Christmas in New Hamphire

December 25, 2007

We flew up to New Hamphire for Christmas this year. Joni's brother and his family live there and so does Joni's Mom.

We enjoyed a WHITE CHRISTMAS for the first time in a long time. It was beautiful, white and fluffy. See the picture taken from Joni's Mom's living room window.

We also spent the holidays with Rich's wife's (Adele) Dad, step Mom and niece.

It was interesting to see all the political signs everywhere. The NH primaries were in everyone's mind as was the Patriot's football game.
We enjoyed our visit and enjoyed the snow (for a few days anyway.)

Fall 2007 Coming to a Close

We loved our spot in Grapevine with our view of the lake. Friends Kathy and Skip McKie joined us for a delicious diner on a warm fall afternoon.

One of the highlights of our fall trip back home was Delton's BEARD. He grew it for our Christmas program at church. See the story on Jouney to Bethlehem.



Toni and Jeff Ast came out to Grapevine in their RV for a weekend. We ate, fished, and sat around the campfire with them. We met them during our Journey To Bethlehem program and have become good friends. (Pictured are Toni and Jeff in front of their RV)



RVers are very friendly people. We met alot of new friends in the park. Doug and Rita Fisk are 2 of those great people. We will be joining them in the San Diego area for a few weeks this winter. We are looking forward to seeing them again. (Rita and Doug are pictured in front of their motorhome)



We had an early Christmas exchange with Delton's son, Ken and his wife Shawna and daughter Shauntal. Also, Joni's son Chris joined us. After a summer flood in their home, they were finally settled in with their new renovations. What an ordeal that was. They had 4 inches of water in their house.

Journey To Bethlehem

December 5 -10, 2007

Journey to Bethlehem (JTB) is a Christmas program that our church in Grapevine, Texas presented this year. (Memorial Baptist) We wanted very much to be a part of the presentation this year and planned on being “home” long enough to do that. Rehearsals started in September and continued on to the performance in December. (Notice the "biblical" beard that Delton grew - Joni couldn't wait till it was gone!)

JTB is an actual trip taken with a Biblical family (the Gladiel family). It is an outdoor event on the grounds of our church, where you become part of the Gladiel family and go on the journey with them. We had 10 Gadiel families, which started their journeys every 6-8 minutes. Each family group contained about 25-50 family members. Following is a write up from our church website about the journey:

JTB is a FREE event...an interactive outdoor walking Christmas drama that
will put you and your family right in the middle of the real Christmas story.

Groups of 30-40 people will travel with a Jewish family who has been
ordered to return to their hometown of Bethlehem to take part in the Roman
census decreed by Caesar.

Roman soldiers on horseback will monitor your
Journey. Keep a sharp eye out for the Wise Men and their camels! Fire pits will
give you several chances to warm up, and you'll experience the bustling
marketplace in Bethlehem, too, with all of its sights and sounds. You'll finally
catch up with Mary and Joseph, just moments after the baby Jesus has been born.

We played the part of beggars, loitering at the gate to Bethlehem. As the Gadiel families arrived at Bethelehem, we approached them and begged for food for our family. We became good friends with fellow beggar, Toni Ast. Toni’s husband played the part of the angel (pictured).
We felt very blessed to have the opportunity to be part of this program and plan on doing it again next year. Pictured is our talented director, Ginny (center) with her daughter Sarah and sister.

Tennis At Linda's House

Upon returning to Texas, we looked forward to getting back on the tennis courts again. We looked forward to playing with our friends, Mary Jane and Dave Mulaski. We were disappointed to find out that Dave had injured his knee during the summer and was unable to play for a while. As it would happen, Dave suffered a massive stroke in November (see prayer requests for Dave). Please continue to pray for Mary Jane and Dave as Dave works hard to recover.

Mary Jane asked Joni if she would like to play doubles with Linda Lam (pictured in red and black) and some other friends at a backyard court at Linda’s house. Joni has known Linda Lam for many years, but had never played on her backyard court before. As you can see, it is a beautiful court with lots of trees, foliage, decks and even a pond of gold fish surrounding the court.

Well, the match was wonderful….. and so it continued and continued. Linda continued to call Joni to join her and others for doubles throughout the fall. Joni enjoyed meeting new tennis friends, Velma, Carol, Connie and Karen Nester from Trophy Club, Since were were in Linda’s backyard, we could play anytime. Linda’s husband Connor was so nice. He cleaned off the court every time we played and even provided a cooler full of water for us girls.

We played at least once a week, sometimes twice and even three times a week. It is hard to resist such a wonderful invitation. Linda and Joni became closer friends with each match and also as we called each other often to get updates on Dave’s condition from Mary Jane.

Dave and Mary Jane Need Our Prayers

Monday, November 12, 2007

Our dear, dear friends need all our prayers. Dave and Mary Jane Mulaski have been our friends for about 25 years. Dave suffered a massive stroke on Monday. Mary Jane found him at home after running some errands. He was taken to a Grapevine hospital (north of the DFW airport), where it was decided to CareFlight him to a Dallas hospital. He has not been responsive yet but we are all hoping and praying for his recovery.

Pictured are Mary Jane, Dave and us, after an Ocean Resorts tennis match in Florida. They are long time friends and RV traveling companions. Please say a prayer for healing and comfort for their family.

Lake Lewisville with the Deeters

October 12, 2007

We met Steve and Linda Deeter when we sold our pop-up trailer. Because THEY BOUGHT IT in 2002.!

What a surprise to find them at Fun Valley this summer. We were taking a walk one evening and started talking with some friendly people who were on their way to watch the square dancers in the Square Dance Barn. They looked very familiar to us and we looked familiar to them. As we learned more about each other, Linda said (with a surprised look on her face) “I think we bought your pop-up!” The clues that tipped her off were that we used to live in Trophy Club and we are full-timing.

Well, we bumped into them a few more times in Fun Valley and decided that we needed to get together when we got back to Texas. They live in Flower Mound, which is about ½ hour from Trophy Club.

Linda e-mailed us and found out we were back and asked us to join them for diner and an evening cruise on their yacht, which was docked at Lake Lewisville. It was great! See Steve in the captain's chair.

A few funny things happened that night. We set off for our cruise and about 10 minutes into the ride we came across a highway bridge which the boat usually sails under. Since the lakes were flooded this summer and were still at higher levels than normal, we couldn’t get under the bridge. We got close to the bridge before they decided if would be too close for comfort. Then, Linda and Steve discovered that they left their dog, Donnie, on the dock. Panic struck Linda as she said – “Turn around, we’ve forgot the dog!” Donnie was found 2 slips away from their slip. They think he probably tried to follow the boat as it sailed away. Anyway, he was safe. Pictured are Linda and Donnie (the dog).

Well, we decided to dine on the dock instead of on the boat. Diner was great – shish-ka-bob.

We all had a great time and plan on getting together again, both here in Texas and also on the road somewhere, sometime.

The Flood at The Vineyards RV Park, Grapevine, TX

October 12, 2007

After “holding” at Lake Ray Roberts, Isle Du Bois Park, (pictured) we were finally able to enter The Vineyards Park at Grapevine Lake. The park has been flooded since the summer floods. Texas got an unprecedented amount of rain this year and many areas flooded. NOTICE THE WATER LINES ON ALL THE TREES in ALL the pictures.

We were unable to park in our favorite Dallas area park because Grapevine Lake had not gone down to its normal levels. At it’s highest, lake levels had reached about 20 feet over normal. The park was virtually completely flooded. Electric, water and sewer had to be restored at all sites and the cabins (which had been removed) had to be moved back in.

Pictured are the results of the flood. These pictures were taken on our first day back in the park. We were the first motorhome to park in the east section of the park. Notice our motorhome located back in the trees behind the downed tree. The water actually came as high as our motorhome wheels. (The park had been evacuated at the time.)

Actually, the park looked alot better than we thought it would. The grass is coming back and so are the campers. We like it here because we are close to "home" and there are bike riding paths and a lake for Joni to kayak in.

Pictured is a "before the flood" picture with the same downed tree - before it broke in half. This picture was taken just before we left to go to Jim's wedding in NY on June 1, and then on to Colorado for the summer. The water was just starting to rise. The rains had begun. The water had risen to above the RVs in this picture.

Joni's Mom Moves to New Hampshire

September 21, 2007

After returning to Texas, Joni went to New Hampshire to help her brother Rich and his wife Adele, get Mom situated in her new home. Delton stayed in Texas with the motorhome to get caught up on "business". On her way to NH, she visited her son, Jim, and his wife, Barbara, for 2 nights in NYC. (See the story on Jim and Barbara's wedding - dated June 1, 2007)

After a very hard year, the decision was made to move Joni’s Mom from her home in Florida to an Independent Living facility in New Hampshire called the Inn at Spruce Wood. Pictured are views of the front of the building and Mom standing under her apartment. As you can see, Spruce Wood is very nice and very new. Mom’s 2 bedroom apartment is located on the 3^rd flood and is only 1 of the 3 apartments that have a bay window in the living room. She has a corner apartment so she has windows on 2 sides. See mom standing on the patio which is under her bedroom window. She has all her meals in the dining room which overlooks the back yard where the trees were just starting to turn to their beautiful fall colors.

Joni’s brother, Rich and his wife Adele, live in Dover, New Hampshire. Rich went down to Florida to pack her up, get some of her stuff moved and bring her back to NH with him.

Joni flew up to NH and stayed with her at Spruce Wood for 1 week, while Delton stayed in Texas. Aside from visiting her Mom, Joni wanted to help her get acclimated by getting her into her new routine. There are a lot of activities to get involved in and lots of new people to meet. They went to every activity they could, so their days were full.

Pictured are some of the many things they did. An afternoon cruise up the river lasted 2 ½ hours and was enjoyed by the bus full of residents that signed up to go. Pictured is the Spruce Wood bus unloading residents that went on the cruise. Another cruise is planned for October. Pictured are Joni and Mom on the boat.

Entertainment was enjoyed by all who attended the event in the Great Room. The singer got Mom to join her in a little dance while she sang. It was so cute.

Mom enjoyed making Halloween decorations. She could also do water color painting, among other crafts.

Among other activities she did were: a backyard croquette game, trivia game, daily morning coffee get together, got her hair and nails done, read in the library, (pictured is Mom reading in the library,) went to an exercise class, plus more stuff.

Pictured is Mom with Stacy, the activities director for Spruce Wood. They are standing in the foyer, right outside the entrance to the diner hall. We got to know Stacy pretty well. Mom suggested a new activity - BINGO. Stacy said they will start bingo in October.

The internet is also available for those who would like to use it. Internet classes are on the schedule of activites. Needless to say, she will not want for things to do. Pictured is Mom sitting in the backyard with some of her new friends.

I know we made the right decision to bring her to NH. It was a good time for her to move with the holidays coming up. She may even get to see SNOW for Christmas this year.