Doing Time: It's the Little and Not So Little Things That Count

Written by Nicki Sooter Wilcoxson

What a wonderful Day!  We went to church early this morning, then to ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship), then to eat lunch with J.R. Bell.  We chose Mexican food so J.R. wouldn't have to go home and eat a PBJ.  J.R.'s wife Jan is in the Dallas area visiting her mom and their daughter.  Since Jan and J.R. are in our ABF class, we often meet for Sunday lunch.  It is always enjoyable for us.  Even better when we came out of church , it had begun to mist and now we are having a nice light rain.  The temps are chilly and it is wonderful to wear jeans and socks today.  My sweet kitty, Chloe, is not having fun because she is ready to go out and the rains is cramping her style.  Now she is just sitting crying and looking pitiful.  Poor Chloe!  Lucky us!

Whoa!  Did he just say what I think he did???

A couple of years ago our pastor, Tommy Politz, preached a series of sermons on Sex, Dating, and Marriage According to God's Plan.  I wasn't certain what to expect, never having encountered these subjects in church.  When you factor in a touch of Puritanism on my part and my modest nature, you can bet that there was some squirming and cringing in my seat.  However, it was an excellent series and when Christmas rolled around , Jim and I gave our daughters and their husbands packaged CD's of the sermons.  The CD's were in Valentines boxes along with chocolates and a CD of love songs.  I am sure that they appreciated the gesture even though it has never been mentioned again.  LOL

Now two years later Pastor Tommy has begun the second series of Sex, Dating, and Marriage According to God's Plan version 2.0.  In the series of 6 sermons we have now covered 3 of them.  The first 2 concerned marriage and the dreams, desires, and wishes that come with the couple into the marriage.  One of the points that gave me pause for thought was when he said that the most important thing that needs to be brought into the marriage was the knowledge that both the bride and groom will hurt and be hurt by their partners.  To emphasize this he said that both a hammer and a cross were needed to signify the hurt and the cross for the need to forgive and be forgiven.  I believe this is certainly more realistic than the desire to live happily ever after in a house with a white picket fence.

Today in the third sermon we covered sex according to God's word.  OH MY! The book in the Old Testament that was the basis for the lesson was Song of Songs (Solomon) Chapter 3.  The main point was the gift of sexual intimacy.  I'll bet some of you thought that church was BORING.  Now see what you are missing!  By now some of you might be thinking what the heck kind of church are they going to?  The answer from us is the greatest church ever, Hillside Christian Church.  Should you feel curious about the series, you can actually see and hear the sermons online. Once there click on online service.  Not surprisingly, these topics are being presented in many churches across the US now and despite my continuing red face, the series is excellent, thought provoking, and well worth your time.  Why, I'll bet the cd's will be ready for purchase just in time for Christmas so you can share them with your children and I am sure they will be as happy as my kids were to get them from their parents! You too can hear that wail,  MOM!  LOL

Martha Stewart is in the house and that is why I have gained  ###$**%  pounds!


One of the domestic goddess talents that I have is that I really love to bake.  I especially like baking during and for the holidays, but I get tired of the same old cookies even though I do love to eat them.  Last year I decided to focus on making  snowball cookies for family and friends.  I searched the Internet and my cookbooks for recipes for all kinds of snowball cookies.  I was amazed at how many I found--chocolate, lemon, chocolate chip, peanut butter, peppermint and more.  I had fun making them, loved eating and sharing them even though they were messy, but still yummy.

One Christmas I made brownies, but once again I found as many recipes as I could for brownies and then I made them and cut them in to 4 small bite sized pieces for brownie bites.  I am drooling just remembering the smell and the taste of each one!

Now I have a new cooking passion.  Martha Stewart recently published a collection of her cupcake recipes, Martha Stewart 's Cupcakes.  Having heard about the popularity of cupcakes and never having made them except when our kids were little, I was ready to experiment.  Once I had the book in my hands I discovered that there are "175 inspired ideas for everyone's favorite treat."  Of course, I have no intentions of making all 175 recipes but I am having a great time selecting about one a week to bake, starting with the ones that seem easiest to do.  So far I have made the Banana Pecan Cupcakes, Strusel Cupcakes, Chocolate Chunk Cookie Cupcakes, Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes, and today the Brown Sugar Pound Cake Cupcakes.  Each of them can be topped with a variety of icings to enhance the pleasure of eating the delicious treats. With enough practice I hope to learn to use a piping bag with a tip to do the cute Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas cupcakes.  Jim and Jordie are my tasters and they give 5 thumbs up for my efforts.  Because each recipe makes about 24-28 cupcakes, I have to make sure we give away the majority of the treats.  So far no one has refused seconds.

Getting to Know you: Reunions-Virtual and Face-to-Face

This past weekend the CHS Class of '64 met in Childress for their 45th class reunion.
Denese Stevens will give all of the details and photos on FB as soon as she recovers from all the celebrating.  I believe she said there were 27 in attendance from the class. She said that in one night they went from being 63 back to 17 and had a wonderful time.

After about 47 years of being separated, I have after many years of searching been re-connected with my wonderful friend from Muleshoe thanks to Facebook.  Both of us have been looking for one another and the other night when I looked once more for Kathy Gray Hartsell there she was.  We are slowly getting reacquainted by writing short installments of information about ourselves.  Kathy lives in Ardmore, OK and her sister lives here in Amarillo, other family members in Lubbock, and the Dallas area.  This means that we have been crossing paths many times over the years.  Kathy was in Muleshoe HS Class of 1963 and we lost contact shortly after my family and I moved to Childress.  Life is good when old friends become new friends again.

You can't be serious!  You are NOT THAT OLD!

Has your mailbox suddenly been filled with letters and brochures from insurance companies vying for your attention and business?  Has the word Medicare suddenly appeared in your consciousness?  If so, you must be 65 or nearly 65.  Jim will make that magic number and transition in November so we have spent quite a lot of time on the phone and online gathering information so we can make the best decision about his Medicare health insurance, prescription card, and secondary insurance and though it has been a stressful time, he now has his card; it has been laminated, and now it is in his wallet ready to go on November 1.  Being the sweet young thing that I am, I have another year before I have to worry about it and by then Jim will have already worked out the problems and solutions for me! 

There is a touch of Fall in the air.

Football and Fall   Go Tech    Sorry, Jordie    Go Sooners

Fall Baseball and trips to Flower Mound to watch Cole play baseball while weekends in Amarillo bring Fall Baseball games so we can watch Jordie play.

September 21 brings a new "Dancing with the Stars."  Now honestly who doesn't want to see Tom DeLay dance???

Ellen Degeneres and American Idol--brings a breath of fresh air.  I might actually watch this year.  Bye-bye Paula.

Fall flowers, falling leaves, crisp days, the smell of burning wood, flocks of birds filling the bird feeders, pumpkins on the porch.

Each fall day brings a blessing--may it be so at your house.