Monday, May 31, 2010

ROYAL RANGER AWARDS & LAWN MOWING

Royal Rangers is a program in the Assembly of God churches for young boys. It is very similar to Boy Scouts where they earn badges, camp, play, etc., except the emphasis is on learning God's Word and Discipleship. We pick Aric up every Wednesday from school and bring him home with us so he can attend this Royal Ranger program. He then spends the night with us and we take him to school on Thursday morning.

This past Wednesday night was the Annual Awards Ceremony for Royal Rangers.




Our Royal Ranger in his cap, T-shirt and Vest with Bible in hand and tithe (from his lawn mowing) in his pocket.





Aric had previously earned the Tool Craft Safety award and the Bible Badge for the study of Exodus.

Wednesday night he received Bible Badges for Matthew & Nehemiah and his Rocketry Badge. Having earned 4 badges qualified him for the Red Falcon level.

Good job Aric!!!!

Mowing the front yard with a 2 fold purpose. Helping his Grandfather and learning not only about earning spending money, but being taught to give his 10% tithe and save 10%.

Can you tell how much we love this young man and how very proud we are of him?!!!!!!

These things remind me of Luke 2:51-52 "And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." This is what this grandmother holds in her heart for her grandson.

post signature

Saturday, May 29, 2010

THE ANSWERS to a few QUESTIONS #3

Sharon said...
I love coming here to read your blog.I was wondering how many people do you feed? You might have mentioned it before but I don't remember seeing it.Do you do this everyday?Thanks

We currently deliver the meals on Tuesday and we deliver between 37-40.

Mickey is hoping to expand this to two days a week when we get enough volunteers and will add Thursday delivery. We currently have 8 volunteer cooks who cook one time a month. We have 8 delivery volunteers who deliver every week. We have 2 people on each team and 4 routes.

Mickey, Sherry & I get there every Tuesday at 8:30. Sherry leaves about 11, when the meals are completed. Mickey & I remain, doing clean-up and then just waiting, until the delivery people return and get home between 12:30-1:00. Mickey and I are also there the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Monday evenings with that weeks cooking team because they work full time and volunteer in the evening. The 4th week the cooks are able to come on Tuesday morning.
Ginger said...
I loved your posts about your hot air balloon! I would love to know if there is one thing that you could do on this earth before you leave it, what would it be? (As in an adventurous way.)

I truly have been so blessed in owning the Hot Air Balloons and participating & traveling to some Balloon Rally's and then our 4 years of travel to every state and every Canadian providence that I am content and happy. The one think we have not done that we would like to do, and to me it would be the greatest adventure of all, would be a trip to Israel and be able to walk where my Lord Jesus walked.


Just Mom said...
"When I first moved to Oklahoma, many years ago, I wrote my parents and said, 'If I ever doubted there was a hell....I don't any more because I've moved to the middle of it'."LOL! I thought of an O.K. weather-related question: Have you ever seen a twister? I apologize if you've already answered this one. Just direct me to your blog post

I am most happy to say "No!! I have never seen a twister." Although we have many tornadoes in our area and we have many alarms and warnings we have never been hit by one. The worst one I ever experienced was about 40 years ago. My sons at the time were 6 and 1. Mickey was at work and the boys and I were home alone. It was in the middle of the afternoon. I had gotten us in the hallway of our home. the center most protected area away from windows. David, the 6 year old was going bonkers yelling "We're gonna die....we're gonna die!!!!" Marc, the 1 year old, was sitting in my lap with my arms around him. He never let out a sound, but his little heart was beating 90 to nothing. This was the first tornado that ever hit Tulsa. There had been an old Indian tale that Tulsa would never be hit by a tornado. WRONG there was much damage done when that one hit but we had no damage whatsoever. Since then we have had several other bad tornado's that have hit Tulsa. The one a three weeks ago damaged our Church Secretary's home they had only lived in 8 months!!! They, and their 2 children, are currently living in a motel . Just like the many more earthquakes we are experiencing.....we are having much more severe tornadic activity. "The Lord is my Shepard" ...... praise God.

post signature

Friday, May 28, 2010

THE ANSWERS to a FEW QUESTIONS #2

Question #2 - said...



Jan L said... Hmmm longtime lurker coming out for a ? What is your favorite thing about living in Oklahoma? What is your least favorite?

Hey, Jan L. so glad you de-lurked!!!! I tried to link on your name and go meet you but it didn't link :o( Would love to get to know you and hope, now that you've put your toe in the water, you'll comment often :o)

Now to answer your question...what I like least about living in Oklahoma is the HOT summers, due to the high humidity. I was born and raised in New Mexico, the desert where it gets hot and is very dry. When I first moved to Oklahoma, many years ago, I wrote my parents and said, "If I ever doubted there was a hell....I don't any more because I've moved to the middle of it." That is how much a shock and disdain I had for the heat & humidity of Oklahoma. Now, these many years later I still feel the same about the HOT summers. For instance, we went from lots of rain and temps only in the high 60's a few weeks ago to temps in the high 80's and low 90's now. Just totally skipped the 70's and some nice spring weather!!

The HOT summers is also one of the reasons my husband and I traveled, and lived in our 30' fifth wheel four years was to go north to Canada for the summer and get away from the heat of Oklahoma.

My favorite thing about living in Oklahoma is truly multifaceted: I love being in the Buckle of the Bible Belt and being surrounded by so many of like minded faith. I love the general friendliness of the people. I love being in the middle of the states and removed from either the East or West coast liberalism. I love that Oklahoma is a Red conservative state. I love that in times of recession we feel it less than other parts of the country. I especially love living in my small town of Coweta and enjoying the small town atmosphere.





Question #3 - Mari said...
I think I know quite a bit about you. One thing I know is that you are a hard worker and you seem to always be going! I'm wondering if you ever have a lazy day, and what do you do to just relax?



Hi Mari - I appreciate that you almost always leave me a comment. Since I have the opportunity to do so I want to say "thank you!"

As you probably already surmise I am much more of a "doer" than a relaxer. I just cannot sit and "do nothing". Even when I might be sitting and trying to watch a TV show with my husband, which we don't do often, I will be working on a Prayer Shawl, or picking up the current book I'm reading during the commercials, or a cross word puzzle book, etc. In other words......doing something!!!

I find blogging very enjoyable and relaxing to me. I also play Spider Solitary and find that relaxing.

You didn't ask this, but what I dislike doing is.....talking on the phone or "chatting" on line. I only like to use the telephone to connect to make appointments or arrangements with someone. Chatting on line makes me a total nervous wreck and I totally dislike it.

What I truly love and find relaxing is being with and visiting friends. I can chat with a friend over coffee for hours!!!!

Two more questions to answer which I will do in the next post.

If reading these questions and answers has caused a question to pop into your mind, that any of you others would like to ask me, please do so.


post signature

Thursday, May 27, 2010

THE ANSWERS to a few QUESTIONS

There were 5 questions asked me in comments on my last post. I will answer the first one here.



Maybe you could do a cars post. I'd love to see that 200sx you had if you have any pictures of it.♥ Joy



This request by Joy was based on a post she had done recently about her first vehicle which was a 200sx Datsun. I couldn't believe that because I had owned a 1984 black
20osx Datsun that I drove off the show room floor and shared that information with her. Sorry, Joy, no pictures of ANY of the cars we have owned over these many years until recently (when I began blogging!!!).

I will share about the first car Mickey & I ever purchased. When we married, in 1958 he had a really nice white & turquoise Pontiac. I had a 2-tone blue Olds that my parents had purchased for me when I suddenly found myself car less and alone with 2 small daughters.

We hadn't been married to long and one day we saw an ad for a 1955 Cadillac convertible advertised in the paper. We decided to go look at it.....telling ourselves, "It never hurts to just look." LIE Anyway, we drove off the car lot that day in the 1955 PINK Cadillac convertible. We thought we were in hog heaven. My parents thought we had lost our minds and they were soooo closer to right than we were!!!!

I have two stories to share about this pink Cadillac convertible. One funny and the other sad and reality. We ran around with 2 other couples, my forever friends you here me talk about so often, Joan & Bev. At this time Joan & her husband had 3 children, Bev & her husband had 2, and Mickey & I had my 2 girls. So one night we were all together and decided to drive down Central Avenue, a favorite past time in those long ago days. Well, the 3 husbands took the pink Cadillac and us three wives and 6 kids were in another car (don't even remember who's car we were in). We pulled up at a stop light and the guys began honking, waving and shouting at us. We had a BIG laugh out of this because I'm sure the other cars around us were thinking,
"Why in the world would those 3 good looking young men, in a convertible, be flirting and honking at that car of 3 gals with all those kids!!"

Now the sad one....Mickey & I married in October 1958 and Mickey's father was killed in an accident in September 1959. We went to Tennessee, where the funeral & burial took place and on the return trip Mickey & I had his mother and 16 year old sister with us, yes, in the pink Cadillac convertible. That flashy car, that we were so proud of, began to fall apart on us on this long return trip from Tennessee to New Mexico. At one point the brakes went out, as we slid through a red light and then again we ended up literally in a cow pasture in Texas near a small town called Mt. Pleasant with a busted water pump. The town was tiny and everything was closed up and they were having a city wide picnic in a park. Praise God a young man, with a wife and 2 small children, left the picnic and went to his auto garage and replaced that water pump for us in the evening hours so we could get on our way. We always told him if we ever got back to Mt. Pleasant, TX we'd buy them the biggest steak dinner they'd ever had. 51 years later.....we've never been back to Mt. Pleasant, TX.

When we finally arrived back in Albuquerque the very next day we went to the Ford dealership and traded that Cadillac in for a 1959 Red Ford. My boss at the time teased me unmercifully saying, "Susan's the only person I ever knew who left on a trip in a Pink Cadillac Convertible and returned in a Red Ford." So wish I had pictures to show!!

We have truly lived a wonderful, fun packed and very adventuresome life!!!!

I'll answer another question #2 in another post.

post signature

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

SURVEY RESULTS - Any Questions Any One???


22 of you left me comments on my 808th post and survey the other day. All but one of those actually took the survey and here are the results. 15 of you, or 68%, chose #8 - The Hodge Podge ALL that my blog has been for these 3+ years. These are the choices selected by the remaining 6 people: #5 my personal thoughts - 7; #6 my insights - 5; #1 my family - 3; #3 our activities - 3; #2 my church 1. No one selected either #4 the Show & Tell & Spiritual Sunday posts or #7 the memes.

Thanks so much to the 22 of you who cared enough to comment. I also really appreciated your very kind remarks :o) As a result, of this survey, I think I'll just keep on doing what I've been doing and hope you'll keep on wanting to come by and check on me often :o)

Back on my 2nd anniversary in 2008 my post was an opportunity for my readers to ask my questions. Since that's been a spell ago, and since many of you might not have been reading my blog back then, I wanted to do the same thing again...........



SO - any question - WHATSOEVER you would like to know about me or ask me please do so and I will answer it in a future post.

post signature

Monday, May 24, 2010

FIRST FRUITs & other happenings

Mickey's 3 raised garden boxes are starting to come up and beginning to produce those lovely, fresh, wholesome veggies.


Here are the very first fruits: Top - Bucket of 2 types lettuce plus spinach. Middle - a slim pickings of strawberries, but enough for us to have them for dessert for two evenings. Bottom - yummy, fresh radishes.

We will be eating well from these beds all summer and enjoying every bite, but there is something special about the First Fruits.

Speaking of First Fruits - my oldest daughter, Suzette, and her husband, Dave, were in Key West, FL on vacation Mothers Day so this past Saturday Suzette treated me to my Mothers Day present. And was it ever a treat!!! First a pedicure & manicure, then lunch of delicious pizza at a favorite spot and then a trip to the mall. What a grand time we had. I love spending time with my family and we do a lot of that but a one-on-one is nice once in awhile, too. Thank you so much, honey. (sorry no pictures taken!!) A really wonderful part of today was getting to buy the pair of navy capri's I bought in a smaller size!!!!! YEAH!!!!

Mickey's only living sibling, his younger brother, Jerry, came through Coweta on his way back home to Nashville from Colorado on Saturday. We took him to dinner, at the wonderful Mexican restaurant where the kids had taken me Mothers Day, on Saturday night. Then he attended Church with us and we had 2nd daughter, Jacque, and Benny, over to share the roast beef, carrots, onions, potatoes and huge fresh salad made from the 2 lettuces and spinach and radishes from the garden. Had to buy cucumber and tomatoes from the store and added olives and feta cheese. All of it was YUMMY!!!!! Jerry left early this morning. He'd been in Colorado for the past 4 months and was eager to get home.

Now, I'm off to make some of those yummy pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips. Ooops, this doesn't help much in trying to go down yet another size on my next capri purchase......does it?


post signature

Saturday, May 22, 2010

1st HONEY HARVEST - 2010

Have you ever noticed it seems like you have either nothing to post about or so very much that you can't seem to get it all done? Well, I'm in the trying to get it done mode at the moment. Which in short means life around our place is very busy and with this post I'm happy to say productive.




Here is Mickey, out in the garage, with his honey extractor. This picture shows him scraping off (or decapping) the comb from one of the honey frames which will be placed in the extractor. Then he works hard manually cranking the extrator and that spins the honey from the frame. You can see the spout with the bucket under it to the left. The honey comes out of that and through a large sieve, which you cannot see, in the top of the bucket. The results below is pure, rich honey.

The bottled production. We got 18 pints and 4 -1/2 pints from this first extraction.




Here's my "honey" as he looks over the jars of honey we have just filled from this first production for this year.





The luscious bottled and capped pure honey from Mickey's bees - who he calls "his girls"!!!! Yes, it's as delicious as it looks.



These results are pure satisfaction!!!!

and

OH - SO TASTY




Friday, May 21, 2010

A VERY SAD... BUT A VERY GLORIOUS EVENT

This is a very long, but I feel very important post, so I ask that you please read every word.

We had a 56 year old man in our church who passed away 2 weeks ago. He had not been in our church too long, I think they said about 3 years, and he came to the early service so Mickey & I did not know him well. He always sat at the back of the church on Sunday & Wednesday nights.

He was diabetic, and quite ill from that horrible disease. He had several diabetic episodes that many in the church had witnessed and were aware of. When he did not show up for work on Thursday morning his boss called our Pastor Gary to go and check on him. His boss knew something was wrong, because he had NEVER been late to work or missed work since working there. He called our Pastor because Pastor Gary was who he had put down on his work papers as the immediate contact person.

When Pastor Gary went to the house and could get no response, and his truck and motorcycle were parked there, the police and then the fire department were called to enter the premises. He was found dead in his bed.

Now what I have written so far is sad enough, a 56 year old man who lived alone dying in his sleep from an awful disease.......but what is really sad is for the past two weeks, despite going through all his papers and personal effects. absolutely no immediate family could be located. They learned he had a brother who lived in the Ft. Worth area but all efforts there and other leads in various parts of the country located absolutely NO FAMILY.

Now for the glorious part.......in going through his personal effects it was discovered just how much our Church family was truly his family, and his brothers & sisters. As Pastor Gary said, "No one would plan on their Pastor going through every item in their home." But in having to fulfill that very chore and task it was discovered just not completely his entire life revolved around nothing but his love for his Savior and his Church family. All the many books in the home were all Christian books, etc. He had notebook after notebook of sermon notes, Bible verses and names and phone numbers of different members of our church body.

The woman, called upon to fix his hair at the funeral home, also works in the local flower shop and she said, "Oh I know ------, He was always coming in and ordering flowers to be delivered to various church members."

His funeral was at 10 o'clock yesterday morning and MANY of his brothers and sisters in Christ were in attendance. His place of employment closed for his funeral and were all in attendance. His boss spoke of him...what a wonderful employee he was. What a good job he did. How he was never late for work. How he was trying to learn a few Spanish phrases so he could say them to some of the employees there. What a kind man he was. He called him, "A gentle giant." He talked about how he would always save up his vacation time to use to go on mission trips with the church and how excited he was about the upcoming mission trip.

The man who worked side by side with him spoke. He talked about the impact he had on his life. About his kindness. He talked about knowing about his illness and being afraid he might be hurt due to it, like falling down, or having an accident in his truck or motorcycle but it never entered his mind that he might die from it. He said, "....was too young to die." About how he would never forget him but that he would see him again in Heaven.

The woman who taught the Sunday School class he attended spoke about him and how everyone in that class loved him. She said you knew he was a praying man because he would always later ask you how what he had been praying about for you turned out....so you knew he prayed. She said when he was asked to pray in the class his prayer would be to God and for God and not for the hearing of the people in the class. That you KNEW he was speaking directly to God.

Another woman from that Sunday School class talked about what a friend he was and how he always referred to people as his "church family". How kind and thoughtful he was to everyone.

Sister Paula, our Pastor's wife, talked about how she would tease him and say she was his official "nagger", since he didn't have a wife and how she always asked him if he had eaten. She spoke about last year on a mission trip how he would just be sweating but wouldn't stop and eat something and take a break. When she spoke to him about it he said, "Those other men out there are working hard and I'm not about to not do my part and let them down." She would purposely go out from time to time and tell the man she needed him to help her with something just to get him to come in for a minute, cool off, get something to drink.

He had been a door greeter for the early service and Pastor Gary said he had found his calling in that position and how he loved it. How everyone loved to see his big grin and smile and how he always had a kind word for everyone. Pastor Gary also shared that on the mission trip last year they had shared a camper that had been turned into a dorm for sleeping and visited a little bit at night before they turned in. Pastor Gary said, "He was a very private man" but he had told him he'd come from Texas, after serving in the military to attend Rhema Bible College. He was a graduate of Rhema. Then something happened, and he did not share that with Pastor, but he told him he'd turned his back on God for a number of years. BUT....about 3 years ago he'd moved to Coweta, came to our church and been loved and accepted and that our church had become his family.

I have never been to a funeral where the "family" section. which is marked off by the funeral director. had no one in it. I hope I never have to attend another like that. But this man loved God, and his impact on every ones life he touched was a witness for His Savior and Lord.

I am sharing this here because it is a lesson to all of us to be more sensitive to those around us. Many said, "I never dreamed he didn't have any family." "If I'd have known he had no family I would have............... (fill in the blank)". I am also sharing this because it is such a clear testimony of a man's walk being more than his talk. They shared how he loved missions and had told Pastor that the Lord had told him he'd use him on some mission trips and how much it had meant to him to see that dream and hope fulfilled in his life. He will be greatly missed next month when the Mission Trip is made. Not only to the Mission Team but to those children whose lives he would touch on the trip.

This man is in heaven today. Not one person who knew him doubts that for one minute. We will see him again. The testimony of his life had a great impact on me today. I hope reading about him will have an impact on you, too.


post signature

Thursday, May 20, 2010

YOUR CRITIQUE PLEASE

This is my 808th post!!!! The #8 means new beginning.


Oh my.....I just calculated how long I've been blogging (you know I have this accounting background and am always "figuring out" everything!!). I began on January 21, 2007....and counting that out just now I find that comes to 3 years....3 months....and 30 days!!! Now what are the "chances" of that?!!!! You who know me know I don't believe in "chances" but the Hand of God.


The Bible Study Group I belong to on Tuesday evenings is called Third Day Sisters!!! and the number "3" has become very symbolic to me.


Next, I googled #3 for the Bible meaning of the number and this is what I found:


Number symbolism in the Bible
By Iver Larsen

The number 3:
The number 3 in the Bible has the symbolic meaning of "divine". It is especially prominent in connection with the Trinity, but there are also many examples of how the number three symbolizes a waiting for divine intervention (Genesis 40:10-17, Exodus 10:22, 19:16, 23:17, 25:32f, Judges 7:7, Jonah 1:17, Matthew 12:48, 26:44, Acts 9:9, 10:16 2 Corinthians 12:8).


When I began my post it was with the purpose of doing a survey by asking you, my readers and followers, about the type of posts you most enjoyed. With the above information I've just shared with you this question becomes even more significant to me.


So.........I would like for you to leave me a comment telling me which type post you find the most interesting or that you enjoy the most.


These are the general categories I feel my posts fall into:


1. My family: i.e. our celebrations and participation in family events. About my kids, and grand kids..


2. My church: i.e. The King's Kitchen, my Bible study groups, other activities, conferences.


3. Our current activities: i.e. gardening, bee hives, trips, outings, friends, etc.


4. Participation in Show & Tell Friday and/or Spiritual Sunday


5. My general thoughts, feelings & opinions on age, marriage, family, frugality, etc.


6. Insights I feel God gives me from time to time.


7. Participation in Meme's


8. All of the above, and the hodge-podge that is my blog.


There are 69 of you who have signed up as "followers" and I know there are others of you who comment and read my blog but have not joined the "followers" list. I truly would like to know what each and every one of you think. You can leave an "anonymous" comment if you don't want me to know who you are. Please be honest and truthful and even tell me what you DON'T like.


THANKS, I look forward to your comments.



post signature

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

12 Thoughts

Saw this over at Home On The Range by Midlife Wife some time ago and it sounded fun to do. So here goes.

1. I was so excited when I .... Well I stay excited most of the time because I love my life and ALL I am blessed and able to do and participate in.



2. If I had some "mad money" to spend right now, I'd buy..... I wouldn't buy anything but I'd take a trip to Israel that our church is going to take next year.



3. I really shouldn't have... eaten that piece of chocolate cake yesterday.



4. Anything sad that I read about..... makes me want to try and fix it.



5. The antics of..... my grandson delights me.



6. Family is..... everything to me, next to Jesus.



7. I just cannot believe.... I am 72 years old and been married almost 52 years. Where did these years go to so fast?!



8. I'm really looking forward to... the Lords soon return.



9. The weather right now has been.... rainy and cool for this time of year. AND, we had a 2.4 tornado last week!!!



10. My mood right now is... thoughtful because I have some important decisions to make.



11. I couldn't believe... we walked so FAR getting to the Tulsa Air Show.



12. And now I am going to... end this post and put on the coffee!! Want to come have a cup?


post signature

Saturday, May 15, 2010

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY 2010 #7 - Prayer Shawl

I am once again participating in Spiritual Sundays. Go HERE to read other great Spiritual based posts.

My friend, Sandra, started a Prayer Shawl Ministry at our Church in February. Go here to read all about it. The main thrust of this Ministry is presenting Prayer Shawls, made by members of our Church, to sick & ill people who need healing. The very first one that Sandra made went to a young woman in our church who had just been diagnosed with stage IV liver cancer. To date 25 Prayer Shawls have been given out with many others in the process.

This is such a wonderful ministry and I wanted to participate and be part of it. As I was purchasing my loom and yarn the Lord impressed upon my heart that I was to make my first Shawls for my 4 children. Thank God none of them are ill or need physical healing but none of them are serving the Lord. I "knew" I was to pray for them as I made the shawls that they would return to the God of their Father and serve The Lord with all their heart, mind and soul.



Here is my first shawl and it was made for my 2nd daughter, Jacque. Many of you know that Jacque and her daughter (our oldest grand daughter), Jessica, lost everything in hurricane Katrina. They both now reside in Tulsa.



This is how the finished shawls are presented to the person receiving them. The card reads: "This Prayer Shawl was handmade and prayed over by the congregation of Coweta Assembly of God Church. It represents tangible evidence of prayer and love for you. We asked the Lord Jesus for you to receive His healing, His love, and His hope. As you wrap yourself in this shawl, may you find His comfort as it represents His arms around you. Isaiah 53:4-5 - Mark 5:25-34 You are invited for personal corporate prayer at Coweta Assembly of God, Coweta, Oklahoma and the phone #."


It took me 2 months to make this first shawl. I took it to my Tuesday night Bible Study class last week, along with my annointing oil, for this group of Third Day Sisters to pray over.


The card that will accompany these shawls to my children reads: "This Prayer Shawl was handmade and prayed over by your mother, Susan Errett Joyce, in 2010.
It represents tangible evidence of my prayer and love for you, my child. I ask my Lord Jesus for you to receive His healing, His love, and His hope. As you wrap yourself in this shawl, may you find His comfort as it represents His arms around you.Jeremiah 31:16-17 - Psalma 33:11 - Proverbs 22:6"



My second shawl, which is a solid burgandy red, is being made for my 1st daughter, Suzette. I started it two weeks ago and am more than 1/2 way finished.



Thank you for letting me share this wonderful Ministry with you. How many of you have similar ministries in your congregations? I would love to hear comments on your thoughts about this.




HAVE A BLESSED SABBATH


post signature

Monday, May 10, 2010

MOTHER'S DAY

This Mother's Day began with a wonderful study in Small Group about references in The WORD about times when God moves "Suddenly." Then in church service, Jeanne, who is one of our husband & wife teams for King's Kitchen, did a wonderful one person skit as Sadie Mae, a Minnie Pearl type character, that was just outstanding!!! Jeanne you work!!! Then our Pastor's wife, Paula, gave a teached on "A Remarkable Woman", about the Shulimite woman. Such a wonderful morning in The Lord's House with our Church family.
My children are wonderful and never cease to show their love for me in many, many ways. Mothers Day is certainly no exception.
Mine actually began on Saturday with not one, but two, phone calls from #1 son, David, in California. He, also, sent me a very generous check for Mother's Day.
This year, #1 daughter and son-in-love, Suzette & Dave, were absent as they flew off for their annual Florida trip with friends on Saturday. I had already received a very sweet card from Suzette with a manicure/pedicure and lunch date when she returns. Such fun to extend the joy!!
#1 granddaughter, Jessica, was also absent this year as she was doing a "girl's cruise" with 3 of her girl friends to the Brahmans.
Since it was so few of us actually "present" this year, #2 daughter, Jacque, who usually hosts Mother's Day, asked if I'd like her to prepare our meal or take us out to dinner instead. We opted for the dinner out. Easier and more fun for her.
Here I am, after church, and just prior to meeting the family at Abuelo's at 1:30. Abuelo's is one of my favorite Mexican eateries and Marc suggested they take me there.
My family knows how much I love cards and here are the 5 I received (left to right) from Jacque, Marc, Suzette, Aric & Oksana.


This wall plaque from Marc so expresses my thoughts on life and my love of words: Live Simply. Love Generously. Care Deeply. Speak Kindly.....and leave the rest to GOD. This plaque will be hung on our "family picture wall" in the entry hall.

Jacque gave me this lovely ring shaped like a flower with a clear center, and green pedals. I'll have to get a better picture of just the ring later. It is lovely!!!!

Granddaughter Oksana made me this 2 string key chain.

Three generations: Grandmother Susan, granddaughter Oksana (niece to Jacque) , & daughter Jacque.

Our newly weds: #2 son, Marc, and new daughter-in-love, Deann.


Benny & Grandson Aric.


A special surprise was these lovely T-shirts presented to all three of us mothers: Deann, Jacque & I, along with 2 gift certificates apiece for buy one get one free items, one from May 10-June 6, and one from June 7-July 4th. These items were gifts from Abuelo's. What a special, nice surprise and treat.
Deann had to leave early to go pick-up her three sons from their dads. Marc, Oksana & Aric came over to the house and Marc worked some more on my computer, and computer issues!!! Are these EVER going to end?!!!!
We went to Sunday evening services put on by the Woman's Ministry that were totally awesome. These gals all did such a great job.
I ended this great Mother's Day with a third phone call from #1 son, Dave. I think he was missing his mother this mother's day. How sweet is that?!!!! Well, he was missing his entire family. Wish you could have been here, David.

post signature

Sunday, May 9, 2010

My Mother

On this Mothers' Day 2010 I am reposting a blog I did about my mother on April 14, 2007 just a few months after beginning this Penless Writer blog. I am so thankful for my mother and the upbringing she gave me and the many things she taught me. If you still have your mother with you today Honor her that you may have long life, as The Word tells us.

************

This 1925 picture is of 5 generations. My mother, her daughter, Marion, her father, A.T. Dickey, her grandfather, and her great-grandmother.



This is a tribute to my lovely Mother, Pauline Dickey Banta Errett. I'm not exactly sure what age she was in this picture but you can see she was quite young and very beautiful.

I am one of those fortunate people who was blessed with wonderful parents. I have written about being a daddy's girl, and that I was, but I also loved my mother dearly.


My mother was born July 2, 1906 in Belgrade, MO., the eldest of seven children of Arthur Theodore & Mable Dickey. She had 4 younger sisters, and 2 younger brother.
At the age of 17 1/2, on December 22, 1923, she married Cyrus N. Banta. Her first child, my sister Marion, was born on July 13, 1925, just 9 days after her 19th birthday.

I don't know the exact date, but my mother became a very young widow raising a young daughter during the years of the Great Depression. I do know that she worked, and traveled, as a Nannie for a very wealthy family from St. Louis, MO. My mother never talked much about it, but one of my aunts told me how much my mother helped them by being in a position to supply them with food and some money during that time.

My mother married my father, Henry Harrison (H.H.) Errett, on September 19, 1935. He would be 50 years old 4 days later on September 23rd, she was 29 years old, and my sister, Marion, was 10 years old. I came into the story 2 years later on December 25, 1937.

My mother had "spunk"!! One of the tales they tell about her was during those 2 years before my birth they were living in Brownsville, TX. My father had purchased a small rental unit. One of the units was occupied by a man who "hit the bottle" (nice way for saying was a drunkard) and had not paid his rent for several months. My father was unsuccessful, no matter what he said, to extract the rental payments from this man. The day my parents were packing up to leave to move to New Mexico they were loading things onto a trailer. My father had an old rusty gun (my mother says there was no way it would have fired) laying there. My mother picked up the gun, to place it in the trailer. She said this "bottle hitter" was standing there watching them and it made her so angry she whirled around to "give him a piece of her mind since they were leaving anyway". Apparently when she whirled around the gun pointed at him and he immediately said, "Okay, okay here's your money!" and promptly paid the entire amount he owed them. I guess he was afraid this 31 year old woman was going to shoot him!!!!

In 1950, my parents had an order in with GM for a new Chevrolet. After the war it was difficult getting a new car. They had waited several months with no results but were seeing other people in Santa Fe, who had placed their orders after my parents, getting their new Chevy. My mother was getting very upset about this and proceeded to write the President of GM complaining and pointing out the apparent "favoritism" being played to those with more money. Sort of hinting that maybe some money was changing hands under the table? We had our brand new 1950 Bel Air Chevy that very week. Boy was it nice, pretty and fancy! Like I say, she was a woman of "spunk".

She was a woman of great GRACE and STYLE. She loved shoes and matching purses and had LOTS of them. She always had shoes & purse in the color to match what ever outfit she was wearing. Because she had only one pair of shoes as a kid she always wanted to have a bunch of them. She did!! She ALWAYS looked nice. Clear up until her death she would daily dress neatly, style her hair and put on a little make-up and lipstick. You could have dropped in on her at any minute of the day and she would have looked nice enough to go out anywhere with you, or welcome any guest to her home.

She was a very INDUSTRIOUS and GENEROUS woman. She kept an immaculate HOME (not a house) and would whip up a wonderful meal for you on the spot, if you dropped in unexpectedly, from just what was on her shelves. She always had dinner waiting for my father and I when we'd come in each evening from school and work. She made a lot of my sister and my clothes, although there was always the BIG, once a year, shopping trip to Albuquerque to buy new school clothes. She made several dresses for my forever friend, Joan. For Christmas one year she made Marion and I each 3 authentic matching squaw dresses.

She was a woman of INTEGRITY. I remember occasions, when a sales clerk had given her too much change. As soon as she realized it she would load me up and we would go back to return the money. She was a woman of her WORD and you could always count on her keeping her promises and doing what she had committed to.

She was a woman who stayed INTERESTED in life and what was going on. She was an avid cross-word puzzle worker. She could talk baseball and football with the best of them and watched many of the games. She was a good and faithful friend. I could go on and on about her many qualities.

One of the things I admire the most about her is, after living in Santa Fe for over 35 years, after my father died she was willing to pull up stakes, sell her home, leave her beloved Church, leave all her friends and move to Tulsa, OK to be near us. She then proceeded to become just as involved and interested here. Became a very central figure in our lives and family, made new friends, joined her Church and lived happy fulfilling years.

In 1982, as her health was starting to fail, my wonderful husband converted our 2 car garage into a separate apartment for her. She had a living room with bay window and it's own private entrance, a small kitchenette, a large bedroom with walk-in closet and a full bath. It also had an entrance directly into our house. It was a perfect living arrangement where we each had our privacy but yet she was a very integral part of our lives and family. In March of 1985, as her health was really failing, she wanted to return to New Mexico. We rented our Tulsa home and moved her, us and our 14 year old son, Marc (the other 3 older kids were grown) to Albuquerque. My sister proceeded her in death by 5 months and 6 days. My mother grieved terribly over that. She died on May 27, 1986 just 45 days before her 80th birthday.

My mother was a very strict disciplinarian. At times growing up I felt she was too strict and harsh on me. It was not until I became an adult that I realized a great deal of this was to offset my father's tendency to spoil and over indulge me. She loved me enough to not allow me to grow up a spoiled brat!!

I am who I am today because of my wonderful parents.

I am SOOO thankful for all they taught me and I miss them.

This I know, We will all be united some day!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

TEACHING FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION

One of the joys of being a grand parent is the opportunity to help train our 2nd generation.


This Spring we decided it would be a good opportunity to have Aric begin to help Grand Dad with some mowing. Since we have a very big back yard, and since we have two bee hives in the back we decided to talk to Aric about mowing the front and being paid $5 a week to do so. He was thrilled!!! Last week was his first week and he did a very good job, with Grand Dad showing him how to follow the tire wheel marks and mow in straight, neat lines.


On Tuesday Mickey decided to go ahead and mow the front yard himself as he wanted to get some We*ed & Fe*ed on it early Wednesday morning as they were predicting rain beginning on Friday and the week-end.


About a week ago we had dug up all the daffodil bulbs out of one flower bed in the front yard. We ended up with 100's of bulbs!!! I couldn't believe how they had multiplied. We gave lots of them away to several people who wanted them and still had about 80 of them left to plant in the back yard. We decided that would be a good job for Aric to do and earn his $5.


Aric & Grand Dad planting the daffodil bulbs in the back yard.

Working hard and doing a very good job with that shovel.


We also instructed Aric, before we made the deal for the $5 pay he would earn, that he was to give 10% for his tithe and put 10% in his little savings account that we are building up for him and the remaining $4 was entirely and completely his to spend as he choose.


************


Another teaching opportunity we used recently, and is working really well, is I made up $5 gift certificates for the local Doughnut Shop that Aric loves to visit when visiting us. We gave these to him as part of his 11th Birthday gifts on February 4th.


The purpose of these gift certificates were to teach him about handling money. Each time we go to the doughnut shop he takes one of his certificates and subtracts the amount of his purchase from the $5. This way he sees how much he has spent and how much he still has remaining on that certificate.
The certificate at the top shows how they look. The one on the bottom shows where he added 57 cents balance from his previously used certificate to this one. Then to the left you can see where he deducted his $2.20 charge leaving him a balance of $3.37 that is still available to him on this certificate. Of course this is being used solely as a teaching tool and Grandpa & Grandma buy the doughnuts!!!!


Just a couple of little things we are using to teach not only work, but responsibility. I would love for you to share any ideas that you have used.


Whatsoever your hands findeth to do, do it as unto the Lord.


post signature

Friday, May 7, 2010

SHOW & TELL #2 - Grandfather Clock

This is my 2nd time to participate in Show & Tell Friday this year. Hard to believe it is already May 7th!!! My Romantic Home hosts this fun event. I hope you will go there and see all the other wonderful items that others have chosen to Show & Tell today.

This grandfather clock was given to me by my sweet husband as a Mother's Day gift 33 years ago in 1977.
Although it had set in our entry hall here in Coweta since reestablishing ourselves here in 2005, after our travels around these great United States & Canada, the chiming mechanism was not working.


About 6 weeks ago Mickey took it in to the clock repair "hospital" and so on this Mother's Day, 2010, this beloved clock is now residing in the corner of our living room and chiming out it's beautiful sound every quarter hour and then marking each hour of the day. Nothing like the beautiful sound of chimes and bells.

Thank you honey for this lovely Mothers' Day Gift 2010.
What a wonderful heirloom to someday pass on to our family. Just like our marriage of 51+ years, this clock has weathered the moves, the changes, the adjustments, the good and the bad and is alive and well and still making beautiful music. May it ever be so. I love you!!!!!

post signature