Celebrations and Preparations

Jesse has turned 2!  Time is going by so fast.  I spent all day Thursday making his birthday cake, then we drove to Paris that evening.  Thanks to Mandy and Stephen for entrusting this job to me.  I know my skills are rusty after 11 years of being away from the business.  I do enjoy being able to do cakes for my loved ones though! 



Dennis and I spent Friday with Jesse.  He is so much fun!  He loves to play in the bushes outside…they are his own little woods.  There is one large stump that has been cut down almost level with the ground.  He heads straight for it every time!  He’ll just stand there with a thoughtful look on his face, tapping his little foot.  Sure wish I knew what was going on in his mind!  He is talking quite a bit more…with still a lot of jibberish mixed in.  He loves his ‘males (tamales) and rice…and PEACHES!  As with most kiddos his age, I think his favorite words right now are “mine” and “no”.  They all go through that stage!



Standing on his stump

We headed home Friday night.  Wayne and Mayrene were having their 75^th Anniversary celebration on Saturday afternoon.  Unfortunately I woke up Saturday morning with a bad sore throat.  I didn’t know if I was contagious or not, so Dennis ended up going to the party without me.  (I felt better today…no more sore throat, just a bit “sinusy”.)



Gift I made for the Darnells

We had a lot of visitors at Highway this morning!  The Hays were here for the anniversary party, and the Pettits were also up.  It was good to see all of them today.

Well, one week until my foot surgery.  There is a lot to do between now and then!  We are supposed to put the car in the body shop in the morning.  It is only supposed to take 2-3 days for them to get it finished.  I have 3 visits to do this week for CASA, since I will be “incapacitated” for the remainder of the month.  Dennis and I both also have dentist appointments this week.  Plus I need to give the house a good cleaning while I still can!

I hope you all have been enjoying this beautiful spring-like weather we’ve enjoyed the past few days.  Winter hasn’t finished with us yet!

Update and Zoo pics

"Baby, it's cold outside!"  Brrr!!!  At least, here, we are enjoying beautiful sunshine and no wet stuff.  The cold weather sure makes me want to hunker down and hibernate.

Had a busy week last week with CASA visits and court.  Since the court hearing was for Sheila and my shared case, she came over Monday evening and spent the night.  I warned her, that when I have a case on the docket, it is usually the last or next to the last one called.  Sure 'nough, we spent all morning waiting for our case to come up!  It was nice to have the time together though.

The weather was perfect (although quite chilly) on Wednesday, so Dennis and I decided to use the tickets to the FW zoo that Jessica had given us.  The animals weren't very active, but we enjoyed our trip.  We also got some pretty good pictures.  There was a brand new baby gorilla that we got to see and photograph, which was pretty special!

The last time I wrote an update, I was about to go see my new foot doctor.  On my way to her office, as I was approaching my exit off of I35, a truck in front of me had a blowout.  The blown tire landed right in front of me, and I didn't have time to do anything other than just run over it.  Immediately afterwards, I started noticing a noise and smell of hot plastic, so I pulled over on the shoulder.  After checking to make sure all of my tires were ok, I started looking underneath the car.  There was a large piece of plastic sheathing that was broken and bent and dragging.  The front bumper was also broken.  I got down on my hands and knees and tried to work the piece off, but I couldn't get it.  I tried to call Dennis, but he was in East Texas, hunting, and didn't have cell reception.  So all I could do was drive on to the doctor's office, dragging all the way and hoping nothing important was damaged.  After I got finished with the doctor, I drove to a nearby Kwik Lube and asked them to check it out.  They removed the sheathing of plastic and made sure everything else was ok...and didn't charge me a thing!  We took the car in Friday to get an estimate on repairs.  It is amazing what a little plastic costs!  Still waiting on our insurance company to ok the repairs before taking it back to the shop.

I really did like the new foot doctor.  Unfortunately she isn't going to be able to give me any better prognosis for post-surgery recovery.  Since the spur is so large and is growing into the Achilles' tendon, the surgery will be pretty extensive.  I will have to be in a cast for about 4 weeks, then another couple of weeks in the boot, then physical therapy.  I'm just waiting to schedule surgery until after Shepherd comes home.  Until then, I have to wear a splint at night, plus an insert in my shoe.  They both seem to be helping with the pain.  I'm not limping quite as badly as I had been!

Dennis has gone to Spur for a couple of days to hunt hogs.  Bobbie has a lot of hogs on her place, and she and Daddy really like the meat.  So Dennis tries to kill one for them to put up.  He can't eat pork, so we never kill any for ourselves.  I did tell him to try to bring us home a little to try this time though.  Ricky and I both enjoy pork on occasion!

I went to see my Aunt Coez today, and we went out to eat a hamburger at Whataburger.  Today is the 10th anniversary of her losing her husband.  It is always a hard day for her.  I really enjoy my visits with her.  Her health continues to decline, but her mind stays sharp as a tack!  She was always so good to me when I was growing up.  I even lived with her for a short time after Dennis and I got engaged.  She has fed me many a meal over the years...me and a LOT of other folks!  She still cooks for her sons and their families, as well as making quilts and table runners.  I hope that I can be as productive as she is when I'm her age!

I had fun making a little project last week.  The Darnells are about to celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary.  Linda is "hosting" a card shower for them.  As soon as I heard about it, I tried to think of something more than just a card that I could get for them.  A 75th anniversary is quite a big deal!  After doing a little brainstorming, I came up with an idea for a framed "card" for them.  I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.  I'll try to remember to share it after I have given it to them in a couple of weeks.

We got a scare about Shepherd last week!  One of the children at his orphanage died from the flu.  Stephen and Mandy couldn't get any further information on whether Shepherd or any of the other children were sick.  Thankfully, this morning, Mandy shared the news that all of the other children are healthy!  My heart breaks for the poor family who had already adopted the child who passed away.  What a tragedy!  We are all trying to be patient as we wait for Stephen and Mandy to get "the call" to head to Ethiopia to adopt Shepherd.  Such a long process and SO CLOSE to the consummation! 

I hope that each of you are staying warm and safe and healthy. 

The danger of insecurity!

Gena shared an article about a man who had misjudged his employer for years, thinking him cold and impersonal.  All the while, the employer (who was hard of hearing, which is why he never returned his greetings) had been supplying him with groceries, anonymously, every day.  The moral behind the story was not to jump to conclusions and wrongfully judge others.

The story reminded me of something that happened to me many years ago.  I took part in a group trouble-solving effort.  During the process, one woman told me that she had been angry with me for years because I had snubbed her once when she was visiting our congregation.  I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about!  First of all my memory is very poor, and I couldn’t even remember her visit.  But more importantly, with all of my faults and shortcomings, I DO NOT snub people (at least, not intentially).  I don’t know if I hadn’t heard her on that occasion, or if I had been distracted and didn’t realize she was trying to get my attention.  I honestly don’t know what happened.  I apologized for hurting her feelings and told her that I’m sure there had been some kind of misunderstanding.  The point is that she had harbored ill feelings towards me for YEARS over something that was misunderstood!

How often does this happened?  I’m afraid that it probably happens all of the time!  I believe that most of us have insecurities that rear up to make us feel slighted at times.  I know that I’ve felt the same way on occasions.  “Well, so-and-so didn’t even speak to me!”  I heard a really good lesson one time that addressed this.  The point was made that obviously, I didn’t even speak to so-and-so!  Communication is a two-way street!  If we get it into our head that someone is a snob or doesn’t like us, then it is easy to look for occasions when we feel like we’ve been ignored or mistreated.  However, if we make it a point to be friendly to that person, they will usually reciprocate.  (I do realize that this will not always happen…there are some hard cases out there!)

I just felt compelled to share this after reading Gena’s post.  Let us made sure that we expend our energy looking for the good in others, giving them the benefit of the doubt, and going out of OUR way to make connections.  And let us not be so “thin-skinned” as to think that everything that happens is a reflection on how others feel about us.  Relationships require effort.  Concord comes from working at it.  Misunderstandings and miscommunications are much easier than true understanding.  Let’s not take the easy road!

Proverbs 18:24  A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Beginning the New Year

As much as I enjoy the holiday season, it is always nice to settle back down into "normal" again.  I really enjoyed having a little extra time to spend with Sheila.  On New Year's Eve, she and Diane B. and I went to Bass Hall for a "Night out with the boys".  It was the music of Nat "King" Cole, Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder.  It was a lot of fun!  Afterwards, we went out for dessert and then Sheila and I went back to her apartment, where I spent the night.  We tried watching "Sabrina", but ended up calling it quits and going to sleep around 12:30!  Staying up "late" just isn't as fun as it used to be!

I was puny all last week with a cold and sinus stuff.  It continued into the beginning of this week, but I think it is on its way out now.  I was having sinus headaches every day, but I haven't had one since Sunday.  So I'm pretty confident that I'm on the mend. 

Dennis left yesterday to go hunting in East Texas with James S. again.  They are muzzleloader hunting this trip (the last time was a bow hunting trip).  I heard from Dennis this morning that he killed another doe.  That makes 4 deer this season.  We still have one in the extra frig, aging, that he killed last week.  It is so nice to have plenty of meat for ourselves and enough to share with others!

Tonight, the girls and I are going to watch the Sherlock movie together.  We all love the TV show and are excited to see this special on the big screen!  I am a true Sherlock Holmes fan.  I have watched every variation of tv show about him, all of the recent movies, and read all of the original books, plus quite a few of the takeoffs that other authors have written.  I am also always drawn to other characters like him:  quirky, but highly intelligent. 

Dennis got my other bookcase finished.  We still haven't gotten any more work done in the shop.  We did finally get his dust collection system bought though.  I hope that things slow down enough next week to start making some progress again.

I've been working a little on my crazy quilt pillow top...not as much as I need to though.  Embroidery isn't my favorite craft, so I only work on it sporadically.  I need to knuckle down and get it finished!

Well, I need to go.  I have an appointment with a new foot doctor this afternoon.  I'm ready to have surgery to remove my heel spurs, but I wasn't happy with the recuperation time that my other doctor was saying I'd have.  Karen S. recently had the same thing done, and her downtime was much shorter.  I got her doctor's name and looked her up, and she sounds like a much better alternative.  I'm hoping we can get my surgery scheduled quickly and get it over with before time for Shepherd to come home!  (Otherwise, we are looking at postponing the surgery for 2-3 months!)

Hope you all are enjoying the new year!

To Have or To Be?

I was watching a tv episode the other night that had a story line that centered around a hoarder.  One of the characters made a reference about the book written by Erich Fromm in the 70’s, To Have or To Be?  He then gave some interesting trivia about self-storage in this country which got me to doing a little more research…and a lot more thinking.

The concept of the book (from synopses that I’ve read…I haven’t read the book) is that there are two types of people.  There are those who live “to have”, who spend their lives trying to acquire more and more things and are never satisfied (materialistic).  Then there are those who live “to be”, who live life for others and appreciates life as it unfolds (altruistic).  It shows that the “to have” mindset leads to greed and violence, whereas the “to be” mindset shows love.  It is no mystery as to which mindset our world has chosen to embrace!

The trivia about self-storage was that prior to the 1960’s, self-storage units were almost unheard of.  However since then, it has become a multi-billion dollar industry.  From my limited research, they have been around a lot longer than that, but prior to that time were mostly used by people in transition and military personnel.  The industry has expanded due to the accumulation of stuff that people have and the extra space needed in which to store it.

Since watching that show, my mind has come back to those points many times.  I’ve found myself sharing the information with most of the people that I’ve visited with since then.  I decided that I needed to go one step further and share it in this format.

The concept isn’t new…the bible has always taught about the two.  King Solomon talked about the vanity of the “to have” mentality in Ecclesiastes 5:10-13  He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.  When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?  The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.  There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

Jesus also dealt with the subject in the story of the rich young ruler:  Luke 18:18-25  And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.  Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.  And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.  Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.  And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. [24] And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!  For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

King David tells us in Psalms 37:16   A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.

The Apostle Paul writes to the young man Timothy: 1 Timothy 6:6 -8  But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

Of course, this is just the tip of the ice burg of teachings that demonstrate the superiority of the “to be” way of life over the “to have”.  But for some odd reason (human nature, methinks), we seem to be very good at either forgetting it or ignoring it.  I am constantly amazed at how materialistic we have become as a society…even in the body of Christ!  As I begin this new year, I want to remind myself, again, that my direction needs to be that of contentment and service and love…not “having”.