Destiny

Seaside, California, about 1973:

Here's a photo of Tim, about age 2, sitting on an antique fire truck with his firefighter dad standing next to him.

Today, Tim is a captain in the Los Angeles Fire Department. He loves what he does and he's good at it.

Seeing this photo, I have to wonder . . . How much of what we do with our children influences how their lives evolve. Take this photo of Tim at about age 2 for instance. Did these earliest experiences impact his choice for a career? Did we actually set the stage or would he have chosen that career anyway?

How would his life have been different if he had not had this experience? I can only wonder.

The Fashion Designer

San Jose, California, 1984-1986:

Sarah was the ultimate fashion designer, creating the latest designs with anything she could put her hands on: garbage bags, old clothes, etc.

One day she even stapled some fabric together for a skirt. There was nothing holding back her creations.

Who knew this creative genius would develop into a designer of software, creator of webpages, and dreamer of good things to come?

Protection in the Desert

San Jose to Utah to Southern California, July 1987:

Tim, Amy, and I drove to Utah to deliver Tim at BYU Swim Camp. While there, we visited with Brenda Kent and Holly Hart and their kids.

After our week in Utah we headed for Southern California. We stopped in Cedar City, Utah, for gasoline, and the attendant noticed my tires were really low. On closer inspection, he found a cut in one of my tires! Another tire was very bald, so I purchased two new tires.

As we were driving across the desert to Las Vegas, the red light indicator came on indicating the car was over-heating. I stopped in Las Vegas for gas and had the attendant check the radiator. The whole thing bubbled hot, steamy water all over the station!

The attendant then babbled something about a cracked block and pointed to what he said was oil in the carburator. I could see dollar signs lighting up in his eyes and decided THAT station would not fix my car.

I got on the phone (a pay phone!) and started calling radiator shops. It was 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon. No one wanted to look at my radiator!

Finally, I found an old man on the outskirts of town who said he would check it out. I limped the car to his shop and we left the car in his care. It was so hot, it had to have been 115 degrees outside. Tim, Amy, and I melted from the heat. I looked up and down the road for a grocery store, fast-food chain, any place to get out of the heat. The only respite I could find was an ice company across the street. We purchased a bag of ice for one dollar, walked across another street to a trailer park with one scrawny tree, and sat in our postage stamp spot of shade. We crunched on ice and read for a while.

Two hours later, we paid the man $85 for cleaning and patching the radiator. Then, we set off again for Newport Beach, and finally arrived about 1:00 AM.

It was a long journey, but I really felt the hand of the Lord, guiding us and inspiring us to take care of problems while we were in a city, rather than break down in the middle of the desert with no food, no water, no phone, and no help. It could have been devastating, but the Lord watched out for us.

The Tale of Tim's Bike

Marina, California, about 1982-1984:

Tim left his bike outside our home and when he went to get it, it was gone. Apparently, someone stole it because bikes just don't roll away without someone pushing or pedaling them. It was distinctive enough, that every time we went somewhere, we looked for Tim's bike.

Just when we'd about given up and accepted the fact the bike was gone forever, we were driving down one of the streets of Marina on the other side of the highway. We passed an apartment complex and spotted a soldier riding a bike across the parking lot.

Tim said, "Hey! That's my bike!" I immediately turned our van around, pulled into the parking lot, shut off the engine, and jumped out.

I stopped the guy on the bike and said, "Excuse me." He got off the bike and stood up. He was over six feet tall - a very big guy. I tipped my head back, looked up at him, and said, "Where'd you get the bike?"

He said, "It belongs to my neighbor." I said, "No, it doesn't. It belongs to my son."

Before the guy had time to think about what I said, I grabbed the bike, opened the side door on the van, shoved the bike in, got in the van, and drove away. We got it back!

Lesson Learned: I may be small, but I can still carry a big stick. Nobody messes with my kids or their stuff!

Thanksgiving 2009

2051 N. 1100 East, Lehi, Utah, 84043

26 November 2009:

Where is heaven? Is it very far? From time to time I get glimpses of heaven. For example, our family came together this year for Thanksgiving.

Tim, Annie, Allie, Sammy, and Ethan Werle drove from southern California.

Corey, Sue, Tyler, Bradley, Katelyn, and Breanna Werle came from Sherwood, Oregon.

Amy, Wade, Nathan, Erica, and TJ Roskelley, and also Sarah, Trevor, Maddie, and Michael Kimmel came from across town. We had a total of 12 grandchildren here.

During the week we made a snowman, swam, searched for elves, watched cliff divers at the Mayan restaurant, ate lots of good food, and some even went geocaching.

It was wonderful to have the family together again. THAT was and will always be heaven to me.

Three Meal Deal

San Jose, California, 1972:

Tom was going to school at San Jose State University and our financial resources were very limited. Our ward had a little grocery store where we could order cases of canned food at a reasonable price. We wanted to build up our year's supply of food to be prepared for whatever might come. We didn't have much money, so we ordered three cases of food: (1) Pork and Beans (2) Chicken Chow Mein and (3) Boxed Macaroni and Cheese.

Soon after we picked up our cases, we had bills come due that put an extra strain on our budget. Those three cases pulled us through. Each night we rotated through one of the three things for dinner. Over time there was no variety, but we had food to eat.

It was a simple thing to do based on our understanding that we needed to be prepared. We saw the immediate result of our obedience to the teachings. We survived.

Connecting in Kalamth Falls

Bruce and I had spent Christmas with my mother in Southern California. We were supposed to drive back to Portland Oregon a few days after Christmas but we didn’t have to get back right away. We toyed with leaving on Tuesday or Wednesday, and finally decided upon leaving on Tuesday and rather than take our normal Interstate 5 route, we’d instead drive up the middle of the state and stop in Lancaster, California, to see my brother, Chris, who was racing go-carts at a track there.

We left Southern California early Tuesday morning and reached the race track sometime mid-day. We drove to the entrance gate and were disappointed to discover that they were charging $10 entrance fee per person. We had not planned to spend very long at the track, just long enough to visit with Chris and maybe watch him race once. We didn’t want to pay the $20 (I know. We’re cheap.) So we left the track without seeing Chris and drove on.

We reached Reno about dinner time and decided to eat at a buffet that we like. Normally, there is no line for this buffet, but this night we had to wait in a line to be seated. We spent about two hours at the restaurant eating everything we could.

We decided to look for a motel for the night, and if we found one cheap enough, we’d spend the night there. After calling several hotels and discovering their prices were more than we wanted to pay, we headed for Southern Oregon.

As we approached Klamath Falls, Bruce remarked that he would love to be able to find his brother, Allen, who had moved there several years ago. Bruce had lost Allen’s phone number (this was before the Internet for searching) and didn’t know how he was going to find Allen.

We stopped for gasoline in Klamath Falls about 2:00 AM. It was my turn to drive, so Bruce got into the passenger seat, but my water had spilt and Bruce had to clean it up before he could sit down.

As we finally pulled out of the gas station, I had to wait for a pickup truck passing us on the street. Bruce looked up and said, “That looks like Allen’s truck! Catch up to it at the next light!” The truck stopped at the light and we pulled up beside it. Bruce looked into the cab of the truck and . . . (drum roll) it was Allen!

He looked over at us and was just as surprised as we were. We both pulled over to the curb and got out of our cars. We asked what he had been doing out in the cold December air at 2:00 in the morning. He responded that he wanted to know how cold it was and there was a thermometer on the Bank of America building, so he drove to the bank to see the temperature! Huh??? It didn't make sense to us, but there we were visiting with him.

Allen asked what route we were going to take back to Portland and then advised us of a safer route through the snow covered mountains. He and Bruce chatted for a while and then we left.

As we drove back to Portland we were amazed by how many variables had been in our trip that could have set us forward or back by even two minutes, and then we would have missed meeting Allen. BUT, Heavenly Father knew our needs. He knew Allen’s needs, and he planned for a way for us to get together.

I know he knows each of us so personally that he provides a way for people to be placed in our path to help us with whatever we need.