Merry Christmas 2012

December is here again!

Once again December has rolled around before we knew it.  And once again it has been a wild and crazy year for our clan.  Of course our Decembers have been bitter sweet since Wendy’s death 20 years ago, but God gives us strength and joy in the midst of our grief.

I mentioned last year that Mom’s doctors did not think she had much more time on earth.  She did make it through Christmas.  Bri and Bridget drove up to my sisters house on Christmas Eve.  They had made a few turn arounds to drive around closed roads because of snowstorms, so the trip from Santa Barbara was longer than they expected. They visited some that night and some on Christmas day then drove on to Norman to visit with Libby.  They were still at Libby’s on the 29th, when we all got the news that their Nonny had passed away. We had a wonderful service for her in her Methodist Church in Channing on January 3, with the Baptist preacher presiding. Our cousin Jim (Booger) Skelton did a wonderful job of telling the story of her family and her life. Her kids and grandkids are still missing her and now Facebook is filling up with pictures from her many photo albums. This picture is one none of us had ever seen, but she told Sandy about it, so when Sandy was looking for a picture for the funeral brochure, she ran across it with the title “Me with my big ole feet sticking out.” It just had to be the one to use.                                                                                                                                                                       Terry and I did make it to Otis Spears’ 98th birthday last year.  We had hopes of making it for his 99th this Saturday, the 8th, but Terry burned his hand pretty bad the other morning so now he has to have therapy called debridement thru next Wednesday. So I guess we will have to go later. Here is a picture of Otis last year. Not bad, huh?  

The grandkids pictured above are growing and going in all directions. 

Libby’s Family  All but Cohen are certified in Scuba.  He will be too when he gets to be old enough.   Pacey entered middle school this year, so Cohen is the only one in elementary school now. He is a second grader already.  He had a bad morning last February. The family dog at his Dad’s house decided to take a chunk out of his leg. He ended up missing about 6 weeks of school to allow his skin graft to heal. His teacher came to Libby’s house a couple of days a week to keep him caught up on his school work. All four sets of grandparents got to trade off in keeping Cohen occupied (and try to keep Mr. ADD off his feet) while parents went to work. He does have ADD, but the side effects of the meds were worse than the ADD.  Other methods of dealing with it will have to be employed. He got to go back to school about April 2nd, but did not get to go back to playing soccer until this fall. He has a pretty ugly scar, but it could have been so much worse, and it seems that scars are cool amongst boys.                                                                                                Pacey is a girl after Grammy’s heart because she chose the flute as her instrument for the school band. She has started running in cross country as her sport, and really loves it.  She loves those 5 K runs. She is still the one of the most organized and focused kids I know.                       Tyler is in high school and seems to be adapting well.  Seems it was just yesterday he was a little boy and now here he is planning where to go to college and deciding what kind of engineering he wants to study.                           

Leah is an eighth grader, so I guess there will be two in high school next year. She is doing really well including some AP classes in math. She plays ice hockey, for real!

Heather’s daughter Cameron stuck with it at the International Baccalaureate school in Orlando. She plays the clarinet like her Grandpa and Aunt Libby. She does excellent work for the most part, but with her ADHD she needs help remembering what her assignments are and needs a lot of encouragement (nagging?) to get them done. She even had several projects to do over the summer.  She has a lot of musical talent and loves all things musical, so her mom and dad have her enrolled in a music school where she plays piano, and guitar as well as sings.

Bri and Bridget

Remember how Bri took a cut in pay last year to take a full time job at maps.com and dropped her other job that paid well? It looks like that move is paying off. Her new title at the beginning of the new year: GIS Cartographer, Production Specialist. She came home for her 10-year class reunion this summer.  I cannot believe it has been that long! Bridget just received her Masters degree and is well on her way to the Doctorate. Bri and Bridget are still enjoying Santa Barbara and will use this Christmas holiday to go to Maui while they are still on the west coast and the tickets are cheaper than flying home. I’m hoping they will stay in California long enough for us to get at least one more visit out there.

Our Travels

This year we made several trips. Our trip to Orlando for Christmas last year went really well.  We were ahead of the storms all the way there and back. It was pretty foggy the morning we left Mobile, but I think that happens there a lot.   We went to England, Scotland and Wales in April. We had very nice weather.  Of course it rained some, but we had sunshine too. I wanted to spend more time in Wales since some of my ancestors were chased out of there for being in Cromwell’s army.  Anyway all of the British Isles are beautiful!

This fall we went with a group on a coach (I always want to say bus.) We rode across Tennessee at just the right time to see all those beautiful fall colors. We stopped in Memphis coming and going to see Beale Street, Graceland, Mud Island, and as the picture shows, the grounds of St. Jude’s children’s hospital. 

We stayed in Gatlinburg, were entertained several times in Pigeon Forge and visited the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina for a whole day, and still did not see it all.Terry did sign up for another year of working for UOP full time.  He says he will really retire this year, but who knows? I think he hates to lose that connection with people that speak engineering.  Terry and I stay busy with our various organizations.  I also became a regular member of a bunco group I had been subbing for.  It is a fun evening once a month with a fun group of ladies. I’m trying to find ways to lighten my load for League of Women Voters. This election year really was busy for me. My joining Terry at the YMCA for exercise has turned out to be a good move. I haven’t lost any weight, but I think my stamina has improved.  I don’t have to rest quite as long between laps in swimming and am able to do 1.6 miles in 23 minutes on the elliptical without stirring up sciatica pains.Usually I try to write a little bit about what I have learned in my Bible studies for the year and usually try to pick a theme of some Christmas words such as peace, joy, hope, rejoice, etc.  Last year I mixed in the word “trust” even though it may not be too Christmasy.  I found that this year has had me returning more and more to that word and idea of “trust.”  Our women’s Bible study group has been studying the life of Moses and have found that he grew to trust God more and more. His trust of God’s leading is really the picture of his life.  Also, I was given a devotional book for Christmas last year called, “Jesus Calling.”   It also dwells on seeking His presence, being thankful for His blessings, and among other things, TRUSTING Him in every part of our lives. I’ve begun to post the reading for each day on Facebook to share with those who care to read it. It is too good to keep all to myself. So sticking with the TRUST theme this year, my prayer for you, as well as for me, will be, “May you grow to trust the Lord more and more every day.”

Wishing y’all a Merry Christmas and a new year that is prosperous in every way!

Christmas 2011

Sorry, I did not get this posted here last year, but feel like I'd better before I put up this year's Christmas letter.  Some of the text is doing weird stuff, but I think it is all readable now.

It's Christmas 2011, Rejoice!

Aren’t we a wild looking bunch? We managed to get the whole gang together inNew Braunfels and Gruene TX this summerand found a stranger brave enough to takea picture for us.Back row: Cheri Spears, Darren Cowley, PatSchaper. Second Row: Libby Schaper,Heather Cowley, Bridget Harr, TerrySpears. Front row: Cameron Cowley, TylerSchaper, Leah Schaper, Pacey Mills, CohenMills and Brianna Spears.

Again! I am surprised to findThanksgiving is over and the rush to getready for Christmas is in full swing. Weare not planning to celebrate here, but wewill drive down to Orlando, so I think Iwill not be doing too much decorating orcooking here. I’m on to shopping andshipping and packing.We want to celebrate with Terry’s dad on

his 98th birthday on December 8, so we are    making plans to drive over to Roswell NM andvisit him for a couple of days.

My mother had her second heart attack in October
and is now living under the care of my sister and
her family in Boise City OK. Doctors think there
is a serious problem with one lung, so they do
not give her much of a future here on earth. She
has done fairly well as long as she gets her
oxygen and breathing treatments. She does not
have much of an appetite, but we all keep sending
things to tempt her. We will try to stop by there
on our way home from Roswell.
Terry has been working for UOP at a steady pace
this year. He is thinking he may not sign up for
another year come June, but I think he will miss
it. Maybe he can stay on and cut back to a 20-
hour week or even less. I guess we will see how
he feels in June. Who knows? Maybe he will have
all those operation manuals redone by then.
We went on a 10 day tour of Ireland in September.
It was WONDERFUL! So green! And so cool after
our 117-degree days this summer. Every day we had

a little rain and a little sun. We took so many  pictures, I am having a hard time selecting what to put in the picture book. But I will get back to that soon. I did post them on the gallery site http://gallery.me.com/cheriterry#gallery. We rode a coach around the outer edges of the Irish Republic. We started in Dublin, then on to Waterford, Killarney, Limerick and finished up the trip in a castle at Kingscourt. We saw a few places in between like the Ring of Kerry, Blarney Castle where the Blarney stone is, Galway, and the Cliffs of Moher. We hope to see some of the British Isles next spring (England, Scotland and Wales). We hope we can have the same guide, because she loves and knows the history and has some fun ways to help us remember it, at least as well as I remember anything these days.

Our kids and grandkids are SO BUSY! Most of you
have kids and grandkids, so you know what I mean.
Brianna and Bridget are still enjoying that
wonderful climate in California. Bri finally got
her a choice job - printing maps at maps.com.
Maps.com got featured on Good Morning America!
This is not the best-paying job, but she gets to touch maps everyday. Bridget keeps her nose in                       the books all the time as she is nearing the end of her course work toward the PhD in sociology as well as working as a research and teaching assistant at the University of California Santa Barbara.

On the east coast, The Cowley family of Orlando
is deep into Cameron’s first year in middle
school (6th grade). They all spend a lot of time
keeping Cameron focused on getting all the
homework done. Are any of you familiar with
International Baccalaureate schools or programs?
I’m not sure they are pleased enough to do this
again next year. They were encouraged to send
Cameron to a particular middle school for this
program. It has meant a lot of changes; no
books, power point programs from which she is
supposed to take notes. This has not worked well
with her ADHD so she was way behind very soon.
By the end of the 9 weeks Heather and Darren had
caught on to some of the problems and prodded and
pushed Cameron and her teachers until she had
caught up on her work. Her report card grades
were good. The projects seem aimed at
encouraging creativity, but it also involve a lot
of time-consuming work. One highlight is that
her all-girl Lego robotics team won 1st place for
Core Values and finished in the top 3 overall out
of 12 teams which earned them a qualification for
the regional tournament! Their team is called The
Tough Cookies. Cameron designed the t-shirt for
her team.

Libby’s crew amazes me with how they get so many
people to so many activities. Libby and Pat
decided to try scuba diving and they LOVE it!
Now the boys are interested in it too. With 4
kids in 2 schools and all kinds of
extracurricular activities (soccer, piano,
violin, Scouts, gymnastics, choir, and ice
hockey) there is never a dull moment. Cohen, the
little boy Libby was so afraid would never talk,
got in trouble at school three times in one week
for talking. I guess that was not all; now
screening for ADHD is scheduled. Looks like
there are some challenges ahead to keep everyone
doing their best in school.
I’m still busy with my League of Women Voters job
as communication chair. That involves a lot of
computer time. Then I have my Red Hat Society
group. Usually that is just a monthly lunch out
with the other 19 “gals” in our group. But once
in a while we go to a special tea in Tulsa or a
get-together with other Red Hat chapters in
Oklahoma, Missouri,and Arkansas for shows or
craft days and always more eating.
I have kept working at my resolution to get into
an exercise routine. This summer I was walking
about 2 miles a day early in the morning before
it got too hot. When it started cooling off I
would wait until later. It was getting to be
harder to find a good time, so I started going to
the YMCA with Terry. Since he is such a
consistent exerciser, this should help me be more
consistent.
My other activity, besides going to church
regularly on Sunday, is the ladies Bible study.
One of our members had done her own private study
on Malachi, so she led us in that study this
fall. She found some real nuggets of gold to
share with us. It reminded me how much God wants
us to trust Him and to be thankful for the ways
he blesses us. Trust seems to be a recurring
theme in my spiritual journey. Mostly I just
recognize it as small flashes of insight.
I cannot remember where I first heard someone say
“It is not good you believe IN God, but that you
BELIEVE GOD. Believe - another word for trust.
A way I heard we can test ourselves about whether
we are trusting Jesus as our savior was this
example: “If I am a tightrope walker, walking
across Niagara Falls, I might ask you if you
believe I can do this, you might say ‘Yes, I
believe you can do it.’ Then I might ask you,
‘Do you believe I can do it blindfolded?’ You
might respond, ‘Yes, I believe you can do it!’
Then if I said, ‘I want to walk across with you
on my shoulders, do you believe I can do it?’
That might take a little more trust for you to
say, ‘Yes, I believe you can do it.’ and to climb
on my shoulders.” Hmm, there’s that word trust                                                                               again, and a picture for me of what really
trusting Jesus as my savior is like. I know of no
other god or system of belief that has even made
the promise of providing the sacrifice for me,
much less fulfilling it.
We all struggle with having the patience to wait
for God to answer our prayers. He gives us many
opportunities to learn to trust him to answer
with what is best for us - yes, no, later.
Eventually, after going through many trials, we
can start to trust Him for the best answer.
Forgiveness is another area where we have an
opportunity to trust God. Forgiving someone is
turning them over to God, who can be counted on,
or trusted, to deal with them His way.
Deuteronomy 32:35ff. says a lot about His dealing
with those we turn over to Him. We may have given
Kevin over to God, but we still miss our Wendy
every day. Since he killed her so close to
Christmas 19 years ago I guess that memory will
be a part of our Christmases as long as we are
here on earth. God is the only one we can trust to                                                                                             deal with him the right way. Our comfort is
in looking forward to the day we will see Wendy
in heaven.
We can REJOICE in this holy season because the
God we trust in fulfilled that promise he made
back in Genesis 3:15. He sent Jesus!
Merry Christmas!! Cheri & Terry