2nd Chances....

Today my wife, Cathie, and I celebrated the 40th anniversary of our reunion, our 2nd chance at marriage, after 9 months of legal separation that ended March 31st, 1974. We paused to humbly remember, say a prayer of thanksgiving, and celebrate a meal with our children, their spouses, and our grandchildren. It is often easier to believe in 2nd chances for others than it is for yourself, certainly that was the way it was for me back then. While today we serve a God of 2nd chances, until it is personally experienced in the arena of life, the appreciation and understanding of what forgiveness and redemption means in a life, a marriage, a family, can be lost. With God’s intervention in my life, our lives, some solid Baptist marriage counseling, encouragement from my father, and my friend, Ted Shown, my wife and I journeyed through a horribly dark and emotionally wrenching time to get to a point to be able to start our marriage again. A ‘do-over’ where the awareness of what was almost lost was keenly felt and acknowledged, as if we could actually peer over the edge of the precipice into which we almost fell.

I say this to encourage you, to always be asking God “what am I to be learning from this experience?” It could be most anything…. life, marriage, work, children. As it’s said, God never wastes a hurt. I believe that all life experiences are to mature us spiritually. 

Thank you Jesus, my Lord, for what you did, are doing, and will do in my, and our, life. I humbly acknowledge that You redeemed my marriage, and I am deeply grateful. Please keep the experience fresh and in the forefront of my awareness all the days of my life. You are an Awesome God!

 

Oh, what a beautiful morning......

Our sweet kids and grandkids, knowing that we enjoy learning, having new experiences and touching the great outdoors....oh, and wine........ gifted us with the opportunity to learn and participate in the growth and nurture of our very own grape-producing vine, which we've dubbed as 'Stanley' (there you go, brother!).  So today we visited Whispering Vines for the first time, received instruction in pruning (counting vines from main trunk, recognizing good producing shoots from not-so-good, cutting on an angle just under the third node, etc.), tagged Stanley, a hearty cabernet sauvignon producer, and thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful morning and this new venture.  Even got to hear a train in the distance, so, you know, that made our day!

it's a 'wrap'!

We carefully planned out our
last full day with Silas and
Cora to make sure
that we'd be able to include the
remaining
activities on the 'things to do
this week' list.

 So we were at Hunter Park for some hook-baiting
and casting
and waiting and watching and
long enough to
see some fish-loving birds
getting the fish that we weren't.

We told Silas that sometimes you catch a fish
and sometimes you catch a memory.  He seemed
good with that.  And the sunshine was so good
that everybody was happy.

Then we headed to Brookside
and ordered frosty mugs of root beer floats
with a side of corn dogs for lunch.

Chillin'

This corn dog for Silas turned
out to be an appetizer.  He ate two more
of them once we got home!

Uncle Brian, Aunt Lara and
Cousin Blake came
from Tahlequah for some play
 time in the afternoon.

 The kids ended up 'wearing' as much bubble
solution as they used to blow bubbles!

Blake was smiling
all afternoon and added
a new word
to his rapidly growing vocabulary:
BUBBLES!

Silas loved 'feeding the fire' with
handfuls of dried leaves.

Cousin Love!

Everybody got in on the 'sandbox action'!

Time to toast marshmallows!

One crispy critter!

A curious boy and the good earth........

........nothing finer.  Really needs no words, right?

While we created dinner, they created
with Play-doh......everybody has a job.

Silas made a Welcome Home Flower
for Dad and Mom.

happy hump day!

 

Enjoyed a lovely, lazy day at home, building with Legos, flying paper airplanes, reading stories, playing baseball, blowing bubbles and eating.......oh, and a promised trip to Braum's was a hit!

Silas proclaimed, 'Introducing Mr. Lime Sherbet!"

Yep, that about sums it up!

 

"Batter, batter, batter...."

Everyone got in on the act.

 

She's really getting into this.

Buddies catching rays.

Just because.....

warming....windy....and outside!!!

After Sunday's cold temps
Monday morning's sunshine
welcomed us out into
the backyard!

Two busy, active days of 'catching up' to do on the activities of these two....some days there's neither time nor energy left to be creative here after being creative here and here and here and here.

Can you 'dig' it?  I can!

Our traveling gnome has moved again!
Of course, Silas was the first to spot him!

Later in the day, everyone enjoyed
some online math games.  We think
Silas may have a calculator hidden in
that brain of his!

Naturally, the day included a game of Cootie.....playing with the same game pieces that we used when we played with Silas's and Cora's mom and their Aunt Laura and Uncle Brian.

Tuesday morning we 'hit the road', as in Route 66,
and visited the famed Blue Whale in Catoosa.  Lots of places
to climb and explore.

Brave Cora!!

This 'still shot' belies
the skill needed for
this pieces of equipment: these red
poles aren't static, but rather swinging
with the wind and weight of the child. 
Way to go, Silas!
 

Then we stopped by LaFortune Park, as did most of the rest of Tulsa, and took our turn on the playground.

Taking a break....having a chat!

This spinning toy was, by far,
Silas's favorite!

'Sibling sliders' 



While Cora napped, Silas and I
took an 'adventure walk' over near
Hunter Park.  You see, Silas and
his Dad and Mom have a camping
trip planned in a couple of months and
Silas wanted to be prepared with plenty
of kindling for the campfire.  So be prepared,
Dad and Mom, your 'in-house' stick finder
has you well-stocked in that department. 

We also foundpockets full of pecans, so we brought them back for
some pecan-cracking fun.  There would have been a lot more
in the bag we were saving for you, Mom and Dad, but, we....uh
ate a few....quite a few.

 More sandbox play and two
pots full of 'stone soup' with
a dash of sand, pinch of humus, a cup of leaves and cup of chickweed (stirred carefully) rounded out a good day!
 

Pop's little helper even assisted in some
'between stone' cleanup!