Christmas In OK

I haven't written for a long time. I thought you might like to see some of the damage from our ice storm here in OK (in case you didn't get it on the news.

I have been so busy these last few weeks with church activities and other things that to post pictures has been almost too much for me to think about. so here is one. We are blessed that Altus did not recieve this kind of damage but half of the state did and as of today there are still thousands without electricity....with another snow storm expected on Sat.
Blessings to all of you. More to come after the 25th.
Love

October (well half of it) with the Van O's

I will warn you that this is lengthy. I have not had time to work on this so there is lots to read!

This is JT the last time we saw him. The bench is a miniature that is why he looks so big. We will see him on Thursday or Friday this week when we go to Edmond for Amanda's fund raiser fall fest. Can't wait. And our Sam will be coming the following week from Oregon to see his grandpa and grandma. We are so blessed!
I don't know how everything got underlined! At least I got the pictures with the commentary!



It has been a very busy month (I think it started in the end of Sept.).
Our church staff went to a workshop at Church of the Resurrection in South Kansas City in early Oct. I was very excited about going, for the cool weather and to see Kansas City as well as the workshop. I had never been there. Well, the weather was not "hot" but it certainly wasn't cool either. You would think going that far north of OK that we would have a bit of relief, but it didn't happen. The church is a mega-church, Methodist, and the largest Methodist church in the US.They had almost 20,000 people for their Christmas services last year. We came away with some good ideas for our ministry. As you can see from the pictures (two of them), the sanctuary is huge with screens and a large stage area. They do worship and do not have performances, and they use traditional worship as well as the contemporary.


We had box lunches and sat out on the grassy area outside for our dinner one night. It was very pleasant, not often am I able to sit outside and be comfortable with the temperature. Dave and Amy enjoyed dinner with me.



During one of the many Dr. appointments in OKC this summer and fall, we were able to go to one of Nathan's football games. He is growing up so much and what an athlete he is! Any sport he has ever played, he has been a natural. He is number 11. He caught passes, made touchdowns and threw passes.

Another week goes by (maybe it was the same one!) Our fall festival at church happened on the 13th because the church calender could not handle another activity on the 27 or 31st. So I spent all week getting ready for that and instead of my Friday and Sat. off, I worked two 12 hour days and was exhausted. Amanda called on that same Saturday afternoon to tell me that Johnny had decided to move the night before to a new home they have rented instead of waiting till after her fall festival on the 27th. She needed her Mother! So on Sunday after church Ralph and I drove up to Edmond to help her move her kitchen things. We are so excited that they are in a larger home.
Their new address is 2005 Del something. The house is 2400 sq feet and is really very nice. The kitchen is as big as their living room and kitchen were before. I don't think they will bounce off the walls though. They have so much stuff in the other house.
That was Sunday (all day) then on Tuesday evening at 5 pm we loaded the two church vans and a pick up and went to San Fernando Mexico on a mission trip. Our travel time was long, we crossed the Mexican border on Wednesday morning at 8 am and still had two hours to drive.


I really don't remember but I think this was San Fernando, when we got to town. But where we went , was very poor and the streets were chalky dust and pot holes. Dogs were everywhere, sleeping in the pot holes and hanging out. The church is very small. We were to have a VBS (Vacation Bible school) and the men were going to repaint the building.
We planned for 200 children-(half in the morning and half in the afternoon thinking they had split days in school) but who would know how it would all pan out? We had 14 children the first morning, then in the afternoon when school was out, with a repeat lesson and crafts, we had 140 children. On Friday morning we had 18 children and in the afternoon session we had 160! We got some good ideas to how to handle the crowds better next time. What a mad house and as much as we tried to organize, the children were so afraid they would miss something (snacks, games, crafts) we couldn't keep them in groups. The language barrier was frustrating even though we had two wonderful women with us who spoke fluent Spanish, the children just didn't trust that we would let them do everything. The kids were friendly, clean, well behaved for the most part and eager to participate.
What I did not anticipate was how ready they were to respond to the Gospel. All 14 children on Thursday morning, over 60 on Thursday afternoon, and over 80 on Friday afternoon invited Jesus to live in their hearts. It was very profound for me. I went thinking that they all had some Bible teaching , but what we discovered was they were all unchurched and didn't know any of the stories, so we had switched to the basic story of salvation and hope. Then 60 or more of the children came to worship on Friday night and were eager for personal prayer. WOW what an awesome God we serve. The scripture that says the fields are ripe for harvest isn't a joke!






We enjoyed a meal down town at PaPa's. Ralph has been telling me for all the years they have been going to San Fernando, how good this place is. There is an open air grill on one side of the dining area, with open air dining in the back of the restaurant, and on the other side of the dining area is a baked potato place that is part of the same restaurant. I was a bit nervous to eat "out" but since Ralph had eaten there over the years, I figured it might be okay. We had our picture made outside after dinner with the owner. He remembered the "gringos" and thanked us for being faithful patrons of the restaurant over the years. The food was very good. As you can
see, David our Sr. Pastor loved the "Co ca".



This is Ralph with the open air taco place. There is an awning over the food prep, but the streets are so dusty, that I don't know how they keep things clean (well, I guess they don't). Below are pictures of the church, the parsonage, the dorm above the parsonage, and Ralph and others working on the painting. The dorm was very nice, with tiled floors, two bathrooms, and an open kitchen. (All of the work that has been done by our Altus guys who have been going down for 5 years working on it.) We were very comfortable by Mexican standards and not bad at all by American standards. The toilet paper rule was a little difficult, but we managed. And the water stopped working on the last morning so we had to have cans of water to dip to flush. :) There is of course no hot water, but that doesn't matter, since the temperatures were in the high 90's if not in the 100's and the humidity had to be 90%. Talk about being hot, I would have been grateful for Kansas City temps. Towels don't dry out and my hair stayed curly the whole time we were there! Now that is a plus!



We left San Fernando on Saturday morning. With three vehicles, we traveled to the border to turn in our paper work. Ralph, Phillip Cox and I waited in line at the border for 2 hours to get through. And I have to say that I was never so happy to see the welcome to the US sign. I really got tired of not being about to do anything except smile and say "no esponole". The other group stayed behind to eat in another Mexican town and shop for a while. We got home at midnight, they got home at 5 AM. They also had trouble getting across the border (wait time) and then had a blow out on one of the vans.


At the US Border!

So this is my story and I am sticking to it!
More in love with Jesus!
Margie

Class of 65 meets again

Well, Margie got social. Steve Doughty on the bottom right and his "significant other" will be getting married in Nov. We visited together on Saturday afternoon about the wedding (I will be officiating). He had called on Thursday to confirm the appointment and he invited Ralph and I to come to dinner at Val's Saturday night with several of our "classmates", so we had a mini reunion on Saturday night. Ralph and I graduated with Betty Bullard Sousa (front in the blue), Jo Anna Garvin (homecoming queen in front center , Steve Doughty (class of 65 President) back row: me, Ralph, Sid (high school name: Mike) Willis, Carol Creed (also in our class and is dating Sid) and Steve's better half Dianna. We had a great time together laughing and remembering. Jo Anna came from AZ to see Steve and Betty (and her husband Dennis- orange shirt) traveled down from Elk City, Carol lives in OKC and Sid lives here and is a city councilman. It was funny to listen to us Baby boomers talk about being "on the dark side" now, and retirement. They sure do look old. (Except me and Ralph) Do we really look as old as we are? Man where has the time gone.

I can't help but think it is too bad that I have waited so long to "go out" and have fun. Ralph hasn't been able to do much lately so he hasn't been working all the time-thus time to go to Val's. We had a good time as we lingered for 2 hours over dinner and then had the "after glow" out on the side walk for another 30 minutes before we all decided we needed to get to bed.
That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Ralph goes to the Dr. again tomorrow. Hopefully we will come home with thyroid medicine and he will get some energy back. We have a mission trip together to Mexico in three weeks. He will need it.
Love to all
M.

Labor Day

Well, I don't know how to go back and post a saved draft. I think the computer isn't cooperating with me. So I am going to start over. It is terrible to feel so inept with this machine. AHHHHHH

Labor Day weekend was a pretty labor intensive weekend to say the least. Ralph and I painted Andy's old room. We covered the 20 year old stripe- Ralph says the room is now pink- it is orchid and looks pretty nice. This weekend I hope to paint an old door to put up as a head board. We will see how that goes.

We went to Tulsa after church on Sunday to see JT (baby grandson) and Amy and Jimmy. Jimmy and his brother planned to build a deck on the back of their house on Sunday afternoon and Monday. Jimmy Allen and Ralph check out the project on Sunday evening trying to see how it will all work. Since I am also having trouble moving these pictures around you will have to guess which one it is.

Then progress on Monday. The deck is finished by mid afternoon, Jimmy and Billy were exausted, Ralph took it easy but helped some. JT and I just supervised.

The finished product. Almost.

We stopped by Edmond on the way home to see Turner, Parker and Amanda and Johnny. Nathan seems to live in a different neighborhood these days. He wasn't there. But Turner and Parker enjoyed playing in the hose. It was a beautiful weekend. The temp. was moderate and was just one of those OK days that you could actually sit outside without burning to a crisp. Check out the long hair! They make beautiful girls.

This last Wed. Ralph and I took a trip to OKC to see yet another Dr. Ralph will have a pace maker and defibulator "installed" next Friday. I hope it will help with Ralph's energy level. It has been a long summer for us.

Have a blessed weekend.

M

August fun

Amy, JT and I went to AZ to see Roz, who is Amy's best friend. We spent a week in sunny Tucson. The weather was a delightful 110 everyday. Nothing like leaving hot OK to spend a vacation in sunny AZ. I spent lots of time staying out of the great outdoors. Amy and I went to the mall, we went out to eat lunch, Kim and I went to the ice cream shop and had our toes "done".....you get the picture. Amy, JT and I did go to the Sarario forest. I always thought that a forest meant trees. Don't kid yourself. Cactus... (I can't see the forrest for the cactus) We also visited old town Tucson, where John Wayne filmed many of his movies. Hot and dry.

This cactus grows to be over 100 years old. In fact it doesn't get its "arms" until it 100...man am I glad I didn't have to wait that long.

Now I am sorry that the picture is sideways, you'll just have to turn your neck a little to see Amy and JT. (I am still learning. :) We also drove into the mountains on Friday and visited an old copper mine community. It was a balmy 89 there. of course no one had an air conditioner in the mountains so we had a difficult time finding a cool place with the babies while the girls toured the mine. By this time, the battery on my camera was dead so there are no pictures of this pretty community with grass.

On Saturday when we got back from AZ, Amy, Amanda, Ralph and I attended a Girl Scout function in Norman. I received a "Woman of Distinction" Award, along with Jane Ann Jayroe, former Miss America, Sandy Garrett, State Superintendent of Schools, Jeri Askins, Lt. Governor, Trish Weeden, long time State Senator and an author from Duncan, OK. WOW was all I could say. I was so humbled to be in the company of so many wonderful women. It started raining on Sat. evening, remanents of a huricane that fizzled until it got over Kingfisher. Our average rainfall for a year is about 25 inches. We have had over 55 inches already and we haven't even made our Oct. rainy season yet. Flooding has been so bad this year. It's hard to think of OK flooding but it does. Our yard really looks good too.

The last picture is of Allen. Allen and Ralph finally got to take Allen's High School Sr. trip with Ralph. They went to South Carolina, Myrtle Beach and played lots of golf. 7 courses in 5 days. They stayed in a resort right on the ocean with their window overlooking the beach. I stayed home. I don't know much about golf but Ralph said they were real lucky. They found as many balls as they lost.

So maybe next time I can get the text with the pictures. :)

Sleep tight ya'll. God Bless M

Pictures: Molly and Sam at the Fireworks stand

JT at home in Tulsa resting for the afternoon

Ralph and all the boys: lrft to right: Parker, Nathan, Ralph, Sam on the lap, Turner in the back and JT in the car seat.

Sam, Margie and JT in the kitchen. (Sam let me hold him for just a minute!)

A New Day

Good morning friends and family. I am going to try to use this for information about our family. We will see how it works.

Ralph and Allen are gone to Myrtle beach this week for Allen's high school graduation trip. Allen will be a second year Sr. at OSU this fall so I think it is time for his HS gift. They are playing golf. I wish I were there too (not to play golf but just to sit by the ocean water and veg.)However, I have enjoyed the time by myself this week, catching up with some reading and the quiet.

The summer has been a hard summer for us, in a number of ways. Ralph had a small stroke on Memorial day, David was gone to Africa (our Sr. Pastor) for 5 weeks which left me in charge- of course having the organist and the choir director quit just before he left didn't help things. But God is faithful and we got through the month of June without too much termoil. Ralph is still working on getting better. Dr. appointments all summer have not consumed us but have kept us busy.

Molly and Andy are going to have another baby in March. We are so very excited to welcome another Grandchild into our family. Sam their one year old, tried hard to learn to walk while he was at our house for Fireworks. He is delightful, cheerful and good natured. Amy and Jimmy's little 4 month old JT, is growing and becoming a very personable little boy. See pict.s

Hopefully I can keep up and keep everyone informed. My learning curve is a bit steeper than most..:) Fireworks kept us busy- there were some hiccups with that too.