More Birthday Parties & misc stuff

After having a surprise party in CA I didn't expect more.....but. Friday night I thought we were going to dinner with Bobby and Pamella and their girls and our son. She thought the same. We arrived at the restaurant to find three more couples for a total of 13 people. It was a surprise for both of us because Pamella's birthday was today. She is considerably younger than me. Today our LIFE group went out to lunch and had cake to celebrate not only Pamella and my birthdays but two of the men in the group. At least I wasn't the oldest of that group. One of the men turned 85 this month and I think the other fellow is older than me, but I didn't ask and he didn't volunteer. The Mexican food was good and the chocolate cake (from Costco) was delicious. We had enough to send some home with those who wanted some, plus we left some for the waiters at the restuarant.

I subbed today and I will again tomorrow. I am subbing for the aide in the Special Ed primary class. The teacher was absent also and another retired teacher was the sub teacher. We made it through the day, but it did not go quite as smoothly as it would have if the teacher had been there. Hopefully the teacher will be back tomorrow.

Last weekend I was at a church retreat for the women in Casa Grande - between here and Phoenix - about an hours drive. We had a good turnout and the speaker was Rebecca Huey from Phoenix. The topic was The Bride of Christ and talked about the Jewish wedding customs during the time of Christ and how we could relate that to our relationship to Christ. It was only Friday night and Saturday morning and after lunch many of us went shopping. All in all a perfect women's weekend. The food was good too.

The weather is still hot here In Tucson. I am really ready for fall to arrive. I think we get a week or so before it gets cold. If you consider in the 60's cold. When we first came to Tucson almost 4 years ago I saw the following in the local paper. The four seasons of Tucson - Almost summer, Summer. Still Summer and Construction. I guess we are in third season although I think construction is year round.

We've Come A Long Way, Baby

Found this on a baptist preacher's blog. He titled it Women Know Your Place (wink).

Disneyland, Birthday etc.

Our trip to California was wonderful. We spent the night in Blythe on the way over and Gila Bend on the way back. When we were younger we could have driven in in one day - but now we try not to drive over 4-6 hours in one day. Friday night our GA family flew in and we picked them up at LAX. We then drove to Fort Mac Arthur to spend the night in Base housing. When my son said we were staying in San Pedro I couldn't imagine what kind of housing because I have never thought of San Pedro as a pretty city. I was wrong. I didn't get a picture of the base but you can see here. Saturday morning we walked around Pt.Fermin Park. I got this picture of a racoon.



After breakfast on Saturday we rode up the hill to Palos Verdes and visited Wayfarer's Chapel. My uncle Jack (deceased) helped build this famous landmark. Here is a picture I took.



I was worried that we wouldn't have time to visit with my cousin on Saturday because she said she had parties both Saturday and Sunday but she said if we arrived at 1:00 she would have an hour before she had to leave for a party at 2:00. She is a caterer. She hadn't seen my kids in a couple of years. Anyway we got there at 1:00 and the party she had on Saturday was for me. What a surprise! All my cousins and most of their families were there. I think I cried for ten minutes. It was truly a surprise.

On Sunday we went to church at Newland St Church of Christ in Garden Grove. One of my dearest friends who is 88 and still drives to church went to lunch with us and then it was off to Disneyland.



As you can see Disneyland is decorated for Halloween. We got there about 2:00 and the kids stayed until it closed at midnight. Tom and I hung in there until about 8:30 and then took a shuttle back to our hotel where we were staying Sat and Sun nights. Disneyland is always fun. I was actually there in 1955 - the year it opened. It is a lot more fun when it is not so crowded but Sunday it was packed. Harrison (grandson) didn't care at all. He had a ball.

On Monday we took our kids to the airport in Orange County to fly home and we spent one more night with my cousin before taking off for Tucson on Tuesday. She and I got to go to a movie on Monday afternoon - The Jane Austin Book Club - which was very good.

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful biological family. If it wasn't for our church family here at Palo Verde I would be very unhappy not living closer to my family in California. Fortunately we are able to travel to see them and our kids in Georgia.

Exercise and Randy Harris

I'm sure that title got your attention. Tom and I went to exercise this morning after about a two month lapse. I walked on the treadmill and listened to my iPod. Today I was listening to Randy Harris who was the guest speaker at Providence Road Church of Christ in Charlotte NC where Jeff Walling preaches. You can get the podcasts from this website. This sermon was from September 9. Anyway, the sermon was on evangelism and if you've never heard Randy speak he always has some funny stories. In this sermon he was talking about exercise and said he didn't like it and didn't do it. He said partly because of genetics. He said people in his family lived to be 100 but their mind began to go at 70. So he figures if he didn't exercise his mind and body would go at the same time. He also said he didn't know why people resisted going to heaven. He said he would eat his chocolate donuts and see you there. Oh and his points on evangelism were good too. I only walked twenty minutes and finished listening when I got home.

We are leaving Thursday for Orange County, CA. Our kids from GA are meeting us there and we are going to Disneyland to celebrate Harrison's (grandson) and my birthdays. Our birthdays are three days apart - Harrison will be 10 on the 23rd and I will be 65 on the 26th. I am now officially on Medicare and our Y memberships are being paid by our new Health plan - Healthnet. When I got my medicare card in the mail it seemed so funny. I thought only "old" people had medicare cards.