Dear Friends and Loved Ones,
Well, my thought about updating more often was a really good one -- but it didn't take. I guess it's because I'm all wrapped up in Facebook. If you don't have a Facebook account, you don't know what you're missing (he he he he). It's a real time consumer, HOWEVER, you will find friends you forgot you even had. And if they update their status every day, you can really keep tabs on them. 'Nuf about that. We went to the Kissimmee God's Missionary Church the last part of October during their revival with Joe Smith. I know there are a couple preachers by the name of Joe Smith, but this is the one who attended Hobe Sound Bible College late 60's early 70's -- we were classmates. It was a lot of fun meeting them again and catching up on about 40 years of life. We really didn't have time to catch up, but he will be one of the evangelists at the church camp here in Sun City in January, so we may have more of a chance to chat then. Anyway, he and his wife Lois sang for the revival, too, and he plays the guitar. So he and Mark really bonded. Also, the three times we went over to the meeting, we were with our pastor & his wife, and that's always a good time. Can you believe I missed the October and November book discussions at the library? Honestly, I think I need a secretary - or something! It's even on my Yahoo! calendar....but I guess the ticket is, you have to look at your calendar pretty much every day, right? Yeah, I thought that might be the problem.... Anyway, November's book was Water for Elephants and it talked about life in the circus way back years ago when circuses traveled to different cities by train. And to really be a big hit, you needed to have an elephant or two, along with a lot of other very strange attractions. The story was around one guy who joined up as a young man (veterinarian), but now he is in a nursing home. It goes back and forth in the story .... but why do you care about that? I really did want to discuss that book with the group - it was interesting. December's book is Kite Runner, which I've already read for the discussion group in St. Louis -- and I did not care for. Oh well, that's what discussion is all about, eh? We had our first hot dog roast of the season at the parsonage Halloween night. It was not to celebrate Halloween, but it gave a lot of us the chance to be away from our homes and doorbells that evening. About 20 (give or take a couple) showed up and we had a wonderful time. The "dogs" were yummy, the other food was yummy, the marshmallows were yummy - and sooooo much fun to catch ablaze! And the guitar playing and singing around the fire was nice. We were invited for dinner and the evening to Mike & Joanna Smalley's home a couple weeks ago. Mike is a police officer, but hey, he can grill some pretty tasty steaks! I don't know if that comes with the police training or not - but if it has anything to do with it, he's one good cop! They have three great kids, and Joanna knows a ton of people that we know and we spent a lot of time talking about people! ha! What fun! We had a lovely time and are very glad they count us as friends. The next week in church, Mikey (3) was sitting on his grandma's lap and said, "Where's the other grandma?" Put a smile on my face! Revival time again in November -- this time in Orlando. The evangelist was Marshall Smart. We got to attend twice - I had never heard him preach before, but I was not disappointed! He is a wonderful preacher. Mark enjoyed talking about and listening to him play the guitar. M.S. is very good at that, too. Work day at the church was the first Saturday of November, but I had already made plans to go on a Red Hat outing with the Ya Ya Sisters. We drove to a little town, Micanopy ponounced (Mick-ah-NO-pea), where they had the entire Main Street shut down to car traffic, and 200+ craft booths set up. That was really fun - and there were a couple Red Hat booths, too, and I got a fancy band to put around my hat and a couple of hat pins. On the way home we stopped at the Russell Stove outlet. Now there's a place you can shop! You can tell by the name that it has to be good chocolate... And, since I'm a real scrapbooker, I forgot to take my camera again. Would a secretary help with that problem, too? Mark went to work day, and did some work, but for the life of me I can't remember what he told me he did. I know they've been working on getting two more Sunday School rooms ready. And they did some work at the parsonage, too. Pastor Troy Truitt and his family were in Florida for two weeks, compliments of the Make A Wish Foundation. Their little 4-year-old Andrea (who has leukemia) wanted to meet Cinderella, so MAWF made that little dream come true. We spent one day with them at Sea World, which was really nice, and took them out to eat at Olive Garden. That weekend, they came over to Tampa and stayed with us a couple days. They went to church with us on Sunday and Monday we took them to the ocean (gulf) and had so much fun. Luke found a complete sand dollar, Tyler found a teensy crab, and everybody found lots of sea shells, sponges, sea urchins, clams, etc. Baby Alex really explored the sand and seemed to have as great a time as anybody else! What a great family. We miss them so much! Since they've been home, we heard that Luke was very sick with his Juvenile Diabetes issues and Andrea has landed in the hospital with a fever and low blood counts. Please keep this precious family in your prayers.... Oh, and I did get some pictures of this outing. Woo Hoo! Improvement noted..... Before we went to the gulf, we took them to the Italian Wagon (that is owned & operated by our pastor & his wife) and treated everyone to pepperoni pizza. I had been told that I had not had pizza until I had Jay Smalley's pizza.... and you know what? They were right! It was the best pizza I have ever eaten -- no doubt about it! Last Sunday was our Thanksgiving Pot Luck at the church. Talk about some good food -- and desserts! The tables were laden -- and so were we by the time we got finished. Mmmm-Mmmm Good! We are heading for Mark's brother Howard's for Thanksgiving. Four Russell boys together and some of their offspring. Should prove to be a very good time. And, yes, my camera is packed. Sassy will be staying here alone - Wednesday through Saturday. I'm leaving lots of food and lots of water and a nice clean potty box, so she will be fine -- although, she will be one happy kitty cat come Saturday night. She'll either love us to death or give us the cold shoulder for leaving her.... Love you all; Until next time,
Mark 'n Di (see the photo page)
Hey! Back again real soon! Are you impressed? Actually, I'm rather embarrassed, as I left out saying anything about my dear friends in Missouri that I went to see! My scrapbooking buddies are Jan Cobb and Susan Colvin. We worked together for many years, and several years ago discovered our mutual love for scrapbooking and have become best friends! We usually get a condo for our weekends, which Jan and her sister share (a time-share deal), about an hour south of St. Louis. However, it was not available for us this time, so I stayed at Jan's house in O'Fallon, and we scrapbooked there in her basement, where she has everything we need. Jerry, Jan's husband, put up with us a couple of nights, then he went to work on their cabin in the woods -- putting an addition on their cabin for a guest bedroom. Well, on Wednesday night, before I left for STL on Thursday, Susan was rushed to the hospital and had an emergency appendectomy! Jan and I were going to go visit her after dinner Thursday night, but Susan's daughter thought it may be better if we waited until she got home from the hospital and visited her at home. On Friday Susan calls us and says, "I think I can scrapbook...." So her daughters brought her over to Jan's house and took all her "stuff" downstairs, and Susan spent the weekend with us after all. She did get a few pages done, but we urged her to just sit in the recliner and relax and visit. Now folks, let me tell you, we are dedicated scrapbookers! Jan did all the cooking for our weekend -- we all usually take turns fixing meals. So great big kudos to Jan! These weekends are so nice for me -- we all agree we will endeavor to keep our weekends going at least twice a year. Jan and Susan, thank you so much for your friendship!
Hi everyone! Seems like a very long time since I updated......okay so it HAS been a very long time since I updated my news.
