Once again, I find myself thinking "geez, it's been a LONG time since I updated our family blog". I have let other things get in the way. I mean, even our former pastor and wife who is now serving in Africa find time to update their blog page almost EVERY day!! Surely I can find the time to update this at least once a WEEK!!

I admit I've been feeling a little down with seeing them already serve where they know God has lead them, and wondering when 'our turn' will be. I know He has the timing all worked out, I just have to be patient. (yeah, right!)

December is a busy month between activities at the BSU and activities at our church. I joined the handbell group last January, so this is my first "Christmas" season playing. And I must say they are a busy group! But I love playing so it's all good. This week we kick off playing tonight at Springfield's monthly "First Friday Artwalk" which is in the downtown area. We are setting up at St Paul's United Methodist Church and will play off and on from 7-9. In between playing we will get to enjoy cookies and hot chocolate! (yum!!)

On Tuesday the 8th I will be treating my Mom for her birthday to a show at our church called "Uncle Phil's Diner".

The handbells then play at our local mall on Sunday afternoon the 13th. In addition to our church activities, I am once again involved in a choir for The Messiah Project's Christmas program on December 18th. They are also doing the opera "Amahl & The Night Visitor" again this year, but I chose not to participate in that this year with all the other things going on. The choir is doing excerpts from Handel's Messiah.

Our church choir is gearing up for a really nice music program on Sunday the 20th; and the handbells get to accompany one of the songs from that program as well. (by the way...you can watch all of the Sunday broadcasts on their website http://www.secondbaptist.org/index.htm just click on "watch live"!)

The bells play one last time on the 22nd at our historical courthouse; which is handy for me since it's just 2 buildings down from our Judicial Building!

In 'other news', our son-in-law lost his job at Hotels.com just before Thanksgiving (wasn't that nice of them!) and he's currently training to help deliver pizza for a new company that just opened up in town. We're praying that he will find something more permanent soon. Our daughter is still working at OTC part-time but they will be on Christmas break soon which means no work from mid-December until mid-January.

Our oldest granddaughter Sydney is now attending pre-school and loving it. She had a few problems at first getting used to the 'rules', but I think she's doing much better now. She is definitely a smart cookie!! Annabella is busy trying to learn all the things her older sister does, and is learning lots of new words as well. Here is Sydney at a recent field trip:

They went to the Nature Center.

Here is both sisters proud of their 'tower' that they've made:

Billy was able to go deer hunting this year for the first time in a while. After about 3 days, he finally shot one, but it got away and he never did find it. I told him they must have some good 'deer doctors' that fixed him up.

Chris is still attending OTC and working at Chick-Fil-A at the mall with my Mom. They work well together and have fun at the same time. It's a good company to work for.

SO, as you can see, we have been busy little Gradys! I doubt things will slow down soon, but as they say "that keeps you out of trouble"!

Wow...it's been almost 2 months since I've been on here. Let's see...in that time period:

1) We visited my father's place at the lake.
2) Celebrated my son-in-law's birthday.
3) Got a nasty spider bite of some kind on my ankle that finally healed after about 2 weeks.
3) Got to participate in the annual Southern Baptist Convention with our church choir and orchestra in Louisville, KY.
4) Took our granddaughter Sydney to Silver Dollar City. (first time we've used our passes this year)
5) Had a fun 4th of July.
6) Was able to help my Mom on 3 different occasions get steroid shots in her back.
7) Had lunch with a good friend.
**8) My mom and I visited my brother and his family in Mound City, KS while one of their sons was home on leave from the Army.**(I kind of missed this one earlier....sorry!!)
9) Attended the Regional Campus Missionary conference in Kirksville with my hubby.
10) Have been to our county fair 2 times.

Speaking of the fair, my boss this year decided to set up a 'booth' in the expo center to let the public know just what our office does, and how they can find out information about cases on a public website called "CaseNet". All of the supervisors and managers have taken turns 'manning' the booth while the fair is here. It started July 31 and runs through August 9th. I had my first turn on Saturday the 1st. Our booth is right next to the "Super Shammy" booth. (not to be confused with the "Sham-WOW"...they ARE 2 different products!!) I think by the end of my 8-hr shift, I could have done their demonstration in my sleep. I believe that if both of the workers just wanted to step away for a bit, I could have helped them out.

I didn't get too many people to stop by, but then again, it's hard to ask people if they want to see if their neighbor/boyfriend/girlfriend, etc. has any active cases or warrants for their arrest. My fear was that someone WOULD want to find out, and then end up finding something. I get another turn on Thursday. Good thing I didn't finish all my crossword puzzles.

One of the concert acts this year at the fair was the Little River Band. I liked them in the 80s, so thought it would be a good concert. I wasn't disappointed. My sister was supposed to go with me, but on her way back from Florida, she had a run-in with a blown tire from a Semi so it delayed her from getting home in time to go. So I took my mom instead. I was surprised on just how many from 'her generation' were there. And boy, some of those old guys could really get their 'groove' on!!

Billy and some college students are currently in Glorieta, NM at a collegiate leadership conference. Other than a tire blow-out on the way, (what's with tires this week??) everything is going well. Needless to say, he went ahead and had 4 new tires put on the van before they head back. I hear it is very beautiful there; I've not been there but hope to go next year.

Christopher will start class on August 20th at OTC, and MSU classes begin on August 24th. The summer is quickly coming to a close. Which means things will only get busier for at least Billy and Chris. For me it just means time to rearrange my clothes in the closet.

Happy Birthday Sydney!!

Today is our granddaughter Sydney's 4th birthday. We had a party for her over the weekend; here is the link to the pics:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010757&id=1304340063&l=7acc5e3506

She is growing up to be a very sweet and funny young lady. And I am still amazed at all the words she knows, as well as her colors and numbers. Her mom and dad are doing a great job of teaching!! She will start pre-school in August; I bet she already knows more than her classmates!!

Yeah, I know...it's been almost 3 months since my last post. I blame Facebook. Okay....here is a link to pics from our latest Central Asia trip:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010591&id=1304340063&l=0c3c7cccf0


I have a full weekend ahead; practice on Saturday morning with some folks that will be a part of Hymnsing at 2nd Baptist in the fall; then PARTY for our oldest granddaughter Sydney. She will be 4 years old!! Hard to believe!! Sunday is normal church stuff, then another practice that afternoon for our trip to Louisville, KY June 23 and 24. Pastor Marshall will be bringing the message on the 24th for the National Southern Baptist Convention, and our choir and orchestra is leading the music for that day.

I was just thinking the other day that about our Silver Dollar City passes that we bought for this season, and that we have yet to use!! It seems our Saturdays have been filled up, and we've had no time to go. Sunday afternoons are usually free, but even those have been busy lately! I'm thinking we are going to have to take off on a weekday just to get to use them.

So I will try to update this more often than I have; but I say that every time. Of course for all of my readers that have Facebook, you can keep up with our clan that way as well.

It seems that March is a popular wedding month. I already know of 2 couples that married in March, and Billy & I make another one.

On March 14, 1982 I married a handsome 21-yr old. Actually, he turned 21 on the 14th. For the past 27 years we have laughed and cried together. We've had our good years and bad years. (well...maybe just ONE year....) But through it all he is the only one I would want to spend those years with.

We spent our 'day' in Branson shopping and being with each other. We ate dinner down on Branson Landing and just enjoyed each other's company. It was a good day spent with someone I love very much.

Can't go without showing pics of the grandkids (now that they are back in town); so we had chili for lunch last Sunday:

Annabella did pretty well with hers; she mainly picked out the beans and ate the fritos.



Sydney doesn't really 'like' chili, but we got her to eat at least a few bites (after we put fritos and cheese on it). Then later Sydney wanted a banana, so she decided to share it with her sister:

I quickly found out that there are no "small bites" when Annabella wants a bite!
I just thought the look on Annabella's face was precious.

The 2nd Baptist choir was invited to sing the National Anthem at the MSU Lady Bears game Friday night (the game was sponsored by 2nd) so a group of about 25-30 of us got to stand at center court and sing. It was fun!! They also sing the anthem at a Spfld Cardinals game as well, usually in August. Here are some pictures of the game:

We had really great seats!!!

Best of all, they won!!

Even after living here in the Ozarks for pretty much all my life, the weather here still amazes me. On Thursday evening we once again had bad storms, and the high that day had been around 70. Friday's high was only in the 30s, and over night and most of today we got about 2-3" of snow!! It's funny that we tell people that don't normally live here "just wait a few minutes, and the weather will change"! But that's just about the truth. Here's what our backyard looked like at around 9:00 this morning:



Billy is with a group of college students at a leadership development conference near St Louis. They will be back tomorrow afternoon. It's hard to believe tomorrow is March 1!! And in only 14 days, Billy & I will celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary. Oh...and Billy will celebrate his 48th birthday. MY, how time flies!!!

Yes...it's been a little bit since my last post. So let's see...this is what I've (we've) done since my last post:

--Watched grandkids twice while daughter took son-in-law to E.R. and found out he had pneumonia.
--I joined the handbell group at church.
--We had to take 1 of our 2 vehicles to the shop 3 times for a bad heater core.
--Watched grandkids so daughter & son-in-law could unpack some more boxes.
--Sat in our house oblivious to the fact that a F-1 tornado was 'skipping' through the southern part of the city (and fairly close to the BSU!).
--I went with my sister and mom to Branson for a little shopping and eating.
--Billy & I celebrated Valentine's Day at Rib Crib and watching Madagascar: Escape to Africa.
--I discovered that not playing handbells for the past 5 yrs can cause sore arms!
--Had chinese for dinner.
--Got papers together for getting our taxes done.
--Made german chocolate cookies and pnut butter cookies.
--Went to a great-nephew's birthday party.
--Got great big hugs from my 2 granddaughters!

Well...I think that's about it. Sometimes I think my week is pretty boring, but once I make a list, I discover it really wasn't!!

It's been a 'back-breaking' weekend. Our daughter and family moved back from Memphis this weekend, and we cleared out their storage unit and into their apartment on Saturday. Well...I should say Billy & Chris cleared it out, and my mom and I stacked everything in the living room and kitchen!!

But they are all moved in, and the girls finally get to sleep in their own beds and play with toys they haven't seen since September. We are thrilled they are back, but please continue to pray for Danny & Ashley as they try to find work.

We had a great Global Impact weekend at church as well, and I discovered that a former high-school classmate is now a church-planter in Chicago! Eric Arnall graduated a year after I did, and he also worked with my mom at the old Sears building downtown. It was good to connect again after all these years.

First Ice Storm of 2009

This was taken outside our front door about 7:30 p.m. this evening. It has been freezing rain/sleeting now for about 3 hours. So far we still have electricity, but that might change overnight as we get more and more ice. And with temperatures below freezing for a few more days, it will take a while to melt!!

Yes, I know it's been a few days. And there really hasn't been that much going on; Billy & I are finally almost over our colds we caught while away, and other than our jobs not a lot has been going on....well kind of.

A few months ago Billy & I had started contemplating changing churches. With our decision to some day live overseas, we thought it would be nice to attend the same church as my mom until that time. We haven't attended church together for over 25yrs. We both agreed that this move would be good. So today, we officially joined Second Baptist. Not only are they a true mission-minded church, but they have some awesome music programs which I have truly missed over the years. Billy & I are both hoping to get 'plugged' in and serving once again.

Last Wednesday I attended my first choir practice with my mom; I haven't been in a choir with my Mom since I was a teenager. It was fun! They are in a transition right now finding a full-time worship pastor, but they've been able to have some awesome 'interims'. I'm looking into joining their handbell choir, and my goal is to also get back into playing my violin in the orchestra. I've also been able to catch up with some dear people that we haven't seen since we attended First Baptist over 4yrs ago. (and even one gal that I haven't had contact with since my high school days!!) It's been a fun week!!

And when Ashley & Danny move back to Springfield, perhaps they too will choose to join us. I leave you with a picture I took after we got our little 'snowfall' on Friday.



I saw these 'paw prints' on our back patio, but also saw some 'bird prints' crossing the path of the paw prints. It's funny how they overlapped. I wondered who got there first. Unfortunately, after the snow melted, we found a little bird just off the patio to the right of the brush. I think it's covered in snow in the photo. Poor birdie. Bad kitty!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!

I hope you are enjoying lots of cake and ice cream with Grandpa; the great thing is, you no longer have to worry about your blood sugar being too high!!

LOVE YOU!!!

Okay, so I wasn't able to keep this updated like I wanted to while Billy & I were away, but I do have pictures posted here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001122&l=f63d1&id=1304340063

It was a good trip; and just gave us more and more insight to the needs of those who need to hear the gospel in an area full of biblical historical sites.

So here we are, already in 2009. Our nation has a new President, and our State a new governor. Who knows where we will be this time next year?? As with any new year, my personal goal is to lose weight and become more 'fit'. I found out from this last trip that my body is in dire need of toning and strengthening. If it wasn't for Billy pulling me up some of those hills, I might still be over there!!!