Sunday, December 23
Jim: After three days of being in doctors offices and/or hospitals and driving back to Roswell on Saturday to celebrate Christmas with Carol, Cal, and their tribe, we just couldn’t get up and ginning around in time to go to Sunday school and church this morning. Instead, when we finally did get moving around 7:30, we immediately began transforming what was left of Big V’s usable space into an industrial strength kitchen.
With two meals to help prepare for Christmas Eve (oh my goodness…is that tomorrow?!), and food to take on the trip to Richardson, we used every square inch of cooking and counter space for our culinary projects. I had already started baking bread, but was far behind in my schedule. I had hoped to bake at least a dozen loaves to hand out as gifts; time was running out though, and at a minimum of 4 hours of preparation, baking, and cooling time for each loaf, production was lagging.
With my bread-maker cranking away, I began making sausage balls to take to Texas with us. That part of the project went well, but after I finished the first batch, I realized that one recipe just wasn’t going to be enough…especially when we decided we’d better take a random sampling and do a taste test on some of them (you can’t be too careful, you know…don’t want anyone to get a bad sausage ball). So, I started a new list of things to get from Wal-Mart on my next trip to town.
Next, I started mixing the ingredients for a large meatloaf for Christmas Eve lunch at Mother’s house…my contribution to the cause. When we moved from Liberal, we left our extra-large mixing bowls (the ones I used for cooking huge batches of spaghetti and meat sauce for the OM teams or large pots of pinto beans for faculty feeds). I really missed those bowls today, as I had to mix the meatloaf ingredients in two smaller bowls and then combine them into a large disposable baking pan.
Once I had the meatloaf all put together, I took it over to Mother’s house to store in her refrigerator until Christmas morning. While I was there I put on another pot of pintos to cook for the Christmas Eve dinner with the Terpening/Francis clan. I already had one batch done and sitting in a refrigerator at Jean’s house, but was going to need more so we could make a recipe of refried beans.
Leaving the beans to simmer for a few hours, I went to Wal-Mart to pick up several items that Barbara and I discovered we needed to complete or various recipes. When I got back to Big V, Barbara was busy turning out pecan pies…two for our Christmas Eve lunch at Mother’s house, and two to take to Richardson…plus she whipped up a huge batch of fudge made with Velveeta Cheese…who would have thought…it was actually good, too. By this point, there wasn’t much we could see in Big V except food and Christmas gifts, and we couldn’t take two steps without running over each other!
While the pies were baking or cooling, I mixed up the ingredients for another batch of sausage balls…ready to put them in the convection oven as soon as the last pie came out…boy, did we have a system running today!
While it was fun to be doing our cooking projects, the downside quickly became evident – piles of dirty dishes, silverware, and pots and pans were all over the place. We tried to get the dishes done as we went along, but they definitely were gaining on us. By late evening though, we had dishes put away and some semblance of order restored.
After a trip back to Mother’s house to check on her and pick up the beans, we returned to Big V for the night, weary with well-doing and semi-caught up on the holiday food preparation with an hour or so to just sit back and relax (while I waited for the last loaf of bread for the day to get turned out of the bread machine.
Monday, December 24: Christmas Eve, 2007
We were up by 5:00 this morning…don’t know why, since we could have slept in for a bit and still have everything ready for the day’s meals, but that’s the way it works sometimes.
I got some more bread going and then we spent some time at the computers, checking mail, writing notes, and looking at the weather forecasts for Artesia, Richardson, and Liberal for the next seven days.
When I went to Mother’s house at 9:00 to put the meatloaf in the oven, Barbara worked on getting the Christmas gifts in some kind of order so we would be able to pack them in the Vibe either tonight or tomorrow morning…it’s times like this that we miss our old Suburban and Windstar!
When I got the first pot of beans going on Saturday, Barbara said she’d like to have a batch of refried beans. We both remembered some that had been fixed for us by the ladies of the custodial crew at Liberal High School, and tried to recall what they had told us. We knew the recipe included beans (of course), chorizo, and white cheese…just had to guess at the proportions. We finally located some chorizo at Albertson’s in Roswell on Saturday, but couldn’t find the goat cheese we were looking for, so we decided to substitute mozzarella.
When I got back to Big V, I chopped an onion and started frying it and the chorizo while I heated and mashed the beans. We don’t have a blender, but I found a way to use a hand-held mixer to get the beans turned into a nice creamy paste. Once everything was combined and stirred in the frying pan, we just stood back and enjoyed the aroma of freshly cooked refried beans…our first effort at this recipe, and a very satisfying one.
After washing another stack of dishes, Barbara got started peeling potatoes for the mashed potatoes. While she was mashing and mixing ingredients, I got cleaned up and dressed in something more presentable that what I had been wearing; then, it was time to load everything in the car and head back into town.
What a feast and celebration we all had at Mother’s house! With our meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and pecan pies, Billee’s sweet potatoes, pinto beans, and cornbread, and Jane’s pecan pie, we sat down to a table laden with goodies.
Afterward, we enjoyed talking with each other, swapping stories, taking pictures, sharing gifts, and marveling at the miracle of healing that Mother is experiencing…what a wonderful way to celebrate the season!
on the activities for the evening.Jean called us later in the afternoon to tell us that a package for us had been delivered. I went over to get it. Sure enough, it was from John, Carol, and Randi in San Antonio. They are the only ones of the family that we are not going to get to see during the Christmas season…we’ve agreed that we’ll try to get together sometime in January. Therefore, Barbara and I enjoyed our 2nd round of Christmas via the phone with them. They had also sent a birthday gift for me…an apron and cooking mitt - just what I needed!
At 6:15 pm we left Jean’s house with Nancy, Becky, and Barbara Yehl to go to First United Methodist Church for their Christmas Eve service. We met the rest of the Terpening/Francis clan there and managed to fill up an entire pew with our group. It was a very meaningful service…just the thing we needed after all the hustle and bustle of the week.
When we returned to Big V we grabbed the pot full of beans and the container of refried beans and drove over to Jerry and Nancy’s house to join the group for a delicious Mexican food meal and an hour or so of visiting with everyone.
While we were on our motorcycle trip through Florida, we bought a variety of regional delicacies to give out as gifts to the family; we put the items in Christmas stockings that we found at a Cracker Barrel in West Palm Beach, and then devised a game to decide who would get which stocking.
The stockings all had different designs and no two held the same items, so it would be largely a matter of chance as to which set of gifts each person (or family) would receive. Using numbered tiles from one of our games, each person drew from a sack to see which stocking he/she could receive. If they drew numbers 1 – 8 they could select that numbered stocking from the mantle or “steal” it if the number had already been drawn by someone else. If they drew numbers 9-13 they didn’t get anything, and if they drew one of the wild card tiles they could take any package from the mantle or “steal” a stocking from someone else. After several rounds of drawing and good-natured stealing and re-stealing, each family or individual ended up with a stocking and got to open it to find out what they had received.
We then exchanged a few more gifts and then said good night to the clan so we could get back to Big V and begin getting the Vibe ready to pack for tomorrow’s trip while they all went to Jean’s house for their traditional family gift exchange.Tuesday, December 25: Christmas Day, 2007
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!
Today was another of those Point A to Point B days. Our objective, after loading the Vibe and driving over to see Mother, was to drive from Artesia, New Mexico, to Richardson, Texas. We got a later start than we planned…pulled out on U.S. 82 around 8:47 am and headed for Plains, Texas, where we got on U.S. 380 for the long haul to the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
We were hoping to get there in time to go visit Heather, Andy, Alexander, and Abby for a bit during the evening, but it took so long that when we were finally in our room at the Hawthorn Suites Hotel, we called to let them know that we just couldn’t face more traffic tonight. That worked out fine, since Heather was bathing the children and getting them ready for bed after a long and exciting day for their family.
We went to a Burger King a couple of blocks from the hotel, got a sandwich and some fries, and returned to our room for the night, a little road-weary, but happy to be here to continue our round of Christmas celebrations with family members.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007: Christmas in Richardson (Twice)
We woke up to a cold and rainy morning…a front had rolled in sometime during the night, leaving the Dallas/Fort Worth area drenched and chilly.
The first order of the day (after getting coffee and receiving our internet access codes for the day) was to figure out how to get to DFW Airport from Richardson so I could go pick up Mike and Kelly, who were flying in from Phoenix. I’d passed through the airport a number of times, but didn’t recall ever driving out there. I was also hampered by the fact that I didn’t have Barbara as my navigator…Mike had warned us that they had quite a bit of luggage plus several large pieces of equipment that Kelly had taken to Phoenix for a video shoot, so Barbara elected to stay at the hotel in case there wasn’t room for everyone.
As it turned out, getting to the airport was relatively simple, even with the rain and the early morning traffic. It took about 30 minutes to get there from the hotel…a little longer to find the right terminal. According to the arrival schedule posted on the internet, their flight would arrive at Terminal D, Gate 29, but when I got there and went inside, the arrival monitors showed that it would come in at Terminal C, Gate 14. So, I headed back to the parking garage, fired up the Vibe, and headed out in search of Terminal C. The terminal was easy enough to find, but locating the right parking garage took a little longer.
Luckily, I got where I needed to be, the flight was on time, and all the luggage came up the conveyor belt at the same time, so we were out of the place and headed back to the hotel in almost no time at all.
After greeting Barbara and showing the kids our room at the hotel, we all managed to squeeze into the car for a short ride over to Heather and Andy’s house to start the Christmas activities for the day.
We spent a couple of hours just visiting with each other and playing with Alexander and Abby. Alexander got a Candyland game as one of his gifts; he wanted his mother to teach us how to play it, but I told him I had taught her how to play it when she was little, so Barbara and I sat down on the floor to play with him. After the game, we celebrated his birthday, since we probably wouldn’t see him the next day.
We had to go back to the hotel a little after noon to gather up all the
gifts and take them back to the house. While we were there, Jimmy Clint, Cathey, and Jaycie arrived from Lubbock. Jaycie’s Christmas present from her parents was a trip to Dallas to go to the American Girl store, and they had reservations at our hotel. So, before they took off for their first visit to American Girl, we took the time to put a log in the f
ireplace and have our Christmas celebration with them.Whitney called while we were at the hotel. Little Jimmy had been sick for several days and they had to take him to the doctor in Lenexa this morning. It had been doubtful that they would be able to come to Richardson after all, but they decided they would try to make it. Since they were just heading out from the Kansas City area, they would have to spend the night somewhere along the way and get here tomorrow…a bit of disappointment for everyone, since we were looking forward to having everyone together tonight, but also very understandable. Christmas for our families really is a season, and we have learned that Christmas Day is whenever we are able to get together and enjoy each other’s company.
After returning to Heather and Andy’s house and visiting some more, we went to the store to buy a few things to fix for supper. We had told Heather that since she was going to have a houseful of company all week, we’d be happy to fix the meal for tonight. We were fortunate that our hotel room had a full kitchen in it, so we were able to fix everything there, bundle it up, and carry it back to the house around 5:45 pm, where we sat around and ate, talked and laughed l lot, and finally got around to exchanging gifts.
By 8:00 pm things were beginning to wind down…it was time for the children to have their baths and get ready for bed, so we had hugs all around and said our goodbyes to everyone before heading out into the night and back to our hotel room where we just kicked back and relaxed for a couple of hours before heading to bed to rest up for tomorrow.Thursday, December 27 (Christmas in Richardson – Again)
Happy 4th Birthday to grandson Alexander Mark Dondis in Richardson, Texas!
After breakfast in the hotel dining room with Jimmy, Cathey, and Jaycie, we loaded up in our two cars and headed over to the Galleria so we could visit the American Girl store together. Although Jaycie had done nearly all of her business there yesterday, there were a couple of things she wanted to show us.
When we got there at 9:00 am to be among the first in line, we discovered that this was the only day this week that the store would open at 10:00. Since it was cold outside and we didn’t want to sit in the car for an hour (especially after finding a good parking space), we decided to go inside the mall and wait for a while.
The stores inside the mall were all closed, but at least we were warm and comfortable and had a chance to walk around and look in the windows…also found a spot that looked good for us to meet Mike and Kelly when they came out to see us.
We were about to give up on Mike and Kelly and go to American Girl when Mike called to say that they were in the mall. Jimmy, Cathey, and Jaycie went on to American Girl while we backtracked to find Mike and Kelly. We eventually met up at The Corner Bakery, a really nice place for breakfast and coffee that overlooked the Galleria ice skating rink.
We were just about ready to leave to go find Jaycie and her parents when they showed up again, so we all sat around and visited (and took pictures) for a while before Mike and Kelly had to leave and we went with Jaycie to American Girl. The store was a total madhouse of after-Christmas shoppers, but Grams and Jaycie managed to find some things for Jaycie’s dolls that were absolutely necessary.
Barbara and I made one more stop before getting back to the hotel and then settled in for the afternoon to rest, relax, and enjoy the peace and quiet of our room.
About 3:45 Mike called to ask if it was ok for him and his sisters to come over for a bit. Whitney, Jim, and Little Jimmy had finally made it in from Lenexa a little earlier and wanted to come see us. We said to come on over and then set about straightening up the room for company.
The kids arrived around 4:15 and we started yet another Christmas celebration. This was the first time in ten years that we’d been with all three kids together during Christmas, and we wanted to make the most of the short time we had. In came Whitney, Jim, Little Jimmy, Heather, Michael, and Kelly. I had a fire going in the fireplace and Barbara had set presents out for Whitney and her family…it
really was beginning to look a lot like Christmas!We had a wonderful hour or so just visiting and catching up, watching Little Jimmy open presents, and enjoying each other’s company (and of course, taking lots of pictures). Too soon though, it was time for the kids to go back to Heather’s house, so we hugged (we’ve been doing a lot of that this week), said our goodbyes, and sent them on their way, feeling very blessed for the time that we do have together with family members and special friends, knowing that it isn’t about the amount of time spent, but the quality of the time we share.
At 6:00 we met Jimmy, Cathey, and Jaycie for supper at the hotel dining room…this is the only hotel we’ve ever stayed in that has complimentary breakfasts and dinners. The menu for tonight was barbecued chicken, baked beans, potato salad, dill pickles, and chips…yum-yum!At the end of the meal the kids had us open presents from them and then we went over to see their room, a deluxe town-house style suite. Again we said our goodbyes, wishing each other safe travel for tomorrow, and left to come back to our room to pack, load the car, get some rest, and bask in the glow of another wonderful day with family members.
Friday, December 28
We ended up sleeping in longer than we had anticipated this morning, so when we finally did get up, we started moving pretty rapidly. Barbara set out the last bits of luggage and I loaded them in the car; then, while she showered and dressed, I went over to the dining room and had a quick breakfast. By 7:30, we were checked out of the room and pulling away from the hotel and into early morning Dallas traffic.
Luckily, we were headed out of Dallas, so the traffic flow wasn’t so bad, and we were soon headed north on I-35 toward Oklahoma City. The trip was generally uneventful; Leah called a couple of times to give us weather updates since it had snowed quite a bit in the Oklahoma panhandle and southwest Kansas areas.
As it turned out, the roads were mostly clear, with just a little slush between Woodward and Bryan’s Corner, Oklahoma. We turned north on U.S. 83 just as the sun was setting, but had enough evening light hitting the snow-covered fields to get us safely to Leah and Ryan’s house in Liberal at 6:00 pm.
The pizza the kids had ordered arrived just as we were finishing unloading the car and moving into our room, so as soon as Barbara got our laundry going we sat down and ate, visited, and got caught up on recent activities.
After dinner we adjourned to the upstairs living room to enjoy yet another Christmas celebration. The room was beautifully decorated and we enjoyed opening gifts, talking, and hearing about all the plans for Baby McQuitty (due in June). Of course, several of the gifts were for the baby, so after they finished opening the gifts, we went to the nursery to see how everything would fit. It’s looking a lot like a baby in there! Now we just need the baby…
Barbara: Back when Leah was in high school, my Mom asked Leah what colors she would want for a baby blanket. She knew, I suppose, that she wouldn’t be around to see the baby but she wanted Leah to have a baby blanket made by her. Leah told her she wanted it orange, green, and yellow…not typical baby colors. After Mom died, I was thrilled to find hidden away in a drawer in her house a baby blanket that I knew immediately had to be for Leah. I kept it hidden away for years, but when we left Liberal to live in the motor home, I gave it to her. We were all delighted to find that it goes quite well with the theme of the baby’s new room. That baby blanket is seen in the top right photo of the collage.
Jim: We then settled at the dining room table to play a game of “Fact or Crap,” a table game in which the players have to determine whether statements printed on cards drawn by the “reader” are true or false. While we actually learned some (perhaps) useful information, we mainly learned that it was necessary to listen to the entire statement before deciding whether it was fact or crap, since the last word was often the determining factor.Barbara: Just for the record, Jim is full of all kinds of useless information (won’t use the other word) and beat the three of us like a drum!
Jim: By 10:00 o’clock we were all worn out after a long day, so we called it quits and went to our own rooms for the night.
Saturday, December 29
What a great day to just kick back and relax! Leah fixed us a wonderful breakfast and we all just sat around and visited throughout the morning.
After getting cleaned up and dressed, Barbara and I drove across town to see Mon Del for a haircut; after the haircut, we drove around town a little and then returned to the house where I took a short nap while Barbara and Leah went shopping.
Ryan and I watched some television until the girls got back from their trip to town. Ryan fried up some hamburger meat and Leah used it to whip up a wonderful pot of chili for our supper.While Barbara and Leah visited upstairs, Ryan and I retired to the downstairs living room to watch football for the rest of the night, alternating channels between the Patriots/Giants and the Penn State/Texas A&M games.
While they were talking, Barbara filled up a crock pot with roast and all the trimmings to simmer all night for tomorrow’s lunch.
With the games finally over, I called it a night and went back upstairs to read and then fall asleep. A great day…no travel – just visiting with the kids and relaxing.
Sunday, December 30
We got up around 7:30 am to start getting ready for Sunday school and church. I dug out the bread maker and got a loaf of bread ready to start baking while we were gone. We had distributed loaves of homemade bread along the way during the week, but I had run out of ingredients and time before we left Artesia (was that really less than a week ago), but knew that I had left one of my bread makers here for Leah, so she and Ryan would also have a fresh loaf to start the new year.
It was wonderful to join so many friends in Don Witzke’s Sunday school class at Liberal First Baptist Church. When we get the chance to attend there, we always feel as if we’ve not been away at all; we just pick up the conversations where we left off and have a great time of Bible study and fellowship.
We’d been looking forward to having Leah and Ryan join us for one of David Bagwell’s great Sunday morning sermons, but David was out of town with his family today. Instead, Greg Turpin did an admirable job of filling the pulpit and delivering a memorable message about the songs of CHRISTmas and their meanings for each of us.
After the service we returned to the house where the roast, potatoes, carrots, onions, and fresh-baked bread were ready for us to sit down and enjoy. Even the clean-up was a time of visiting, and soon after we had finished eating, the kitchen was put back together. I started a new loaf of bread for the kids and then Barbara and I retired for our Sunday afternoon nap.
We must have been tired, because it was around 4:00 when I woke up and 5:30 when Barbara awoke from her nap…guess all that driving that finally caught up with us.
We sat around and talked some more and then Leah began our dinner for the night…enchiladas, Spanish rice, and her own bean dip recipe. We certainly can’t say that we didn’t eat well during this visit!
After dinner we all sat down to play some board games. We started with one called Wrong Answer, in which contestants had to create a wrong answer to the questions in order to score. After a couple of rounds, we decided that we weren’t really interested, so we switched to Tri-Bond, a game in which the contestants are given three terms in various categories and have to determine what all three have in common. We stayed with this one to the bitter end, with Ryan and Barbara edging out Leah and me.
By the time we finished the game it was time for all of us to head for bed; Leah and Ryan had to get up and go to work the next morning and Barbara and I wanted to get an early start on the last day of our trip.
Monday, December 31: New Year’s Eve
What can be said about a travel day? We were up by 5:30 am and on the way to Wal-Mart for gas by 6:30. Leah called while I was at the gas pump and said that I had left my coat on the kitchen counter, so we made a trip back to the house (with a quick stop to get breakfast at Sonic) and then headed for Artesia.
With fairly good weather and a tailwind most of the way, we made good time, arriving at Mother’s house shortly after 2:00 pm (MST). After checking on her and taking some things into the house, we headed on out to Big V.
The next two hours were a flurry of activity as we opened up Big V, took down all the Christmas decorations and boxed them up, gave the interior a quick clean-up, and then started unloading the Vibe and putting everything away. With both of us working at it, we had everything put away and the place straightened up by 4:30.
Nancy Terpening walked by while we were getting Big V put back together this afternoon and invited us to join them for the concert and fireworks that would be part of Artesia’s New Year’s Eve celebration tonight. We told her we’d consider it, but that we would probably be too tired to do much celebrating.
After eating some supper we walked over to visit Jean for a bit and then returned to Big V for the evening. Sure enough…we just couldn’t muster the energy to go back out at 10:30 with Jerry and Nancy. In fact, we couldn’t come up with enough energy to even sit here and watch the new year make its appearance. After a couple of traditional New Year’s Eve telephone calls to Gary and Joyce Whitaker in Houston and Max and Marion Johnson in Santa Fe, we went to bed to read and then fall asleep well before 11:00…2008 would just have to start without us.
The Year in Review
2007 marked our first full calendar year of retirement, and once again we found ourselves wondering if we needed to get regular jobs so we could schedule some down time. While we didn’t get very far to the north or west during the year (the planned trip to the Pacific Northwest on the motorcycle didn’t get beyond the planning stages), we had two trips to Virginia and North Carolina, four to Florida (including three weeks helping to build a church in Lady Lake and a 12-day motorcycle ride along the Gulf Coast and down to Key West before returning to Lady Lake for the church dedication), as well as trips to Liberal and Lenexa, Kansas, and Lubbock, San Antonio, and Richardson, Texas.
During the course of the year we mourned the deaths of family members, celebrated the births of a new grandson and a step-great grandson, attended college and high school graduations for special young people in our lives, spent more time with children and grandchildren than we’ve ever had the opportunity to do, met countless new friends, and reconnected with old ones.
In our previous life I thought I spent an inordinate amount of time on the road driving activity buses for the band or Odyssey of the Mind teams (and how I wish I had kept track of all that mileage), but that can’t begin to compare with what we managed to do this year.
In the last six months we drove 16,798 miles (9,568 in the Vibe, 4,452 in Big V, and 2,778 on the Voyager). For the year, we logged 34,631 miles (19,330 in the Vibe, 16,798 in Big V, and 3,978 on the Voyager). Surely, God has answered for us the Prayer of Jabez, in which we asked that He keep us safe and expand our horizons!
Only God knows what is in store for us during the coming year, but tonight we are so very grateful for the many blessings that we have received during 2007, including His protection as we covered so many miles driving across the country.
To each of our faithful readers we offer our sincere gratitude for your support and comments along the way and the companionship that we feel as we connect with you through our journal entries; we are richly blessed with the ever-expanding family that God has granted us through our travels.
May each of you have a wonderful and prosperous 2008!
With love from Artesia, New Mexico,
Jim & Barbara
“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better person.”---Benjamin Franklin, politician, inventor, and author
Though no one mentioned it yesterday, each of us in our own way has a difficult time with 
During the afternoon Jim met for with an attorney to prepare for a deposition that was scheduled for Monday. Following that meeting, we went over to Bill and Abbie’s house for one last get-together with them, Rod and Ruth, and Bob and Nell.
When we decided we had enough pictures of the park, we saddled up the Voyager again and continued east.
Another mangrove bit of trivia I found interesting was when we approached Key Largo where they are building a new overpass I realized that they were having to cut through a mangrove island to set the pilings for the highway extension. So…I grabbed the trusty Sony camera and went to work!
At Capt. Bell’s Restaurant – Good food and a great time at the “reunion” dinner
Above: Pictures taken during our journey through Bethlehem. Note the Roman soldier in his motorized chariot in the upper left. Evidently this was a prototype that didn’t catch on for a couple of thousand years.
