Archive by Author

Some Random Thoughts-Part 4

28 Apr

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 Each Monday evening, Fred and I have dinner with a couple of friends, Pam and Richard.  We had worked with Pam when we were both working at the church.

 

Then we retired from that, and she went on to another position.  I insisted that we should have dinner together one night each week, just to keep up our “social” times.  We have been doing that for many years now.  It’s one of the highlights of our week.

Recently as we were eating and talking, we all began to reminisce about our “early marriage” days.  They were usually filled with some hardship, but looking back on them, they weren’t all that bad.  And filled with lots of fun and love.

I remember telling them about our first apartment in Fort Worth, Texas.  It was part of a six-plex unit, built like a squared-off “U” shape.

 

 

 

The four units on each side were what we called “efficiency” units – essentially three rooms: a kitchen, a bathroom, and one room that was bedroom/living room combination.  Some had a fold-out/sleeper sofa.  Ours had a bed.  It was furnished, sort of.  It had the bed, a small chest-of-drawers, a love seat and one chair.  There was a small space heater in that room.  The kitchen had the stove, refrigerator, table and four chairs.  We had one window in the livingroom/bedroom and the “front” door.  There was a window in the bathroom, and a window and door in the kitchen.

 

Boy! was I skinny! Shows the front door and window

 

It was a good thing we had two windows, as the place was NOT air conditioned! You must understand – we had come from dry humidity New Mexico to VERY humid Texas!  And so, one of the first purchases we made was a 20″ window fan. We could screw it into the window frame in the kitchen, so that we could close the window behind it.  But it was so hot and humid, even at night, in Fort Worth, that we would turn the fan on “exhaust”, open the front window, and let the exhaust fan draw the breeze through the bedroom to the back window. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked.

Credit Google Search and Sears

 

I worked in air conditioned buildings, and Fred went to school in air conditioned buildings.  So it was pretty difficult to come home to no air conditioning and have any kind of comfort. Consequently, when Fred needed to study, we would usually go over to the Seminary library and he would study there. I would take a book and read.

 

Scarborough Hall, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

 

We managed to exist in that environment for the four years we were there.  It certainly made us appreciate any housing we were able to live in that was air conditioned!

I’ve read that the invention of air conditioned houses has been the downfall of people not knowing their neighbors.  I can see how that would happen.  In days-gone-by, in the heat of the evening, people would sit on their front porch and watch the world go by – and their neighbors.  They would wave, and start a conversation.  That just isn’t done much anymore.

But I surely do enjoy my air conditioned house!!

 

 

 

 

 

JUDYJudy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing.
Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.
She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins.
She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Happy Easter 2019

21 Apr

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!  The LORD has risen…. He has risen indeed!!

Glorious morning – the morning our Lord rose from the dead – defeating Satan and death, and providing a way for us all of us to spend eternity with Him! 


The stone is rolled away – from a Lutheran Church in Panama City, Florida, 1975

But He also provided us a way to live successfully in THIS life!  Having troubles?  Look to Jesus:

In this world, you will have trouble,

but TAKE HEART!  I have overcome the world!!

John 16:33

I really love that verse!  Take Heart…I have overcome the world!  No matter what you are going through, if you are God’s child, you can overcome the trouble – and have heaven to look forward to, with Jesus, and all those who have gone before you.  They are keeping an eye out for you, you know.  Oh wow, I can’t wait!

With the situation in the world today, I sometimes despair for our country.  It has changed so much from when I was a child – 


Bill and Judy Lites, in our front yard, 1946



Bill and Judy Lites, with our Daddy, by our back door, 1948


Bill and Judy Lites, clowning around, 1949



The Lites family  – 1952 – in our living room


The Lites family, 1956 – in Aunt Jessie’s house

and from when my children were growing up. It was so innocent in my time. But then there are a couple of verses that I have memorized and praise God with that comfort me:


Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power,

and the glory, and the majesty and the splendor,

for everything in heaven and earth is Yours!

1 Chronicles 29:11

That was King David’s prayer to God, and I claim it regularly.  In addition to all that, I am nearly 78 years old now, and don’t anticipate living a whole lot longer, so perhaps won’t see my beloved country come to ruin.  But I fear for my children, grandchildren, and my new great-grandson.  They will have to bear the brunt of all the world’s woes.  Fortunately, they all know the Lord, and if worse comes to worse, I will see them forever in heaven.

God has made the way for all that to happen. 

I gave a testimony some years ago, in which I said that I firmly believe that if I were the only person in the world, Jesus would have died just for me, so I could be with Him in eternity.  The really wonderful thing is that everyonecan say that same thing!  God loves us that much – He created us to love Him and spend eternity with Him.

Glorious Day – when Jesus rose from the dead! Praise God!  Hallelujah!  

 
 
JUDYJudy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years
 
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing.
Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
 
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.
 
She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins.
She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Some Random Thoughts…3

14 Apr

Sunday Memories

Judy Wills

I really enjoy some of the things that flit through my mind.  Well, most of them.  Most of them are fun, good memories.

And then I will find something that brings my mind into focus on things of God and how He has led my life so thoroughly.

Recently, Fred and I were in Cracker Barrel

Credit Google Search and xilusmale

(one of our favorite places to eat), and they had a sign hanging for purchase that touched my heart.  Here’s a picture of it.  What do you think?  It’s just a simple thing, but the message is so powerful.  

It is a reminder that we are responsible for our actions – and our thoughts and reactions to things that happen to us.  We can make ourselves happy or miserable – and those actions (or reactions) will pro-ject into the remainder of the day.

I had a friend once, many years ago, who grew up in rural America.  Life was hard and work was constant.  She married a military man and they had a young child when I knew her.  She told me that she had discovered her attitude toward the day was reflected in her daughter.  If she was down or mad or sad about the day – then her daughter was the same.  But if she presented a happy face and attitude, her daughter was, as well.  And so, she made the effort to present the happy face every day…even if she didn’t feel like being happy that day.  She wanted a happy day for her daughter.  And by doing so, she made the day happy for the entire family.

Wow! What a concept!  It’s so easy to fall into unhappy times and attitudes. But to actually make the effort to be happy – wow again!  

I’ve been trying to memorize scripture lately.  There is so much in God’s word that lifts me up – all those wonderful promises (I’m told there are well over 900 promises in scripture).  Those are for me and my strengthening and comfort. But recently, my heart has been telling me to find and memorize scriptures that praiseGod!  The Psalms are just bursting with praises to God!! But one of my all-time favorite verses of praise is found in Revelation 4:8 ….

 “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.” 

Isn’t that magnificent?  It’s an easy one to memorize, and is spoken by the angels around the throne of God, over and over.  They never stop saying it.  May I never stop saying it, either.

And so, I can make weeds, or I can make flowers – as can you. The choice is yours

More next week…

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years   Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.   After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.   She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS…2

7 Apr

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

As I stated last week:  There are times when it seems like I have nothing come to mind to write about.  And then I will have some thoughts flit through my mind and then disappear just as quickly.  Sometimes I can grab hold of some of them and put them down on paper – in this case, on the page in the computer.

That happened recently, and here is what I was able to remember – and it had me jumping out of bed and racing to the computer to get my memories down on paper – well, in the computer, anyway:

I was reading a book in bed before I went to sleep, and in the story, the heroine was trying to make friends with a shy horse – probably an abused and mistreated horse.  So she went into the field where other horses approached her asking for a handout, which she gave to them.  She definitely tried NOT to catch the eye of the shy horse. 


Credit Pixabay.com

As I read that, I realized that I had a similar experience once – but not with a horse, with a dog. 

As this memory goes, we were visiting Fred’s parents in San Antonio, Texas.  They always liked to get their walking exercise by going to Eisenhower Park, just west of San Antonio, and walking there. 


Credit Google Search and Eisenhower Park website

Credit Google Search and Eisenhower Park website
Credit Google Search and Eisenhower Park website

We always went with them when we visited. It had some nice trails and hills to walk along.

This one particular morning, there was a man who was walking with four or five greyhounds, on leashes.

Credit Pixabay.com

Because I love most any kind of animal, I stopped and began to pet the dogs…and they just ate up the attention.  However, there was one who hung back, eyeing me cautiously.

Credit Pixabay.com

The man said that all of the greyhounds were rescue dogs, from the racing circuit.  The dog who was hanging back had been mistreated, and was having a difficult time trusting humans.


Credit Pixabay.com

Therefore, I tried to not push myself on that particular dog, all but ignoring her, but making over the other ones.  As I was beginning to work my way away from the dog crowd, I felt one more nudge of a wet doggie nose on my hand.  Looking down, I realized it was the standoff dog that was nosing her way into my space, and wanted her share of the love and attention. So I made sure that I gave her as much love and petting as she could handle.  

Credit Pixabay.com

The man was amazed that she had come to the group – and me – as quickly as she did.

I felt blest to be able to give that one particular dog my full attention and affection.

And by-the-way, in the book, the heroine was able to make friends with the horse, and they had a long, lovely friendship.

More next week…

JUDYJudy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing.
Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.
She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins.
She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Some Random Thoughts…

31 Mar

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 There are times when it seems like nothing comes to my mind to write about.  And then I will have some fleeting thoughts flit through my mind and disappear just as quickly.  Sometimes I can grab hold of some of them and put them down on paper – or in this case, on the page in the computer.

That happened recently, and here is what I grabbed onto:

When our oldest grandson was born and grew from a baby to a little boy, I was pleased to see that he looked like he would have more of the “Wills” side of the family than his father’s side.

 

One of my favorite pictures of a very young Forrest

 

But as he grew into his teen years, I saw him evolving into his father’s features more and more.  Not surprising, and he became a very handsome young man.  I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised – as here is one of my favorite pictures of Forrest with  his father and him, at a very early age.  They could be twins!

 

Brian and Forrest

 

But now Forrest is a grown man, and married to a delightful young lady, they have given us our first great-grandchild! Karen (our firstborn – and Forrest’s mother) and I were discussing Forrest and Silas (Forrest’s son – our great-grandson) not too long ago, and I was trying to determine who I think Silas looks like.  Karen stated that she sees my Fred in Forrest…..and I’m sure my jaw dropped to the floor!  I had never considered that!

 

However, here is a picture I found recently, where I can see the resemblance.  When I saw the picture, my thought was – “there’s Forrest!!”  Amazing.  And here I didn’t think there was any Wills influence in him at all.  Silly me.  What do you think of this comparison?

 

Fred and Karen, 1969 – Karen is 2 years old

Forrest, Alyssa and baby Silas

 

How Silas measures up remains to be seen. Hope Fred and I live long enough to see how that unfolds.

More next week…

 

 

 

JUDYJudy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing.
Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.
She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins.
She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Serendipity-Again

24 Mar

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 I really enjoy those serendipity moments in my life.  As I’ve stated before – I think they are God’s way of giving me a moment of joy from a simple thing.

For instance, one of my favorite things to do when we go to a Disney park, is to notice the things people are wearing.

 

Credit Disney World website

 

Some of the things they wear are completely indescribable…like wearing fur-lined knee-length boots to the park during the height of summer.

Credit Google Search and Ariat website

 

Or even wearing high-heeled shoes to the park –

Credit Google Search and BCB Generation

 

and having to walk those miles throughout the day through the park.  My feet just hurt looking at them!!

Our Karen and her daughter once started counting the little girls in “Elsa” costumes – following the release of the Frozen movie.  I believe the count was upward toward 100!

But at least that’s understandable, since it was a Disney movie!

Credit Google Search and Disney Store

 

Since one of our sons-in–law is from Columbus, Ohio, he is a HUGE Ohio State University football fan.  I mean H-U-G-E!!  Consequently, whenever I see someone wearing a shirt that has the Ohio State logo on it, I enjoy walking up to them and loudly saying “GO BUCKS” to them.

Credit Google Search and Ohio State University website

 

Ohio State’s mascot is a “buckeye.”  Wikipedia states:

 

The Ohio buckeye is the state tree of Ohio, and its name is an original term of endearment for the pioneers on the Ohio frontier…Capt. Daniel Davis of the Ohio Company of Associates, under Gen. Rufus Putnam, traversed the wilderness in the spring of 1788, and began the settlement of Ohio. Davis was said to be the second man ashore at Point Harmar, on April 7, 1788. He declared later that he cut the first tree felled by a settler west of the Ohio River, a “buckeye” tree. Additionally, Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, another founder of that same pioneer city of Marietta, had a tall and commanding presence; he greatly impressed the local Indians, who in admiration dubbed him “Hetuck”, meaning eye of the buck deer, or Big Buckeye.

 Subsequently, “buckeye” came to be used as the nickname and colloquial name for people from the state of Ohio and The Ohio State University’s sports teams. Ohio State adopted “Buckeyes” officially as its nickname in 1950, and it came to be applied to any student or graduate of the university.

 

Recently, while on facebook, an ad popped up for a t-shirt.  When I saw it, I knew I had to have one, so I ordered it, and enjoy wearing it.  Here is a picture of it.

 

Fred and I went to EPCOT last week, and I wore that shirt with my shorts.  While we were walking around, I heard someone say, “NEW MEXICO!”  I stopped in my tracks and faced this young couple.  I stated that yes, I am a New Mexico girl, and grew up in Albuquerque.  The young man stated that he was from Artesia, and his wife was from Hobbs.  I know both of those cities well.  They had just moved to Jacksonville, Florida.  We chatted for a few minutes, and then went on our respective ways.  They were just amazed to find someone from New Mexico in Florida.  I agreed with them.

I just LOVE this stuff!

 

 

JUDYJudy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing.
Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.
She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins.
She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

 

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A Bean is a Bean is a Bean

17 Mar

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 

Funny how things – memories – pop into my mind. Something in this day and time will trigger a memory from years ago.

That happened just recently.

Right after Fred and I married, we moved to Fort Worth, Texas, for Fred to attend the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, intending for him to make his life vocation in Baptist work.

 

The Rotunda, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas

 

A friend of my family’s was a professor at the Seminary at the time.  On a visit to Albuquerque some time before, he had convinced Fred that Southwestern was the best Seminary for him to attend (Fred had thought to go to Golden Gate Seminary in California).

 

1966 – some of the Golden Gate Baptist Seminary campus, Mill Valley, California

 

Therefore, we contacted him and his wife shortly after we arrived in Fort Worth, and they took us on a tour of the city.

He was a product of New Mexico and she was a lovely Georgia Peach.  I don’t remember how they met, but they were a delightful couple.  I must tell you that he had been nearly doubled over with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in his youth, and walked with two canes. My Mother had been his Sunday School teacher and had seen him with the canes.  He had been a guinea pig for Cortizone treatment, and was walking upright by the time he met his wife.  His wife had never seen him doubled over.

That isn’t necessary information for this story, but I think it is interesting.

In any case, he told us a story about one day when he asked his wife if she would cook a pot of beans and cornbread for supper that evening and she agreed, saying that sounded so good to her.  He said he called her throughout the day, and each time she would tell him how wonderful the entire house smelled with the cooking beans.  His mouth was watering, anticipating those pinto beans he had grown up eating.

 

So imagine his surprise when he walked through the door to the house, and didn’t smell anything like he remembered.  Well, East meets West in this story.  He pictured pinto beans and cornbread

 

Credit Google Search and Cracker Barrel

 

and her Southern background pictured a pot of green beans with ham hocks!  And that’s what she had cooked!

 

Credit Google Search and Cracker Barrel

 

He ate the green beans, but was sorely disappointed that he didn’t get those pinto beans he had been looking forward to all day! I don’t remember whether or not she ever learned to make a pot of pinto beans.

I just always get a chuckle out of that story, whenever I think of it.

JUDYJudy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing.
Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.
She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins.
She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

Tags:

Another Surprise! Part 2

10 Mar

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

After we thanked Bob and Aileen for their part in the subterfuge (their meal was paid for by our girls),

 

Bob and Aileen

we piled into two cars and headed up to Sanford, Florida for our next adventure of the day.  It took about one hour to reach the port.  The girls had arranged for us to take a trip on the St. Johns River on an old, paddle-wheel boat.  Fred and I have done this trip several trips with the senior adults from our church, and really enjoy it.  There is live entertainment, and lots of information about the boat as well as the river.

The gentleman who sang for our entertainment did a lot of the “oldie” songs – much to the enjoyment of those of us older ones who were on the cruise.  They recognized those having birthdays (including Fred!), and one gentleman who is a WW2 survivor!  Such an honor to see him.

We like to sail with the St. Johns Rivership Company, and their boat is the Barbara-Lee.  I gleaned from their website:

The only authentic sternwheeler sailing the St. Johns River. Measuring 105 feet from stem to stern, the ship was built in 1986 and was extensively refurbished prior to its inaugural St. Johns cruise in 2012.

Featuring ornate wrought iron railings and massive wooden paddle wheels, the five-story rivership accommodates up to 194 guests, making it ideally suited to host events of varying sizes. Plus, all enclosed decks are climate controlled with air conditioning and heating.

 

Credit Google Search and JP Tours

 

Credit Google Search and Orlando Magazine

 

From Google search I found: 

A paddleboat or paddlewheeler is a ship or boat propelled by one or more paddle wheels driven by an engine. Boats with paddle wheels on the sides are also called sidewheelers, while those with a single wheel on the stern are known as sternwheelers.[This boat has dual wheels on the stern, which allows it to turn around in its own length]

In sunny weather, it is a pleasure to go outside and walk around the decks, observing the river and its wildlife. Unfortunately, this day it was overcast and drizzly.  But that’s okay – we enjoyed the cruise anyway.

And then there is lunch!  It is cooked right there on the boat, and served during the cruise.

Credit Google Search and TicketSpice

And the pre-lunch specialty is their famous sticky buns!  Yummmm.

 

Credit Google Search and Simply Recipes

 

And of course, there is dessert after.  We had a blast!  And even our 12-year-old grand-twins enjoyed their time there.

Here are a couple of pictures we took on that cruise – on the Barbara-Lee.

 

Fred and Judy at the table

The whole gang in front of the Barbara-Lee

 

After that three hour cruise, we went to the resort/condo Tom had reserved and just rested for a few hours.

The rest of the day involved dinner (supper) at Bonefish Grill – one of our favorite places to eat!  Great food…great fellowship…great end to a great day.

 

Credit Google Search and Twitter

 

We said our goodbyes to Karen and her family, as they would be leaving the next day, while we were in church.  Janet and her family spent that day at Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, it was a fairly rainy day – but they enjoyed their time, anyway.  They came back to our house that late afternoon and settled in for the remainder of the day and overnight.

We had some time with them on Monday morning, then Fred took them to the airport following lunch.

It was a very short – but wonderful – weekend. And a birthday to remember!! After all, one doesn’t turn 80 years old very often!

We are thankful the girls wanted to do this for their dad.  He loved every minute of it.

THE END

 

JUDYJudy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing.
Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.
She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins.
She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

 

Tags: ,

Another Surprise!

3 Mar

Sunday MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

 

 

My wonderful, delightful, loving husband turned 80 recently.

 

 

Now that’s a BIG number in years!  I wrote about the surprise party I did for him on his 70thbirthday (please see my post of October 9, 2016 – Surprise – Part 2).  But since both of our daughters and their families had come to Florida for Christmas, I didn’t feel comfortable asking them to come back in February for their Dad’s birthday.

However…both girls started comparing calendars when they were here at Christmas, to see how close they could get to Fred’s birthday and have everyone be here together.  A few days later, Janet called to say that the weekend before his birthday would be the only time both of them could come.

And so the planning started.

Now you must know that it very difficult for me to keep a secret!  I just love to be able to tell juicy tidbits to any and all.  And this would require me to keep the secret for six weeks!  And, in the meantime, Fred informed me that he didn’t want me to plan anything special for his birthday!  I readily agreed – since I wasn’t the one doing all the planning! That worked out well.

In this stage of our life, Fred and I are together a lot.  We are retired from the workplace, and spend a lot of time together.  And we enjoy it.  However, when it comes to stealth, that’s not a good thing.  Just about the only time I could talk to the girls was on Wednesday nights, when Fred was at choir rehearsal.

Janet’s husband, Tom, found a resort condo to rent where both of their families could stay for a couple of nights.  Karen and her family needed to fly back home on Sunday, but Janet and her family would not leave until Monday afternoon.  They stayed with us that Sunday night.

The girls had a full day planned, since the only real day they would all be here together was on that Saturday.  They wanted to start with breakfast at Cracker Barrel.

Credit Google search and Cracker Barrel website

I enlisted the help of a couple from our church, Bob and Aileen, to surprise Fred. They “invited” us to have breakfast with them at Cracker Barrel that morning at 8:00!  Fred was clueless.

 

Bob and Aileen

 

We arrived just after 8:00 a.m. and Aileen was there to greet us and lead us to the table.  Fred was TOTALLY surprised to see his family sitting at the table when we arrived there! Here is a short video that Janet took on her cell phone as we arrived at the table.  You can see the surprise on his face.

 

 

He said later that, if it had been the Saturday after his actual birthday, he might have been suspicious, but since it was the weekend before that, he had no idea what was planned.  There were 11 of us around those tables.

When we told the server that it was Fred’s birthday, she brought out a HUGE piece of Cracker Barrel’s famous Coca Cola Chocolate Cake – topped with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream!  And that was after we had eaten breakfast!!  No one else at the table even wanted one bite of it, so Fred and I polished it off!  Whew!

 

                                     Credit Google Search and Cracker Barrel website

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

JUDYJudy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing.
Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.
She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins.
She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

 

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White Sands

24 Feb

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

Have you ever had the opportunity to “play” in a sand dune?  I remember outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I grew up, were some great sand dunes, and we used to drive there and just spend time romping through the dunes. It was great fun!

However, I remember once when I was working in a multi-storied building downtown that we were able to watch a huge sandstorm blowing from the east into town.  It was blowing a lot of that sand from the dunes – and it was a rather frightening thing to see.

Each of our 50 United States has a state motto. New Mexico’s motto is: The Land of Enchantment.  And then, when you are out in a sand storm, you must be careful not to get any of that “enchantment” in your eyes!

 

 

Perhaps you’ve heard of White Sands, New Mexico? It’s a U.S. National Monument (part of the U.S. National Park Service), and is located between Las Cruces and Alamogordo, in central-southern New Mexico.  It was established as a National Monument in 1933.  It’s also near Holloman AFB.

 

Credit Google Search and National Park Service

 

On March 30, 1982, the space shuttle Columbia landed at the White Sands Missile Range, after being diverted from Edwards AFB in California.  Bad weather at Edwards had made the landing strip there too wet to handle the weight of the shuttle.

 

Space Shuttle Columbia landing at White Sands Missile Range, 1982

Credit Google Search and NASA website

According to Wikipedia:   Its white sands are not composed of quartz, like most desert sands, but of gypsum and calcium sulfate. Unlike other desert sands, it is cool to the touch, due to the high rate of evaporation of surface moisture and the fact that the sands reflect, rather than absorb, the sun’s rays. At 1185 meters [3888 feet] above sea level, there are approximately 442 square kilometers [162 square miles]of dune fields and is known to be the world’s largest surface deposit of gypsum.

 

Do you know the difference between a National Park and a National Monument?  I didn’t for a long time.  Here is an explanation I found online:

According to the National Park Service, “a national park is intended to preserve at least one nationally significant resource, whereas a national monument is usually larger and preserves a variety of nationally significant resources.”

 

If you have ever walked on a “beach” with the brown sand that is associated with beaches everywhere (except Panama City, Florida, whose beaches are white sand), you will remember you had to walk really fast – because the sand was so hot!  Not so with the sands at White Sands National Park.

I remember going with family to White Sands several times in my life.  Here are some pictures I have of the park, I’ve marked the ones I purchased.  The others are of my family.

 

Purchased slide – Battle for vegetation

Purchased slide

Purchased slide

My Granny and her sister – 1959

My Granny holding their dog, Trixie,

Granny’s sister and her husband,

a friend of the family

Granny and Trixie, inspecting the sand

 

This picture on the website caught my attention. The write-up stated:  Moonlight hikes and sunset tours are available throughout the year from the visitor center, so visitors can get a whole new perspective as the light changes.

 

Credit Google Search and White Sands website

 

If you are ever in that area, be sure and give the White Sands National Monument a visit.  It is well worth the time to get THAT sand in your shoes!!

 

 

JUDYJudy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing.
Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.
She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins.
She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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