Sunday, December 14 – Saturday, December 20, 2008
Sunday, December 14
We were so happy to be back at First Baptist Church in Liberal this morning. Ryan didn’t get in from his job until around 5:30, so he stayed ho me and slept while Leah went to Sunday school and church with us. While Leah was in her class, Barbara and I joined the group that is headed up by our good friend Don Witzke. We have yet to find a class that meets our needs as much as this one does, and we thoroughly enjoyed joining in with them for today’s lesson on the importance of missions.
Sunday school was followed by a great church service with Pastor David Bagwell delivering a heartfelt (and very pertinent to us) sermon. Afterwards, we got to visit a number of friends that we left behind in Liberal when we retired.
I had started my brown-in-bag chicken before we left for church, so when we returned to the house, we had a meal of baked chicken with potatoes, onions, and carrots – a meal fit for a king.
The afternoon was spent in each of us making multiple trips to various stores. Barbara and I went to Maurice’s, J.C. Penney, and Cato’s to do some shopping, while Leah and Ryan went their separate way. Later, Ryan and I made a Wal-Mart run.
Since Ryan was probably going to be called out on jobs over the next few days, we decided to celebrate Christmas with them tonight. Our gift exchange was very meaningful, with special and very thoughtful presents given and received. Of course, there was also a great deal of time given over to taking lots of pictures.
Later, Ryan and Leah got to preview some of the projects that Barbara had been working in to give to other family members as we see them this Christmas season.
Monday, December 15
Sunday, December 14
We were so happy to be back at First Baptist Church in Liberal this morning. Ryan didn’t get in from his job until around 5:30, so he stayed ho me and slept while Leah went to Sunday school and church with us. While Leah was in her class, Barbara and I joined the group that is headed up by our good friend Don Witzke. We have yet to find a class that meets our needs as much as this one does, and we thoroughly enjoyed joining in with them for today’s lesson on the importance of missions.
Sunday school was followed by a great church service with Pastor David Bagwell delivering a heartfelt (and very pertinent to us) sermon. Afterwards, we got to visit a number of friends that we left behind in Liberal when we retired.
I had started my brown-in-bag chicken before we left for church, so when we returned to the house, we had a meal of baked chicken with potatoes, onions, and carrots – a meal fit for a king.
The afternoon was spent in each of us making multiple trips to various stores. Barbara and I went to Maurice’s, J.C. Penney, and Cato’s to do some shopping, while Leah and Ryan went their separate way. Later, Ryan and I made a Wal-Mart run.
Since Ryan was probably going to be called out on jobs over the next few days, we decided to celebrate Christmas with them tonight. Our gift exchange was very meaningful, with special and very thoughtful presents given and received. Of course, there was also a great deal of time given over to taking lots of pictures.
Later, Ryan and Leah got to preview some of the projects that Barbara had been working in to give to other family members as we see them this Christmas season.Monday, December 15
Barbara stayed home to work on one last DVD and enjoy some down time this morning while I did my “back to school” thing. I always enjoy going up to Liberal High School to visit teacher friends (at least, those who are still there – there’s been quite a turnover in staff in the last two and a half years). Those folks were both family and friends for 17 years, and we will be forever tied together through the experiences, both personal and professional, that we shared at LHS.
I went back to the house at noon to join Barbara, Leah, and Ryan for lunch, and then made a visit to my dermatologist, Dr. Mark Kaminski, one of the top practitioners in his field. I didn’t plan on getting to see the doctor today…just wanted to get an appointment sometime in February or March, and have him refill a prescription to tide me over until then. I scheduled an appointment for March 31 (the earliest opening in his schedule), but was told that I couldn’t get the prescription refilled until after the appointment because it had been over a year since my last visit. Donna, who schedules appointments, took my name and number and said she’d visit with the doctor to see if he might be able to work me in tomorrow.
Imagine my surprise when, after being back at the house for less than half an hour, Donna called miracle!
I got back to the office a little before 3:00 and before long I was in the examining room. I knew I was having some problems, but was surprised when Dr. Kaminski told me that instead of the 8 spots on my scalp and face that he treated a year or so ago, there were now 18. He dug out his trusty nitrogen gun and blasted away and afterward gave me the lecture about wearing a hat and using sun block regularly…maybe I’ll finally get it through my think head that I need to start doing what he tells me.
Tonight Barbara and I went out to Danny and Charlene Plett’s house for chili and conversation. We were joined by Luz Riggs, who had taught at West Middle School with Barbara before we got her to transfer to the high school. Charlene, Danny, and Luz were among the Odyssey of the Mind parents of a team we had that went to the World Finals competition for six consecutive years before we retired, so we had lots of things to talk about.
Spencer Plett, Danny and Charlene’s younger son and a member of that OM team, was home from Manhattan, Kansas, on his Christmas break, so he also joined us for the meal.
Too soon the party had to end; we needed to get back to the house and everyone else had to go to work tomorrow morning, so we all said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways.
We hadn’t been home very long when the doorbell rang…it was Jacob Riggs and Sergio Padilla, also OM team members, who heard that we were in town and came by to visit and get us caught up on what they have been doing. Both are currently attending Seward County Community College in Liberal, but will be transferring to Wichita State University next year.
Tuesday, December 16It was another busy day of appointments and visits. We took our time getting around, but had a much-needed appointment with Mon Del Anthony at 11:00 to get our hair cut. We’ve “made do” the last few months, but it was definitely time to let Mon Del get us back in shape.
After getting shorn, we stopped by the USD 480 district office to take care of some business there and visit some of the folks who we remembered from our days in the district. It was great to see Cheryl Carson, Terry Adams, and Jerry Clay again and to talk with them for a few minutes.
We went back to the house for a bit and then paid a short visit to the Edward Jones office to review our accounts with Jeff Weeast. With the current state of the economy and the relatively small amount we have on deposit there, it didn’t take very long for a thorough review (unfortunately). But, it was great to visit with Jeff and with Aleta Arnold, both of whom are parents of kids that we had in school when we were teaching in Liberal.
We made a last visit to the high school so Barbara could visit with some folks there while I wandered around and got caught up with a few of the teachers I had missed yesterday, and then went to Kitch-Brenneman Funeral Home to pay our respects to our good friend Tom Shumate. Tom’s funeral ill be tomorrow morning, but we will be unable to attend due to previous travel commitments.
Leah joined us tonight as we attended the viewing for Tom at First Baptist Church. A large number of church members and other friends were there, so we got to see some friends that we had missed the last couple of days, as well as to talk with the Shumate family, Kristen, Daniel, Andrew, and Verva Jean.
Back at the house we got busy packing for tomorrow’s trip, trying to get as much as possible stashed in the car so we could make an early and orderly getaway from the house. We stayed up and talked with Leah and Ryan until we had all run out of words and were just wrung out, so we said good night and goodbye and went to our separate corners.
Wednesday, December 17We got up early, finished loading the car, and were on the road by 6:48 this morning, making our way east on U.S. 54 to Wichita and then up to El Dorado before catching I-35 for the rest of the trip to Lenexa. It was cold and cloudy all day (high temperature of 20, and that didn’t last more than a few minutes), but the roads were relatively clear and the trip was without incident.
We got to the Lenexa Days Inn around 2:00 p.m. and, after unloading the car and getting the room more or less set up, dropped off for about a one-hour nap…guess the late night and 400-mile trip just wore us out.
We went over to Jim and Whitney’s house at 5:30 to visit with them and get caught up on the latest exploits of Little Jimmy. Jim took us all out to eat at a new pizza place and then we returned to the house to talk some more, play with Little Jimmy, and watch a “Little Jimmy” DVD that Barbara had made for a special Christmas gift. It was all great fun, but the kids had to get Little Jimmy ready for bed and themselves ready to go to work in the morning, so we settled on some plans for tomorrow and returned to the Days Inn where we called it a day and settled in for the night.
Thursday, December 18
Today was pretty much a goof-off day for us. It was miserably cold in Lenexa, so we just slept in and did a lot of nothing for a while.
Eventually, we had to go out and do some grocery shopping. With both Jim and Whitney working today, we decided last night that we would fix a Puerto Rican meal for them and have it ready when Whitney got home around 6:30; but first, we needed to buy the things we needed for those special recipes that Margarita and Maria taught us last March. We first went to a Wal-Mart just off 75th Street, but found that they didn’t even carry groceries…so much for our plan of one-stop shopping. Next, we found a Hy-V grocery store that had everything we needed except the sofrito. We went on to the house and unloaded everything and while Barbara started work on a cake, I went to two other stores to look for sofrito; but I couldn’t find any, so I just had to make do by substituting some Pace’s picante sauce…definitely not the same thing, but an acceptable substitute.
Back at the house we worked together to get all the dishes put together in time for Whitney and Jim to get home. At the same time, we got to visit with Abby (formerly Reimer), who watches Little Jimmy while Whitney and Jim are at work.
Jim got home first and took over the babysitting duties and then Whitney arrived around 6:20, just as the food was ready to put on the table. Everyone (including Little Jimmy) was hungry by then, so we all sat down to a meal of Puerto Rican chicken, rice, and black beans…yum-yum!
After dinner we cleaned up our mess in the kitchen while the kids spent some time together and then it was time for the next round of Christmas. We gathered around the tree and exchanged gifts and visited until it was time for them to get Little Jimmy ready for bed and us to go back to the motel and pack for tomorrow’s trip.Friday, December 19
We both slept in a bit longer than usual this morning, but it was okay since we needed to wait for the sun to get up and some of the early morning traffic to clear before we hit the road again. We finally got away from the motel around 8:45 and made our way down to Ottawa, where we stopped to gas up the Vibe and grab some McBreakfast.
From there on it was just another travel day, although we did enjoy the gradually rising temperatures as we headed south through Tulsa, Okmulgee, Henrietta, and McAlester on our way to Durant, Oklahoma, where we stopped for the night.
Saturday, December 20
Happy 64th Birthday to Jim…now we’re both the same age again!
After eating breakfast at the motel, we got in the car and continued our journey south to Richardson and the third of our stops on the 2008 Christmas Odyssey.
Heather, Andy, and the kids were out shopping and taking care of business when we arrived at 11:15 (earlier than we had planned), so we took the time to get the car unloaded and do some gift wrapping. It was really nice to be outside with the sun shining and the temperatures in the mid-60’s…much warmer than we had been in either Liberal or Lenexa. We’re thinking that all the kids ought to move to south Florida or even Puerto Rico!
The kids got back a little before noon and we got moved in and set up to stay a couple of nights. I set up the bread maker and started cranking out loaves of bread to give to Heather and Andy and to take to the family in Mineola.
We spent the afternoon talking, playing with Alexander and Abby, and doing a little more shopping. Barbara went out to the store while Alexander, Abby, and I took our naps. Then, it was time for Barbara and me to go back out to get some more things we needed for the rest of our trip.
Heather and Andy whipped up a delicious birthday dinner…grilled steaks, baked potatoes, creamed spinach, and rolls…what a great way to celebrate a special day!When we were finished with dinner, we took a short break and then gathered around the table again for birthday celebrations for Alexander and me. Alexander’s birthday isn’t until the 27th of this month, but we wanted to celebrate while we were here, so we just doubled up. It was a great time for all, with two cakes and some very thoughtful gifts.
The rest of the evening was spent in more visiting as Alexander and Abby took turns getting their baths and then coming out to play with Grams and Gramps.“Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.” ~Washington Irving
Having a wonderful time with Heather, Andy, Alexander, and Abby in Richardson, Texas,
Jim & Barbara
Jim & Barbara
