Here is a link to pictures from our Christmas with family:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001091&l=684a3&id=1304340063

I don't have a lot of time to write; Billy & I head out tomorrow for Central Asia. I will try to update when I can as we are only taking Billy's computer with us. But I promise to take lots of pictures and hopefully have lots of stories to tell. We return to the states on January 9th.

Please pray for no delays or bad weather!!

Well, if a funeral can be 'beautiful', Grandpa Freeman's was just that. Yes, there were tears shed, but even in those tears we were all grateful that he is no longer in pain and has a whole body again.

Billy & Chris did an awesome job on the slideshow they did of Grandpa's life. I think everybody needs a slideshow of their life to pass down to future generations. It will be neat to show it to those great-grandkids that were too young to really get to know Grandpa.

I've caught my first cold of the season; I had even disciplined myself to take a multi-vitamin every day and had been doing that for over 3 months, but then I ran out a couple of weeks ago and kept forgetting to get more. Well, sure enough I catch a cold. So my hubby graciously got my vitamins and I'm taking them once more. I hope to be rid of it by Sunday or my plane ride on Monday will not be a very nice one!!

The kids are here for Christmas so I will be sure and post pics and videos. Annabella is walking really well and still loves to dance to any music. I think Santa is bringing some awesome gifts this year!!

Since I've last wrote, we lost a loved one in Billy's family. His grandfather passed away on Wednesday afternoon. But he had fought as long as he could and was ready to go home. The funeral will be Monday morning, which is predicted to be nice and cold! Billy has been going through dozens of picture albums and boxes of pictures for a slide show.

My performance in The Miracle of Christmas/Amahl & The Night Visitors Friday night went well; I had a good time but am glad it's over. I had forgotten about how all those extra nights of rehearsals can start to wear on you!

Ashley, Danny and the girls will be coming here after all for Christmas; since the funeral is on Monday, they are staying through Christmas. We have missed them so it will be nice to have them here with us. (now I REALLY have to get my shopping done!!! EEK!!!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!

Today is my Grandpa's birthday. He would have been 90 yrs old. I'm been thinking about him alot lately whenever I make oatmeal. You see, he would have a bowl of instant oatmeal every morning with a cinnamon roll. However, he never could seem to get the hang of his microwave, so instead of just cooking it for 2 minutes or so, he would set it for 5 minutes; every time. So not only did his oatmeal get extra cooked, it also boiled over!

Then came the cinnamon roll. He would put it on a plate, and set the timer for 5 minutes again. By the time it was done, the icing had completely dissolved into a pile of goo and ended up on the glass microwave plate.

No matter how many times we tried to show him how many minutes to set, or how many notes we put up by the microwave, he just didn't want to change the way he did it. So when I would go over for lunch, I would always pull that plate out of the microwave and scrape all the icing and oatmeal off. Sometimes you could get the rest of the microwave clean, sometimes not. Do you realize that oatmeal becomes concrete once it cools down??

SO, it makes me chuckle when I remember how Grandpa made oatmeal. I wonder if they have peach-flavored oatmeal in heaven?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!

It never ceases to amaze me about our crazy weather here in the Ozarks. Again today we were sitting at a balmy 60 degrees around 4:00 this afternoon and now at 8:00 it is 29 degrees. We are also expecting some sleet and snow, but it's not supposed to amount to much.

Later on in the week, the outlook goes something like this:

"ADDITIONAL FREEZING RAIN...SLEET AND SNOW WILL BE POSSIBLE
TUESDAY AND AGAIN WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND EARLY THURSDAY MORNING.

THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE AREA THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND
EVENING."

It IS possible to go from freezing rain one day and thunderstorms the next as we have
experienced that in the past.  I have a feeling this winter will be a doozy.

Billy's grandfather is still hanging in there, but I have a feeling not for much 
longer. The kids and grandkids have all had a chance to spend a little bit of time 
with him in the past few days and tell him once again how much they love him. But
they all agree that he has told them that he is ready to 'go home' and not to worry.

Please continue to keep all of his family in your prayers as they go through these
next few days.

"

Wow...it's been a whole week since I've posted anything. Hmm....it's been a busy 7 days. Billy's grandfather is still in I.C.U. so that's where we have been a lot lately. It's still touch and go, but we know the Lord is in control.

I made sugar cookies last Saturday, and tried something I had seen in a recipe. It said that before you bake your cookies, decorate them with gel icing. They are supposed to come out looking like this according to Betty Crocker:


So I had some red gel icing and thought I would just put a little dot on a few of my cookies to see how they would turn out. Perhaps my icing was old, or just a little too runny because this is how they turned out:



ARRRRGHHHH!!!! IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S BLEEDING!!! (sigh) Oh well, they don't taste bad, they just look bad. (at least the one next to it looks pretty!!)

It was 55 degrees this morning at 8:00 and it's now 25 degrees with light freezing mist & snow. Ahh...life in the Ozarks....you gotta love it!!!

Casting Crowns Christmas Concert

My mom and I were treated to a concert last night by Casting Crowns and Friends. We got to hear Natalie Grant, Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, Avalon, Michael English, and pureNRG.
(By the way, Denver & the Mile High Orchestra is NOT from Denver, the band leader's name IS Denver!)

You can see my facebook photos here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001053&l=9772f&id=1304340063

Here is one of the videos I took:
This one is of Denver & The Mile High Orchestra:




It was a really fun concert and the music was fantastic!! Plus it was the first time I've been in the new arena, and possibly the last for a while!!!

First Snow!

Although it wasn't a 'big' snow by any means, it was still the first snow of the season. We woke up Sunday morning around 8AM to this:




And by around 9:00 it looked like this:






I really liked watching the snow coming down, but it did cause some accidents later that evening.

In other news...Billy's grandfather is doing better since his 2nd surgery to repair part of his intestines from the first surgery a couple of weeks ago. He will still be in ICU for a few more days, but hopefully this time all the medicines will agree with him and his diabetes will not prevent him from healing properly.

Billy & I are treating my Mom to an early birthday present tomorrow night; her & I are going to the Casting Crowns Christmas concert at the new arena at MSU. I know we are going to have a great time!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Well...it's all over with. The table is clear, dishes all done (well....all but the ones in the dishwasher...) and leftovers in the fridge. We had a great meal and great company. Most of you can see the pics on my Facebook page, but if not, here is the link to the album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001038&l=00dee&id=1304340063

I am physically tired, but totally blessed from the day. I missed having our daughter and family with us. I am glad that my mom joined us and brought green bean casserole, ramen noodle salad, and pumpkin pie. I am glad the turkey turned out okay, but almost forgot to put out the pistachio salad. I am thankful for the 8 international students that accepted our invitation and joined us. Did I mention that I've been blessed today??

Tomorrow is 'black Friday'. It's not part of the Thanksgiving Holiday, but our Governor gives all the State employees an extra day off. So I'm definitely thankful for that. I don't plan on being at the stores when they open at 4AM, but would like to find a Christmas tree sometime tomorrow. (we have 'donated' our big 7' tree to the BSU this year, and instead we will put up a smaller tree in the house)

We took a video of us eating today, and Billy is trying to edit it down to 30-seconds. If it works, I'll post it later.

Wow. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Christmas is peeking around the corner. The New Year is just down the street. Wasn't it just yesterday I was watching the fireworks on the 4th of July??

This is also the first year since Sydney & Annabella have been born that they will not be with us on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Ashley & Danny both have retail jobs that prevent them from taking any time off for the Holidays. Even Danny has to work at Starbucks ON Thanksgiving Day. Geesh.

Billy & I are hoping to get to go visit them right after Christmas, but we will only get to spend a couple of days there since we are leaving on a trip to Turkey on the 29th.

We are having a Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow at our place and so far we have several international students that will be joining us along with my mom and Christopher's girlfriend Crystal. They will be from China, India, Jamaica, and Africa. We always have a good time and they always seem to enjoy having an 'authentic' Thanksgiving dinner. And my mom always enjoys kidding around with them and learning new things about their lives back home.

Of course there will be pictures of food to follow. Until then....everybody have a wonderful Thanksgiving and try not to stuff yourselves too much!!

Here are some pics from Annabella's birthday party:

This is Ivan; last post I said he would be a year old in January, but it's actually February. The other little girl is a daughter of a couple that we go to church with.



Great-Grandpa Meadows holding the birthday girl.



Opening presents:



The cake:



Eating her very own baby cake:


After eating the cake:

Here is a video of us singing Happy Birthday:




And here she is eating her baby cake; she would only eat the icing on the top at first; and at one point she must have made a really funny face to everybody, but I didn't catch it on camera:




They stayed through Monday and on Monday while Danny & Ashley went to run some errands, I watched the girls:


We had a great time with them, and looking forward to seeing them again at Christmas!!!

Well, I am getting geared up for a fun-filled weekend including celebrating our granddaughter Annabella's first birthday!! The cake is ordered, the house is pretty much in order, other than the extra bedroom where the girls will probably sleep. Okay...so that room is NOT in order. Nope. Not one bit. So looks like I know where I will be on Saturday. Yep. (pictures of the big party to follow!!) OH...actually her birthday is officially today....so.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNABELLA!!

Santa Claus is coming to.....a mall near you!

Santa Claus came to our local mall last Saturday, and although the picture is kind of blurry, you can tell it's a Santa!! And I did not realize we had 'palm-like' trees in our mall. Maybe that's part of the scenery for Santa??


Today was my mother-in-law's birthday, so we went over to her house for a little birthday bash. This picture is the son of one of our nieces; his name is Ivan. He has such tiny feet! He will be a year old in January.

I have noticed more and more 'bully' shoppers at the mall lately. What are 'bully' shoppers? They are the ladies that just HAVE to be at the SAME rack looking at the SAME group of clothes you are looking at although you were there FIRST!! I resist to fight them though, and just slip away to another rack hoping they won't follow me. Darn bullies!! (I was always kind of a weenie when it came to bullies....just ask my sister!!)

Cold and blustery day....

It's 37 degrees here at 3:00, and very cloudy and blustery outside. I've been inside all day, just doing odds and ends around the house. I even made some pumpkin bread.




I will be getting out later this afternoon to take one of our international students from Jamaica to the mall, so I'll have to be sure and dress warmly. (I know she's not used to this weather!!)



The leaves are starting to fall from the trees, as you can see in the pictures below. Of course, it doesn't help if your tree is already DEAD to begin with, so it didn't take much for those leaves to fall off.

I am embarking on an adventure this Christmas season; I have joined a choir of 'shepherds and shepherdesses' to perform in the opera "Amahl and the Night Visitors".



A local organization is doing the program in December, and I thought it would be 'fun' to do something different this year. And boy is this different!! I really didn't know this was an opera until I read up on it, and it will be a challenge to learn and sing, but I think it will be worth it. (yes, it's in English!) I have done things before with this same organization, including a trip to Poland & Austria in 2001.

The rehearsals will keep me pretty busy but I'm ready for it. The choir only participates and sings in a small part of the opera so I won't have a lot to memorize, but one song in particular talks about the different kinds of food the shepherds/shepherdesses are bringing to Amahl and his family. (you can Google the opera and read the storyline if you'd like) In this song, we sing about "olives and quinces, apples and raisins; nutmeg and myrtle, medlars and chestnuts." But that's not all! We also bring "citrons and lemons, musk and pomegranates; goat-cheese and walnuts, figs and cucumbers."

They bring even more, but I won't go any further. Guess I'll have to do a search for "quinces, myrtle, medlars, and musk" to see just what those are!!

Our son Christopher is getting in quite a few hours at his new job at Best Buy, but it will be another week or so before he gets his first paycheck. It's always hard to have to work for a couple of weeks before you see your 'reward'. And he is still plugging along with his classes, so he's a busy boy!!

Santa arrives today at the mall, and tomorrow at our local Bass Pro Shops. It's amazing how he can be at so many places at one time!! =)

(I will try and snap a picture of the one at the mall when I am there today.)

Have a great weekend everybody! Hopefully the sun will shine tomorrow!!

Scenes From The Sunroof

These are scenes from the sunroof of our car (well...the FIRST one is from the passenger window....) and the last is a video looking up through the sunroof as we drove through a cemetery close to our house. Aren't the trees beautiful this year?? Enjoy!!

Partly Cloudy with a chance of Rain...

Yesterday was Halloween. And although I don't personally participate in what you would call "Halloween" activities, our office did have a 'dress-up' day. What did I do??? Well, thanks to an idea Ashley had a couple of years ago for herself, I took a blue scrub top, taped cut-out clouds on it, then taped cotton balls on those. I had a spray bottle with water in it, and the word "rain" wrote on it. SO.....I was "Partly cloudy with a chance of Rain"....and would spray the water bottle in the air. However, my clouds kept falling off throughout the day, so I bet the cleaning guy wondered why there were all these cotton balls in the trash cans around the office with tape on them!



I also took pictures of some of my employees who did dress up:



Here is the view from my desk; as you can see, 2 employees dressed up in the same outfit! One of the supervisors in my group is standing in the middle.


Here is what is says on the back of their costumes.....hilarious!!!


Here is my 'boss'. She actually does dress up like this for western shows, festivals, etc.

These are the 2 supervisors in my unit; the one at the desk has really blonde hair when she's not wearing a wig, but I told her not to ever dye her hair black!!


Well my 'outfit' did actually predict the weather, for around 11:00 we got a pretty good rainstorm. Here is video from my office window. We got a pretty good downpour for about 15 minutes and some hail with it. (I offered to walk around throwing ice cubes to simulate hail, but decided not too...)






By the end of the workday, all my clouds had fallen off, and my 'rain' was gone. So I then became, "I Can See Clearly Now, the Rain Is Gone". HA!!!

This just in from our National Weather Service:

A KILLING FREEZE TONIGHT WILL END THE GROWING SEASON.
A KILLING FREEZE WILL OCCUR TONIGHT THAT WILL KILL OFF MOST
VEGETATION. TEMPS ARE FORECASTED TO FALL INTO THE MIDDLE
AND UPPER 20S FOR SEVERAL HRS.

Um...guess I shouldn't have planted those tomatoes yesterday, huh??

Whee!!!

A few months ago we purchased a Wii game system, and while that is fun in itself, I have also wanted a Wii Fit. Well, just like when the Wii system originally came out, they were nowhere to be found!!

A few days before we went to visit Ashley & Danny, she called to see if we had found one yet. It just so happened that the Target store she works in got 2 in one day, and she heard a co-worker say she had bought one, so Ashley got the other one to put back for us.

So a week ago we set it up and I was the first 'guinea pig' to test it out. It does a body test on you which includes your BMI, weight, your center of balance and what your Wii fit age is (based on those other results.) Well...needless to say, my weight and BMI is too high for my age, so my Wii fit age was 62!!

I am happy to say that after one week, my current Wii fitness age is down to 38!! WAHOO!!! And my center of balance is actually centered! It was originally a little to the left.

I've been trying to spend at least 30 min every night doing the various yoga, strength, aerobic and balance games. I am determined to lose at least 15lbs by Christmas! (as I sit here eating no-bake cookies....)

I also had those fun 'yearly' exams on Monday, and although my doctor doesn't really 'harp' on me about my weight, you know what she's thinking. Before you leave she always adds, "just keep eating lean meats, fruit and vegetables and exercise". Well this year I'm really trying to do more of that! I've found that every year you get older makes it that much harder to maintain a good weight.

Okay...enough of that stuff. It's beginning to feel like Fall more and more everyday, with more rain heading in for the rest of the week. But that cool rain sure does make the trees look beautiful!

Billy & I took a little trip to Tennessee this past weekend to see Ashley, Danny and the girls. We had a good time and I started to miss them the minute we got on the road to head back home. Annabella isn't quite walking yet, but she's almost there! Hard to believe she will be a year old next month! They are coming up here for her birthday so we can have a party for her. Here are some pictures I took:









On Monday we went to lunch at a place called "Huey's" before we headed back home, and I took a couple of videos of the girls.














Billy & I are through with traveling for now; the election is just around the corner and I can't wait (once again) for it to be over with. All this "he said, they said, it said" stuff is driving me nuts!! The weather has cooled off nicely here after some rain today, and the rest of week has highs only in the 60s. This is the time of year we really save on our electric/gas bill!!

Yes, it's been a while. Let's see....since the last time I wrote I had my meeting in Jeff City, Getaway has come and gone, we had a picnic with our church.... I guess that's about it! And remember my 'spider' story? Well, on the way to work on day last week, I'm sitting at a stoplight and something catches my eye:


Yep, another spider has once again graced my vehicle. He was riding on a strand of web he had made from the antenna down to the hood. At one point he made it to the antenna, and after turning down another street, he 'let go', curled up in a ball and started spinning 90 to nothing. Once I got to work, he had crawled down the antenna and was just sitting there. I never saw him again, but that strand of web was stuck on the antenna for a while!

This next week Billy & I both will be out of town; just to different cities. I will travel to Columbia (MO) on Wednesday for a 2-1/2 day Clerk's College where I will help teach one of the classes on Domestic Relations. Billy leaves with some other campus ministers on Wednesday as well and they will travel by bus from Jefferson City to Atlanta for a conference.

When he returns on Saturday, we are going to head down to Memphis to see Ashley, Danny & the girls and return on Monday. (that's also a holiday for me.....Columbus Day....remember him?) I am excited since we haven't go to see them since we helped them move on Labor Day. And Danny's mom and husband are leaving for St Louis that same weekend, so they told us we could stay at their house which saves us on getting a hotel room! So it all worked out very well.

Gas here is down to $2.86, and keeps dropping! I can remember though when it went UP to $2.86 and we griped about it. But after paying almost $4.00 just a month or so ago, this price sounds great! Wonder how long it will last.....enjoy it while you can!!

Oh...our church picnic was at a local park called Grant Beach (but no, it's not around any water..except a pool...) and there is a Frisco train museum there. They brought in some tracks and placed a Frisco Locomotive 4524, Commuter Car and Caboose. What is so unique about that is my grandfather once 'drove' that train when it was in use! So here are some pictures I took which we were there having our picnic. If you want more info about the museum, here is the website:

http://www.rrhistoricalmuseum.zoomshare.com/0.html


Have a wonderful weekend!!

I made it to Jefferson City and back home again on my own. It's been quite a while since I've actually traveled on my own (for more than just a day), so I must say I was quite proud of myself that I didn't get lost. I even ventured out on Tuesday evening to eat at an Applebee's that was more than 2 blocks away from my hotel. (our meeting place was only a block away, and there was a mall just down the road as well) We do have a GPS, however, it hasn't been updated in a while but it got me there and back.

We rented a car for me since we really weren't sure if the Jimmy would make it there and back, so I got this bright yellow Chevrolet Cobalt; complete with a spoiler on the trunk lid. (okay...we just wanted a small economy compact car...)



Pretty snazzy, huh? Well, it's a pretty cool car to say the least. We did notice that this particular one did not have cruise, but that's okay. It did have a audio connection for a MP3 player, but that didn't work either. Okay, no problem, I can use the radio (which WAS neat because it would show the name of the station on the display, and I found one station near Camdenton that also showed the song they were playing!!) So I come home early from work, finished packing, and was ready to head out by 4:30. Billy had to go to a meeting, so Chris helped me load the car. I get in and he notices a spider that is in one of the air vents over the radio. Now I don't like spiders (or snakes..just like the Jim Stafford song...) so I get out of the car and ask Chris to try and get it out for me so we can kill it! I go inside and grab a couple of paper towels, and found one of those 'skewers' like you put meat on to try and coax it out.

I go back out and Chris is trying to play 'freeze out' with the air conditioner thinking that will make it come out, and when it doesn't, he turns on the heat. Well....that didn't make him come out either, instead he crawls back down inside the vent. "Great"....I'm thinking this thing is still inside the dash somewhere. I didn't get a real good look at him, but Chris tells me it's 'fuzzy with a red butt'. GREAT.....well, I need to get on the road, so I tell him to close that vent off for me (thinking he'll just stay inside that vent 'tube') and away I go. I get about 2 miles east of town, look down at my speedometer, and there is a 'spot' right where the "60" is.


I'm trying to figure out what that 'spot' is...when it starts MOVING. Yep, by golly that freaky little spider is crawling across my speedometer. So I call Chris to let him know that he was still alive and now behind the dashboard glass. Then it crawls in the area just below the gas tank gauge....but by this time it looks like it's in FRONT of the glass!! EEEKKK!!!! So I tell Chris that I have to get off the phone so I can pull over and KILL this thing!!

So once I safely pull over, I notice that nope, it's still behind the glass. I then watch it crawl back up by the gas tank gauge, and disappear. I closed the other vent, but kept the ones by the door open. For the next 2 hrs I am watching the gauges, and the other open vents for sign of this little booger. I never saw him again. But I can say that's the first time I've seen a spider crawl across my speedometer.

My meeting went well, and now I have 2 weeks to come up with what I'm going to say about my section of our class for the clerk's college. So far we have about 60 people registered for this one class, which is in the afternoon on Thursday of the college. (there are other classes going on at the same time, so you 'choose' which ones you want to attend) There are 3 others from other counties teaching with me, and an employee of the State Courts Administrator's office will be there to help if needed. I found out today that this is their first time teaching at the college as well.

So it's been an eventful couple of days; I do like the car, but it's way beyond what we could afford to buy. Speaking of buying things....we are having our new air conditioner/heating unit installed in our house hopefully next week. I'm sure it will be messy around our place for a few days, but it will be worth it to not have to worry about getting carbon monoxide poisoning this winter. They are even installing a 'pigtail' that will enable us to plug it in directly to our generator in case of another ice storm.

Billy is taking a group of around 20 students to the "GetAWay" conference at Tan-Tar-A this weekend; I was able to go last year, but have an obligation at church on Sunday that prevents me from going this year. They always have a lot of fun and good fellowship with other BSU'ers around the State.

I guess that's about it for now.....it's feeling like Fall in the Ozarks!!

A different radio button...

Well, this past week has been a doozy I must say. We currently have 3 openings in our office, so we have been interviewing 6-7 people per day since this past Monday (except for Thursday). It always amazes me how people conduct themselves during interviews. I won't go into details, but let's just say we finally narrowed it down to 3 people as of Wednesday.

Speaking of Wednesday, I turned another year older. I am a big 45. And I noticed something about turning 45; you now are in a different 'radio button' category. Radio button? Yes, those little circles you click on to tell how old you are. I take a few online surveys, and I noticed that the radio button I had been clicking on for "your age" ended at "44". So I knew that in just a few short months, I would have to click on the next age button. So I guess that means I'm moving up in the world, huh?

Then on Thursday, it was my sister and dad's turn. Yep, me and my sister are 2 yrs and 1 day apart in age. Of course she's the YOUNGER one, but I think I still LOOK younger than her. And my dad...well...I won't reveal his age, only to say he looks pretty GOOD for his age!!

On a sad note, the lady who took care of Ashley from when she was 6 weeks old until she was around 3 passed away on Friday. She was Ashley's one and only babysitter until she went to preschool. She also helped to watch Chris for a little bit as well. One of her daughters and family attended First Baptist with us for quite a few years, and their youngest daughter actually named one of her girls after Ashley. She will be missed.

I get to travel to Jefferson City on Monday to be a part of a committee that helps to teach classes at the "Court Clerks College" that is held in October and May. I was asked to help with the Domestic Relations part of the college. This will be a first for me, so I'm a little nervous. I will be up there until Wednesday.

After reading story after story about the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, I still can't fully imagine what it would be like to go through something like that. Although we did feel the 'after-effects' of Ike early Sunday morning, it was some wind and rain; that's it. We didn't lose power, and although there was some flooding, it was NOTHING like they have experienced in Texas.

I try to compare going through the ice storm in 2007 to what they are going through in Texas, and it's just not the same. Sure, we lost electricity, but you could just put your food in a cooler, add the rest of the ice in your freezer and set it on your back porch. It was cold enough outside to keep it from spoiling. You could still drink the water, and if you were lucky enough to have a gas water heater, you could still take a hot shower.

Heat? Yeah, it was cold. So unless you had a generator hooked up to your furnace, or had some other heat source, it was cold Cook? Well...you could improvise and if you didn't mind the cold, heat up the grill outside and cook, or perhaps if you were lucky enough to have a gas stove, use that. (or like in our case, Billy actually started our fireplace and heated water in a teapot!)

However, we didn't have to wait in line for water, ice or even those 'ready-to-eat' meals. Generators were in short supply, but I believe most that needed them were able to get them. (or course there were some that chose to STEAL them from other houses, or railroad crossings!) We were lucky in that some areas of the city had power so you could usually find a restaurant or grocery store open. So, no; I can't even comprehend what it would be like to try and survive like they are having to.

Our pastor's family lives in the Houston area, and are apparently doing okay. Our pastor's wife has a sister that recently moved to the Houston area, and her family came up here to escape the storm. They have since found out that their house has been damaged by trees, but cannot get back down to see just how bad the damage is.

So it's hard for me to fathom just what it's like to live through a disaster like Ike...or ANY hurricane for that matter!! We just have to dodge the tornadoes here!!

Busy, busy, busy. It seems someone in our house has something going on every night. Well..maybe except me.

Oh.. the latest update on our friend Olivia has her possibly going home in the next few days!! Her progress has been incredible and she is ready to get out! We thank everybody for their prayers, but she will still need physical therapy so please continue to remember her.

Billy & I have began a bible study in our home on Sunday evenings; we are going through "The Truth Project". It is a DVD Bible study put out through Focus on the Family by Dr. Del Tackett and is a fantastic introduction to the fundamentals of Christianity. We had our first session last week, with 4 students attending. Although we have mainly opened it up to college students, anybody can attend. This is my first time going through this study (I think it is Billy's 3rd or 4th time) and already I can see it's going to be very informative.

Wednesday night is now "Wal-Mart" night for some of the international students, so that is where Billy is right now - taking students to and from Wal-Mart. He takes 2 trips and usually does not get done until around 10:30 or so.

Thursday night is "The Life" which is a weekly worship time at the BSU. They have a different speaker each week, with some mighty good worship music as well!

We lost another employee at work last week...meaning they just walked out. She was one of 'mine' which makes me wonder what I did wrong. Ironically we had someone inquiry about a part-time job that same week, and at the time we didn't have one to offer....until Friday. So we already have a replacement for her. I guess it's true that 'everything happens for a reason'!!

Our granddaughters have been gone 2 weeks now, and we are really missing them. (well..okay...we are missing Ashley & Danny too...) We did get to talk on the phone with Sydney on Monday, which was really fun. Ashley started a job at Target this past Tuesday and Danny started at Starbucks on Wednesday! He is working 5:30 am to 1:00 pm and Ashley works 5:30 pm to 11:00 pm so one of them are always at home with the girls. At least it will get some money coming in for them. I know they are looking forward to getting their own place.

Chris is still working and "enjoying" schoolwork. If that's possible.

The weather here has been nice and 'fall-like', which helps when you don't have air-conditioning!! We have been able to open up the doors and windows in the evenings, so by the time we go to bed, it is nice and cool in the house!! Last night we turned on our attic fan as well to help, and by 10:30 it was down to 67 degrees! We have found a company to install a new unit for us; and it's only going to cost us $5,000!! What a bargain! Well, at least we will get a rebate from our utility company, so it's not all THAT bad.

I guess that's it for now....of course around our house, there is always something going on!!

Those of you in Ike's path....stay safe!!!

Latest Update on Olivia

Here is the latest update on Olivia:

"Olivia had an MRI done on her spine and neck and there is no damage whatsoever!!! They were able to take off the neck brace and the doctors are also toying with the idea of taking the ventilator out today instead of the 2-3 days that was originally planned!!! They have taken her off most of the sedation, so she is back to her fun self! Praise the Lord!"

I'm hoping to get up to see her today; I know that Billy was up to see her yesterday. Thank you to all who have been praying for her!

BSU prayer request...

Tuesday afternoon a young lady had a bad car accident just east of town. Her car ran off the road down a steep embankment, and thankfully a passerby saw it and called for help. She was not breathing when medical help arrived, but they were able to quickly revive her. She is a sweet young lady that is a student at MSU and Billy & I have had the privilege of getting to know her and her family.

According to her mother:

"Both of her lungs were punctured, and she has a tube through her side draining fluid from her right lung. She has broken ribs on the right; bruised ribs on the left. Her left thigh bone is broken and needed a titanium rod (tonight's surgery); while in surgery they discovered two more fractures (non-displaced, though): her left hip and her left ankle. She will require crutches for at least 6 weeks. She had a gash over her left eyebrow that required stitches - we are told there are likely 30 stitches."

As of this evening her Mom tells us, "Several people visited the hospital tonight and during the 9:00 visitation, got to see Olivia. She communicated well with her hand and by writing some and was pleased to "see" everyone who was there.
She is continuing to improve and her color and awareness were such a blessing.
She is listed as "guarded" and may continue to be at that status until her lungs improve and the breathing tube is removed. She continues to be in Neuro-Trauma ICU.
Tim, Rebecca and the whole family send their thanks for the many prayers that have been lifted heavenward for Olivia and the thanksgiving that she is alive and improving."

Her name is Olivia; would you please keep her in your prayers as she recovers from these injuries? It is truly a miracle that she survived this accident due to the fact the highway patrol trooper stated she was not wearing her seatbelt and that they had to cut her out of the car. We still do not have details on how the accident happened, and apparently Olivia does not remember a whole lot about it either. The roads were wet, so we can only estimate that might have been a factor.

Billy & I thank you and I will try to keep updates on here as they are posted.

The Long & Winding Road...Day 2

Here was the parking lot outside the hotel; it was full with mainly families from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. And some even with their pets.




Speaking of pets....no....this isn't dog poo....do you remember the bowl that Billy was holding? Well, this is what was LEFT in that bowl over 12hrs later!!

Yeah, I know...GROSS!! It originally had a chocolate layered dessert in it made by one of our sister-in-laws. So he added 'other things' that were there like ham, baked beans, etc. And yes, he ATE most of it in the car. We had a cooler in the van, so we put the bowl in there overnight. By the next morning, it was time to get it out of there, hence the pile in the grass.

We decided to head back to the house to say "bye" one more time....Annabella was awake when we got there, but I got to put her to sleep!!






Around noon we headed back on the road to Springfield. Here was one last shot of downtown Memphis from a bridge:
We passed several lines of power utility company trucks heading south on I-55, here is a video I 'accidentally' took...I thought I was just taking a picture, but had the camera on 'video'. Sorry for the bad radio:





We also passed some in Arkansas as well:


We made it back to town around 5:30, so all in all it wasn't a bad little trip. Now we just have to decide how soon we can go back and visit. We miss them already. On a positive note though, Ashley told us that she already has a job at a Target store just down the street, so that is definitely good news!! But she also said Danny wasn't feeling well, so hopefully he will be able to get to the doctor and get some good medicine!!