Lois's Lines
In February of this year, I was fortunate to be a part of a medical mission to Ecuador. Our group stayed in the rain forest on the Cayapas River and ran a free clinic for 4 days. The weather was, of course, hot and very rainy. They average 12-14 feet of rain a year. What a blessing to be able to bring medical care to these people. The video will give you an idea of the area where we were. We returned home just a few days before they closed the country for COVID-19.
Henry Marshall and I have been dating now for 2 years! Wow. We met at church in our Life Group giving us that in common as well as grieving for our spouses. A lot of our time together is spent working with the International students from Oklahoma University. Currently, there are about 15 in our group--they come and go. Some are exchange students for 1-2 semesters. Others are working on their Ph.D. and stay 5 years or longer. It is a wonderful experience to get to know the different cultures. Our goal is to show them the love Jesus has shown to us. They are always invited to worship with us and some do. We do a lot of cooking together for them as well as entertaining other couples from church.
And to answer the question I will get, no there are no wedding bells in our immediate future. We enjoy each other's company very much, especially all the work we do at church. We are still getting to know each other! And we both have a daughter we haven't been able to get together with this year.
We also spend lots of time with grandchildren--mine and his. David joins us for dinner every Tuesday night. We spend as much time as possible with Kinsey when she is here from Dallas.
Here is another Christmas video from Lynn's concert.
Henry's son, Erick, lives close--just south of Weatherford, OK. The picture is almost a year old now but has them all. There are 8 precious children ranging in age from 1 year old to 13 years old. Another bundle of joy is due June 30. They are delightful children. We see them about once a month. Sarah's (daughter-in-law) dad is also in the picture.
Hopefully in 2021, we can make a trip to St. Louis to meet his daughter, Elisha. Meeting Kara will be a little more difficult with her working in Japan.
Guess I got bored with the inactivity of COVID and applied for and got a job starting in the new year. I will be teaching part time at Southern Nazarene University here in town as an adjunct. There is a class in the masters and doctoral programs having to do with technology that would be perfect for me. They have also asked me to advise doctoral students when there is a match for me. I will finally get to use my Ph.D. To get current on what is going on in today's classrooms, I will also be doing some substitute teaching at Lynn's school 2-3 days a week. How cool is that to be starting a job at age 75 in January! I am certainly following in my dad's footsteps concerning retirement!
I am still hoping to do more speaking on my book, Caregiving with God, and was scheduled to speak at the Harding Lectureship in September which, of course, was cancelled until 2021.
My garden has benefited greatly from COVID. Spending time in the garden when we couldn't get together with a lot of people has been a blessing. It is a nice distraction from all the Zoom meetings. I am hosting a Zoom Christmas party for our Life Group on December 20. We all hope it will be a once in a lifetime experience!