Another Monday morning and it's a beautiful day here. I went for a walk in the park this morning while it was still cool, and that was nice. I really wanted to go for a bicycle ride, but it was a little too windy. I like to ride in 10 mph of wind or less. Over 10 mph and I just don't enjoy it that much. I do want the benefit of the exercise of riding a bike, but I like to really enjoy the scenery and the experience too. This morning the winds are at 15 mph. Saturday morning I rode 20 miles and last night I rode 13 miles. It was great. I am listening to a James Patterson book and it's pretty good. Has a little bit too much foul language in it for my taste, but I'm trying to ignore that. And I probably won't read another one of his books because of it. It's hard to find a good, clean book these days. For some reason, authors seem to think foul language adds to the book, I guess, maybe makes it seem more real life or something. I don't know, but I just hate it. It's offensive to me. I wonder, why do people feel the need to use bad language anyway? What's the point? Maybe it's just a habit they picked up when they were young and thought it was cool??? Maybe they still think it's cool. I don't know... I guess if they like it, it's their business. It's just words afterall. --How the heck did I get on that subject anyway?...... Guess I'll go now.

Mason started his work at his new job this last weekend at the Sonic Drivein! Here he is all dressed and ready to go:


He said it wasnt hard work at all and I think he may have even liked it just a little bit. --Only a little bit though, mind you.

It's been so nice and cool here the last couple of days. I went for a 13.5 mile bicycle ride this morning. It was great. I rode over to a really nice old neighborhood (Wolflin) with lots of big trees and brick streets. I love that neighborhood. Old houses with lots of character. Of course, that's because most of them have been redone and had lots of money spent on them.

Corbin has been coming over each day while Jenny is taking a summer class. He and Mason are busy playing video games this afternoon.









That's about it for my day so far. Hope you have a good one!

Thirteen years ago today my sweet boy, Adam left this earth and my life was changed forever. Up until that day, I just never really dreamed I would live my life without him in it. Then everything changed in a split second. He was gone, --never to return. Sometimes when I sit and think about him, my heart just aches and longs to hear his sweet voice, to touch his hair, or see his beautiful smile. But that will never be, not on this earth. Missing him and longing for him will not change a thing. He is gone and will not return. What I wouldn’t give just to see him for a few minutes. Please, just a few minutes. --No, no. It will not happen. It cannot be. It is over and done. Adam is gone.

I love you Adam Wayne Roye. You are forever in my heart.

Happy Birthday Corbin!

He is 7 years old today. Hard to believe. Corbin is my one and only little grandson (for now) and the apple of my eye.

We are having a good Memorial Day weekend so far. Corbin spent the night with us last night and this morning we had a good bible study on Joshua & Caleb going over into the promise land to scope out the enemy. We learned that the name Caleb means 'faithful dog.' I like that. A faithful dog loves, and is a good servant to, his master. Oh, that I can be a faithful dog to my master. But I know the only way I can is thru my master himself. I love the statement by Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9:

And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?

How truly blessed we are if the Lord of all glory should look upon us. --Only thru the son, Christ Jesus!

(I have a great nephew named Caleb. Michael Shane's son.)

After our bible study, Bo, Corbin & I went over to the Amarillo Zoo. (Mason declined our offer to go with us, so he stayed at home). We had a good time and particularily liked watching the monkeys. Here are three of those monkeys:


There IS a real monkey in the background, but he's hard to see here.





Here's another one of Corbin & I sitting on a turtle (not a real one, you know me better than that!):










And one more of a pretty peacock:











OK. That's it for now. We're off to take a drive around town, chauffered by Mason.

Have a great weekend!

Look out on the highways!! Mason got his learner's permit today. He'll be driving with Bo & I, of course for the next few months before actually getting his license. Then he'll be on the roads of Amarillo all by himself. Oh my, kind of scarey.

Yesterday Bo & I went for a motorcycle ride around town and that was nice, but it sure was hot. In the afternoon Mason & I went over to Memorial Park. I sat in a chair and listened to my book while Mason played basketball with people there. It actually rained a little bit when we got home, so that was nice.

I heard Whitney Rodriguez did a good job singing at the rodeo this past weekend in East Texas. Sure wish I could have been there to hear her.

That's it for me!

A great Mother's Day

I sure had a nice Mother's Day yesterday. Whitney called yesterday morning and wished me a Happy Mother's Day from Dalhart. She had gone there to visit a friend for the weekend. Then Cody, Jenny & Corbin came over for lunch and afterward, we all went to the Canadian River to ride dirtbikes. I didnt ride, of course, as my dirtbike-riding days are long past, but I enjoyed watching the rest. Cody brought a four wheeler and Bo & I rode that some. It was lots of fun! Mason enjoyed riding his dirtbike and he and Cody went thru the river and got soaked! But then, so did Bo & Corbin on the four wheeler. I think they all had fun. We got home last night about 6:30 or so and I had a very nice ecard waiting for me from Jocelyne. We had some left-overs for supper and afterward Bo & I went for a 12 mile bicycle ride. It was a little windy, but not too bad. I really enjoyed the day!

Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it.

I ran across this litte story today on the internet and liked it:

George is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a natural motivator.

If an employee was having a bad day, George was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood."

"Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, George & I lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six months after the accident.

When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.

He continued, "..the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said George. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'."

Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude... I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all, is everything ..

Volleyball went good on Friday. About 12 kids were there and they had fun, I think. Mason said he did anyway.

We are going to Bo's sister's house today for lunch. It looks like it will be a nice day. Yesterday the wind was blowing so badly, you really couldn't go outside, but the forecast says it will die down today. Ah, spring in the panhandle of Texas .... wind, wind, wind!

Hope you all have a great day today!

Not alot going on this week, which is good! Mason went to a Homeschool Student Council Meeting on Monday at the Library. They are working on several activities coming up and Mason says he will go and help. Tomorrow we are having homeschool volleyball in the park next door. This is an activity that I organized to help Mason meet other homeschool kids here in Amarillo. I sent out an email to all members of the Amarillo Homeschool Assoc. I hope some kids show up, and they all have a good time, but we'll see tomorrow! I'm a little nervous about it since I organized it and I'm just a newcomer, so I don't really know how they do things here. --I'm sure it will be fine though.

Today Bo & I got up and took a four mile walk around the park next door. I really like living next door to the park. It was a nice walk. Afterward Bo wanted to go to the museum in Canyon, so we called up Corbin and asked him to join us. We all went and had a great time there.









Upon leaving the museum, we ran by Subway and grabbed some sandwiches, and headed out to Palo Duro Canyon. We sat on the tailgate of Bo's truck and had our lunch.









Then we began a walk out to the Lighthouse. It is six miles to and from, so we wondered if Corbin would be able to make it the whole way. He complained a little, but over all, he did great.
OK..... Bo & Mason did have to give him rides occasionally, but mostly he did walk.


It was really a nice walk and we finally reached the lighthouse. There are a lot of steps to climb to get up to it and we had to stop and rest quite often, but we did make it. Mason & Corbin went on ahead and got there first. If you look really hard you will see them in this picture:










We goofed around on the top for a while and took some more pictures












Finally we started our trek back to the truck. Mason decided he would go over a BIG hill instead of going around it, so off he went. Bo, Corbin & I kept on walking. The more we walked, the more worried Bo became about him. He had thought the other side of the big hill came out right by our trail, but decided that he was wrong. It didn't and Mason would probably get lost. So Bo started up a hill we were beside at that time to try and flag Mason down. Corbin & I went on down the trail. We stopped to wait at a resting spot and were there for about an hour. I was beginning to get worried, when finally we saw them. They had gotten into quite a mess. Very steep hills and a long walk to get back to the trail. They got back all red-faced, tired and Bo was bleeding from scratches from all the tall weeds. Corbin & I were very happy to see them and I think they were us also. We rested a few more minutes and then headed on down the trail.









We got to the truck, headed back home, stopping at Taco Villa on the way, ate, all had baths and are now resting comfortably. It was really a fun day! I bet we all sleep good tonight.

Yesterday was Mason's 15th birthday. Hard to believe he is 15 years old! We went to eat last night at Calico County. Jenny & Corbin went with us (Cody had to work late). It was very nice.









Afterward we had german chocolate cake.

My my, I'm 50 years old today. I can't believe it. I never really thought I'd be 50. No, I didn't imagine I'd die before reaching 50. I just never really imagined myself that age. That was always an age way out in the distant future. Other people reached 50, but not me. Well, here I am. Fifty years old, --and I don't feel a day over 35.

I heard this little poem this weekend and really liked it. It is so true, I believe. It's about our sin problem. And as much as I try to hide my sin problem, it is still there, --just big as life. I HAVE A SIN PROBLEM! I can't stop sinning. I hate it, I wish I didn't, but I continue to over and over everyday. And every sin is really sin against my Lord.

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Psalm 51:4

What a shame. Thinking of this, I could get really down and upset about it. I deserve hell and death. How can I escape it? I've earned it. I deserve it.

OH, but there is hope for me! Even me, who is full of sin. My hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is perfect, and he died to pay for MY sins. When God looks at me, he sees my substitute & savior. He doesn't see my sin. I am perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ! What wonderful news!!

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1



I May Try

I may try but I can’t repent,
tho I endeavor often.
This stony heart just will not relent,
till my soul God does soften.

I may try but I can’t love,
Tho pressed by love devine.
No argument has the power to move
a heart as cold as mine.

I may try but I can’t rest
in God’s holy will.
I know he appoints what is best,
but I murmur at it still.

Oh, would I, but believe,
then all would easy be.
I should, but this I know
all faith must come from thee.

Today is a lovely day. No unpacking today. It's pretty much all done and that feels so good! We do still have a storage building in Dalhart to clean out, but we will get to that soon.

I ran some errands this morning, had lunch with Cody, then walked to the library with Mason. Yesterday Bo, Mason, Corbin & I went for a walk in the park and then went to Corbin's soccer game. It was fun and Corbin was a good little soccer player!

After my birthday party Saturday night when only Cody, Jenny & Corbin were still here, Corbin wanted to 'let the camera' take a picture of all of us. So we did. Here it is.



There are mostly older folks that live on our new street, but they are very nice. My next door neighbor, Della came by and brought us a Pumpkin Dump Cake. It sure was good. She also gave me a list with all the neighbor's names and phone numbers. She said they get together and have block parties in the summer. A few days later, two more ladies, Ruby & Fran came by to meet me and invited me to lunch on Friday (several ladies on the street go on Fridays). Today Ruby called and invited me over for coffee on Thursday morning with Fran and another lady. ---I think I'll go.

I got very nice birthday cards in the mail today from Mary Helen, Gendy, my friend Gail. Thank you so much. It's so nice to know someone is thinking of you!

Today has been quite a day! Bo, Mason & I got up this morning about 5:30, got dressed and drove to Dalhart for our big garage sale. It was scheduled to start at 9:00 am, but got going about 8:15. We were trying to get tables and stuff all set up when we got bombarded with folks. Jenny was there to help and we really had a successful sale. We made about $600 and got rid of alot of stuff.

After the garage sale, we made our way back to Amarillo. When we got here Bo said he wanted to go out to eat, so I said OK. He took a shower, but I really didn't want to because I would have to do my hair and such. I just wanted to go eat just the way I was because I was tired and didn't want to take time to get ready. He said he wanted to go to a really nice restaurant, so I finally said I would go shower and change then. Bo needed to take the trailer attached to his truck by the storage building first so we did that, and on the way to the restaurant Cody called and said he really needed to borrow a tool from Bo, so Bo said ok and we had to go back by the house to get it. When we got home, there was some really loud music coming from our house, so we went to check it out. We opened the door, and BOY, WAS I SURPRISED!! The house was full of people! There were balloons, food,and a Happy Birthday sign. It was all for me! I was so shocked I was speechless for a few seconds. Bo had cooked it all up for my 50th birthday, which is Tuesday. I must say it was a wonderful surprise. Cody, Jenny & Corbin were here and Mason & Whitney and LuAnn & Richard, and my two friends, Shannon & Peggy, and of course, Bo. Whitney, Jenny & LuAnn had brought food, Bo had ordered prime rib and we had a lovely dinner and a really good cake to top it off. I enjoyed it so much and think my husband is just wonderful for doing it for me. I got some really nice cards, a very pretty necklace from Cody, and a beautiful diamond bracelet from Bo. It was great. I loved it and love my husband for being so thoughtful and my family for helping.



I feel blessed! Thank you Lord.

What a busy couple of weeks we have had. I have hardly had time to do any blogging. We had to be in Dalhart Tuesday to close on our house. I worked Wednesday here in Amarillo and today Mason & I went back to Dalhart to work on the garage sale we're having this Saturday. Even though we closed on the house Tuesday, the new owners are giving us until Sunday to be completely out, so we left all the garage sale stuff in the garage. Jenny is helping me with the garage sale and she and I will be going back to Dalhart tomorrow to work some more. It's amazing how much stuff we have collected, and makes me feel somewhat materialistic looking at it all. I really want to just simplify my life, get rid of all the stuff we don't need.

The people that bought our house were there working on it today. Kind of made me sad. They had stripped all the wallpaper in the two back bedrooms and hallway. I know it will look nice when she is finished though. --Sad thing was I was just a visitor there. But I am going to really like living in Amarillo, --if I ever get to just relax and stop unpacking boxes!

Mason was a big help to me today. He's really a great kid.

Hey! Well, we are finally beginning to get settled in our new place. I have been so busy I haven't had time to do any blogging, and still have tons to do, but oh well. I worked today and it was nice not to have to drive 80 miles to get there. I even came home for lunch!

There have been lots of fires in the panhandle lately. Last weekend while we were moving, the winds were really blowing! Like 40-50 mph. Some fires got started and the winds really accelerated them. Whitney and Mason got here from Stanton Sunday afternoon. Whitney had planned to go on home to Canadian, but ending up having to spend the night with us due to road closings because of the fires. They say they have burned over 1,000,000 acres. Wow, that's alot. We used a horse trailer to move alot of our stuff, and with the wind blowing so hard, everything was covered with dust and dirt.

We will go back to Dalhart this weekend to finish moving and start cleaning. Also, I'm planning to have a garage sale the next weekend, so I've got to start messing with that. One thing I found out is that we just have too much stuff! It's funny how we accumulate things over the years and really don't even need them.

Well, we are liking our new abode. It's very nice! Come see us sometime!

Whew! Packing is alot of work. Mary Ellen & I have been very busy packing up the house for the last two days. I just didn't realize how much stuff we have. I am really NOT a pack-rat kind of person. I don't like clutter, so I can't believe how much 'clutter' we actually have when you start packing it up. Of course, we've lived here for 10 years, so what do I expect! All this kaos in my house makes me somewhat nervous though. But it'll be OK and will all be back nice and neat before too long.

We put a table out in the driveway today with various items, and a sign that says 'FREE, TAKE ME!' It was funny to watch people stop and look thru stuff and take a few things. One dumb thing I did was leave my scissors out on the table by accident, and yep, you guessed it. Somebody took my scissors! And I was using those scissors to cut tape for the boxes. LOL. Funny now, but not at the time.

Well, it's getting late and I've got another big day of packing tomorrow. Talk to you guys later!

Bo & I had a busy weekend. First I went to Amarillo on Friday to look for rent houses. I looked at several duplexes, apartments, and a few houses. I was very discouraged at what I was seeing....not really much available and not much for the high prices. Also most houses and duplexes wanted a one year lease agreement. We only need to rent for 6-8 months hopefully. So about 4:30 I decided to just give up for the day and head back to Big D. As I was leaving town, I saw a Realty office that said 'property management' on the sign. I decided to just stop in and see if they had anything. It just so happened they had one place available. It was a townhouse and 'very nice', the man said. So I headed across town to look at one more place, wondering if his idea of 'very nice' and mine were even close.


I thought it was a good price, compared to what I had been looking at all day, so really didn't expect find much. It WAS in a good area though. I found the place, went inside and to my surprise, it WAS very nice! The owner had just bought it (for investment property) and done alot of work inside, so it looks great! and he would rent it to us on a 6 month lease and month to month after that. I called Bo and told him about it and then told the realtor we wanted it. Yay! That was such a relief. Now we have somewhere to go. ---Now I've got alot of packing to do. Ugh.

Saturday we drove to Plainview to take Mason to meet the grandparents. He's staying with them this week. We all ate lunch at a Mexican Restaurant and visited with them for a little while, then headed back to Amarillo, did some shopping and came on home.

Then Sunday we went back to Amarillo to meet Mary Ellen at the airport. She came for a visit and will be here until Thursday. After we picked her up, we went and ate at Joe's Crabshack and it was very good. Then we did some errands and got back to Dalhart again about 5:00.

Well, that's about it for now. I am going to have a busy week!

Still waiting. Bo talked to the house owner yesterday, and he said he should have an answer next week. The friend of theirs and her husband are discussing whether or not they want the house. Either way, I think we are just going to rent a house for a few months. Moving twice will not be fun, but oh well.

I worked in Amarillo yesterday and had alot to do. It seems with working only one day a week, the work kind of piles up and it's hard to get it all done in one day, but I think I got it done. After work, I made my weekly trip to Walmart. Their groceries are just so much cheaper than our local United, but I don't usually get to buy cold or frozen items because I have to drive 1.5 hrs back to Dalhart. --Just a few more weeks and I'll be just a few minutes from Walmart! That'll be nice and there will be lots of other nice conveniences too. But I know I will miss Dalhart, and even the drives back and forth to Amarillo. Although I get tired of the drive sometimes, I do enjoy it sometimes too.

Yesterday I finished up my latest audiobook on the drive. It was 'Snowflower and the Secret Fan.' It was an OK book, but not one of my favorites. It was about two old friends in China.
I learned alot about old customs in China and that was interesting. One of the old customs was footbinding of young girls. Ugh. That must have been awful and so painful! The ideal foot was only 3 inches long. Can you imagine? Here's an article about it if you're interested ...or just bored. (How do ya like that picture, Jocelyne?)

Now I've got to figure out what book to listen to next. I'm thinking about 'The Secret Life of Bees' Anybody read it? Any other suggestions?

Ya'll have a great day!