THE TRIP TO CELEBRATE #4 - The BIG 50

Mr. & Mrs. Mickey Joyce - October 4, 1958

Mr. & Mrs. Mickey Joyce - October 4, 2008

The First Baptist Church, 123 S. Beaver Street, Flagstaff, Arizona

Built in 1939 and Listed In The National Register 12/31/1991

Designed by Orville Bell in Late Gothic Revival Architectural Style.

The Church has stood for 69 years and is still an active Church.

Our Marriage has stood for 50 years and we are more in love today that ever.

"For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. " Matthew 19: 5 & 6

Top pictures taken at the Meteor Crater, Arizona during our honeymoon, 1958.

The bottom pictures taken at Meteor Rest Stop on our way to Flagstaff, 2008.

More of our wonderful day of celebrating and remembering tomorrow.

THE TRIP TO CELEBRATE #3 - Meeting Brenda

Meet my 6th Real Life Blog Friend.

Soon after Mickey told me of his plans for us to go to Flagstaff & Grand Canyon to celebrate our 50th I discovered Brenda, It's All Good, lived in Flagstaff. I contacted her by e-mail and she graciously said she'd clear both Friday & Saturday, October 3rd & 4th, to meet with us when we called.

After getting checked into our Motel, on Friday, I called her and we made arrangements to meet at The Cr*ack*er Bar*rel, which was near our motel in one hour. I was on Mountain Daylight Savings time and would have gotten there at the wrong time had she not informed me Arizona was NOT on Daylight time. I was totally confused with the time the entire time we were in Flagstaff!!!

It was such a delight to meet not only Brenda, but her husband, Sunny, and youngest daughter, 7 year old , Grace Marie. All were a pure delight. Brenda is a new read of mine and someone I didn't know as well as other blog friends but when we are part of God's family there is that "instant" connection and that's the way it was with the four of us :o)

We talked and talked and talked as the four of us ate peach cobbler with ice cream and Grace had ice cream with whipped cream. It always amazes me how very close we all are when it is centered around our Lord and Savior Jesus. We had met them at 2:30 and at 4:30 we parted company. The really wonderful thing is that they come to Tulsa, from time to time, for conferences of a ministry here. We are already looking forward to getting to host them here on our "turf" in the future!!!!!

Brenda blessed me with this lovely basket filled with goodies. A sweet card, a large brown hanging leaf with a welcome sign, a small green leave that reads "Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye", another leaf & acorn with two tiny bells, and an Autumn Spice Candle. Thank you so much, Brenda.

Brenda may have been a new read when we met, but she, and Sunny, are now dearly cherished blog friends . I trust you will go and meet her.

THE TRIP TO CELEBRATE #2 - Meeting Kitty

Once I knew we were going to be spending 3 days in Albuquerque I contacted Kitty, At Home With Kitty. We were both so excited as we made our plans to meet for a GOOD Mexican meal at Padilla's. As it turned out, it was the only authentic Mexican meal I got to enjoy on this entire trip. Believe me, that was not how I had planned it to be.

Kitty, is my 4th Blog Friend to meet in real life. What a sweetheart and pure joy. She is everything I knew her to be........especially a #1 mom!

Because her daughter, Katie, was out of school that day I had the unexpected joy of meeting her, which made my 5th Blog Friend. Katie has her own blog, The Young Artist, and quite the young artist she is. She was as delightful as her mother, and such a wonderful young teenager and daughter. We also had the pleasure of Jamey, Kitty's 19 month old son. He was a real cutie, but a little shy with me at the restaurant.

My forever friend, Joan, accompanied me and was delighted to meet Kitty, Katie & Jamey. This gave her a little taste of why I love blogging so much. The 4 of us talked non-stop and it was such a fun time.

We wanted to meet Kitty's other children so at 4 Mickey & I drove over to Kitty's place as the other 3 children came in from school.

The Miss Kitty gang: Katie, Jamey, Kitty, Marc, Frances & John

The kids came right in and started on their homework, without having to be told!! All of them are delightful, polite and very self confident. John played his violin for us and is excited about going to be in a school program soon. The violin had belonged to his mom. Kitty. You held out on us not telling us you played the violin!! Katie showed us her art work and played the guitar for us. We "purchased" one of Katie's sketches and made her sign it for us. Frances is adorable and precious. She took the picture of the rest of us below. Even Jamey warmed up to us now that he was in the comfort of his own domain!!!

A picture is worth a thousand words and I think you can tell by our faces just the special time this was for us.

Keep Kitty and these precious 5 children in your prayers.

Hope to see you ALL again some time.

(click to enlarge)
Kitty presented us with these special gifts: a lovely Anniversary card signed by the entire family, a wonderful orange & cranberry candle and the cross with I Corinthians 13 description of "Love". Note the two tiny gold rings in the center and the 50 at the bottom.

A grand meeting with a wonderful person, a wonderful family and "2 for 1" Blog Friends. One of the special things about Kitty is she is one of the "Pray-ers" on The Hearts In One Accord 24/7 Prayer Blog and I know she, and these 4 young kids, were praying for our trip & Mickey's surgery.
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Tomorrow - meeting ANOTHER (#6) Blog Friend!!!!!!

THE TRIP TO CELEBRATE

Several weeks before our up coming 50th Anniversary Mickey surprised me saying he wanted us to go to Flaggstaff, Arizona, where we were married, and Grand Canyon, where we spent our wedding night. I, naturally, was very excited about this and we began making plans.

One of the first things that came to my mind was I wanted to visit as many of our friends as we could along the way. Mickey was most agreeable to that idea so we began to contact people and lay out our plans.

We left on Tuesday, September 30th at 6 a.m. and drove straight through to Albuquerque, NM where my forever friend, Joan, and her husband, Jim, live. Joan & I became friends in the 2nd grade and have been through it ALL together. She truly is more like a sister than a friend. You can go here to read more about Joan and our friendship. I am almost as proud of my 64 year friendship as I am with my 50 year marriage!!!! Both are rare things in today's world.

Here we are leaving our home. I drove every mile of this trip. As it turned out, it is a good thing I was prepared to do so..

We arrived at Joan's at 4:30 MT after our 9 1/2 hour trip. Here is a front shot of their lovely, very authentic Southwest style home. Joan was working that day so we waited on the back patio until she arrived. Here are these two friends greeting each other.

Naturally, after that long road trip we just hung out and went to bed early.

This picture is taken at a lovely restaurant, Yanni's. Joan & Jim treated us to a wonderful dinner to celebrate on October 1st, our 2nd day in Albuquerque.

This is one of the exciting things I had set up (in advance) and looked so forward to. Meeting a Blog Friend!!!!! This makes my 4th & 5th Blog Friend to meet and what a treat. Turn in tomorrow and I'll tell you ALL ABOUT IT.

"Update #2"

Just a short update to let you know we are home!!!!!! :o) Mickey had the surgery Thursday (10-9) morning (8:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. - 3 hours) and he was released from the hospital this morning (10-13) at 10:30. That is 1 hour short of 96 hours, or 4 days. It took us 2 hours to drive the 130+ miles home and we arrived by 12:30.

All the Doctors and nurses said he did better than most patients 20-30 years younger!!! We know who get's the credit.....our wonderful Lord & Savior....first and then Mickey because he had such a positive attitude and was so co-operative to do anything and everything they asked or wanted him to do. He literally was doing little leg and chest lifts the 2nd day!!!!

Naturally, we are tired, worn out and just plain exhausted. It's been a whirlwind 14 days since we left September 30th on our "celebration". I have LOTS to share and I will be doing so in the coming days.

Mostly, thank you for all your prayer support and the wonderful comments. It blessed out heart to come in today and read them. We both had "peace that passeth understanding" even in the worst moments and we KNEW we were being upheld by the prayers of many around the world.

A special "thanks" to Leigh Ann for posting the update for me. I had set this up with her before we left on our trip, long before I knew just how much we were going to be dealing with. Another special "thanks" to Retha for caring enough to call me from South Africa right after the surgery. You blessed my socks off Retha. What a wonderful, kind thing to do.

We are the most blessed 50 years and 9 days married couple in the world!!! We are throughly convinced of that. The love that has been bestowed on us is overwhelming. We appreciate each and every one of you, and especially your prayers for us.

**Update**

Hello! It's Leigh Ann here. I just had a wonderful (but much too short) talk with Susan on the phone. She's asked me to update each of you on Mickey.

Mickey had his surgery yesterday (Thursday) and it went very, very well. He has already been eating some lunch as well as sitting up!!!

Susan sounded in wonderful spirits and they are both very thankful for how our Lord orchestrated the events that led up to this earlier than previously scheduled surgery. He was certainly with them on their drive back home and with Marc being able to help drive.

Susan feels so also very appreciative for the support of family and friends. She told me their dear friends, Don and Barbara, spent one evening with them, their pastor was able to visit and they had their two daughters, two grandchildren and one son with them as well.

She was very excited to also tell me that while in the hospital, she received a call from Retha in Africa. Oh Retha - how you blessed dear Susan with that call!!!

I know she is thankful for each of you and your prayers!

I am sure she will be eager to get back and provide you with a better update.


On behalf of Mickey and Susan,
Leigh Ann (Momma Roar)

THE CURRENT - THE TRIP - THE GOOD - THE BAD

We are home for less than 24 hours and Mickey's double bi-pass heart surgery has been moved up to October 9th at 6 a.m. (tomorrow) Please pray for him and this surgery which is to last 4-6 hours.

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A brief recap

As you know Mickey and I left on September 30th to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary on October 4th. We headed to Flagstaff, Arizona where we were married and Grand Canyon where we spent our wedding night.

We drove the first day to Albuquerque to visit my forever friend, Joan & her husband, Jim for 3 days. I had set up a luncheon meeting with Kitty, At Home With Kitty. You can read about it on her blog. I will post my side when all this is over.

On Friday, October 3rd, we drove to Flagstaff, Arizona where we had married 50 years ago. I had contacted Brenda, It's All Good, to meet with her. You can read about this meeting on her blog. I will post my side when all this is over.

On Saturday, October 4th, we had spent the day celebrating our 50th at the very place where it all began in 1958. We had a wonderful day. I will post all about this later.

Then we went to Grand Canyon where we had spent our wedding night.

I had to take Mickey to the emergency ward at Flagstaff hospital about 9 p.m. that night. We had our choice to stay and have the bi-pass done in Flagstaff or get him home for the scheduled 10-16 surgery in Oklahoma City. Neither of us wanted to be isolated in Flagstaff alone so we opted to make the journey home. He was released from the hospital at 1:55 on Sunday, 10-5, and we began the 1000 mile trip home.

I drove until 7:30 p.m. when we stopped at Grants, New Mexico for the night. Mickey had said he was feeling okay during this 5 1/2 hour drive. We checked into the motel and almost immediately, when he tried to lay down, he began having trouble again and I took him to the emergency at Cibola Hospital. They then moved him into ICU and watched him all night.

Our wonderful son, Marc, made arrangements to fly into Albuquerque, and was to arrive at 1:00 p.m. (10-6) and either I was to be there to pick him up, or he would rent-a-car and drive to Grants. The hospital decided he was stable enough for us to make the 85 mile trip to Albuquerque and released him at 11:30. I pulled up at the Albuquerque airport at 12:59......his plane was on time......and Marc was behind the drivers seat, with Mickey still in the passenger seat, and me safe and very relieved in the back seat at 1:09 and we began the L-O-N-G drive home.

Mickey seemed to do better as we got out of the high altitudes of 7000' - 6000' - & 5000'. We reached Oklahoma City and checked into a motel at 10:40 p.m. We had planned to drive to the VA Hospital in OKC but Mickey was feeling so much better and he did not want to do that. Marc & I decided we would check into the motel and take him to the hospital the next morning.

At 9 a.m. yesterday, 10-7, we took him to the VA Hospital. They moved the surgery to Thursday, 10-9, at 6 a.m. They did all the necessary pre-opt tests and let us come back to Tulsa. He had a very good night of rest and comfort in his own bed, in his own home.

We are heading back to OKC today around 2 and check into the motel. He will have the surgery in the morning at 6 a.m. Marc, Oksana, Aric, Suzette & Jacque will all come and join us in OKC this evening at the motel around 6. One of them will be staying with me at all times. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is for Mickey & I to have the great children we have, and especially our son, Marc, who always seems to come to our aid. Remember the story here when he showed up, just in time!!!

I know this is rambling and disconnected but I've tried to give you a run-down of our past 4 horrendous days and mostly ask that all my wonderful friends, who are prayer warriors and believers as we are, to pray. I will get word out as soon as possible when the surgery is complete.

We know who's we are.

We know who holds us in the palm of His hand.

We know in whom we put our trust and our faith.

JESUS our LORD & Savior.