2019 Joy Journal

March 27, 2019 I have delivered our Wyatt personal tax paperwork to Taylor's office.  Walked with Bertice.  Did a little writing that I found fulfilling. Got a text from Kennedy --- she said she has some good news. Heard from Morgan. She is going to be off on Fridays from now on and is going to come volunteer with me on Friday.  Noah's team won yesterday.  Evan and Chelsea and Jaden and James came over last night. James gave big smiles and is holding his head up strongly. Jaden just enjoyed running around in the back yard, throwing the ball. He loves jumping down from the fireplace and looking at each one of us to make sure that we are each clapping. At one point, he came and got each one of us by the hand and took us back to the family room so that we could play the game again.  Evan starts as Assistant Manager next week. 

June 10, 2019 Barry initiated a visit to Firefly Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon, and that was fun, and we got in the pool together last night.  We babysat for Jaden and James Saturday and Sunday, so we got hugs and smiles.  Some of my posts having gotten multiple positive responses.  Jaden getting down on the blanket to play with James. Got to have a phone visit with Beverly. She and JA had been on a hike they enjoyed.

June 6, 2019 Did I tell you already that Ashley Ezell said I was the most productive volunteer she'd ever worked with? I feel pretty much the opposite, so I've kind of enjoyed that. Evan and Chelsea brought Jaden and James over for supper last night. Jaden started lots of games with us (hiding in the cabinets, etc.) and James smiled a lot. We got take out from Taste of Thai and just laughed and talked and caught up a little bit. James was teething on his fist, so I gave him an Oreo. After he'd had a minute I said, "I should have asked his mommy first!" and Chelsea said, "That's all right. You're the granny. You can do whatever you want."  I got to have a nice phone visit with Annette this morning. I could hear in her voice how much she and Andrew had enjoyed her trip to California.  Heard from Tori. She said they had just finished a walk around the neighborhood, so I said that I was sending them each a star. Heard from Shawn. He said ...

April 29, 2019 Yesterday, at Goodtimes, we took a break in our card game for Faith and Michael to make the brownies. Noah and I were standing at the end of the kitchen table, talking, when he just put his arm around me for a hug.  Kennedy came and I got some hugs.  Faith said Daniel had wanted to skip Goodtimes to go out in the boat with his girlfriend to celebrate their 6 month anniversary, and she had stressed to him the importance of going to see his grandparents.  Got to see Kim and John when they brought Noah. As they were leaving John said, "So you told all those kids that you had a car full of stuff and no one is helping you?" And then he called Noah and they got the groceries in while Kim kept Holly from escaping. Skyler had planned to come but she got a bad sunburn on Saturday. She was here on Saturday with four of her friends so they could swim, so we did get to see her.  I got a text from Angela this morning. Amber put an article about mana...

March 4, 2019 The house is straight, and easily so. The weekend chores are done, and I put some extra Wonderland time in, and so made some project progress there.  Barry and I spent some time at Firefly. The deck is almost finished. We spent some time together in the greenhouse, planting seeds.  I got to talk to Beverly a little bit on Saturday.  Evan, Chelsea, Jaden and James were over for a few minutes Friday night. Jaden smiled at me and wanted to play chase.  I got a text from Andrew. We got to talk to Angela and Tori for a few minutes early Friday evening. They both seemed pretty happy. Angela said that she works alone on Fridays and so is usually behind all day long, but this Friday had been easier. Tori had told me she was in meetings and so I asked her if that meant she was telling people what to do. She laughed and said that she was coordinating with more people.  Morgan posted some pictures of Mardi Gras, and a videos of Davis laughing an...

February 25, 2019 Andrew: California is the most racist place I've ever been, and when you consider where I'm from, that's saying a lot. The Spanish and the Asians and the blacks don't even acknowledge each other, and don't have anything to say to each other --- that is good. I come in and say, "Hi!" to everyone. That confused them. When they need something done they come to me because they don't know which contractor to call, and that isn't even part of my job. They all bring in food, but just for their own little group. I'll bring in ten dozen doughnuts and get on the radio and tell them we've got doughnuts and they're for everybody. .... When he calls for help, he gets more than he even needs. He needed to move his equipment to another location, way on the other side of campus. He asked if a couple of people could come help him. So many people showed him, he didn't even know how many. He said he was literally just handing each ...

Morgan, as part of conversation about dressing babies up for grandparents and great grandparents, and Goodtimes: "We spent so much time in Papa's T-Shirts! That's still my favorite thing to wear to sleep! 2X" Brandon said, "She even wears it out sometimes." Morgan added pretty quickly something like "Just to the ComPac."  Kennedy said that Saturday was her first day being paid to work in the art department. :-) Work study program.  Beverly and I got to have a nice long phone visit Friday night, and Angela and Tori called us that night, too.  Kennedy came over yesterday afternoon and she and Barry spent some time out in the pottery barn working on her gun project. She said her art teacher said he could see it developing into graduate student work.  Saw Beth on Facebook a little bit. She'll be here sometime Wednesday and will stay for a few days. It will be so good to have her home. Morgan and Brandon and Davis came over yesterday and s...

January 21, 2019 We got Moe's Southwest to cater last night, and it was the easiest Second Sunday Supper of all time. They delivered and set up and everything.  Brittany and Jon Marc came early and got the family room set up --- she sent me a text around 3 to see if I needed any help.  James got lots of loving.  Jaden had a big time jumping off the fireplace and everybody clapping for him.  I just relaxed and sat at the dining room table, and we visited and had a good time. Brittany said that in one of her interviews they had asked her to tell them something about herself that wasn't in her resume. She told them that she is from a big family, that we get together for suppers once a month, that we are diverse --- that she is religious, but that she is an aunt who is Buddhist, and that we all get along at supper.