Lonely Birthday

Today is Neal's birthday. I'm a little sad that I can't be with him, but there have been many birthdays (mine AND his) that we've been apart. His family never made a big deal on birthdays, so he's probably not as disappointed as I am. Birthdays are supposed to be "out to dinner" days.

The weekend was busy, which is good for me since those are usually my loneliest days. All day Saturday was spent gathering information for taxes. Jeff was in town and he and Jeremy's family were here for supper Saturday night. Jacob was elated to see Jeff, which in turn made Jeff feel very special. Sunday began with church, then lunch with Jeff at Mazzio's, then a short trip home before heading back to meet my small group for devotional at the Nursing Home, followed by a meal together at Cracker Barrel. Back to the building to get my car and then a visit to St. Francis where a friend is waiting out his father's last hours.

Sorry if today's blog is a little depressing. Maybe I shouldn't have blogged at all, but I know you're all eager to hear about my life! ; )

Back Home

We drove through the night Thursday night and made it safely home at 4:30 Friday morning. The roads were surpisingly clear and dry and our travel time was the same or less than usual. Turning into our neighborhood was another story. The street and our driveway were solid sheets of ice. Which reminds me, I must do the Tim Conway shuffle to our mailbox today (note to self). Of course, yesterday, the icy conditions didn't stop us from making a visit to our grandchildren. Jacob was so excited to see us! And I think Lauren was too, although everyone says that she smiles like that ALL the time. Jacob entertained us on his drums and piano, then played cars with PaPa. When we left, he was sure he was going with us. Maybe next time. I can't write about the grandkids without posting pictures. Enjoy!

Revelation

God spoke to me today. Well, not in the literal sense. During my prayer time this morning, I noticed the temperature in the RV declining. As my body started chilling, I was a little distracted from my petitions to God, and began thinking about those on the streets of Houston, homeless, cold, and hungry. My mind began to wander, which isn't unusual if I'm not praying out loud, and I decided to go get the nice thick fleece blanket off of our bed. The blanket was handmade and given to us by Glenda, the wife of a friend, co-worker and RV neighbor of Neal's. Then I began to pray for those who were still cold. Like a bolt of lightning (almost) the idea crashed into my head that I could make some blankets, just like the one wrapped around me, to give to those on the streets. I could even dispose of all the old pairs of unmatched long johns that lie unused in stuffed drawers (dresser drawers, that is). I think that's what God wants me to do. So that's my new project when, and if, I ever make it back to T-town. Anyone want to help me?

In case you're wondering, the propane tank was nearing empty and with a quick switch of the lever, it warmed up in no time.

Stranded

Oklahoma is experiencing another round of bad weather, i.e. ice, freezing rain, frigid temps. I am in Kemah, TX (South of Houston) and planned to return to Tulsa today. With the menacing forecast, I decided to head home a day early, reaching Tulsa last night, before the storm was to hit today. About an hour and a half into the trip, Jeremy called to warn me that the storm had already arrived in Tulsa, and to be extra cautious. Thirty minutes and a few calls later, he convinced me to turn around and go south. I heeded his warning mostly because it is so rare for him to call me, think of me, or worry about me. It must be bad. (Although with our decision to buy the hunting land out west, he may just be making sure he's still in the will.) So here I am, with too few clean clothes and running out of estrogen patches. The last 2 days here have been lovely...mid to high 70's, sunny to partly cloudy. Today, as I sat outside Starbuck's reading my bargain book from Barnes and Noble, I couldn't help but think about all my friends and loved ones iced in at home. (sigh) But it's not ALL good. The RV resort is packed with snow birds from the north which is very inconvenient for me. They're taking up my parking space. To make things worse, that same storm is forecast to reach here tonight or tomorrow. So.....I'm not sure when I'll be able to travel. I took a load of clothes to the laundromat today, one problem solved. But Texas is really funny about transferring prescriptions across state lines, so I'm doubling up on my Arbonne Prolief!!!! Thank you God for Prolief.

Confession is Good for the Soul

I have already failed to keep my New Year's Resolution. :-( I arrived in Kemah last night just as Neal was getting off work and he said he would stop at a drive-thru and grab supper. Being tired from a 9 hour drive, ready to get off my sore tailbone, I neglected to tell him NOT to get me Diet Coke. Being the attentive husband that he is, and knowing that's what I always order, guess what he got me? Granted, I could have thrown it away and drank water, but my resistance was low and I succumbed to the desire for a cold soft drink. But starting today...does that sound familiar to anyone else?...no more artificial sweetener.

Another confession....Our Wednesday night class has started a 21 day spiritual workout regimen which is really exciting to me. We've all made commitments to what we will and will not do for the first 3 weeks of January, and hope to carry that over into the rest of the year. We have accountability partners to hold us to our commitments and mine is probably reading this blog. (Hi, Janet.) One of my commitments was to only listen to Christian music, no secular music whatsoever. Yesterday was challenging, trying to find Christian radio stations along the southward route. (Lots of Country...ugh!) But I was prepared with sermons and workshop tapes to fill in the gaps. On my way to the gym today, it suddenly occured to me that this particular gym usually has LOUD, HEAVY-METAL music playing. It's not so much the music I mind, since I usually can't understand most of the words and the music itself seems to energize me, but the disc jockeys are usually very crude. Today, the music was Easy Listening, which was better, but I still broke my commitment. Guess I'll have to wear earplugs tomorrow. What happened to that IPod Jeff said he was going to get for me?

Speaking of Jeff. What a wonderful gift he gave me yesterday. While driving, I was talking to him on the phone (I know...dangerous), and I was telling him about some of the awesome ways God was answering prayer the past few days. He told me that in HIS prayers, he thanked God for a praying mother. Sniff, sniff....how sweet is that?

New Year's Resolution

I was reading other blogs and this subject kept reappearing. I was particularly impressed with the self-discipline of Dusty Rush. Can you believe he went the entire year of 1995 without eating one french fry? This year he is not drinking pop (that's soda for you northerners). Wow! I usually don't make New Year's Resolutions, but this got me thinking...what can I give up...or better yet...what SHOULD I give up this year. While working out with Janet today, it came to me (mainly because Janet constantly harps on me about this). I'm giving up artificial sweetener. Yep, that's it. I'm giving it up. Does that include Splenda? I think I heard somewhere that "it tastes like sugar, because it IS sugar." Just happened to have a box of it in the cupboard that Trista brought over. Only two ingredients--MALTODEXTRIN and SUCRALOSE. Sounds like malt and sugar to me...two very "natural" substances. So that's my question. Can I give up artificial sweetener and still have Splenda? Anyone...anyone?

I've changed the settings on my blog so that ANYONE can comment. You're welcome, Janet.

Smiles

Yesterday and today Lauren is visiting Nana. She is such a good baby. We had an i-chat with Grandma and Grandpa Smith today. Despite Grandma's attempts at funny faces and noises, Lauren was a little stingy with her smiles. But after her bath, all wrapped up snug in her blanket, she had plenty of smiles for me before drifting off to sleep. These pictures were taken yesterday, lying on the quilt Aunt Linda made for her.

My Husband

Neal and I celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary on Saturday. For those of you who haven't reached that milestone yet, the best is yet to come. What a true blessing it is to be married to someone that you love more with each passing year. We made several "road trips" during the holidays, which gave us lots of needed alone time. He still makes me laugh til my sides hurt. He still tells me I'm beautiful, even though my roots are gray, I have "age spots" and my body is not proportioned the way it used to be. And he has improved greatly in the gift-giving department. He put a good deal of thought into my anniversary gift this year, combining both the traditional and the modern standards. He took advantage of his time off work to get a lipoma removed from his shoulder. Neither of us thought much about it. But it was more involved than we anticipated and this picture was taken 4 days post-op. Poor Neal!!!