Our Peaceful Christmas Day

Here is how Ken and I spent our very quiet and peaceful Christmas Day. Celebration with family was done. And we were snowed in. We slept when we wanted, got up, Ken played with Babe as much as he wanted.
1. Icicle 2 or 3 feet long at Kitchen Window
2. Sweet burning Candles
3. Playful puppy now 4 months old
4. Beautiful view of snow
5. New soft jammys from Joel and Jen
6. Car stuck in driveway going no where
7. Angel doll to remind us of Sommer
8. Neighbors visited (Rachel)
9. Warm fireplace
10. Pepper lights on our tree
11. Beautiful Red Bird
12. Lite tree on stairway landing

I was scheduled to work at the Call Center but I could not get into the uncleared parking lot, so I stayed in all day -- actually stayed in two days. It was nice .... do what want ... eat when want ... listen to Christmas music all day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS, THIS IS YOUR DAY!

The Scharpf Family Minister Blessing to the Papa and Nana

So we were snowed in for Christmas.
I was scheduled to work but could not get there.
So two days after Christmas, the entire Scharpf family came over to shovel out our driveway and sidewalk.   It was a very very big job and we are very grateful.




Thank you to Dave, April, Elijah for doing such hard work for us.  You saved our lives and our backs while stretching yours.    And thanks to the girls who offered moral support to the effort.

You were a blessing to us!  We Love YOU.

Thanks Again!

From Our House to Yours

Christmas Eve was a great day ... a lazy day for me and I loved it. We met April, Dave, Elijah, lily, Rosie, Kevin, Bonita, Devin and Hailey at our Church "Christmas with Family" Service. It had started sleeting at 3:00 PM (Kayla's family were not able to make it.) The service was wonderful and when we exited, we had snow. We were all invited to the Scharpf home for a Christmas Eve Supper. Yummy food and lots of fun playing games: pictionary, charades, bingo. Because of the weather, we decided we had better all get home. OH MY, DID WE HAVE TROUBLE GETTING OUT! We were beginning to wonder if we were going to have to sleep on Aprils floor. But after, much pushing, shoveling, digging, kitty litter and more pushing and pushing, they got us out and we arrive safely home. Kevin and Bonita's car handled the snow better than ours did and they made it home safely as well. We are all happy to be in our warm safe houses. It is a great Christmas! Thank you God, for sending your Son into our world so that we can have Peace on Earth and Good Will. We love our life because your are the Lord of us. 

Our Family At Christmas Time

We have managed to get together with all of our children over the Christmas and Thanksgiving season ---- except for Joel, Jennifer, Sydney and Blakely. Somehow, we have got to figure out a time and a date to spend some time with our precious Texas Children. We did Thanksgiving with Sommer and her family. Then Took the Tulsa children to Branson on the 11th - 13th. And last night, we took Jenny Lynn and her family to The Christmas Train at Dry Gulch, USA. Our presents have been distributed. And The Dallas kids will be getting their little goodie package in the mail with hopes of seeing them very soon. Then Ken and I are planning to have a very quiet Christmas together -- I am even working on Christmas Day at the Call Center. That will be a new experience.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR LOVED ONES!

A Son Who Never Gives Up

Joel ran a 26.2 Marathon today with no one there cheering him on.   Everyone who trained with him, got injured.              He said he ran it in 3 hours 55 minutes -- the winner from Kenya who ran (barefoot?) finished in 2 hours.     He reports that the first 20 miles he felt great.  Then, at mile 23 he  what runners call  "hit the wall' and thought he was going to die.   "I wanted to quit so bad but I knew I would not quit."   somewhere around mile 25 he recovered and finished the race.  For the next four hours he was so sick, it felt like food poisening.       What a fighter you are, Joel!   That bulldog determination has to come from God.

Ever Attended A Baby Dedication On Line?

Well, it does not work too great but it was better than nothing. Blakely O'Neal Scrivner, 7 months old, had her formal dedication this Morning. We were not there but thought we could view it on line streaming. We had the camera ready to shoot at the computer screen. How crazy are some grandparents! We saw her photo on the screen as they announced her name, heard the participants cheering for Blakely but we never saw her. Ken took a couple shots of a blonde thinking it was Mommie Jennifer. But it was not her and the baby was not Blakely.

Now I'm told they were directly in the center in front of Pastor Hayes. Maybe that is why we did not get a camera angle -- the camera's must have been shooting from the sides so that we could see other babies but find Blakely (not Waldo) in the fuzzy pictures when we shot at the Monitor.

Our hearts and spirits were there with you Blakely. And we do promise to be a vital part in your training for God. God bless Blakely!

Click on photo to blow up and try to find Blakely, Joel, Jennifer, Sydney and possible Diana and Charlie.

Traveling Home

Tonight Ken and I are at Comfort Suites in Jackson TN.  We will be home tomorrow.  Of course there  will be a lot to tell once I have my photos loaded.  The trip has been so much fun and yet it is always great to be home.

The 2009 National Gingerbread House Competition Display

We visited the Grove Park Inn Resort to view the Gingerbread House Competition display.

Thanksgiving Dinner at the Colliers

Jennifer and Kirk Hickey joined us at the Collier Home with their two girls, Megan and Allison. Here are the little 2nd cousins sharing their table.

My Cactus Thinks It's Christmas

Remembering O'Neal

It's been almost 7 years since November 19, 2002. That's the day I don't enjoy remembering, yet I'm not panicking over the tight throat or the tears when I do remember.  It's the day O'Neal McKenzie Scrivner chose Heaven over this earth.  She was 19 months old at the time.  What does one do when the doctors say it is a malignant tumor and they have done all they can do.  They send hospice out to prepare the family for death.   But this family believes in miracles, believes that with God ALL things are possible.  This family believes that if you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains.  Reports were coming in from all over the USA of believers praying and believing for O'Neal's miracle.  

I had gone to Dallas to help Joel and Jennifer during this time.   That morning, I offered to stay with O'Neal so that they could go to church together.

I placed O'Neal on the bed and laid down beside her to sing to her.  She had been making a few little humming sounds and I asked her if she was singing with the angels.  I never expected that she really might be doing just that.  --- And then, the next time I went to kiss her, she was cool and I think not breathing.  I started doing baby CPR while trying to call Joel and Jen on the phone.     They rushed home but O'Neal was gone.   The shock, the unbelief, the inability to know what to do next, Suzanna and I continued to give CPR for another hour --- how do you know it is OK to stop?  How can you know what to do when this is not suppose to happen to our baby?

The worse moment was when the funeral home people came to pick her up.  The man stood there with his arms outstretched and a blanket on them saying, "place her in my arms when you are ready" and he promised to hold her all the way and then just stood there waiting for Jennifer to give her up.  It hurts so bad to see your children hurting.    The devastation for a new Mommie and Daddy.   The confusion of knowing God was able to do the miracle but accepting that GOD's All Knowing Wisdom is so far above our understanding..... He had a different plan in mind..  His ultimate plan was greater than our wants.

I don't know how Joel and Jennifer dealt with it in the months to come. It required a lot of strength from God, and of course, there was nothing easy about it.  But for me .... well, my VW Bug became my alter of tears.  And I also think that is when I started playing with photography and playing with pictures on the computer.  It became my coping therapy.

After the funeral, when I came home, the main interpreting job that was available for me was at a Mental Health Facility about an hour and twenty minute drive from home.  Every morning I would get in the car and cry for one hour and twenty minutes.  There was a little store just down the street from the job site.  I would pull in, go in the restroom and wash my face, look in the mirror and smile and then go to my job.  It was a job-site of total depravity, desperation and filty beyond description.  The two clints I was assigned to work with were severely mentally ill.  One was extremely violent with minimal language whose communication consisted of yelling, hitting and pooping in his pants.  Here I was, sent to interpret for him when he had not communicated using sign language for years.  I learned to work through grief  by determining that I was going to find a way to get him to look at me so communication could happen. I put all my energy into a terrible situation and accepted the challenge to make communication better for another person.   So, each day I spent 6 hours working,  And when it was time to go home, I climbed into the Bug, surrendered my smile and cried all the way home.   I'm not sure, but I am thinking that job lasted for another 8 months or so.  And along with the communication work was the laborious work of getting through my own stages of loss.  Being willing to write this in my blog is still another step of dealing.

So, here we are today,  seven years later, seven is a good number and life is good!  Joel and Jennifer have two more adorable little girls, Sydney and Blakely -- precious gifts from God.    I still cry in the car sometimes, and I'm still playing with pictures, and now I'm learning how to blog.    Yes, life is a process.

O'Neal, we loved you and still  miss you, but we will spend eternity with you when our work on earth has ended.  And we who knew you and loved  you and fought cancer with you, have become greater because of you. 

Sommer Sent Pictures ... I Love You Sommer Joy!

Joel and Jen with Sydney and Blakely visited the Colliers in Asheville around Halloween. Sommer sent some photos of a family outing.  We will have to get more information of where they went.  Also the pile of leaves is in the Collier back yard.   To better see the photos, you can click to enlarge.

"A Faithful Friend Is A Sturdy Shelter; He Who Finds One Finds A Treasure"

There is a proverb that says "A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away."

I first met Terri York a number of years ago when she was a shy young lady taking her first American Sign Language Classes as TCC.  At the same time she was interpreting in the public school system for a little deaf boy.  Terri was insecure about herself and doubtful regarding her skills.  Back then, she would leave the classroom saying that she just knew I did not like her.  When in fact, I believe I loved her from the first meeting.   Before our paths parted for a while, Terri cros-stitched a sweatshirt for me with the sign of Jesus on it.  I still cherish that sweatshirt to this day.  And, the Terri I know today is a bold, on fire, woman of God, working at ORU and standing up for everything she believes.  At the same time, she hangs drywall, paints, builds cabinets, shelves or whatever needs to be done to upgrade her home.

Terri tremendously impacted my life about five years ago when she calmly phoned me to ask me if I could cover an interpreting assignment for her --- her husband had just died. He collapsed at her feet in the yard and was gone.   I know she had to have been in shock, but she was so calm.  I did not see her much in the following year and while I'm sure she went through all the normal stages of loss,  grief  with denial, anger, bargaining, etc. she came out victorious.  She later took an interpreting assignment in Broken Arrow.  The contact I had  with Terri was amazing.  She did then and still does today constantly express how much she loves her life.  Terri has the ability through the strength of the Holy Spirit to bounce back.  When Terri began visiting COTM,  I met her great friend, Patti who now has a little home in Terri's back yard. 
I have a sneaky suspicion that Patti and Terri are the kind of friends that demonstrate "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up."  Patti was there by Terri's side through all of the grieving process. 

Well having said all this, Terri just completed phase 1 of her remodeling home project.  So, she invited Ken and me along with Jimmy and Janie Schwyhart over for Bar-B-Q ribs and Apple Dumplings. 

I have to insert that Janie is another model of friendship.  For a season several years ago, Janie would come to my home with another friend for a time of soul searaching and prayer.  That season in our lives ended but the friendship is forever.  Remember the song:  "Friends are friends forever, if the Lord is the Lord of them."     Janie demonstrates that kind of friendship.  We rarely see each other, but I know she is there.   

So here is the secret: there is a problem which hides within myself .... I'm a recluse,  I have to make myself get out and do friend type stuff.  I have to make myself be hospitible. I have to conscientiously challenge myself to be sociable.   I find too much contentment in just my best friend and husband.  And I love doing for my grandchildren.   But I know that in order to be well-rounded, I have to work on maintaing other friendships.  God's Word says FAITHFUL FRIENDS ARE BEYOND PRICE; NO AMOUNT CAN BALANCE THEIR WORTH.  And that word Friends has a plural on it.    I had better get busy!  
So, after the viewing of Terri's creative art work in her remodeling endeavor, and after the sharing of one another's lives during a delicious dinner, this is how the evening ended .... in the hilarity of laughter.   This is what friends can do  for you.    Thanks Terri, thanks Janie, for being my friend.

Thanks for challenging me to be a better friend.  "My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me."  --- Henry Ford    ***  (By the way, what is up there Terri that you are looking at, or is it Papa you are talking to?) 

Click on photos to enlarge. 

This is as Scary as it get for me on Halloween

Happy October 31

What Little Girls Do

If you see us and wonder why we are tired, It's because at a sleep over, little girls do not sleep .... at least not very much.  One little girl got sent home .... she refused the bottle so her mother was called ... you guessed it, Blakely needed what we could not give her ....

Rest In Peace Duke

Born March 18, 2000 and presented to Ken  for Father's day in June. He was a tiny little thing who gave his master hours and years of delight, fun and love.  Dukie was spoiled rotten and at times somewhat lov'nly brainless .  Duke died October 10, 2009 and Pops will miss him.

No more puppies for a while please.

Our Dallas Run over the Weekend

We made a quick trip to Dallas This weekend to see our Texas children.  Look at this 5 1/2 month old, 17 1/2 pound bundle of joy, Blakely.  You can not believe how many kisses she gets in a day.  First there are Mommy kisses and then Daddy kisses.   The third photo is Papa waiting on Sunday morning to go to church.  He and the girls are ready to go so they sit in the livingroom and laugh and tease.   You can see that we took Lily and Rosie with us.    We love visiting Covenant Church in Carrollton Texas.  Their praise and worship is so uplifting.   Of course the teaching is wonderful as well.         The grandkids blog will tell the children's  story.   And look at our beautiful Scrivner family at their front door telling us good by.    We love those kids and don't get to see them nearly enough.

My Sweetie

My Sweetie brought me pink roses the other day for no 'special' reason. Thanks Honey, you are the best friend in the whole wide world.  Can you believe we've had 52 years, 4 months and 4 days together.  Only God knows how many more days are left, but we both persevered to the big seven and one. 

A Fall Outing at Disney on Ice ... opening of Tulsa State Fair

I thought  I was ready to outgrow the Tulsa State Fair at the point I did not have to escort my children to the fair anymore.  I still manage to go for small amounts of time.

And I do enjoy the Ice Show. Ken and I arranged an outing with the Oklahoma Grandkids.   You might guess Ken's favorite was the turquoise finned Chevy in the Cars production.      Lion King is always my favorite. I love the music and the costumes were so creative --- such  fun.    However, I'll have to agree that the ending with Tinkerbell bringing on Spring was pretty spectacular.    For more information you can check out the Grandkid blog  http://grandkidsonly.blogspot.com/   I can not get these pages to lay out properly.  I can not control the text or the picture.  I need a blogging lesson ...... Big time!      Click on the photos to see more clearly.  The one of the flowers is pretty amazing.    Also see where Kayla brought the girls a display of some of her friends which she brought back from her summer vacation at Disney World.  That black cat in Rosie's hand, Kayla had won but gave to Rosie.   Kayla is such a hoot.  You can anlso see April and Susie in the group.