Thursday, March 1
In Mineola, March came in like a lamb, but by noon it was beginning to show its lion side as the winds shifted from the south to the north, and the temperatures started dropping.
We spent the day around the house. It seems that as we get older, it takes longer to recuperate from trips, and today served as an example. Even though we needed to do some shopping, we just didn't care enough to get out to the store. However, we did make some progress in getting caught up on the journal/blog project (when we weren't eating or napping).
Tonight was the final dress rehearsal for the upcoming concerts by the Lake Country Symphonic Band. Conductor Mike Holbrook always surprises us with some sort of costume that is applicable to the theme of the concert, but tonight he gave us a sneak preview so he could see if he could conduct wearing the costume for music from Jurassic Park. It was an interesting experience for the band and Mike...we made it through without falling apart, and Mike made it through without suffocating...
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Friday, March 2
Life seems to demand its pound of flesh from time to time, and today was one of those times. We were on the road to Tyler at 8:00 am, and at Dermatology Associates by 9:00.
I recently had some biopsies done and one from the scalp proved to be a squamus cell tumor, so we scheduled this morning for the surgery. Dr. Meads utilizes the Mohs procedure, in which she makes a calculated estimate of how much she should cut, and then passes the cutting to a pathologist to see if the edges are clear of any cancer cells. It took her two cuttings this morning before we go the report that a tumor approximately the diameter of a nickel was removed. Some say the waiting is always the worst part, but I've found that the injection of the pain killer is far worse.
It took 15 stitches to close the wound and a whole bunch of tape to cover it...Barbara said I won't be winning any beauty awards for awhile...
When the procedures were completed, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at Red Lobster.
And then headed back home to start taking Tylenol as soon as the pain killer wore off...it was a l-o-n-g afternoon and evening!
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Saturday, March 3
Any outside activities were definitely out of the question for most of the day, but we did make a short trip to Walmart for some basics.
We had made plans for this evening to go to Yantis and assist with the Resurrection Drive-Through. Before we could leave, though, I had to remove all the bandages that had been so carefully taped onto my head yesterday, shampoo (gently, I might add), and then have Barbara redress the area.
Of course, we also had to document the momentous occasion with photos. The faint of heart might not want to see this...oops, too late...you're not going to be able to unsee that!
With my head well protected and my system full of Tylenol, we drove out to Yantis to have a meal and assist with the annual Resurrection Drive-Through that our church does. Barbara was in charge of photography of the event, and I assisted Pastor Craig with talking to visitors at the exit point of the drive-through. It was a grand evening, with more than 135 persons who came to view the event, and representatives of 4 area churches who participated.
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Sunday, March 4
In Memoriam: W.T. Perry - Husband, Father, Father-in-Law, Grandfather, Great Grandfather, Preacher of the Word, and Minister to his Flocks
We didn't make it to church this morning, but this afternoon the Lake Country Symphonic Band kicked off its 18th season with the first of two concerts scheduled for this week. All concerts are at the historic Select Theater, the oldest continuously operating movie theater in Texas. Because of the numbers of patrons, all of this season's concerts will be repeated. Today's concert was played to a sold-out house.
After the concert we went to Jalapeno Tree for supper and then returned to the house for a nice quiet evening.
As always, we love getting pictures of our kids and grandkids. Tonight we received this photo of Ryan, Leah, and Kaiden...
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Monday, March 5
We seem to be alternating trips to our various doctors. Today was Barbara's turn as we drove north of Quitman to have her vision checked by Dr. Bevil. Barbara has also had some problems with some kind of infection on her right eyelid, so Dr. Bevil gave her some advice on how to take care of it.
The really good news was that her vision has changed very little since she had cataract surgery and lens implants 13 years ago, but Dr. Bevil gave her an updated prescription "just in case."
We returned home and spent the afternoon working on the November journal/blog, with Barbara designing photo collages and me adding the text. We finished the first draft this evening, but delayed publishing it until we felt we could adequately proof it.
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Tuesday, March 6
I went out to Yantis early this morning for the weekly prayer meeting. When I got back to the house we did some basic housekeeping chores, then proofed and published the November edition of the journal/blog.
This afternoon we went to the Mineola Civic Center to vote in the primary election. All we can say about the experience is that we had to hold our noses as we marked some of the selections on the ballot.
Tonight was the repeat performance of the March concert by the Lake Country Symphonic Band and its conductor, Mike Holbrook.
And our guest conductor for music from Jurassic Park, Timothy T. Rex...
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Wednesday, March 7
Happy 12th Birthday to granddaughter Abby Dondis!!!!
Today was just another day in the life, but tonight we drove to Yantis to help out with the Wednesday after-school youth activities. Barbara works with a team of adults who oversee children's activities and lessons, and I assist with the middle school-high school kids.
Today was one of those rare days when we needed to be at church at 3:30, and had praise band rehearsal at 7:00, so by the time we got home, we were ready to call it a day and a night!
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Thursday, March 8
We spent kitchen time together this morning as we cooked up a bunch of meat to freeze and serve later for various meals. At the end of the morning we had bagged up a pound and a half of hamburger meat and had three meatloaves to show for our efforts.
We decided that it was a good day for a new adventure. A few days ago we heard about a lady near Gladewater who, after her husband passed away, decided to spruce up her property by planting some daffodil bulbs. She placed an order for bulbs from Holland, and somehow ended up with a railway boxcar full of bulbs. So, she planted bulbs all over the property (which is several acres), and now opens the land up to those who want to come see the daffodils when they bloom.
The daffodils are at the end of their season, so we decided to get over there to see what there was to see.
We hopped in the car (still a little too cool and breezy for a Taz ride). and started off...
Our first stop was a Gladewater to view the town square and a monument to the discovery of oil in this area in 1931...
Then, we drove through the countryside until we found Mrs. Lee's Garden. Unfortunately, recent rains washed out the bridge on the road through the gardens, so the gate was closed and the only access was to crawl over or under the barbed wire fence to get the best views of the blooms...
After seeing what we could see (and deciding to come back earlier next year), we headed back toward Mineola, stopping in Hawkins to visit the Veterans Memorial Park. We discovered this site 10 years ago when we were camping at Lake Hawkins County Park, and thought it was impressive, but recent additions and improvements have made it one of the finest veterans memorials we have seen in our travels, especially for a town of only 1,200 people. Small town pride counts for a lot!!!
After walking through the memorial park, we drove down the street to the local Sonic for the daily half-price drinks...
And then returned to Mineola to go to a special screening of The Music Man to help support the Lake Country Playhouse...
Wow...What a day!!!
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Friday, March 9
If it's Friday, it's crunch-time for finishing the children's sermon for Sunday. Since we hadn't even started on it, that made it even more of a crunch. But, through prayer and Bible study, we were able to put together a lesson that matched the topic Brother Craig gave us. And, once the script was roughed out, we were able to go to Dollar Tree and buy the materials and handouts that fit the topic.
While Barbara took care of checking bills and bank statements this afternoon, I went back to work on income tax "stuff." Everything had been pretty well organized earlier, but some pieces were still missing...like our 1099-R forms from the Kansas retirement system. I tried everything I knew to do to get the information online, but that system wasn't working very well, so I switched to the old-fashioned way (telephone), and eventually got an actual voice. That was when I found that when KPERS did their last system upgrade, they evidently dropped some very important data...like mailing addresses, because their file showed our address from 5 years ago. The lady I was talking to said that they had had a lot of requests for tax forms from people with the same problem. But, she didn't seem too concerned about it. I've often used the old Texas band director phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," but the Kansas mantra seems to be, "If it's broke...oh well...".
I was assured that the forms would be in the mail that day, but we'll see.
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Saturday, March 10
Several days ago, one of our church friends asked if we would come out to Yantis today to take photos and videos of her daughter's surprise 60th birthday party in the fellowship hall of our church. We agreed that was something we could do, so after making sure that our cameras were in good working order and we had plenty of back-up power, we woke Taz up from her long winter's nap and headed off to Yantis...
We had a good time at the party, and the pay was great...all the barbecue ribs and sausages (plus all the trimmings) we could eat, and some wonderful fellowship. Karen was totally surprised by an special appearance of Elvis, aka Craig Vance. Far right top photo of the collage below shows Pastor Craig's wife reaction to his appearance as Elvis! Fun times!
When the festivities were over, we climbed back on Taz for the ride home, but then decided to go see our friends Gene and Carolyn over by Lake Hawkins. We met Gene and Carolyn when we were all parked at the Mineola Civic Center 10 years ago, and have been friends since.
We took the scenic route (which means I took the wrong turnoff from highway 69) and wandered through parts of Wood County that most folks who live here don't even know exist...but it was exciting...kind of.
When we got to Gene and Carolyn's house, we found that it had been sold to someone else, but the new owners were very friendly (they are also cycle riders), so even though we had just met, we carried on a conversation for 30 minutes until Diana could reach Carolyn on the phone and get a new phone number for us to call. Unfortunately, Gene and Carolyn were also out for the day and were over at Pittsburg, so we'll just have to have that visit another time.
We said goodbye to our new friends and rode back to the house. As soon as we walked in, the phone started ringing. It was Ladd and Angela letting us know that they had two extra tickets for the annual Lake Fork Baptist Church Wild Game Dinner, and wanting to know if we wanted to go with them...in 45 minutes. We said we would, so I quickly drove to Dollar Tree to get some more materials for tomorrow's children's sermon, and when I returned, we drove to Ladd and Angela's house to ride with them.
We had a really nice evening...good food and fellowship, and met some new friends who were seated at our table. And, Ladd won a round of golf for four at the Lands End golf course...that was right after he told us that he'd never won anything at this event.
By the time we got back home, we were totally wrung out, so after checking our mail, looking at Facebook for a few minutes, and setting the clocks for daylight saving time, we trundled off to bed for a good night's sleep.
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Sunday, March 11
It was tough waking up to the new time, but we ginned around and got off to church in time to stop at Whataburger for our Sunday breakfast.
Praise band rehearsal was at 9:15 and then we rehearsed our children's sermon.
Attendance was down today, probably due to both the time change and the fact that Yantis ISD started their Spring Break Friday afternoon, so a lot of folks were out of town.
Our children's sermon was based on 1st Samuel, Chapter 13...
Wait On The Lord
JIM: For many years
Israel was ruled by judges but then the Israelites decided that they wanted a
king. God gave them Saul as their king even though He knew that a king would be
bad for them. Saul started out well as
king. He was a humble man and looked like he was going to be the perfect
king to lead God’s people.
But,
what Saul looked like on the outside was not a true reflection of who he was on
the inside. As Saul ruled over Israel as their king his responses in
difficult situations revealed that he really didn’t listen to God, or trust and
obey God as his leader. Saul wanted to
do everything his way.
For 42 years Saul was king and
nothing happened. But then something scary did happen! Saul had many soldiers
and some of his soldiers attacked the Philistines. This made the Philistines angry. They decided
that they were going to attack the Israelites. The Israelites had to run and
hide.
Samuel the priest told Saul to
wait for him to come and help. Samuel knew that the Israelites had to put their
trust in God if they were going to make it. But Samuel was late coming to see
Saul and Saul got very worried. Saul
made a burnt offering even though he was supposed to wait for Samuel. Whenever
Samuel finally got there he knew that Saul had made a big mistake. Now, God
would take the kingdom away from Saul and make someone else king.
Saul never learned that he should
not worry and that it is always better to listen and trust God. God doesn’t
want you to worry either. Whenever you feel worried just listen and do what He
says, and He will take care of you!
BARBARA: Saul
was like the ducks in a story I once heard. See, there was a town called
Duckville and everyone who lived there was a duck. All the stores, movies, and
parks were duck ones. Even the church was a duck church.
On Sunday, all the ducks would waddle off to
duck church to hear what kind of preacher? You’re right...a duck preacher. They
didn’t have a sermon like Pastor Craig will give, they had a duckling sermon.
On this particular Sunday the duck preacher
spoke eloquently of how God had given the ducks wings with which to fly. She
pounded the pulpit with her beak and said, “With these wings, there is nowhere
we ducks cannot go! There is no God-given task we ducks cannot accomplish! With
these wings we no longer need to walk through life. We can soar high in the
sky!
Jim: Mrs. Little…I bet the
ducks quacked, “Amen!” And the duck preacher probably finished her message by
exclaiming, “With our wings we can fly through life! We...can...fly!!!!” And just like in our church, more ducks probably
quacked Amen! Every duck loved the service, didn’t they? In fact, all the ducks
that were there probably commented on what a wonderfully convicting message
they had heard from their duck preacher.
Barbara: You’re
right, Mr. Little. But then, when they
left the church they waddled all the way home. They didn’t fly like the duck
preacher told them they could. They went home just like they came to church,
waddling and quacking.
Sometimes we have the same problem Saul and the
ducks had.
Too many times when God talks to us at church, we don't hear Him, because we aren't really listening. We need to pay attention and listen for God when we are at church and when we aren't at church. God is going to help us do wonderful things IF WE LISTEN. And when we leave church each Sunday, we should be different than when we came to church.
Jim: Dear God, thank you for helping us each week. Please help us to prepare ourselves to listen to you. Show us how we can be different each week. We pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen.
We returned home after church, took a short nap, Barbara fixed lunch, and then I returned to Yantis for a Stewardship Committee meeting. Then, it was back to the house for awhile until we returned to Yantis again for the evening service and Bible study.
When the service was over, several of us drove to Quitman for a little social time at Dairy Quitman. Unfortunately, we had so much fun socializing that we forgot to break out the cameras for photos...if you can believe that!
We were already headed for our cars when we remembered that we needed a photo. Unfortunately, Reed and LuAnn had already left, the the rest of us regrouped and Barbara got the shots in the above collage.
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Monday, March 12
This was a "stay in the house and take care of business" day. Barbara spent nearly the whole day creating photo collages for the journal/blog, and I had tax documents, statements, and receipts covering my desk and the kitchen table...trying to make sense of 2017.
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Tuesday, March 13
This was a day of family fun and work. Leah and Kaiden were on Spring break from Burleson schools, so they came over to visit and help out around the house.
The fun included short visits with Aunt TJ, Ladd, and Madelyn. The work involved trimming the Bradford pear tree in the back yard and raking and mowing the yard. Kaiden and Leah were a huge help!!!
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Thursday, March 14
Today was all about making memories. For years we have driven past a place in Lindale that had a big tower and water wheel prominently displayed. We would ask folks about it, and got many varying opinions, so after finally learning that it was a free park (but open only Thursday - Saturday), we decided to find out for ourselves what it was all about.
Parrott Park and the Old Mill Pond Museum consists of 14 buildings and 8 pavilions on a beautiful shaded 20+ acre site. The museum is the dream of founder Bill Parrott, whose family donated the land and everything on it to the city of Lindale with the provision that it always be opened to the public at no charge.
Throughout the park and inside the museum are displays of multitudes of historical artifacts that depict life in America from 1850 to 1950.
The primary exhibit today was a blacksmith shop with two smithies who were teaching kids (and kids at heart) the art of blacksmithing. Kaiden learned to work the bellows, rake the coal and coke in the forge, and hammer out a butter knife.
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Friday, March 16
Leah and Ryan had to get away early this morning, so after breakfast, they loaded the car and took off for home...
And we were left with some wonderful memories of family fun...
We worked around the house this morning and then took TJ to a dermatology appointment in Winnsboro around noon.
We stopped in Quitman on the way home to eat lunch at Peralta's Mexican Restaurant, one of TJ's favorites.
When we returned to Mineola, we took TJ back to her apartment at Autumn Wind and then ran several errands before going home and calling it a day.
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Saturday, March 17
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!
Spring is in the air, as this photo of the Bradford Pear tree at the front of the yard shows...
We spent most of the day just taking care of business around the house, but joined church friends this evening for dinner at Whataburger...
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Sunday, March 18
The youth from our church attended the annual Disciple Now retreat this weekend and returned this morning to present some amazing music and testimonies. Our guest speaker, who had been the primary leader at the retreat, presented the sermon. This was one of the few Sundays when we got to just sit and enjoy and appreciate the entire service.
We joined our Kansas/Texas friends Gene and Michelle for lunch at Broadway Buffet in Sulphur Springs. It had been a while since we last visited with each other, so there were lots of stories to share. Gene and Michelle were in Dodge City, Kansas, when we were in Liberal, but we didn't meet them until we all moved to East Texas and bought lots at Holiday Villages of Lake Fork...small world.
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Monday, March 19
This morning we drove to Lindale to the dermatologist's office to have the stitches removed from my scalp. Everything seemed to be progressing well, and I finally had hopes of combing my hair again.
It was time for lunch when we finished in Lindale, so we decided to drive THROUGH Mineola and keep going north to Quitman to try out the lunch special at the newest donut shop. No, it wasn't about lunch donuts...it was about the special Chinese menu...two egg rolls, fried rice, and chicken. We could hardly wait to get back home and enjoy it!
The rest of the day was spent working on the journal/blog, with Barbara creating the photo collages and me writing text. One of these days we're going to surprise everyone and get all caught up with this thing!
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Tuesday, March 20
Hello, Spring...We've been waiting for you!!!!
Our first day of Spring wasn't anything out of the ordinary. I drove to Yantis for prayer meeting early this morning and then went to Our Little Lot to do some work on a plumbing problem in Big V.
When I got home, we spent the rest of the day working on the journal/blog, working like crazy to get caught up.
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Wednesday, March 21
With the first full day of spring upon us, I thought it would be appropriate so show how Spring is breaking into bloom at our place...
We woke up to a real bombshell this morning. As we checked our email, we found a message from Snowball Express telling us that the Gary Sinese Foundation, which took over Snowball Express recently, was moving SBE out of Dallas to Disneyworld in Orlando this December. We knew there would be some changes along the way under the new leadership, but were absolutely stunned by this announcement. The immediate negative impact that we could see was the ending of the East Texas Patriot Guard Riders vest project for SBE. For the past five years, ETPGR has provided personalized motorcycle vests for each attending child, and with this move, that project would also be radically changed, if not completely dropped. Only time will tell what the impact will be, but those of us who have given up those days in December to go to Dallas to be with the children of our fallen military heroes are very disappointed.
A big part of our day was spent exchanging messages with other PGR members as we tried to figure alternate ways to keep the vest project alive.
This afternoon we drove to Yantis to assist with the after school program sponsored by YFBC. We had to be there by 3:30 to assist with the kids, then after an evening meal at 5:00, Barbara went with her second-graders to their classroom for Bible study, and I went upstairs with the middle school and high school kids.
At 7:00 we sent all the kids home and then had praise band rehearsal until 8:15. To say that we were more than ready to get home would be a huge understatement!
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Thursday, March 22
Our big event for the day was a Taz ride to Tyler for the monthly meet-and-greet with East Texas Patriot Guard Riders.
We met at La Posada on 5th Street for fun, food, and fellowship. The main topic of conversation was the effect of the recent announcement about the relocation of Snowball Express (which we learned this evening would be for three years), and what could possibly be done to keep our vest program alive.
We had to leave the meeting early to get back to Mineola so I could catch the second half of the LCSB rehearsal at the middle school.
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Friday, March 23
Today was a "project day" for the Mineola family. When we first moved TJ into Autumn Wind, we asked the manager about building a small dog run for Copper and Patty. We got the go-ahead on it, but never did anything about it for whatever reason we had. Copper has since been put down, but Patty needed a place to take care of business and get outside for fresh air, so today we all went to Autumn Wind to see what we could do.
Logan, Ladd, and I went to Tractor Supply to find the fencing and posts we needed, while Barbara, Angela, and Jarhett took TJ shopping.
By the time we all got back together again, we had the new fence installed and ready for Patty.
Jarhett enjoyed exploring the yard with TJ's magnifying glass, Angela and Barbara did some house cleaning in the apartment, and Patty enjoyed her new "digs."
After all that, we decided it was time for some lunch, so we went downtown to enjoy a meal at Paredes Family Restaurant and celebrate Logan's birthday...
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Saturday, March 24
After all the excitement and running around this week, we figured we'd better stay home, do a little cleaning, and finish preparing the children's sermon for tomorrow.
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Sunday, March 25
We've written about our children's sermons for Yantis First Baptist Church, but may not have given enough explanation of how they come about each week. Usually, Pastor Craig provides us with a scripture and general topic about his sermon for the next Sunday. Then, we start studying to see how we can use that scripture and topic to create a children's sermon that will more or less parallel Craig's sermon. It's not always as easy as it sounds, because Craig gives powerful sermons aimed primarily at the adults and older youth, and we need to simplify and condense our sermons into something that the little children (usually ages 5 - 11) can understand and apply. Most of the time we are at least in the same ballpark as Craig, but today we were totally in sync with his sermon as what each of us said had a great application for everyone in the sanctuary. We love it when a plan comes together!
Luke
19: 28-45: Accepting the Gift
BARBARA: Pastor Craig’s sermon this morning is about how the people received or rejected Jesus when He rode into Jerusalem the last week of His life. Many people in Jerusalem thought Jesus was the gift from God they had been expecting all their lives. Others didn’t believe he was a king of anything, so they ignored and rejected him. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem that day, many people were expecting him to be a king that would free them from the Roman rulers. Most of the crowd forgot everything the prophets had ever said about God sending them a Messiah. They wanted the gift they wanted…not the gift God was offering them. The religious leaders who should have known better, didn’t want anyone to have more power than they did, so they convinced many of the people to turn against Jesus and ask for Him to be killed.
JIM: My part this morning is to explain to you how we, each of us today, are much like the people of Jerusalem.
Have you ever received a gift that you really wanted and
were happy to receive? Sure, we all have. How about a gift that you really
didn’t want, but you pretended to like it anyway? Yep. Been there done that, too, huh? How
about getting a gift that was given out of love; but you were disappointed or
ashamed of it?
When I was young, maybe in the fourth or fifth grade, I had
an old bicycle that I rode all over town.
It looked old and beat up, because it was, but it worked just fine. Still, I wanted a brand-new bike like some of
my friends had, even though I knew my parents didn’t have extra money).
Before school started that fall, Mother took my two brothers and me to visit my grandparents in El Paso for a week. When we returned home, I found that Daddy had spent the week sanding and repainting my bike and replacing worn out parts. The bike was as good as new, but I was disappointed that it wasn’t new, and for several days I walked to places instead of riding my bike, It took me a long time to be truly grateful to Daddy, who loved me enough to spend his time and effort on doing something very special for me, even if I was an ungrateful brat at the time. And you know, as I was remembering this story, I think that I never did thank Daddy properly for what he had done for me.
Before school started that fall, Mother took my two brothers and me to visit my grandparents in El Paso for a week. When we returned home, I found that Daddy had spent the week sanding and repainting my bike and replacing worn out parts. The bike was as good as new, but I was disappointed that it wasn’t new, and for several days I walked to places instead of riding my bike, It took me a long time to be truly grateful to Daddy, who loved me enough to spend his time and effort on doing something very special for me, even if I was an ungrateful brat at the time. And you know, as I was remembering this story, I think that I never did thank Daddy properly for what he had done for me.
Just as I rejected my father’s gift of a redone bike, we
sometimes do the same to our Heavenly Father. Sometimes we turn our backs on
God because we think He didn’t get it right or He didn’t do things the way we
wanted them done. Sometimes we accept the gift of eternal salvation through
Jesus; but we get upset when accepting that gift means we need to change parts
of our lives or the way we do things. We want to accept Christ, but we still
want to do things our way, which is the whole reason we needed the gift to
begin with. And very few of us ever show
God how truly thankful for what He did for us.
God loves us so much that He gave His only son to die for
us. That gift means everything to us if
we accept it freely and share the joy of the gift with everyone else.
Barbara: Today’s gift from Mr. Little
& me is this small egg which symbolizes the new life that God has offered
us through his Son, Jesus Christ. We pray that each of you will someday accept
the gift that Christ has given
you.
Jim: Let us pray. Thank
you, Father, for the greatest gift of all. Thank you for Jesus who loved us so
much that he paid the price for our sin to give us the gift of eternal
life.
This afternoon was a time of rest and relaxation, and then we returned to Yantis this evening for Bible study and a time of sharing in the Word with our church family.
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Monday, March 26
Barbara found out last night at church that she was the chairperson for a temporary committee to plan a new church directory, and that our friends Maylene and Diane would be on the committee with her. Since the latest directory is six years old, and summer is fast approaching, Barbara thought that the committee should meet with Pastor Craig as soon as possible to start gathering information and sketching out a plan to implement before school is out.
So, today found us back on the road for a 1:00 pm meeting with the committee and the pastor. I knew it would take awhile for their meeting, so I took my trumpet along and got in some quality practice time.
When we got back home, I went to work on the February journal/blog while Barbara did online searches and made some phone calls about the church directory project. She printed copies of all the information she could find, called the other committee members to schedule another meeting for tomorrow, and then we drove back to Yantis and Emory to deliver the copies to Maylene, Diane, and church secretary Mary so they could be better prepared for the meeting.
Wow...What a day!
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Tuesday, March 27
We were again on the road to Yantis this morning for the church directory committee meeting...and I again took along my trumpet and got in an hour of good practice time.
Barbara was scheduled for a cardiology check-up in Quitman this afternoon, but we decided to reschedule it because of an event with the Lake Country Symphonic Band.
Director Mike Holbrook had made arrangements for members of the band to travel to Dallas tonight for an all-John Williams concert by the Dallas Winds. This would be a first for us, since we had never been to the Meyerson, and we've never heard the Dallas Winds in a live performance.
Before leaving for the theater, we took neighbors, John and Wanda, an Easter egg from Sunday and visited with them for a bit. Barbara had this brilliant idea to ask John to take a picture of us since all we ever have are selfies! We were thrilled and amazed with the photo John captured!
We met band members at the Select Theater for pizza and pop (it's been a lot of years since we had band pizza)...
And then boarded our charter bus (boy, band buses have sure changed over the years)...
And headed off to Dallas and the Meyerson
The Meyerson Performing Arts Center...Words cannot describe it...
When the concert was over, we all got back on the bus and headed back to Mineola...in a driving rainstorm. We got back to the theater around 11:30 and Barbara and I decided that in the tradition of band trips everywhere, we needed to find something to eat before going home. Since Taco Bell was the only place open that late, we ordered a bunch of tacos and went home to eat and chill before heading for bed.
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Wednesday, March 28
The rain that we drove through last night caught up with us this morning, so outdoor work wasn't an option. Instead, we got TJ from Autumn Wind and took her to see our friend Claudine York, whose daughter-in-law passed away last week after a long bout with cancer. We had a nice visit with Claudine and her daughter, and then left to run some errands and do some shopping before we took TJ back to her apartment and we went home to try to catch up on the sleep we missed last night.
This evening we were back in the swing of things at YFBC as we did our thing with the after school program and had praise band rehearsal. Barbara had seen an interesting photo on a friend's FaceBook page of several people arranging their hands together to form a cross, and decided it would be a good project for the kids to try tonight. We first tried it with adults...after about half of eternity, we got this shot and then decided that we'd go with what we had, rather than try to get the little ones settled down long enough to try it.
Brenda, Barbara, and Jeanette took time out from their busy activities for this shot...
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Thursday, March 29
This was a red-letter month and day for us. Why? In March alone, we finished and published our November, December, January, and February blogs! Whoa!!! Then today was a red letter day because we published the February edition of the journal/blog, which technically got us current on our publication schedule, since the March edition won't be due until April 1.
We've been having a running battle with Wells Fargo for over a month, as we were trying to get all of our tax information ready to send to the accountant. I called the CPA office this morning to explain our situation and ask if we could send in what we have and then send in the Wells Fargo interest statement for Big V when it came. We got the okay to do that, but then we decided that if we mailed it, the earliest it would get to Tyler would be Monday. Time is of the essence right now, so I spent about an hour organizing everything we had, and then we drove to Tyler to hand off the material to the accountant.
Since we were in the "big city" anyway, we did some shop-looking for materials to use for our Easter children's sermon, but struck out on that idea. We'd just have to go back home and do some more brainstorming.
As often happens, some of our best ideas come while we are driving, and by the time we got home, Barbara had the basics of a plan that would use materials that we already have on hand. First, though, I made my fourth call to Wells Fargo to tell them that what they sent me today was not what I had asked for, and didn't meet the need to get a particular statement in the hands of our accountant. It took 45 minutes of telephone time to finally get what I had asked for a month ago, but in the end, I got a fax of the statement and was able to fax it on to the accountant before the end of the business day.
After all that, we got back to work on our children's sermon and stayed with it until we finally decided to leave everything on the table and make a late-night run to Quitman to get malts at Dairy Queen.
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Friday, March 30
We got a late start this morning, but once we got going, we were running like gangbusters. The entire day from 10:30 am until 9:00 pm was spent on designing and constructing the materials for Sunday's children's sermon and working on the March blog. Our day had the feel of final exam week at college, and by the end, we were physically and emotionally wrung out.
If there's no rest for the wicked, then we must be very, very wicked!!!
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Saturday, March 31
We finished the month in a little more laid back style. I was up early to work on the script for tomorrow's children's sermon, then we had waffles and eggs for breakfast (it seems that even though everyday is Saturday for retirees, the real Saturday is about the only time we fix a real breakfast).
While we ate, we watched another episode of Criminal Minds, our current series of choice to get a daily dose of murder and mayhem.
Around 11:00 Barbara started a load of laundry and did some dusting while I went outside to mow and trim the front and back yards. We might not have gotten our hair trimmed for Easter, but the yards are looking great.
Pam, who we first met while she and her husband were staying in the same hotel in Eastland as we were, and who we've ridden with before on motorcycle rides, brought over some Mary Kay product for Barbara and they had a nice visit while I was doing the yards.
While I was working the north 40, I found a patch of wildflowers that we don't remember being there before. We didn't know what they were, but they were pretty, so I took a couple of photos of them. I'll mow them down when the blooms die off and maybe they'll reappear next Spring.
With the children's sermon completed, the laundry done, and the yards mowed, all that was left was to get in some trumpet time in preparation for tomorrow's sunrise service at Lake Fork and the morning service at Yantis, and proof and edit the journal/blog before publishing and posting it...not a hard day, but we did manage to stay busy most of the time.
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Finishing our march through March,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsie
