Sweet Glimpses of Special Moments

Our 46th anniversary Jan 20

Jack came to hang out one Saturday morning while C & S were at ballet and brought pj's in case he got invited to spend the night.  Tooo much fun -- I love the time to just do life in his world!  It's a world of super heroes -- lots of convo about his dad -- and BB8.

Katie, the Queen of DIY has been hard at work getting their house ready to put on the market.  -- Marshall often posts pictures of her latest projects.

A special moment for Bethany was when she and the family got to attend a KU / OSU Basketball game in Allen Field House.  The kids unwrapped game gear on Christmas morning and were told they would get to go to the game in February.  Playing in the game was a student Bethany had taught in Olathe Kansas when he was a kindergartener.  #14  Yor Anei is from the Darfur region of Sudan and has been a strong Freshman POKE player. I remember how deeply involved Bethany was in his progress in his early learning.

With both girls taking ballet at Tulsa Ballet, we were able to attend a stellar performance of Beauty and the Beast.  'Love our girl time!

At the end of February, we were blessed to crowd the whole family around our dinner table for a meal together with Bethany, Mat and their 3 and Marshall, Katie and the kids and send them off for their final stage of House Hunting.  Pawpaw and I got to have Camp Nana Pawpaw with Charlie and Clara,

                 By week's end -- the offer was entered and accepted on Marshall & Katie's new home!!!

Offer accepted: 

Each day has its many blessings == its rewards -- its challenges - and I am so grateful to be able to share it all with this man!  God is so good to me!

Wal-Mart on a Saturday Afternoon -- Never Again

A couple of weeks ago I got busy with tax prep and other Saturday chores and put off my weekly trip to Walmart until the middle of Saturday afternoon.  WHAT WAS I THINKING???

I like to be there about 8:00 and out by 9 or 9:30 - who am I kidding?
This particular day I made what I thought would be a quick dash in only to find all sorts of people cramming the aisles.
I should have sized up the parking lot and headed out of that place until a saner time.  There was a mom with 3 little girls -- one of which was about five and wearing her Fisher Price Roller skates and falling all over herself.  I had to squelch my inner teacher syndrome to keep from going over to that mom and asking would she kindly put her kid in the cart so that she didn't fall and crack her head open.  I made a mental note to keep myself on a separate aisle from them.  It seemed like wherever I turned there they were!

Moving on to the baking /cereal aisle there were two g'mas blocking both sides trying to decide their next recipe all with a kid who was clearly learning the same behavior of taking over the whole span from shelf to shelf.

AND THEN . . . I get to the pharmacy and there was a mom and another 5yr old right where I needed to reach in and grab an herbal supplement.  The kid looks at her mom and asks, "Momma, why is that lady so old?"
I WAS DONE!!!
The minute I got in the car I pulled down my visor mirror to check my hair and see what it was about me that made me look haggardly and old.
I was bummed all evening . . . All sorts of things ran through my head --"Age is only in your head" . . . "People ought to teach their kids manners"  "I teach my students to be considerate of others by being situationally aware -- what are parents teaching these kids these days?
The next morning in my waking thoughts -- clear as a bell -- God reminded me that I looked old because of the grumpy, cranky mood I was in.
 What's in our hearts -- shows up on our faces.

The Happiest of Holidays

In many ways, it could be called the Hubbub of the Holidays but we packed so much into these two weeks -- it was indeed the happiest of times.   Seeing Christmas through the eyes of our Grands is always a joy.

No way could I do my usual full-scale decorating, so that left me time to focus on what it really important. .  . the revelation of God . . . the Eternal God come to live among us.  

We heard some moving messages at Redeemer Covenant related to the Presence come to live among us.

We began the season with the kids Christmas Choir performance - on Sunday, Dec. 9

Wed the 17th, I raced from giving finals to my high schoolers to Jack's Preschool presentation of the Christmas Story in which Jack was a Cow.  And a cute cow he was.  Jack had all four grandparents there -- as Jim and Jan had come early.  

                              
Jim and Jan celebrated their 50th anniversary on Dec. 21st with Mat and Bethany and some special surprises. The 3 Goodletts slept over and then on Saturday morning, we hosted our Family Holiday Brunch with Jim and Jan and Mat, Bethany and the kids.  Monday morning the 24th  J & J took off for Denver to have Christmas with Marshall and Katie.

Christmas Eve we attended the Candlelight service at Redeemer with the family and then back to our house for dinner and gifts.

Christmas morning was all about gifts and new puppy and a lovely Christmas dinner that night at Bethany and Mat's.

Meanwhile in Denver our two CO cuties were enjoying Christmas with Grammy and Granddad Good.  

On the 29th we headed to OKC to meet Marshall and Katie and babysit while they hunted for a house.  We were able to stay at an restored home with airbnb., in a neighborhood Marshall likes to call gentrified.

Charlie had a huge case of "PawPaw" the whole time and loved wrestling with him and crawling up in his lap.

The house Marshall rented was right in the Plaza District of OKC where lots of restaurants are opening up.  Having lived in OKC for four years he was so excited to see all the changes.  (We forget he's always working and doesn't get to have much time off to connect with friends and eat out.)  He got a chance to try out a couple of places.

We wrapped up our trip with a stop at the Science Museum on New Year's day.   All too quickly it was time for Clara and Charlie to head back to Denver.

Don't know if this is where the Bell Family will call home in mid-summer -- but we enjoyed looking at neighborhoods they are exploring.

Growing Up In the Lord

        Campbell at 2 years of age and now at 8. So many special moments with this little girl!


Yesterday I had the joy of sharing the communion message with Campbell.  I had asked her on Saturday when the kids slept over if she'd like to help me and she said sure!  She went on to say "I could "floss" (that crazy dance) or I could tell a riddle."  I nixxed both of those ideas and said we wanted to tell the birth story.
When she dressed for Church and came into our room I couldn't believe how much she's grown up in these 8 short years.  
Campbell did an awesome job answering my questions -- and helping us tell the story.  This Nana heart was soooo proud!  Our prayers for her, and Sydney and Jack and Clara and Charlie and baby-soon-to-be is that the story of Jesus will flow freely from their lips and their hearts will always be full of hope and strong in faith!!!

Birthday Blessing in Disguise

All that mopping up water on T's Birthday led to a November / December that was filled with

Four fans running all the time

Serve-Pro assessing the situation and telling us that  $5000 would take care of any mold that might have accumulated over the years --- NIX that one == insurance doesn't cover your mold problem that might have pre-existed.

State Farm told us we did have a claim and yes, they would even replace the carpet in the Dining / Room Living Room and the Laundry Pergo would be claimed in as well.

Not knowing what to do -- it was really clear -- God reminded me that Joel Ray could tackle the issue and we would have the confidence we needed that our work would be done right.

Then began the dance - as Joel calls it -- back and forth with Insurance Adjuster.  No real big problem -- but it did take a while.   It took no time to find the floor we wanted.

It's funny how amid all the confusion and chaos -- when you settle in and tell God you don't know what to do next -- HE makes it pretty clear.

So we emptied out, packed up and Joel's team MOVED it all into 2 tiny areas.  It looked and felt like a hoarder's paradise.  Sydney looked at the new arrangement and called it "fancy.  The kids thought the new arrangement was the best for playing hide and seek.

The Christmas tree is not up --

The decorated mantel is hidden

BUT

After 3 weeks, we're putting it all back together and we couldn't be happier!

JR Tile is the one you need to re-new, repair and replace your flooring!  .

Celebrating ONE GREAT MAN -- Babe, Dad, Pawpaw, Boo Boo

Sometime last month, Terry said, "I don't want you doing a big deal for my birthday."  

OK- so what's a BIG DEAL that he would so totally love -- but not a big deal with a huge bunch of folks??? Time. With. Family.

I e-mailed our family -- and invited everyone to come surprise T for the weekend!  They were right on with it and started making travel plans.  Dave and Dolly coming from VA -- Candy and James from TX - Marshall and Katie secretly making plans with Bethany to surprise us all.

 It has been 13-14 years since we'd all been in Tulsa together. In that time our kids have married, started their families and we'd all gotten older.

 Bethany and I started menu plans that centered around T'giving since that's the meal Candy and her family always shared with us in the fall.  I made Meme Bell's favorite coconut pie -- pecan pie -- (Pop grew all kinds of pecan trees -- so we always had pecan pie).

I told Terry that Bethany and the kids were coming for dinner and he didn't even notice that I had set the table for extras -- I just kept the lights down in the dining room.  B & the kids settled in and T looked up to see James and Candy at the door.  He was so surprised!!! Meanwhile, we kept getting texts from David that their flight had been delayed even longer.

Finishing supper AND dessert, still no David and Dolly -- finally James and Candy had to get to bed and left for the hotel.  Terry, decided it was time to turn in and started getting ready for bed, setting the alarm and all our usual nighttime routine.  David texted to see if he was available and then rang the doorbell -- There the two of them stood with bows on their heads -- singing happy birthday!!!  
Terry was even more surprised!!!  

We snacked on leftovers

Talked

Talked some more 

and all of us headed to bed.

About 1:30 Terry heard the toilet upstairs running water and the downstairs toilets gurgling.  

When he stepped into the kitchen bathroom there was an inch of water!!!!

We shut off all water at the street  -- sorry people -- have to go to QT or Walmart to potty.

Mopped up -- looked for more towels and sheets -- mopped up some more.

It was our coldest morning of the year!   At 7:30  Terry and I headed to Walmart to buy gallons of water.  

Marshall showed up to surprise his dad and he became in-charge person to help us navigate this situation --

He and I headed to Walmart for a fan.

Later Marshall bought more fans.

Happy BIRTHDAY  TERRY!!!!

While the rest of us brunched at Bethany's -- Terry sat at home waiting on first a plumber named Ted -- who couldn't get his rig together to get over -- so we went the Roto Rooter route.  

Uncle David ripped kids faces off, much to their delight, and put them back on just like he used to do with Bethany and Marshall when they were little.










4:00 and $500 later -- we had water and started to re-boot our birthday celebrations.

Marshall and his Uncle Dave grilled steaks, Bethany hosted a wonderful family celebration and we all enjoyed the time to affirm, toast and encourage each other.

To complete the surprise - Bethany was able to have a Sasquatch Birthday cake made for him -- (the entire family believes in Big Foot and the Goodletts look for him every year -- while Marshall & Terry watch Big Foot specials.) Uncle David was a hit with the 5 Grands -- ripping their faces off like he used to with Bethany and Marshall.

Sunday we were able to reclaim our holiday and enjoy the day at our house. 

Yes, we had a BIG BIRTHDAY DEAL -- a beautiful family reunion, lots of affirmations and touching toasts --along with memories of sopping up water with Dave -- lots of stories will come from this as well as a new floor.