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By Ruth Gadberry
How about Monday? Cold, wet, dark, dreary. Definitely a touch of winter. There is JC, saying ‘I’m ready for Spring!’ It isn’t even Winter yet. Why not wish for Fall to return? It probably will, before we really get into winter. You just can’t please some people.
Ruth talked to her cousin in Nebraska, Saturday and they were getting ready for a bunch of snow. Count your blessings, Oklahoma people. We aren’t expecting any snow drifts or blizzards or anything like that. The weather people did say we might-just might – have a few snowflakes but don’t expect the snow to stick to the ground, even if we do see a few flakes. Hey, it isn’t even November yet and snow in October is really rare. Almost never happens.
However, it’s a different story in Western Oklahoma. They may not have snow drifts but they might get a lot of ice. Freezing rain; that sort of thing. If they have enough of the icy stuff they might have broken trees, downed power lines; that kind of weather. Count your blessings.
There were some empty places in church Sunday morning. Were some of the hunters already in the woods? Its bow season isn’t it? And then black powder? And then the real thing, along about Thanksgiving?
Chris was in his cabin in the woods this past week. He got up Sunday morning, cooked and ate breakfast, got his cabin chores done and headed home to Stringtown in time to be in his regular place for Sunday School and worship services. Chris, guys like you are really appreciated!
Don’t forget; this Saturday night, October 31, is Trunk or Treat time on the parking lot at Stringtown First Baptist Church. Moms, dads, grandparents and all adults, bring your cars and trucks to the parking lot and bring lots of candy and treats to hand out to all the little costumed cuties who will visit your vehicle. Adults from McGee Valley, Mt. Olive and anywhere else are invited to join them if your church isn’t having Trunk or Treat. Do come! They’d love to have you and the kids will really appreciate your bag or bucket of candy and goodies.
It’s fun to watch the little ones and to visit with their parents and grandparents. Just think; some of these people you knew when they were bringing their wee ones to Trunk or Treat. Then you watched when they brought their grandchildren to Trunk or Treat. Now? Have you really been around that long? To see these different generations come and go?
This coming up Sunday night, November 1st, is the Atoka/Coal Baptist Association’s annual meeting and it will be at Atoka First Baptist Church this year. It will begin at 3:00 o’clock Sunday afternoon and, well, you probably know the routine. Reports, announcements, introductions of new Pastors and staff members, recognition and remembrance of those who have moved on to their new homes in Heaven this past year; you know how it goes. Lots of music, some great preaching; that sort of thing. Visiting with people you might not have seen since the annual meeting last year. Don’t miss it!
Remember; next Sunday, November 1st is also Time Change day. Remember? You ‘fall back’ in the fall so set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed Saturday night. Well, if you really want to be all that correct you can set your alarm clock, wake up, and set your clocks back one hour at 2:00 A.M. Sunday morning. But who wants to do that?
It’s very confusing when time change occurs. Someone said on TV last week that it might take up to a week before we are comfortable with the new time. We do this a couple of times a year so we should be used to it. If we really get used to it? Then maybe they’ll decide we don’t need a time change and leave it alone, either one way or the other, all year. Dream on.
Beth and Ray had a mini vacation last week. They went to Branson and had a great time. They saw a couple of shows that were terrific. They saw the production of ‘Noah’ and they raved over and over about that.
One of Beth’s favorite parts of the trip was riding the zip line. There were two sets of stairs to climb to get to the zip tower take off landing. One had fifty or so steps – maybe that was the one to come down? The other one had about 100 steps. Well, you’d sure want to ‘zip’ after climbing that 100 steps. Otherwise you’d have to climb back down. They had one ‘practice’ zip, and if you survived that you could go ahead with the rest of the in air activities.
There were five people and a guide in Beth’s group. One couple had just gotten married the Saturday before the trip. The other couple was getting married the Saturday following the trip. Then there was Beth. No, Ray wasn’t with her. He was on the ground looking up at her.
This wasn’t just one zip and you’re finished. There were seven of them. Were there seven zips and then the rope bridges? Or was it all included in the seven? Anyway, it took about two hours or so to complete the zip line program or activity or whatever you call it.
Beth loved it and was ready to go again anytime. The trees were beautiful, with all sorts of fall colors. Sometimes they were above the trees, sometimes right through the trees, and sometimes below the canopy of trees.
When the first member of their group set off on his first zip, his bride of less than a week called to him, ‘it’s been fun being your wife this week!’ Well, just in case …
Their guide instructed them as to how to walk on the rope bridge. Yes, you could see through it, all the way, way, way down to the ground. ‘Put your right foot on the right side of the bridge, stretch as far as you can and put your left foot on the left side.’ Of course that would cause the bridge to swing and sway. The first man to walk on the bridge didn’t follow the example of their guide but simply walked right down the middle of the bridge and it didn’t even sway. So much for following their guide.
Where was Ray while Beth was zipping and walking across the swinging rope bridge? Not up there with her, that’s for sure. Well, someone had to take pictures. He was sure he had gotten some fantastic videos of the whole thing. But when she got down and they looked at the video, well, it was quite a disappointment. He sorta, kinda, well, he forgot to push the button on his phone camera and the results were, well, don’t bother asking to see them. Maybe she’ll have to zip another time so he can try again to take a video. She’s ready and willing to zip again.
Sunday night was another fun evening at JC and Ruth’s. Beth and Ray, Roy and Kathy were there. Also Thomas, Dionna, their daughters, Jordan, Preslie, and Kaelin and Kaolin’s school friend, Aubrey. They brought supper again! Wonderful! The food was great but the family was even greater.
JC has had a problem lately with the dizzies. Dizzy, dizzy, every day. This week he starts therapy to see if they can help him get over the dizzies. He is certain that it won’t help but Ruth is hopeful that it will. We’ll see.
If you’ve seen Brooklyn and Carter lately, you probably heard that an addition is expected in their family, along about February. They were hoping for a boy AND a girl but apparently it’s just one. It’s a GIRL! Brooklyn is thrilled and excited but Carter wasn’t all that thrilled. He really did want a baby brother, not another sister.
However, Carter and his Dad had a long talk and decided that they were the men in the family and it was their job to take care of the girls. That meant taking care of a baby sister as well as Mom and big sister Brooklyn. The men of the family will stick together and do their job. A baby sister won’t be so bad. She will need him to teach her to catch lizards, throw a ball, catch a fish, count, learn her ABC’s, ride a tricycle and all sorts of things. Well, maybe he’ll let Brooklyn teach her to count and learn her ABC’s. But he’ll teach her the important stuff. A baby sister just might be a lot of fun.
Did you watch the last presidential debate last week? Ruth had looked forward to it. She settled down in her chair to watch it and, well, she did see part of it. There is something about speeches, and debates, and, well, okay, so she went to sleep and missed part of it.
The speeches, and rally’s, and town hall meetings and wherever people gather there seems to be someone to speak to them, urging them to vote for this one or for that one or whatever. You hear so much from and about each candidate, both good and bad, that you don’t know where to turn, who to trust, or who to vote for.
On some of the candidates for various offices we don’t know who to vote for. We really don’t know much about them. On others we have no doubts; we KNOW who we will vote for. It’s a mad house, trying to figure out what to do. Did you ever think about praying about it? About asking Almighty God to give you a bit of direction?
Whatever your choice, get out and VOTE! If you don’t care enough to vote, don’t gripe and grumble about who gets in office.
By the way, both JC and Ruth have had several favorable comments about their caps. Ruth’s is red, with a flag and ‘Make Amenca Great Again’ on it. And JC’s says Trump 2020’. Anyway, several people have said ‘I like your cap!’
The Covid-19 rages on. It’s one thing to hear about all the corona virus stuff taking place in China, New York City, New Jersey, Florida and all those places where we probably won’t be. But then our President had the virus. Then people in our own families. JC and Ruth’s niece. Tammy, recovered from it and is back at teaching school. A great-niece, Lisa, is recovering from the virus. Now, that’s getting too close to home. Then they have friends and acquaintances who are fighting the virus. Woah! That’s just too much.
Should we go back to wearing face masks everywhere we go? Stay home as much as possible? Take social distancing more seriously? Most of the people who have the Covid-19 stuff are recovering and that’s good. But still….
Will it be CHEERS or TEARS on Election night? VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!!’! Will Power – Won’t Power – Supreme Power.
