July 2018 Part 2

I (Janet) got a week off from Caregiving and flew to Joplin to spend time with my parents and kids. 

My friend from Nursing School, Phyllis McKibben, came over and we had a wonderful visit on Mother and Daddy's front porch.  It was so good to see Phyllis, as I had missed connecting with her last year when I was in Joplin.

The next day, my friend, Cyndi Smith, came over for a visit.  We have been friends since we moved to Joplin in 1969 (3rd Grade)! 

Later that day, I went over to Tim and Brenda's house and played in the pool with Charissa.  She'd been taking swimming lessons, so she had much skill to demonstrate to Grandma.  It was a hot day, so it was good to be in the pool and cool off!

Felix woke up from his nap and came out to see what we were doing.  He got in his swim clothes and we had a good time playing together, but the photographer got busy elsewhere and didn't capture our fun time.

That evening, I went with Tim and Brenda to Third Thursday, where part of Joplin's Main Street is blocked off for businesses to have booths.  There was a variety of food trucks, so we had supper.  Several people knew Tim and stopped to visit with him.  I took this picture because of them standing in the middle of the intersection to visit.

Before going back to Mother and Daddy's, I read Felix his favorite book about Corduroy's Birthday.

On Friday, my sister Marlene came to visit.  She took us out to eat at Cracker Barrel.  I didn't get any pictures, as I was busy with Felix.  Tim and Brenda had a little anniversary getaway, so I babysat Charissa and Felix for about 24 hours.  Marlene spent the night with us, so we got some of our visiting caught up.

Charissa and Felix having breakfast on Saturday morning.

I took this picture as Daddy was preaching on Sunday.  I probably could've gotten a better one, but I was trying to be unobtrusive in church.

My Daddy and Mother, Rex and Wanda Scoles before we went to church.

An attempted selfie

Felix loves the empty Vicks bottle Grandpa gives him to play with when he arrives at their house.

Tim, Brenda, and Felix at Sunday dinner

Charissa and Felix at Grandpa and Grandma Scoles's house

Before I left on Monday, I babysat while Brenda had a chiropractor appointment.  After she got back, Tim stopped by to say goodbye and I got them all in one picture.

I enjoyed my time in Joplin, being with my parents, sister, friends, kids, and grandkids.  I had good flights with long layovers in Dallas.  My return flight from Dallas was quite delayed and I was so grateful that I had parked my car in the airport parking, because I got home in the wee hours of the night, and I would've hated to disturb Rowen's or Emily's sleep to come and get me.  

Rowen and Emily had a lonely week without me, but they did have a special Friday evening when Jason and Karen and our friend Mikah Litchfield came over for supper and games.

We had Jason and Karen for Sunday dinner on July 29.

That's about it for the "general interest" events in July.  We missed Elizabeth while she was on her missions internship.

Early July 2018

One totally different thing about July was that Elizabeth was gone the entire month.  In fact, she was gone from June 26-August 11!  She did her mission internship starting with a couple weeks in Hobe Sound, Florida, working with Gospel Publishing Mission, and then in Taiwan, using Gospel Publishing Mission materials in three English Bible Camps for children.  That will have to be a separate post.

On July 1, we had Sam and Hannah Kinnamon, Brandon Banzet, and Judy Johnson as guests.  Judy has been in our Care and Connect group at church twice now.  We were so excited to have her over because her life has gotten busy and she is splitting her time between Cincinnati and Indiana.  She got married on July 7th!

 On July 4, Rowen, Janet, and Emily took a drive around the area, going to Augusta, Kentucky and some other little towns along the Ohio River.  We stopped to take a picture by this corn field, commenting to each other, that it was certainly "knee high by the 4th of July," a quote we often said in Colorado.

 Some of the pictures by the river and in Augusta, where we walked around.  Unfortunately, most everything was closed for the holiday.

 It would have been nice to be able to go into the Augusta Welcome Center, but it was closed.

 We walked all over the downtown, doing a self-tour of historic buildings and reading signs about a battle fought there in the Civil War. 

 Then we took a ferry to the Ohio side of the river.  We drove the van on, and then got out and walked around on the ferry.

 This structure behind Emily was what propelled us across the river.

After we had gotten off the ferry.

 We went back and forth several times between Kentucky and Ohio, trying out the different bridges and driving around in the little towns.  This was an interesting looking bridge.

 Another bridge.  This one was at Maysville.

 This was a flood wall by the river.

 We went back across to Ohio to eat our lunch at a picnic area in Aberdeen.  After we ate, we went down to the boat ramp and watched people put their boats into the river.  There was a lot of activity on the river that day.

On the way home, we went to Ulysses S. Grant's birthplace, which was a one room house in Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio.  We have seen the brown historic sign about it ever since we moved here.  When we arrived, we were looking at the sign by the house and a museum volunteer came and said she would open the museum if we wanted a tour!  

This is a replica quilt of the one that was on Grant's parents' bed.  Because it was a quilt, I had to have a picture of it.

The baby quilt and cradle in Grant's birthplace.

Because I have collected blue plates, I took this picture in the display case of the Grant plate.

 Later on that day after we were home...

 July 10 was "Cow Day" at Chick-fil-A.  Our friends, the Harms family, showed up at CFA after Emily had finished her shift...

 so they came by to see Emily after their meal.  Emily had a great time playing with and reading to the kids, while the parents had a nice visit.

 It was so fun to have them stop by!

A really sad thing that happened was the loss of Chuck Weddle from our church congregation.  At the visitation, this rose was on the pew he always sat in.  Thankfully, he was ready to go when he died. He only knew he had cancer for 10 days before he died. We never know how long we have to live.  It is imperative that we live ready to die, knowing we are right with God and can go to heaven.

 We had the O'Donnell family over for Sunday dinner on July 15.  They have lived at God's Bible School and have just bought a home near our church, so have become part of the Burlington Bible Church family recently.

 That evening, our friends from Colorado who now live in Texas, the Vanderfords came to stay at our house for the week while they volunteered at Answers in Genesis VBS.  Another boy was also with them, but not at this moment, so he missed the photo op!

 On July 16, we were privileged to have Heather Albertson, our niece for supper.  Jason and Karen came over to get to see Heather.  We figured we hadn't seen her for 9 years, so we had a lot of catching up to do.

 Everybody told what they were up to.

 Heather teaches in Mongolia, so it was a rare chance to get to see her.