Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope this edition of our newsletter finds you having had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

ABOUT OUR THANKSGIVING. As we have done before we combined efforts with Pauline, Mom and Aunt Mar to put together our Thanksgiving meal. We ate around noon at Pauline's house. Aunt Mar's first cousin, Mildred Pryor, and her grandson, Wesson, drove here from Lebanon to eat with us. We had ham (no turkey after last week), squash dressing, green bean casserole, corn and rice casserole, sweet potato casserole, and other side dishes. Dessert included brownies and peanut butter pie and I think there was a pineapple pudding no one touched. After eating and visiting for a bit we went home but were too full to do anything but nap. We went back to Pauline's for a supper of leftovers. It was a really nice day.

JENNA'S ESSAY. Our schools were closed for Thanksgiving on Wednesday so when Jenna came home from school on Tuesday she began working on a self assigned essay. Here is what she has written so far:

By a 1 st gredr [grader] Jenna Swann

I am thankful for my fuemle [family] and my bruths [brothers] and my frems [friends] and God and Jesus and my Skchool and my home my Mom and my dad I am thankful for flawrs [flowers] and I am thankful for clothes I am thankful for pichs [pictures]

MORE ON MOM'S KNEE. Mom is getting life back to normal. She has parked the crutches and walker and returned to work. I really can't tell that she limps but she says her knee hurts her a whole lot. I guess she has decided to grin and bear it until the pain gets too bad for that plan of action.

AUNT HELEN. The last time I reported on Aunt Helen was back in the spring. You'll remember that she is the one with all the knee problems. She has been been living at her home by herself (her son and his family who live next door check on her a lot) and she has been doing pretty well for her until this week. She got up some time early Sunday morning to use the bathroom and fell. The doctors think she blacked out. Her right wrist is broken in two places, there is a gash in her forehead that required stitches, and possibly an injury to her backbone (they aren't sure if that was from a previous injury). And with all the bruises she looks like someone beat her up. Since she couldn't get up or reach the phone she lay in the floor for several hours until someone came in and found her. She has spent her Thanksgiving in the hospital.

I think Bro. Bill was right when he said the Biblical character Job has nothing on Aunt Helen. She has had a tough row to hoe the last three years. In spite of all that she tries her best to keep a positive attitude. I really admire her for that.

We went to see her on Friday. When we got there Vicki stopped and read a sign to the kids about being quiet. At first the kids were not allowed to go to her room so while I was visiting Vicki kept them in a waiting room. They were being good until Jenna decided to tickle Ben. That was when Vicki pointed out another sign to them and said, "Do you know what that sign says?" (It had the word "NOISE" inside a circle with a slash through it.) Ben looked up at the sign and then turned to Vicki. With fear and concern in his voice he said, "No tickling?"

CHRISTMAS IS COMING. Since it is Thanksgiving weekend we have begun dragging out the Christmas decorations. The tree is up and festive knick knacks are beginning to appear around the house. We'll work on the outdoor nativity scene this week.

CHOIR PERFORMANCES. Last night the preschool, children's and youth choirs performed at church. Ben's group didn't really sing but they waved flags of different colors to a song that explained the meanings of the Christmas colors. Jenna's choir sang two songs. All the kids did a really good job.

One of the funniest parts of the evening was a skit the some of the youth put on that was a spoof of the old Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer claymation movie. What made it so much more humorous was that they wrote the script themselves.

FUNNY MATH. We had hamburgers for supper tonight. Ben ate his potato chips and said he was done. That's when we said he would have to eat four bites of his hamburger before he could get up. After eating his first bite he held his hand up to me (with all fingers up) and said, "Look Dad. I ate one bite (here he used his other hand to fold his thumb down) and now I have three...." The look on his face was hysterical as he realized that his words weren't agreeing with his fingers. He just couldn't figure out why.

Joe

Pre-Holiday Stuffing

Things are gearing up for the holidays around here!

MOM'S KNEE. Mom had a flare up with her knee on Thursday. The arthritis in her right knee caused blood to build up in that joint which was very painful as you can imagine. She went to the emergency room at NorthCrest and they drew off about 100 cc of blood. She went to the doctor on Friday. He told her to make sure she took her medicine and try those shots to help the arthritic inflammation. If all this doesn't help the next thing is a knee replacement which is an option she doesn't plan to consider.

Mom is feeling a lot better now though she is still hobbling about. They sent her home with a set of crutches but even after I demonstrated how to use them she never got the hang of it. She basically took them for a walk for about 24 hours before laying them aside. She goes to see a specialist on Tuesday.

Ben, like the rest of us, was very concerned for Mom. (The kids call her G'Anne--short for Gran Anne.) In his prayer he said, "I hope those medicines work so she won't died."

Where I feel really bad is that I had a meeting scheduled for Thursday afternoon. It really wasn't that important of a meeting but I decided to turn my pager off. As a result no one could reach me about Mom. By the time I got home and learned the news she had been discharged from the ER and was on the way home herself.

STUFFED TO THE GILLS. Thanksgiving is next week and I am already full. On Wednesday the cafeteria manager at Cheatham Park Elementary called and invited our office over for their Thanksgiving lunch. That night we had Thanksgiving dinner at church. On Thursday Vicki and I went to East Robertson Elementary to eat Thanksgiving lunch with Jenna. That night I went to the pot luck Thanksgiving dinner meeting of the Cross Plains Heritage Commission (Mom was so full of pain medication all she could do was sleep so there wasn't much I could do for her). On Friday they had a pot luck Thanksgiving lunch for all the families of the Mom's Day Out students. Vicki, Pauline, Nate and Aunt Mar went as I was with Mom for her appointment with the doctor but they saved me a plate which I ate for supper. Tonight we will attend a community Thanksgiving service at Pleasant Hill Baptist, where they will serve finger food afterwards.

You know, what they say about that enzyme in turkey making you sleepy is true!

THE BOY KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS. When Nate tells you he wants something he is not kidding around. And he is starting to pick up the words he needs to express his wishes. He kind of surprised us when he came up and said, "Seep," yesterday afternoon though. Then we figured out he meant "Sleep" and put him to bed. When lifted into his bed he grabbed his stuffed animals, laid down, and looked up as if to say, "You can put my blanket on me now."

THE INCREDIBLES. Yes, I know we have seen it but Jenna and Ben wanted to go. Jenna had also been invited to spend the night with Maegan Garst (a friend from church and school) on Friday night and since the Garsts planned to go see the movie Vicki, Ben and I met them there. Ben was really proud of himself because "Jenna got scared but I did not."

BRAVE GIRL. Jenna had a not so fun experience at church today. She got trapped in the elevator by herself. It probably wasn't more than five or ten minutes before we located the key and got her out. I was proud of her as she kept her head through the whole thing. When I talked to her through the door she didn't sound distressed at all. Once she was released she did hug me and Vicki real tight though.

TRADING SPOUSES FOOTNOTE. For those of you who were interested in the news about my high school classmate on Trading Spouses that I reported a couple of weeks ago you may find this article from the Robertson County Times interesting.

Evidently a lot of people in the county felt the same way I did after seeing the Nortons on the air because Crystal wrote the editor thanking the community for their support.

Joe

Finally, A Frosty Morning

I think I have seen more deer in the past few weeks than usual. Either they are getting bolder or they are simply being forced to forage out in the open for some reason. The same goes for a small rafter of turkeys I see about every day on my way to and from work (actually there are about 20 in the group). I find them getting closer to the highway than before. Not smart with the upcoming holiday as eating roadkill is legal in Tennessee.

By the way, we finally got our first real frost of the season this morning.

A CONUNDRUM. So Jenna asked Vicki if she could have some candy out of the Halloween candy bag. Vicki gave her permission to have one piece. Jenna returned asking if she could have two pieces but Vicki stuck to her guns. A few moments later she was back and asked, "Mom, can I have the Hershey's Kiss?" When Vicki said she could Jenna regretfully replied, "But eeny meeny [miny moe] picked the bubble gum."

What says more about Jenna than she'll ever know is the fact that she abided by the choice made by the eeny meeny rhyme even though Vicki told her it was okay to eat the other candy.

GOOD HELP IS EASY TO FIND. We ask Jenna and Ben to clean up their toys each night before going to bed. This includes the messes Nate had made. Last night Nate and I came in from church before everyone else and as a surprise we cleaned everything up for Jenna and Ben. What was so nice was that I could hand something to Nate, tell him where it went and he'd actually put the stuff in the right place. I had him going all over the house and when I walked around later I didn't spot anything out of order. He was so proud (and so was I)!

DIZZY. Nate has gotten to where he loves to spin around until he gets dizzy. This really worries Aunt Mar as she thinks it will mess up his brain development. I just hope it will give him more of a toleration for roller coasters than I have.

A BAD WIND. The other day I came home from work to a big mess. Evidently someone had been hired to remove insulation from an old building. As they were driving by our house some of the bags of the stuff blew out of their truck right in front of our house. The bags burst open spreading bits of insulation all over the front yard. When Ben saw it he asked Vicki what had happened and she explained about the wind blowing the stuff out of the truck. He thought about that a moment and said, "God must not have been in the wind's heart."

SOCIAL BUTTERFLY. Vicki has had a full calendar. Last Monday evening she attended her Women On Mission meeting. Wednesday evening was church and choir practice. On Thursday she met Angi Arnold and Becky Seaton (friends from high school) for lunch at Opry Mills. And on Friday she went to the Christmas Village at the State Fairgrounds with Tracy and Michelle (friends from church).

I think she has really enjoyed getting out with friends and away from kids. Right now she is sitting on the couch sorting through the bag of single socks hoping to find mates for them (I think every load of laundry eats one sock). I guess that's the reality check.

A NEAT CONTRAPTION. My appreciation for this machine comes from having to pick up hay when I was in high school. The Hendleys, neighbors of ours, own one of these and I stopped by on my way home from work the other day to see it in action. It is a hay bale wagon. Mike Hendley was kind enough to let me hang off the side and watch it work. It took him about 20 minutes to drive around the field scooping up hay bales which the mechanism behind the cab stacked into the bed of the wagon. When he went to the barn to unload he left behind a large cube of 160 hay bales. He said the concept for the machine was invented by a 16 year old boy who was tired of picking up hay. I found a picture online if you are curious about what this thing looks like.

SAD NEWS. Pauline still takes her hometown newspaper, The Camden Chronicle. When she opened up the edition that was delivered today a house fire was one of the front page stories. As she looked at the picture she recognized the house to be her parent's homeplace. The house is the property of her sister-in-law and had been renovated to be a rental house. A tenant was due to move into the house in a few days. It was totally destroyed but no one was inside when it happened.

Joe

The Calm Before the Holidays

Since fuel prices are so high I am not complaining but it just seems so unnatural to be running around in shorts, a t-shirt and sandals here in the first part of November. I mowed the yard yesterday morning and wore a thin sweat shirt then but the days are still very warm. We sure aren't getting the temperatures we normally get right now but that is changing.

NEAR 20/20. Aunt Mar had cataract surgery on her left eye Thursday morning. That afternoon she was looking around and commented to Mom, "Anne, I think I can see better already." Then she added, "Is that some dirt I see over there?"

A NEW DRIVER. I think I have mentioned Scoop, Ben's riding toy before. Well, for the last several weeks Nate has been able to climb onto Scoop but has not been able to push himself around very well. I noticed it when he first started but hadn't really paid attention lately--until today. Today I did a double take as he effortlessly cruised by me in the hallway. He still has a way to go to match Ben's careening through the house at running speeds but he can get around quite well none the less.

NEW YARD FURNITURE. Our neighbors, Jimmie and Suzanne Pitt, had a metal swing set they were going to get rid of so they asked Pauline if she wanted it for the kids. We moved the thing Saturday morning. We had a men's prayer breakfast at church that morning so I snagged several guys and we walked it over to Pauline's back yard.

GIRLS DAY OUT. This past weekend the Christmas Sampler was in Springfield. Vicki, Jenna, Pauline and Mom all loaded up and went on Saturday. After shopping they went to Burdette's Tea Room for lunch. They all had a great time. The boys and I hung out around the house.

A MOVIE REVIEW. Friday night Vicki and I went out with some friends to see The Incredibles. We had a lot of fun. I won't say that it was the best movie I have seen Pixar produce but it was still very cute. It was probably given its PG rating for the violence but they did nothing worse than I ever saw on Saturday morning cartoons when I was growing up. If you want to go see a fun super hero movie we recommend this one.

PROUD OF A HIGH SCHOOL CLASSMATE. I watch very little TV. The only show I regularly watch is Enterprise as a hold over from my old love of Star Trek. (If I am up late I'll watch Andy Griffith or M*A*S*H.) We found out that last night's episode of Trading Spouses (the Fox network) was featuring a family from Springfield, the Nortons. It turns out that I know the wife, Crystal, as she went to high school with me for one year. I was really proud of the way she handled herself when she was the traded mom to a family in California. I remember her being that way in high school and was glad to see her character show through to everyone who watched the show.

Crystal and her family are neighbors of one of my co-workers. She said the Nortons are a really nice family and are the same in real life as they were on TV. They funny thing is that the producers of TV show found the Nortons through a business web site they run and approached them about doing the show.

Joe

Happy Belated Halloween

The only bad thing about having pretty fall leaves is that they come down. Saturday we moved at least a dozen truck loads of leaves out of the yard. If I just had a market for used leaves....

SHE'S SO VAIN. I forgot to report this but last Sunday morning Vicki came into the kitchen where the rest of us were eating breakfast. She was completely ready for church except for her makeup. Upon seeing Vicki Jenna said, "I don't like your hair. No, wait, it's your face!"

NONE OF THE ABOVE. Since Vicki had cooked for the last several nights Tuesday night was leftovers night. That means we can pick which leftover meal we want to eat. After hearing his choices Ben said, "Is that all there is? I don't like any of those things."

TRICK OR TREAT. We did our Trick or Treating Saturday night--three hours of it. And only six Reeses Cups! We started up in Cross Plains at 6:00 and walked up and down most of Main Street. After that we hit all the neighbors around us. Thankfully two of the three can buckle themselves into their seats. And most of all, it was a very pleasant night to be out and the kids behaved very well.

The kids really did look cute. Jenna was a parrot, Ben was a cowboy and Nate was a puppy dog. I need to say a word about Ben's outfit. It included the horse. His legs slipped into the horse's back legs and the reins looped around his neck to hold up the horse's head and front legs. He kept telling everyone it wasn't a real horse.

A CONVERSATION WITH MY BOY. The other afternoon Ben came in where I was and said, "Hello, Daddy."

I replied, "Hello, Ben. Did you have a good day today?"

"Yeah."

"What did you do today."

[Short pause] "I don't know."

"You mean to tell me that you were wide awake and with yourself the whole day and can't remember a thing you did today!"

"Uh-huh." A few moments later he adds, "I sure don't know why that is Dad but I don't remember a thing I did."

HOMEWORK BY RADIO. After school today Jenna had some reading homework. Usually Vicki helps her but today she was upstairs doing some work on the computer while Jenna was downstairs completing her assignment.

We have a set of walkie-talkies that Ben got for his birthday. Jenna agreed to do her homework by herself so long as Vicki took one of the radios upstairs with her. When she came to a word she couldn't read she simply spelled it into the radio and Vicki transmitted the correct pronunciation back. Then Ben would take the radio and make a comment or two to Jenna. It made homework great fun!

NO, NO, NO, NO.... For the last few months Nate has always closed his doors and turned off his light before going to bed. He has decided he doesn't want to do that anymore so when we mention it to him he just grins, shakes his head and says, "No, no, no, no, no...." I think he feels a sense of obligation to at least say no about bedtime. Once you put him in bed he lays down and goes right on the sleep though.

A PRAYER REQUEST. I heard some news yesterday that is really sad. Randy Chatman is a friend who is just a few months older than I am. He grew up less than a mile from my house and we went to school from the 1st grade through the 12th grade together. While we haven't seen each other much since graduation he has always been one of the nicest people I've known. He has just been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). I am at such a loss to understand and simply devastated for him.

Joe