A Moving Day to Remember...or Forget?

Now Bob and I have always argued back and forth, sometimes he says I am contrary and if he said white I'd say black, if he said good, I'd say bad...I own that I am some contrary, but I'm not alone...and this was back in the day when we argued a lot.

I've always heard about the fights that married couples can have when they are putting up the heating stove, working cattle together, moving.....

Our old house was falling down, well, the floor in the kitchen had a large hole in it that we covered with a piece of plywood, there were 2-3 windows that had been broken out and we had covered with plastic, we had metal cabinets that were getting rusty around the edges, many little things that was making living there unpleasant. 

Did we think about fixing them. Yes, we did, but we were poor, too poor to start to remodel half a house that was built in the 1930s and hadn't been maintained in 20 years. It was just falling down, no doubt about it. 

My mom and dad had lived on the same road, same farm as we did for several years. After Mom passed away, Dad remarried and moved to his new wife's house.  Lynn and her husband lived there for about a year, then they split up and divorced and Lynn met Kelly and married him and moved to Branson.

Well....Dad had remodelled every house he ever lived in, so their house was in pretty good shape. So, we decided to move into that house.

We moved and moved, and I moved a LOT of stuff while Bob was working, so only the big stuff I couldn't handle by myself was left. One thing was the refrigerator. Bob backed our pickup up to the porch. We started to move it and we pushed it through the kitchen door into the living room, no problem. A little bit of shouting and muttering, but we got it through the door and to the front door. Now one thing to understand about Bob and me. We are the tortoise and the hare. Bob is the hare. Bob likes to do everything he does really fast. No thinking about it, or maybe he thinks fast. Me, I'm the tortoise, the slow one. I think fast, but I like to think a lot before I make a move. Like before we moved a refrigerator.

Bob got in front and was pulling the refrigerator out the front door, going backwards, which he hates, and I was pushing from behind the refrigerator, but trying to be careful about not scraping the sides of the door. No careful with Bob, just all out wrassling that fridge out the door. I started hollering slow down a little. Bob said we had to get it right on out and pulled a little harder. I got my hand between the fridge and the door and you can guess what happened. The old door had splinters and nails here and there, and I raked right across one with the back of my hand. Just a scratch really, but it started bleeding.

Did Bob stop and ask if I was okay? No. Did he let me stop and put a bandaid on it? No. Did he even care? Nooooo, we had to get that fridge in the back of the truck. We finally got it situated and was ready to take it a quarter of a mile up the road to the other house. 

I wanted to stand in the back to keep the fridge steady but Bob said no, I wasn't stout enough to keep it from falling out if it started, he would stand in the back and I could drive.

So I got in the pickup and started up the road. Our road is a quarter mile from our house to the house which sat by the highway, and has two 90 degree turns on it. I went slow, so nothing would fall out and Bob could hold on better, but I could hear him hollering to speed up...you know...Bob...faster...

So I sped up a little bit, went around the first curve and started towards the next curve. Bob hollers again to speed up, and so the mean part of me took over and I sped up, I sped up a lot, and took that next 90 degree curve pretty fast. I was trying to throw him out of the back!

You know what Bob was doing when I got to the other house? Laughing at me because I tried to throw him out, LAUGHING!

Well, looking back it was pretty funny although it took me a couple hours to get in a good mood that day!

By the way, I still have a scar on the back of my hand from that scratch, and I show it to him every once in a while and remind him of that day, and we laugh.

Our Family as of 1/1/2024

 This was never in our church newsletter, obviously, just a list of the people in our family. Still working on it.

Robert Kenneth Case----------------------October 15, 1952
Karen Irene (Sloan) Case-----------------November 2, 1955

Bonita Lynn Case----------------------------August 5, 1972
Corey Dale Powell---------------------------May 4, 1976

Jason Dale Crouch--------------------------November 16,1974
Alicia Lorene (Case) Crouch--------------August 2, 1976

David Robert Case--------------------------February 25, 1984
Amy Renae (Teerink) Case----------------April 9, 1987

Timothy Scott Lawson-----------------------April 4, 1989
Julie Michelle (Case) Lawson-------------November 5, 1989

Leighton Kyle Laughlin----------------------December 5, 1992
*Kassidi Lynne (Wilkinson) Laughlin------November 16, 1995

*(kid's momma)

Jessi William Laughlin-----------------------December 20, 1993

Alexis Paige Landis---------------------------February18, 1997

Jared Johnathon Lee--------------------------November 11, 1994
Danielle Renee (Crouch) Lee---------=-----May 15, 1995

Courtney Elizabeth Laughlin----------------April 24, 1997


Hayden Dale Crouch--------------------------May 19, 1998

Kendra  (Brady) Crouch----------------------December  2, 1999 

Brynne Elise Mitchell-------------------------October 16, 1998

Tyler Dale Powell------------------------------February 21, 2000

Ethan Ray Powell------------------------------May 23, 2003

Gavin Wesley Powell-------------------------August 14, 2007

Garrett Scott Lawson--------------------------March 22, 2011

Emmett Bryce Lawson------------------------May 12, 2013

Makenna Mae Lawson------------------------May 12, 2013

Avery Lynne Laughlin--------------------------July 16, 2013

Caiden Briar Lawson---------------------------May 29, 2014

Gideon David Case----------------------------November 27, 2016

Eli Jared Lee------------------------------------November 28, 2016

Leighton Joseph Laughlin---------------------March 7, 2017

Rylan Wesley Lovelace------------------------July 3, 2017

Axel William Laughlin------------------------September 23, 2018

Ben Isaiah Lee----------------------------------May 27, 2019

Millie Rose Case--------------------------------November 14, 2019

Jessa Grace Lee---------------------------------May 12, 2021

Deacon Sloan Case------------------------------July 11, 2022

Clayton Kenneth Laughlin---------------------November 18, 2022

Easton Ray Powell------------------------------December 13, 2022

Lainey Mae Powell------------------------------December 13, 2022

Rinley Rae Lawson------------------------------August 11, 2023







AND NOW....MONTH BY MONTH...so I can find easier!

February 18---Alexis Laughlin

February 21---Tyler Powell
February 25--- David Case

March 7--- LJ Laughlin
March 16--Juanita Shortt
March 22---Garrett Lawson


April 4---Scott Lawson
April 9---Amy Case
April 24--Courtney Laughlin

May 4---Corey Powell
May 8---Scott Collins
May 12---Emmett Lawson
May 12---Makenna Lawson

May 12---Jessa Grace Lee
May 15---Danielle Lee
May 19---Hayden Crouch
May 23---Ethan Powell
May 27---Ben Lee
May 29---Caiden Lawson

June:

July 3---Rylan Lovelace

July 16---Avery Laughlin

August 2---Alicia Crouch
August 5---Lynn Case

August 11--Rinley Lawson
August 14---Gavin Powell

September: 23---Axel Laughlin

October 15---Bob Case
October 16---Brynne Mitchell

November 2---Karen Case
November 5---Julie Lawson
November 11---Jared Lee
November 14---Millie Case
November 16---Jason Crouch
November 27---Gideon Case
November 28---Eli Lee

December 2---Kendra Crouch
December 5---Kyle Laughlin
December 20---Jessi Laughlin

December 13---Easton Powell

December 13---Lainey Powell


ANNIVERSARIES:

Bob & Karen--December 24, 1970
Lynn & Corey--July  , 2021
Alicia & Jason--June 11, 1994
David & Amy--April 12, 2014
Julie and Scott--August 16, 2008

Danielle & Jared--December 19, 2016

Hayden & Kendra--June 21, 2020

Jessi & Alexis--January 22, 2022




         

Moving Day

We've moved a few times in our married life. I can count them on one hand though. We don't like to move and almost everywhere we have lived we would have been perfectly happy staying there forever, but circumstances dictates that sometimes we move when we would rather not.

The first  place we lived was in Bob's Grandma Mollie's house when we were first married. Now we (I) was pretty young and stupid when we got married. I didn't give a thought to where we might live, I just wanted to marry Bob and live happily ever after. Bob's grandma was widowed and afraid to stay alone in her house at night, so she always stayed all night with her daughter, Bob's mom. Bob's mom and stepdad lived within shouting distance out the road from her, maybe a hundred yards. So, Bob talked her into staying ALL the time with his mom, and letting us live in her house until we found something different. She agreed, and we moved into her fully furnished house. We lived there for 4 months from December 26 until the end of April, when Grandma Mollie decided she would just move back home, with us. That lasted maybe 2 weeks and we decided we had to move out and be on our own. A four room house is just not big enough for a pair of newlyweds and a grandma.

We moved into a little house/cabin down on Brushy Creek that belonged to Gladys Johnson. It was full of antiques and furniture that her daughter was collecting, and we lived in the front 2 rooms of the 4 room house. We lived there a month, carrying water from Gladys' house, cooking in an electric skillet. We DID have a little fridge. We also had a pet baby white rabbit. It went everywhere in the house, leaving little presents for us. Yeah, we were nasty. I loved that little bunny. It got into something that must have poisoned it and it died. Anyway, it was like camping in a way. Haha.

Then Bob heard that Rolla and Ruth Hodges might rent their little 4 room green house to us. He talked to them and we moved in, paying $20 a month for rent. We had to carry water from Ruth and Rolla's house and still didn't have indoor plumbing, but we were very happy there. We lived there from June 1971 until September 1974. We wanted to buy that house and first Rolla and Ruth considered it, but then Rolla decided he didn't want to sell it. It was when we lived there that I acquired my first puppy. She was part of a litter that got dumped and I brought her home. I named her Amber but that name never rolled off my tongue very well and she ended up plain ole "Puppy Dog". Rolla really didn't want us to have a dog but he grudgingly let us keep Puppy Dog. By the time we moved a few years later, he tried to buy her from us. Seems that when we lived there with Puppy Dog, she kept the varmints from killing his newborn pigs out behind our house. She earned her spot in his regard. We didn't sell her though, she was my puppy dog. 

In the summer of 1974, Bob's mom started talking to us about us buying the house they lived in, the house that Bob grew up in. They wanted to move to their place at Garrison and wanted us to buy the house and live by Bob's grandma and help with her. We did. We moved in September and lived there many years, until the house started falling in. During that time we bought the adjoining farm from Rex and Wanda Maggard, and my mom and dad moved into the house at the top of the road.

My mom, Juanita Sloan died on December 30, 1989 and my dad remarried Donna Stevens on June 4, 1990. He moved into Donna's house, and when Lynn married Eric Guerin on August 11,1990, she and Eric moved into Mom and Dad's house. They divorced a year later and Lynn married Kelly Laughlin on December 25, 1991 and moved to Branson.

Bob and I moved into the house that Lynn moved out of, because our old house was falling in.

We lived there from November, 1991 until July, 1997. I loved that place, and loved being by the road, but also missed the place at the end of the road that we had lived in for so many years.

The house at the top of the road was small. Very small. We were cramped for room and then the house developed dry rot and started getting rotten spots and holes in the floors. The walls were separating from the floor and we worried it might fall down, so we looked into building a house.

I have loved drawing up house plans all my adult life, and had some plans drawn up for a house. We consulted with a builder and went to the bank to borrow the money. On the way home from the bank, we stopped at a place near Forsyth that sold double wide trailers, or as they called them, manufactured homes. The very first one we looked at looked amazingly like the floor plans I had drawn up. Only a few differences. We liked the  house, and it was $20,000 cheaper than the house we had planned to build. Yes, it was a manufactured home which typically isn't built as well as a house, but for $20,000 difference, and considering our ages, 41 and 44 we decided it was good enough. I'm not saying we were old, but that we believed the house would last us the rest of our lives anyway.

We moved the manufactured house into the spot where Bob was raised and where we had lived for 16 years. We have lived here ever since and will probably finish our lives here. It is home.

The Ol' Wild Steer

I was going through facebook the other day and saw a post from a friend about helping work cattle, and it brought to mind several times I have helped work cattle with Bob. But, like another friend posted, there are just some things husbands and wives shouldn't do together and working cattle is one of them. I agree!

First things first, I have always thought we were roping an old black cow. Can even picture it in my mind, but Bob says nooo, it was a big ol' brindle steer. Okay, I will defer to his memory because he has always had a better memory than me.

Okay, to start with, I wasn't raised on a farm. We lived on a farm up until I was nine, but Dad raised hogs, not cattle, which is a significant difference. We moved to Bradleyville sometime before my 9th birthday, and while Bradleyville isn't a city, it was definitely not a farm either. My days were taken up with riding my bike, playing with friends and walking to my dad's gas station which was about half a mile up the road.

After Bob and I got married we raised a few bottle calves, and bought cattle. I liked having them and looking at them, and I fed the bottle calves and took care of them, but Bob always took care of our cattle. Bob fed them and watched them and did everything that needed to be done. I would have been happy to help, to feed hay or whatever but Bob knew I didn't know a thing about cattle, so it was easier for him to just do it himself. The only time I was called upon to help was at what I considered the worst times, when we were working cattle and they needed somebody to work the chute or loading calves to sell.

Anyway, we were trying to load this ol' brindle steer to take to the sale barn. We hadn't sold it before because it had escaped a couple of times when we were selling other calves, so it had grown very large. Which should have been my first clue.

Bob finally corralled it at the old shed that the Neuenschwanders used for milking dairy cows when they lived on this farm years and years ago. That is not where we usually loaded the calves from, but that's where he had it penned up. Which should have been my second clue.

So, Bob backed our pickup up to the shed. Back then we used our pickup with a metal rack on it to transport calves, pigs, anything we had to sell. Most people did the same thing, it was really only professional haulers that used a trailer like they use now.

Bob had the steer roped in the pen and ran the rope through the rack so I could pull on the rope while he encouraged it from behind to run up the ramp and into the back of the truck. It sounded like a good plan to him. Clue number three.

Bob handed me the rope and told me to hold on to it no matter what. Don't drop the rope! Okay, sounded simple enough. Now, I have always thought I was of average intelligence, had good common sense and all that. That day I don't know where any of that was. I think if he had told me to drink the Kool-Aid I might have done that too.

I was standing there, braced on the outside of the pickup, holding onto that rope for dear life, . The steer started up the ramp with Bob behind it thumping it and "haa-ing" at it now and then to make it go on up. It got to the top of the ramp, looked up and saw me standing there holding that rope and that ol' brindle steer  just decided it was not going to get in that pickup. He snorted and jumped backward and started scrambling backward down that ramp. I was holding that rope for all I was worth, but it didn't matter. That steer outweighed me by six hundred plus pounds and if he decided he wasn't going, what I thought was of little consequence. He pulled that rope with him as he went, taking whatever skin I had on the palms of my hands.

Oh my, how that hurt! Stinging, burning, pulsing pain!

Bob ran to me and asked if I was okay. What was I to say? I turned loose of the rope he told me to keep hold of. Yes, I was okay, with tears of pain running down my face. Did I care that I couldn't hold that steer? Yes, I did care because Bob had told me not to let go, but Bob didn't mean for me to hold it at all costs.

Bob finally got that ol' brindle steer rounded up, roped, into the pickup and hauled to the sale barn. When Bob got the steer out at the sale barn, the steer went crazy mad. He ran the sale barn employee down the corridor and up the partitions separating the pens. Made me feel a little better that the ol' thang  didn't just have it in for me, but for anybody who happened to get in his way.

These days I don't even offer to help with cattle. I just let Bob find somebody who is willing, or maybe I should say, somebody that isn't brave enough to tell Bob they don't want to work cattle. Our marriage is better for it. HAHAHA!

December 2005-Ballgames

This is the last entry that was in our church newsletter. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bob and I like to go to ballgames. We went to every volleyball game, and the few Jr. High games that weren't on the same nights, partly because or daughter and grandson were playing, and partly because we just enjoy watching the kids play. And I also saw many of our friends and neighbors at every ballgame, for the same reasons I suppose.

We try to go to every game, and we try to get there before it starts so we won't miss any of it.

There is nothing wrong with being a big sports fan and supporting our kids. I think they need as many fans as they can get to support them, as long as we know where to place it in importance in our lives. I think sometimes we can let it take over our common sense. I know a few times I have been so enthusiastic (better than saying loudmouthed or a bad sport, I guess) that I have been thoroughly ashamed of the way I behaved at a game.

I received a forwarded e-mail a few days ago that made a point about the sports fan's commitment that I would like to share here. It made the point that some people put sports before anything else, and in essence make it their god, whether it's an NFL, NBA, or local high school or Jr. High game...

This god's temples are among the most costly and fabulous ever built. They are often built in the best locations in hundreds of cities and towns all over the country. Bigger and better ones are built every year, with no money problems. (Sports stadiums)

The seating in these temples are usually hard slabs of wood placed too close together, usually not very clean but the faithful followers don't mind a bit. The services usually last anywhere from an hour and a half to four hours, but nobody complains about the bad seats. (Bleachers)

Almost every person participates in some way, applauding, cheering, yelling, jumping up and down, usually no shyness about how they feel...

Nobody brings their own food for potluck, but gladly will pay extravagant prices for a little bit of food that is not all that tasty.

The offering is always great...this is always taken before anybody even enters the service, and everybody gives...(admission price)

The "disciples" are very devoted; they will drive several miles, sometimes even hundreds, for services. They will make any sacrifice to get there, take off work, rearrange schedules, almost anything to be there for the service, and if they cannot possibly make it, they vow to watch it on TV later.

No matter how the service goes, the dedicated follower will be back in line the next service, with their money to donate, and believing that something great and powerful will happen.

I love ballgames and hope that I'm never guilty of putting them before God. I pray that I will put into a church service the same positive enthusiasm I show at a ballgame. We have wonderful church services but I wonder how much more I would get out of a service if I would put as much energy into our service as I do the ballgames I attend.

I hope in this season of thanksgiving that we remember who we need to thank for all the wonderful blessings in our lives, and don't forget to put God first, before anything else.

October 2005-Bottle Calves

At this time of year my mind goes back to when we used to raise bottle calves. We used to raise  a bunch every fall, usually just around 10, sometimes a few more. One year we raised 25.

I love to raise bottle calves. Sometimes it is aggravating, when one of them gets sick, and then the whole bunch gets sick, or you lose a few more than you think you can stand financially. Having to feed them every so often, especially when there was something else  you needed to do at the same time would try your patience, but we could usually work around it pretty well. One tip, don't rub heads with them, it could make you sick. I know because I love to rub heads with a baby calf.

Some of these calves had been fed the bottle before we bought them, and they were easy to get to eat, they would just latch on to the bottle the first time we tried. Others we bought had been feeding from the cow, sometimes they didn't like the change, and we would have quite a time with them, until they decided they liked the bottle, if that's all they were going to get.

Sometimes trying to get them to eat when they were being stubborn about it was quite an experience. I would try to be too gentle with them in Bob's point of view. I would rub the bottle back and forth across their mouth, and pet them, and they would just bounce away and refuse to suck the bottle. Bob would take over and try to show them who was in control. He would straddle the back of the calf and force it's mouth open and shove that bottle in and then clamp the calves' jaws onto it. Most of the time it only took one or two times before it got the idea what to do.

Sometimes though we'd get an extra stubborn one, and we'd have a miniature rodeo, with that calf bucking and twisting and Bob jumping around trying to stay on top of it. It was too small to buck Bob off, but it sure was entertaining. It was probably even more interesting when I tried it, because my legs were shorter and the calf could get the best of me in no time flat.

One of these calves stands out in my mind because of all the trouble she was. She was a large gangly Holstein calf that we named Sucker, because she could suck a 2 qt. bottle full of milk replacer in less than a minute.

She was one of those calves that had been fed by bottle before we bought her, so there was no problem getting her to take it the first time. The problem we had was how fast she sucked and swallowed. We first thought that the nipple had too large a hole, so we tried another one, and another, until we realized that calf could just suck harder and faster than most calves! so we tried holding the bottle at a different angle so it wouldn't come out so fast, and other ideas, but not matter what, less than a minute and she was through.

You might not think this would be a problem and most of the time it wasn't but once in a while Sucker would suck so fast the milk replacer would stream out of her nose, her eyes would roll back in her head, she'd start gasping like she was choking (which she was) and she'd fall down and lay there gasping and coughing.

Bob was feeding her the first time it happened, so he grabbed her head, held it up and started rubbing and stroking her neck. She coughed and wheezed a while, then got back up on her feet, staggered around a while then started butting her head against Bob's legs, wanting some more. Stupid thing.

After the calves started sucking the bottles better, they were usually my sole responsibility. I was always afraid that Sucker would have one of her choking spells, I wouldn't be able to help her and she would indeed die. But I got good at yanking her around and rubbing her neck until she felt better and could stand up. She finally grew out of this reaction when she got a little bigger, her body was more mature and she could handle all that fluid going down her throat so fast. She grew into a big lanky heifer and was finally ready to sell.

Thurman and Kay Whittaker bought her from us and she had many calves and worked at their dairy farm for many years.

That brings to mind these verses of scripture in the book of 1 Corinthians. In chapters 1-2, the Bible talks about spiritual "milk" and "meat". It is saying that unless you have received Christ into your heart and life, and have the Holy Spirit living inside you, you are not going to be able to understand the things of God. You will always be looking at things through a man's eyes, instead of the way God and the Holy Spirit would want you to understand. You can not accept the things of God, because you can not understand them. The things of God do not make any sense to you because you are like a baby in your understanding, and in a way, it overwhelms you, or it chokes you just like that stupid calf that tried to suck that bottle too fast.

If you will accept Christ into your heart, and dig into His Word and study it, more and more things will become clear to you. The more you pray, and read God's Word, the more understanding you will have. You will mature more as a Christian, so that you are better able to understand what God wants for you.

September 2005-Who's Your Friend?

When David was little, maybe 3 or 4 years old, he liked to watch cartoons. One of his favorites was a Disney video of Donald Duck and Chip & Dale, the chipmunks. He would watch it over and over, at least 5-6 times a day.

It got so that every one of us knew every line by heart.

In one of the cartoons, Donald Duck was an apple farmer, and the chipmunks lived in a hollow tree on the farm. They were stealing Donald's apples and putting them in their tree for the winter.

Donald tried everything to capture the chipmunks, but nothing worked, as is usual in a cartoon. Every time he would get close to capturing them one of them would eat an apple and throw the core at him. The chipmunk holding the core would say "Apple core", Donald would reply, "Baltimore" then the chipmunk would say "Who's your friend?" and the other chipmunk would holler "HIM!" and point at Donald, whereupon the chipmunk holding the apple core would hit Donald between the eyes with it! Of course, that would make Donald furious, and he would get flustered in true Donald Duck fashion and the chipmunks would get away.

I don't know about anybody else, but like a commercial's jingle or anything else you hear or see over and over, you pick it up and start saying it yourself, at least our family does this.

One day we were sitting around watching TV, Bob was sitting in an easy chair, I was laying on the couch, Lynn and Alicia were sitting, and David was walking around between us, eating an apple.

When he got down to nothing but apple core, he looked at Bob and said "Apple core", Bob said "Baltimore", David said "who's your friend?" and Bob said "HER!" and pointed at me. David was standing right in front of me. I was not paying too much attention until I got hit right between the eyes with that apple core!

Just like the cartoon, I reacted in typical Donald Duck fashion. I jumped up, spluttering about getting hit with an apple core, and while Bob was laughing hysterically I grabbed David and spanked him without even thinking about it.

Now I have to say, I am ashamed of the way I reacted. I hadn't even been paying attention until I got hit with the apple core, and then I punished David for what he thought was a good joke. He'd had the full cooperation of his father and he thought it was funny and so did Bob and the girls, which is probably the reason I got so angry and punished David even more than I usually would have. That was wrong, but that's what I did. You can ask Bob, nothing ever makes me as mad as when he laughs at me!

Now these many years later, I can look back at that episode and see how everyone else thought it was so funny, and I can even smile about it myself, a little. Yes, I can see where it was funny, else I would not have written about it.

My point is this, how many times do we get angry with other people for some little thing they said or did that we didn't like, or we thought was wrong, and sometimes they might not have even known they were doing or saying anything hurtful? How many times have we been offended over something we've "heard" that somebody else has supposedly said about us? How often do we overreact and say something hurtful back to someone, or tell somebody else something about that person we shouldn't?

I myself have been guilty of doing that, not only with my family, but with friends also.

The Bible speaks about this in the book of James, chapter 3. It talks about how man can never tame the tongue, and what a poison it is, and an unruly evil.

Sometimes I let my temper get out of control and I say or do something that I regret. One of the problems is that once you say something to or about somebody, you can never take it back. You can say you are sorry, and be forgiven from that person and from God, but whatever you say is out there floating around, maybe getting repeated, maybe getting added to in the re-telling, or even if it's not re-told it might still be hurting the person you said it to.

How much better if we could control our thoughts and tempers and tongues. How much better to just simply forget it when you hear something that irritates you? To just let it go? But I think it is really hard for most people to handle this on their own. I know it is for me. Just when I think I will let something go, I get that Donald Duck feeling going, and then I know if I don't start praying, I'm going to say something I'm going to be sorry about later.

I know that when I pray, that is one of the things I pray about, is help for my temper, or you might say, my personality, and for help with my self-control. I know that God will help me when I can't handle it all myself. He had many times, and He has helped me to forgive others when I thought there was no way I could. He will help you too, with any problem you might have. All you have to do is ask.

If you don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior, all you have to do is admit you are a sinner, and ask Him to forgive your sins, and come into your heart. He is waiting to come into your heart and make you a new person.

November 2003-County Fair

Bob and I went to the county fair this year and got to enjoy some of the music for the first time in many years. As we were sitting there enjoying the music, we were looking around to see if there was anyone we knew.

Now I have to explain something here. Everywhere we go, if it's to Forsyth or Florida, or anywhere in-between, Bob or I will see somebody we think looks like someone we know. I'm always saying "Doesn't that person over there look like so-and-so?" Bob will almost always answer, "Yes, but that's not them," to which I always reply, "I know it's not them, but doesn't it look like them?"

We were looking around, and I thought I saw somebody sitting across the way that looked like one of our cousins. I said to Bob, "Doesn't that look like Jessie Case sitting over there?"

Bob looked and said, "Yeah, it does look like her, but that's not her." We sat there a few seconds longer, looking at the woman, and Bob said, "That woman does look like Jessie, but what's even funnier is that man sitting beside her looks like Exie," (her husband). I agreed that he did look a lot like Exie, but that it wasn't him, either.

About then, as we were kind of staring at them, I noticed they were looking at us. We felt embarrassed because we'd been staring and they had noticed, so we tried to look away and concentrate on the music, but of course we had to keep looking over there, and every time we looked, they were looking at us.

Finally, I said to Bob, "Let's just get up and walk over that way closer to where they are sitting, to make sure it's not them", so we started over that way. The closer we got to them, we could tell that it was in fact, Exie and Jessie sitting there, and as we got close to them, we all started laughing.

It seems that awhile we were sitting there trying to decide if they were who we thought they were, they were sitting over there doing the same. They said that they thought that was us, and one of them said, "That looks like Bob sitting over there, but I don't know if it is or not," and then, "That looks like Karen sitting there beside him, but I don't know." We had a good laugh about the whole thing, and then had a good visit; since we hadn't seen them in so long we weren't sure what they looked like!

Another time years ago, we got an invitation in the mail to come to a certain restaurant in Branson at a certain time and listen to a sales pitch for a timeshare property and even if we didn't want to buy what he was selling, we would receive a FREE barbecue grill, just for listening. We thought this was a pretty good deal, getting a FREE grill just for listening to a sales pitch, so we went.

When we got there, the man took us into the back dining room of the restaurant, which wasn't being used at that time. It was dimly lit, but we could see that it was enormous.

As he was trying to interest us in buying a timeshare vacation property, my mind started to drift, as usual. I started looking around. I noticed that there was another couple and salesman seated at another table 4-5 tables away, directly to the side of where we were sitting.

When I looked over that way, the lady sitting at that table glanced at me, also. I didn't want to seem rude for staring so I turned away from her and focused my attention back on the salesman. Something about her seemed familiar though and every little bit I would glance back that way. I did notice that every time I glanced at her, she was glancing at me.

Finally the salesman was through talking, after trying unsuccessfully to sell us a timeshare package, so he brought us our FREE barbecue grill (That thing was nice, we could get about 4 small hamburgers at a time on it, but hey, it was FREE!) and we stood up to leave.

When I looked over at the other table where the other couple was sitting, they were getting up to leave also. I decided to be polite and smile at the woman since I had been stealing glances at her for awhile, and you know, she was so friendly, she grinned back at me at the exact same time. Bob started laughing and brought my attention to the fact that I was looking into a mirror that ran across the whole end of the dining room! Duh! It was so dimly lit that I hadn't noticed the mirror, or just how much the couple looked like us, because I didn't want to be rude and stare!

This was just a funny little story, but the point is that you can be fooled by what you see and perceive to be the truth. Don't take everything at face value, but examine it closely to see if it is true or not. Stay close to God and stay grounded in His Word. Spend much time in prayer and study of the Scriptures, and the truth will become known to you (II Timothy 2:15, II Timothy 3:16, 17, Acts 17:11)

You still might get fooled into thinking you see somebody you know, or getting fooled by a mirror, but a good pair of glasses will help with that!

May 2003-Our '67 Impala

Our first vehicle was a 1967 Chevy Impala. It was a bright sky blue color and I thought it was beautiful. Bob bought it when we were still dating. He made payments of $96 a month, insurance included, for three years. We drove it until it was almost literally falling apart and then my brother bought it from us, he said for parts but I really think he just felt sorry for us that we were driving such a heap of junk!

As I said, we drove the tires off of that car, literally. We always carried at least 2 spare tires in our trunk and we needed them, usually both of them, every day. At that time Bob worked with his uncle hanging sheetrock, and every morning we would drive to Garrison to meet him. Bob would ride to work with him and I would have the car to use during the day. I would usually have to change a flat before I could go get Bob that evening, then maybe change another one while I was waiting for him to arrive.

Bob and I, or one of his friends, or all of us, would frequently (every evening) drive around the ridge (Glade Top Trail) to see if we could spot any kind of wildlife that might be worth hunting (when the proper season opened, of course).

One afternoon when we were driving around that rough old gravel road, we had our usual flat. Delbert was with us that evening, so he and Bob jumped out and changed our tire. Another mile or so up the road we had another flat. No problem, we also had another spare, so they changed the flat again. Another 2-3 miles, and we had another flat. Guess what, we had one more spare, so they changed the tire again and we continued on. Now we were getting a little bit uneasy. We didn't have any more spares in our trunk, but as we discussed it, we decided we had already had 3 flats, we couldn't possibly have another one, could we?

We could, and we did.

We had our fourth flat of the evening, and no more spare tires. We were still quite a way from anybody's house, and this was long before anybody had anything like a cell phone. There was only one thing to do, so Bob walked out to a house on the highway and called my dad, who brought us a couple of tires to get us home with.

Another time we were on our way to Big Creek to go sucker grabbing, and we had a wreck. We were going pretty fast, and we came up out of a dip in the road and met a pickup coming around a curve on our side of the road, so Bob took the car over the bank of the road. We barely missed an enormous oak tree and finally slid into another, smaller oak. We were both safe and sound, but our beautiful blue Chevy had a crumpled front fender. If we had collided with the pickup instead, we would have probably been killed, and at the least we would have been in serious trouble, as we soon found out.

When we got our car fixed, we found out a surprising fact. We had collision insurance, but no liability insurance. We had thought we had full coverage on the car, but somehow when they had bought the car, they had failed to get liability insurance on it. The collision insurance paid for getting our car fixed, but we had been driving around for over a year without any kind of liability. If we had been hit by the other vehicle, although it was the other driver's fault, we would have had to pay for everything, just because we had failed to have the most important kind of insurance on our car, liability.

So, now to the moral of my story.

Salvation is not meant to be insurance, but some of the same ideas apply.

You can be a good person, the best person in the world. You can do good works and deeds, and have everybody admire you. You can even attend church every time the doors are open, have church membership, read the Bible every day and pray until you are blue in the face, and none of it will matter unless you have asked Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and to be your personal Savior.

All the other things can be compared to having collision insurance, but no liability. You may think you are covered, and that's all you need, but until you are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, you have nothing. He has made Himself liable for us all, He took our sins upon Himself and died on the cross because He loves us and so that you and I could be saved from hell. He offers us the gift of salvation because He loves us, and I hope that if you haven't yet, you will accept this gift of love from our Savior and return the love to Him that He so deserves. Probably the most read, most memorized verse in the Bible and one of the most beautiful-John 3:16.

January 2003-The Day We Got Married

When I was trying to think of something to write about for the newsletter, I started thinking about when Bob and I got married.

My life with Bob has been going on for 32 years. In December we celebrated or 32nd anniversary. We were pretty young when we got married, actually Bob was 18 and I was 15, and we were not as serious as we should have been about such an important step in our lives. As I look back I can't believe how really young, naive and plain stupid I was.

We decided to get married on Christmas Eve. We thought this was a really bright idea. Most of our family would be able to come to the wedding. We would always be able to remember the date of our anniversary because it was Christmas Eve. It was Christmas break from school so I wouldn't have to go back to school for a week or more, so it was a great idea we thought.

We got married in my parent's home, and as we were standing there during the ceremony we got the giggles. The minister that performed the ceremony got a bit mixed up when he was talking to us and it struck us as funny.

You know how it is when you get the giggles, the more you try to stop, the worse it gets. My mother was standing to the side and she was giving me "the look" to straighten up. Finally we got through the rest of the ceremony and we were married.

For our two day honeymoon, we went to Branson. Branson was not the town then that it is now. There were a few motels open, and a few restaurants, but nothing like it is now. Plus, this was Christmas Eve, remember? Anybody with any sense was at home, spending time with their families. We finally found a motel that was open, and got a room for the night. Then we decided to run back to our parents houses, because both families were having their gift exchanges that night, and we couldn't miss that, could we? So we came home for the gift exchanges and promised we'd be back the next day, Christmas Day, for the family dinners both families were having.

When we got up the next morning, on Christmas Day, remember, we decided to go find a restaurant to have some breakfast, but guess what? It was Christmas Day, and we couldn't find a restaurant that was open. Well, Bob knew how to take care of his family, even then, he knew a place that was open. He had been there many times and it was never closed, so off we went to Skaggs Hospital, to get candy bars and pop out of the vending machine. I was telling Bob the other day about the beautiful new cafeteria that the hospital had put in, and we decided maybe we should go back there for our anniversary sometime.

I have wondered sometimes how we made it through 32 years of marriage, we have had some hard times we have been through, but I think part of it was we were unknowingly (at that time) following Paul's advice to the Ephesians in chapter 5 of the book of Ephesians. I have always been more than happy to let Bob be the head of the family, the "boss" if you will. Ephesians 5:22-24 says to let the husband be the head of the family, and for wives to submit to their husbands in everything. There have been plenty of times that I have argued with him over decisions, or thought I had a better answer to a problem, but he has always had the final say in everything. There is a freedom in this for me also, because I don't have to feel like I was to blame for a wrong decision.

Also, in the next verses, Ephesians 5:25-29, Paul tells us that husbands should love and care for their wives as Christ does for His bride, the church, and Bob has always practiced this. He has worked very hard all of our married life to provide well for his wife and family, and he has always been much more kind and forgiving than I ever deserved.

So, I thank God for a husband like Bob. He is a wonderful husband and father, and has also provided many stories for me to write about! Happy Anniversary Bob, and as the back row boys sing every Sunday, and mannnnnyyyy morrrrrrreeeee........

August 2002-Fishing With Richard Combs

All the flooding this year has reminded me of a time years ago when it flooded the same way.

I've written before that we used to got to the lake and rent a fishing boat. We rented a boat at Beaver Creek boat dock, and we were going up the lake towards Forsyth, to a place called the Barker Hole to join Richard Combs there to fish for catfish.

We left the dock in daylight, about an hour before sundown. The lake was flooded into the fields beside the lake but Bob had no trouble staying in the main part of the lake. The tops of the trees were sticking out on both sides and it was easy to stay between them.

We got to the spot where Richard was waiting and we fished for a couple of hours. It was 9:30-10:00 o'clock, and we had fished all we wanted to, so Bob and I started back to the boat dock.

The farther we went, the thicker the fog got. It got so thick we could hardly see right in front of the boat at times.

The fishing boat we had rented was one of those small aluminum boats and was fine for fishing but it was old and didn't have the best running lights on it.

Bob was trying to stay in the channel of the lake and not stray out into the flooded fields where we might hit something that was covered by the flood waters. He just idled the motor to go as slow as possible so if we did happen to get out of the channel or hit something, maybe we wouldn't be going fast enough to do much damage, or capsize the boat.

Even then we managed to get out of the channel several times. We ran through brush or treetops a couple of times.

Going this slow and trying to stay in the channel took a long time. Going up the lake in the daylight had taken only 30 minutes or so, but the trip back in the dark and fog took about an hour and a half.

I was scared we were going to hit something and maybe sink, and I wanted to just stop and stay put until the fog cleared out or daylight, whichever came first, but Bob insisted on going on.

Anyone who knows Bob well knows that he doesn't want to waste any time just doing nothing! he said he could see well enough with our lights and what little moonlight there was to get us back to the dock. He said as soon as we got a little closer to the dock we'd be able to see its lights, then we could steer straight toward it and we'd be OK.

Well, the boat dock finally came into view, and we got back safely. Nothing ever had looked so good as all those lights shining through the fog.

While I was thinking about this story a couple of verses kept coming to mind, and I looked them up in the Bible. I found them in Matthew 7:13-14. These verses read like this, (13)" Enter ye in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat;" (14) "Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

When Jesus said these words, I doubt He was talking about going up the lake in a rattletrap fishing boat, but they applied to that time then, just as they can apply to a different time in different circumstances.

The broad way which leadeth to destruction was like those flooded fields. It was all covered with water, and we could have gone right through it, but there were many hidden dangers that could have wrecked us, or destroyed us. We needed to stay in the channel of the lake where it was deeper, or the narrow way, and we knew we would be safe as long as we stayed there.

The same is true of our lives. We can choose the wide gate, the broad way, we can live just the way we want to, without any regard for anyone else, or for God. But sooner or later, when we live this way, it will lead to our destruction. There are many dangers for anybody that chooses to live without God in their life, life is more depressing, lonelier, tougher, and in the end, we are doomed to spend eternity separated from God.

When we stay in the narrow way, when we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, when we strive to live a faithful, righteous life, we are assured that we will spend eternity with our Savior, Jesus Christ, in that beautiful place called Heaven that He has prepared for us.