Gayle's Book

I was reading the morning paper and there is an article about Gayle Haggard and the release of her new book "Why I stayed: The Choices I Made In My Darkest Hour".


We all have had our darkest hour but Gayle's, I would say, has been the darkest. For those who are not aware of Ted and Gayle Haggard. Ted was the pastor of a church here called "New Life", he lost that church when a gay man made it public that Ted had an affair with him. To this day, I will always believe that Ted was set up.


I met Ted and Gayle when they had the church in a store front on Garden of the Gods Road. They were the most loving, compassionate people ever, you have to meet them to understand the love that comes out of these two. I told the people I had gone with, that their church must be very enlightened to have a gay pastor. I was told that I was mistaken and that's when I met Gayle, a most warm and delightful person and told she was Pastor Ted's wife.


If I could have seen the future, I would have hugged these two with all my might and asked for protection for them. But, I didn't. The church became a Mega church within a few years and stayed that way for a long time. Then the scandal, Ted had gone to a Denver hotel to write a book, the hotel gave him a card of a massage person. He decided to have a massage since he had been under a lot of stress. The person that came was a male who was gay and who made a pass at Ted.


Now, Ted had struggled with his gay side and he gave into it this time. A year later, the massage person came out public with this. Now, doesn't this sound like a set up, it does to me.


Now, Gayle has come out with her book telling her side of things and how this has made her marriage stronger.


Gayle and Ted are good people, may their lifes keep going strong.

History Research

I use Ancestry.com for a lot of my research. The last few months I have noticed quite a change in them. Documents that I once were able to research, don't come up anymore.



Fortunately for me, I made hard copies of many important things. It just means I have to get up off my arse and look thru the hundred of copies that I have made.



I think the internet has made me a bit lazy or the fact that I am getting older and it takes me longer to do things (sigh). To have the energy back that I had even 10 years ago would be nice :)

Naming My Blog

When I first started my blog, the name I wanted for it was "Looking To The Stars". This phrase was very important to me. My father repeatably told me to look to the stars.



But, when I set my blog up, I thought they were asking for the name you wanted for your blog, not your name. So, I typed in Looking To The Stars instead of my name and then I had to use "Looking to the Sun and Stars" as my blog title.



Of course a smart person would know that a new blogger could make a mistake like that. But, someone who is stupid or mean would think otherwise.



And yes, I have two (read it, people) two names. My father had two names, my mother had two names. A rose by any other name, smells just as sweet. For those who do not understand this saying, it means that no matter what tag is put on something it is still the same thing. The only reason I have two names is that Russell Thayer Tutt Sr paid to have my name changed. Read it people, PAID.


So, this is the reason my name comes up as Looking to the stars, no mystery, just an honest mistake.

Responsibility

Kenju (Judy) had a post the other day about businesses that go on the net to see what people say about them.


It made me stop and think about the HUGE responsibility that I, as a blogger/writer have. I must be honest above all else in my writing, I must try and see both sides of things. But most of all I must not use my writing as a punching bag to hurt others.



For so many of you, this is not a problem. For me, I started blogging to share my family history and the history of my town and the people in it. Along with this, comes people that have done bad things. So, I will try to be a little more fairer, more understanding of others feelings.

Facebook Games

Okay, I said I would never join facebook but I did. My husband joined to hook up with his old buddies. Now, his friends are into the games they have on facebook and my husband got into them also.



So, he needed more friends for his FarmTown, that's where I come in. I joined to send him gifts for FarmTown, Cafe World and Fishville. For my computer it takes 15 minutes or longer for these games to load and it drives me crazy. So, I don't play them very often but I do send the much needed gifts :)



At Christmas time I sent out my yearly letter and told people my husband was on facebook. His cousins (he only has 4 left) all sent him requests. It was great, 2 of them are into the games also. They do Cafe World and Farmville. So, we added Farmville, this one hates to load on my computer for some reason.


But, I sent a friend request to MaryContrary and she said yes and she sent me a castle game which loads fast and I really enjoy it.


But all in all, I do not understand facebook. I tried to send a Happy New Year message to everyone with the pooh picture and it didn't work. So, all I do is click on the like button. Now, my husband's friends (I have only 2 of them on my thingy) post things. The latest one was a posting and picture of their expected baby scan. You know, the one they take when you are first p.g.
I was a little flabbergasted and decided this is a little more information then I really want. So, I am going to take a break from facebook. My husband can tell me anything new his friends post.

Mr. Gaylord and Me

My in laws came for a visit and as always, we where going to take them to The Tavern @ the Broadmoor for dinner.



I love The Tavern, the food always agrees with us, so I was looking forward to it but when I called for reservations, I was informed they were closed for remodeling. Bummer! We went to another place, not as good but okay.



I had been going down memory lane before this, remembering the first time I met Mr. Gaylord. (The Gaylord family now owns about 80% of the Broadmoor).



I was standing in the lobby with my father when Mr. Gaylord, a tall thin man, was taking his leave of the hotel. He came often for a visit.


He walked over to my father and said, "I didn't know you had any grandchildren." I piped up and said, "This is my daddy." Mr. Gaylord was quite shocked. He and my father conversed with Mr. Gaylord asking if my father was leaving the hotel to me. My father said yes along with her half sisters. Mr. Gaylord's face became very grave and he replied, "I see." They talked some more and came to a verbal agreement about something.



As he walked away, my father took my hand and said, "I'm going to sell the hotel to Mr. Gaylord." My father had to explain to me what that meant, I replied "But, where will you work?" My father laughed, he had a wonderful laugh, and said "Oh, I think I'll find something. Maybe, we'll travel. Would you like that?" I answered, "yes"



Then my father got real serious and said to me, "I want you to remember something, what ever happens and you end up with the hotel don't sell to anyone but Mr. Gaylord. I have given him my word and I expect you to honor my word, this is very important to me. Do you understand?" I nodded yes. He also said that he had arranged for me to have a home at the hotel as long as I lived and needed it. He said that Mr. Gaylord was a man of honor and I could trust him.



Things did not happen as my father planned, my father's will disappeared and so did I. My father's word to Mr. Gaylord was not honored. In the 1980's the Gaylord family were able to buy 65% of the hotel, in 1992 they were able to get 80%. The bottom line is Mr. Gaylord should have had the hotel in 1959.


He and my father have both passed on. I am the only one left who knows of a verbal agreement between two honest men and my father was a very honorable man.