The Empty Cabin

When we first moved to Midland, we were invited each year to come to Bloys Cowboy Camp Meeting by the Beals. This is their cabin at Skillman Grove, site of BCCM. We attended several times, usually just for one or two nights, sleeping in one of the many sleeping rooms in this cabin. The porch held a wonderful swing on the end, and the big wooden rockers would be brought over from the ranch and placed on the front porch. All day and evening there were folks sitting on the front porch, visiting with each other, praying together, talking about the Bible Study that morning, or sharing insights from one of the sermons we had heard. And the children--lots of children and youngsters of all sizes and ages, running up and down the stairs, climbing the nearby boulders and mountains, coming in for water, playing on the tire swing. The walls of the kitchen of the Beal cabin are covered with signatures and comments from previous years, newcomers adding their names to the growing list. Each year grandchildren and friends were measured and their growth recorded on the sheet rock. Let's not forget the homemade ice cream--one evening of the week, ice cream was churned in the kitchen, and we would gather after evening worship and share in its deliciousness, with all the toppings. In my years of attending Bloys, this cabin has been the center of activity and family times, so it was heart-breaking to walk by and see the cabin windows all closed up, and the doors padlocked. The absence of any of the Beals in our Bloys community left a real void in the lives of many of us who were regular visitors on this porch. We treasure the memories that we have built being there. The absence of any of Beal family at the 2010 Bloys Campmeeting was our loss, and we hope that next year we will be reunited there, and once again, the cabin will ring with laughter, hugs, ice cream, and special conversations. P.S. The absence of any of our friends in the Beal cabin this year was just "one of those things"--conflicting schedules, pre-school activities, a 50th anniversary celebration the weekend prior out in Colorado--just scheduling conflicts that could not be avoided. So perhaps that will change next year.....

Our new dream home in Wimberley TX

What a dream this past month has been. Moving has to be a major cause of temporary insanity - unless you have the love and support of friends and family! Our dear friend, Pat, (from Enid) came to Wichita for a visit before we headed out on our road trip to Wimberley in her trailer. For a week before the moving van arrived, Pat helped me get ready to move in, lining cabinets and cupboards, dreaming of where things would be placed (NOTHING is where we thought it would be, I might add!), moving boxes of books from Jo & Scott's attic, unpacking all of Jerry's library (which didn't fit, I might also add - still too many books!), moving in a piece of furniture we had purchased last December in San Antonio (and meeting a wonderful new neighbor who gladly came over to help get it out of the truck and in to our house). In between we took advantage of the opportunity to try out restaurants in our new town, and became very good friends with all the nice folks at Ace Hardware! Our new town may be small, but when you have the Ace Hardware and the Brookshire Brothers grocery store, you are set. The movers unloaded, and you couldn't get through the garage--I think the boxes grew and reproduced while they were in the moving van. We were reasonably sure we had cut down, thrown away, donated, shared all we could - but guess what? We hadn't! Jerry arrived to find his library waiting and he had his work cut out for him! Jo came up twice to help us unpack, friends in Wimberley blessed us with dessert one evening--just the pick-me-up Pat and I needed, and brought dinner over at the end, so we could just sit and enjoy our new home. The real creation of this home began when Bill and Wayne, our cousins from El Paso, arrived. Bill has had Hilton Interiors in El Paso TX for over 40 years..and what a gift he has. He ordered, we moved furniture, we tried it out, we changed our minds, so he changed his mind, and on and on it went - and miraculously, the new home was created and it is just perfect. We look forward to being able to share it with you some day...but in the meantime these few pictures will have to do. There is an album posted on a Wal-Mart photo site, so if this link works, perhaps you can enjoy even more pictures. http://photos2.walmart.com/walmart/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=829559008/a=1056305008/ We are so grateful to Bill and Wayne for their creativity as well as sweat on their vacation, to Pat for her friendship and hard work, to Nita and Ron for their enthusiasm and food, and to all of you who are such an important part of our lives. We look forward to enjoying this special place (with its heavenly view) when we complete our time in Wichita. In the meantime, we are grateful for our friend, Paul, who is living in our house. Rejoice! This is the day that the Lord has made!

47 years ago...our new life together began...

May 23, 1963, in the chapel of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City, we were married. Our wedding took place on the same day that my grandparents celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary. And here we are - 47 years later..blessed with our daughters, Jo and Carla, and our AFS daughter, Ani...blessed with our son-in-law, Scott Peters...blessed with church families from five pastorates--Hobart, OK; Aurora, Mo; Marshall, MO; Enid, OK; Midland, TX...interim church families in Wichita KS and Sammamish WA..and now, in this next exciting chapter of our life, we are moving into our new home in Wimberley TX next month, but will not be living there for another year, as we do another interim in Wichita. God is so good! We have been able to enjoy our retirement with lots of travel in our motor home, and keep crossing paths with all kinds of friends from all the places we have lived. We are so grateful to all of you for being a part of this journey--thanks for your support and friendship..and thanks be to God for bringing us together back in Chicago at McCormick Seminary...and thank you, Jerry, for sharing this life with me--for better or worse!

Low Sunday becomes High Sunday

The Sunday after Easter is known in the church calendar as "low Sunday". One of the reasons is that it is the first Sunday of worship following the resurrection of our Lord, which was celebrated the previous week with all kinds of glorious music, pomp and circumstance. It can also be a low Sunday in terms of attendance, after the excitement of worship on Easter Sunday. In Presbyterian circles, it is sometimes referred to as "Associate Pastor Sunday" because the senior pastor frequently is not the one preaching after the busy schedule of the Lenten season. But for whatever reason, the 2nd Sunday of Easter is called Low Sunday -and our Low Sunday turned in to a very high Sunday for us in terms of worship. In the morning we worshipped at Manhattan Pres in El Paso. This is one of the small and struggling congregations, having in the past been a much larger and viable group of believers. On this particular Sunday, the worship team was simply incredible...the preacher, liturgist, song leader and organist. Preaching was Zoomer, a layman who lives his life dealing with a neurological disorder (originally misdiagnosed as Lou Gherig's disease) causing him great difficulty in both walking and using his arms and hands. He is blessed with a great singing voice and has often led the music when we have worshipped here before, but this was our first opportunity to hear Zoomer preach God's Word--and he did it powerfully. Jerry told him later it was one of the best sermons he had ever heard. The singing was led by Zoomer and Theresa, who is a professor of nursing with Texas Tech in EP, and has a beautiful voice. The liturgist, JB, is a retired teacher of English & Drama so you can imagine the quality of her voice as she led us through the service. Playing the organ is Valora, who is blind. The music team of Zoomer, Theresa and Valora gather at the church early on Sunday morning, and go over all the music together. If Valora can hear it, she can play it...and she plays it beautifully. When church was over, we felt as if we had truly worshipped and been in the presence of the Lord, through the ministry of this incredible team. Thank you and God bless every one of you. To end the day, we worshipped at Divine Savior Presbyterian Church, an Hispanic congregation, and one of our PCUSA churches in El Paso who have been gathering together for worship every Sunday evening since the first of the year, listening for God as the Presbyterian Church in El Paso. The service was conducted in word and music in both English and Spanish, with several different pastors participating in the leadership. As the body of Christ we participated in the Lord's Supper together. This was truly a great day of worship as the Family of God!

Birthday Joys....

Our birthdays were such a joyous occasion...such a blessing, even if it means being one year older. For Jerry, the birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year-- wow, that was really a celebration--being in worship, absolutely heavenly music, singing the Hallelujah Chorus together, and a perfectly glorious day. It also meant that now Jerry and I are the same age--which I always enjoy! The birthday cake was an Italian Cream Cake (for which my mother was famous), and Jerry's choice for his birthday cake..and sister-in-law Jan outdid herself. The only downside (if you call it that) is that the candles on top of the cake read 143--our total years together...whew! We celebrated it with Jan and Jim, and nephew Steve, niece Nancy, and great-nephew Jacob at our last "American Idol" gathering. After that celebration, we headed for El Paso, where we celebrated with my surrogate "sister" Judy, her husband Lynn, and our cousins, Bill and Wayne. Judy baked the German chocolate cake for the eve of my birthday...and then, when I became a year older than Jerry, the cousins took us all to Cattlemans, a fabulous restaurant out in Fabian TX (39 miles away from their house), but oh, so worth it! While we dined, the coyotes, peacocks, peahens, rabbits and little critters were up close and personal, right outside the dining room windows. The western art decor is magnificent, with lots of bronzes (many C. M. Russells) everywhere. It is always so heartwarming to receive birthday greetings from so many friends and family - and since we are on the road, Facebook provided a perfect vehicle for sending those wishes..including our AFS daughter, Ani, in Jakarta, and phone greetings from some special friends in various places who remembered the date and took the time to call--and we haven't talked to them in ages. Thank you, one and all, for all the good thoughts and wishes--we are grateful. In the last picture, Bill and I once more celebrate together with the birthday balloon that he received when we were gathered here to celebrate his 75th on January 29th - and it lasted until my birthday on April 9th. That was one fine balloon!!! Birthdays can be very special, and its our friends and families who help to make them so...we are grateful for all of you!

Spring at McDowell Mountain Regional Park

God's world at its best in the springtime!

Memories of Kansas City

We made the flight to Kansas City to be with Carla while she had surgery..that was the downer part of the trip. But all the rest was an upper--Carla came through her surgery with flying colors, now has been released by her doctor following her post-op, and we shared some wonderful times. Here is a picture collection of some of our good times! Many of Carla's friends came by for a visit, to play games, or bearing food--thanks to all of you. Meet "Missy" (Sprigg) Chvatal and 3 of her children...my Polish lesson taught me to pronounce her last name as Waddel--is that right, Missy? Missy and our daughters went through the Marshall MO school system together. The last time I saw Missy was in Las Vegas in 2005, when our family was walking down The Strip and passed Missy and her husband, who recognized us and spoke to us. We also had a visit from Janelle and her two daughters, Lauren and Presley, which ended up with games on the floor. I first met Janelle in early 2000s, when she came as an adult advisor on the Mission Trip with the Pine Ridge Pres youth to assist with a "Faces of Children" conference in Washington DC. Its always good to catch up with her and see her growing family. As I mentioned, Jerry did some work on Carla's yard (grass seed, fertilizer, and straw) before becoming immersed in the Big 12 Basketball Tournament. He loved being a part of the excitement and seeing all the basketball, even if things didn't go as he had hoped (and neither did the NCAA March Madness, I might add!) I was able to attend the championship game with him (loved the Chick Fil-a ad!) Carla's numerous adventures to New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina have made a beignet-lover out of her. She cooked up some delicious beignets for our breakfast one morning. Carla will be in London/Edinburgh over her birthday near the end of April, so we had an early birthday celebration during her recuperating. The Britain magazine had pound-notes tucked in the pages for her to discover! During our time in Kansas City we were also able to spend some special time with Jerry's cousins, Jim and Jane, and visit with friends from Marshall MO who were in KC. We so enjoy being in Kansas City, since our relationship with that city goes back to the early 70's..its exciting to see what they have done with their downtown, and the new Power & Light District. We will be only three hours away in Wichita KS for the next year, while Jerry does an interim at Grace Presbyterian Church, so hopefully we will be spending some time -- we've already bought our Starlight tickets! We are grateful for all your prayers and support and expressions of concern during and after Carla's successful surgery. Thank YOU!

Kansas City, March 2010

Its early March and we find ourselves back in Kansas City, having flown in from Phoenix last Saturday. Sunday morning found us worshiping at Pine Ridge Presbyterian Church, where Carla serves on the staff. The young man with Jerry is Jason Brock, who is originally from Marshall MO, where we lived for 13 years. Jason's Dad was the principal of Marshall High School when our daughters were in school. Early during our ministry there, Jason was BORN..yeah, thats right...born...and grew up in that church. He is now married to Keely, whose father played the trumpet along with Jerry in the city band, and they are the parents of two precious little boys. What a treat to meet his sons and have a visit with Jason and Keely. The family of God continues to amaze me! We are here because daughter Carla had surgery on Monday. We can share with you the "before" picture as she was being prepared for the operation. You don't want to see the "after" shots! All went well and it was all done laparoscopically, which is a miracle in itself. Her housemate, Lisa, has had two surgeries in the past week and we were able to bring her home from the hospital on Tuesday. So the two of them are recuperating together. We've been blessed with friends who came to be with us at the hospital and others who have brought by yummy food, and all the prayers and good wishes via email and Facebook - thank you all. Such a considerate daughter--she intentionally planned her surgery to coincide with basketball to the delight of her Dad. His friend in Enid had an extra ticket for sale for the Big 12 Tournament. So Jerry did yard work all day yesterday to help Carla out, and now is getting his fill of basketball--of course he was disappointed with Mizzou's loss this afternoon but we all know he is having the time of his life. We will stay with Carla and return to Phoenix the middle of next week.

McDowell Regional Park

McDowell has to be just a slice of heaven...we have decided it is our 2nd most favorite place to camp, second only to Cape Fair on Table Rock Lake. Its high desert..many different kinds of cactus all around us...tall stately saguaros offering homes to tiny birds...and the 4 peaks, which I now know are the mountain pictured on the Arizona license plates. (I wish I could take credit for the 4 peaks with the full moon, but I can't..it was shared by friend Nancy, and taken by her friend Chris..so thanks, Chris.) The hiking trails abound around here. We have done several of them--Bluff Trail, Granite Trail, Scenic Trail, Wagner Trail...some nice folks passing us up on the rim during the Scenic Trail hike took our picture so we could remember the moment. It was a 4.3 mile hike total, with lots of uphill climbing, and consequently downhill as well (tougher on the knees.) But its not very hot here yet, so the temperature was perfect. Here is a photo of the home of some of our neighbors..this is my favorite cactus, called the Teddy Bear Chollo (sometimes the "jumping chollo" as evidenced when one of those little critters literally jumped under Sparkie's chin..her immediate reaction was to try and paw it off, and then we did have a massive problem!) Some bird has built not an efficiency apartment, but a whole condo...it surely has at least 3 rooms in it--its very long!) We were treated to a rare sight this past weekend...it was a rainy one, with numerous thunderstorms passing us by. On two different occasions, we were blessed by full rainbows stretched across our campground. No photograph can do it justice but at least it is a reminder to us of God's grace and abundant love for us - and our memories hold the real picture of the rainbows we saw.

Happy 75th, Bill!

What a joyous occasion to celebrate cousin Bill's 75th birthday in El Paso over the entire weekend of January 29-30. There were several folks formerly from the home territory of Crane MO who gathered for the occasion..Mary Jane and Bill Wagnon, Joanna Cunningham, Carolyn Barnett, Jerry Hilton and "Billy Pierce", our honoree. In the pictures you see all these folks, including Carolyn's friend, Dick...the trio of Pat Mundy from Enid OK, Mary and El Paso friend, Judy McGuirk...Jerry with Bill Wagnon and Joanna Cunningham, and then our gang out for the traditional Saturday morning breakfast at "The Clock" in EP. Thanks to Wayne Tallant and the McGuirks for hosting the birthday party (and Bill loved his gift basket from Susie's South Forty in Midland). The stories that were told have no doubt gotten better over the years..but the weekend of laughter, hugs, sharing and celebrating was unforgettable.