Catch up

Wow! I couldn't hardly believe that it's been almost a month since I posted something. We have been busy. After Brian's graduation we got ready for Thanksgiving. We drove to Lawton, OK. It's about 7 hours from here. It was such a wonderful weekend. They made some good food. John deep fried two turkeys.
I have two brothers. One older, one younger. I have not been close to either of them for some time. Brian and I moved to Texas 10 1/2 years ago from the Chicago area. My younger brother, Bob, still lives there with his family. John moved back to the Chicago area at the same time we moved away. The distance seemed to affect the relationships. The phone calls became less frequent, however unintentional it may have been. John, then rejoined the Army. He is now stationed at Ft Sill in OK. The time spent with my brother John and his wife Lori was good. John married Lori after we moved to Texas, so we've never had a really good chance to know each other. Lori and I went shopping the day after Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time. We did a lot of talking and shopping and just had a fun girl day. I got most of my Christmas shopping done that day. It was such a blessing for me to spend that time with her. The day we left, it started to snow. It was fun to see it again, just glad I don't have to live in it any more. We stopped for the night at my Mom's house in Shepherd, TX. (just south of Livingston) As soon as we got there, I brushed my hair, put on some make-up and went with her to a Christmas ornament exchange with the ladies of her church. That was fun. Some of those ladies are just too much!! We drew numbers and then picked a gift or stole someone else's gift. There were about 30 ladies there. It went on for some time, but oh what fun it was! We spent the night with my parents and on Sunday helped my Mom deck her halls. We put up the tree and decorated it. Since I had helped her, she said she would come to my house and help me with my tree. She came down on Wednesday and we got my tree up and decorated. I think this will be a new tradition with us. It was fun decorating our trees together. We ended the evening with some Mexican food for dinner.
In other news... My oldest son, Brian has proposed to his girlfriend Ashlynn. They plan to be married on May 24, 2008. I am happy for them. They make a good pair. I have from now until then to wrap my brain around the idea of being a "mother-in-law". You never hear good things about a "mother-in-law". I hope to change this with Ashlynn. We have a good friendship so far.
We have joined a new small group at our church. Small group is another name for Bible Study. We do weekly at home bible studies in place of most Sunday school classes. We have gotten into one that really seems to fit us. In previous groups, my husband is usually only one of a couple of men that attend. And he really needed one with more men. Each member of the group has something we can relate with. One mom is starting to home school her boys...been there. Another couple is having real trouble with their son...OH have I been there!! Another has a sibling that will be having a valve replacement on their heart... My niece Ashley has gone through this several times. And yet one more couple has a teenager that has moved in with them and relating with her and her parent...again we've had some teenage boys stay with us when they were having troubles with their parents... Is God all over this or what?!! It has been a blessing to us to get to know these families and to be apart of everything that is going on..good and bad..and to see God work in all situations.
God Bless You
Karen