Ongoing Christmas

This has been a wonderful Christmas! We started last weekend in Corinth with my family. And I can't remember what order the photos are in but one is a whole group photo and one is me laying on the floor in order to steal a hug and kiss from Tracy and that is NOT an easy thing to do! There is also a photo of Wyot, Bil and Andrea's youngest with his $20 in pennies that his Aunt Diana gave him...at least she rolled them for him. She was nicer than me...if I'd thought about giving his money to him in pennnies, I think I would have just given him them in a jar. There's one ofour famiy with John, Laura, me, Tim, and Joe and one with Tim with Bows on his head. We have fun being together even if it was just for the day. I went back to Corinth last weekend while Tim and Joe were skiing and Diana and I took Mama and Mutt out to dinner and then we went to a movie. Diana got up early Sunday moring and went to Indianola to spent some time with Tamara Lynn and Brian and Billy. I went to church with Mama and Mutt and Robin and Cheryl and ate lunch with them. And got home in time to wait around at the airport for about two hours for Tim and Joe to get in, but at least they got in!

Now Tim and I are in Huntsville. Laura and John have been in Austin with his family and will be headed home today. Denise and Wayne were here yesterday as well as Jonathan and Sandy but they left last night as did Scott, Cathy's husband. Cathy and Noah are still here with us waiting on Carol and Charley and James and Laurel to arrive sometimes this evening. We played dirty Santa yesterday and Noah even payed with us. He got a re bandana that Tim had put a $20 bill in and he sat on it so no one else could see it. It was really funny...he kept telling everyone that they didn't want to take it because it was stinky...he'd aleady done something bad on it! But alas, his Uncle Wayne still took it from him and he ended up with a really neat Star Wars ship transformer thing that he was just as happy about. We get to play dirty Santa again tonight with Carol's family. Tim and I are learning to be quite dirty at playing this game since we do it about 4 or 5 times each Chritmas season.

Fun Skiing

I talked to Tim and Joe tonight. They made it in just before the blizzard got really bad though they say they could see the snow coming down hard past the lights on the plane. Several plane loads of people got stuck in Hayden, CO where Tim and Joe flew into (I think). They are having a great time and so am I! Looks like a win -win situation to me!

Just talked to Laura and John on the phone. They're about 30 minutes away from John's mom so we'll assume that they'll make the last few miles safely. Laura said that John had several other interviews-6 total now- one in Canada that is a reserch institutuion which is really what he wants to do! He was one of 3 they picked out of 135 applicants. He has been acceptd to present papers at meetings in Orlando this spring and in London this summer. We're pretty proud of him.

Merry Christmas!

Good Weekend...even better week?

I just dropped Joe and Tim off at the airport to go skiing in Colorado until Sunday...now what will I do with these few days alone? How I wish I could just lay back and watch TV and read good novels, but I must study for my MFT Boards and get my teaching materials ready for Ghana and see a few clients in between but at least I don't have to worry about taking care of anybody but me! Pray that I'll get a lot done while they are gone and that they will be safe. On Friday they have a day planned to go on the back side of the mountain on a snowcat in the "real" snow...

Last weekend was really fun with our family. Poor Mama was confused most of the day and couldn't remember who everybody was - especially the grandchildren that she doesn't see very often, but she did sit around with a big smile on her face all day knowing that her family was all there around her. We had wonderful food and wonderful fellowship. Tamara Lynn kept telling John stuff that he did not need to hear about how to get to me if I made him mad! I'm not sure that was a good thing...but we enjoyed having John and Laura with us for the little while that they were here. Tracy got on a singing Christmas Carol kick that was really fun. And Dirty Santa was fun as always. The younger neices and nephews all loved their Hard Rock Rome stuff and thought it was really neat.

OK, I'm off to do whatever I want to do...haven't decided yet what that is...what a wonderful feeling!

Great News!

We found cheap airline tickets at the last minute so John and Laura will be flying to Memphis this weekend after all to go to Corinth with us...much cheaper than Tim could fly up in his plane to get them anyway and they might even get here in time for Carrie's wedding! HOOOOOORAAAAAY!

P.S. John got a job interview in Maryland. Can't remember the college name, but he's excited.
and Tim has been laughing at me since my last post because I spelled Check Republic wrong...I still don't know how to spell Check Republic correctly, but you know what I mean anyway...

Sad But Understanding

I talked to Laura yesterday. She and John have decided that they are not coming to Corinth next weekend for Christmas with my famiy. That makes me very sad; however, I do understand why. Laura does and always has hated to fly in the little plane and the fact that Tim was going to have to go get them on Saturday morning and then take them back on Sunday was a little more that she is willing to face. A 9 hour drive one way is a bit much also so I guess we'll just have to wait to see them at the real Christmas holiday but it will be sad without them next weekend. John has sent out resumes to about 30 different places so maybe they'll end up someplace closer to here or in Europe...who knows? He's a bit discouraged teaching undergraduate students who are required to take his classes to graduate - not because it is what they choose to take and they don't take a whole of of interest in them other than gettng enough out of them to pass. He's been teaching graduate classes until now where the students were there because they wanted to be and it makes a big difference in their interest level.

Carrie Beth Frederick is getting married on Friday night so I don't know if we'll fly down to Corinth after the wedding or if we'll just get up and go Saturday morning. Tim wants to be back here for Sunday morning service and I want to go in Cointh with my family, so I may drive and he might fly. He's in the middle of doing a painting a little at a time (you can see the final result at artist-tim.blogspot.com (it's in several posts back) each week to do something diferent while we are looking for a new preacher to keep things interesting. But we planned our family Christmas for that weekend last year at Christmas so we wouldn't interfer with any other in-law's Chritmas plans and I intend to be there for as much of the festivities as I can, but of course, I can't miss Carrie's wedding - she's one of my children (I just don't have to pay for the wedding, thank heavens!)

When I got home from Italy, Tim had gotten me a new computer. Mine had been in the Apple store for 21 days and they called and said they couldn't get the part they needed so they would sell him one for what the repair bill was going to be. He took them up on the offer. Then soon after I got home, he started talking about giving his mothr his old computer and teaching her how to do e-mail on it and getting himself a new one like mine. Before long, he'd gone to the Apple store and done just that. Now I just hope she really will use it! I told him that he had used the principle of gettng forgiveness rather than asking permission on purchasing a lot of things including cars, the second aiplane he bought, and now this computer. He's been looking at new airplanes, but I told him that principle WOULD NOT work on another airplane and if he decided that he was going to do that he had better be reday to pay a high, high, high, high price. I've been telling Leslie (whose daughter is going to be a missionary in Togo) and Judy Shockley (whose daughter is a missionary in the Check Republic) to get their passports ready becuase if Tim shows up with a new airplaine, we're going to Togo and Check Republic and anywhere we want to go in between on his credit card! I think that might hold him in check for a while anyway.

Pray for me while I try to study for my Marriage and Family therapy boards and get my teaching materials ready for Ghana at the same time and see clients. I can ususlly multitask pretty well, but I'm not being very succesful at it here during the holidays! Too many places to go, people to see, and fun to be had!

Reagan and Gene are off!

I took Reagan and Gene to the airport last night. I was so excited to get to do that! I told Gene that we were old enough that we had earned the right to hail a taxi whenever we wanted to...just to be sure it was a real taxi and not one of those scammers who meet you inside the train station or airport and charge you double. He grinned his little Gene grin and agreed. Reagan was going to try to upgrade her ticket to sit with him in business class. I hope she was able to do that. It won't be long now until they are all back together as a family. HOORAY! Have a wonderful Christmas Holiday, Weavers, in Italy!

I've got to get my personal Christmas Card list finished today or they won't get mailed. Hope I can get that done!

I'm going to get my roots done in a little bit and I don't have a client until 5:00 this afternoon, so I should be able to have time IF I don't use all day playing on the computer (the Christmas card list)...

Tonight we have the elders and staff Christmas dinner to go to at church and then tomorrow night we have our annual group dinner that we'ver been doing since before we had children so that's been at least 27 or 28 years.

Happy Holidyas to all!

More Italy photos

The look on Vivian's face very time the train went through a tunnel.
Sunflower table clothes for Diana.

The oldest area in Italy (I think).

One little tidbit

This is the size diamond that I am gong to replace mine with if I ever loose it again (hehehe). Actually it was a doorknob on a shop in Capri.
The nail polish I wore in Italy was called "Marvoleous Memories" and we certainly did make a bunch of them!

one more thing about Italy

Being in Italy this time with Beckie was like being in England with Katie (Reagan's friend) in England in 1996(? - could it have been that long ago?)...Katie made us walk up and down every set up steps in London as many times as she possibly could...well, this time in Italy, Beckie found a way to make up walk UP HILL BOTH WAYS any time it was possible and I had the best time giving her a hard time about that! But since she let me reward myself with gelato and cappacino every day, I couldn't complain too much and she let me sit down to eat almost all of my meals instead of eating on the run. That was wonderful and relaxing!

Italy among other things

After a long flight to Amsterdam (on which I took a sleeping pill and slept all the way and I made Vivian take one, too, so she would not go crazy on the plane), Vivian and I had almost a whole day to wander around there. Trouble is, we didn't stop and get a map so we ended up spending a great deal of our day in the red light district. That as quite interesting. I dared Vivian to take photos of the ladies in the windows, but she wouldn't do it. When we got to Rome, we took a taxi to our hotel. Don't ever get in one of those cars where the guy comes up and tells you he is a taxi. He quoted us 20 euro to take us to the hotel and when we go in the real taxi line, it only took about 7 euro to get there. Beckie wasn't there yet and we were a bit worried, but she did finnally show up - she'd taken the wrong train! We spend two busy days there seeing all the things Vivian had missed on her one whirlwind day trip there in the summer of 2000. We managed to make it through will all our wits and wallets. On one city bus the man standing right behind us had his wallet stolen out of his camera case while we were all there. I think that he just put it in the camera case and the thief saw him do it. On Thanksgiving day, we ate dinner at the Hard Rock with a girl from Houston that Viv had talked to in the Amsterdam airport while we were waiting for our plane. She was traveling by herself and we just happened to run into her there. That was kind of neat.

Beckie did discover that she had been the victim of a theft while she was in Rome but it did not happen in Rome. Starting about four days before, she could not get my ATM/VISA card to work in any of the machines. They kept saying that her bank wanted them to confiscate my card but it gave the card back anyway. She called Reagan and asked her to run by the bank (since she used to work there) and see what was wrong...it seems that she was victim to the card fraud that has been going around Searcy. She am not sure how they got her information since she hadn't used that card in Searcy since September but someone was using it in MEXICO. They used it at a Burger King, Walmart and an ATM. The bank shut it down before it could be used anymore. The bank also has replaced all the money they stole.

Now, back to the trip. After Rome we took an overnight train to Taormina in Sicily and spend the day in that beautiful town. We went back to Messina and had to spend the night there because all the trains back north were full. That is a town were EVERBODY goes down to the main piazza on Saturday night and walks around or drives around. I have never seen anything like it! People, young and old, were everywhere walking around - kind f like at the fair! Next morning we took a ferry to Reggio di Calibria and strolled around there until time for our train to Naples. At the train station in Reggio di Calibria Vivian and Beckie were waiting for me to finish some necessary business when all these police started pouring into the station. They first thought it had to do with the fire was billowing smoke out of an office building but then a police officer came up and asked them why were out by the train tracks. When they showed him their tickets he said in a very serious voice that it was "dangerous" for them to stand there and he moved them back into a little hallway. They told him that their friend was still in a room down the outside of the building but he didn't quite understand. In about a minute a group of either soccer players or fans came trouping through the train station and the police made them walk between two lines of poilice officers until they got on the train. Right then, I came walking out of the restroom and walked right behind the police line and never knew anything was out of the ordinary. I wondered what was going on, but I just walked through them all like I knew what I was doing until i got to the hallway were Viv and Beck were and they jerked me in there with them and told me what was going on.

We spent the night in Naples and first thing the next morning went to Sorrento. I love Sorrento. It is a beautiful little town known for it's inlaid wood products. We found a great hotel near the station and roamed all through the town. The next day we took the ferry over to Capri. The views were wonderful but many of the shops have closed for the season. We decided not to take the bus or a taxi up to Anacapri because Vivian is so prone to motion sickness. I was afraid that she would be up there and not able to get down!

After two nights in Sorrento we headed back to Rome for Viv and me to catch an early morning flight home. Beckie went back to Firenze to get ready for the next round of company. It was a wonderul trip and if I can figure out how to put some photos on here, I will!

Last night, Tim didn't pan anything for my first ngiht home, thank the Lord, but Firday night, we went to see Grease at Arlington High School. It was great. Ed Riddick, the chorus director, played Teen Angel and he was awesome! I saw Bill and Jessica Ganue there and it was fun talking to them, too.

Tonight, the praise team Christmas party is here. You know how Tim was supposed to have the Christmas tree up...well he did have it up but not one ornament on it so I've gotta go get that done!

This has been a nice weekend. Wil, my nephew, who is a sophmore at Harding this semester came to spend the first weeekend of his Thanksgiving break with us and we've enjoyed haivng him here. He has a bad cough and cold, so we've not done much but sit around and talk and play on computers and rest. We did go to see the new 007 movie today, Casino Royale, which Tim says is the prequel to the rest of the James Bond movies. It was typical James Bond. I've kind of got a little sore throat myself and it has got to go away BEFORE Tuesday night! I need to feel great to go to Italy! We're going to first service in the morning. Tim's going to sing and then we'll eat and Wil can be on his way home. His car is having trouble, so he's going to take the Cadalliac with him. Now we are really glad that we haven't sold it yet.

I saw the cutest little boy this week as a new client. I am really looking forward to working with him. Makes me know why I wanted to go back to schoool and get this degree and why I am studying to pass those MFT Boards! I really love working with my clients - now if I could just get my timing right so that I could hold my sessions to 50 minutes to an hour...I really have a hard time stopping on time if we are having good conversation!

Well, it's about time for bed, so I'll sign off. Hope all the rest of you had a nice, relaxing weekend, too!

My birthday passed and I'm still here

Well, folks, my birthday passed rather uneventfully. I appreciate all the birthday greetings from everyone on my blog and on facebook and the cards and calls, too. 55 doesn't feel a bit different from 54, but it was kind of funny yesterday when one little girl came into the office and said, "MS Tammie, you look the same every time I come in here." She was speaking of the "travelers" clothes that I always wear that are so comfortable and so wrinkle free. My last client of the day, a middle aged man, said ,"Something looks differnt about you today." After a while, he said, "Oh, I know...you look a year older..." How he could have remember my birthday I have no idea...he's got a better memory than me! The first time I saw him several months ago and he told me his birthday. I told him that mine was not far from his and mentioned the date and he remembered!

My computer has been in the shop for over two weeks and I am having bad withdrawal. I have to use one of the office computers when no one is on it or Tim's (which I hate to use!). I am so ready to get mine back!

Vivian and I leave in 6 days for Rome to see Beckie. I'm ready! Gelato every day! HOORAY!!!

I spent last Saturday in Corinth with Mama and Papa Mutt and Diana and Robin and his family. It was fun to be with them for a while. I even got to show Judith how to set up her facebook account...now that was a real turn about for ME to be able to show a teenager something about a computer!

I saw Jennifer Parker, Ronnie's wife, in the Tim's office yesterday. We had a good little visit. I did not realize that Ronnie had had surgery on his throat to remove a tumor or growth or something; however, except for not beng able to talk for a few weeks, he is ok. I am grateful for that. She says it wold be ok if he couldn't talk for a little longer...He doesn't ever tell her any of the news I tell him when I see him anyway. I think I need to have him in for a little communication counseling (HA! HA! HA!).

Pray for Tim while I'm gone. He has to put up the Christmas tree by himself. I'm not sure he's ever done that before in our 32 years of marriage. We're having the praise team over for thier Christmas Party two days after I get back from Italy. Could be really interesting!

Almost my birthday

It is 10 days until my birthday and as I think about approaching my 55th year, I remember my many friends and family and fond memeories that have made these years so wonderful. I think of all the times in college that I got thrown into the lilly pool, which will soon become the Kenneth Davis Jr. Memorial Pool, on my birthday and ice formed on my pants before I could get back to the dorm. I think of all the times we had fun playing football at turtle field. I think of eating in Pattie Cobb and the Heritage (and those kids think they have it bad now-what a joke!) I think of fun trips to Cooter(and riding the ferry) and Steele and Pensacola and Tallahassee and Corsicanna and even Indianola and Dallas to the Cotton Bowl. I think of the wonderful group who came to be in my wedding and sing at my wedding whom people in Indianola talked about for years afterwards because it was the first time some of them had ever heard beautiful accapella music. I think about Tim's being in dental school and the Gillespies and Allens and Tuckers who took turns having us over to eat or taking us out so we wouldn't starve and teaching Jeff Montgomery when he was a little kid and now he's got 5 of his own and Alan who has only 2 (I think) and Kelly who has 4! I think about the birth of my children and all the wonderful friends here in Memphis at Sycamore View who loved us and took care of us. I think of the trying times with our children as well as the triumphs and how so many were and still are here to support and pray and cheer us on. I thank God for you all everyday! Some of these friends and family members are there through thick and thin...Some are younger...some are older...some pick you up...some put you down...some were Joe Cool in college and now they are Mr. Annoynomus who can only say "Wish you well." Just wait till I see you again Mr. Joe Cool...See if I stand up for you in front of all those ladies at the office and tell them how all the girls chased you in college and panted after your every move except the four of us who were smart enough to be your best friends - the sweet suite! Of course, you know I will because in spite of your little game, I love you anyway and always will!

Big Revelation

We just returned from Chicago to learn that Jesus is coming soon! That's right...you read it here first...Jesus is coming soon! Curt Sparks told me that his contract with Sycamore View was "until Jesus comes" and today while Tim and I were in Chicago, i hear that he announced that he and Nedra (yes, he's taking her with him and she just started a new job at HUGSR!) will be moving to Kansas City in January, so I guess that means you'd better get ready because if Curt was telling the truth about his contract, then Jesus will be coming in January! I have not yet had the opportunity to speak to Curt personally, but I will...I might have to twist his arm and make him promise to send me a hand craved Santa very year from now until "Jesus comes"; I'm not sure that I can trust him on that particular statement anymore. We'll have to work something out...At least when we go to visit John and Laura in Kansas City, we'll have a church we know we want to go visit!

Now back to our Chicago trip. We really enjoyed it. I got lots of studying done. Tim got lots of networking done. It was decided that the 2008 Southern District ADID Meeting will be in Atlanta. That was not my first choice, but they didin't ask me. Tim will be the president then so I will have to get out of my room and be nice to the other wives.

We went to see two Broadway shows. On Friday night, we saw "Piriate Queen" and on Saturday night, we saw "Altar Boyz."
The music in both was fantastic. The story in Piriate Queen was happy and sad and then it had a happy ending so, of course, I loved that. the "Altar Boyz" had great voices and the whole thing was sadly about the insecerity and way we "go through the motions" of church too often without really worshipping as we really should be. We wanted to see "Wicked" but it was sold out. We also enjoyed having Showtime in our room so we could just watch movies...you know how we love movies and some good ones just happened to be on when we were in the room. That was a serendipity.

We got home tonight and are enjoying sitting around doing a little of nothing...We ended up not getting to go to Harding homeconing and we really hated that! Tim had a meeting that he really needed to go to on Saturday at noon and the weather was not supposed to be good Saturday afternoon to fly so we just decided to stay. We really enjoyed out extra time togethrer, but we really missed seeing all our friends! We were especially sad today to read that Dr. Joe Pryor had died. He was a great man who had such a godly influence on the lives of so many people! May God comfort his family.

Sitting in Chicago

Well, here I sit in the Sheraton in Chicago...a very nice hotel and outside it is cold and rainy and yucky...I have gotten a lot of studying done at least yesterday morning and then in the afternoon Tim came and got me and we walked on a wild goose chase to find this wonderful area full of art galleries. The sun was shining and it was beautiful, but it was cold, so after walking about two hours and not finding any art galleries open (they were all open by appointment only) we headed for Starbucks to get warm and use the computer. We went to the third Starbucks before we found one that had internet access! (I thought they all had it!) Today, Tim had a luncheon to go to and considering the weather, I have stayed in my nightie in the hotel room studying all day, ordering room service for lunch and now finally giving in and paying for a day of internet service to the hotel. Neither of us was very smart when we left home. Obviously, we were both just ready to get away because neither of us brought warm clothes. Tim does have his fishing jacket and I do have some "Traveler's" from Chicos that I can layer but nothing to keep the rain out. I WILL plan better when I go to Italy!

Food for thought

I have been having this interesting discussion with John and Laura on their blog (hackerwright.blogspot.com). This morning in my quiet time I ran across this thought and I decided I needed to share it with everyone instead of just them. Makes you think...

"To believe in something not yet proved and to underwrite it with our lives; it is the only way we can leave the future open." Lillian Smith

There once was a woman who experienced a dream about jumping off a cliff. As she jumped with fear, she was suddenly aware of a wonderful floating feeling. She opened her eyes and found that her skirt had become her parachute. She was safely floating comfortably.

"leaving the future open" may be one of the most important commitments we make with our lives. Believing in something not yet proved may just be believing in ourselves.

We never know what will make good parachutes. When one is leaving the future open, it helps to know that there are parachutes not of our making in our lives.

For Christians, I believe that the parachute is our Lord Jesus Christ and the Scripture that was inspired by the Hand of God and the future that awaits us is a home in heaven in His Glorious Presence. However, this is something that I must choose to believe. For some scholars, they can work it out, or at least part of it with with history and archeology, and such, but for me...it's mostly just faith. I choose to believe. That way, I have the best possible life here on this earth with wonderful Christian friends who love and support me like a family...I can call on any one of them to help me when I am in need or when I am celebrating and when I die, heaven is waiting for me. If I'm wrong about all of this BUT I REALLY DON'T THINK I AM WRONG, and there is no life after this one, then I've had a great life on this earth anyway!

Thank you, God, for all of my Christian friends (you know who you are...I couldn't begin to name you all!) and for giving me your Holy Word as a road map of how to have the best possible life here on this earth and to tell me how to get to heaven!

The Revel

We had a great time at The Revel with Carol and Charley and James and Laurel. There were beautiful crafts and jewelry and artwork of every kind. Tim really had fun talking to all the artists and gathering their cards so he could send them invitations to the next National Art Exhibition sponsored by the Memphis Germantown Art League and looking for judges for their shows.

Carol and Charley have a beautiful new house for which Carol was the contractor. I don't know how she did it. It would have made me absolutely crazy but she loved it and the house turned out great. Charley says if she ever wants to build another house she can do it with her new husband. We really enjoyed being with Laurel and James, too. Tim and Laurel spent quiet a bit of time painting together and James is really into music now. On Sunday we ate lunch with Charley's mom and dad. It was really good to see them again. I downloaded photos from Tim's camera directly onto facebook and I don't know how to get them onto this blog from there.

It was a great weekend.

Finally Vivian Photos

These are various photos of Vivian with her hair in crazy ways before the hair cut and photos of her and her principal and two other teachers who all shaved their heads as a result of the challenge to raise money for Caleb. She also sent me a newspaper article. It says that Caleb said from his hospital room, "At least they won't have a bad hair day now." I'm proud to call Vivian my friend! Her students; however, are not very happy with her because her hair grows so fast, they already can't see her scalp anymore!

Addendem to Zoe

We flew in Friday night and spent the night with Cathy and Scott and Noah. We had a great visit with them and enjoyed it so much. Thanks, Cathy, for providing us with transportation and a bed and breakfast and such a good visit!

Zoe Confernece

We had a great time at the Zoe Conference. We was a great time of worship and praise. I attended the break out sessions by Rhonda Lowry, wife of the Lipscomb president, and it was a great lesson on grace. She used the prodigal son as the basis for her lesson. She also sent us out to meditate for 30 minutes...I find that very hard to do...to be still and quiet and not let my mind think but try to listen for the voice of God (not speaking out loud to me, but in my heart). Thirty minutes is a long time for me to be still and quiet without going to sleep! But I made it. Randy Gill spoke on Saturday night. He did a great job, too. We got to see so many friends that we haven't seen in a long time. I am going to try to post some of the photos here, but Tim is not here to help me so I don't know that I can do it by myself. I did get them off the camera and onto my desk top but I'm not sure how to get them onto this blog spot.

Well, I've spent about twenty minutes trying to get the photos on here with no success, so I'll wait til tonight and get Tim to help me, but we saw Janet Johns Bowers, Lwana Case Gill, Ken and Crystal Delano, Shannon Cooper and his cute little wife, Alita Gable and Travis and his cute little wife, Andee and Jimmy Cone, as well as several who were there from Sycamore View and two or three who came up and said they knew us from Harding days but, of course, we didn't have you, Beckie to be our brain for us and neither Tim nor I could remember who they were. I think I'm not going to do so well at homecoming this year without you, Rebecca Jane...

Laura left yesterday to go on a camping trip with her school with her new job. She is working with a Kansas City Environmental School that has a camping trip once in the fall and once in the spring. She is responsible for the fundraising in the whole school and planning all the field trips and when she's not doing that, she will be assisting the science teacher. I think she will enjoy it. I also think it is ironic because it is just the kind of thing I would have done at her age and I did do for her and Joe all through their school years when she used to tell me that she was never going to be like me but as she reminded me yesterday-she is getting paid to do it and I never got a pay check, but I did get paid with lots of hugs and thank yous from the teachers and the children.

Have a good day!