New York and OIAL's

As Kaylee and I are about to soar over the right half of our great country and spend a whirlwind weekend in The Big Apple, it causes me to think about little once-in-a-lifetime experiences I’ve had. Making this trip with Kaylee won’t be one of those because we’ve already been when she graduated from high school in ’04. What makes this potentially OIAL is that we’re meeting my sis-in-law Caryl Ann and her two sweet daughters, Mimi and Lily. There may be another opportunity to go with them but right now it feels like a chance to be scooped up. While thinking about it in this way I couldn’t help but remember back to other OIAL opportunities I’ve had so I thought I’d share them with you!! Aren’t you the lucky ones? Okay, here’s a list of those I could remember:

When I was six-years-old my picture was on the cover of the Baptist Standard, a magazine put out by the BGCT of Texas, a state branch of Southern Baptists. Our church, Joshua Baptist Church, was breaking ground for a new building and the oldest and youngest(me) members of the church got to make the first dig. For some reason, that event rated the cover story.

I was able to sit about 12 feet away from Billy Graham as he preached at the 1980 Baptist World Alliance Convention in Toronto, Canada. I was part of the Wayland Baptist College’s band and we had been invited to perform.

I won $1000 from a radio station.

With that money a friend and I made a trip to Hollywood and I got to be in the audience twice at the Price is Right game show. If they’d picked me now that would really be a OIAL, right? Darn it!

I posed in a picture with a presidential candidate—GO HUCKABEE!! Maybe if all goes well I’ll have posed with a PRESIDENT!!! Can you tell who I’ll be supporting in 2012? That is, if he runs! And if I don't see somebody better! :)

I lived through a remodel and I can guarantee you that it falls in the OIAL category! Glad I did it though!!

That’s all my pea sized 50-year-old memory will allow for now! I hope you’ll comment and share your OIAL experiences. I’d love to hear them! Meanwhile I’ll be blogging about our trip. New York, here we come!!!

Hello 50!!

Yeah, yeah, I know, I turned 50 back in February but it’s taken me this long to come to terms with it. Is it because I’m fifth in a family of six kids and was treated that way all my life? It might be the fact that my body is actually falling apart as I type this! Maybe it’s because there are so many things I still want to do and it feels like there won’t be enough time (my 94 year old dad would probably scoff at that!).

Whatever the reason, it’s taken me six months but I think I’m there! Resolved, at peace, and actually a little bit pumped. After all, I’ve learned a lot in my 50 short years. I’ve experienced a few presidents, a couple of recessions (personally and nationally), the death of a parent, and I’ve watched my children grow up to be responsible and trustworthy adults.

I’m able to know that it’ll be okay on the other side and that the other side is actually better because of the experience!

And now because of that experience and a wealth of knowledge I can look at the next 50 years with anticipation and excitement. It’s the unknown!! And the best part of my life may just be yet to come!!

Views from the Crosswalk

The other morning as I was waiting for the kiddos to come and cross the street I watched the rising sun turn the clouds first pink, then brilliant orange, and then a rich gold! Impressive!

Three third grade girls walk across together in the afternoon. Their names are Carrissa, Fiona, and Juliet. Can I please just have one more baby so I can name her one of those names????

While I'm standing on the corner waiting for kids I'm memorizing the book of James. Yep, the whole thing. I was feeling pretty prideful about it till now when I'm in the middle of the second chapter and am repeating several times a day how "mercy triumphs over judgement" and how faith without deeds alongside it is just useless! Wow James, can we hurry up and get to the part where I'm doing something right?? Can you say C_O_N_V_I_C_T_I_O_N??!!

This morning a little boy named Cody said something about 3D and 2D and I didn't know what 2D was (yeah, I know, it's sad) so I asked him what the difference was. He proceeded to explain and pointed out as an example that the clouds were 3D and the stop sign there beside us was 2D! Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!! I'm not only not smarter than a 5th grader--I'm apparently not smarter than a 4th grader!

Surprise pies!

I love to make pies. I was inspired and have learned pretty much everything I know from my mother-in-law, Jinny Jacobs. She's an amazing cook and on any given day you can find some flavor of pie at her house. But she and her husband, Bob, have gotten themselves into some pretty funny pie situations lately so I thought I'd share them with you. Note the picture above. This is how the pie came out of the oven and how it looked when we got there. Nan and Pop aren't sure how it happened but are guessing that it got so hot and bubbled the top crust right off to the side. So it wasn't that attractive but I can guarantee it was yummy.

The other story happened a few months ago: Now that Nan and Pop have gotten older they do things the easy way more often and so are buying more pie crusts already made and ready to cook. So this day they had one of those and had filled it with one of their delicious flavors. After completing the pie Nan moved it over to the oven to bake and then went on to do something else. When the timer went off Pop opened the oven and that whole pie had melted and dripped down into the bottom of the oven!! That's how it looked when we showed up a little later. Nan had lifted the pie and failed to take the little aluminum pan with it. But Pop didn't realize that at first. When he first saw the mishap he called to Jinny and said, "Ruth Virginia, that pie plate has completely burned up!!" Oh Nan and Pop! They definitely keep us alert......and laughing!

I'm bustin' my buttons!

Kaylee has been quite the little seamstress lately and I wanted to show off some of her handiwork. You can't see the colors and details very good in this picture but she made this bag she's carrying.

Last weekend she and I made an overnight trip to her old stomping grounds, Nacogdoches, home of the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks (Axe 'em Jacks, as K likes to say!) Her former roommate of three years is pregnant so we got to attend her shower. Kaylee made this cute little owl pillow for baby Wyatt. Right after she learned that Erin was pregnant she made a pair of booties too. I'm very proud of Kaylee's sewing ability. Thanks for hanging in there while I brag a bit!

Watch out Dallas!

My friend Renee's daughter works in downtown Dallas so the two of us decided we'd go and have lunch with her today. Sounds easy right?? Well, we thought that taking the new DART train would be a good idea so off we go on our adventure this morning after my crosswalk. When we got to the nearest station in Carrollton we discovered that the train was not a train at all...yet! It was a bus!! (The train opens in December) Well, we were not deterred!! We were on an adventure and nothing would stop us. So we waited till our bus arrived and confidently stepped on (not having a clue what we were doing!). I had thoroughly researched schedules and fares and knew that we had to have $4 each for an all day ticket. Renee put the required $8 in the slot and the driver looked at us expectantly...and told us it would be $5 each, that it was the express ticket, not the local one. Ohhhhhh, the express ticket.....of course, what were we thinking??? While the driver waited and the riders behind us waited we began to dig!! We had apparently spent our last $1 bills and there were no more to be had no matter how much we wanted there to be. Thankfully our driver understands newbies like us and told us he'd take what we could find. Renee finally found $1 and the rest (about 73 linty cents) came from the bottom of our purses It was enough to get us our tickets though so off we went on the rest of our adventure....on the bus, mind you!! On the way, there was a wreck and stalled traffic so as we deboarded our bus downtown we spotted the train we were supposed to catch zip by! After a phone call to DART (I'm not sure but I think she was snickering!) we were able to hop on the right train and arrived at our destination six blocks later! Yep, we got to ride the DART train....for six blocks! But our lunch with Julie was a success and really, the whole event was just pretty much a typical day for Renee and me! I wish I had a picture but I have no camera at the moment. I left it in McKinney last weekend and am hoping to retrieve it soon.

Just another day at the job.....NOT!

What a day of SPAN vanning around east Denton County! I knew it was going to be a wet day when I heard that Hermine was coming to visit but sheeesh!! I started my route soon after finishing my crosswalk, around 8:30 and drove in the rain... no, the downpour, till 1 p.m. I'd listen to the news about every 30 minutes to keep tabs on what was happening weatherwise and the guy just kept saying that the hardest rain was coming down right above Jeanne's head. Well, that was my interpretation considering that I could only see about three feet around me most of the time. I picked up one lady in Little Elm and was slated to take her to Lewisville. Honestly, the rain just never seemed to let up that whole trip and I was stressed the entire time. I thought she was probably pretty worried too and didn't want to distract me by talking to me because she was quiet for the duration. When we arrived at her destination she let out a big sigh and said, "Gosh, I must not have gotten much sleep last night. I slept the whole way." !!!!!!!!! What??? How could she sleep while Noah himself may have been floating by in the ark?!? Well, I just chalked it up to another well driven trip. Whatever!!! I was just glad to get home to my safe, warm, and dry house!

Pine needles

Please allow me to ruminate a bit: Pine needles are a lot like the problems and mistakes of life! You rake them up one day and the next day a whole new batch is there! But they're not all bad. First of all, raking them means good hearty exercise and second of all, they make great mulch for certain plants like my azaleas. So the problems and mistakes of life don't have to be all bad. They're good to keep us alert and ready for the next batch and they're good to learn from and "mulch" our children with so they can learn too. I, myself, learned awhile ago to take the mistakes and not so great traits of my parents and learn from them. If they were unsettling and unhealthy for me then I didn't want the same thing to happen with my children. Have I become perfect then because I have risen above their errors?? I'd love to answer that with a resounding "yes" but then you'd all stop reading right here and probably never visit my blog again. So, alas, I haven't obtained the level of perfection....yet! There are "pine needles" falling in my life daily but when I can teach my children about them or even when they learn themselves from me, then the "exercise" of raking them up has paid off and we'll be "mulched" and prepared for the next time the wind blows.

On the other hand, if we allow the pine needles to stay on the ground or even shake the tree so more will fall (some people LOVE drama--what is that about?) then the grass under the tree will suffocate and eventually die. We can blame the tree. We can blame the wind. Or we can even blame our husband for not going out and raking them up for us!!! :) None of that is good exercise and it doesn't mulch anybody. In fact it does the opposite. It teaches others the wrong and harmful way to deal with life and just causes more and more "needles" to fall.

In God's word James tells us to "consider it all joy when you encounter various trials because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance and perseverance MUST FINISH IT'S WORK so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything!"

So go rake up your pine needles today (I did...literally) and enjoy the blessings that God has waiting just for you!!