Memorial Stones

By Geni-Deck Jones

This book is entitled Memorial Stones because it is about remembering what God has done to and provided for my family as we followed His plan for our lives. In the Bible, I saw a chapter where the Israelites were finally able to live in the land promised to their forefathers many years before. As they crossed the river, each tribe was supposed to pick up a rock. Then when they arrived on the land on the other side, they built a memorial place to remember all that God has done in their lives. I wanted this imagery to have impact on this book. It really is filled with memories of my family life over the years. When I was growing up, my mom would invite people, missionaries and preachers, to come to our house, and they would share all their experiences with us in story form. As we live, we see the places where God's answer comes through for us, and I began to repeat these stories. They were awesome to me to see them. They became "stones" of memory for me to repeat. They showed me the places where God was taking care of us in the different events in our lives. The stories I chose were the ones that stayed the longest. There are always things we remember when the whole family comes together. "Do you remember when…?" These are events inside the family. My parents are not with us here anymore, but I wanted to share my stories to those who might be encouraged by the events we have been through in our own lives. My grandchildren love stories, so they can read this book and see all the stories in their grandparents' lives. My faith is life within me. I do what I see is the right thing to do. I followed the Lord in good and bad experiences. I knew He is there. Sometimes, I couldn't see him, but I trusted him because I knew that he said he would never leave me or abandon me.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098005986

Book preview

Chapter 1

Beginnings

This section is about two things: my personal upbringing and our beginnings as a couple and as new parents. It also tells about our moving overseas for the first time. We loved living overseas.

I’m certain you will see the care and defense I was given as I listened to my Lord and lived my life before Him in the words I have written in this book. I see that God has provided my every need as it came up. God always guided us in the way He had planned for us to go. We never hesitated, but we always knew that we could run into persecution and trials because we follow Christ. We did have troubles all along the pathway. When I talk about the persecutions, you will see where I have learned from that time also.

Beginnings

Geni-Deck Dorn and Darrell Dorn

The story in this book is about me. I was fortunate in life. My life with my parents taught me lessons I would need for the rest of my life. My parents gave us much throughout our lives, things that were not things at all. They taught us to love the Lord God and to follow His directions in our lives. I learned about Jesus when I went to Bible school through the summer and at church on Sunday, and from the examples of my parents—the best way to learn is by example because you can see how to deal with situations and the results.

My faith helps me to see the people around me as God’s children, some who follow Him and some who don’t. I can love them as they are because I know that they were made by God, and He loves them. In the life I have lived before God, I have met many people of every shape and background. I have found that all have commonalities. All love their children to some degree or another. All children react, in similar ways, to their environment. We watched a small German child who ran into a mud puddle in the road and stomped his feet. The mother fussed at him; and even though I didn’t understand the words, I knew exactly what she said to him. Both mother and child acted the same way I have seen others do in America and Japan, no matter their language or background. This has become a special memory to me, what I call a memorial stone.

The name memorial stones comes from a story in the Bible. Moses had led the Israelites across the desert for forty years. They grumbled and pushed to have their own way all the way. Finally, they arrived in the promised land that would become their home. Joshua took over leadership from Moses because God took him home to be with Him in heaven. Joshua led them across the Jordan River after God stopped up all the water from flowing. As the tribes crossed, each tribe picked up a stone. They were to remind the Israelites of how God had gotten them out of bondage in Egypt.

I must add that I have a very strong and living relationship with my Lord Jesus. I depend on Him, so I see things differently than others. I get great joy in serving Jesus in the churches we attend. I served as a Sunday school teacher for many years, probably approximately forty-five years or so. I began when I was nineteen. I seldom stopped except when we were between churches because of moving. I have worked some since but not steadily as before. I have always believed that children need to know about Jesus as early as possible because He loves them, and they will find that they need Him as they grow up. He can help them through those disturbing teen years, but they need to know Him before then so they know they can trust Him.

Growing up. Family life growing up.

We moved a lot when I was young. We moved when I was six weeks old to go and live with my dad’s parents so he could go to school. He went to William and Mary Technical school to learn a skill that would help him when he worked for NASA. We moved to Greenwood and stayed on my mom’s parents’ property, in one of their rental apartments for a while, and Daddy drive to work in Rock Hill, North Carolina.

There were other places, but the only recollection I have of those places are odd items. I know of them mostly because of funny things my mom told me about them. They were so odd that they stuck in my head. One place we lived in was on a road called Two Notch Road but my grandmother Welch called it Notch Road Number Two. One place was a renovated funeral parlor. A place we looked at had red dots of every size painted all over the place, even down into the toilet bowl. We were told by another grandmother Dorn that all we needed was a wagon to be gypsies because we had moved so much. Through it all, we knew we had Mama and Daddy. They worked together to provide for our needs and taught us that God loves us and takes care of us.

My Grandparents Welch:

Claude and Wallace(Wall)

My Grandparents Dorn:

J. D. And Nellie Mama Dorn

Mama didn’t work outside the home. She and Daddy decided before they had children that she would stay at home and bring up the children, and Dad would help as much as he could with the children while working full-time as well as part-time when needed. I do remember that one of his jobs was at a TV station as well as a radio station. He helped to maintain the equipment.

With all this said, these events affected my life, making me the person I am today. I love the Lord. I love the life I live before the Lord even today. I am working today to find what He is leading me to do in the life I am living as a retired person. I have found that God will work with me in His own time. I love my family and all the parts of my family.

Family dynamics is quite interesting.

Florida.

We started school down the street from the apartment we rented. I started fourth grade there. We made friends with a family living not far from us. We lived there until the house my parents found was finally signed over to us. Daddy had come down to Florida so he could work in the brand-new space program. He was so excited about being hired by a contractor working on the space center. We fixed the rooms with paint and made it like our own home, which it was. We moved into the house just before Christmas. My grandparents Welch would be coming to spend the holidays with us. That Christmas, we had cheap furniture, but it worked, and we were happy with our new toys. We were excited about our grandparents coming to see us. We loved having them there because they loved us, and we felt like special people when they were with us.

After Christmas, my brother and I were taken to the same school every day in a taxi. My mom called the taxi and asked for the same man every day to take us to school. We were picked up every morning and returned home at the end of the school day.

We thought that was the best thing ever to arrive at school in a taxi and to have a taxi take us home every day. It was done because we only had one car and Daddy needed it for work. At the end of school that year, we were enrolled into the school closest to our house. It was great because we were able to ride to school on our bikes from home.

I went to that new school near our house for one year. My brother had a hard time that year in school because his teacher was not having a very good year personally and she was taking it out on her whole class. He was very glad when Mama stopped reading the daily notes from her saying how bad he was at school. Mama found out that everyone in her whole class got notes, so she figured that he wasn’t any worse than the rest of the class. He was delighted to get out of that classroom at the end of that year.

The next year wasn’t as bad, but not great either. The year he hit fifth grade, he was blessed by the same teacher I had for that grade. We used to feel really bad for the students in my brother’s third grade class because she yelled at all of them. One day she came into my classroom and looked just for me. She walked up to me and said that she just wanted to see if my brother’s sister was as bad as he was. He wasn’t bad, but he couldn’t live with her abuse. She scared me to death by seeking me out. I just stood there looking like a deer caught in headlights. I told my mom about her visit to see me.

My dad, Ralph Dorn

Like I said, I was in that school for only one year. The next year, we were bused to another school farther away because they needed to work on the classrooms at the school where my brother was still going. The following year, I started junior high school, which was the precursor to middle school. I was there for three years.

Then I went to high school for four years. Four years in one school was a record for me. I didn’t know it then, but my early years were preparing me for my life as a military wife and a teacher in the military dependents’ schools. I loved being a military wife, and yet there were problems as well.

My dad taught all three of us, his children, how to deal with children in the best way. My dad had a special talent with children. He could walk up to any child. He would talk to and interact with them with the result that they would play with him. He also knew how to keep us in line when we tended to get lost with our childish ways. We knew both parents loved us, but we also knew that we needed to be good when we were out.

I helped him when he made things in the garage. I liked being there with Dad, and he didn’t see any problem with me being the one to help him with woodworking. He taught by his example that I don’t have to fit into a particular role as an adult. He taught me to be inquisitive about what I see and experience and to learn from it. He also taught me that there was nothing that I could do to a computer that couldn’t be undone, a lesson that would help me for many years in the job I chose.

My mom, Ruth Dorn.

Mama is the one who taught me about prayer. She also indirectly challenged me to read my Bible. She taught me that church was the most important part of my life and Daddy supported that idea. She and Daddy both taught me that honesty was important because I could always tell the same story if I told the truth but that living for God was the most important and wonderful thing I could do with my life. One day, my mom was rocking my sick sister in her big rocking chair, and she had her eyes closed. I thought she was asleep (my mom, that is), but she was still rocking; so when she opened her eyes, I asked her if she had been asleep. She told me no, that she had been praying. I was surprised. Yes, I knew she went to church, but I wasn’t expecting that answer. She told me that we don’t have to be in church or on our knees to be able to pray. She said she often talked to God about things. She knew that He loves her and that He heard her prayers. I was intrigued by that, so I started praying at different times, always seeking His answers. I began to see His beauty around me in the things I saw, in the little surprises in my pathway. I began praying specific prayers and asking for answers. I learned a lot.

My mom and I were watching a movie called Ruth about a lady in the Bible. My mom knew the story she told me how it would turn out. So, I asked her how she knew and she said that she had read the Bible many times. She also said that she remembered this story because her name was from this story. I was intrigued by that. I thought I should read the Bible for myself. That turned out to be harder than I thought. I did work my way through just not as well as I thought. However, I went to Bible college, and there we were required to read the Bible. It’s there that I learned more about the Bible, and it became a basic part of my life and lifestyle.

I can no more do without my Bible than I could go without air to breathe. It helps me to see things are in God’s hands. It teaches me that my life is an example to others about what God expects us to do as His children. It helps me to focus on the things that I face daily that are hard and those things that no one wants to face alone. It inspires me to think creatively and to do things that need to be done in the best way.

Chapter 2

Early Married Life

Our First Christmas, East Point, Ga.

Our early life as a couple came quickly, and even though it was expected, it had hidden things that we had to deal with. We learned to live as a couple those first years. We also learned to depend on God as our central part of our lives, as our guide and confidant.

Early married life.

Atlanta Christian College, East Point Ga.