August 2015

School begins this year with Sophie going into Junior High (seventh grade).  Barrett is in 3rd grade and Keaton is in 2nd. They have all been busy this summer with camps and trips.  
 
The boys are playing basketball, and we have gone to some Saturday afternoon games. Watching those guys hustle down the court and shoot sure is a lot of fun!
 
Sophie has continued with swimming lessons and competition throughout the year.  We enjoy taking her once a week. She will also play volleyball on the school team.  She is tall and thin, ideal for both sports!  
 
Joe had been walking for exercise.  After some minor knee problems he has started swimming at the Y.  They have lanes for adults to swim laps.  He still plays his video games, too.  This summer he met our son Mike in Eudora for Mike’s 30th class reunion. They had a great time.  And of course Joe bought more KU shirts, jackets, etc.
 
We will be going to visit Mike in Raleigh in September.  He has a new home and has had a place built in the back where he has a dark room for his photography as well as a place where he can relax and watch TV.   Joe saw Mike’s house last winter when he and Dave Durkin went to visit Mike and go to some basketball games.  I have not seen it yet, and the place in the back was not done when Joe went.  So it will be nice to see everything. Mike also plans to have a pool in the back yard.  
 
I had surgery in June to remove my gall bladder due to gallstones.  It was outpatient, and I have had a full recovery.  
 
I still enjoy teaching the 2s and 3s on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. I am working on completing the Old Testament lessons Lisa Smith wrote.  I just finished revising RWS-PS #253, God’s Patriarchs.  By teaching it to my own students I am better able to recognize needed changes and provide teachers with ideas for ways to help students learn as much as possible.  So many underestimate how much these little minds can absorb!  
 
Angie has been gone twelve years.  We still miss her, but we have a happy life and enjoy our grandchildren and other family members.  We have a lot of good friends here at the 12th Street church of Christ in Shallowater.  Joe and I have been happily married 49 years. 
 
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1:3-5).