Home Teaching...

Normally, I am not one to complain when people care about me.  However, I had to whine and complain today.  Yesterday, we got an early morning phone call from Brother Bryson.  He and his wife are our home teachers from church.  They are an older couple that like to get out during the daylight hours to visit.  Being a working woman, I would prefer to have them visit one evening during the week so that my weekends are free for housework, errands, etc.  But, we set our appointment time for 4:00 and they came over for a nice visit; leaving around 5:30.  I have to admit, I asked Ron if there were any brethren that didn't do their home teaching, and asked why he couldn't assign them to us.  He just gave me that look and counseled me by saying,  "now don't be like that... the Brysons like coming to see us." So, I quit complaining (eventually) and enjoyed their visit.

However, today I had to complain again.  Ron had an appointment to do his home teaching at 2:00 this afternoon.  He got home around 3:30 and said, "Brother Carter called and wants to know if he can come home teaching today at 4:00."  I just looked at Ron and said, "Are you kidding me?!?!? We were just visited yesterday by the Brysons!" Ron got that confused look on his face that he sometimes gets when he has too many pots on his stove.  Finally, the light went on and he said, "Your right! Brother Carter and Brother Armstrong haven't been our home teachers for months! I'll call him and remind him of that."  What can I say; MEN!!!

Family changes...

For the past few months, Ron has been "retired" again.  He had been working for a company that had a government contract to teach a software program to the soldiers. And, as often happens to contractors, they were underbid when it was time for a new contract.  Ron enjoyed a short hiatus from work, but tomorrow he goes back.  The company that won the new contract offered him a position doing the same thing, so he took it.  While short-lived; I loved having him around so much.

One of the highlights of my week is family dinner.  Ron and I get together with my parents, our children, and the grandkids each Wednesday evening to share a meal and enjoy one another's company.  Sadly, this past week will be the last one that we will share with Ryan for quite a while. He has been waiting for a year now for the petroleum industry to recover in this disastrous economy and begin hiring again. Ryan finally got a position with Quality Logging in Midland, Texas and left on Thursday. While I know this past year has been hard for him, I have loved having him around for a change.  Luckily, Midland is only about a 6 hour drive. Hopefully, we will see him often.

My grandson, Seth, turned 9 today.  It amazes me that he has remained such a sweet, gentle, and loving little boy.  I know that he isn't always perfect, but he sure is close.  It amazes me that simple things bring him such pleasure.  When Becca asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, he just wanted to go out to dinner at his favorite restaurant with the family.  Here are a few pictures I took while we were there.

Seth has never been a big fan of sweets, but he sure loves beans in any form so Mexican food is always a hit with him.  Scott had his National Guard Drill weekend, but his assignment is in Gatesville so he was able to join us for dinner.  

Aunt B gave Sophie her first taste of lemon, and I think she actually liked it. Sophie is growing so fast! She is crawling all over the place, babbling like crazy, and has the cutest little teeth!While Sophie was enjoying the lemon, Maggie chomped down some chips and queso.  Her impish smile always delights me.  She didn't quite understand why Seth didn't have a birthday cake.  What Seth lacks in the sweet tooth area, she more than makes up for it!

As the family continues to grow and changes occur, I am truly thankful for these precious moments of togetherness.

Moving to Temple, again...

About two years ago, Ron and I bought a home in Temple, Texas.  We had to do a lot of painting, stripping of wallpaper, and replacing of floors.  It still has a few things that we need to take care of, but in time we will get it all done.

Now, we are working on a different house.  Leslie and G found a great fixer-upper here in Temple.

The house was being remodeled by an older couple that ended up getting a divorce.  It was sold as-is to avoid foreclosure.  It didn't have any flooring in the family room, entry way, or formal living room.  But, the guys managed to put down laminate flooring in the living room and hope to get the family room done next.
The kitchen was basically an empty shell. However, by law a house can't be sold without a stove or sink so the sellers put those things in.  Leslie has painted the walls, but left the walls white where they hope to some day put cabinets.
They still have a lot of work ahead of them, but I think they will have a wonderful home n which to raise their little family.
The best part is that it is in a wonderful, well established neighborhood only two blocks away from our house.  

New hip...new possibilities!

During my second pregnancy, I started having a lot of trouble with my left hip.  There were times when it would buckle, my range of motions started to decrease, and cold weather really brought out the discomfort.  With each pregnancy, AND advancing age, the hip continued to deteriorate. In 2007, the hip was starting to have an impact on the quality of my life. Around this time, 2 people VERY dear to me (Barbara Becker and my mother, Shirley) were having joints replaced. Brave Barbara had both knees done at one time and Mom had one hip replaced. Both of them said it was the best decision they had ever made.  They encouraged me to not put my own surgery off.  I was mostly concerned that the doctor might say I was too young to consider that route, but when we got back from our last cross country trip, I knew I couldn't put it off any longer.  I went to see my family doctor during the Christmas break.  When I brought the subject up, she said age shouldn't even be considered with deciding on hip replacement. She gave me a referral to an orthopedic surgeon and I saw him yesterday.  Good news is; I will be back to normal by August.  Bad news is, I have to wait until June for surgery. 

GeoCaching...

I love having a day off when the weather is beautiful.  It is a great opportunity to get together with family and visit some of the beautiful parks here in Temple.  While we were out this morning at the Whistle Stop Park, we decided to do some spur of the moment geocaching.  (We are new to this current fad, but have decided we could get hooked rather easily.  I won't bother to explain the process completely, but compare it to modern day treasure hunting.)  Scott happened to have downloaded 4 different caches at neighborhood parks within a 5 mile radius of the house. After grabbing some lunch at Mc Donald's, we headed to Colquit Park and found the first cache.  Scott actually found it hanging in a tree.

The second one was at Lion's Park, hanging on a fence.  I found it before Seth, who happened to have his hand near the container. 

The third cache was the trickiest.  It was a tiny, magnetic cylinder attached to a metal sign near a small bridge that crosses a creek near Lion's Park. Seth was leaning on the sign and saying "I think it's the sign."  Scott finally noticed it tucked neatly inside the gap between the sign and the pole. 

The fourth one was the hardest.  It was supposed to be in a "Majestic Oak Tree" but we couldn't find it anywhere.  Luckily, Becca has a Blackberry and was able to log on to the geocaching site to get some more information.  Once we knew what the cache looked like, and that it had once been found on the ground in the pasture near the tree, we spotted it.  Scott crawled under the fence and snagged our 4th cache.  It was a wonderful afternoon and I look forward to the next adventure.

Getting old... at least parts of me are!

We have had a lot of cold weather lately and that seems to have made the arthritis in my hip flare up.  So, I finally broke down and talked to Dr. Graham about it.  It seems I am my mother's daughter in more ways than one.  It looks like I have a hip replacement looming on the horizon.  I am actually thankful that I have a doctor that believes that quality of life shouldn't be put off just because I am "not old enough" to be considering hip replacement.  She gave me a referral to an orthopedic surgeon and I will be meeting with him on the 27th.  I am sure I will be getting a second opinion regardless of how that appointment goes, because if he agrees with Dr. Graham, I will ask to see Mom's surgeon.  Hopefully, by this time next year I will have a new hip and be a much more limber and pain free person!

2010 Refreshment...

Our lesson in Relief Society helped me look at New Year's Resolutions in a new way. I usually jokingly say the only resolution I have ever kept was the one I made to NEVER make resolutions! But, our teacher helped me see that resolutions shouldn't be viewed as something I will eventually end up not keeping; but rather a way to refresh myself.  She encouraged us to look at 4 areas of our lives: education, social, spiritual and physical, and find ways to refresh those areas to make them richer. By placing the emphasis on refreshing and revitalizing those areas, it changes a resolution from an unattainable NEW goal, into a continuation of your earthly progression.  So, the way I choose to refresh myself in the area of education is to learn something new. Nothing specific, and nothing planned; just to take advantage of experiences I have and gain knowledge from them.  In the area of social, I choose to refresh my free time by spending more of it with friends and family, and less of it consumed with work.  In the area of spiritual, I choose to delve more deeply in scripture study and actively participate in the Gospel Doctrine lessons on the Old Testament.  And finally in the area of physical, I choose to find a good beautician and stop taking chances on whoever is available at JC Penny's salon!