Arkansas Brass

Chris started a blog for his quintet last weekend. Check out what's going on with the Arkansas Brass!

Graduation Day

Mother's Day couldn't have been any better. We were in Arlington for Nick's graduation from the University of Texas at Arlington. We're so incredibly proud of him - especially for his perseverence to complete his degree in music education. Now for the fun part - finding that first job!

The weekend was great. Natalie and Brandon got to Paris on Thursday and took care of some wedding stuff on Friday morning before going to Frisco. They shopped at Sam Moon and Stonebriar and the surrounding shopping centers until Nick met them to drop off Ethan. Nick and Angela had a some things to do Friday night and Saturday night, so we volunteered to keep Ethan for them. Nat and Brandon did well driving home with Ethan...or should I say that Ethan did well in the car with them. Anyway, they made it in safe and sound. It certainly got fun around here pretty quick!

Nat and I took Ethan to the Paris Art Fair on Saturday morning. What fun! His first order of business was the inflatables. He climbed almost to the top of the big slide before the older kids crowded him which scared him. Aunt Natalie to the rescue! She climbed the ladder and took Ethan down a couple of times. He loved it. Next was the bounce house. We were sure Ethan would have a big time, but when a well-meaning dad latched the "door," Ethan got scared and wanted out. No problem...there was still lots to do. He rode in a buggy pulled by a miniature horse, shot basketballs, picked up ducks, ate a corn dog, and picked out prizes. We also took in some of the art and exhibits in the Civic Center. We had a great time.

Graduation day arrived and we were eager to get to Arlington to see Nick and Angela. My mom met us here and rode with us. Daddy and Evelyn spent the night in Dallas, so they met us in Arlington. Nick found us in front of Texas Hall and gave us our tickets. We got in and got everyone upstairs to the balcony so that we'd have a bird's-eye view of the stage. Besides, Ethan could roam around without distracting too many people. Nick was all smiles as he and his classmates processed onto the stage. The preliminaries were pretty short, so we didn't have to wait long for Nick to walk across the stage. We clapped and yelled and made sure that Nick could hear how proud we were of him. Chris did a great job capturing Nick's walk across the stage on the camera.

After the ceremony, the whole gang met in the courtyard for pictures and then went to a great Mexican restaurant for dinner. Soon we parted ways - Nick, Angela, and Ethan went to Bedford; Natalie and Brandon went to Marshall; Daddy and Evelyn went to Texarkana; Angela's mom Diane went to Cedar Hill; Chris, Mother and I went to Paris. It was a long day, but it was wonderful.

Here are a couple of pictures of the day. We'll get to do this again next May when Natalie graduates. We can't wait!!

Miss ETBU

Natalie was a contestant in the Miss ETBU pageant this past weekend. Yep, that's what I said. Our Natalie...in a beauty pageant. She was wonderful. She represented Student Foundation, one of the many organizations she's involved in.

The competition included interview with the judging panel on Saturday morning, and then evening gown, talent, and on-stage interview Saturday night. She wore her two favorite prom dresses - the gorgeous black sequined dress for the runway portions and the blue shorter dress for the talent portion. She looked beautiful and did a super job on her clarinet solo and in all of the on-stage competitions. Even though Natalie was definitely the winner in our eyes, she didn't get the crown on stage. Here's the article from the Marshall newspaper.

We celebrated the evening with Nat and Brandon at IHOP, the college students' favorite late-night hang out. We are so proud of Natalie for participating and jumping out there and doing something unexpected.

The pictures of her on stage didn't turn out so well, but I hope you can see how great she looked.

Hospital time again???

What a week! This was one of those weeks that reminded me that I am NOT in charge of my life.

Just after lunch on Tuesday I began to have pain in my abdomen. I left school thinking that going home to my potty would make things better. Two hours later with no relief from the pain, Chris took me to the ER. I continued to writhe in pain until we saw the first doc around 5. Thank God for Demerol! Two x-rays and one CT scan later, the diagnosis is obstructed bowel. The second doc ordered the CT scan which confirmed the diagnosis; doc #1 was certain I was coming down with stomach flu. Anyway, the next thing I know, I have an NG tube, an IV, and a room on the 5th floor. (This is the Reader's Digest version of the story; I didn't get to the room until midnight.) The best guess is that the obstruction was caused by scar tissue left from a surgery almost 15 years ago. Who would have thought that it would cause problems so many years later.

Wednesday was a miserable day. The tube and the general yuk involved with it were awful. The pain was gone, and the tube did its job of clearing the obstruction. Obviously, I couldn't have any food or even water until the tube came out. The tube finally was removed Thursday morning, but I still needed IV antibiotics and other meds until Friday morning. I finally got to come home late Friday morning. Sleeping in my bed last night was heavenly!

Chris has been a prince. He felt so helpless on Tuesday, but he got help for me as quickly as he could, let me squeeze his hand just like I did when Nick was born, packed a bag for me by following my drug-induced instructions, called my absence in for me, and even called my professor to let him know that I wouldn't make it to class Wednesday night. He got supper for me from Magel's last night, and today he made breakfast and went to the grocery store and fixed the light in the kitchen. What a guy! He truly is the best husband in the whole world.

I haven't ventured far from the sofa and my easy chair all day today. I was hoping for more energy by now, but it's just not here yet. I plan to try to get out and do as much as I can tomorrow so that I can get back to work on Monday.

So...what can I do to prevent a recurrence of this experience? Eat healthy foods, drink lots of water, watch how I eat and how much I eat, and keep everything moving.

The bottom line, though, is that we never know what's around the next corner. It doesn't matter if it's a sudden health problem or an accident or an unexpected blessing. God is totally in control, and He uses every experience we have to teach us something either about Him or about ourselves. The best we can do is acknowledge His sovereignty and thank Him for getting us through. This experience has certainly taught me that I can't ever take my health for granted and that I have to slow down and take much better care of myself.

Old Friends

I had the chance to see an old friend last week - one that I hadn't seen in at least 13 years. Chris's quintet had a concert at a small university in central Arkansas in the same town where my friend Debbie lives. As soon as I found out about the concert, I started making plans to go with Chris so that I could see Debbie. We had a great time talking and laughing and catching up with one another.

Debbie and I met at library school at UCA in 1992, and we immediately became fast friends. We couldn't believe it had been 13 years since we had seen each other; it felt more like just a few months. We picked up right where we left off and we talked and talked for a couple of hours. Her sweet husband hung in there with us most of the night. We talked about our schools and our libraries and about our families and our grandchildren.

It's amazing how our lives have taken almost parallel paths. We're both school librarians, and we're both finishing our administration certification. There are pages on her library website that are almost mirror images of some of my pages. She has more grandchildren than I do, but we both enjoy the wonder of havinging those little ones in our lives.

I hope it's not another 13 years before we see each other again. We had a great visit which left me wishing we lived closer. Chris and I didn't get home until 2:30 that night, but it was certainly worth it.

Welcome to 2008

Happy New Year! I hope that your 2008 is everything you want it to be. We're thankful to have another year together. Chris and I will celebrate a milestone this year - our 30th anniversary. WOW...amazing, huh?

We rang in the New Year in a pretty boring way. We were awake at midnight watching TV, but that's about all we did. Natalie and Melissa joined the youth group to watch TV and shoot fireworks. Again, nothing special for any of us. We slept in pretty late on New Year's Day and got up just in time to watch the Cotton Bowl Parade, the pre-game, and then the game. Unfortunately, the Razorbacks didn't show up for the game. Bummer.

Natalie went back to school on the 2nd to help get the dorm ready for the semester. One dorm has been closed, so a lot of girls will be moving into her dorm. She'll have a few more girls to be responsible for this semester. There are times that I wish I could be a fly on the wall to watch her in action. She's so mature and so responsible but I don't think she realizes how well she does at things like this. I say that but then I'm reminded of how scatter-brained she can be at times. She called not long after she got back to Marshall and told us that she left several things at home - all of her hanging clothes and her make-up mirror. We met her in Mt. Pleasant last night to make the delivery and have dinner. It's always fun to see her. I miss her when she's not here.

I saw the dr again on Wednesday for my final post-op visit. Everything seems to be healing fine...although kind of slowly. The biggest piece of advice he gave me was no lifting. I'll probably never lift anything over 10 pounds or so. I told my dr. that I really like him, but that I don't want him to have to repair this stuff again. Recovery has been so much slower than I expected, but I've learned the hard way that I have to take better care of myself.

Speaking of which, the new diet starts tomorrow. Today I'm cleaning out the pantry and buying groceries. I've got to start cooking breakfast and healthier meals for dinner. Lunch is mainly salads and chicken or tuna. Yum Yum! And, the exercising starts next week as well. I'm planning to go to a class after school two days a week for an aerobic workout, and I'm going to walk and practice yoga on the other days. See I've put it in writing, so I have to do it! I hope you guys will help keep me accountable! I need to do this for myself as well as to get myself ready for the wedding.

Thanks for stopping by.

Engaged!!!

Yep, Natalie is engaged! All of this happened last week, and I'm just now taking time to blog about it. Ready for the details???

Nat and Brandon met during band rehearsals before the first week of school at ETBU last year. I remember her calling me to tell me that she had a date with a great guy one of the first weekends she was in school. She was incredibly excited about it...more excited than she had been about anything in a while. They continued to date, and spent time with us and with his family in Baytown through their first year at school. It was pretty obvious from the start that Brandon and Natalie had a special relationship, so we weren't at all surprised when Brandon asked for time to talk to Chris and me a couple of months ago. He was incredibly nervous and very sweet when he asked our permission to marry Natalie. It was obvious that he put a lot of prayer and thought into his decision to marry her. The hardest part was keeping it a secret for two months!

Natalie flew to Houston to spend some time with Brandon the week before Christmas. Brandon's plan was to take her to Galveston to spend some time on the beach and then to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Nothing about that was unusual or surprising for Nat. What she didn't know was that he was going to propose on the beach around sunset. How romantic!!! He asked and of course she said yes. I don't think the smile has left her face since Wednesday!

Here's the cool part for us - Not only were Nat and Brandon having dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, but his parents, his sister and her husband, and Chris and I met them at the restaurant. Nat and Brandon got to the restaurant just before we did (our flight was over an hour late), and they were at the door getting ready to go in when we arrived. Nat saw the truck drive up, but she had no idea we were with Brandon's parents. She couldn't believe we were there. It was a great surprise for her, and we were thrilled to be with her on this special night. Dinner was great, and we spent time on the beach taking pictures as Nat and Brandon recreated the whole proposal. It was a wonderful night.