Sunday, August 22
Jim: We got up early this morning in order to get a lot of things done before starting our activities.
While Barbara was busy fixing breakfast for Mother and putting lunch together in the crock pot, I was packing clothes and loading things in the car for a trip to Lubbock to be a witness at a sentencing hearing for Jimmy Clint. (refer to April 18-24 entry for background)
We got word this week that there would be a hearing on the 23rd to decide whether Jimmy would have to serve more time or whether he would have a different assignment or probation. His attorney and Barbara both thought it would be good for me to be there.
We left Mother in Sophie’s capable hands for a couple of hours and went to Yantis for the fellowship breakfast. When breakfast was over, I hopped into David’s pickup (with his permission, of course) and headed toward Lubbock. Meanwhile, Barbara went on to Sunday school and the morning worship service and then returned to the house to finish preparing lunch for Mother and her guests for the meal, David, Lorri, Amber, and a friend of Amber’s.
For my part, the day consisted of about 450 miles of travel until I got to downtown Lubbock, checked in at a Super Eight (hereafter known as the Avenue Q Roach Motel), and settled in for a bit before visiting Jimmy Clint for a half hour at the jail and then returning to the motel to get as good a night’s sleep as possible.
Barbara: After lunch was over, Edith and I returned to our respective rooms to take a short nap before I prepared to go back to Yantis for the evening services. Otherwise, the day was spent just keeping in touch with Jim to make certain he arrived safely in Lubbock.
Monday, August 23
Happy Birthday to Cousin Madelyn Thompson in Mineola!!!
Happy Anniversary to Jerry and Nancy Terpening in Artesia, New Mexico!!!
Jim: After grabbing a roll at the motel breakfast nook, I drove to the courthouse, located a 2-hour parking place, and went inside to the fourth floor. Kyle, one of Jimmy’s good friends, joined me around 8:45 and we went into a meeting with Jimmy’s attorney. A few minutes later, Tim, an attorney friend of Jimmy’s who was also a witness, joined us and we got our final instructions before the hearing began.
We were led to believe that we would probably be through by noon, but as it turned out, the prosecution spent so much time with its witnesses that we were dismissed at 5:15 without any of the three of us leaving the witness room (except for lunch) or giving testimony…not only that, there was still one prosecution witness still to be called. And not only that…when I went to the pickup, I had a parking ticket…the end of a perfect day!
Kyle and I did get to visit with Jimmy from 5:30 until 6:00 this evening…they even gave us a “private” visitation center, so we were able to talk without multiple conversations going on all around us. We were all tired from a long day, so we agreed that I wouldn’t return for the regular visiting time tonight; instead, we’d all try to get some rest before meeting again tomorrow morning at 8:30 to continue the session.
Barbara: One reason Jim went to Lubbock and I stayed here with Edith is that it is very difficult now for Edith to get in and out of the shower alone. It is very frustrating to her that her independence has been stripped by the Parkinson’s, but we make the best of it. Today was a shower day and it is quite a lengthy process now. However, once we got that behind us and her ready for this new day, I began working on lunch as TJ was joining us.
.jpg)
Waiting for news from Jim was quite nerve-racking; so I kept busy doing laundry and other chores around the house. At four, Sophie came to spell me a bit so I could do some errands outside the house as well as go out to Carolyn and Gene’s to see the new paint job Carolyn had accomplished in their home. While I was there, I got treated to an accordion concert by Gene. It was so restful to sit and visit with Carolyn all the while hearing the Gene’s accordion music floating all around! I hated to leave the cocoon of peace that I had found there!Back at Edith’s Sophie and I visited some before she left, and then Edith and I began the nightly routine of preparing for bed.
Then we received some photos from another granddaughter of Jean’s (this one Jerry/Nancy’s daughter). Amanda sent us photos of Daniel as he started his elementary stint in first grade in Knox City. His younger brother Jonah wasn’t exactly sure what to think about Daniel leaving him behind. (Amanda said to disregard the marquee message...it hadn't been updated when she took photo)
Tuesday, August 24
Jim: Kyle and I met at the courthouse at 8:30 this morning, planning to be finished with our part of the proceedings by 10:30 or so.
As Murphy so eloquently put it, “If anything can go wrong, it will,” and Murphy was spot on today. Everyone was in place on time except Judge Ladd, and he didn’t show up until after 9:30. Then, the judge decided that he would hear pre-trial motions for other cases before he tackled the continuation of Jimmy Clint’s hearing. At that point, Jimmy’s attorney reminded the judge that it was 9:50 and he (the attorney) had to be at the airport at 10:20 to pick up people involved in a federal case. Since federal cases usually trump local issues, the judge issued another continuance for Jimmy Clint’s hearing for 10:00 am tomorrow (Wednesday). The attorney then said he was not going to call either Kyle or me as witnesses and told me to return to Mineola and Kyle to get back to his work.
That being said, I headed back to the parking lot, got in David Bagwell’s pickup, and spent the rest of the day driving the 450 or so miles back to Mineola, arriving at the house around 7:30 pm.
Barbara: Knowing that Jim was on the way home to Edith and I and knowing that God is in control of Jimmy, I spent the day doing a whole lot of nothing except fixing lunch for TJ and Edith again. It’s always amazing to me how quickly a day passes and yet it seems like I do nothing!
I spent a lot of the time on the phone with At Home Health Care out of Tyler. They are going to help with a nurse and with home physical therapy for Edith. Just setting up the initial visits is very time consuming. Also, time was spent ordering a wheelchair for Edith to be used in emergencies. Medicine Chest loaned us one before Jim left just in case Edith’s feet and brain didn’t communicate. However, thankfully, that hasn’t happened since Jim left; so we haven’t had to use it; it’s very old and bulky and I have a hard time pushing it.
I did get a call from Michael saying that Kelly got home safely the other day from Pakistan and that she had had a quick check-up with the doctor and all is well with her and the baby. Mike and Kelly are in the planning stages of an overseas mission trip in October so it was exciting to hear some of their plans.
Also, our favorite office manager/secretary (actually, we don’t know her title…just know Holiday Villages couldn’t do without her!), Karen sent an email proudly announcing that she was a grandma of Abigail, who was born today! Congrats! Jim called and said he was in Sulfur Springs; so I let Edith know that I was going to go pick him up and then we’d both be back shortly!
The rest of the evening was spent catching up with each other and with Jim touching base with Michael.
Wednesday, August 25
While the day started out at its usual slow pace, it did get busy later on. We knew that Jimmy Clint would be back in court this morning and that was in the back of our minds all day, but we never did find out today what, if anything happened.
Highlights of the day included the delivery of a new wheelchair for Mother. The friendly folks at Medicine Chest here in Mineola had loaned us one last week, but now Mother has a new and more streamlined set of wheels and it will spin on a dime!
Also, today we had visit from Jennifer, the nursing supervisor for At Home Healthcare. Jennifer came by to do a nursing evaluation of Mother and her situation. As we have been with all the At Home Healthcare folks, we were very pleased with Jennifer’s friendliness, professionalism, and interaction with Mother and us. There are a lot of healthcare providers around, but we feel that we made the right choice for Mother with At Home Healthcare!
Barbara received an email today from Karla Dailing, Dustin Dailing’s mother. Dustin was a member of the last West Middle School Odyssey of the Mind team that Barbara coached, and graduated from LHS this year. Karla wrote to say that they had taken Dustin to Kansas University this past weekend to begin the new school year as a Jayhawk. While they were there, they did some skydiving together and Karla shared some photos of the experience. (Look at Dustin's smile...he's one happy camper!)
Jim: Now that the Dailing’s have an “empty nest” in Liberal, they are considering doing some traveling, so we invited them to come to Mineola this fall and spend some time out at Big V. Sure hope that they will take us up on the offer!
Thursday, August 26
For whatever reason, the three of us were moving slowly this morning…it was the first time in a long time that we all slept in past 7:00, a very late morning for us.
We made the executive decision, after a particularly nasty fight with the oven door, that we were going to purchase a new electric range for Mother’s kitchen. Mother has spent more in repairs on the range than a new one would cost, and they want another $200 to replace the door that won’t close (or open) properly. We decided that in time the range would have to be replaced anyway, particularly when the time comes to sell the house, and there wasn’t any point in struggling with the broken range just so someone else would have a new one when the moved in.
I called Roger Green, TJ’s handyman, and asked if he’d come by and show me what he could do about reworking the cabinets so we could install a free-standing range. The current appliance is a drop-in model that came with the house, so we know that there will have to be some cutting and shaving to get a new range in place.
Later in the day we drove over to Sears to see if they still had the close-out model that we liked, and they did, so we went ahead and purchased it on the spot, asking if they would hold delivery until at least next Thursday when we would have the kitchen ready to install it.
We did find out today that Jimmy Clint will be transferred to the Lubbock County Rehabilitation Treatment Center as soon as all the paperwork clears. We went online to see what we could find out about the facility and were impressed with what we saw. There will be a lot of intensive instruction as well as group meetings. After 90 days, they will assist him in finding a job and he will be out in the public during the days.
Jimmy will need regular clothes for the duration of his assignment to the center, so we will make a trip to Lubbock this weekend to go through his storage shed and come up with as many things as we can find that are on the approved list for his daily living.
The rest of the day was spent piddling around the house and working on the journal/blog to get the latest edition finished and posted. Since we’d had a late breakfast and an even later lunch, we prepared a light evening snack for Mother and then Barbara and I went out to Sonic for a late meal around 10:00 pm before returning to the house to eat and then close the place down and go to bed.
Friday, August 27
With plans on tap for a flying trip to Lubbock this weekend, we made a list of chores that had to be done before we could leave Sunday and started working our way through the list. First, I took the car to the local GM dealer to be serviced and have the tires rotated and then I stopped off to see Sophie and confirm that she would be able to stay a couple of nights with Mother.
Once Sophie said that everything was okay with her, we whittled away at the list by making some necessary telephone calls to Lubbock, taking a trip to Walmart for the necessities for Mother and Sophie, stopping at the Medicine Chest to get current on prescriptions, driving to Quitman to pick up Gene and Michelle’s mail at the post office, taking care of some business at the local Edward Jones office, Mowing the lot just north of Mother’s house, and other general chores around the place.
By the time we had the list completed, we were tuckered out and the day was gone. While Barbara worked at her computer and watched a little TV tonight, I went online and listened to the opening game for our Artesia Bulldogs. The ‘Dogs were hosting the Lovington Wildcats tonight and in a game that featured three of the top runners in New Mexico high school football, Artesia managed to win the shootout by a score of 63 – 41…can anyone say, “Defense?”
Saturday, August 28
Most of today was spent inside with a major housecleaning operation. Once again we had let things slip away from us and it was time for some serious dusting, sweeping, and mopping, as well as catching up on laundry.
Even with all that, Barbara put together a chicken-fried steak dinner that would have impressed anyone, anywhere. The three of us ate until our eyes glazed over and then had to go lie down to let everything settle.
This evening we gave the puppies their monthly medications. Luckily, they are very good about both procedures, especially since one of the steps is to swallow a pill that is wrapped in cheese; they had no problems at all with that!
Tonight we spent an hour or so packing the things we thought we might need for the trip to Lubbock tomorrow and then headed for bed and a good night’s sleep.
"No one can go back and make a brand new start, but anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." – Doug Hanson
From Mineola,
Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams
