A Little Weak :) Week

Sunday, January 20 – Wednesday, January 23

Sunday, January 20

Today may have been one of the lazier Sundays we’ve spent in a long time. Last night we put on a crock pot of pork roast for Sunday dinner and I set up the bread maker so we’d have fresh homemade bread with the meal. When we got up his morning (way before the alarm even thought about going off), I added potatoes and onions to the crock pot so they would be just right by noon. We just worked at our computers for a bit and then I went back to bed until the buzzer went off to let me know the bread was finished.

Around 7:30 we began getting shined up for Sunday school and church. Just before we left Big V, I threw some green beans into the crock pot to round out the meal that we’d have later in the day.

Since Mother is still feeling sore from the surgery, she decided to forego the church services for the day, so we put together some of the roast pork and trimmings and took it over to her house on the way to the church.

We returned to Big V after services and called Jean to see if she was up to sharing the meal with us. She was all for it and graciously offered to share her table, so we gathered everything up and walked across to her house to have a civilized Sunday dinner and conversation while we were waiting for the clock to roll around to football game time.

After the meal we came back to Big V and settled in for a few hours of NFL divisional championship football games. Now, you already know our feelings about the Patriots, but just to recap, I’m always for them and Barbara is always against them; and, you know now that, just as they have done all season, New England did what was necessary to keep their winning streak alive and win the AFC championship, moving them into the Super Bowl in a couple of weeks.

The second game was more fun to watch because I like both teams, so it didn’t really matter which of them won. I really thought Green Bay would win at home and would probably be the tougher opponent for the Patriots in the Super Bowl, but Eli and the Giants found a way to pull it off. I’m just glad that we were watching from the warmth of our own home instead of being at -4 degree Lambeau Field!

Barbara took the second quarter off to go over to see Mother for a bit. When she returned I went over to visit Jean during the third quarter of the game and then came back to Big V where we watched the end of the game, played some computer games, and then called it a day.

Monday, January 21

After a slow start to the day, we finally got in gear and tackled one of the jobs that both of us absolutely detest – straightening out all the paperwork that has accumulated during the past twelve months and trying to get our income tax information organized.

Our initial filing system is very simple…every piece of paper that looks like it might possibly be important goes into a box under my seat at the kitchen table (which is also my desk – Barbara’s desk is the front passenger seat that has the slide-out tray to hold her computer). When January rolls around, we take the box out from under the seat and begin sorting everything into piles, trying to make some sense of it. Once the piles are organized into somewhat tidy stacks, I start organizing them by date and deciding what we really need to keep and what can go to the shredder.

Each year we say that we really need to pay more attention to what we receive and what can be thrown away right after we open it, but that never happens; besides, if we did that, Barbara would not have that much to shred on a day like today.

Suffice it to say that after about three hours, we had everything organized or shredded, files actually labeled (something I’ve been thinking about, but I didn’t want to make any rash decisions), and put away. The job was much easier than last year when we were still dealing with lots of stuff we had loaded into Big V when we left Liberal.

Now all we have to do is wait for the rest of the tax information to arrive so we can put it together and either take or send it to Liberal.

When we had finished all that mind-numbing work, Barbara fixed a late lunch and we sat down to relax in our newly-straightened living area, eat a nice hot meal, and watch yet another episode of M*A*S*H…going from the sublime to the ridiculous (or was it the other way around?).

The afternoon was pretty much a blur. With the southwest wind howling, we had no sense of adventure or desire to go outside and work, so we alternately read, played at the computers, and/or dozed. I did take an hour or so to drive into town to visit with Mother and the puppies.

Around 7:00 we walked across to Jean’s house to see how her day had gone. She invited us to join her for some chicken chow mein, so we stayed for a bit, ate, and enjoyed each other’s company. Then, it was time to go back to Big V and while away the rest of the evening playing at the computers and watching TV.

Tuesday, January 22

Happy Birthday to daughter Leah Renee' Colwell McQuitty in Liberal, Kansas; she reached the ripe old age of 26 today!

Happy Birthday greetings also go out to Kelly Jividen in Richmond, Virginia. Kelly is a very special friend of the family.

Leah and Kelly might have had an exciting day, but it was plain and dull around here.

We woke up at 9:00 am – the latest either of us has slept in for a long time. Barbara’s excuse was that she stayed up until 3:00 am to finish a book she had started, but I didn’t have any excuse other than I must have needed 11 hours of sleep.

When we did get moving, it was to greet a cold, gray, and sub-freezing morning. The high for the day was predicted to be 58 degrees, but we sure couldn’t see it from here. I ventured out to refill the birdfeeder, but that was the extent of the outdoor activity for quite a while.

Around 10:30 we heard some different noises and felt some strange vibrations in Big V. I started walking around inside to find out what was happening. As I got to the front, I looked out the window and saw a tractor moving toward one of the pecan trees; Jean had hired someone to come out and shake the trees to cause the pecans to drop, and we were feeling the vibrations clear across the yard! I quickly grabbed the camera to try to record what I could of the event. I was able to snap this shot just as the shaker started and the pecans went flying…looks almost like a flock of birds taking off!

Sometime after 11:00 I walked down to the highway to check the mail. When I got back, Barbara started a large recipe of chicken and buttermilk biscuits, a Betty Crocker boxed meal that tastes every bit as good as homemade and is the perfect meal for a cold day like today. By the way, if you haven’t tried it, you ought to.

We ate and watched another episode of M*A*S*H and then took some of the meal over to Mother and to Ernie and Billee.

After a trip to Wal-Mart, where I got a haircut and Barbara picked up some things for our upcoming trip to Arizona, we returned to Big V and began picking out the clothes we wanted to take with us on Thursday and started packing.

I made one more trip back to Mother’s house around 4:00 to check on her and do some ironing. While I was there, the plumbers came by to clear a clogged drain pipe from the kitchen sink. Ernie and I had worked about three days to get the drain running, but finally gave up and called in the professionals. I told Mother that I wouldn’t want to be a plumber, but I’m sure glad that someone else did. Once the plumbers left I said goodbye to Mother and the puppies and returned to Big V for dinner and an evening of watching TV and relaxing.

Wednesday, January 23

Happy Birthday to Paul Francis in Grand Prairie, Texas!

We woke up around 7:00 and took it easy for a couple of hours...checked the computers, had a light breakfast, and did some general chores around the place.

At 10:00 we went into town to pick Mother up for her appointment with Dr. Khan here in Artesia. While we were there we thought we’d better get started washing some clothes that we would need for the upcoming trip. The appointment went well; the doctor was pleased with her progress and current state of health, especially after the surgery in December. He told her to come back in three months for another check-up.

We were back at Mother’s house by 11:15 – put another load of clothes in the washing machine and then headed back toward Big V, stopping first to drop off a new prescription for Mother at the K-Mart pharmacy.

Today was our Chaos day with the Terpening clan, so we went back into town shortly after noon…stopped at Mother’s house to take clothes out of the dryer and put another load in, and then went to Chaos where we met with Jean, Jerry, Nancy, and Susie for our weekly luncheon and an hour or so of conversation.

When we left Chaos, we took a meal to Mother and then returned to Big V where we decided to do some reading. Both of us ended up taking a short nap, but I eventually finished a book that I had started several days back.

At 5:30 I went back to town to pick up Mother’s prescription and take it to her, and then returned to Big V where we spent the evening doing the final packing in preparation for our “Arizona Adventure,” which begins tomorrow morning…did make a quick trip across the yard to visit with Jean for a few minutes before returning home to watch some TV before calling it a day.
“If you jump to conclusions, you make terrible landings.”…Gulf Breeze, Florida Church Sign

Love and best wishes to all,

Jim & Barbara

A Little Cold Spell

Sunday, January 13 – Saturday, January 19, 2008

Sunday, January 13

Since Edith said she was going to try to go to church and Ernie and Billee would pick her up, we headed straight to Sunday school. However, when we got out, we couldn’t find anyone; so we called Edith’s and she hadn’t been feeling well so she didn’t come after all. Ernie and Billee did come so we all wound up sitting together. They said they were fixing lunch and we all would meet at Edith’s at 1:00; so, after church we changed clothes and headed that direction.

It was nice for all 5 of us to sit at the table and visit. Edith was really hurting and tired by the time the meal was over so once we cleaned up, we all left. Then Jim and I went over to Ernie’s and Billee’s to visit for a bit more.

Once home, Jim parked himself in front of the TV to root against the Dallas Cowboys! We were a house divided!!! What a traitor he was today.

Jim: What can I say…I used to be a diehard Cowboys fan, but the takeover of the team by Jerry Jones and the way Tom Landry was terminated as the coach left a bitter taste. Now my favorite team is New England…my second favorite is whoever is playing Dallas (sorry about that, Jean).

Monday, January 14

After we got moving this morning, Jim told me he was going to have to spend several hours working on some paperwork that he needed to finish and get in the mail. So, I planned to occupy my time with checking bills, catching up on email, and trying to put together the slide video. However, I was saved from those wonderful chores by a phone call from Nancy, who wanted me to come over for hot chocolate and visiting. I was literally saved by the bell!

While over at Nancy’s, Jerry called and invited us to go to Hagerman tonight with them to hear a seminar on John Wesley. After checking with Jim, we decided it sounded like a good idea.

Once Jim finished the reports, we drove by to see Edith. We found that she still hadn’t had lunch so I fixed her a plate of food before we went to the funeral home to make copies of the reports.

After putting them in the mail, we headed to the print shop to see if the Journal 3’s were put together yet. They were and we were delighted with them which meant another trip to the funeral home to show Jerry the cover he put together for us. Once again it was over to Edith’s before going to Sonic for our lunch.

Around 6:30 Jerry and Nancy picked us up and off we went without Jim having to drive. What a treat that was for him! Hagerman is a small town about 20 miles north of Artesia, so the ride gave us time to converse and enjoy the company.

Having grown up in the Methodist Church, I was surprised to find that I had much to learn about John Wesley. For instance, I don’t think I realized that he only came to America for a short time and then left with very bitter memories and in disgrace. I suppose, if I thought about it at all, I thought he was one of the circuit riders of that era.

Just one story about Wesley that I found interesting:

Wesley came to Savannah, Georgia, as an Anglican Church chaplain. When the ship docked, he found the townspeople gathered with their barrels of rum to welcome the travelers. In short order, Wesley used a hatchet and whacked each barrel, which didn’t endear him to the people of the town.

He quickly fell in love with 17-year old Sophie, one of his religious studies students (he was 35) which caused quite an uproar. Finally, seeking advice from some German Moravians he had met on the ship, he was told, “Think no more about the matter!” (Give up this line of thinking).

When he told Sophie that they would continue seeing each other, but marriage was not to be, she promptly went out and within a week was married to someone else. This angered Wesley so much that when she and her new husband came to church on Sunday, he refused to serve her communion, disgracing Sophie in front of everyone.

This action of his caused thirteen grievances to be filed against him. Two of these were: speaking to a married woman without her husband’s approval and baptizing an Indian baby without 3 witnesses.

Once found guilty of these charges, he left to go back to England with everyone knowing of his failure.

Tuesday, January 15

Happy birthday to sister, Nancy, in Cleburne, Texas!

Since doing laundry and cleaning house aren’t really newsworthy, I’ll use the LHS Redskin phrase, “Enough said!”

I seemed to have caught some kind of bug last night and bowed out of returning to Hagerman for tonight’s lecture. So…I will turn the journal over to Jim…

Jim: Jerry, Nancy, and I went back to Hagerman this evening for the last presentation in the Wesley Adventure series. Tonight’s topic was about the scriptural foundations of Methodists. It was a very interesting topic and the presenter discussed how the modern church is in danger of reversing the priorities as established by Wesley.

When it came time for questions, I asked how the Methodists got their name, considering that John Wesley was a lifelong Anglican. Tom (the presenter) told us that the term, “Methodists,” was originally a very derisive term used by others because members of the sect were very methodical and narrow-minded in their scriptural beliefs.

Wesley’s plan was to educate and train the masses in methodical scriptural beliefs and daily life and then send them back into the Anglican congregations to influence a change in the church; but, the Anglicans didn’t accept the “Methodists,” so those folks eventually formed their own groups, leading to the formation of the denomination known as “The Methodist Church.”

Wednesday, January 16

Happy birthday to brother, Jerry, in Roswell, New Mexico!

Congratulations to granddaughter Jaycie…Jaycie finished in the top 10 at the Murfee Spelling Bee.

Today was our usual Chaos Wednesday with the lunch bunch.
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Tonight, while Jim went over to Jean’s to watch the Texas Tech/Texas A&M basketball game, I watched some lady give up $198, 000 only to wind up with $33, 000 on Deal or No Deal! Disgusted with TV, I returned to the computer to catch up on mail, make some travel plans, and generally goof off before calling it a night!

Thursday, January 17

We woke up to a bitterly cold morning…either 15 or 16 degrees, depending on which thermometer or weather service report we chose to believe.

While we were warm inside Big V, we soon discovered that we had no running water…some part of our waterline had frozen during the early morning hours. Luckily, it takes only the flick of a switch to change over to our onboard water tank, so we were quickly up and running as usual. Jim spent a good part of the day working on a plan to get the water running again once the temperatures cooperated. I only acted as “cheerleader.” (from inside where it was warm!)

The afternoon and evening was spent making reservations and co-coordinating plans for our next trip. We are taking Amtrak from Albuquerque, NM to Flagstaff, AZ!

Why Flagstaff you ask? Easy…it’s the only train route we could find without traveling across the state and half of Texas. And…more importantly, we’re going to take the Grand Canyon Railway from Williams to Grand Canyon! Is that not exciting? More on that trip later.

Friday, January 18

Jim: Today was another relatively slow day for us…since it was so cold outside during the morning hours, we just spent the time reading or working at the computers.

This afternoon I took apart a section of our waterline to determine exactly what would be needed to fix it. It seems that when I was installing a pressure regulator between two hoses a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t seal off a water leak soon enough; the water soaked through the fiberglass wrapping around the hose, and when the temperatures dropped into the teens, the insulation froze around the hose, causing the water in the hose to freeze…oh well, live and learn!

After going into town and checking on Mother, we made a run to the local Do-It Center and bought a couple of lengths of foam pipe insulation and some more fiberglass wrap.

Once back at Big V, Barbara stripped the old, wet insulation off the hose while I set a new cover over the standpipe. Who knows…maybe by June we’ll have this thing working right!

Barbara: One exciting bit of news, and something for us to really think about…back in November, I finally tracked down a friend of mine who taught across the hall from me at West Middle School in Liberal. Margarita went back to Puerto Rico the same year we retired and it’s been fun corresponding with her. One of the last things she told us before we all left Liberal was that now that we were retired, we needed to come see her in Puerto Rico. On a whim, I asked her how two people could find her if they wanted to. To make a long story short, after exchanging some emails with Margarita and checking airfares and schedules, we are thinking strongly about going to the Rio Grande municipality of Puerto Rico to see Margarita and her family! More on that later, too. At least we can dream!

Saturday, January 19

Jim: Today was another “take it easy” day. Barbara worked on some travel plans while I did a few (very few) chores inside. Since it was way too cold to go outside and work on the plumbing, I decided to cook up a recipe of refried beans while Barbara baked some muffins for breakfast.

By noon it was warm enough to get outside and re-wrap the water hose, feed it through the 3’ PVC pipe, and get everything hooked back up. Fortunately, it all went together well and we soon had running water again. You gotta love these modern conveniences! I guess we’ll find out early tomorrow morning whether we have the proper insulation. Of course, we can always hope that the coldest of the cold has passed us for this season.

This afternoon we made a trip to town where we visited with Mother, Ernie, and Billee. Billee had come over to cut and style Mother’s hair and Ernie was working on clearing a clogged kitchen drain. Barbara also used the time to start washing a load of clothes while I busied myself by playing with the dogs.

Barbara: When we returned to town for our laundry tonight, I took the camera so we could capture Edith and her new hair-do, courtesy of Billee. It was so great to see her perky and peppy (amazing what having your hair done can do for morale!) that we just had to document this occasion.

Upon returning to our place we went in to visit with Jean for a few minutes before going to Big V for the rest of the evening.

Tonight: Work on the journal for this week and chill out (literally and figuratively).

We’ve been sent some photos this week and decided that this was a good time to share them.

First: Our good friend Gary (the one in the cowboy hat…boy, he takes this move to Texas in style!) with his granddaughter Riley. Riley is the daughter of Joyce and Gary’s daughter, April, who is a lawyer in Houston.

Joyce and Gary have 3 daughters, but Holly is the only one who is not pictured here. This photo shows Ginger (on the left) with her son, Owen. April is on the right with daughter, Riley. Now it’s obvious why Joyce and Gary chose to move from Maryland to Texas, isn’t it?

Before the holiday season, Charlene and Danny’s son Chance graduated

from Northwestern Oklahoma State University at Alva. Charlene sent us this photo of her with Chance (center) and Spencer (right).

Not much going on this week, but sometimes that’s not all bad.

“When you’re down to nothing, God’s up to something.” - Unknown

Love to all,

Jim & Barbara

Sunday, January 6 – Saturday, January 12, 2008

Sunday, January 6

We began the morning by going by to see Edith. While there, I realized that she hadn’t used the weekly medicine dispenser Leah and Ryan gave her for Christmas; so I took all of her medicines and with her help, we got everything organized. She has been having a hard time remembering whether she has taken her pills; so we’re hopeful that this will help. That took a little longer than we expected so we missed Sunday school. However, since today was a new service day for our church, we were in time for church.

The church staff finally decided to combine the two morning services into one; so it now begins at 10:15. Unfortunately, we’re not big into the contemporary music, though the first part of the service wasn’t too bad. However, it went downhill (in our opinion) from there. It’s tough sometimes being old, because one is really set in their ways, especially when it comes to the songs in a church service and what makes a meaningful service. I’ll leave it at that.

When we finally got out at 11:45, we went by and checked on Edith and warmed up the meal Jim had put in Edith’s oven while I was doing pills. Once we got her settled, we returned to Big V. On the way, we decided we’d ask Jean if she would be interested in sharing the meal with us.

After visiting and eating, we all agreed it was bound to be nap time; so we headed home to do our part in keeping to this schedule. (Just for the record, the wind was blowing so hard, we had to close up the slide-outs to stop some of the noise! Yucky!)

The rest of the day was spent getting volume 3 of our journal ready for the printers. While Jim did that, I worked on a cover. I knew what I wanted, but for some reason, it wouldn’t print the way I designed it. We finally decided we’d get Jerry’s help tomorrow since he’s a computer guru when it comes to designing.

Monday, January 7

Jim hit the deck running today as he wanted to go to the high school band rehearsal.

Jim: Following up on Tom and Lisa Dillon’s invitation to drop by during band rehearsals, I decided to pay them a visit this morning. The band is preparing an honor band concert to present at the New Mexico Music Educators Association annual conference in Albuquerque Thursday night and I wanted to hear how they were doing.

As expected, the band sounded great on the two selections that I got to hear. I had hoped to visit some more with Tom and Lisa, but they had a band staff meeting immediately following the rehearsal to make final plans for the trip, so I just wished them well and told them I’d see them again soon.

Barbara: Once we checked in with Edith, we visited the printer’s for some advice about cardstock to be used for the journal cover, and then dropped by the funeral home to talk to Jerry. As we knew he would, he spotted the problem with my design and will fix it when we get the pictures to him. Again, we went by Edith’s to make sure she had everything she needed since we had decided to take a short trip to Cloudcroft and then Ruidoso; the weather forecast was for another w-i-n-d-y day and we needed to close up the motor home.

With my camera in hand, we blew down the highway toward Cloudcroft. We had a two-fold purpose in going this way. First, I wanted to practice taking some photos, and we were going to the Country Mercantile to do some pastry shopping since Edith and others kept talking about how wonderful their pies were.

We didn’t run into snow until we got past Mayhill, but even then, it wasn’t much to speak of. Still, I enjoyed the contrasts in scenery.

The little buildings on the right side are our “fixer-uppers”…We decided we could fix them up and live in them when we tire of Big V. J The photo bottom left is a frozen pond! Looks like a road…

What fun the mercantile store was! It was like walking back in time before Wal-Marts, K-Marts, and Targets! With wooden floors, everything dusted and spic and span, it was a treat just to browse around just knowing there had to be something we needed. Finally, we chose to buy Fruit of the Forest pies which were made with just about any berry you could think of as well as rhubarb! Yummy!

Just before dark, we arrived in Ruidoso and drove downtown to visit KFC for dinner to take to the Inn, where we had reservations. Eventually, I got tired of watching the football game; so I went downstairs to play while Jim stayed in the room to watch LSU manhandle Ohio State in the BCS championship game.

Tuesday, January 8

Jim and I were surprised to find that we slept in until 8:30, but since we didn’t have anything on the schedule, we weren’t in any hurry to get moving. We left the Inn around 10:30 and made a stop at Sonic for breakfast on the road. Even though Lydia was coming to clean Edith’s house this morning (one reason we felt we could take this short trip), we wanted to be home in time to check on her and the puppies. Sure enough, when we arrived at 1-ish, she hadn’t eaten; so we fed her before going home to unpack.

Wednesday, January 9

Yea! Today was a Chaos day! It’s always fun to visit with the bunch and enjoy a leisurely meal. Karen Francis is still home for UT’s semester break, so she joined the group today. However, since we had to have Edith over in Roswell at 2:30 for a follow-up visit with the doctor, we didn’t tarry too long.

Since we actually had an appointment, our wait was minimal and we were out feeling upbeat over the great report on her surgery. We had decided that once she finished at the doctor’s, we would take her over to Jim’s brother’s house. There we visited with Jerry and Jane for about 40 minutes…which was quite good for Edith!

I suggested that we stop at DQ for a treat before getting on the highway. Edith liked that idea and began to pull out her wallet. I said, “Edith, it was my idea, we’ll pay for it.” Without missing a beat she said, “No, it’s such a good idea, it could have been mine!” We know she is doing better when she can come back that quickly with a zinger!

On the way home, we witnessed the most beautiful sunset I think I’ve ever seen. However, by the time we got home and grabbed the camera, it was almost dark. I still got two fairly decent shots. But, I was really sorry we weren’t home to capture the true beauty of that’s day’s ending. Since we have an almost unobstructed view all the way to the Guadalupe Mountains to the southwest and the Sacramento Mountains in the west, we get to witness beautiful sunsets most evenings during the year.


Thursday, January 10

After starting a load of clothes at Edith’s and checking on her, we went by to give Jerry a copy of the photos that we want on the cover. To our surprise and pleasure, he took time to do the lay-out in no time flat! Therefore, we were able to take the journals to the printers for binding.

When we got back to Big V, Jim thought it was time (and a good, warm day) to take care of some business around the place. After dumping the tanks, he decided to rearrange all of our “stuff” in the big barn. That involved getting Little Red to pull out the car hauler, loading the ten-foot trailer on the car hauler (I helped by pushing on the back of the trailer while Jim pulled from the front – almost had a catastrophe when he tripped over the rail that keeps the motorcycle in place and fell backwards. Luckily, I was able to push against the trailer until he regained control of the tongue and we finished getting everything in place).

After I helped guide while Jim backed the car hauler into the barn, I returned to Big V and he stayed in the barn to get everything organized and straightened up.

Later, while Jim was over at Edith’s, Billee called to tell him he had a package over there. For some reason, UPS delivered Jim’s Christmas present from Leah and Ryan over there. (They had to back order this special gift!) Now Jim is decked out for outdoor cooking! If only the weather would co-operate! Guess we’ll just have to wait for supper!

Not being in the mood to cook tonight, Jim called Jean to find out if the family wanted to meet us at La Fonda for supper. Becky is going to be in a community play in February and had a rehearsal so she didn’t get to join us.

Friday, January 11

How two people can drag laundry out two days is beyond me! But, we can…finally finished it though, thank goodness.

After talking to Jerry the other day, I decided I wanted to do a slide journal of our retirement so we went to Wal-Mart to buy a photo shop program. I think it will consume my life for the next few days!

Jim received an e-mail copy of the deposition he gave while we were in Florida, so he spent about seven hours reviewing the 195 pages, marking them for corrections, and filling out the errata forms to return to the lawyer.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Jim: Today may have been the laziest Saturday we’ve spent in a long time. After sleeping in until after 7:30, we spent a large part of the morning just piddling around Big V. Barbara worked on the video journal and I read my online newspaper and sent off a couple of articles to some friends. I even managed to work in a little nap around noon.

We went over to Mother’s house to check on her around 2:00. I ironed a pair of jeans while Barbara refilled the medication tray for the coming week; then we came back home where I watched the first half of the Green Bay/Seattle football game as Barbara worked with the new program for creating a video journal. We went over to Jean’s house at halftime and visited for a bit. I stayed there for most of the second half of the game, but Barbara had an inspiration for the video journal, so she came back to Big V.

I made another trip to Mother’s house to check on her and feed the puppies…also took time to iron some pants and a shirt to wear to church tomorrow, and then returned to Big V to watch the Patriots and Jaguars slug it out to see who advances to next week’s NFL AFC championship game.

John sent us some Christmas photos of our great grandson Rhett and our teen-age granddaughter Randi since we weren’t able to be with them.

“We cannot discover new oceans unless we have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Heartwarmers

Sending our best to all,

Jim & Barbara

Tuesday, January 1 – Saturday, January 5, 2008

Tuesday, January 1

Happy New Year to everyone!

Since Nancy had come over yesterday and asked us to share New Year’s lunch with their family, that’s exactly what we did! It was a great way to start off the year. After helping to clean up the mountains of food and dishes, Jim and I ran over to Edith’s to visit with her a little while. We found she hadn’t even eaten so we quickly dished out the food Nancy had sent over.

When we returned to Jerry and Nancy’s we played Apples to Apples before Karen and her boyfriend, Conner arrived on their way back to Hobbs from Ruidoso. We all agreed that ham sandwiches would hit the spot, but before we did that, we returned to Edith’s just to check in with her. She and the puppies were doing great so we stopped by Wal-Mart and picked up the game Leah and Ryan had taught us, Fact or Crap. With that in hand, we returned once again for another meal and a night of game playing.

Wednesday, January 2

Well, it was back to the real world for us this morning. While Jim started unplugging everything, I dismantled the inside of Big V so he could take it to fill up on gas and propane as well as dump and clean the tanks. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Since he was having so much fun, we thought I should have my share by going over to do laundry at Edith’s and take down her Christmas decorations.

Surprisingly, Jim and I finished up about the same time; so I headed out to Jean’s to help get us settled back in. We completed this chore just in time to meet the Wednesday bunch at Chaos for lunch and visiting.

The afternoon was spent finishing laundry, visiting with Edith, running errands, etc. Real exciting stuff!

We found out during the evening that Edith was supposed to go to Dr. Osmani’s this afternoon. Oops! We’ll just have to reschedule.

Thursday, January 3

First rattle out of the box this morning, I contacted Osmani’s office; apparently, Edith had cancelled the appointment when an automated system called to remind her of it…so we’re back on now for next Wednesday. Then it was over to Edith’s to tell her what had happened. Sure enough she remembered saying “No” but she thought it was a political phone call. No blood, no foul…we’ll see him next week.

Jim and I then set out to find a picture frame easel so I could put out the frame Kelly and Mike gave us for Christmas. We were successful at Hallmark so we came home for me to start choosing 4 photos for it. At first, I thought I should put the kids and their families in it, but Jim sent me in another direction since he felt it should be about us. Once that mind set was lifted, I was free to really think about our life.
The mat of the frame says, “Happiness is not a Destination, But a Way of Life.”

So...here's the process I then took... First and foremost, the photos had to go with the saying. I pondered over lots of good ones...but, finally I chose these 4 because they seemed to exemplify that statement the best.

1. Us in front of Glennis' house in Marianna getting ready to take cycle and cargo trailer to Key West...certainly a happy beginning for a dream trip...so it nailed the statement a "way of life."

2. Jim and I at the 50's Diner in Richmond with Kelly and Mike...That place held happy memories of our youth (it surprised us with how authentic it was to the places we used to go in our teens). Plus, it was important, quality time with them…and they gave us the frame.

3. Me taking a photo using Jim's helmet to get the scenery we had already passed and just being silly...happy and free...enjoying what Jim loves and I sometimes don't quite enjoy as much as he...but, it's a way of life that makes me expand my thinking and photo taking skills!

4. The birds enjoying breakfast leftovers on the deck of the motel in Clearwater Beach, FL...Jim and I, as well as others, rolled with laughter when this occurred, especially when the waitress came running out apologizing and shooing those "sky rats" away...what a fun memory!
We really liked the results so for a time we are using this photo on our blog site, too. That pretty much took up the rest of my day.

Friday, January 4

Unfortunately, this morning was a no messing around one since we had to be at Edith’s by 10 to take her to Carlsbad for her Parkinson’s disease (Dr. Dewan) appointment. Everything seemed to be holding up as well as can be expected so we don’t have to go there again until July.

Once we returned home, we came out to the house to await the arrival of the propane guy. He had promised that they would deliver a smaller (125 lbs.) tank so we won’t have to continually take Big V in for refills. It also means we can put away the electric heaters! Sure enough, they arrived about 1:35.

Once that was taken care of, Jim and I decided to add indoor/outdoor two-sided tape to our big carpet by Big V’s steps. This was much more of a chore than we first thought, but with perseverance, we prevailed!

Jim spent the rest of the afternoon working outside getting the hoses, cords, and etc. cleaned up so we don’t look like pack rats out here!

I have no idea what I did, but it certainly must not have been newsworthy!

I did go out to look at his accomplishments just about sunset, and immediately ran in for my camera! This is why we love living out here on Jean’s land in New Mexico! I deliberately left in the power lines and the fence so that I could capture exactly what we see from our front porch. Is that not awesome??? This picture alone shows why we love, thanks to Jean, living in New Mexico while we take care, the best we know how, of Jim’s mom.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Wow! A morning to just piddle around here at home…it’s been super. It’s amazing how fun ordinary things can be when you seem to always be on the move.

Jim went into town to take Edith the ham salad sandwich I made her and to do some other errands while I bask in our home listening to CD’s (instead of the wind howling! Though, I do hear it, too.) I am happy to report that the outside carpet has remained stationary even through the gusts of vicious winds! Kudos to Jim for his brainy idea!

Tonight…stay home and kick back and relax a bit.

Jim: What Barbara didn’t mention was that I decided to get a jump on printing our journal for the past six months. I spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday proofing and editing all the entries since July 1 (still missed some goofs though) and began printing on Friday. The printer has been running a lot during the past 36 hours, but we’ve been able to run seven copies of the approximately 170 page book. Hopefully, Volume 3 of the Little Retirement series will go to the printer Monday for binding. It was amazing to find as we read through the entries that there were so many activities and adventures that we had already forgotten about.

With working on the journal and setting up the place for semi-permanent residency, it has been a very busy week for both of us. I think I feel a little down time coming on.

Heather and Andy gave me a little pad of church signs for Christmas, one page for each day of the year. I thought the sign for January 1 was particularly appropriate for the new year, so we’re sharing it with you here:

“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”

Starting 2008 in Artesia and wishing one and all a wonderful new year,

Jim & Barbara

The Little's Journal Three Foreword...

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow! The time has flown by and now it’s time to put together all the entries of the past six months and create Volume Three of our retirement journal.

Neither of us knew 18 months ago how we would be affected by our decisions to retire from public education and see what was “out there” for us. Certainly, it never entered our minds that we would go into the “publishing” business and lay our lives out there for everyone to see. Our address list continues to grow, though, and we are grateful for those friends (new and old) and family members who have expressed their interest in following along on our adventures.

We offer our sincere thanks to all who have kept up with us through our email attachments and/or the blog site. Your comments and suggestions are gratefully accepted.

As we sit here on the eve of a new year, we wish each and every one of you God’s richest blessings in the days, months, and weeks to come.

Thanks for coming along on the ride and keep those emails and phone calls coming!

Jim and Barbara Little
December 31, 2007
Artesia, New Mexico
http://thelittlesartesia.blogspot.com/

A Little Christmas

Sunday, December 23 – Monday, December 31, 2007

Sunday, December 23

Jim: After three days of being in doctors offices and/or hospitals and driving back to Roswell on Saturday to celebrate Christmas with Carol, Cal, and their tribe, we just couldn’t get up and ginning around in time to go to Sunday school and church this morning. Instead, when we finally did get moving around 7:30, we immediately began transforming what was left of Big V’s usable space into an industrial strength kitchen.

With two meals to help prepare for Christmas Eve (oh my goodness…is that tomorrow?!), and food to take on the trip to Richardson, we used every square inch of cooking and counter space for our culinary projects. I had already started baking bread, but was far behind in my schedule. I had hoped to bake at least a dozen loaves to hand out as gifts; time was running out though, and at a minimum of 4 hours of preparation, baking, and cooling time for each loaf, production was lagging.

With my bread-maker cranking away, I began making sausage balls to take to Texas with us. That part of the project went well, but after I finished the first batch, I realized that one recipe just wasn’t going to be enough…especially when we decided we’d better take a random sampling and do a taste test on some of them (you can’t be too careful, you know…don’t want anyone to get a bad sausage ball). So, I started a new list of things to get from Wal-Mart on my next trip to town.

Next, I started mixing the ingredients for a large meatloaf for Christmas Eve lunch at Mother’s house…my contribution to the cause. When we moved from Liberal, we left our extra-large mixing bowls (the ones I used for cooking huge batches of spaghetti and meat sauce for the OM teams or large pots of pinto beans for faculty feeds). I really missed those bowls today, as I had to mix the meatloaf ingredients in two smaller bowls and then combine them into a large disposable baking pan.

Once I had the meatloaf all put together, I took it over to Mother’s house to store in her refrigerator until Christmas morning. While I was there I put on another pot of pintos to cook for the Christmas Eve dinner with the Terpening/Francis clan. I already had one batch done and sitting in a refrigerator at Jean’s house, but was going to need more so we could make a recipe of refried beans.

Leaving the beans to simmer for a few hours, I went to Wal-Mart to pick up several items that Barbara and I discovered we needed to complete or various recipes. When I got back to Big V, Barbara was busy turning out pecan pies…two for our Christmas Eve lunch at Mother’s house, and two to take to Richardson…plus she whipped up a huge batch of fudge made with Velveeta Cheese…who would have thought…it was actually good, too. By this point, there wasn’t much we could see in Big V except food and Christmas gifts, and we couldn’t take two steps without running over each other!

While the pies were baking or cooling, I mixed up the ingredients for another batch of sausage balls…ready to put them in the convection oven as soon as the last pie came out…boy, did we have a system running today!

While it was fun to be doing our cooking projects, the downside quickly became evident – piles of dirty dishes, silverware, and pots and pans were all over the place. We tried to get the dishes done as we went along, but they definitely were gaining on us. By late evening though, we had dishes put away and some semblance of order restored.

After a trip back to Mother’s house to check on her and pick up the beans, we returned to Big V for the night, weary with well-doing and semi-caught up on the holiday food preparation with an hour or so to just sit back and relax (while I waited for the last loaf of bread for the day to get turned out of the bread machine.

Monday, December 24: Christmas Eve, 2007

We were up by 5:00 this morning…don’t know why, since we could have slept in for a bit and still have everything ready for the day’s meals, but that’s the way it works sometimes.

I got some more bread going and then we spent some time at the computers, checking mail, writing notes, and looking at the weather forecasts for Artesia, Richardson, and Liberal for the next seven days.

When I went to Mother’s house at 9:00 to put the meatloaf in the oven, Barbara worked on getting the Christmas gifts in some kind of order so we would be able to pack them in the Vibe either tonight or tomorrow morning…it’s times like this that we miss our old Suburban and Windstar!

When I got the first pot of beans going on Saturday, Barbara said she’d like to have a batch of refried beans. We both remembered some that had been fixed for us by the ladies of the custodial crew at Liberal High School, and tried to recall what they had told us. We knew the recipe included beans (of course), chorizo, and white cheese…just had to guess at the proportions. We finally located some chorizo at Albertson’s in Roswell on Saturday, but couldn’t find the goat cheese we were looking for, so we decided to substitute mozzarella.

When I got back to Big V, I chopped an onion and started frying it and the chorizo while I heated and mashed the beans. We don’t have a blender, but I found a way to use a hand-held mixer to get the beans turned into a nice creamy paste. Once everything was combined and stirred in the frying pan, we just stood back and enjoyed the aroma of freshly cooked refried beans…our first effort at this recipe, and a very satisfying one.

After washing another stack of dishes, Barbara got started peeling potatoes for the mashed potatoes. While she was mashing and mixing ingredients, I got cleaned up and dressed in something more presentable that what I had been wearing; then, it was time to load everything in the car and head back into town.

What a feast and celebration we all had at Mother’s house! With our meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and pecan pies, Billee’s sweet potatoes, pinto beans, and cornbread, and Jane’s pecan pie, we sat down to a table laden with goodies.

Afterward, we enjoyed talking with each other, swapping stories, taking pictures, sharing gifts, and marveling at the miracle of healing that Mother is experiencing…what a wonderful way to celebrate the season!

After getting everything cleaned up and put away, we all said goodbye to each other and left Mother to get some rest. Barbara and I went back to Big V to take a short nap before starting on the activities for the evening.

Jean called us later in the afternoon to tell us that a package for us had been delivered. I went over to get it. Sure enough, it was from John, Carol, and Randi in San Antonio. They are the only ones of the family that we are not going to get to see during the Christmas season…we’ve agreed that we’ll try to get together sometime in January. Therefore, Barbara and I enjoyed our 2nd round of Christmas via the phone with them. They had also sent a birthday gift for me…an apron and cooking mitt - just what I needed!

At 6:15 pm we left Jean’s house with Nancy, Becky, and Barbara Yehl to go to First United Methodist Church for their Christmas Eve service. We met the rest of the Terpening/Francis clan there and managed to fill up an entire pew with our group. It was a very meaningful service…just the thing we needed after all the hustle and bustle of the week.

When we returned to Big V we grabbed the pot full of beans and the container of refried beans and drove over to Jerry and Nancy’s house to join the group for a delicious Mexican food meal and an hour or so of visiting with everyone.

While we were on our motorcycle trip through Florida, we bought a variety of regional delicacies to give out as gifts to the family; we put the items in Christmas stockings that we found at a Cracker Barrel in West Palm Beach, and then devised a game to decide who would get which stocking.

The stockings all had different designs and no two held the same items, so it would be largely a matter of chance as to which set of gifts each person (or family) would receive. Using numbered tiles from one of our games, each person drew from a sack to see which stocking he/she could receive. If they drew numbers 1 – 8 they could select that numbered stocking from the mantle or “steal” it if the number had already been drawn by someone else. If they drew numbers 9-13 they didn’t get anything, and if they drew one of the wild card tiles they could take any package from the mantle or “steal” a stocking from someone else. After several rounds of drawing and good-natured stealing and re-stealing, each family or individual ended up with a stocking and got to open it to find out what they had received.

We then exchanged a few more gifts and then said good night to the clan so we could get back to Big V and begin getting the Vibe ready to pack for tomorrow’s trip while they all went to Jean’s house for their traditional family gift exchange.

Tuesday, December 25: Christmas Day, 2007

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Today was another of those Point A to Point B days. Our objective, after loading the Vibe and driving over to see Mother, was to drive from Artesia, New Mexico, to Richardson, Texas. We got a later start than we planned…pulled out on U.S. 82 around 8:47 am and headed for Plains, Texas, where we got on U.S. 380 for the long haul to the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

We were hoping to get there in time to go visit Heather, Andy, Alexander, and Abby for a bit during the evening, but it took so long that when we were finally in our room at the Hawthorn Suites Hotel, we called to let them know that we just couldn’t face more traffic tonight. That worked out fine, since Heather was bathing the children and getting them ready for bed after a long and exciting day for their family.

We went to a Burger King a couple of blocks from the hotel, got a sandwich and some fries, and returned to our room for the night, a little road-weary, but happy to be here to continue our round of Christmas celebrations with family members.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007: Christmas in Richardson (Twice)

We woke up to a cold and rainy morning…a front had rolled in sometime during the night, leaving the Dallas/Fort Worth area drenched and chilly.

The first order of the day (after getting coffee and receiving our internet access codes for the day) was to figure out how to get to DFW Airport from Richardson so I could go pick up Mike and Kelly, who were flying in from Phoenix. I’d passed through the airport a number of times, but didn’t recall ever driving out there. I was also hampered by the fact that I didn’t have Barbara as my navigator…Mike had warned us that they had quite a bit of luggage plus several large pieces of equipment that Kelly had taken to Phoenix for a video shoot, so Barbara elected to stay at the hotel in case there wasn’t room for everyone.

As it turned out, getting to the airport was relatively simple, even with the rain and the early morning traffic. It took about 30 minutes to get there from the hotel…a little longer to find the right terminal. According to the arrival schedule posted on the internet, their flight would arrive at Terminal D, Gate 29, but when I got there and went inside, the arrival monitors showed that it would come in at Terminal C, Gate 14. So, I headed back to the parking garage, fired up the Vibe, and headed out in search of Terminal C. The terminal was easy enough to find, but locating the right parking garage took a little longer.

Luckily, I got where I needed to be, the flight was on time, and all the luggage came up the conveyor belt at the same time, so we were out of the place and headed back to the hotel in almost no time at all.

After greeting Barbara and showing the kids our room at the hotel, we all managed to squeeze into the car for a short ride over to Heather and Andy’s house to start the Christmas activities for the day.

We spent a couple of hours just visiting with each other and playing with Alexander and Abby. Alexander got a Candyland game as one of his gifts; he wanted his mother to teach us how to play it, but I told him I had taught her how to play it when she was little, so Barbara and I sat down on the floor to play with him. After the game, we celebrated his birthday, since we probably wouldn’t see him the next day.

We had to go back to the hotel a little after noon to gather up all the gifts and take them back to the house. While we were there, Jimmy Clint, Cathey, and Jaycie arrived from Lubbock. Jaycie’s Christmas present from her parents was a trip to Dallas to go to the American Girl store, and they had reservations at our hotel. So, before they took off for their first visit to American Girl, we took the time to put a log in the fireplace and have our Christmas celebration with them.

Whitney called while we were at the hotel. Little Jimmy had been sick for several days and they had to take him to the doctor in Lenexa this morning. It had been doubtful that they would be able to come to Richardson after all, but they decided they would try to make it. Since they were just heading out from the Kansas City area, they would have to spend the night somewhere along the way and get here tomorrow…a bit of disappointment for everyone, since we were looking forward to having everyone together tonight, but also very understandable. Christmas for our families really is a season, and we have learned that Christmas Day is whenever we are able to get together and enjoy each other’s company.

After returning to Heather and Andy’s house and visiting some more, we went to the store to buy a few things to fix for supper. We had told Heather that since she was going to have a houseful of company all week, we’d be happy to fix the meal for tonight. We were fortunate that our hotel room had a full kitchen in it, so we were able to fix everything there, bundle it up, and carry it back to the house around 5:45 pm, where we sat around and ate, talked and laughed l lot, and finally got around to exchanging gifts.
By 8:00 pm things were beginning to wind down…it was time for the children to have their baths and get ready for bed, so we had hugs all around and said our goodbyes to everyone before heading out into the night and back to our hotel room where we just kicked back and relaxed for a couple of hours before heading to bed to rest up for tomorrow.

Thursday, December 27 (Christmas in Richardson – Again)

Happy 4th Birthday to grandson Alexander Mark Dondis in Richardson, Texas!

After breakfast in the hotel dining room with Jimmy, Cathey, and Jaycie, we loaded up in our two cars and headed over to the Galleria so we could visit the American Girl store together. Although Jaycie had done nearly all of her business there yesterday, there were a couple of things she wanted to show us.

When we got there at 9:00 am to be among the first in line, we discovered that this was the only day this week that the store would open at 10:00. Since it was cold outside and we didn’t want to sit in the car for an hour (especially after finding a good parking space), we decided to go inside the mall and wait for a while.

The stores inside the mall were all closed, but at least we were warm and comfortable and had a chance to walk around and look in the windows…also found a spot that looked good for us to meet Mike and Kelly when they came out to see us.

We were about to give up on Mike and Kelly and go to American Girl when Mike called to say that they were in the mall. Jimmy, Cathey, and Jaycie went on to American Girl while we backtracked to find Mike and Kelly. We eventually met up at The Corner Bakery, a really nice place for breakfast and coffee that overlooked the Galleria ice skating rink.

We were just about ready to leave to go find Jaycie and her parents when they showed up again, so we all sat around and visited (and took pictures) for a while before Mike and Kelly had to leave and we went with Jaycie to American Girl. The store was a total madhouse of after-Christmas shoppers, but Grams and Jaycie managed to find some things for Jaycie’s dolls that were absolutely necessary.

Barbara and I made one more stop before getting back to the hotel and then settled in for the afternoon to rest, relax, and enjoy the peace and quiet of our room.

About 3:45 Mike called to ask if it was ok for him and his sisters to come over for a bit. Whitney, Jim, and Little Jimmy had finally made it in from Lenexa a little earlier and wanted to come see us. We said to come on over and then set about straightening up the room for company.

The kids arrived around 4:15 and we started yet another Christmas celebration. This was the first time in ten years that we’d been with all three kids together during Christmas, and we wanted to make the most of the short time we had. In came Whitney, Jim, Little Jimmy, Heather, Michael, and Kelly. I had a fire going in the fireplace and Barbara had set presents out for Whitney and her family…it really was beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
We had a wonderful hour or so just visiting and catching up, watching Little Jimmy open presents, and enjoying each other’s company (and of course, taking lots of pictures). Too soon though, it was time for the kids to go back to Heather’s house, so we hugged (we’ve been doing a lot of that this week), said our goodbyes, and sent them on their way, feeling very blessed for the time that we do have together with family members and special friends, knowing that it isn’t about the amount of time spent, but the quality of the time we share.


At 6:00 we met Jimmy, Cathey, and Jaycie for supper at the hotel dining room…this is the only hotel we’ve ever stayed in that has complimentary breakfasts and dinners. The menu for tonight was barbecued chicken, baked beans, potato salad, dill pickles, and chips…yum-yum!

At the end of the meal the kids had us open presents from them and then we went over to see their room, a deluxe town-house style suite. Again we said our goodbyes, wishing each other safe travel for tomorrow, and left to come back to our room to pack, load the car, get some rest, and bask in the glow of another wonderful day with family members.

Friday, December 28

We ended up sleeping in longer than we had anticipated this morning, so when we finally did get up, we started moving pretty rapidly. Barbara set out the last bits of luggage and I loaded them in the car; then, while she showered and dressed, I went over to the dining room and had a quick breakfast. By 7:30, we were checked out of the room and pulling away from the hotel and into early morning Dallas traffic.

Luckily, we were headed out of Dallas, so the traffic flow wasn’t so bad, and we were soon headed north on I-35 toward Oklahoma City. The trip was generally uneventful; Leah called a couple of times to give us weather updates since it had snowed quite a bit in the Oklahoma panhandle and southwest Kansas areas.

As it turned out, the roads were mostly clear, with just a little slush between Woodward and Bryan’s Corner, Oklahoma. We turned north on U.S. 83 just as the sun was setting, but had enough evening light hitting the snow-covered fields to get us safely to Leah and Ryan’s house in Liberal at 6:00 pm.

The pizza the kids had ordered arrived just as we were finishing unloading the car and moving into our room, so as soon as Barbara got our laundry going we sat down and ate, visited, and got caught up on recent activities.
After dinner we adjourned to the upstairs living room to enjoy yet another Christmas celebration. The room was beautifully decorated and we enjoyed opening gifts, talking, and hearing about all the plans for Baby McQuitty (due in June). Of course, several of the gifts were for the baby, so after they finished opening the gifts, we went to the nursery to see how everything would fit. It’s looking a lot like a baby in there! Now we just need the baby…

Barbara: Back when Leah was in high school, my Mom asked Leah what colors she would want for a baby blanket. She knew, I suppose, that she wouldn’t be around to see the baby but she wanted Leah to have a baby blanket made by her. Leah told her she wanted it orange, green, and yellow…not typical baby colors. After Mom died, I was thrilled to find hidden away in a drawer in her house a baby blanket that I knew immediately had to be for Leah. I kept it hidden away for years, but when we left Liberal to live in the motor home, I gave it to her. We were all delighted to find that it goes quite well with the theme of the baby’s new room. That baby blanket is seen in the top right photo of the collage.

Jim: We then settled at the dining room table to play a game of “Fact or Crap,” a table game in which the players have to determine whether statements printed on cards drawn by the “reader” are true or false. While we actually learned some (perhaps) useful information, we mainly learned that it was necessary to listen to the entire statement before deciding whether it was fact or crap, since the last word was often the determining factor.

Barbara: Just for the record, Jim is full of all kinds of useless information (won’t use the other word) and beat the three of us like a drum!

Jim: By 10:00 o’clock we were all worn out after a long day, so we called it quits and went to our own rooms for the night.

Saturday, December 29

What a great day to just kick back and relax! Leah fixed us a wonderful breakfast and we all just sat around and visited throughout the morning.

After getting cleaned up and dressed, Barbara and I drove across town to see Mon Del for a haircut; after the haircut, we drove around town a little and then returned to the house where I took a short nap while Barbara and Leah went shopping.
Ryan and I watched some television until the girls got back from their trip to town. Ryan fried up some hamburger meat and Leah used it to whip up a wonderful pot of chili for our supper.

While Barbara and Leah visited upstairs, Ryan and I retired to the downstairs living room to watch football for the rest of the night, alternating channels between the Patriots/Giants and the Penn State/Texas A&M games.

While they were talking, Barbara filled up a crock pot with roast and all the trimmings to simmer all night for tomorrow’s lunch.

With the games finally over, I called it a night and went back upstairs to read and then fall asleep. A great day…no travel – just visiting with the kids and relaxing.

Sunday, December 30

We got up around 7:30 am to start getting ready for Sunday school and church. I dug out the bread maker and got a loaf of bread ready to start baking while we were gone. We had distributed loaves of homemade bread along the way during the week, but I had run out of ingredients and time before we left Artesia (was that really less than a week ago), but knew that I had left one of my bread makers here for Leah, so she and Ryan would also have a fresh loaf to start the new year.

It was wonderful to join so many friends in Don Witzke’s Sunday school class at Liberal First Baptist Church. When we get the chance to attend there, we always feel as if we’ve not been away at all; we just pick up the conversations where we left off and have a great time of Bible study and fellowship.

We’d been looking forward to having Leah and Ryan join us for one of David Bagwell’s great Sunday morning sermons, but David was out of town with his family today. Instead, Greg Turpin did an admirable job of filling the pulpit and delivering a memorable message about the songs of CHRISTmas and their meanings for each of us.

After the service we returned to the house where the roast, potatoes, carrots, onions, and fresh-baked bread were ready for us to sit down and enjoy. Even the clean-up was a time of visiting, and soon after we had finished eating, the kitchen was put back together. I started a new loaf of bread for the kids and then Barbara and I retired for our Sunday afternoon nap.

We must have been tired, because it was around 4:00 when I woke up and 5:30 when Barbara awoke from her nap…guess all that driving that finally caught up with us.

We sat around and talked some more and then Leah began our dinner for the night…enchiladas, Spanish rice, and her own bean dip recipe. We certainly can’t say that we didn’t eat well during this visit!

After dinner we all sat down to play some board games. We started with one called Wrong Answer, in which contestants had to create a wrong answer to the questions in order to score. After a couple of rounds, we decided that we weren’t really interested, so we switched to Tri-Bond, a game in which the contestants are given three terms in various categories and have to determine what all three have in common. We stayed with this one to the bitter end, with Ryan and Barbara edging out Leah and me.

By the time we finished the game it was time for all of us to head for bed; Leah and Ryan had to get up and go to work the next morning and Barbara and I wanted to get an early start on the last day of our trip.

Monday, December 31: New Year’s Eve

What can be said about a travel day? We were up by 5:30 am and on the way to Wal-Mart for gas by 6:30. Leah called while I was at the gas pump and said that I had left my coat on the kitchen counter, so we made a trip back to the house (with a quick stop to get breakfast at Sonic) and then headed for Artesia.

With fairly good weather and a tailwind most of the way, we made good time, arriving at Mother’s house shortly after 2:00 pm (MST). After checking on her and taking some things into the house, we headed on out to Big V.

The next two hours were a flurry of activity as we opened up Big V, took down all the Christmas decorations and boxed them up, gave the interior a quick clean-up, and then started unloading the Vibe and putting everything away. With both of us working at it, we had everything put away and the place straightened up by 4:30.

Nancy Terpening walked by while we were getting Big V put back together this afternoon and invited us to join them for the concert and fireworks that would be part of Artesia’s New Year’s Eve celebration tonight. We told her we’d consider it, but that we would probably be too tired to do much celebrating.

After eating some supper we walked over to visit Jean for a bit and then returned to Big V for the evening. Sure enough…we just couldn’t muster the energy to go back out at 10:30 with Jerry and Nancy. In fact, we couldn’t come up with enough energy to even sit here and watch the new year make its appearance. After a couple of traditional New Year’s Eve telephone calls to Gary and Joyce Whitaker in Houston and Max and Marion Johnson in Santa Fe, we went to bed to read and then fall asleep well before 11:00…2008 would just have to start without us.

The Year in Review

2007 marked our first full calendar year of retirement, and once again we found ourselves wondering if we needed to get regular jobs so we could schedule some down time. While we didn’t get very far to the north or west during the year (the planned trip to the Pacific Northwest on the motorcycle didn’t get beyond the planning stages), we had two trips to Virginia and North Carolina, four to Florida (including three weeks helping to build a church in Lady Lake and a 12-day motorcycle ride along the Gulf Coast and down to Key West before returning to Lady Lake for the church dedication), as well as trips to Liberal and Lenexa, Kansas, and Lubbock, San Antonio, and Richardson, Texas.

During the course of the year we mourned the deaths of family members, celebrated the births of a new grandson and a step-great grandson, attended college and high school graduations for special young people in our lives, spent more time with children and grandchildren than we’ve ever had the opportunity to do, met countless new friends, and reconnected with old ones.

In our previous life I thought I spent an inordinate amount of time on the road driving activity buses for the band or Odyssey of the Mind teams (and how I wish I had kept track of all that mileage), but that can’t begin to compare with what we managed to do this year.

In the last six months we drove 16,798 miles (9,568 in the Vibe, 4,452 in Big V, and 2,778 on the Voyager). For the year, we logged 34,631 miles (19,330 in the Vibe, 16,798 in Big V, and 3,978 on the Voyager). Surely, God has answered for us the Prayer of Jabez, in which we asked that He keep us safe and expand our horizons!

Only God knows what is in store for us during the coming year, but tonight we are so very grateful for the many blessings that we have received during 2007, including His protection as we covered so many miles driving across the country.

To each of our faithful readers we offer our sincere gratitude for your support and comments along the way and the companionship that we feel as we connect with you through our journal entries; we are richly blessed with the ever-expanding family that God has granted us through our travels.

May each of you have a wonderful and prosperous 2008!

With love from Artesia, New Mexico,

Jim & Barbara

“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better person.”---Benjamin Franklin, politician, inventor, and author

A Little Miracle!

Sunday, December 16 – Saturday, December 22, 2007

Sunday, December 22

What a difference a week can make! While last Sunday was church in balmy Florida, this Sunday found us in Artesia, NM, comfortable with temperatures in the 60’s, but just not the same… seems like Florida was a year ago!

Since Edith is still in tremendous pain, Jim and I attended church at 8:15 at First Baptist and then went by and checked on her before going to First Methodist to attend their Christmas Cantata with Jean. Becky, Nancy, and Jerry each played an important role in this celebration service with Becky and Nancy singing in the choir as well as playing in the bell choir. Jerry played the bass in the church orchestra. What I wouldn’t give for an ounce of their musical talents!

Before joining the clan at the Pizza Hut for lunch and visiting, we once again went by to check on Edith and the puppies.

The rest of the day seems like a blur…we alternated between the two houses, trying to make sense out of the Christmas gifts, the items still needed, and Edith, until it was time for Jim to leave me here at Big V and he return to spend the night with his mom.

Monday, December 17

Jim: Yesterday after the cantata at First United Methodist Church, we went up to the front to try to find Jerry, Nancy, and Becky and tell them how much we enjoyed the presentation. While we were there, I had the opportunity to step over and introduce myself to the orchestra director, Tom Dillon, who is also the Artesia High School band director. In my “other life” as a band director I had the opportunity to see Tom at various competitions, honor band concerts, and conventions, but had not had the chance to meet him.

Tom was pleased to meet a fellow band director and graciously invited me to come up to the music building today to visit and take a tour of the “new” facility. Since I hadn’t seen the inside of the building since 1971, and it had been totally remodeled several years ago, I was pretty excited about the visit.

I arrived at the building at 10:00 and found Tom working in his office; he showed me around the building (I don’t think anything inside is the same as it was when I graduated in 1962 – they left the exterior walls standing and completely redesigned the interior rehearsal halls, offices, and rooms). The superintendent had given Tom almost free reign in the design of the rooms and the purchase of furniture, saying that the music department was to be a showcase for the school and community…wow...what a concept!

After spending a few minutes talking, Tom invited me to ride over to Zia Intermediate School (it was Artesia Junior High when I attended there) for a seventh grade band class. The regular instructor was out sick, so Tom and his wife, Lisa, were covering classes there. Lisa had started the class and Tom would finish it while she went back to her classes at Park Junior High (8th and 9th grades).

After I met Lisa and she left to go back across town, Tom introduced me to the kids and then he started to work. It wasn’t long before he asked me to help a couple of kids in the trumpet section. After helping fix a problem there, he then asked me to help the percussionists and then just walk around the room and assist wherever someone needed help;

It wasn’t long before I was in hog heaven! It’s been about ten years since I worked with a band class of this age and I found that everything came back at once (all the good stuff, that is). What a joy it was to again be doing a little bit of what I had done for 28 years! It was just like getting back on the proverbial bicycle and riding again.

When the class was over and Tom dismissed the kids, we got back in his car and he took me back to the high school. Lisa had to leave her class at Park for a bit, so Tom was covering for her over there. I needed to leave to go check on Mother, so Tom asked if I wanted to meet him at 11:30 to go for lunch…he would just meet me back at the high school and we’d find somewhere to eat. Of course I readily agreed.

After checking on Mother and making sure everything was ok there, I called Barbara and told her what I was doing and then went back to the high school to wait for Tom. He was a few minutes late, so I had time to wander around and look at a little of the campus while I was waiting…lots and lots of changes since I was last there.

Tom arrived and took me out to Park Junior High, a building that didn’t exist until after I left Artesia many years ago. He took me inside and we waited until the class period was over, and then He, Lisa, and I went to Chaos for lunch.

We spent the next hour or so doing a lot of talking. Since Tom had spent many years teaching in Texas, we knew a lot of the same people and had shared similar experiences, so there was no shortage of people, places, and things to talk about. Both Tom and Lisa were interested in the history of the Artesia High School band program as I had experienced it, and although most of you know me as a basically shy and reticent person, I managed to come through with quite a bit of the history of the band and my high school director, Justin Bradbury.

Too soon, our time for visiting ran out and Tom and Lisa had to go back to work. Both of them offered me a standing invitation to come up to their band classes anytime I wanted and to pitch in and work with the kids…something I’m pretty sure I want to do. Wow…what a great time I had!

Barbara: While Jim was out having a good time back in the classroom, I was here in Big V putting more order into Christmas packages! Our family has certainly grown and I had to spread everything out on the bed to make certain we hadn’t missed anyone! Plus, I’d get one of the packages ready to mail and find that I had to reopen it since I left something out. Seems like I was spinning my wheels half of the time.

Once Jim returned to the house, we set out to accomplish some important tasks, like mailing packages. We expected that to really be a hassle, but we were proven wrong. That was a good thing!

Another errand was to go by Edith’s doctor to try to find out what in the world was wrong with her back and to get Jim on Edith’s medical release information list. Once there we found out from Missy, Dr. Khan’s nurse, that Dr. Khan was leaving town tomorrow and would be gone until after the first of January. With great determination, Jim set up an appointment for the next day for his mom. Enough is enough! We all needed some help and the thought of Edith continuing to suffer like this was unbearable, especially since Missy said she was unable to get Edith an appointment with the bone specialist in Roswell.

Armed with an appointment time, we returned to Edith’s to break the news to her. I think we expected a little bit of protest since it meant she would have to somehow get to the car; but, it seems to be a relief to her…how could the pain get any worse?

Jim again spent the night with his mom while I stayed home continuing to work on Christmas!

Tuesday, December 18

Jim: After fixing Mother’s breakfast, I left the house and drove back out to Big V to start the activities of the day. This was a “straighten up” day, so we could prepare to start on all the things that had to be done so we could have our Christmas Eve activities here in Artesia and then leave Christmas Day to go to Richardson, Texas.

Once we were done in Big V, we loaded up our laundry basket and took it over to Mother’s house to get started with the washing and to do a few chores over there before going to the doctor this afternoon.

We got Mother to Dr. Kahn’s office around 2:15 to allow us plenty of time to complete any paperwork before her 2:30 appointment. We had plenty of time to do that, since it was after 3:00 when we got into the examining room.

When Dr. Kahn got in to see Mother, he wasted no time in impressing us with his friendliness and willingness to explain everything to us. After reviewing Mother’s charts and examining her, he took time to answer our questions about what had happened, what the prognosis was, and what we needed to do. Since we had a list of about 10 questions that had been posed by various family members, that took a while, but he was very patient with us and made sure he answered the questions to our satisfaction.

Dr. Kahn had previously referred Mother to a specialist in Roswell, but we hadn’t heard from his office and the receptionist wasn’t able to contact him today. Once Dr. Kahn found out that we still had no appointment, he said that if necessary, he would call the specialist himself, and if that didn’t work, he would find someone in Carlsbad to see Mother immediately.

We left the office and returned to the house where, within minutes of arriving, we had a call from Dr. Kahn’s office telling us that Mother had an appointment at 10:30 tomorrow morning with Dr, Osmani, a back specialist in Roswell. Delighted with that bit of information, we began rushing around trying to get prescriptions, and do the hundred and one things that it seemed were necessary before going to Roswell. The biggest hang-up occurred when we tried to pick up the x-rays and MRI from the hospital. Everyone who could help us with this had just been called into the emergency room so…that would have to wait until tomorrow morning.

Tonight…return to Big V for supper and a little down time before I returned to the house to spend the night there. Still, we were elated to know that someone was going to see Mother and possibly get her on the road to recovery.

Wednesday, December 19

The following letter to all the kids best describes the activities of the day:

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Dear Kids,

It's a little after 8:00 pm (New Mexico time) and we're all finally in our respective places for the night.It was a long day for all of us today, especially for Granny. Barbara and I went to Artesia General Hospital early this morning to pick up the films of X-rays and MRI's that had been done earlier. Then we went to Granny's house to load her up and take her to Roswell for an appointment with a back specialist. We got away from Artesia a little before 9:30 am and arrived at the doctor's office at 10:15. After filling out pages of forms, we sat...and sat...and sat.

Finally, at 1:00 pm we were called to an examining room. About 1:45 Dr.Osmani finally came in to see us. We were a little perturbed at having to wait so long, but he explained that he had worked us into his schedule at Dr. Kahn's request. He apologized for the wait, and immediately began winning us over with his manner. We were extremely impressed with the way he explained what the problem was and how he could go about helping to solve it. He really did a great job of teaching, taking us step by step through the X-rays and the MRI shots.The bottom line is that he could work Granny into his surgical rotation tomorrow if she decided that this surgery was what was necessary. He explained that he could prescribe a back brace, but it wouldn't solve the basic problem (fractured vertebra), and then looked at Granny and said, "Besides, you wouldn't wear it anyway." We all got a laugh out of that, because he was dead on with that diagnosis.

We decided that Granny would go through the surgery, so he set up the orders and we went over to Eastern New Mexico Medical Center to take care of business there. Again, we were met with multiple forms, contracts, and waivers to fill out. When that was done, Granny had to have an EKG, some more X-rays, and some blood tests. We finally finished at the hospital at 4:30 pm. a little over 6 hours after first arriving at Dr. Osmani's office. It was extremely painful and tiring for Granny, but she was a real trouper about it all. We got her back home to Artesia around 5:30...a really long day for her.

We have to go back to Roswell tomorrow morning (Thursday) and be at the hospital by 11:15. The surgery is scheduled for 12:15, and should take less than an hour. She'll be in recovery for about an hour after surgery, and if all goes well, she should be able to return home tomorrow afternoon.

The surgery will consist of cutting a couple of 1 centimeter holes in her back, inserting a needle/tube into each side of the damaged vertebra, blowing up a small balloon to pneumatically lift the vertebra into it's original shape, retracting the balloon, and then inserting another tube to fill the vertebra with a substance that will harden like bone. It's really amazing how the whole process works. Dr. Osmani said that restoring the vertebra to its original size and position should also relieve the stress on the nerves, thereby decreasing and/or eliminating the pain caused by pinched nerves. If all goes well, she should be up and around like normal within a couple of weeks.

We ask that each of you remember Granny in your prayers as she goes through the procedure tomorrow. One of the complications for her tomorrow is that she will not be able to take any of her pain medication after midnight, so she will be very uncomfortable from the time we leave Artesia until the give her a local anesthetic prior to the surgery.

Believe it or not, that is the "condensed version." We'll be happy to share other details if you ask. Thanks for your prayers and expressions of concern. We'll keep you posted on how everything goes.

Love...Us

Thursday, December 20

Jim: Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, etc, etc. (Barbara: Now he’s 63, too!)

As with yesterday’s entry, the following letter to the kids seems to sum up the day:

Thursday, December 20, 2007, 9:00 pm

Dear Kids,

Here is a bit of follow-up on today's activities.

We picked Granny up at 10:00 this morning to take her to Roswell. She had to be at the hospital at 11:15 to register for a 12:15 surgery. As we were driving, we discussed the fact that 63 years ago today she was on the way to the hospital in El Paso at 5:00 am to have me; so, I guess it was some kind of cosmic justice that today we would be taking her to the hospital for a surgical procedure. At least we didn't have to leave until 10:00!

Jerry and Jane were waiting for us when we arrived at the hospital and helped get Granny inside, where we waited a few minutes until they took her back to a small cubicle where she changed clothes and got ready for them to prep her for surgery. Since it was crowded in there with the five us, and because Jerry and Jane rarely get to see Granny, we let them visit with her until they took her out of the room, while we went to the store for some necessaries.
When we got back, she was on her way to wherever patients go while they await their turn with the surgeon.

Since it was a little after noon, we invited Jerry and Jane to join us for lunch in the hospital cafeteria to eat and visit for a while. After eating (and it was a surprisingly good meal, by the way), we went to the surgical lounge to wait for Dr. Osmani to come tell us all about it.
We waited, waited, and waited some more.

At 2:00 Barbara found someone on the hospital staff who was able to check on the situation and was told that they took Granny into the operating room at 1:50; it seems that there had been some interruptions in the surgical schedule and they were a couple of hours behind.

While we were waiting we received a call from Barbara's sister, Carol, who said she was on the way up to sit with us. We all visited for a bit until Jerry and Jane had to leave; they said they would check in by phone and would return later if we were still there.

At 2:30 Dr. Osmani came to the waiting room and told us that everything had gone very well and that Granny had been an excellent patient; the prognosis for a speedy recovery was very good, but they would have to wait until she woke up, assessed her pain level, walked, and voided her bladder before they would be able to do anything else.

About 4:15 they wheeled her back downstairs so she could fully wake and wait for the final diagnostics before leaving. Jerry and Jane returned at nearly the same time, so we all visited some more while Granny got over her grogginess and started talking. She was soon ready to try walking and said she wanted to go to the bathroom. We watched in amazement as, assisted by the nurse, she walked down the hallway, standing straighter than she has for a long time. She said she had a little pain, but nothing like what she has been experiencing for a long time.

While we were waiting for the hospital staff to finish with Mother, I called Guy Chevrolet in Artesia to see what we could do about the Vibe that they serviced this morning. When I talked to the service manager, Eddie Guy, he said he could deliver the car to the funeral home parking lot (Jean’s suggestion) and lock the keys in it; we could pick it up when we got back to town and come in tomorrow to take care of the payment…you just have to love small towns!

By 5:00 pm she was dressed and sitting in the car, ready for the trip back to Artesia. She said she was comfortable, but very sleepy...all she wanted was to get into her own bed and sleep for at least ten hours. After driving to the funeral home to let Barbara pick up the Vibe, we got Granny back to her house around 6:00; she was able to get out of the car on her own and into the wheelchair and then I pushed her into the house and to her room. Barbara helped her change into her nightgown and get into bed while I fed the puppies and straightened up some things.

Again, Granny said she just wanted to sleep, so we turned out the lights and left; Ernie would be over in a few minutes to spend the night with her.

According to Dr. Osmani, Granny will be up and walking around (no marathons or low hurdles, but still moving better than she has in a long time) and will be relatively free from the excruciating pain that she has suffered for so long. We praise God that He has provided doctors with the knowledge and skills that allow them to provide this kind of service to their patients to not only alleviate the pain and suffering, but start them on the road to recovery and a better life...what a wonderful Christmas miracle for our family!

Again, we thank our family members and friends for their prayers, concern, and encouragement through this time and request that they continue lifting up Granny during her recovery.

Love to all…Us

Barbara: Jim and I both felt very blessed that Jerry and Jane were there to relieve us for a time and for the fact that we had someone to visit with. Then, when my sister Carol called and said she was coming up, we were elated since Jane and Jerry had things they needed to do. There’s only so much conversation Jim and I can have to talk about in one day so Carol’s coming gave us an opportunity to visit with her and at the same time make the minutes go by more quickly.

Jim: After we finally made it home to big V, we went over to check in with Jean and let her know how things were going. She evidently guessed that we would come by and had some kind of signal arranged with Jerry and Nancy to let them know we were at her house, as they were there just a few minutes behind us to bring me a birthday present, a beautiful new kitchen knife for slicing and dicing.

They, too, were interested in How Mother’s day had gone, so we gave them the condensed version before we all had to leave…seems it had been a long day for everyone.

Friday, December 21

Happy Birthday to daughter, Heather Marie Little Dondis, in Richardson, Texas!

Jim: After waking up in my own bed for the first time in a week, we surveyed the situation and decided that there was much to be done if we were going to have Christmas as planned and promised this year.

First on the agenda was to make shopping lists; there were a number of things that needed to be accomplished today, and nearly all of them required a trip to one or more stores or business establishments.

Once everything was accomplished at Big V (including getting a loaf of bread ready to be baked), we set out to take care of business with visits to the cleaners, Guy Chevrolet, the propane supplier, the bank, and the post office.

Around 12:30 we went over to check on Mother. Imagine our surprise and excitement to find her sitting up in her recliner! She had gotten up, showered, dressed, fixed breakfast and lunch, fed the puppies, and now was just relaxing. She said she was relatively pain free; most of the aches and pains she had were from the surgical procedure. She’s not well yet, but is well on her way! We feel we have been given a Christmas miracle!

Since it was about time for lunch, we decided we’d go back to Big V and eat. The weather was nice but high winds were predicted for the afternoon, so we voted that I should take care of some outside chores while we were at the place, the biggest chore being to rearrange some of the things in the large barn so I could get our big trailer backed up inside and put away for a while.

After all that, we headed off to Wal-Mart to do the grocery shopping. Our plans for Christmas Eve include a big noon meal at Mother’s house with my brothers and their wives, as well as dinner with the Terpening and Francis clan, and we needed several things so we could do our part. Mother also needed a few things now that she can be up and about, so we made the rounds through the grocery department, finding most of what we had on the list. I even managed to work in a much needed haircut while Barbara was doing some shopping for a few more gifts and the groceries.

We took Mother’s things back to the house and put them away, got some laundry going, and said goodbye for the evening.

Tonight…start another loaf of bread, visit with Jean for a bit, and then kick back and relax in our own home.

Saturday, December 22

Don’t know why, but we both woke up at 4:30 this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep, so we decided to just get up and get the day started. During the course of the next few hours I baked a loaf of bread and got another one started, Barbara worked again on sorting out Christmas gifts, we worked together to get some more presents wrapped and put in the proper stacks, and we tried to do a little straightening, something that is getting more difficult because of the shrinking amount of space due to all the projects we have going inside.

Later in the morning we went over to Mother’s house so I could start a pot of pinto beans while Barbara finished with some laundry and we both visited with Mother, who was tired, but showing continued improvement in getting around.

Jimmy Clint sent us a picture of Jaycie and a gingerbread house that she and Cathey had made. We thought that this would be a good spot in today’s entry to show it off. Since Jaycie is on Christmas vacation from Lubbock Independent School District, she has time to do some fun things around the house.

Barbara: Now, it’s not that we hadn’t been to Roswell enough this week but that’s where we were headed after leaving Edith’s. Carol and her family were having their family Christmas celebration and she had asked us to join them for at least a little while. So…that’s what we did!

Carol is the Susie Homemaker of the family. For example, the lunch spread was boundless. Just a few of our selections included a yummy veggie salad, deviled eggs, ham, tortilla wraps, tamales…you name it, she had it!

It’s always such a treat at Carol’s house to see how efficiently she can get her large crew through the lunch line with minimum fuss and bother. Just look at this mob…Lynette’s husband, Michael, had driven to Alamogordo to get Lynette and the kids and then on to Roswell; so he was a tired young man. Couldn’t leave him out of the photo session though (he never moved a muscle when the flash went off). I put his photo right above Nettie and the kids. (The sleeping baby is Carol and Cal’s great-grandson)

Though no one mentioned it yesterday, each of us in our own way has a difficult time with Christmas. We each remember Missy Jo who died 4 years ago on the 28th leaving behind two precious children, Allie and Cameron. Each time we see the children, we grieve for our loss; but rejoice for two happy, beautiful children who are reflections of their mother.

Eventually, the visiting had to stop for it was time for Jim and me to get back to Artesia. We still had laundry, baking, etc. to do.

“Life is a work of art, designed by the one who lives it.”…Anonymous

Grateful for God’s Blessings,

Jim and Barbara

As we were finishing this week’s entry, we received a group of pictures of Alexander and Abby from Heather and Andy…just had to find room for them here.