The Eagle Has Landed

As I came out from town yesterday and turned onto our farm road 68 from 159, I saw a couple of cars parked and several people standing on the road watching something.  So, I pulled over and joined them.  They were watching  this very large bird sitting on the roadside.  I asked what was wrong and they said he was injured somehow and just was sitting there.  They thought it was a buzzard at first, but after a closer look, it is probably an eagle.  One time he opened his wings and tried to fly but couldn't and just walked a few feet up the road.  We all circled him to keep him from going out onto the road.  One of the ladies had called the Zoo and they were on their way to rescue him.  This is why I carry my little camera in my purse.  Here are my pictures.

And here's a couple from Tracy Jewell.  She went home to get her big camera to get a close up of his hurt foot.  See how his right foot is discolored and swollen.

When the zoo people got there, one of them said that he is a very young bald eagle, born this year, and that there are nests all around there high in the trees.  Who knew?  It was hard to see them catch him in that big net, but they will take him back to the zoo and give him fluids and see what is the problem and then call the Conservation Department.

Take care, little eagle.  Hope you will soon be soaring over us.

You just never know what is around the corner,

Donna

More Ava (and her brothers)

Here's more pics of Ava over the last 6 days...

This is at the hospital right before they went home.

 These pictures were taken yesterday on Memorial Day

While Pappy was talking to his little grandaughter, the rest of us were outside making Smores.  Cael was eating his first Smore.

I'm not sure what this look is all about.

Mmmmmm good.  But a little much after ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, salad, jello, cake.................

It was a very enjoyable evening, anyway.

Donna

Welcome to New Baby Ava

May 25, 2011 is the day we have been waiting for for many months.  Actually, May 28th was the due date for Ava Hope Wallace to arrive, but she was ready, so the doctor let Lindsay come in on Wednesday to be induced.  She got to the hospital at 9:00 am and Ava was born at 1:17 pm. weighing 7 lbs. 9 ozs. and was 20 3/4 inches long

Here are some pictures from that day: (I left  these pictures small because I took some of them with my  phone camera and they are very grainy if I enlarge them.  The larger ones, I stole from Erin's blog, I think.

Isn't she beautiful?  Congratulations Matt and Lindsay!

Love,

Mema

Graduations!!

Beginning of May, 2011

As I said in the post about Carlene, Doug and Wendy headed for Fort Worth on Wednesday after the funeral meal because he had to take care of some last minute stuff on Thursday before graduation on Friday.

Doug and Wendy left for Texas in August, 2005 so that Doug could go to seminary to get a PhD in Student Ministry.  Actually it has some other name....Doctor of Philosophy in Christian family something or other.  I will find out the proper name and insert it in here later.   They lived in Mansfield, just between Dallas and Forth Worth for a couple of years and then Houston's First Baptist Church called Doug as their Student Minister...so they moved to Houston, which meant he had to fly to Fort Worth one day a week for classes for a while, until classes ended and his work on his dissertation began.

And now, almost 6 years later, graduation was here.  It was set for Friday, May 6, 2011, which would work out fine for us.  Gary and I usually go to Houston sometime between Lucas's birthday on May 3rd and Micah's birthday on May 20th.  We could just go for graduation and birthdays.

Two years ago Todd began his degree completion at Evangel University.  He had gone half way through college after high school, but when it came time to declare a major, he had no idea so he went to work.  Now since Evangel offered this program to enable him to go to school one night a week for 5-week classes, he decided to go back to school and get his Bachelor's.

Now, two years later, it's time for graduation and guess when it is....May 6, 2011.  We have two graduations...one in Houston and one in Springfield!  Wish we could be in two places at once!

Since Doug and Wendy were here so much of April and the beginning of May...actually we got to spend Lucas's birthday with him and I took Lucas and Micah shopping at Toys'R Us for their birthday presents.....we stayed here for Todd's graduation and Wendy and I texted pictures back and forth through the ceremonies.

Way to go, guys!!   Love you,

Mom

The Big Hunt

I was so glad for the Bischoffs to get here for Easter weekend.  One reason was the birthday celebration.  The other was The Big Hunt.  This is the second year that Springhill has held this event.  It was such a huge success last year, so we were really looking forward to it this year. And I was really glad to be able to take Lucas, Bailey, Micah and Ruthie while Doug and Wendy sat with Carlene.  So, all nine grandchildren participated in this fun, although rainy, day.  This palm tree seemed to be the favorite for some of the bigger kids.

Jadon

Ruthie

Bailey

Haven

Gavin

The bounce houses were also a lot of fun.  Lucas loved playing with Cael and Jude on this one.

Here comes Cael!

They gave the kids colored wrist bands as they came in and called them into the sanctuary by groups to see the magician who presented the Gospel with magic tricks.

Then they sent them out to the field to find eggs.

What a day!!  Candy and fun and more candy.......

Happy Easter!

Goodbye Carlene

Since I am so behind in posting, and  I started this blog in the first place to journal what is going on in our family,  I thought it would be a good idea to do a timeline.  There are many times that I refer to old posts when I can't remember when something happened.  So, I will go back to the middle of March.  I wrote about the Bischoff kids Spring Break and what all we did that week.  But, since then, we have experienced death, birthday celebrations, Easter, and a new birth.

Mid March, 2011
Carlene (Doug's mother) had planned to go with me to take the kids back to Houston at the end of Spring Break, however, the week they were here, she had a doctor appointment almost every day.  She had severe back pain and had lost her voice for a few weeks.   As Gary and I were driving back from Houston, we found out that they had discovered cancer in her lungs.  That was on Tuesday, March 22nd.  In the next couple of weeks, she had a biopsy that confirmed it was cancer and a petscan that confirmed the cancer was throughout her body.  Doug flew in to spend the week with her before he and Wendy had to travel to a conference that first week of April.  They decided they would drive up for Easter weekend and got here on Friday, April 22nd.  Doug's birthday is on April 17th, Todd's on April 19th and B.J's on April 21, so we had our big fried shrimp/mushroom birthday dinner on Saturday night for all of the boys.  It was nice to have Doug with us again for his birthday.

The Birthday Boys

Doug and Wendy had some precious time with Carlene.  She was growing weaker and spent her days in the Hospice bed, but still slept in her own bed at night.  They reluctantly had to leave on Monday to get the kids back in school.  However, Doug's sister, Gina, called them on Tuesday because Carlene had become much worse and the nurse thought that it would not be long. So, the Bischoff's once again loaded up and headed for Springfield. They got here Thursday and sat by Carlene's bedside the next couple of days until she went Home on Saturday. It was a very busy next few days as they prepared for the funeral on Wednesday, May 4th.

On the way to the funeral

The funeral was a beautiful tribute to a beautiful lady. Doug spoke about how she was the perfect mother for him, that she always knew the right thing to do or say for him.

I loved Carlene and considered her a wonderful friend. I admired her calmness, her wisdom, her patience. We had a lot of great times together over the years. We drove or flew to Houston many times to see the kids and grandkids. We flew down for Grandparents Day one year, but found out we couldn't be in all four classrooms at the same time, so the next year Karla went with us so we could cover all the bases. One time we went for a week to keep the grandkids while Doug and Wendy went on a cruise. I appreciated Carlene so much for the loving mother-in-law she was to my daughter. She told me before she died that I would have to take care of the grandkids for her. I told her that there was only one Mimi and that I was not her and could never take her place, but I will try to be the best Mema I can be for them.

 

Well, Doug and Wendy had to leave right after the funeral meal, because he had to be in Fort Worth on Thursday to take care of some things before he graduated from the Seminary on Friday.

No one knew when 2011 rolled in that God would call Carlene Home in April. Larry has only been gone a year and 8 months. But they are reunited now and enjoying the wonders of Heaven with Jesus, the One who prepared a place for them to live forever.

.
Until that day,

Donna

In Memory

I know it has been a long time since I have been on here and there is so much to tell that it will take me several posts to catch up.  However, since this is Memorial Weekend, I really want to start with a special memoriam to two soldiers who were very important in my life.
The first is my daddy, William Walker "Billy" Murray.

Daddy was a Navy Radioman First Class in World War II stationed in Okinawa.  I have his scrapbook where he kept the newspaper clippings from the war.  I also have his uniforms,  a softball he found on the island of Okinawa along with pictures on the ship and with his buddies. 

Daddy died too young.....age 48...from a disease called cirrosis of the liver.  Those last few years were very difficult for momma and us kids.  I loved my daddy and just hated what he was putting himself and us through.  Our family enjoyed many wonderful, fun times when my brother, sister and I were young and that is the part I like to remember.

But I will always honor him as a hero of the war and a veteran who deserves recognition and appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy. 

Another war hero who deserves honor and respect is Cecil Wallace, Gary's dad.  Cecil was in the Marines and stationed in Guam and China.  I am so proud to have known these brave soldiers.

Cecil was one tough guy.  He worked in line construction most of his life...climbing poles..electrical work.   He broke his back, his hip, was electrocuted twice, had a bout of lung cancer and survived it all.  He was a quite a horseman, raising and breaking Quarter Horses.  It was very cool to watch him make a big, spirited stallion act like a puppy.  Cecil was also my step-dad and here's why.  I may have told this story before, but here it is again:

Momma was only 46 when Daddy died in 1971.  Now, I realize just how young that was to become a widow.  Then, I was 22 years old, B.J. was 19 and Karla was 18.  Mom was a Sales Associate at Sears and worked there until she retired.

It was 1976 and Gary and I had been married about 9 years, had all three kids and were living in a double wide mobile home.  Gary's dad had been divorced about a year and was working out of town all week and staying with us on the weekends.  One Sunday morning he came in for breakfast and told us he had a date last night.  We said..."with who?"  He answered, "your mom."  What??????  How????  He said that they had been "fixed up" by Harold and Sue.  Well, Dad worked with Harold and Sue was mom's hairdresser.  Mom and Cecil had actually only seen each other one or two times in our marriage and one of those times was at our wedding.  The other time was Mother's Day, after Daddy had died.  He and Gary's mom invited her to go with all of us out to dinner.  And now...here they were...DATING!!

Well, it was a very brief courtship and they went to Miami, Oklahoma one weekend in June, 1976 to get married.  It was very obvious that they loved each other and were very happy together.  Our kids loved being with Grandma and Grandpa....why wouldn't they?  The horses, swimming pool, being adored by two people they adored.  It was such a fun time....until.....1992.

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Roddy Merle Wallace was Gary's baby brother, 15 years younger than Gary.  He was 28 years old when he died.  He was 12 years old when Dad got full custody of him and he came to live with Mom and Dad.  He graduated from Willard High School, got married, had a little boy, Eric and was working for Asplundh Electric in Arkansas when he was killed on the job....electrocuted.  So sad, because all he ever wanted  do was linework...like his Dad.  We were all devastated when the folks got the call.  We couldn't believe it.  I think the whole ordeal took a toll on Mom and Dad.

After 18 years of an incredible marriage, combining his 6 kids and her 3 kids into one huge family, Mom died September 17, 1994 of pancreatic cancer and Dad died December 16, 1994 of cancer in his lymph nodes.  Our families lost our foundation, our roots...."the folks."  Where do we go for holidays, for cookouts, birthdays, Sunday lunch?  Who do we talk to about "stuff", play Triominos with, watch John Wayne movies with?

Time has eased the hurt somewhat, but I can't help but wish they could have enjoyed their "great grandkids" for a little while.  I still, after almost 17 years, want to call Momma and tell her something or ask her advice about something.   My Momma was very nearly perfect in my eyes and I loved her so much.

I didn't think anything could hurt as much as losing my Momma.....until Karis.....

Karis Rose Wallace was the daughter of our oldest son, Todd, and his wife Heather.  She was their first child.  We were all so excited for them and couldn't wait to meet their little girl.  However, at Heather's 39 week appointment, the doctor told them that there was no heartbeat.  I will never forget the look in their eyes as they told us that their little girl had died.  Todd cried....Heather just stared ahead, as if in a trance.  Then she still had to go to the hospital to be induced and deliver her baby.  That was such a long night in the waiting room for us and I can imagine it was even longer for Todd and Heather as she went through labor until she delivered Karis...stillborn.... the next morning.  I think that part of me wanted to believe that the doctor was wrong....that somehow when they brought her out she would start breathing....but she didn't.  Thankfully, their nurse, Paige, suggested they dress her up and take pictures.  They weren't sure about that, but now are so glad they did.  They planned a very sweet graveside service and appreciated all the love and support they received from family and friends.  They, in turn, have been a blessing to others who have had to go through a similar situation.  I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed them with a marriage that has grown stronger through this adversity and with three beautiful, healthy children.

Well, our family has lost many other precious members whom we loved....all of our grandparents, many aunts and uncles....but these are the ones who were closest to me and who my heart still aches for at times.  These are the graves that my sister, Karla, and I visit, put flowers on and remember............

In Loving Memory,

Donna