Cheerleader Has Arrived

Ralph and I are proud to introduce you to our new addition.
Miss Gwendolyn Edith Van Oostrum came into our world on March 1 just after 10: PM
She weighed in at 7 pounds and 9 oz. and is 19 1/2 inches long.
Her proud brother Sam has already fallen in love and her parents, Andy and Molly are doing very well.
Her grandparents are so excited to see her. Unfortunately, she was born 2 weeks early and just two days before her birth, we made reservations (cheap tickets) to go to Portland on the 25th of April, just a week after her due date. We are crazy around here needing the 24th to come quickly.
Her birth ended a wonderful weekend (see previous post) with our other children and grandchildren. An hour after we fell in to bed and zoned, the phone rang with Andy announcing this wonderful new addition to our family. We didn't mind that he called us after midnight and that neither of us could sleep much the rest of the night.
I remember when Andy was at college and would call us at 2 or 3 am just to chat.

As you can see, they are both beautiful. We are so blessed.

Ralph has a new truck. I will just tell you that for the first time in a LONG time, he paid more than $500 for it.




WE had the best weekend! Ralph and I went to Tulsa on Thursday night and stayed with Amy and JT on Friday and helped them pack some things and paint the sun room in preparation to put their house on the market so they can get a larger home. JT did very well at the resturants that we went to. We ate at a very good steak house on Friday night and at the Full Moon on Saturday. Saturday, he just wanted to stay in our laps which was fine with Ralph.




Saturday we drove to Stillwater to check on Allen and his concrete canoe. they were just completing it when we got there. They are putting up a tent to have a mister for the canoe so it will dry slowly. the OSU is part of the canoe- Allen made the mold for the OSU logo. Pretty ingenious.


After Allen got cleaned up, we drove out to the bike track where the Coleman's were riding bikes. We sat in the dust for a while and then took Amanda, Turner, Parker and Allen to dinner at Mexico Joe's. The fahtias were not as good as I remembered them to be that first time we ate there with Andy in the 90's.
We got home at 11:15 and an hour later we got a call from Andy that our baby Gwen was born. A picture to follow..... It was a great weekend.

JT stayed with Grandpa on Feb. 2 while Amy, Amanda and I went to the church for the "Women's Friendship Lunch". At the luncheon, each hostess decorated her table in a different theme. I used my great grandmothers, grandmothers, mothers and my dolls along with Ralph's old marbles and several old story books and blocks and some tin tea cups that were my moms. We were able to raise $1100 for the children's safe house here in Altus. Ralph and JT managed for 6 !/2 hours without us. After the lunch we went and got our nails and toes done.


Our trip to Portland on Jan. 24 through the 29th was very relaxing. We mostly ate out and just relaxed at home. The first night was a bit cold since the furnace had gone out and there was no heat. Portland was quite cold while we were there this time (in the 30's) and there was even a bit of snow. Not enough to play in, but nice to see. We enjoyed a night out with Andy and Molly going to an exclusive restaurant where we ate for 3 and a half hours. Dinner was a ten course meal and I think we had everything you can think of to eat. Andy had rabbit, Molly had roast pig and Ralph and I had rack of Lamb for our main courses. Yummy! And we didn't even go home stuffed. Ralph and Sam got alot of practice going up and down the front steps of the house.

One day we took Sam to a place called OMSI. It is a museum that has a science play area for preschoolers. It was fabulous and Sam knew right where he wanted to go when we got there. He is working in the fishing pool. There are rubber fish and the kids put on rain coats and rubber boots so they don't get wet. There was also a wonderful sand area that they could sift sand and pour and measure. Sam didn't like the texture of the sand so he didn't stay long.
At Christmas time (I am going backwards here), Turner and Parker were playing with the stacking cups. JT kept getting in the middle of their game, so Parker built a "fort" for JT, got him a blue cup from the kitchen like they were playing with and then picked up JT and put him in his fort. JT is crawling and pulling up but not walking yet. He was content to stay in his "fort" and stand and watch the boys. We thought it was quite ingenious of Parker to think of the fort and thoughtful that he got JT his own cup. That is Turner with a sticker on his nose. I think it had to do with a computer thing he was doing. He is a computer wiz!

Betty was here for an overnight visit after Christmas. We enjoyed having she and Deryl stay with us. Lori and Keith stopped in long enough to exchange presents. (Under the wrapping paper is a boy (I can't remember which one. Maybe Nathan.)

Before Christmas, Oklahoma was hit with a terrible ice storm. I just wanted to share the bit of damage we had to the grass in our front yard. Thankfully it is the only damage anyone in our area had. OKC and Tulsa look like a tornado took off all the trees. So sad. The picture of Ralph is with all the Boys on Nov. 2. Across the back is JT, Allen, Andy and Sam and in the front Turner, Ralph, Parker and Nathan. Andy and Sam came to visit the end of Oct. into Nov. Molly was going to come and at the last minute the Dr. wouldn't let her. IT seemed there were some problems with her pregnancy and he didn't want her to travel, but Praise God, she in now back with her regular Dr. and in less than six weeks we will welcome another Van Oostrum into our growing family.


While Andy & Sam were here, we were blessed to all be able to go to an OSU ball game. It was a wonderful fun day. We ate at Hideaway pizza and walked the campus. Sam loved Bullet, the OSU horse that gallops across the field every time OSU made a touchdown. We saw him alot that day, unfortunately OSU lost the game in the last few minutes. Amy and Jimmy were not able to be with us, because Jimmy was in a centennial play at their church that day. We went the next day to see it. He did a great job.



Another group picture of all the boys outside Amanda's new house. JT had his pumpkin picture made while we were at Amanda's. She had just moved into a new house so we were all able to stay together while Andy and Sam were here. They are renting until they can build.
It has been a busy December and January. Filled with family, church and travel. Ralph continues to feel well, he had the thyroid treated again in January, so I am waiting for him to get really tired. He doesn't feel like doing a whole lot right now, but I know it will get worse before better. Hope it won't keep him down too long.
I will have more pictures after I go back and do some editing.
Things I have learned about blogs:
1. you can't edit a picture while you are working on your blog
2. If you try to save a blog before it is published you may never get into it again.
3.The pictures go in at the top not the bottom, so you better put your pictures in from last to first instead of first to last. (I think I said that right)
4. If you are as slow as I am, plan to take an hour or more to make this come together.
5. As careful as I am, I really don't know what it will look like until it is posted. :)
Love to all

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