Where Have I Been???

That, my friend, is a good question...

It's been a long, hot summer and even hotter fall - but we have survived and have had some wonderful experiences along the way.


Austin & Taylor celebrated their birthdays in August and Stephanie celebrated hers in September. Jason changed jobs to one he is so gifted at! Providing audio & visual equipment for churches (and small businesses). Stephanie also changed jobs after 5+ years with Metso. She is now working with Allison at ET in the IT department doing something totally different but seems to love it as well. Things are good!

Best of all, David & I and Jason & Ali flew to Florida and took a cruise out of Jacksonville to Key West and the Bahamas! This was in celebration of our 39th wedding anniversary and Jason & Ali's 5th anniversary. It was great! Now I remember why I love cruises so much - the weather was great and the food was awesome and the crew was fabulous...

Key West, Florida

Segways on the beach in the Bahamas

We are looking forward to what God has in store for us through the Holiday season and into next year. We are very happy serving in our church and making new friends who love the Lord. We have an awesome small group and I am working with a great group of women on a monthly event that is so much fun! Things are good - we are blessed!

Until next time...

August 2011

It's hard to believe it's been 5 months since I last posted. Time flies whether you are having fun or not.

It's been a rough stretch for me - one of my best friends, Colleen, is still coping with the recent loss of her husband, and one of my dearest friends, Suzi, lost her battle with brain cancer the first part of June. These losses really hit me hard. Maybe they were just "too close to home". Our time on this earth is short compared to the time we will spend in eternity with the Lord, but knowing that and accepting it is not easy. I have seen first hand how it affects those we love and how difficult it is to deal with the everyday living that continues after the funeral is over. My prayer is that I will be "that" kind of friend who will be there when the walls cave in and the one that will give her shoulder to cry on yet offer a word of comfort when needed.

The summer has been HOT - did I say HOT? I mean REALLY HOT - almost unbearable. What's Up With That?? (oh, that is a subject all by itself...) No rain, just heat. Ugh! Normally I love the summer months - I love the pool and feeling the heat on my face. But these San Antonio summer months have been awful! Even the pools are "warm" and that makes it hard to even want to get in! All I want to do is go home and sit under our ceiling fan in our air-conditioned home and veg!

We did take a trip to Amarillo to see family and had a great time, but even there is was horribly HOT. Even hotter than in SA! What's Up With That?? (Again - I'll get to that...) The news said Dallas was hot - but Amarillo was hotter and had horrible wild fires to go along with the heat...

Of course, I did enjoy my birthday month (July) - as usual I stretched it out as long as possible. Made a trip to Houston with the whole family then continued to milk it for all it was worth with crop BD parties, M&M birthday parties, small group parties and staff parties! Face it - when you reach the big 60 you decide every chance you can celebrate is worth taking! As a side note - it really doesn't feel any different from 59... but now I'm officially a senior citizen.

What's Up With That? Oh, that is this great little women's group I co-lead at RCCC (River City Community Church). Every month we do a different activity with a short Bible Study. It's been hard to get off the ground - but worth the time and effort. Our first event in May was all about fruit - we had a produce manager from HEB come and talk about in-season fruits and veggies and give us some great tips on using them. In June we talked about summer activities for kids of all ages and how to help mom's cope with the "summer blues". In July we went to Fredericksburg, picked peaches and then at our event we all made homemade peach pies! Now that was awesome! And David really liked the pie... This week was our 4th meeting and we titled it "trash to treasure". One of my friends shared some of the things she had either gotten at garage sales or found in various places and showed how she had "recycled" them to be used either in her garden or home. Then the Director of CAM shared how we minister to those who are less fortunate than us and help them see that they are treasures in God's eye. It was a very moving and uplifting time. Next month is our jewelry swap... if you are in the area - check it out!

David is working 10 hour days and I've been swamped with a Back to School program where I work. Hopefully things will settle down soon and we'll get back to our "normal" lives. Until then - don't look for updates too soon.

M & M Weekend

We've been called a lot of things - the M&M's. But Missing Minds seems to be the one thing that we are all guilty of! Last weekend, the girls got together and had a wonderful weekend getaway - to Colleen's house! We are all too broke to actually "go" anywhere - so we landed at her house.

Saturday morning we headed to Gruene for Market Days. Since I live on "the other side of town", they met at the Home Depot and drove to meet me at Taco Cabana. Once we ate breakfast, we loaded up in my van and headed off to shop for the day...

Linda & Stanton sat in the back...


Next was Carolyn and Cindy,


Then me and Colleen.

We walked all around the outdoor market and found some awesome buys. Of course, my van was already loaded down with the stuff I was normally taking to "spend the night", and also with all my scrapbooking stuff, because on Sunday afternoon I had my crop at our church! And of course I would not have time to come home in between - so it all had to go in the van...

I warned the girls that all purchases had to be small - or they'd be holding things in their laps. Which they ended up doing! Ha! We had a blast trying to cram everything in...

After lunch at the Grist Mill we headed back to San Antonio to spend the evening catching up and just being "us". A little "journey jar" questions and we were thick as glue!


We also celebrated Stanton's birthday - a little late, but we made the most of it and as always enjoyed the cards most of all!


Cindy has just returned from a cruise and brought all of us the most beautiful necklaces and put them in the cutest little bags. We chose the bag and of course, each bag had just the right thing in it. Me, I took the green bag and inside was the most beautiful green necklace and earrings! Cindy - you are so good. We graciously displayed our beautiful presents!

The best friends in the world are your girl friends and mine are the M&M's - I wouldn't want to live life without any of them!

Okay, I'm a slacker...

I don't know why I can't keep up with my blogging! Honestly, I love reading Stephanie's blog everyday. It makes me happy to follow what she is doing and laughing at the amusing things my grandkids say! I feel like I know what is happening in their lives and I love it!

But... for me... it's a chore! Honestly - my pictures are never where I can get to them to paste to the blog. I'm too tired to try to do it at night and I can't do it at work (go figure...) I guess I should just resort to "Words of Wisdom". But heaven only knows I don't have many of those...

I encountered a situation last week that shook my world. One of my very best friends, Colleen, lost her husband last week. Houston had not been feeling well for some time, but no one thought it was "life threatening". At least none of us did. Colleen knew there was something wrong, but didn't know how serious it was. It was quite a shock when he had a stroke on Jan. 28 and ended up in ICU. It was touch and go for about 10 days, and then he lost the battle and went on to be with the Lord. That is the good news. He was a follower of Jesus and now rests in His arms.

It doesn't make it any easier on the family he left behind, especially on Colleen, his wife of 33 years. It's comforting, but not easier.

This made me take a closer look at my family and my husband. How would I handle this? Hopefully I won't have to for a very long time. But needless to say, I'm loving on him more and realizing what a treasure I have in my husband. I'm so blessed to have someone who loves me through thick and thin. One who supports me and lets me be me.



Take a minute and think about those you love and give them a special hug when you see them and tell them how much you love them. Life is precious and we never know when it might end. Make sure you are saved by grace and live life with no regrets.

Those are my words of wisdom.

I Know - I'm a Slacker...

Where have I been you ask? Well - I don't really know, but it's kept me busy. I am in awe everyday when I read my daughter's blog. Honestly I don't know how she finds the time to recap her days, work full-time, oversee the building of her new home, manage two feisty kids, maintain her sanity while her husband works nights to protect our city and build furniture! But she does... I can only wish...

There is no way I could catch you up on all that I have been doing, so I'll just share a few moments that "took my breath away" over the past few weeks...

This is one of my favorite pictures. Just Ashton and me. And we both look pretty good. Ashton just turned 11 on December 9. I find it hard to believe she is so grown up. I remember the day she was born. We were all waiting in the hospital waiting room for her arrival, and suddenly she made her entrance. I'll never forget the feeling of being a grandmother and holding that little angel in my arms. That was such a special moment - but this picture is also a very special moment. I love being Ashton's MaMa!

One of the things I love most is reading. I am a part of a book club that meets once a month. We always find some great books to read and then when we get together we rarely talk about the book! But we talk about almost everything else. From relationships (and the lack thereof) to family and kids - it's such a special group and we really enjoy the time we spend on Thursday evenings at Taco Cabana! It's become a tradition (2nd annual) to have our Christmas club at my house. We bring great snacks and a wrapped book to exchange. It's fun to see what books are traded. This year we had read a book by a friend of mine, Eileen Key, and in the book (4 short stories) there was a Christmas cactus in each story. One of our members brought one for each of us. What a special present!


Just before Christmas mom and I took a trip to Amarillo to see my brother and his wife. While we were there I had the opportunity to see some friends that I hadn't seen in many years! These were the couples that David and I ran around with in our early years of marriage. I only wish David could have been there to enjoy catching up with them and their families. Chuck & Kela hosted this party at their house and Chuck took this photo. After a lot of discussion it was determined that these couples represented over 44 grandchildren and 400+ years of marriage. To the same person! Now that's a rarity!


Then there was Christmas Eve. We always have Christmas Eve at our house and always will. It's just what we do. We go to church, then come back to the house for food and fun. After the kids have worn us down with the "is it time to open presents yet" phrase, we finally let them open gifts. Taylor has the best expressions! Honestly - can you see why he is so fun to buy for? And who would have thought he'd be sooo excited over a punching bag and boxing gloves??? He is really into wrestling but I wasn't so sure about the boxing stuff. But he sure made me believe he was excited! Thank you Taylor...

And Ashton.. well that's another story. I couldn't decide what to get the girl who is 11 turning 21. So, I decided to treat her like an adult and get her something more grown up. This is a frame that is magnetic so you can switch out photos or memorabilia as often as you want. The pictures I chose to put on her frame were from her birthday party with all her "girlfriends". She loved it! Whew. That was a close one. I also got a frame for Madi and Ashton helped me decorate it and choose the pictures. Now I know she knows how to change it out. Thanks, Ashton.


Austin got binoculars and a book about Texas Birds. He loves watching the birds and reading about them. He was thrilled as well - and believe me, he can tell you all about the birds in the back yard! He's a very smart boy. Madi was spending the Christmas holidays with her relatives in Chicago. We always miss her when she is not here for the holidays, but we shared Christmas with her when she returned and she, too, loved her frame. Looks like we hit a home run this year with the grandkids.

2011 is going to be a fun year with both David and I turning the big 60! I'm sure I'll have plenty to post on my blog as the year goes by.

Could this be my New Year's resolution? We'll see how long it lasts... keep your fingers crossed!