THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY

I reread my post from last year end and thought-What a difference a year can make. While reflecting and pondering, I decided I would try to divide the year into the three categories from one of my favorite Western Movies-
"The Good, The Bad & The Ugly"- rings profound, doesn't it?

The Good-

God has taught me some very valuable lessons. He is drawing me closer and teaching me His faithfulness and love for me. I am so thankful for His sustaining presence in my life.

A new grandson is on his way. What a blessing to not only know that a sweet "Grand" is coming in the Spring, but that his Mother & Daddy are so happy. It always does my heart good to be with that sweet couple.

A FABULOUS Birthday Party given by my "Running Buddies". I have never had anything nicer done for me. Crossing that bridge and entering into the 60's, especially as an athlete, is a little frightening, but "The Girls & Larry" managed to make it more fun than a "Barrel of Monkeys". It is truly a great blessing to have friends that love you unconditionally and pray for you without question. They have been there through good times and bad.

A great trip to the Beach with "All My Children & Grands" and our dearest friends, The Tompsons along for the fun in the sun. My children and grandchildren are God's greatest gift-beyond His grace. They are the light in my eye and the reflection from my soul. I love them all dearly and treasure each moment with them. The Thompsons have been our friends since before we were married. We have shared it all with them. God has taken us and grown us up together and matured us into His Children. We are blessed that he drew us together and kept us together all of these years. How many can say they have friends they have vacationed with for more than thirty years. A Rare Blessing!

A "Great Hiking Adventure" which included daily bear sightings, magnificent scenery, and even a up-close and personal Bear encounter. How anyone could ever hike through those glorious mountains and question there being a God is beyond me.

Another Marathon under my belt. Many miles running and working out and remaining healthy. A great thing considering my age.

Growing closer to our small group as we grow spiritually together. Our small group are also our social friends. We love them all and enjoy their friendship. Many lively and productive Biblical discussion and lots of Friday night fellowship-definitely a Good.

The Bad-

Our friend, Dale, has continued to decline. The physical and emotional strain upon his family has been difficult to watch. A Great Man Of God, it saddens my heart to watch this journey.

A special friend that has gone through an extremely difficult season. Days have drug into weeks and weeks into months as the path has been trod. Feeling helpless when your friend is in pain is not easy.

Friends lost and gone on to Eternity, friends struggling with illness, friends in emotional pain, friends in martial crisis, and the list goes on. My expectation of life becoming easier with age has been crushed under the weight of "Living Life".

The Ugly-

It does no good to dredge up the ugly. The ugly will always be a hole in my heart and a scar upon my soul. The ugly deserves nothing but Good Riddance 2008!

The list seems to be heavily weighted on the Good Side and for that I am thankful. I would not care to relive 2008, but I came away wiser and surely older. Come on 2009-I am expectant and prepared-give me your best shot!


HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRIENDS!

EVERY SOUTHERN TOWN!

Some say that "Every Southern town has character", but others say , "Every Southern town has at least one character." Ruston is no exception on both counts!

Bert drives the vehicle pictured above (photos courtesy of Sheila-THANKS!). Since these are all shots of the front, I need to tell you about the door that is held closed with a hinge and padlock. Sheila said:"Also a rubber snake with a pacifier on roof of passenger side & small rubber alligator on driver side roof. "

We often see Bert on his way to Super One when we are running VERY early in the morning. Why he goes that early, I am not sure. You also see Bert at the grocery sometimes several other times of the day. Why, I DO NOT KNOW! He obviously enjoys the grocery a great deal more than I do. He rides one of those little motorized carts since he has some leg issues. If you strike up a conversation with him, he will talk to you until you walk off. Quite the interesting character!

He is my SIL's cousin and a childhood friend of Buddy, Sandra. You need to be very careful of what you say about anyone in a small town. They could be related or a good buddy of the person that you are unloading to about them. When he sees Sandra, he HONKS AND HONKS! She told me yesterday that he is very distressed because his horn does not work anymore. IMAGINE-something on Bert's car not working!

Ruston is a beautiful little Southern town with quite a bit of charm and character and also it's fair share of "Characters.!

AM I THE ONLY ONE?

Another Christmas has come and gone and I now find myself in my annual pledge to "Do Better". I am reflecting upon the past year as I slowly take down all of the Christmas decorations and clean as I put everything back in order. As a little side-note, I just love trying to find just what I did with all of the "Stuff" that I put away (where I would be able to find it) and put it all back "Where It Goes". It is a slow tedious job, but somebody has got to do it. Somehow it is a lot more fun to decorate everything than it is to put it all away. I am being very systematic this year and doing one room at a time. Putting away in plastic containers that I can actually lift without danger of permanent back damage-color coded by room (SLIGHTLY OCD-just goes along with everything else I do). Next year dragging it all out should at least be a little easier.





Back to the subject, as I do this mindless task, I have been thinking about the past year. I am reflecting upon my relationships at all levels-starting with "The Big Guy" and working down the list. I am making my annual pledge to be a better "Child of The Father", wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, sister, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, and friend.





As I think about what I have done to keep in the best physical shape possible, I have fallen short of the goal. After running a Marathon in January, it all seemed to go downhill. The year coming is the year of the every other year Marathon. Time to get busy again and pick up the slack on my training. I will do better.





Am I the only one that goes over all of this and more at the end of the year? I think not, but you let me know. My friend, Mona, emailed me today her resolve to eat better and exercise more. NOW MONA -everyone knows and we are going to hold your feet to the fire. You can do the same to me.





_____________________________________________________________





BIG NEWS-Mona is going to be a Grandmother! We have got to keep these young women running with us or we are going to become known as the "Running Grannys". What a blessing these Grands are!

Granny MoMo is on the left

I had a really funny post, but alas-something is wrong with my email account and I cannot download the picture that "The Chrome Cowgirl" sent me. It is quite the sight and a great reflection of "Small Town Living". Hopefully tomorrow!



We got up early and ran in the sub-freezing cold this AM. We went early because Larry had to go back to work and then he did not show up. OOOOHHHHH-LARRRRYYYY-YOU ARE IN TROUBLE WITH US! One more five mile run and the year is over! They are rolling by too fast!

SUNDAY REFLECTIONS!

Brother Len inspired us all this morning as he used "2 Timothy 4:6-8" as his scripture source.

"For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."

Paul was reflecting back over his 30 years of ministry and examining the life that is, the life that has been, and the life to come. What an inspiration Paul is to us all-truly a great man of God. As a runner, I am especially moved by finishing the race. Len pointed out the importance of keeping the faith as we strive for the goal. He told us of a retreat leader telling a group of 300 men that he hoped 5 of them "Kept the Faith" until the end. A stark reminder of our human weakness and frailty and propensity to sin.

We were given an Exam based upon Paul's Faithfulness:

1. What's going on in your life-right now?
2. Where is your best energy focused?
3. Where is your life going?
4. What captivates your heart?
5. What's your view of the future?

Two notable quotes during this part of the message:

"If you are not careful, you will end up where you are headed."

"What gets us off course- the entangling effects of sin."

Closing the message out, Len told a story of a woman who asked to be buried with her Bible in one hand and a fork in the other. When asked, "Why the fork?", she replied whenever someone whispered to me to keep my fork after a great meal, I always knew something better was coming. After all have passed by my coffin and their curiosity is peaked-tell them this story and "That Something Better IS Coming".

I am counting on it and "Long for his appearing."

WHEW-WE ARE WORN OUT!

The dogs seem to be in a little bit of a disagreement over the Holiday Loot. We took them each a "Folette Pottery" personalized dog bowl. I STRONGLY suspect that certain boys may end up eating cereal out of the dog's bowls.

BIL & SIL seem in deep thought over the holiday. Gabe is a wonderful Uncle and Sweet Caroline is a terrific Mom.

Paul Shaffer showed up to give us a little concert. OH WAIT-IT IS BC!

This is a typical evening. # 2 on Mom's shoulders and #1 playing with his Uncle!

Santa delivered about a million of these TEENY TINY Star War's Leggos.

Here is # 2 with a table full of those tiny little men.

It is true brotherly love to help the other fold his clothes.

Tamales, green chili soup & chili for Christmas Eve supper. DELICIOUS! Please pass the Rolaids.

Grandmother with # 2 helping play with all of the toys.

WORN OUT after all of the hard playing and early morning rising.

Bedtime backrub by Poppa Bob. The boys love their Poppa Bob!

Santa, aka Dad, helps assemble the MANY MANY MANY toys.

My Sweet # 1.

Great holiday with our sweet family. I unfortunately did not get any pictures of Camille and The Jennings. I COULD KICK MYSELF!

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN!

Well after a 500 mile tour of Texas today, we are once again home. We left Austin early this AM and traveled North to Fort Worth. We had lunch with Adam & Camille, Adam's parents, Mike & Jule, & Dr. Art, Jule's father. We went to "Uncle Julio's" Mexican restaurant in Fort Worth where Dr. Art treated us all to a wonderful meal. I have not had Mexican food that good in a LONG LONG TIME. It was absolutely delicious! VERY authentic Tex-Mex. If you are ever over Fort Worth way, you need to try it!

Enough about the food-we also got to tell Baby J -"Hi"! Baby is growing-thus Momma is growing. You do not see the growth from the back-it is all out front. We had a good laugh at Camille. She has always had a difficult time keeping her food off her clothes, well as anyone who has ever been PG knows-it is REALLY difficult once that Baby starts hanging out in the front. Camille seems really good and very happy. OH YEAH-Adam was good too! They are getting the lesson in life that once the Grands come along-they take second fiddle.

I will down load pictures tomorrow and post the fun of being with the grands the past couple of days. We were gone a total of 56 hours and drove 900 miles-we both are slightly road weary. More later-hope everyone had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

TODAY IS CHRISTMAS!

The day has finally arrived-Santa found Austin and I am not sure how he got all of these presents down the chimney. It MUST be magic for sure! As we slept in the upstairs suite, I really do think I heard tiny hoof beats on the rooftop and a HO HO HO in the middle of the night.

It has been a Christmas like many others, with pleas to open gifts all evening Christmas Eve. Every family has their traditions, but we always open gifts Christmas morning. I am sure this started when the kids were small and we were attending Christmas Eve Candlelight and Carol services, visiting with extended family the same evening and then having Christmas lunch with the other side of the family Christmas day. Times are simpler now since we started having Christmas with our children and grands on those two days and visiting with extended family before or after the actual day.

Everyone seems to be happy with all of their gifts and now Mom in her kerchief and Paw in his cap have just settled down in their bed for a nap. Also a Christmas tradition is the afternoon nap on Christmas day. Little feet tend to roam the rooms late into the night and early in the morning at Christmas-not much sleeping goes on Christmas Eve. Christmas afternoon is a time to reflect and to nap.

We will eat sandwiches for a light Christmas supper tonight and play with all the toys. The adults have all selected their favorite toy and we take turns playing with it. The kids share most of the time, since the loot is so lavish.

There still may be time for an afternoon stroll or maybe a game of ball or two. The day is winding down into a pleasant Christmas lull.

Last evening as I was gazing at the heavens, I spotted a star-a bright-bright star. I remembered all of those Christmases ago when a star shown in Bethlehem and our Savior was born. I once again reflected upon the most wonderful gift I have ever been given and the amazing love that bestowed that gift. The blessing of a love so beyond reason and without merit is indeed the greatest gift I have ever received.

Merry Christmas To You All, Dear Friends!