Sunday, January 1 – Tuesday, January 31, 2012
A “Little” Overview of January
Welcome to the first entry of Journal 12, a series of journal and blog postings that have described our retirement years since we left Liberal, Kansas, on June 30, 2006.
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We began the new year on the road, but after returning to Mineola on January 3rd, we were pretty much in place for the remainder of the month. Except for a weekend trip to Cleburne and Richardson and a shopping trip to Lindale (woo-hoo…11 miles away) we didn’t get out of Wood County during this first month of 2012.
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January 23 marked the beginning of the third year of being Mother’s primary caregivers. It was on that date in 2010 that we gave up life in the motorhome at our lot on Lake Fork to move into Mother’s house to take care of her and manage her financial affairs.
For those who are new to our journal/blog, Mother has advanced Parkinsonism. While Mother doesn’t often have tremors, one of the easily recognizable symptoms of Parkinsonism, she is suffering from increased atrophy of some areas of her brain and has more and more frequent periods of memory loss or displacement, as well as general confusion about where she is (or what she has done during the day). For the most part, she is generally alert, responsive, and talkative, but it takes a while for her to form the words she wants to say and get them out, resulting in frustration on her part.
Still, Mother is fun to visit (we try to see her at least once a day…sometimes more than that), and she keeps up with the news by reading the local newspaper and watching Fox News on the television set in her room.
Every couple of months we are able to arrange a home visit for a few hours, usually built around some special occasion such as Thanksgiving or Christmas. We have already arranged for transportation from the nursing home to the house on February 15 to have a combined celebration of Valentine’s Day and Mother’s 89th birthday (which is on the 11th).
It was never our wish or desire to have Mother in a nursing home, but after a couple of very severe illnesses related to infections, there was no other choice. At Wood Memorial Nursing Home, Mother receives top-notch care from a loving and compassionate staff. She is also under hospice care through Heart-to-Heart Hospice of Tyler and receives a lot of extra assistance and attention through them. Before we settled on Wood Memorial, we visited several nursing homes in the Tyler, Mineola, Quitman area. We are convinced that God led us to Wood Memorial, because we cannot imagine a better facility or staff than what we found there.
Our traveling and volunteer services were curtailed when we became Mother’s caregivers, but it has become increasingly evident that we are exactly where God intended us to be, doing what He intended us to do. We are extremely grateful to family, friends, and our church family at Yantis First Baptist Church for continued active support and prayers.
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While January didn’t have very many highlights, we did go through a horrible time when we had to make the decision to put down Spike, Mother’s 14 ½ year old Boston terrier. We have often joked that Spike was Mother’s favorite son, but anyone who knew Spike knows that we aren’t far from the truth when we say that. Spike was a beautiful and loving pet (he didn’t know he was a dog) that brought love and laughter through the house every day of his life. Spike’s death put Mother into a tailspin for a few days (and didn’t do much for us, either), but we are all moving ahead, knowing that we did the most humane thing possible for Spike. And besides, we still have Bonita, Mother’s 13 ½ year old Chihuahua to keep life interesting.
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Since we didn’t go anywhere or do much, our life in January centered on taking care of the house, staying involved in our church activities (Barbara spent hours working on her part of the new church directory), and assembling all the records necessary for filling income tax returns for Mother and us. This was the first time in my life that tax documents were turned in before the end of January…a far cry from our usual second week of April rush to get the job done.
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We continue to be blessed by renewing old friendships through our Facebook pages and connections. Though we were brought into the world of Facebook kicking and screaming, we soon learned that many former students, fellow teachers, and other “lost” friends were only a few keystrokes away.
In the last few months, I have located students that I taught as beginning band members when I started my teaching career in North Carolina in 1970, and have found that some of them have gone on to careers in teaching or music performance. Barbara located a former student from Lubbock who recently starred on Broadway with Tyne Daly and is now performing in London. The success stories we have heard from former students has convinced us that maybe we didn’t do too much damage along the way.
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Having said all that, it is now both the time and place to recognize our family birthdays for January and move on to the pictorial record of the month. Thanks to all of our very special family and friends for following along with us on this retirement journey as we begin Volume 12 of the series. We appreciate all the comments that you have passed along, and look forward to hearing from more of you.
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Special Birthdays for January
Nancy Hargrave (Barbara’s sister) 15th; Jerry Little (Jim’s Brother) 16th; Leah McQuitty (daughter) and Kelly Little (daughter-in-law) 22nd; Paul Francis (“adopted” nephew) 23rd; Jesse Fairfax (special volunteer friend) 24th; Jim Farnham (son-in-law) 26th; Rhett Johnson (step great-grandson) 29th.
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Sunday, January 1
Happy New Year Everyone!!!
For those who know us and our passion for traveling, you’ll not be surprised that on the first day of the new year, we awoke in Artesia and prepared for a day of travel; nothing exotic though, as our destination for the day was Lubbock.
It was close to 11:00 when we said our goodbyes to Jean Terpening and hopped in the car for the drive across U.S. 82 East.
Since we had to drive through downtown Artesia, we decided we’d stop and get some pictures of the newest piece of sculpture commissioned by Artesia Main Street. The new sculpture, Freedom’s Fire, is currently on display on a trailer in the parking lot behind the Heritage Walkway in the center of town. Freedom’s Fire will eventually have a permanent place in the Veteran’s Memorial Park in front of City Hall, but there is still work to be done to redesign the current park before setting the new sculpture in a place of prominence.
Freedom’s Fire joins several other Artesia Main Street sculptures that are placed in the downtown area and represent the history of the city.
As we approached Lovington on the drive to Lubbock, Barbara asked me if I wanted to stop to see Marie, my former mother-in-law. Since we were so close, it only made sense to try to see her if she was up to a short visit, so we drove to the nursing home and I went inside while Barbara read some more of the book she had started.
The interior of the nursing home had been renovated since the last time I visited, but I soon found an employee who directed me to the lunchroom where Marie/Grandma was sitting. Grandma recognized me tight away and we began talking as if we had just seen each other yesterday. I was able to get the attention of one of the attendants to ask if he would mind taking a picture of us to share with the kids. The young man was more than happy to take a few shots of us once we moved away from the other folks in the room.
When we had visited a little more, I said goodbye to Grandma, went back to the car, and we started out once more. We had planned to stop for a treat at Dairy Queen in Plains, Texas, but forgot that it was New Year’s Day and everything was closed, so we had to forego the treat. Fortunately, the local Allsup’s convenience store was open and we were able to make a “necessary stop,” along with about 12 carloads of folks who were facing the same necessity.
Once back on the road, we made the final 100 or so miles of the trip to Lubbock without excitement. It took us a little while to find our motel, the new Best Western Plus Palms. We knew where it was, but not how to get there, but finally figured it out. Our room was ready and waiting on us, so it didn’t take any time at all to get the car unpacked and move everything in that we needed for the night’s stay.
Before we could call Jaycie to let her know where we were, she called to ask where we were and when we would be in town. We told her we were at the motel and were ready for her to come visit. Soon, Jaycie, Cathey, and Stacy showed up and we had a really nice time together before Cathey and Stacy left and we began our time with Jaycie.
After talking in the room for a bit, we decided we were hungry. Since not much was open on a combination Sunday/holiday, and we didn’t want fast food, we settled on Furr’s Cafeteria, one of my favorite places because I can get all the liver and onions I want and everyone else can find something they like.After eating, we drove around town to see some of the places where Jaycie’s friends live and the neighborhoods where they like to go “chalking.” When we cruised v-e-r-y slowly past the house where one of Jaycie’s favorite male friends live, I shocked Jaycie by laying down on the car horn for a few seconds…she couldn’t wait for us to get the heck out of there after that!
We went back to the motel for more visiting and lots of picture-taking. Jaycie loves the camera and has no trouble mugging for it, so it was no wonder that we were able to get so many shots of her around the motel area.
All too soon it was time to take Jaycie back home for the evening, but she assured us she’d be back tomorrow morning to take part in our Lubbock Christmas activities.
As we left Jaycie’s house, we decided we needed to pay a short visit to our friend Becky, who has been a very special friend of Barbara’s for many years. We called to see if Becky was home and was entertaining visitors this late and she said to come on over.
When we got to Becky’s house, we realized that we hadn’t brought the camera with us, so we had to make do with the cell phone cameras.
Barbara: Since Becky and I went through life together after the deaths of our husbands back in 1990, we have walked a million miles with a healthy, in our opinion, sense of humor. Jim has learned through the years that it’s just best to roll with the punches of our humor; and, by now we have him thoroughly indoctrinated! One of the first things I told Jim before we married was that our marriage vows had to include a contract that I would die first as I don’t intend to walk that route again. (As if I have any say in the matter, but it’s part of that humor I mentioned above.) Once Jim met Becky and fell in love with her like me, I told them that since I get to die first, then I expect them to have coffee (which they both love and I despise!) and pecan pie together and tell “Barbara” stories. Becky doesn’t do pecan pies so Jim will have to make the pie and Becky the coffee. Now that I’ve explained the history, the photo above probably makes more sense. When we decided to take pics, Becky said, “What? It’s not time for pecan pie and coffee yet.” That led us all to the pie plate for Jim and coffee mug for Becky! So…if you ever see Jim, eating pecan pie and drinking coffee with Becky, you’ll know the reason why!
Jim: When we were visiting with Cathey and Stacy this evening, Cathey mentioned that she had gone to the cemetery and placed flowers on her dad’s and Jimmy Clint’s graves. Cathey said she had taken pictures and would send one to us. When we got in tonight after visiting with Becky, Barbara checked and found this picture waiting for us.
Monday, January 2
We took our time getting around this morning…had some breakfast at the motel, worked at our computers for a bit, and then got cleaned up and packed the car, all in anticipation of a great day with Jaycie.
We wanted some more photos this morning, so while we waited for Stacy and Cathey to bring J-Bird to us, we scouted out some photo sites in the front of the motel and finally settled on the fountain area so we could be ready when everyone got there.
And, of course, we had to have a little fun with Jaycie mugging for the camera…
As soon as Stacy and Cathey left, we climbed into the car and made the short drive to a nearby shopping area to do so last-minute (okay, maybe a little after the last minute) Christmas shopping with Jaycie.
Our first stop was at Rue 21, definitely not a place for Gramps to hang out very long, but I gave it my best shot until it was clear that I was entirely out of my element. I gave free rein to Barbara and Jaycie and went outside to walk around and enjoy the beautiful sunshiny morning while they continued to look for the latest in fashions for a 14 year-old eighth grader (and soon to be in high school, as she reminded us).
Our next stop was at Target, where Jaycie and I went in to find a Jaycie’s gift for Barbara. Once we had settled on something, I paid out and went next door to the World Market (where Barbara had been killing time), while Jaycie and Barbara looked for something for Granny and me.
When our shopping was completed and we were back in the car, we asked Jaycie where she wanted to go for our “Christmas” dinner. She decided that she really wanted to go to Chick-Fil-A, but didn’t want to eat inside (which suited us just fine, as we didn’t want to mingle with the lunch crowd either). Barbara and I went inside, placed and received our order, and then went back to the car to decide where we would eat our celebratory repast.
Jaycie, being quite adventurous, said that sometimes she and her friends just pick a street and house at random and then go there and sit in front of the house to have a meal or snack. We thought that sounded okay, so Jaycie picked a street and we started looking for a place to park. The problem was that it was a pretty ritzy neighborhood and didn’t have much curbside parking, so we ended up parking along on hole of the golf course that sat in the middle of the housing.
We ate our meal (with Jaycie ducking her head and hiding every time someone drove by) and then distributed and opened our gifts to each other. Barbara and I were more than pleased with the gifts that Jaycie picked for us. Barbara got The Hunger Games (a book Jaycie had told her about) and I received a two-disc set of The History of World War II. Since I’m a bit of a military history buff, she couldn’t have gotten anything better for me.
Jaycie was ready to go, but we insisted that we had to have pictures of the occasion, and since we couldn’t take good pictures in the car, we stepped outside and took a few shots of us holding our new treasures.
With our shopping, dining, and gift-exchanging over, it was time to get Jaycie back to Stacy and Cathey, so we headed back toward the house, only to find out through an exchange of calls that Cathey and Stacy were eating at a Chinese restaurant. We finally found the restaurant, went inside, and proceeded to have another very nice visit as Jaycie told them of our adventures of the day.
Soon, it was time for us to move on down the road, as we hoped to get as close as possible to Abilene before dark, so we said our goodbyes (I tried to embarrass Jaycie by laying on the car horn and yelling her name as loudly as possible as we drove through the parking lot), and we took off, with one more stop, we hoped, in mind before leaving Lubbock.
Barbara: Another Lubbock friend that I could never have walked the path I have without is Ann. Ann and I taught together (along with our dear friend Arnold who died this past year) at Wheelock for years and were the best team, the best friends, and best advisers one could wish for. However, as so often happens, we get wrapped up in our own issues and lose touch with ones who mean so much to us. This happened with Ann, as I was dealing with the loss of travel freedom, the death of Jimmy Clint, etc. Ann, herself was dealing with the death of her mother, her husband’s battle and eventual death with cancer and the miles separated us. However, this trip to Lubbock, I told Jim that we had to find Ann! And, as so often is the case, we found that God played His part in our reunion. Only 30 minutes before we arrived at her doorstep, Ann had been returning from a trip to Colorado. She almost didn’t answer the door as she was so very tired and still dealing with grief. But…she did!!! And, what a joyous time we had hugging, talking a mile a minute, filling each other in with our lives.
The rest of the day was anti-climactic. We left Ann’s house and got on the loop, but I wasn’t thinking what I was doing and missed the turnoff for Slaton and Post, and was headed toward Ralls when we finally realized what I had done. That is the road we take when we go through Wichita Falls, but definitely NOT the road we wanted today, so we turned around, got back on the loop, and found the Slaton exit.
By the time we got to Post, it was getting semi-dark, so we decided we were too tired to go on and checked into a Best Western Hotel (using those bonus points earned several years ago when we spent lots of time traveling), ordered some McDonald’s takeout, and settled in for a quiet evening of doing absolutely nothing noteworthy.
Tuesday, January 3
Our primary goal today was to get back to Mineola as soon as possible, but not without a stop in the Abilene area to see our friend Dandy. Dandy had a doctor appointment this morning, but as we got closer to Abilene, we talked to her and agreed that we could all meet at the Flying J Truck Stop in Tye, which is very close to Dyess Air Force Base and Dandy’s house.
We got to the Flying J just a few minutes before Dandy and were waiting when she drove up. We took some pictures outside and then went in for coffee and a short break before continuing our journey.
After we had gotten caught up on all the essential news, we got back in our respective cars and headed out, Dandy to her house, and us back on I-20 East, driving as fast as we dared so we could get back to the house in Mineola and start our new year there.
We did make a short stop at a Target in the Dallas area so Barbara could buy the other two books in the Hunger Games series. She was almost through with the book Jaycie gave her yesterday and knew that she had to find out what happened next.
Once we got back to Mineola, we stopped at the nursing home to let Mother know we were back and then went to the house to do the traditional unpacking, washing, and settling back in. Boy, were we ever glad that we had taken down all the Christmas decorations before we left on our trip, because we wouldn’t have had the energy or enthusiasm for that project tonight!
Since we got back in so late, we weren’t able to get Spike and Bonita from the kennel today, but we knew they would be okay where they were, and we were looking forward to a nice quiet evening without the “babies.”
Once we got everything put away, we checked our email and Barbara showed me two pictures she had received from John…one of he and Charlie (his brother-in-law) busy making their trademark salsa, and another of John’s step-grandson, Rhett, holding the Thomas Train pillow we had given him for Christmas.
Thursday, January 5
As we had promised Mother before Christmas, we took Spike to her room for a visit today. Spike has been Mother’s baby and favorite son for 14 ½ years, and she dearly loves him.
Friday, January 6
This was undoubtedly the worst day we have spent in a long time. We have been watching Spike’s health deteriorate over the last few months, and have visited with Mother about his condition. Before we left for our Christmas trip, Mother reluctantly agreed that we would have to do what was right for Spike. With that in mind, we decided to not put Spike down and then leave Mother by herself to worry about him. Instead, we put both puppies in the kennel while we were gone and then got them out so Mother could visit with Spike prior to our final trip to Dr. Bradshaw’s office.
We didn’t sleep well at all last night, but Spike and Bonita seem to have done okay, judging from the way they were sleeping when we finally got up.
We gave both of the dogs extra attention throughout the day, but the pall of sadness hung over the house all day, especially after I went out in the mist late in the morning to dig a grave for Spike under one of Mother’s beautiful trees.
Just before it was time to take Spike to see Mother for the last time, he got up from his bed and wandered toward the back of the house. I followed him closely to try to avert any “accidents” along the way, a common occurrence during the last month. Spike walked through Mother’s bedroom and the sun porch out to the backyard, where he just stood and looked around for a couple of minutes before looking up at me and then walking back into the house. If I didn’t know better (and I’m not so sure that I do), I would say that Spike was deliberately taking a last look around the place.
I called Dr. Bradshaw’s office and tearfully told them that I needed to know the best time to bring Spike in for his last visit. I was told that maybe we should bring him in at 4:30 as the last appointment of the week for Dr. Bradshaw.
At 3:30, I put the blanket in the car, Barbara put Spike in her lap, and we drove to the nursing home to see Mother. When I told Mother that we were on the way to take Spike to be put to sleep, she screamed, “No!!! You can’t do that!” It wasn’t what we were hoping for, but after going over all of Spike’s problems again and reminding Mother of our previous conversations, we all sat quietly while Spike rested on Mother’s bed. Finally, Mother said, “I won’t tell you to do this thing, but if you can do it yourself, then go ahead.”
After a few more minutes, and as the clock slowly rolled toward 4:30, I gathered Spike in my arms, Mother kissed him and patted his head one last time, and we returned to the car for the short ride to Dr. Bradshaw’s office.
When we put Spike on the examining table, Barbara and I both asked Dr. Bradshaw if there was anything else that could have been done. Dr. Bradshaw, who is one of the most caring and compassionate veterinarians in the country, said, “If there was anything else I thought I could try, I would try it, but I don’t know of anything else that would be best for Spike.”
Having said that, Dr. Bradshaw began the preparations for euthanasia, gently explaining each step as he did so, while Barbara, the assistant, and I patted Spike. As we all stood there with tears in our eyes, Dr. Bradshaw administered the injection, released the cuff, and put his hand on Spike as we all watched the gradually slowing breathing. Dr. Bradshaw continued to monitor Spike’s breathing and heartbeat, but after about five minutes just nodded his head to let us know that Spike was gone. It was quiet and peaceful, but our hearts were broken to have to give up this kindest and most loving pet, even though it was the most humane thing we could do for him.
We left Dr. Bradshaw’s office and returned to the house where I carefully picked up Spike in the blanket we had wrapped him in at the office, and then carried him to the little grave that I had prepared this morning. We gently laid him on the layer of bricks at the bottom of the grave, and then began shoveling and raking the dirt over Spike’s little body and finally covering the site with bricks and stones to deter any predators.
Later, when we had cleaned up a bit, we went back to the nursing home to tell Mother how it had gone and to share Dr. Bradshaw’s words with her. As we were talking, I reminded Mother of the day I arrived back in Artesia after Daddy was killed in 1966. Jerry and Ernie had already arrived from their respective bases and had been to the funeral home to see Daddy. Mother asked me to drive her down there and before we went inside she said to me, “Son, what you are about to do may be the most difficult thing in your life.”
I asked Mother if she remembered that, and she said she did. I then said, “Well, as difficult as that was, today was even more so, because when Daddy died, it was completely out of my hands, but I had to make this decision today, and it was a decision I didn’t want to make, but was the fairest thing for Spike; anything else would have been selfishness on our part.”
After sharing a couple of Spike stories and letting Mother know exactly where Spike was buried, we said goodnight and left for the evening to return to a house that would be taking on a different character as we began dealing with Bonita as an only child.
Sunday, January 8
Today was another normal Sunday for us as we went through our regular routine of getting dressed, going to see Mother at the nursing home, going to Yantis for the morning church service, returning to Mineola for the afternoon, visiting Mother again at 4:00, and then returning to Yantis for choir practice and the evening service.
The only change in the routine was that this morning we were dressed earlier than usual and decided to take advantage of a beautiful morning to get some photos of us in our Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes.
We tried some different poses this morning, but all the pictures still looked pretty much like us…guess that some days you just get what you get.
Monday, January 9
I went to Wood Memorial right after lunch to see Mother, but she was in such a depression over Spike that she didn’t want to talk and the girls told me she refused to eat her lunch. After running a few errands, I returned to the house and told Barbara what I had found. Neither of us knew what to do about it, so we just went through our routines for awhile until Barbara said, “This can’t continue. We’re going to take lunch to your mother and we’ll remind her that even though Spike is gone, she still has Bonita, grandchildren, and great grand-children to be excited about.”
Now, those of you who know Barbara, know that when she gets on a roll, she keeps on rolling until she gets where she thinks she needs to be. So, after Barbara had her shower and got dressed, we went to McDonald’s for some sandwiches and fries and a mocha latte (Mother’s favorite drink). While we ate, we began to remind Mother of all the things she still has to look forward to. Then, Barbara said, “For example, I need you to teach me who to vote for in this crazy election.”
Mother looked Barbara, pointed a finger and moved it around in a circle, and said, “I’m just going to move my finger in a circle over the ballot and whoever it lands on is who I’m going to vote for this year!”
With that, we knew that Mother would eventually return to her old self, but that it would take time and encouragement from all of us working together.
Thursday, January 12
Our Kansas friends, Gene and Michelle Young, have now returned to the area for the winter months. We invited them over tonight for snacks and a game night. Tonight’s game of choice was Mexican Train. We had been told that it was similar to Chickenfoot, a game that we play quite a bit. Gene and Michelle took us through the basics of the game and we had a really fun time with it as we got each other caught up on the latest news and swapped teaching stories.
Friday, January 13
The morning found us up early and ginning around to get ready for a trip to the Dallas area for a couple of days. After visiting Mother and reminding her that we would be spending the night in Richardson with Alexander and Abby, we headed west on I-20 toward Dallas, and then cut south on U.S. 67 to Cleburne and a short visit with Leah at the new apartment she and Ryan found when he was transferred from Pampa by Halliburton.
Leah gave us the grand tour of the apartment (that she had expertly decorated) and then Barbara’s sister, Nancy, and brother-in-law Tom stopped by to join us for lunch. We didn’t get to spend much time in Cleburne, but we had a really good time while we were there.
The evening was pretty low-key with the kids. First, we had some playground time at a school near the kids’ house, and then McSupper.
Saturday, January 14
When Heather and Andy asked us if we could keep Alexander and Abby this weekend, they said that if we needed to, we could just take them back to Mineola and Alexander could miss his soccer match today. Our response was that he would not miss soccer, because we wanted to see him play. We’ve heard all about Alexander’s scoring prowess, but haven’t seen it for ourselves, so today was going to be our opportunity.
Since the match wasn’t until 2:00, we all had plenty of time to take it easy this morning. I fixed bacon, eggs, and waffles for breakfast and then we got the kitchen cleaned up and the house more or less squared away before getting dressed and ready to go to the soccer match and then back to Mineola.
We decided that we should leave the house extra early so we could find the sports complex in Plano and know where we were supposed to be. So, we trucked across the northern part of the Metroplex to Plano, found the Plano Sports Authority complex, and then backtracked to a nearby Wendy’s for lunch.
It was just after lunch that we discovered Alexander had left his shin guards at the house, but instead of driving back to Richardson, we went to a Walmart that was close and Barbara and Alexander went inside to find a pair of shin guards while Abby and I looked for a gas station so we could fill up the tank.
With new shin guards soon in hand, we made our way back to the sports complex and waited for Alexander’s team and coach to arrive so they could take team pictures prior to the game. As we waited, we wandered around the indoor complex that houses 8 full basketball/volleyball courts and a ¾ size soccer field with artificial turf…what a great place for the area youth to spend their weekends!
When the soccer match was over and Alexander completed his team meeting, we got back into the car and drove to a local frozen yogurt place for a treat and then headed back to Mineola, stopping as soon as we got to town for a short visit with Granny before going to the house for an evening of fun and plates full of Gramps’ world-famous spaghetti and meat sauce. Oh, yes…AND a New England Patriots playoff victory!
Sunday, January 15
It was a busy day for all of us as we got around this morning and made it out to church in time for the fellowship breakfast, followed by Sunday school and church. After the service, we went to the Yantis Community Center for a 90th birthday celebration for one of the ladies in the church, and then returned to the house just long enough to grab some food to take to the nursing home so we could share lunch with Granny.
Heather and Andy drove in from San Antonio later this evening and we had time to visit while we were getting the kids’ things together and loaded into the car. Before they headed back home to Richardson, the kids and I went back to the nursing home for a short evening visit with Granny, who is ALWAYS up to a visit from her grandkids and great-grandkids.
Thursday, January 19
With our Kansas friends, Gene and Michelle Young, back in the Great State for a few months, and our Wisconsin friends, Gene and Carolyn Neyer, done with their travels for a while, we have all settled on Thursday nights as our food and fun night. For the time being, we supply the house and all of us throw together whatever treats and snacks we want to provide, and we spend a couple of hours visiting, laughing, eating, and playing board games.
Tonight we introduced the Youngs to Sequence, a game that Gene and Carolyn taught us at their house a month or so ago. Needless to say, a great time was had by all!
And, because it was all in fun, we won’t mention that the men trounced the women by a resounding score of 4-3 in tonight’s action!
Sunday, January 22
Today a special birthday greeting goes out to daughter Leah Renee’ McQuitty, who reached the ripe old age of 30!
Another birthday greeting today goes to daughter-in-law Kelly Little. Unfortunately, we don’t have any embarrassing childhood photos of Kelly, so we had to settle for a family photo from our recent Christmas trip to Kansas City.
Aside from birthdays, it was pretty much a normal Sunday except that tonight was a very special night for the Yantis First Baptist Church family as two of the men, Charlie Teague and Gary Long, were ordained as deacons.
The ordination ceremony was solemn (mostly), and very meaningful as Charlie and Gary gave their testimonies and accepted the charge of service that was given to them.
Following the solemn ordination service, we all engaged in another solid Baptist tradition, food, fun, and fellowship in the activities center.
Wednesday, January 25
The rainy season hit us early this morning and brought in some much needed moisture…we need to have the ground saturated so runoff can begin to bring the lake levels back up. Barbara got these shots of the rain around Mother’s house.
Thursday, January 26
Special birthday wishes go out today to son-in-law Jim Farnham, who is celebrating his 37th. We really do need to get the kids to find some embarrassing (if not incriminating) photos of their spouses that we can share with the public!
The rain continued today, but of more interest than water falling from the sky was the way it washed off the plants and left them glistening.
Bonita has never been trained to the leash, but since we had to put Spike to sleep, we’ve tried to get her to do something other than lie around the house and sleep, eat, and cry. One thing that Spike really enjoyed was going with me to get the mail and then walking around the neighborhood. Bonita isn’t as thrilled about it as Spike, but she has started walking with me each day (after an initial protest, just to show she is still in charge).
If it’s Thursday, it must be game night. The Youngs and Neyers came over this evening and we enjoyed several hours of talking, eating, and playing a rousing round of Mexican Train.
Friday, January 27
I bought a chainsaw a couple of weeks ago and have been trimming the trees on Mother’s property. Unfortunately, we never thought to get the camera out to capture images of me doing my John Wayne imitation as I hacked away at the timber; otherwise, Barbara might have also caught the shot of a limb coming down off one of the oaks and breaking her angel statue.
Barbara was telling John, our neighbor about it and he said he thought he might be able to fix it for her, even though it was in several pieces. Today, Barbara got these shots of John finishing up the repair project. The angel looks even better than she did when she was new!
While Barbara was at home this afternoon, I was out on Lake Holbrook for an afternoon of fishing with Gene Neyer. The wind got up right after we got on the lake and whipped the waves around quite a bit. Even though we were anchored above a school of crappie, we didn’t have much luck enticing them to go for what we were offering. In addition to each of us catching a tree trunk at 31 feet (and losing our tackle in the process), Gene managed to avoid being skunked by reeling in a sunfish and a crappie. Oh well, as they say, “A bad day fishing is still better than a good day at work!”
Saturday, January 28
Pastor David has been working on a plan to begin a new ministry for men at Yantis First Baptist Church. To that end, he enlisted the assistance of Kent Pate, who was serving as an interim pastor when we first began attending YFBC a couple of years ago.
Today, they kicked off the ministry with a men’s breakfast and a message from Billy Foote, an area evangelist who has been preaching for 51 years.
Nearly 30 men arrived early at the church and enjoyed a bountiful breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits, gravy, juice, coffee (lots of coffee), before participating in some ice breaker activities and then getting down to business.
While there were several visitors at the gathering this morning, it was especially good to have Gregg Turpin of Liberal joining in the fun and fellowship. We just had to have a photo of the three former Liberalites (Pastor David Bagwell, youth pastor Jeremy Durig, and me) along with Gregg. If we had worked out a plan to have the four of us from Liberal First Baptist Church all together at Yantis First Baptist, even if one was just visiting, there is no way it would have happened! We do serve an awesome God (and a God who has a great sense of humor)!
