Thanksgiving past, but Christmas is coming!!

I have pictures from Thanksgiving in Baird to show as well as some of our Christmas house decor. This is mainly for Lyndsey, who won't get to be here in person, but will be with us in spirit, as we will with her.

These were taken right before we left Rocky Ridge Ranch. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving day. James and I with hosts Morton and Suzy Jeffrey who also appear below.




Don't know what I was thinking, but I did not remember my camera for Valerie's graduation on Dec. 15. I took some with her camera, and she has some good shots on her blog, so check that out!

So, chronologically speaking, I started working at the Salvation Army Angel Tree at Valley View Mall on November 10, and only got the one day off for Thanksgiving. (This working all day thing takes some getting used to, but you may know that already...) ...so, Aunt Jan drove up from Houston to join us at the Jeffrey's ranch for the big Thanksgiving day. So Thursday morning James drove Vicki, Valerie and Miss Daisy to Baird!
It was especially sweet because we got to be with Sam and Emille and their precious girls as well as Becky, Tony, and boys, Andy, and "Paw and Precious!" Benjamin is quite the acrobat on the four wheeler. It is hilarious to be around these kids!!Aunt JJ loved spending time with these cute kids, including that smooth talking Payton Brooks!


When Bailey prayed she mentioned everyone but the Goodes and Aunt Jan but then said "...and thank you for Paw and Precious' friends who got to come." After the prayer I told her we were Precious' sisters and that she could call us "the elderly relatives." She looked me straight in the eye and said, "I'll call you 'friends,' " so there you go!

Valerie and Andy went hunting a little before sundown. They saw some deer but didn't bring home the big buck!

We missed Lyndsey, Catherine and Philip, but got to talk to them. Kelly also called in from Benin, West Africa, and Jan got to talk to Matt, so that made it all that much better. Cath and Phil got to see one another in Las Vegas, where they each spent the holiday with the families of their boy/girl friends' families.

We drove back to the Branch Thursday night after the Cowboys game, which I now, post Tony Romo, sort of pay attention to. Jan drove to Lubbock Saturday to be there to see Matt receive his senior ring at Texas Tech and James and I got out the Christmas decorations. He strongly suggested that we toss what we don't use if the Goode kids don't want it...no doubt a good idea, but weeding out is time consuming work, requiring that someone look in every box. We opened one labeled "Mantel Treasures," which turned out to be one I don't think I have ever opened since it has been in our attic. I inherited lots of Momo's stuff when she moved from a house to an apartment years ago. It has a ceramic Santa in a sleigh, 4 pair of reindeer and even a red-nosed Rudolph! I really like it and would have died and gone to heaven without ever laying eyes on it if JB had not insisted that we weed out the inventory! Can't believe I never remember it at Momo's house, but then again, she really went all out on decorating!

Momo had this geode which she had bought I think in Colorado. She could see Santa in it. Can you?

This last week was my last with the Salvation Army and I spent it at the Distribution Center. We saw over 100 families per hour distributing the gifts that had been purchased by Angel Tree "adopters" at the malls and various corporations. This year virtually every angel was adopted, so our work was cut out for us. The Salvation Army has worked out an incredible system using a relatively few employees and many wonderful volunteers. I was a really small cog in a really big machine that is very well run. I got the job because the supervisor who hired me has been a friend for decades through Girl Scouts and was hired by the Salvation Army to oversee the Dallas area mall Angel Trees. She had plenty of help for nights and weekends but needed someone to cover days at Valley View. At the warehouse I got to know a long time volunteer who I finally spent some quality time talking to Thursday morning. As she told me how she became involved with TSA, she mentioned the job she retired from, which had to be the Texas Workforce Commission, which evolved from Tx Employment Commission, where I worked about 30 years ago! We figured out we knew each other "back in the day," and she even came to my wedding, so, "small world," huh?

Life after the election

The election experience weighed heavy on my mind...there was so much to know, so many variations on "the perfect/less than perfect" voter. But we had a very good team and we made it through the day. The election clerks were prepared and competent and worked effectively all day. We got there before 6:00 AM and had everything ready to turn in around 8:30 PM. But the number of ballots used matched the number of voters (616), and it just doesn't get any better than that! I drove it over to the drop off center and was home shortly after 9 PM. Actually there were a few events that made it a unique day, but some stuff you'd best not blog about, I'm thinking. And for all the concern and thought I had put into that day, it went very well, maybe in spite of me, but still...

And the result of the actual elections was a real surprise to me. I had not even looked at the results print out at our precinct! I was too busy trying to get the right stuff into one of four particular envelopes! I really did not expect so many incumbents to be replaced. The radio guys I listen to had me convinced that, yeah, maybe some national races were close, but the "good guys" would pull it out. My heart goes out to the judges who were swept out of office, probably not voted against so much as being not on the side of the most straight ticket voters.

So now I am a mall manager for the Salvation Army Angel tree at Valley View Mall. Training was Wednesday, walk through was Thursday, and Friday was my first full day. It started very well, with my big show biz break! Channel 5 came out to get the SA Major introducing the first day to adopt the angels, and in the background was a dignified matronly lady artfully putting the angel tags on the tree. I had no speaking role, but it only takes one producer with a discerning eye to notice and catapult me to greatness, right?

After the major left, the channel 5 cameraman said, "That was a live feed. Let's get some video now to use on the 5, 6, and 10 news." Well of course I was at work during the 5 and 6 PM broadcasts, so I don't know what the world saw, but James and I watched the 10 o'clock news, and sure enough at about 10:29:30, there was 5 seconds of me talking to a couple of shoppers about the tree! At least, my lips moved...you could only hear the news person say, "...and today is the first day to adopt an angel from the Salvation Army tree," or some such as that.

I am still waiting for some of my people to say they saw me on tv. No calls yet...

Tonight we are going to the Celebrate Metrocrest event that the Metrocrest Chamber of Commerce hosts each year. Addison restaurants are well represented and offer samples of their tastiest dishes so there is plenty of good food to eat. In addition, many items have been donated and are auctioned off, so if one is so inclined, and is the top bidder, they can get lots of shopping done in a night. I always have enjoyed the silent auction part, but now that we are on this austerity kick, brought on by real life, it may be a long night!

Valerie was home for a night (Thursday) and it was good to spend the evening with her. Just a few short days and little Catherine will be in town for Rachel Nelson's wedding! Can't wait to see her. This job thing is kind of inconvenient for airport pick ups, visiting with out of town guests and so on, but we tread on, knowing good things are ahead...

One day at a time...

I have a week to go before I serve as an election judge for the first time and I am beginning to tense up alternating with feeling a peace about it because it is truly in the Lord's hands. Suzy did this a couple of years ago and reminded me that the election she worked was the presidential, and she lived to tell about it, so maybe I will too.

The Elections Dept. called me today to say that the library, where we vote, has a class on Monday night, Nov. 6, in the space we use Tuesday, Nov. 7, so we will need to get there earlier to set up Tuesday morning. Now I know 5:45 is not but 15 minutes earlier than 6 AM, but psychologically it sounds like lots earlier! There are a lot of details to this and I just hope I can study up enough that nothing comes as a surprise. I am hoping that lots have voted early so we are not overwhelmed. Also I hope that the clerks I have appointed show up and serve well!

Between now and then I've got a discussion in Ladies Bible Class to lead, a photo roster of the Farmers Branch Womens Club to prepare by Friday, a chicken spaghetti casserole to prepare for the FBWC Friday morning meeting, the election paraphernalia to pick up and an additional election training lab to attend. One day at a time, as they say...

Our niece married...then what???

Kelly & Tori Vaughn from Benin, West Africa

Lots has happened since I last posted...goodness, it's been too long!! My goal is to actually post a picture or two if I can figure out how. And if I can, boy do I have lots of pix to choose from. Uncle Jimmy gave me a Kodak EasyShare digital and it is amazing! All of a sudden, one might think I had photography skills, (though not if you watched me actually trying to take the picture...!), but the results by and large are really good. We'll see what you think.

I will say that we had a great trip to Tucson and I am so impressed with the beauty of that place. Cath has a cute apartment and with Brian and Adam's help, we got all her stuff inside and the U-Haul returned before it got dark. We wound up driving to Abilene the afternoon we got the trailer packed so that we could leave way early Friday morning. Valerie made the big sacrifice and met us for breakfast before we took off. She set a personal record for eary arrivals for a 7:3o class that morning! We went through a couple of time zones so we got to Tucson I think around 5:00 PM. We went to Ikea in Phoenix, I guess the next day to round out her housing needs, don't you know, and Brain and Adam went along too to pick up a few items for their condo. James did his usual fantastic packing job and we got it all back to Tucson in the back of the 'burb. Trust me, you would not have thought it possible!! Cath has the photos on her blog to illustrate. (Don't you wish I could link, but as it is, I can barely type!!)

Mary and Jerry's Wedding

I also attended the spectacular wedding of Mary Kha and Jarry Ho at the Dallas Museum of Art Sculpture Garden. Cath was in it and it was well attended by the RLTurner crowd, many of whom were also A&M grads along with Mary and Jarry. Mary was in our Girl Scout troop when the girls were in elementary school. I have a photo of Catherine and Mary in their pretty white dresses when they attended Mary's aunt's wedding. They were about 8 years old.



Left: Mary and Jarry Ho

Right: Mary and Catherine, all grown up!









ACU Homecoming

And this past weekend JB and I attended the ACU homecoming. It will be Veevsie's last as an undergrad, as she is set to graduate in mid December. She's starting to feel time speeding by, and actually goes to chapel because she wants to now!! She has started the interviewing process, aided by a power suit to add confidence to her otherwise spectacular credentials.













Jeri Sullivan Orr, me, Samye Kaye Smart Nika Maples, Texas Teacher of the Year and her mom Carol Maples

I attended the GATA breakfast and saw several wonderful friends, not all of whom I snapped a photo of, unfortunately. This is niece Becky's tenth coming home year, so she was honored as part of the Coming Home Court. Valerie and I got to attend the Queen's Tea thanks to Becky's invitation and really enjoyed seeing everyone. It was especially great to see Kelly and Tori, who came all the way from Benin, West Africa!! Suzy Jeffrey, mother of B & K, sister of mine and aunt of Valerie, was also onsite and made it all that much more fun. She's the coolest, and though she didn't feel all that great, she still was the life of the party!

Left: Becky and Suzy

Right: Becky, Tony, and Payton making his escape














Jacob's Dream

Valerie and I walked back to her apartment, which is on campus, and stopped by to see the new sculpture, Jacob's Dream. The sculptor, Jack Maxwell is a faculty member, I think head of the Art Dept., and he has done an incredible work. It is not just a sculpture, it is a destination, and I am guessing will become a favorite spot for meditation for students and campus visitors alike. There is so much to see and contemplate. The more people tell me what they saw there, the more I feel a need to return.



























ACU Wildcats are 6-0!!

The football game was fun. I was actually there but can't really say I saw it, because the great seats we picked (got there early enough to have a choice) turned out to be right behind the pledges who apparently are forbidden to sit during the whole game. The team this year is really good and in fact, now are 6-0! It is so cool to see someone throw the ball to someone who can actually catch it and then run really fast. The band was good and fun to watch.

The half time show was dedicated to Dale Ward, an alumnus from my era whose kids are also alumni. Dale passed away very recently after succumbing to congestive heart failure. His son Steven had apparently been in the band as a student. Dale was in theatre at ACU and had worked until his death at World Christian Broadcasting in Nashville. He and his wife Pat Stevens met at ACU and really made an impact while they were there, not to mention all the students they encouraged to attend.

We enjoyed the musical, "Singin' In The Rain," which was as good as "not-born-to-dance" Church of Christ kids could make it. And that description fits my generation much more than theirs...they were really quite agile and rhythmic...we really enjoyed it!
Rocky Ridge Ranch Fun

Sunday we attended University Church and then went to Baird to have Sunday lunch at the Jeffrey's 3R ranch. Morton cooked chicken and sausage links outside and Suzy outdid herself in the kitchen. It really was so good and so good to be with them, the Brooks, Kelly and Timo.































































So lets see if I can add a photo...Did it!, with the help of Catherine, who's job it will be to put them in the right places within the text...there are still so many things beyond my technology level!

PS: You're welcome... the cath!! :) LOVE YOU MOM!!! Good try!