FOREWORD
In 11 1/2 years of doing the journal (what it started out to be) and the blog (what it has become), we've never written a foreword to one of the publications. We've written an addendum at the end of nearly every June and December edition to give an overview and post certain stats about the previous six months, but since we got so sidetracked through 2017, it seemed timely and appropriate to provide a short statement to begin 2018.
Our journal began in July, 2006 as a series of short emails to friends and family about where we were, how we got there, what we were doing, and what we wanted to do. Those eventually took on a life of their own and became a weekly email report. Since our primary goal was to provide our children and grandchildren with some sense of what their grandparents were up to in their retirement, we even bound those emails into a book and sent a copy to each of the families.
The first entries were just text, but once we learned to transfer and manipulate photos, we added those. The downside was that the technology of 2006 didn't allow many people to receive the large files we were sending.
One December we took a trip to southern California to visit our high school friend Steve Kinney and his wife, Cindy. Steve suggested that we begin posting our writings as a blog so we could send larger files and have a larger audience. Steve was more technologically advanced that we were, so he had to explain what a blog was and how to use it.
We continued with our customary email attachment format until Barbara started researching blogs and found something she thought would work for us. It was a huge trial and error process in the beginning (and still tries our patience even now after system updates that complicate our work), but here we are now, after eleven and a half years (our year begins on July 1, since that was the first day of our retirement), still plugging along.
We got bogged down due to numerous adverse circumstances in 2017, and are even at this writing are technically a couple of months behind, but we are making progress toward getting back on schedule for a monthly publication.
Because the blog continues to be a bit of a history lesson for our children and grandchildren, we are going to make special efforts to dig up dusty and forgotten bits of history about ourselves and our families through the months ahead...with boxes of old photos and a scanner standing by, we should be able to come up with something interesting and/or humorous.
Thanks to all for following along with us and sending words of encouragement as our journal/blog family has also incorporated Facebook as a method of getting out our stories. We appreciate and love each of you.
Jim and Barbara
January 1, 2018
Mineola, Wood County, Texas
Monday, January 1 - Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Monday, January 1
Happy New Year!!!
Our introduction to 2018 was out of the ordinary. We had gone to bed around 10:30 last night, foregoing the official welcoming of the new year (and missing out on the local fireworks), but both of us were wide awake at 3:00 am. We tried to go back to sleep, but that didn't work, so we went to the kitchen where I fixed bagels for an early breakfast and Barbara started a crock pot pork chop dish for lunch.
We finally got sleepy enough to go back to bed and sleep until noon, so we missed all the parades (which we usually skip anyway...50 years of marching in parades took away any appreciation I might have ever had for them).
After missing all the parades, it seemed only fitting that we skip the football games too, so we put on some music and spent the afternoon taking down all the Christmas decorations, boxing them up, and putting them back in the attic. Then, it was time to watch some more movies on the Hallmark Channel...Not a bad way to start the new year! 😁
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Tuesday, January 2 - Wednesday, January 3
Leah and Kaiden came over from Fort Worth to spend time with us. We had a lot of different activities over these two days...Leah redecorated the house for us (after she and Barbara went to Yantis to do some shopping at Things We Like. There were also visits with Angela and TJ, more shopping, a new game, 60 Second Slam, and lots of picture-taking...
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Thursday, January 4
Leah and Kaiden had to return to Fort Worth today, so after breakfast and a last set of photos, we said our goodbyes and sent them on their way.
We spent the rest of the morning getting reorganized, got our beginning of the year haircuts, this afternoon, and tonight was the first rehearsal of the 18th season of the Lake Country Symphonic Band.
Before leaving for rehearsal this evening, we had a delightful FaceTime visit with Mike, Kelly, Ava, Jack, and Benjamin.
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Friday, January 5
Today we attended the annual Open House at Leon Anderson's Edward Jones office. The event was cancelled last year when the building downtown had severe water damage, but this year Leon and his staff are in a new building, so the open house took on a special meaning. We didn't get any photos, but we sure had a good time and ate lots of good treats!
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Saturday, January 6
With all the other excitement going on this week, we were way behind on preparing our children's sermon for this week, so today was crunch time. We got the script and handouts/treat prepared shortly after lunch, took a short nap, and then went out to Yantis to join some of our church friends in celebrating Ashley Vance's (pastor's eldest daughter) 21st birthday.
When we returned to the house, I started cleaning out my desk and file cabinets and shredding documents that should have been shredded years ago. The photo shows the results of the first round of shredding...
Do I know how to have a good time, or what?!!!
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Sunday, January 7
The first Sunday of 2018 found us back at Yantis First Baptist Church to join fellow members in Sunday school and church activities. Barbara and I presented our children's sermon...
1st
Corinthians 15:3 – The Best News For A New Year
BARBARA: Hi! I
have some great news for you this morning. That money I gave you before church
started is going to be used to buy one of these bags. Each bag has candy; but
some have juice, or maybe a breakfast bar, bracelets, a car, or markers. You
just have to decide which bag you want and then pay me.
Now, that you have your bag, you will notice
that it has a “Paid in full” tag. That means that you have given me the exact
amount I was asking for that treat. Mr. Little will now explain how you are
like the bags that were just purchased.
JIM: Mrs. Little has just
shared an excellent example of wanting something and paying the full price for
it so it becomes yours.
In 1st Corinthians 15, Paul is
teaching and reminding the believers at Corinth that this is exactly what
Christ did for them, as well as for all who choose to believe in Him and follow
Him. Paul told them, “I passed on to you
what I received. And this was the most
important: that Christ died for our sins.”
The bags you “bought” this morning were all different,
but they had the same value, and the same price was paid for each of them. Each bag represents us. We are all different;
different sizes, different shapes, different heights, and different weights,
but in God’s eyes, we are all of the same great value to him, because we are
his children. God loves us so much. He
knew that we could never live up to his standard of perfection in our lives,
that he decided that the only way he could save, or purchase us, was for his
perfect son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for us and tag our lives as Paid
In Full.
The real difference in the items you bought
this morning is how you choose to use them.
Will you keep them just for yourselves, or will you share some of them
with someone else, or will you put them away and forget about them? That’s a good question, but it isn’t nearly
as important as the next one we have for you.
The biggest
question for all of us this morning is, will we share this gospel, or Good News
with others, or will we just keep it to ourselves. That is the most important question for you
to answer as we move forward in this new year.
Dear Father, Thank you for your plan to
save us from our sins and mark our debt to you as paid in full. Please give us the wisdom and courage to
share your Good News to others in this new year you have given us. It’s in the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
And I played a trumpet solo, "There is a Balm in Gilead" for the offertory...
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Monday, January 8
Happy 3rd Birthday to grandson Benjamin Kuper Little!!!
Absolutely nothing newsworthy happened at our place today, but we won't let that stop us from writing about it anyway.
For months we have been talking about cleaning out and rearranging our closets, and today seemed to be the perfect day for that...no photos, of course, but we bagged up a bunch of clothes for Kindness Kottage, threw away some others that were too worn out or stained to even give away, and rearranged what was left...not fun, but necessary.
This evening we decided to try two-player 60-Second Slam...it was okay, but not as exciting as with four players.
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Tuesday, January 9
Our good friend Claudetta was having knee replacement surgery at Christus Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler today, so we drove over there to be with her family and other church friends for a while before the surgery.
On the way home we stopped at our newest favorite store, Count Your Blessings, in downtown Mineola to buy some specialty gifts for friends and family.
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Wednesday, January 10
A fairly quiet day around the place. I went out to Our Little Lot at Holiday Villages to do some work on Big V, while Barbara worked around the house.
This evening we took on some new responsibilities with the Wednesday After-School activities at Yantis First Baptist Church. Barbara will be helping with the second graders, and I will be helping with the middle school and high school kids.
After our sessions with the kids, I had praise band rehearsal and Barbara sat outside and read a book.
Thursday, January 11
Another day much like yesterday...just working around the house and sorting out and organizing things that would be needed later for income tax returns.
Lake Country Symphonic Band rehearsal tonight at Mineola Middle School.
Friday, January 12
We've found through the years that some days one of us is in a funk, but the other is upbeat enough to carry both of us through. For no particular reason, this was a funk day for both of us, so not much of anything got done. However, we finally had to get out of the house for a few minutes, and Barbara took the opportunity to do a selfie...
Saturday, January 13
This morning we prepared a brown-in-bag chicken dinner to take out to some church friends who were recuperating from a hospital experience. After visiting with them for a few minutes, we drove on up to Sulphur Springs to get some gift cards for grandchildren, shop-look at Wally World, and then get our Chinese "fix" by getting a takeout dinner at Panda Express...and then go home and spend the rest of the day wrapping up our children's sermon for tomorrow.
Sunday, January 14
During Sunday school this morning we had an opportunity to share a special prayer request with our class. Grace Martinez,the five-year old daughter of one of our former Liberal, Kansas, students has been diagnosed with leukemia. The family has reached out to friends and asked for prayers, and we were able this morning to share part of their story.
We are privileged to do the children's sermon at Yantis FBC each Sunday morning (when we are around).
Today's sermon was about having faith...
Then for fun we drove a few miles to the Kema Boardwalk, one of our favorite places to visit with friends Gary and Joyce from League City.
Good food at Bubba Gump...
And the boardwalk sights and sounds...
And finally, a trip to Sylvan Beach Park in La Porte...
After all that, it was time to scout out a church to attend tomorrow morning, and then return to the hotel for supper and some rest.
Sunday, January 21
While we were driving around last night, we found a church in La Porte that we thought we'd attend this morning before going on to Houston, but this morning Barbara started looking at other options that wouldn't put us in a time crunch for meeting up with the disaster relief team. She discovered that by altering our route just a little, we could attend a church in League City and then be just minutes away from the camp the team would call home this week.
So, we got ready to travel, had breakfast at the hotel, and headed off once again. We found the Bay Area Church in League City with minimal trouble and had a wonderful praise and worship experience. The friendly folks, great preacher, and good music were just what we needed!
After church, we drove a few miles to Victory Camp, a church retreat where the team would be staying this week.
Barbara and Heidi have been on the phone all week trying to figure out how Heidi could get to Houston to see Eric. Since Heidi and her daughter Olivia were in Waco for the weekend, they decided to drive on down to Houston to have a special surprise Eric.
Heidi and Olivia arrived at the camp a few minutes before the team arrived. To say that Eric was surprised would be the understatement of the year!!!
We met the team, unloaded their truck and trailer and moved everything into their lodge, and then headed off to a nearby Jack-in-the-Box for lunch.
We all went back to the lodge to set up Eric's new kitchen and say our goodbyes to Heidi and Olivia as they prepared to drive back to Lindale.
Our original plan for the week was that Barbara would assist Eric in the kitchen while I worked with the rest of the team at the house. However, when Eric showed us the menus for the week, we decided that Eric would fix breakfast for the men at the lodge, and then we would drive from our hotel so Barbara could prepare lunch and do preps for the supper while Eric worked with the rest of the team.
We later drove to the site where we would be looking to get some idea of what we were facing...and found that we were facing a major challenge, but knew that if we were doing God's work, we could "get 'er done."
Since the lodge was 30 minutes from the work site and only five minutes from our hotel, we told the team we'd see them tomorrow morning and headed back up I-45 to find some food to take to the hotel and wrap up this very long day.
Monday, January 22 - Thursday, January 25
Happy Birthday to daughter Leah McQuitty!!!! (January 22)
Happy Birthday to daughter-in-law Kelly Jividen Little!!!! (January 22)
Our help with the disaster relief team from Georgia began this morning. We met at the lodge, Barbara got her marching orders from Eric for meal prep, and then Eric and I joined the team at the work site.
Words cannot begin to describe the day-to-day events of the week, so photos will tell the story of how we all, with individual talents and gifts, contributed as individuals and a team to help a family regain their home that had been inundated with flood waters during Hurricane Harvey.
The family showed us their photos of the house during the flooding...
And our work began...
They say an army marches on its stomach...the same is true for a team of volunteer builders. Barbara kept us all fueled up during the week, not only with the food and recipes that Eric planned, but also with some special "high octane" desserts!
When we work with Eric at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center, we are all in the kitchen together. This project put Eric and me in a whole new work environment...
While some of the tasks were very skilled, no jobs were menial, as each room had to be cleaned and cleared before and after repairs were made...and there was still time for fun and frivolity...
The family was constantly letting us know how grateful they were for our efforts, but the expression on the little girl's face when she saw her newly painted room was payment enough for all of us...
Friday, January 26
Happy Birthday to son-in-law Jim Farnham!!!!
Today was our last day at the work site. We picked Eric up at the lodge and made the drive to the house (with a short stop at one of our favorite tourist places, but more about that in a bit).
The team had about five hours to do as much as it could toward finishing the job. Unfortunately, circumstances prevented us from doing all we wanted to do (like the flooring we had planned to lay earlier in the week not being delivered until this morning), but by keeping the team spirit alive, the work on the house was about 90 per cent completed by the time we had to pack our gear and prepare to leave...
We are unrepentant teachers and coaches, so at the end, we just had to have a "team picture" with the little girl and her family...
And now to the unfinished business. This was Eric's first trip to Texas, and he was properly blown away by everything he saw and experienced. One of the things that impressed him the most was this morning's visit to Buc-ees, one of our Texas traditions...nothing at all like this in northeastern Georgia!
And then it was time to leave. After all the equipment was put away and goodbyes said, our little caravan headed up I-45 to have a last meal together and then go our separate ways. For us, it was a long drive back to Mineola. We had the option of staying somewhere along the way for the night, but there had been too many nights away from home, so we toughed it out to get back to the house, unload the car, and sleep in our own beds tonight.
Saturday, January 27
This was a typical "day after a trip" day...unpacking, doing several loads of laundry, putting things away, and generally getting ready to restart life in Mineola. Trips like the one we just had are fun and exhilarating, but the older we get, the more they wear us out, so it is nice to be back home.
Sunday, January 28
It was so good to be back in our own church this morning, and especially to see Chad and Melania deliver a wonderful children's sermon.
Monday, January 29
Happy Birthday to step great-grandson Rhett Johnson!!!!
Our downtime didn't last very long. Barbara stayed home to finish putting the house together while I joined church members Jerry and Wayne in a trip to Tyler to do some more work on the dormitories that Texas Baptist Men are building at Breckenridge Village. Putting up Tyvek on a windy day moved toward the bottom of my list of things I want to do. 😀
Tuesday, January 30
There is no rest for the wicked or weary. We began today with a drive to Lindale for a follow-up visit to see how my ear was healing from the last surgery. While we were there, Mrs. Wilson, the PA, froze 12 places and did three biopsies on some suspicious looking places. Showing my weird sense of humor (which no one else thought was funny), I told Mrs. Wilson that if the biopsies showed cancer, maybe they would at least be squamous cell. She looked a little shocked at that, until I said that Aflac pays more for Squamous than for basal cell carcinomas. She looked a little strange at that, but admitted that it was one way to look at the situation.
On the way home, we stopped at Walmart for a few things, and also got to visit with our good friend Sophie (who had helped take care of Mother before Mother went into the nursing home years ago), and then treated ourselves to much-needed haircuts by Leslie at Naturally Nails.
In our "spare time," we worked in the kitchen. Barbara whipped up her world-famous Mountain Dew Apple Dumpling dessert...
And I cooked a big pot of chili...
Wednesday, January 31
I went back to Tyler to join a group of men in continuing work at Breckenridge Village...
And tonight we finished out the month at Yantis First Baptist Church by helping with the youth activities, and then having praise band rehearsal.
WOW!!! What a month!!!
Starting 2018 in grand style,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsie
This evening we took on some new responsibilities with the Wednesday After-School activities at Yantis First Baptist Church. Barbara will be helping with the second graders, and I will be helping with the middle school and high school kids.
After our sessions with the kids, I had praise band rehearsal and Barbara sat outside and read a book.
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Thursday, January 11
Another day much like yesterday...just working around the house and sorting out and organizing things that would be needed later for income tax returns.
Lake Country Symphonic Band rehearsal tonight at Mineola Middle School.
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Friday, January 12
We've found through the years that some days one of us is in a funk, but the other is upbeat enough to carry both of us through. For no particular reason, this was a funk day for both of us, so not much of anything got done. However, we finally had to get out of the house for a few minutes, and Barbara took the opportunity to do a selfie...
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Saturday, January 13
This morning we prepared a brown-in-bag chicken dinner to take out to some church friends who were recuperating from a hospital experience. After visiting with them for a few minutes, we drove on up to Sulphur Springs to get some gift cards for grandchildren, shop-look at Wally World, and then get our Chinese "fix" by getting a takeout dinner at Panda Express...and then go home and spend the rest of the day wrapping up our children's sermon for tomorrow.
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Sunday, January 14
During Sunday school this morning we had an opportunity to share a special prayer request with our class. Grace Martinez,the five-year old daughter of one of our former Liberal, Kansas, students has been diagnosed with leukemia. The family has reached out to friends and asked for prayers, and we were able this morning to share part of their story.
We are privileged to do the children's sermon at Yantis FBC each Sunday morning (when we are around).
Today's sermon was about having faith...
1st
Corinthians 15: 12-20 – Have Faith In God
JIM: In today’s Bible
lesson, Paul is talking to the Christians at Corinth about the promise of God
that when their lives on Earth ended, they would go to Heaven and have a new
body. The new Christians were having
trouble believing that, even though God said it, because they had been taught
something else all their lives.
The real lesson for us this morning is that we
need to have faith in God’s promises to us even if we don’t completely
understand them, because God’s word is always true.
What is faith?
Faith is much more than just hoping something is true because we want it
to be, or wishing for something to be true…Faith is all about believing; you
don’t know how it will happen, but you know it will!
Now, we need to give you this warning about
faith. If we put our faith in people,
even those we love and trust, we will sometimes be disappointed, because people
are people, and we all make mistakes and have failures. But, if you put your faith in God and His
promises, you will never be disappointed, because God’s promises are always
true, and what He promises for us as true believers are far better than we can
even imagine. The best way to build your
faith in God is to continue to learn about Him and His promises, and how He
kept His word. The more you know, the
stronger your faith will become!
BARBARA: You
know who I am, but when I go to the store or the bank and write a check, they
ask for my driver license. Why do they
do that? Because they want to look at
the picture on the license to see if I am who I say I am.
Even as young as you are, there may be times
when you will need a photo ID to prove who you are. You might want a library card, or join a
youth athletic league, and someone will need to know that you are who you say
you are. Some schools even require
students and teachers to wear photo ID cards to get into the school building.
Until we know someone ourselves and have faith
that they are who they say they are, we need to have proof of what they
say. In John 20, we read that Thomas,
one of the disciples, didn’t believe that Jesus had risen from the dead, even
though other disciples told him that they had seen Jesus themselves. Thomas said that he wouldn’t believe it was
Jesus until he saw the nail-scarred hands and touched the place where the
soldier had stuck his spear into Jesus’ side.
When Jesus saw Thomas, He told him to touch His hands and His side. When Thomas did that, he said, “My Lord, and
My God.” Then Jesus said, “Stop doubting
and start believing.” He also said,
“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not
seen me and still believed.”
Thomas needed to have proof of identity to
believe Jesus rose from the dead. By
coming to church, going to Sunday School, talking with your parents, you children
have learned that Jesus did die for us and that we can have faith in him. Your
job is to continue to live in the faith of who Jesus is, and let your faith
continue to grow.
JIM: Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending
your son to die on the cross for our sin.
Guide us to accept by faith that Jesus has risen from the grave and that
He is alive. It’s in His name we pray,
Amen.
There was also a little time for Barbara and friends Brent and Eve to have some Foto Fun...
It turned out to be a busy day. I had my first meeting as a member of the stewardship committee this afternoon at the church, then returned to Mineola to get Barbara and go back to Yantis for the evening service.
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Monday, January 15
Happy Birthday to sister/sister-in-law Nancy Perry Hargrave in Cleburne!!!!
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Tuesday, January 16
In Memoriam: Gerald S. Little. Today was brother Jerry's birthday. He passed away from complications of COPD on November 11, 2015.
Last night we were clobbered by our first winter ice and snow storm...not much snow, but very dangerous driving conditions.
Barbara was supposed to have a follow-up appointment with her pain management doctor in Quitman today, but all ETMC facilities were closed due to dangerous travel conditions.
Since it was so bad outside, we spent the day in the kitchen making up some meals to freeze and serve later. We shared some of the bounty with neighbors John and Wanda across the street later this evening.
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Wednesday, January 17
A week or so ago we heard from our friend Heidi in Lindale that our mutual friend and "boss" at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa, Georgia, was going to be coming to Texas to work with a disaster relief team in the Houston area. Barbara and I decided that if there was any way possible, we'd go to Houston to at least see Eric, since it had been over a year since we were in Toccoa.
We called Eric and got some basic information about the team and what they would be doing. Eric made some contacts with the powers that be, and we were invited to join the team for five or six days to help remodel a house that had been badly damaged by the Hurricane Harvey floods.
We started planning the trip today, going over what we might need and getting everything sorted out and ready to pack, taking a break only when we went out to Yantis to help with the youth during the after-school activities. Since we weren't going to be in town Sunday, we passed on the praise band rehearsal tonight.
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Thursday, January 18
Today was a really busy time as we took care of local business and errands, and packed and loaded the car with everything we thought we might possibly need to work with the disaster relief team next week, as well as for a short vacation we would take before we got to Houston. By the end of the day we had everything packed and loaded and Barbara had prepared homemade soup and her world-famous chicken salad so we could eat on the run and save some meal costs along the way. Band rehearsal was cancelled for tonight due to the number of members who had the flu, so that gave us extra time to prepare for the trip.
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Friday, January 19
Today was just a travel day for us as we headed south on U.S. 69 toward La Porte. Luckily, the weather was good until just before we got to our destination.
Once we got settled in at our hotel, we visited the exercise room for a semi-serious workout and some Photo Phun...
And then returned to our room for supper, a few rounds of 60--Second Slam, some reading and computer work, and a night of serious sleep.
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Saturday, January 20
Today was just a tourist day for us. We had breakfast at the hotel and then headed out for whatever adventures might await us.
First on the itinerary was the Battleship Texas...a Texas treasure.
Next on the agenda was a short drive to view some of the sights in the area and then go to the San Jacinto Monument.
Then for fun we drove a few miles to the Kema Boardwalk, one of our favorite places to visit with friends Gary and Joyce from League City.
Good food at Bubba Gump...
And the boardwalk sights and sounds...
And finally, a trip to Sylvan Beach Park in La Porte...
After all that, it was time to scout out a church to attend tomorrow morning, and then return to the hotel for supper and some rest.
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Sunday, January 21
While we were driving around last night, we found a church in La Porte that we thought we'd attend this morning before going on to Houston, but this morning Barbara started looking at other options that wouldn't put us in a time crunch for meeting up with the disaster relief team. She discovered that by altering our route just a little, we could attend a church in League City and then be just minutes away from the camp the team would call home this week.
So, we got ready to travel, had breakfast at the hotel, and headed off once again. We found the Bay Area Church in League City with minimal trouble and had a wonderful praise and worship experience. The friendly folks, great preacher, and good music were just what we needed!
After church, we drove a few miles to Victory Camp, a church retreat where the team would be staying this week.
Barbara and Heidi have been on the phone all week trying to figure out how Heidi could get to Houston to see Eric. Since Heidi and her daughter Olivia were in Waco for the weekend, they decided to drive on down to Houston to have a special surprise Eric.
Heidi and Olivia arrived at the camp a few minutes before the team arrived. To say that Eric was surprised would be the understatement of the year!!!
We met the team, unloaded their truck and trailer and moved everything into their lodge, and then headed off to a nearby Jack-in-the-Box for lunch.
We all went back to the lodge to set up Eric's new kitchen and say our goodbyes to Heidi and Olivia as they prepared to drive back to Lindale.
Our original plan for the week was that Barbara would assist Eric in the kitchen while I worked with the rest of the team at the house. However, when Eric showed us the menus for the week, we decided that Eric would fix breakfast for the men at the lodge, and then we would drive from our hotel so Barbara could prepare lunch and do preps for the supper while Eric worked with the rest of the team.
We later drove to the site where we would be looking to get some idea of what we were facing...and found that we were facing a major challenge, but knew that if we were doing God's work, we could "get 'er done."
Since the lodge was 30 minutes from the work site and only five minutes from our hotel, we told the team we'd see them tomorrow morning and headed back up I-45 to find some food to take to the hotel and wrap up this very long day.
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Monday, January 22 - Thursday, January 25
Happy Birthday to daughter Leah McQuitty!!!! (January 22)
Happy Birthday to daughter-in-law Kelly Jividen Little!!!! (January 22)
Our help with the disaster relief team from Georgia began this morning. We met at the lodge, Barbara got her marching orders from Eric for meal prep, and then Eric and I joined the team at the work site.
Words cannot begin to describe the day-to-day events of the week, so photos will tell the story of how we all, with individual talents and gifts, contributed as individuals and a team to help a family regain their home that had been inundated with flood waters during Hurricane Harvey.
The family showed us their photos of the house during the flooding...
And our work began...
They say an army marches on its stomach...the same is true for a team of volunteer builders. Barbara kept us all fueled up during the week, not only with the food and recipes that Eric planned, but also with some special "high octane" desserts!
When we work with Eric at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center, we are all in the kitchen together. This project put Eric and me in a whole new work environment...
While some of the tasks were very skilled, no jobs were menial, as each room had to be cleaned and cleared before and after repairs were made...and there was still time for fun and frivolity...
The family was constantly letting us know how grateful they were for our efforts, but the expression on the little girl's face when she saw her newly painted room was payment enough for all of us...
++++++++
Friday, January 26
Happy Birthday to son-in-law Jim Farnham!!!!
Today was our last day at the work site. We picked Eric up at the lodge and made the drive to the house (with a short stop at one of our favorite tourist places, but more about that in a bit).
The team had about five hours to do as much as it could toward finishing the job. Unfortunately, circumstances prevented us from doing all we wanted to do (like the flooring we had planned to lay earlier in the week not being delivered until this morning), but by keeping the team spirit alive, the work on the house was about 90 per cent completed by the time we had to pack our gear and prepare to leave...
We are unrepentant teachers and coaches, so at the end, we just had to have a "team picture" with the little girl and her family...
And now to the unfinished business. This was Eric's first trip to Texas, and he was properly blown away by everything he saw and experienced. One of the things that impressed him the most was this morning's visit to Buc-ees, one of our Texas traditions...nothing at all like this in northeastern Georgia!
And then it was time to leave. After all the equipment was put away and goodbyes said, our little caravan headed up I-45 to have a last meal together and then go our separate ways. For us, it was a long drive back to Mineola. We had the option of staying somewhere along the way for the night, but there had been too many nights away from home, so we toughed it out to get back to the house, unload the car, and sleep in our own beds tonight.
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Saturday, January 27
This was a typical "day after a trip" day...unpacking, doing several loads of laundry, putting things away, and generally getting ready to restart life in Mineola. Trips like the one we just had are fun and exhilarating, but the older we get, the more they wear us out, so it is nice to be back home.
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Sunday, January 28
It was so good to be back in our own church this morning, and especially to see Chad and Melania deliver a wonderful children's sermon.
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Monday, January 29
Happy Birthday to step great-grandson Rhett Johnson!!!!
Our downtime didn't last very long. Barbara stayed home to finish putting the house together while I joined church members Jerry and Wayne in a trip to Tyler to do some more work on the dormitories that Texas Baptist Men are building at Breckenridge Village. Putting up Tyvek on a windy day moved toward the bottom of my list of things I want to do. 😀
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Tuesday, January 30
There is no rest for the wicked or weary. We began today with a drive to Lindale for a follow-up visit to see how my ear was healing from the last surgery. While we were there, Mrs. Wilson, the PA, froze 12 places and did three biopsies on some suspicious looking places. Showing my weird sense of humor (which no one else thought was funny), I told Mrs. Wilson that if the biopsies showed cancer, maybe they would at least be squamous cell. She looked a little shocked at that, until I said that Aflac pays more for Squamous than for basal cell carcinomas. She looked a little strange at that, but admitted that it was one way to look at the situation.
On the way home, we stopped at Walmart for a few things, and also got to visit with our good friend Sophie (who had helped take care of Mother before Mother went into the nursing home years ago), and then treated ourselves to much-needed haircuts by Leslie at Naturally Nails.
In our "spare time," we worked in the kitchen. Barbara whipped up her world-famous Mountain Dew Apple Dumpling dessert...
And I cooked a big pot of chili...
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Wednesday, January 31
I went back to Tyler to join a group of men in continuing work at Breckenridge Village...
And tonight we finished out the month at Yantis First Baptist Church by helping with the youth activities, and then having praise band rehearsal.
WOW!!! What a month!!!
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Starting 2018 in grand style,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsie
