like Tinkerbell I Flutter Here & There To Encourage? I Found Myself In That Role @ My Aunts Memorial Mass.

I made the journey back home to attend my aunts funeral/memorial mass celebration. I figured out I was on the road about 20 hours or so travelling back and forth. It really is an eight hour or 8 1/2 hour journey by car but I tend to stop off at places on the way there or coming home. I was on a mission on the way there. I had with me the ingredients to make chicken parmesan with spaghetti @ my former mother-in-laws home. I am still friends with her and I love visiting with her. My daughter met me there with Bun Bun. That was my first introduction to one of her bunnies. One travels better than the other. Dinner was a little later than expected because I started off around 2 hours later than I originally planned to leave that day. Then, of course, traffic hold ups in a few major cities on the way.
I stopped in Cincinnati to visit my nephew briefly at his work location. Oh my he has great responsibilities at this organization that he is the executive chef for.
Then on the way there is a local Amish restaurant/gift shop so I stopped to get a few appetizer type of goodies for dinner that night. Let's see, I purchased Amish smoked Swiss cheese, hot and regular beef sticks (smokies), and a cheddar horseradish cheese spread with Bretons mini crackers too. Of course, mini milk chocolate and dark chocolate buckeye candies for my children and former mother-in-law to enjoy. My mother-in law likes them but my son told me on the phone he really only likes Malley's Chocolates buckeyes. Malley's is a local family run chocolatier.
On the way back home I found a Meijer's store that carries one of my favorite coffees. Many years ago in Ohio I used to go to this store because you could get bulk coffee beans and then grind them the amount you wanted. The flavor is Michigan Cherry. They no longer carry the coffee beans but they have it already packaged. I found it and guess what? It was on sale for 3.99 a bag. That is a great deal even @ 5.99 a bag the regular price is still a good deal too. I get the decaffeinated in this. They also had a regular in Butterscotch Toffee flavor. I do miss grocery shopping in Ohio because you do not pay taxes on food items. I do not miss their cost for gasoline though, the average per gallon of gasoline was 2.69. When I left my place where I reside I paid about 68 cents less per gallon of gasoline. Big difference huh?
At the Vermilion Farm Market I also picked up a flavored coffee, decaf blackberry crème. I guess you can tell I like flavored coffees right. They also carry a great brand, Merkens chocolate discs I use for making homemade bark candy. Another local chocolate company uses this brand for making their chocolates and it is much better quality (I think) than Wilton's brand of chocolate discs. I picked up a small bag of milk, dark and white chocolates. You know I was able to get 4 fresh beets that were reduced for only 0.55 for the package at this store. I cooked them in my electric pressure cooker last night and I was hoping they would be good tasting beets and not old tasting beets. That is the thing with fresh beets you really do not know until you cook them if they have the old tasting taste to them or the sweet taste to them. I took a chance and for 0.55 they were a good batch, thank God.
Back to the Tinkerbell part of the story ok. The only way I can describe this is that the anointing was present and that shining Jesus mode was in effect at this family gathering. I had no tears or sadness in me for my aunt was with Jesus. It was like this … I would see a family member and then I greeted them with love and excitement in my voice, we shared and then I fluttered off to another one and the same over and over and over again. See, my mothers side of the family are devoted and do attend family functions. I mean 2nd and 3rd cousins attend family events. It was so good seeing so many familiar faces in one location. I even had the opportunity to bless one of my aunts with a vial of the Dalton, GA anointing oil. You know she is in her 80's and does not have one wrinkle on her face, that is amazing isn't that?
My cousins had a Croatian tamburitza group play at the comfort meal. It is kind of funny, I knew 3 of them from my days of being in the folk group with them. I really did learn to read sheet music by being in this tamburitza group. At the funeral mass they had you sing from a red hymnal book and I was able to follow along and know when to hold a note or bring up my voice an octave or two just by following the music notes that accompany the words of the song. One of the gals when I went up to them to say hello said they thought they saw me walking in and recognized me because I resembled my mother at that age when she was my age. How funny is that. Oh, so many relatives said how I looked just like my mother. I do not see the resemblance maybe because I have red hair and that throws me off a bit. One cousin told me that I also have my mothers flair for fashion too. They always admired my mothers style of dress and I then added that I do but with my own flair added to it. My mother always taught me that simplicity is the height of elegance is. Meaning to not over do it and dress in an elegant manner of dress that is.
I believe I did just what Holy Spirit had me do at the family gathering, spread and share the love of Jesus with all I saw. Mission accomplished. I did bake German chocolate cake (that was my aunts favorite cake) and apricot/red raspberry oatmeal fruit bars too to take for the comfort meal. After the meal I then went in search of an infrared heater for my daughters apartment. It gets pretty cold where she lives. You know, lake affect snow storms etc. and very cold temperatures. I also went to a local Croatian sausage shop to get a few items for my mom. Very specific, 1 rice sausage and 1 blood sausage along with a pint of homemade sauerkraut. I had the list in my hand and I went to shop. The owner knows me and our family. I told him I was in town for a family funeral and my mom asked me to pick up these items for her. This is what small family owned business is all about. You support local businesses. He gathers her items and puts them in the vacuum sealed plastic so I did not have to smell the scent in my traveling back home. I then place my order: 1 pound of fresh smoked kielbasa (you have to cook these); a pint of homemade sauerkraut; and a few dried, smoked sausages. Oh my gosh, do you know he would not allow me to pay for my mothers items he said we never know how long we will be around so tell her Merry Christmas. He even gave her 2 kielbasa. His prices are very reasonable I only paid 13.00 for what I ordered and he even threw in an extra 2 smoked sausages so I shared them with my nephew on my journey back home. This is an old fashioned type of butcher shop, they do not take debit/credit cards, thank God I had checks with me. I kind of chuckled to myself as I left the store I now smelled like the scent of smoked sausage isn't that funny?
Well, on my way back home I was suppose to stop at Der Dutchman to pick up donuts for my nephews family. Well, they are closed on Sunday so I had to have a 2nd game plan. I saw a sign for Tim Horton's bakery/café and I stopped there. It looked like they made their own donuts so I bought a half dozen for their family. I do not eat donuts but their family enjoys them. They said I did good with the donut selection. Whew saved by the bell. I did take a picture of Der Dutchman with the snow falling.
I also took a picture of the former Croatian Hall, that is where we practiced when I was in the tamburitza group. It is now a ballroom of some sort. I trust you enjoy the journeys I go on when I share them with you. Do you?