Wednesday, November 1
Wow!!! What a great way to start a new month! Here we are in colorful Hot Springs, Arkansas, for a couple of days of kicking back, relaxing, exploring the town, and seeing the sights...
The museum was our first stop of the day...
Lunch at one of the bathhouses...
And our own visits to collect water from the springs...
From dawn 'til nighttime, it was a day full of fun adventures and promises to ourselves that we'll have to come back someday.
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Thursday, November 2
Today's main adventure was to visit Garvan Gardens, the University of Arkansas Botanical Garden, and the related sights...
The Anthony Chapel is one of many highlights...
A visit to the top of the mountain for a fantastic 360-degree view of the area...
And then back down to the town for lunch, some more sight-seeing, and water gathering...
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Friday, November 3
One of the things I really wanted to do in Hot Springs was to reconnect with a man who was a friend and mentor for many years. Earl Hesse was my cooperating teacher when I student taught at Goddard High School in Roswell, New Mexico in the Fall of 1965. Earl was then, and continues to be a funny man, a great teacher, and a superb musician. Now in his 80's, Earl continues to perform with music groups in Hot Springs on a regular basis.
I didn't realize it at the time, but Earl was to play a major influence in my teaching career, and I'll always be grateful to him for what he taught me. I had emailed Earl that we were in town and would like to see him, but it turns out he was out of town on a bus tour this week. However, Earl called me this morning as we were packing, and it was as if I had been transported back to 1965. We promised to get together the next time we travel to Hot Springs, and I'm really looking forward to that reunion.
Finally, it was time to finish packing and go home. But we couldn't leave without one last set of selfies...
The drive back to Mineola was uneventful, which was great for us because we had had just about all the excitement we could handle for one week.
And then...we got a text from our San Antonio friends Sonny and Carol letting us know that they would be in Canton today and tomorrow for First Monday.
After we got home, we unpacked the car, took a quick nap, and then hopped on Taz for a ride to Canton to have dinner with our friends. (I even got to try out my new handlebar cup holder).
It was full dark when we left Canton, and while we don't like to ride after dark, the clear skies and full moon made it more than tolerable.
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Saturday, November 4
While Barbara tackled the laundry that had accumulated during our trip, I went out to clean and straighten the garage. She snapped this photo without me knowing about it, and then captioned it, "What a Dork!"...I don't get it...
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Sunday, November 5
When our dear friend and neighbor Addie passed away last year, she left everything to her beloved First Baptist Church of Mineola. One of the things she wanted to happen with the financial part of the estate was to install an elevator to assist disabled persons to more easily access the different floors of the church.
Today we joined our friends Jack and Linda, and John and Wanda at the dedication service for the new elevator (as well as for an inaugural ride).
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Monday, November 6
Today was a day to stay home and try to get the house back in order, pay the bills, and try to wind down from all the activities of the past week.
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Tuesday, November 7
While Barbara stayed home to take care of business, make sure our finances are in order, and work on the journal/blog, I joined two other men from our church, Jerry Nickerson and Wayne Smith, in working with Texas Baptist Men to help build a new dormitory at Breckenridge Village, a residential facility in Tyler for the mentally disabled.
My building projects have always been to work with steel for church buildings, so I got a crash course in working with wood today.
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Wednesday, November 8
I had some things to take care of around the house and yard today, and Barbara had a pedicure scheduled for this afternoon, so I passed on the opportunity to return to Tyler and Breckenridge Village.
When Barbara got home and was showing off her new toe-do, I showed off some jalapeno bread loaves that I had baked.
Our church has recently started up a formal Bible study on Wednesday evenings, so tonight we drove out to Yantis for Bible study and praise band rehearsal.
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Thursday, November 9
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Friday, November 9
We lazed around the house most of the day and then got gussied up in our biker clothes to attend a veterans recognition and meal at the Scooter Shack in Lindale.
Our first stop, though, was at the train station area in Mineola to take a photo of ourselves with one of the new decorations.
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Saturday, November 11
Celebrate Veterans Day, America!!!!
We posted this on Facebook today...Jim, Jerry, and Ernie Little, United States Air Force veterans, and Henry H. Colwell, Barbara's first husband, United States Navy.
Even though it was cloudy and cool this morning, we still saddled up Taz and rode to Winnsboro to a craft fair and to see our friend Pat.
After returning to Mineola, we had a chance encounter with Madelyn and Jarhett, and then went to the Saturday matinee movie at the historic Select Theater to see Let There Be Light.
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Sunday, November 12
With our travels over for awhile, we were able to get back to our regular Sunday schedule at Yantis First Baptist Church. I played in the praise band and did the special music...
And Barbara and I did the children's sermon...
1st
Corinthians 13 – Love
JIM: This morning Pastor
Craig will be teaching and preaching from 1st Corinthians 13, which
is sometimes called, “the love chapter,” because in it, Paul is talking to the
church at Corinth about what love truly is.
We learned last week that God gives us all
certain spiritual gifts to use in the body of the church, but more importantly,
He wants us to have His love for everyone we come in contact with. That doesn’t mean we have to like what others
may say or do, but our duty is to show love toward everyone so they can see
that we have something very different in our lives that they want to have in
theirs. Many times we say we love
others, but that’s because of something they might do for us, like giving us
special Christmas or birthday presents, but our love for others should be so strong
that we don’t expect anything back from them.
Mrs. Little has prepared a sweet example of how
important love is in our daily lives.
BARBARA: As you can see, I’m working on a recipe for
cookies---chocolate chip cookies. Raise
your hand if you like chocolate chip cookies.
Wow – everyone likes chocolate chip cookies, don’t they! In my bowl I have mixed together flower,
sugar, butter, baking soda, vanilla, and eggs, but something seems to be
missing. Can you help me think of what I
have forgotten? Oh, yes…the most
important thing…chocolate chips!!!
So let’s think
for a minute. If I have in my mixing
bowl flour and baking soda, but have no chocolate chips, do I have chocolate
chip cookies? If I have in my bowl
creamy butter and brown sugar, but have no chocolate chips, do I have chocolate
chip cookies? If I have in my bowl
vanilla and two large eggs, do I have chocolate chip cookies? I might be able to make cookies, but NOT
chocolate chip cookies.
I’m going to
put away my mixing bowl because I want to talk to you about something even more
important. I want to tell you what Paul
says in his letter to the early Christians in Corinth. Paul says the most important ingredient or
gift of the Christian life is love. Paul
wants us to know that no matter how many Bible memory verses we know, or how
many Sunday school classes we attend, or how many sermons we hear or preach, no
matter how much we volunteer to help others, if we do not have God’s love in
our hearts for what we are doing, we are no different than the rest of the
world.
Now, let’s add
some chocolate chips to the cookie dough to make the mixture complete.
JIM: Having a Christ-like love is the most important thing that makes us
stand out as Christians. Love is like
the chocolate chips in our chocolate chip cookies. But, loving others isn’t always easy. We have to be patient, kind, humble, and
forgiving. Loving also takes lots of
practice…that’s why we have this big church family…so that we can learn and
practice love on each other, and then go out and share our love with the rest
of the world.
JIM: Heavenly Father, your love never
fails. Please help us to love others the
way you love us. It’s in Jesus’ name we
pray, Amen.
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Monday, November 13
Today we made a rare trip to Lindale just because we wanted to. Usually, it's a doctor visit that takes us either to or through Lindale, but we wanted to hit some stores. One of our stops was at Lowe's, where we didn't find what we were looking for, but did find a small electric fireplace. We bought a larger one several years ago for the living room, but have not been able to find what we thought would look good in our bedroom. Well, today we made that find, and then rushed home to put it together and get it working, even if we didn't need the extra heat this evening.
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Tuesday, November 14
We managed to pack a lot into this day. First on the agenda was to take TJ shopping at Beall's. After that, we returned to the house so I could change clothes and put on my Bugles Across America Uniform and make preparations for a military funeral.
We drove to Emory...made a short stop to visit Hooten's Hardware Store (our first, but certainly not last visit), and then drove out to a cemetery east of Lone Oak to join an Air Force Honor Guard. After making sure everyone knew where they were supposed to be and what they were supposed to do, we had some down time before the graveside service, so we took some of that time for photos.
It was late in the afternoon by the time the service was over, so we called Angela and Ladd while we were on the way home to see if they wanted to join us at Jalapeno Tree for supper. We had some lag time before they could get to the restaurant, so we spent our time just wandering around the quaint downtown area of Mineola.
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Wednesday, November 15
Today was another work day at Breckenridge Village in Tyler. Barbara drove over to visit with the wives of some of the volunteers and go out to lunch with them. When she got back, she came over to the work site to take pictures of the project.
Tonight...back to Yantis for Bible study and praise band.
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Thursday, November 16
Happy Birthday to son-in-law Ryan McQuitty!!!!
We had some great Patriot Guard Rider experiences today. Norma McComb was hosting a sewing day at the Guard Shack to work on vests for Snowball Express. We don't sew, but we knew there would be other things to do.
We started helping with sorting and counting the various patches that would go on the vests. Then Norma asked us if we were interested in sewing. She insisted that we would be able to learn, so she set up a couple of machines, handed us a stack of leather vests and some patches, and turned us loose. It took a couple of tries to get the hang of it, and we were much slower than the others, but we did get our fair share of vests completed...and we didn't have needles sticking in our fingers!
As teachers, we spent out lives believing that one learns best by doing. Today we were the students, and found that Norma is an excellent teacher!!!
Friday, November 17
Happy Birthday to granddaughter Randi Colwell!!!!
We had so much fun the first few days of this week that we didn't get around to working on our children's sermon for Sunday...until today. Thankfully, we were able to get it all finished so we could work in other things that we had planned for the rest of the week.
Saturday, November 18
We returned to the Guard Shack today to continue with the vest project. There weren't as many volunteers as there were Thursday, but the team managed to complete sewing patches on the vest inventory and pack all the vests in the trailer to be transported to Dallas for Snowball Express in December. Norma was ecstatic, and we were quite pleased with ourselves for learning a new skill. Maybe we'll have to bring Mother's old sewing machine down from the attic and try our hands on some sewing projects...or maybe not😼
Sunday, November 19
Our children's sermon this morning was well received by children and adults alike.
Monday, November 20
What started out to be an eventful day ended up being a wasted day. Several days ago I received a request from Bugles Across America for a service at DFW National Cemetery. Because of the distance and the number of buglers in the Dallas area, I don't usually accept those missions. However, shortly after seeing the first post from BAA, I received a notice from PGR that the requested mission was for a former coast guardsman who had passed away in a nursing home and had no family, and very few friends.
Well, I have done more Coast Guard services than for any other branch, and have had a good relatonship with the Coast Guard recruiting station in Dallas, so I went back through BAA and accepted the mission, because every veteran deserves a military funeral, and no one should be buried without someone there to pay honors and respect.
So, we got up early this morning and headed for Dallas, only to find when we got there that everyone involved with this particular service was clueless as to what was going on, including the DFW National Cemetery staff. It turns out that DFW wrongly stated that this particular coast guardsman was part of a ceremony and inurnment for 24 men and women representing nearly every branch of the military. Not only that, there were multiple ceremonial teams converging at the site of the service.
It took a while to get things sorted out and someone finally figured out that the mission I had accepted was a solitary service that was scheduled just 15 minutes before the next service. Then it got really interesting.
There was another bugler present who had been enlisted for the service by a leader in the Knights of Columbus...and we still don't know how that happened. Then, a group of North Texas PGR members showed up and said THEY were in charge of the service. although no one yet knows how that happened.
With time running out to begin the service, the NTPGR ride captain called the two buglers together and suggested that we could do Echo Taps. Without going into details, I told him I wasn't comfortable with doing that, and said that the other bugler could cover the ceremony. I didn't go into significant details like the fact that Echo Taps is not in the military protocol for funerals, and that I had no clue who this other man was (nor he, me), and Echo Taps is, at best, a very tricky sounding that should be done only after a lot of practice.
In the end, I notified the Coast Guard Honors Team that someone else would be sounding Taps, and Barbara and I got in the car and drove away. 200 miles and several hours down the drain later, we got back home, still shaking our heads over what a colossal blunder this was (there are a couple of military terms that fit, but since this is a family journal...). If this had been my first BAA mission, I might never have volunteered for another one, but in this case, BAA was just the vehicle for delivering the request. Supreme egos took over from there.
Tuesday, November 21 - Wednesday, November 22
With nothing else important going on, we spent these two days cleaning house, taking care of the business of daily living, and preparing for the Mineola family Thanksgiving dinner at Angela and Ladd's house on Thursday.
Barbara spent hours in the kitchen preparing some of her special dishes, including three pecan pies (Grandma Terpening's recipe), cheese grits (Mother's recipe), and some other side dishes. Not only was the house clean, it sure did stink purty!
Thursday, November 24
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
We managed to ignore and avoid all the parades and football games today, and along the way we had a wonderful time with the local family as we celebrated the day with fellowship and feasting.
Friday, November 24
All the Thanksgiving preparations had consumed our time this week, so this morning we made ourselves sit down and get started on the children's sermon for Sunday.
This afternoon Barbara worked in the house and I went outside to celebrate the beautiful weather by working in the yard.
Saturday, November 25
Happy Birthday in Heaven to son Jimmy Clint Colwell...Gone from this life, but alive in our hearts!!!!
Happy Birthday to daughter-in-law Carol Colwell!!!!
Sunday, November 26
Happy Birthday to son Mike Little!!!!
This morning found us thankful for so many blessings as we attended the services at Yantis FBC,
Our children's sermon this morning came from the first chapter of Luke.
Thankful for family, friends, and blessings beyond measure,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsie
We started helping with sorting and counting the various patches that would go on the vests. Then Norma asked us if we were interested in sewing. She insisted that we would be able to learn, so she set up a couple of machines, handed us a stack of leather vests and some patches, and turned us loose. It took a couple of tries to get the hang of it, and we were much slower than the others, but we did get our fair share of vests completed...and we didn't have needles sticking in our fingers!
As teachers, we spent out lives believing that one learns best by doing. Today we were the students, and found that Norma is an excellent teacher!!!
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Friday, November 17
Happy Birthday to granddaughter Randi Colwell!!!!
We had so much fun the first few days of this week that we didn't get around to working on our children's sermon for Sunday...until today. Thankfully, we were able to get it all finished so we could work in other things that we had planned for the rest of the week.
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Saturday, November 18
We returned to the Guard Shack today to continue with the vest project. There weren't as many volunteers as there were Thursday, but the team managed to complete sewing patches on the vest inventory and pack all the vests in the trailer to be transported to Dallas for Snowball Express in December. Norma was ecstatic, and we were quite pleased with ourselves for learning a new skill. Maybe we'll have to bring Mother's old sewing machine down from the attic and try our hands on some sewing projects...or maybe not😼
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Sunday, November 19
Our children's sermon this morning was well received by children and adults alike.
1st
Corinthians 14 - Peace, Not Chaos From Spiritual Gifts
BARBARA: Good morning.
In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul is trying to tell the people of Corinth their
spiritual gifts should be used to the good of the church; but if they are confusing
then they profit no one. He
was talking mainly about the gift of speaking in tongues that the other church
members couldn’t understand, and said the spiritual gifts should be used to
produce peace, and not chaos. He even
used the trumpet as an example, saying that even though the sound was loud and
carried a long distance, if the music notes couldn’t be recognized or didn’t
make any sense, they were just noise.
The trumpets back then were
not like the trumpet that Mr. Little has.
They were mainly long tubes of brass that were more like bugles than
modern day trumpets, and they were different lengths so groups of trumpeters
could play different notes together.
JIM: A good example of what Paul
was saying was the use of trumpets to get the peoples’ attention and help them
know that something special was going to happen. This is like the bugle calls our military
uses to announce special events throughout the day. For example, this bugle call is Attention
(play call). This lets everyone know to
get quiet and listen for an important announcement, but if it isn’t played
correctly so it can be understood, the troops will miss out on that important
announcement.
Another important bugle call
is the Meal Call, which means that it is time to eat (Play Mess Call). If the bugler doesn’t sound the call
correctly so the soldiers understand it, they might miss out on their breakfast,
lunch, or supper.
BARBARA: Mr. Little, we understand
what you are saying about bugle calls in the military, but what does that have
to do with us in the church? Do you have
any examples of music that we might recognize?
(Play National Anthem)
Could you tell what Mr.
Little was playing? Yes, it was the
beginning of our National Anthem, so that made sense. How about another one, Mr. Little…
(Play Gibberish)
Oh My, what was
that?!!! Could you understand what he
was playing? Neither could I. That’s just like when Paul said if we make no
sense when we are trying to follow Christ then we are full of gibberish!
(Play Jesus Loves Me)
Good…What was that? You’re right…That was Jesus Loves Me. Now, take your bugle that we just gave you,
and try to play along with Mr. Little.
(Play Jesus Loves Me)
BARBARA: To help you understand the importance of
today’s lesson about being clear when talking to others about Christ and the
Christian life, we are giving you this baggie of bugles to remind you to sound
the right notes.
JIM: Wait a second, Mrs. Little…I understand about
the bugles for the kids, but I thought the topic of our lesson this morning was
about these Peas and Carrots!
BARBARA: Oh, Mr.
Little, I think you are now confused. The
lesson today is that God is a God of peace not chaos! He doesn’t cause us to be
confused and in turmoil. He wants us to have Peace...you know, calmness and
tranquility. Now, I think it is time for our prayer.
JIM: Heavenly Father, you are
the author of love and peace. We ask
this morning that you grant us the understanding, courage, and clarity to
spread the message of your love and peace to all that we meet each day. And it’s in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
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Monday, November 20
What started out to be an eventful day ended up being a wasted day. Several days ago I received a request from Bugles Across America for a service at DFW National Cemetery. Because of the distance and the number of buglers in the Dallas area, I don't usually accept those missions. However, shortly after seeing the first post from BAA, I received a notice from PGR that the requested mission was for a former coast guardsman who had passed away in a nursing home and had no family, and very few friends.
Well, I have done more Coast Guard services than for any other branch, and have had a good relatonship with the Coast Guard recruiting station in Dallas, so I went back through BAA and accepted the mission, because every veteran deserves a military funeral, and no one should be buried without someone there to pay honors and respect.
So, we got up early this morning and headed for Dallas, only to find when we got there that everyone involved with this particular service was clueless as to what was going on, including the DFW National Cemetery staff. It turns out that DFW wrongly stated that this particular coast guardsman was part of a ceremony and inurnment for 24 men and women representing nearly every branch of the military. Not only that, there were multiple ceremonial teams converging at the site of the service.
It took a while to get things sorted out and someone finally figured out that the mission I had accepted was a solitary service that was scheduled just 15 minutes before the next service. Then it got really interesting.
There was another bugler present who had been enlisted for the service by a leader in the Knights of Columbus...and we still don't know how that happened. Then, a group of North Texas PGR members showed up and said THEY were in charge of the service. although no one yet knows how that happened.
With time running out to begin the service, the NTPGR ride captain called the two buglers together and suggested that we could do Echo Taps. Without going into details, I told him I wasn't comfortable with doing that, and said that the other bugler could cover the ceremony. I didn't go into significant details like the fact that Echo Taps is not in the military protocol for funerals, and that I had no clue who this other man was (nor he, me), and Echo Taps is, at best, a very tricky sounding that should be done only after a lot of practice.
In the end, I notified the Coast Guard Honors Team that someone else would be sounding Taps, and Barbara and I got in the car and drove away. 200 miles and several hours down the drain later, we got back home, still shaking our heads over what a colossal blunder this was (there are a couple of military terms that fit, but since this is a family journal...). If this had been my first BAA mission, I might never have volunteered for another one, but in this case, BAA was just the vehicle for delivering the request. Supreme egos took over from there.
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Tuesday, November 21 - Wednesday, November 22
With nothing else important going on, we spent these two days cleaning house, taking care of the business of daily living, and preparing for the Mineola family Thanksgiving dinner at Angela and Ladd's house on Thursday.
Barbara spent hours in the kitchen preparing some of her special dishes, including three pecan pies (Grandma Terpening's recipe), cheese grits (Mother's recipe), and some other side dishes. Not only was the house clean, it sure did stink purty!
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Thursday, November 24
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
We managed to ignore and avoid all the parades and football games today, and along the way we had a wonderful time with the local family as we celebrated the day with fellowship and feasting.
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Friday, November 24
All the Thanksgiving preparations had consumed our time this week, so this morning we made ourselves sit down and get started on the children's sermon for Sunday.
This afternoon Barbara worked in the house and I went outside to celebrate the beautiful weather by working in the yard.
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Saturday, November 25
Happy Birthday in Heaven to son Jimmy Clint Colwell...Gone from this life, but alive in our hearts!!!!
Happy Birthday to daughter-in-law Carol Colwell!!!!
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Sunday, November 26
Happy Birthday to son Mike Little!!!!
This morning found us thankful for so many blessings as we attended the services at Yantis FBC,
Our children's sermon this morning came from the first chapter of Luke.
Believe
God’s Word
JIM:
This morning, I’m going to tell you a little story about the importance of
believing God’s word.
Over
two thousand years ago, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. Zechariah was a good and Godly man who had
served the Lord in his temple duties very faithfully, but he didn’t think that
he was anyone special just for doing his job.
In fact, he didn’t think he was very blessed because he and his wife, Elizabeth,
were old, and had never been able to have children.
One
day, while Zechariah was doing his duties in the temple, the angel Gabriel
appeared before him at the altar of incense.
Now that shook Zechariah up and scared him, but Gabriel told him to not
be afraid. Gabriel also told Zechariah
that his longtime prayers were about to be answered, and that he and Elizabeth
would have a son, and they were to name the baby, John.
Well,
instead of believing Gabriel and saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he
looked at Gabriel and asked him how he could believe this, since he and
Elizabeth were very old and she couldn’t have children. Gabriel told Zechariah that he had been sent
to deliver the good news, and that it would happen, but because Zechariah
didn’t believe him, he wouldn’t be able to speak again until the baby was born.
Now,
here’s a good example of what happens when you believe in God, but don’t
believe Him when He speaks to you.
Zechariah and Elizabeth received the blessing of finally having a son,
John the Baptist, who would also be the cousin of Jesus, but Zechariah lost the
blessing of being able to share the good news.
And let me tell you from my own experience when I first learned that I
was going to become a father, that sharing that good news was always exciting.
BARBARA:
There are several lessons that Pastor Craig will share with us this morning
from the first chapter of Luke, but Mr. Little and I think that Lesson One is
to remember that our God is God, He is all-powerful, and His word is always
truth; and the last part of the lesson is that we need to not only believe in
God, but we must believe Him and what He tells us to receive the blessings He
wants to give us.
Mr.
Little and I have been doing these children’s sermons for a year and a half,
and not a single one was prepared without us talking to God and asking Him what
He wants us to share with you. It takes
our prayers and our listening to figure out what our words and the special
reminders will be, and we found from experience that if we don’t really listen
to God, our words don’t make sense.
Sometimes God speaks to both of us during our conversations and leads us
toward what He wants us to say, and sometimes He even wakes one of us up in the
middle of the night to give us an idea and direction. And then on Sunday mornings, we try to
deliver God’s message to you as truthfully as we can (and sometimes with a
little humor). We pray that when you
hear these sermons, you will believe what God has led us to say.
I
have a question for you…what special holiday did we just celebrate? That’s right, it was Thanksgiving, a day when
we thank God for all the many blessings he has given us, but especially for the
blessing of letting us live in our country.
Another question now…What animal best represents the Thanksgiving
tradition?
Now,
here is my last question of the morning…I have this rubber glove in my
hand. Do you believe that if I put it in
this basket, I will turn it into a turkey?
Yes? No? Well let’s see.
Our
special reminder today is this turkey stuffed with goodies to help you remember
to always be thankful for God’s blessings.
Mr.
Little, would you lead us in our prayer?
JIM: Father in Heaven, we are so very grateful for the many blessings you have given us. Please guide us to remember that all good and perfect things come from you, and that you are the One True God through whom all things are possible. It's in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
The little red angel wing photos at the bottom of this collage are for our Christmas dinner at church. Each table is decorated by a different group/people. Barbara, Diane, and Jackie are in charge of our Sunday School class's table. They're making angels out of our class members. Kind of hard to wrap one's mind around that idea!
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Monday, November 27
Happy Birthday to Barbara..?? years and counting!!!!
And what better way to celebrate a birthday than to saddle up Taz and ride through the countryside to participate in a PGR mission!
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Wednesday, November 29
We went out to get haircuts this morning (it was either that, or go to city hall to get dog tags), and then returned to the house for some lunch. We had debated earlier on what we would do about Christmas decorations for the house. This afternoon I brought all the boxes down from the attic and we began getting things laid out. For some reason, everything seemed to go much more smoothly this year, and in the end, we were pleased with the results.
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Thursday, November 30
Since we were running out of time to celebrate Barbara's birthday this month, we met Ladd, Angela, Logan, Jarhett, and TJ at Jalapeno Tree for good food, fun, and a grand time.
And then returned to the house to complete our last chore of the month, designing our Christmas card for 2017.
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Notable November Quotes
Thankful for family, friends, and blessings beyond measure,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsie
