Once upon a time..the story of five friends

Once upon a time, in a community in mid-Missouri called Marshall, there lived a lot of very nice people.  Among those folks were Nancy, Sally, Carol, Mary and Gretchen.  These women were not gray-headed and old, as they are in the picture, but rather were young, vivacious, busy with homes, husbands, church, school and raising children.  They taught Sunday School together, shared leadership in Brownies and Girl Scouts, participated in Missouri Valley College activities, floated Missouri rivers, went on family camping trips, baby-sat with each other's children (it really DOES take a village to raise a child!), made apple butter together every fall for a total of 35 years, celebrated Mardi Gras with pancakes, brought in the New Year in someone's home, and lived their lives in love, laughter and harmony.  The years came and went...now the children are all grown, many have children of their own, most of those children live many miles away;  we shared our grief in the death of Gretchen's husband a few years ago; everyone is retired; and Mary & Gretchen no longer live in Marshall - Gretchen in Iowa and Mary in Texas.  But for this evening the end of March, we gathered at Cedar Crest Lodge in Pleasanton KS to enjoy an overnight together - sharing two meals, and reminiscing over our many years of blessed friendship...swapping stories of kids and grandkids, and being grateful for each other.
Thank you, dear friends, for a heart full of precious memories.

Dr. Scott W. Peters, Teaching Excellence Award

Dr. Scott W. Peters, Assistant Professor at Texas AandM University, San Antonio, was selected by his students to be a recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award in the Fall 2010 semester. We are so proud of our son-in-law!

San Antonio visit

The trip to Whitney gave us the opportunity to go by and check on our new home in Wimberley, get some landscaping underway, and spend an afternoon in San Antonio with Jo & Scott.  It was a gorgeous Texas afternoon and we enjoyed spending the time on their deck.  Jo and I are modeling our new scarves we just received from Indonesia, created by Sri Dusyanto.  Sri is Any's mother...and of course, you remember that Any is our oldest daughter who was an AFS exchange student with us.  What fun to be able to wear something so special.  Not only that, but we got to meet our newest grand-dog, Taiga--I wish I could have held her when she was a tiny puppy and loved to cuddle, but she is now growing like a weed--but she is absolutely gorgeous! Our next get-together will be to celebrate Jo's 46th birthday right after we move back to Texas--HOORAY!

Barista Daughter

Carla has started on a new track in her life as a barista at Starbucks (along with her work at the Bed & Breakfast.)  Her training is completed and her mind is full of recipes for all the items Starbucks has to offer.  She continues to wear a delightful smile and make every person feel very welcome - especially her Dad, who showed up with his very special Starbucks Gold Card to make a purchase from her!  Her Starbucks is  at 87th & Metcalf, should you find yourself in KC and need a coffee.  We are proud to have a barista daughter! My favorite comment - she googled "Starbucks longest order" and came up with: "Carla is ready to learn how to make a Double Ristretto Venti Nonfat Organic Chocolate Brownie Frappuccino Extra Hot with Foam and Whipped Cream Upside Down Double Blended" which - of course - is non-existent, since "frappuccino" is a frozen drink, and "extra hot" would be--well, hot, of course!

Bible Study Retreat in Texas

Last fall Jerry received an invitation from the good folks at White Bluff Chapel community near Whitney TX to lead a Bible Study retreat over a weekend...one of his favorite things to do, and he gratefully accepted the challenge. It turns out that we had four friends who were members of WBC--Ann & Jim Duncan (shown with us at breakfast), and Marilyn & Mike Pollard. The Pollards were members of FPC in Midland during our years there. The Duncans are friends we met at Bloys Cowboy Camp Meeting - Ann's Mom, Pansy Evans, was one of our favorites; and one of Jerry's heroes in the faith for many years has been Joe Evans, who turns out to be Pansy's uncle. They were instrumental in gaining Jerry this invitation--and we had a fantastic time. White Bluff is a retirement community built on Lake Whitney. We were lodged in the White Bluff Resort with a great view of the lake..the weather was not cooperative, so we didn't get to enjoy sitting on our balcony overlooking the water! Many folks turned out for the studies on Friday night and again on Saturday, where Jerry taught on Revelation. The Pollards hosted a dinner on Saturday night with many new friends and a delightful evening. Worship on Sunday was a great experience--these folks come from all kinds of religious traditions and the service is a beautiful blend. The choir is unbelievably wonderful, full of folks who have probably had years of experience singing in their own local church choirs before retiring to WB...and they continue to share their gifts. We felt so at home with these folks, and look forward to going back to White Bluff another time, perhaps in our RV--its only 3 hours from Wimberley and has its own RV park!