Overdue Update

Hi Friends: 
Angie Gore and others have been telling me I need to write another message for all of you to know what has been going on with me.  Ken told me when the last one was written and I was dismayed to find out it had been so long.  I’m sorry.  A lot has been going on and hopefully I will be able to remember most of it.

Jax has been doing great and now weighs over 20 pounds and is quite active.  A Birthday party for him was held at his other Grandparents home, Joe and Gail Gilbert, and he had a great time.  I made him a chocolate cake just so he can dig into it with his hands.  I think he enjoyed that.  Jaime has enrolled him in a day care school and he goes everyday from about 8:30 to 3:00 and Jax is learning a lot.

My Mother had her usual Halloween party at her house, and most of the family and friends came.  Ken and I didn’t dress up in any costumes this year, but just enjoyed seeing those who did.

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We have been quite busy with weddings around here this year.  Christina, Irlenes youngest daughter got married in May, to Blake Dennis.  Louise and I did her flowers. It was an outside wedding at the Fontanel, and was beautiful. Then Irlene got married to Pat Holt  on November 7. I did the flowers for the attendants along with the bridal bouquets and the boutonnieres.  Louise did the flowers for the church and a couple of friends did the flowers for the reception. She was beautiful and the event was wonderful.  Our preacher, Paul Bane, performed the ceremony.  One of our cats, Bandit, is requiring us to hydrate her every other day with 150 cc’s of fluid under the skin.  Ken sticks the needle in while I hold her.  We’re getting pretty good at it, but every so often, Bandit doesn’t like it much and bites me. She is still very strong and breaks the skin.  You all know how bad a cat bite can be, so I am sore for several days afterward.

Hannah, Nathans wife is now in her second year of residency as a  OB/GYN at Vanderbilt Hospital.  They really work residents hard.   She actually spent 92 hours at work one week.  Really tiring.  She and Nathan have a wonderful puppy that is in obedience school right now until about January.  He is being trained to be a Gentleman’s Hunting Dog.  Nathan and friends do a lot of duck and bird hunting, so having a great dog as a retriever is important.  We sure miss seeing him. 

Matt and Christy have been doing quite a bit of traveling lately with their ministry.  She has recorded a new album and I think it is the best thing she has ever done.  God has given her such talent and she is using it for his kingdom.  They will be here for Thanksgiving, but will be in Texas with Christy’s family for Christmas.  We’ll miss them, but understand about work and family. 

The only trip we took this year was to High Point, NC to the furniture store, Furnitureland.  It  has over a million square feet of showroom and is really impressive.  It is so large that they have a Starbucks and Subway inside the store.  We got a new bed and a couple of other items, which have already been delivered.  Hopefully we will be able to take a bigger trip in our RV this coming spring and summer.  We really enjoy that.  Ken and I  are doing lots of things around the house, inside and out, which keep us pretty busy.  Ken goes to all the home Hockey games of the Nashville Predators and I am still on the Predators Foundation Board.  The team is doing pretty good right now and the board is donating lots of money to charitable entities around Tennessee.  Not much else for the time being, so I will sign off for now.  Thank you all so much for caring about my family and me.  Have a blessed holiday season.
Love, Barbara