Gettin' To See The Kids!

The combination of Chris, Amy, Adam and Lottie moving back to the US (yeah!) and Rosie's Dad dying resulted in us getting to see all three kids on the same day - if not in the same place (to be explained later).

Chris and family arrived in Austin, TX (via San Francisco) from Japan on 06-JULY. We were there to meet them and help get their stuff (8 bags plus dog crate) to the hotel. After staying in the hotel for a few days while Chris and Amy took care of business (new car, cell phones, etc.), we all drove to Hot Springs Village to get ready to go to Papa's funeral on Saturday. However, Chris, Amy, Adam and Lottie all came down with the 24-hr vomiting and diarrhea bug - not fun. So they had to skip the funeral.

Doug flew into Little Rock from Michigan on Friday 10-AUG to attend Papa's funeral the next day. He stayed with US in HSV Friday and Saturday nights then returned to Michigan on Sunday. This was the first time Uncle Doug had seen his two nieces, Lottie and Kayleigh. Here are shots of Uncle Doug in action; isn't he a natural. Karen and Shane drove up from Dickinson for the funeral; we got to see them briefly at the funeral on Saturday. We didn't get a good family shot of Karen, Shane, Logan and Kayleigh at the funeral, but we got a great shot from Jennifer Stonecipher. Here are photos of the Houston gang. Aren't they cute!Chris's family stayed in HSV until Monday morning before heading down to Ft. Hood where Chris will be stationed. We had time to do some swimming and playing on the beach at Lake Balboa.Lottie enjoyed digging in the sand while Adam had fun getting his feet buried in the sand by Dad.

We also had time in the late afternoon to walk over to Lake Sophia which is right next to our house. Amy and Lottie found a good rock for throwing into the lake. They're ready to go.

Chris is showing Adam how to skip rocks across the water. Dad makes it look easy.

Nani had the best idea. She enjoyed cooling off with a little dip in the lake. She's a good swimmer.

We really enjoyed getting to see all the kids - if only briefly. We hope to get everyone together again at Thanksgiving in Dickinson.

Rosie's Dad - James L. Adams, Jr.

Rosie's Dad died on 03-JUL-09 at the ripe old age of 87. He was living at Stonegate Nursing home in Ft. Worth, Texas, when he died. He was loved by everyone who knew him and will be missed. But as we've continually said, "Our loss is his gain." We know he's having a great time in heaven.

Here are a few pics from the past - a short walk down memory lane. James served in Alaska during WWII. Here's a picture of Cpl. J.L. Adams. Doesn't he look great? Look at that hair!

Here's a picture of James with "that woman" - the love of his life - Elsie:
They were a great couple and really enjoyed each other. This picture of the entire family from around 1957 is priceless.Here's an updated photo of the 3 "kids" taken in 2008. Still looking good!Last summer Rosie, Karen, Logan and Bob had a good visit with Papa.
In December, 2008, Papa wasn't doing too well. Here's a picture of Julie, Rosie, Papa and Logan.
Papa did a good job of "bouncing back" from this low time and looked better for a while. Rosie's last visit with Papa was mid-April. Here's a picture of Rosie, Papa and Sam (who loved getting next to Papa). Papa always seemed to enjoy petting Sam.Papa's funeral was on Saturday, 11-JULY-09. He was buried in Magnolia Cemetery next to Elsie.

Papa will be missed but definitely not forgotten.

July 4th - a bit late!

We've been on a non-blogging streak recently - so it time to do a little "catch-up."

The John Stonecipher family came to visit us in HSV for the 4th of July. We had a great time. We went to the canoe races and paddle boat races on Saturday. Blayne and John are in the canoe race. They did a great job!

Whitney+Rosie and Savannah+Bob had fun in the paddle boats. We had to paddle out to a buoy and get a plastic duck from the middle. Here come Savannah and Bob with a duck in the net. Rosie and Whitney had a bit of trouble tracking down one of those sneaky ducks. It took them several passes to catch one. However, they made it home with their trophy duck!

We made a brief stop by Cortez beach to check out the water. The water was nice, but you did need shoes due to all the rocks. We just did a little wading at the water's edge.

On Saturday, July 4, the kids got to make crafts at the Desoto Center. Savannah and Whitney are decorating and personalizing their door mats. Blayne made a dinosaur sand painting. Reagan made a great looking necklace (with Dad's help) as well as painted a bird house.

On July 4, the HSV POA also gave away free watermelon at the Desoto Center. Jennifer is enjoying her slice of watermelon.We then went to the Desoto pool where everyone had a great time getting wet, sliding down the water slide and eating lunch. John did a great job in the splash contest winning second place.

On Saturday evening we went to some friends' house to watch the fireworks over Lake Balboa. Here's the gang watching the fireworks.

We also had time to visit the HSV overlook and get a great view of the surrounding area and Lake Balboa.We also took some pictures at the Lake Balboa dock. One of the culinary delights was the sugar cookies decorated for July 4th. Thanks to Rosie and the girls - they were yummy!

Sam Enjoying Peanut Butter

Sam is crazy about peanut butter. Today, Rosie was mixing up bird feed that called for peanut butter. During the process, she emptied two partially full peanut butter jars. Sam enjoyed licking both jars. He has a real hold on those jars.

Yummy! That's really good stuff.What's next on the menu?

Helping Doug Move, June 15 - 19

After Doug's graduation from Ohio State, Rosie and Bob helped him move from Columbus, OH, to Midland, MI. Although he had professional movers pack-up and move all the stuff from Columbus to Midland, there was a lot of cleaning to do on both ends.

Here's a picture of the house Doug shares with Kyle Cowden (home owner who also works for Dow).

The movers didn't unpack so we got the joy of unpacking everything and putting it away. The nice part about that is we could clean as we went along and unpack at our own pace - slow. Here are pictures of the kitchen and dining room - before and after. We hope you can tell the difference; the angles aren't exactly the same.

Doug's room is on the second floor at the back of the house. Here are a couple of pictures of his room.A lot of the furniture and electronics he had in the living room in Columbus had to go into the basement. Here's his layout in the basement.All three of us had a real sense of accomplishment when the house was cleaned and all the furniture, clothes, electronics, dishes, etc. were in place. It looked really good. Now we hope Doug and Kyle can find things. If not, Rosie is only a phone call away.

Doug's Graduation

Today, we (Rosie and Bob) attended Doug's graduation from The Ohio State University Fisher School of Business. Doug completed his MBA. Doug looks good in his robe, hat and hood.

Mom and Dad were very proud.

Ashley got to join us for the graduation festivities.

Following the graduation ceremonies, we attended a reception at the Blackwell Inn which is next to Fisher Hall (the Business school). Here's a picture of Doug in front of Fisher Hall.Here's the entire MBA class of 2009.We'll be here for the next week helping Doug pack up and move to Midland, MI, where he'll be working for Dow Chemical. He's excited to be headed back to the "working world."

UMCOR Sager Brown

May 17-22, we (Bob and Rosie) went to UMCOR (United Methodist Committee On Relief) in Baldwin, LA, on a mission trip with friends from Mountainside Methodist in HSV. Here's most of our group at Monday's breakfast. The food far exceeded our expectations - it was very tasty (Southern style cooking) and there was way too much. We had dessert at lunch and dinner (or dinner and supper, if you want to go Southern)!

The various mission teams had "kitchen ministry" which included clean-up after meals. Here's Ted in his clean-up gear.

We had a group picture taken on the bridge behind the kitchen. UMCOR is on the intercostal waterway that connects to the Gulf.

One of the highlights during our week was loading a container truck that would carry health kits to Armenia; actually, 31,000 health kits. Here's the truck and the 47 pallets that we would load into the container truck.

Rosie's team is unloading pallets to make a row in the truck. Two pallets make one row.
Bob's team unloading pallets near the end of the truck. We had 4 teams and each took a turn unloading 2 pallets. Three teams rested while one unloaded. We were so glad there were enough folks for 4 teams. Luckily it wasn't an extremely hot day in southern LA.
After the truck was loaded, the entire team joined hands for the "blessing of the container" and prayed for the materials and those that would receive it. It was a great opportunity to have a part in God's global ministry.

Our Mountainside team (Dennis, Ted, Leila, Barbara, Bob and Rosie) was all smiles after the truck was totally loaded.

Folks on the team had multiple opportunities to work during the week. Leila spent a good portion of her time making school bags. Rosie also helped in the sewing room.
Bob - being a totally unskilled laborer - spent most of his time making health kits. It's simply putting the items listed together into a plastic bag. On Thursday, Bob and Ted worked as part of a 4 man team to build a ramp for a home in the Baldwin community. Here's the frame of the ramp at about noon. We finished the ramp before quitting time!FLOOD BUCKETS. UMCOR also sends flood buckets to areas across the US and the world that need them. They contain supplies for cleaning the floor of a house that has been devastated by a flood. It doesn't do the entire job, but it's a great start. Flood buckets are kept in multiple warehouses across the US ready to be shipped when needed. Here's part of the supply in Baldwin, LA.
Side Trip - Tabasco Sauce. We travelled a short distance from Baldwin to Avery Island, LA, where the global supply of Tabasco Sauce it made. We had a fun tour and got free samples - YUM! We also got to sample jalapeno and sweet & spicy ice cream. Fun to taste, but I wouldn't buy to take home.

THE TREE. There's an interesting tree in Baldwin within walking distance of UMCOR - actually everything in Baldwin is just about within walking distance of UMCOR. It looks like the tree fell over and a limb that touched the ground established another tree trunk. However it happened, it's a neat looking tree.

Before we left, we got a picture of the team beside the UMCOR sign at the entrance. If you can't see the sign it says, "When the earth rocks, UMCOR rolls". A great slogan for an organization dedicated to helping others anywhere in the globe.