Making the punch...

Annie making punch ... bet you didn't know making punch was so much fun, huh? (No, gang, this was in a church where alcohol is banned...this was a "dry" affair and humor flowed without the help or need of alcohol.)

Youngest Attendee

One-and-a-half week old Bethany Dunbar, here with Grampa Dean, was the youngest to attend Dad's party. Since as far as I know, she slept through the entire event, and given her age, I reckon she won't remember this piece of celebrity status.
Bethany's mom Marchelle is the dark haired one in the back holding Stevenie, her oldest daughter. Marchelle is Dean's youngest daughter and her sister, Aunt Terri Lynn, is holding Bethany's next oldest sister Melanie. And, in the pink is Shannon, the youngest of Dean's daughters. Uncle Dean is my mom's brother; he pastors a church in southern Iowa.

So now you know the youngest attendee and some of her family members. But who was the oldest? I don't really know...I sure couldn't ask the ages of those present now could I? Especially not the older women like Phyllis whose husband is now in a nursing home following a stroke, MaryEllen and her husband Ted, or many of Dad's other friends.

Paul

While Annie (the editor of a magazine) was carefully taking poised photos of every piece of each party and event she could catch at Dad's party, Alan Paul took great delight in sneaking in and grabbing the unexpected. He, for example, grabbed a shot of Patty running to get into the family photo after programming and setting up the photo using my camera's timer mode (she made him promise to keep that one NONpublic). I did grab this one though of him sneaking in for this candid shot.

Mc Humor....

This photo needs little explanation. Anth (2d from left) obviously has applied a bit of his mischeviousness on niece Ashley (Annie's daughter) and Per has no problem encouraging (or even coaxing such shenanigans). Aunt Pattie, however, seems to side with Ash...(who, incidentally, enjoys the attention.!). Anth and Per, who live just a few blocks apart, are more like twins than their two-year age difference reveals. And wives Patty and Kerry aren't always sure about their shenanigans.

Pre-Celebration Run

Before Dad's party, Per (above) and I did a calming run along his favorite running route -- which leads out to some quiet country roads. His wife Patty had planned to do so, but a running injury sidelined her from the grand delight of running on that wet-cold (30 degree) Iowa, day. And I'll get a 'scutchin' (that's Iowan for a scolding or reprimand) for that statement from Anth, who says I don't give Iowa a fair shake in my descriptions of that state.
At about 15 minutes we did a U-turn, and headed back to his truck.
"What do you think? How far?"
"About 3.1 miles," I answered. "That's about what I usually run in that time frame...a bit faster on a race, but..." (I had lung pain and had to take a couple short walk breaks).
"Hey, Per...do we have time? we could drive it and see..."
"I don't know...sometimes it's really disappointing..."
"And sometimes it's a pleasant surprise..."
So we retraced the run...Friday was pleasant surprise. 3.7 miles in 33 minutes! Patty, at home on the injury-protecting treadmill, did almost as well. Actually better if you add in the determination factor.

Look, Ma ... No Hands

Anth, behind the steering wheel, picked me up from the airport and drove his wife and me to Dad's party. Notice his hands are NOT on the steering wheel! He often steers with his knees and lets the automatic speed control handle the speed.

The Mc Clan

The original Roy McCracken family (minus Mom) beginning on the left: Anth (Anthony), Annie (Andrea), Dad, Me, Per (Austin Perry) and Alan Paul (actually I'm the only one allowed to call him that; to the rest of the world he's Paul). Though most of the faces in the photo below were serious, I've never known our group to be that way for very long. Anth is usually pulling some mischevous prank on someone. Paul is usually telling some story that brings the giggles or chuckles out of everyone around. And Per and Annie are usually finding something to laugh about as well.

About half of the present Roy W McCracken clan. Grandson Jer (Paul's oldest son) and his family (wife Faunne and daughter Evea) had to leave before this photo was taken. All of us kids and the spouses made it, but many of the third and fourth generation couldn't attend. My daughters and granddaughters couldn't get back. Anth's kids couldn't make it. Annie's oldest daughter wasn't able to get back either. Annie's son's wife had to work, as she is in the retail business. A foster daughter and her family were also absent. Nonetheless I thought this was a pretty good representation of family members whose residences stretch from Oregon to Virginia!

Something else that's pretty amazing about the four generations of our family....all but two are still living (Mom passed about four years ago, and I lost a baby in 1982, between Sam and Anna Maria).

Dad...the gamesman

Sister-in-law Wendee (my big bro Paul's wife) created these table decorations, replicas mostly from Dad's favorite games. The table beneath the balloon was a partially completed puzzle; he enjoys those, too.

Dad's favorite games has to be dominoes, which he to this day still pronounces as "donimoes." Wendee tells me that she and Paul have now moved him on to Trionimoes (I don't know how to spell that, but...).

Dad

Photo above: D&D as my siblings have nicknamed Dad and Delores.

Though Dad's actual birthday isn't until December 14, we celebrated over Thanksgiving weekend as that's when I could get there. When my siblings asked Dad what he wanted for his birthday he said, "Just get Nete here; I want all my kids here for my birthday." So as one of his presents they all went together to buy my plane ticket. Dad's request is a bit overwhelming because historically my dad and I have never gotten along. Over the last few years though there's been a change. He even makes sure he says, "I love you" when he ends a phone call.

Besides my plane ticket and presence, all of my siblings were there. And Dad received the jacket and wallet (in the photo below) as presents as well. Except for hitting a cow as he headed for home, and getting a busted lip when the airbag inflated, I think Dad had a very good day. Several friends dropped in. Grandson Noah even made a special card.

Mom

Mom's funeral was four years ago on November 8 at the same church where Dad's birthday celebration was held, and her body was buried in the cemetery behind the church. This was the first time I saw the marker -- the musical notes reflect her love of music. Mom (Dot to some and Gramma Dot to many grandkids and great grandkids) played accordian, piano and organ; and she and her siblings (plus a few other relatives) formed a gospel music group that used to sing in area churches. Mom also led the church choir. The roses on the other side of the marker reflect her favorite flower. The names of us five kids are also listed, as being a wife, and a mom (and later a gramma) were the roles she valued highest. I have NEVER heard anyone say a negative thing about Mom, especially the grandkids. All of them (and there were about 35 of us when she passed) thought she was the greatest. The cross is also significant; I'm not sure when Mom found faith, but once she did, she shared that faith in her quiet, unobtrusive gentle way -- living it more than talking about it. She didn't want people talking about her at her funeral; she wanted them to know about her God and Savior. They talked about her anyway; you can't help but love someone who loves others as much as Mom loved her God and others, and you can't help but talk about how their faith impacted yours.

Designer of Cool Hats

I've told my coworkers and friends that I always wear a white hat with my pony tail hanging out the back when I run. And the comments back are something akin to the fact that everybody does! So I handed Eliza (age 6) my running cap Saturday and asked her if she'd design something for me. She seemed a bit nervous at first..."How would I do that?"
I said I was thinking that a permanent marker might do the trick. I got the marker and cap from my bag and put them on the table. She asked, "And where will you wear this hat?" I said, "I always wear it when I run...and I want it to look different from everyone else's so people can find me."
Eliza got to work, first printing my name, "Grammie Nete" (what else?) on the bill. She then added "feet with wings." And a runner...she then added grass, flowers, sun....And on the back it says, "Go! Run!"
The nearly-completed design....I LOVE the comic runner, and the winged feet. I should have taken a photo of the completed design, but must have have gotten distracted. I wore the cap for the first time in today's race and was so proud.

Turkey 5K in Bridgewater

Scenes taken before today's Turkey 5K (3.1 miles) in Bridgewater, where the winners received turkeys.
The scene above was near the halfway point. Although I enjoyed this view very much BEFORE the race, DURING the race I had to slow down a bit here because I feared I'd toss my cookies. Two p.m. races are a new experience, and I'm still learning how to do them. Last week I ate too little and got weak kneed and jelly-legged. This week I ate a tad bit TOO much.
At noon I drank luscious squash soup left over from last night's supper. I think that would have been enough (Anna Maria makes the best squash soup, painstakingly cutting up tons of carrots, onions, mushrooms and squash before cooking, and then pureeing the finished soup smooth). But an hour later, still feeling hungry and there being an hour remaining before the race, I added an energy bar.
Even so I DID come in second in the female 50-59 group; and even my fastest ever 5K time wouldn't have brought me close to the winner. And I beat last week's time by one second. Temp according to thermometer on the rental car I drove was 51 degrees.

Oreo Cookie Cow

Somewhere between Broadway and Mauzy/Lacey Springs, Anna Maria and I passed a herd of cattle with some of these long haired cows. I asked her what kind it was and she said, "I don't know. I call them Oreo cookie cows...actually I heard someone else call them that ..." (photo by Anna Maria). Sunday evening update: After seeing this post, my friend Michelle (from the Finger Lakes in NY) said this is a belted galloway, or a brown belted galloway (as in a brown cow with a white belt). These cows are mostly used as beef cattle. Since upstate New York is dairy country, I am thinking she is a very reliable source. Don't you just want to hug this cow? Doesn't he look soft, kind of like a huge teddy bear?

Pillow Case Dresses

Eliza, Maggie and I went to Target where they picked out pillow cases to make into dresses. They chose cases with a pale sage green background and pink roses (I can, in my mind, hear my mom "oohhing," as she loved roses.) After lunch, which their Daddy Steven (above) prepared, we got to work. Above you can see the finished results...click on the photo to enlarge it and you can see the detail, delicate trim along the hemline, and buttons at the neckline. Because the pillowcases also came with sheets, they now have new sheets that look wonderful in their pink room, too.
Eliza has sewn before, so sewing neat tiny stitches required concentration, but not too much effort. Using a seam ripper to rip open the top of the pillowcase was new, but she needed no instruction. After watching me she asked, "I can do that." I handed her the ripper, showing her where the blade was, and she was on task with no instruction needed.
For Magging (4) sewing was a new thing. Every time she managed to poke the needle through the cloth and pull it tight, she would exlaim, "Look! I did it!"

Bringing home the gold...

--photo by Susan Hendrickson

That would be my first running medal...and it's a "gold". Actually I think it's my first gold medal, although I did receive a medal when I graduated from college with honors the first time. I came in first in my age group at the 116th Infantry 5K today at Gypsy Hill Park. Now I must confess that I was also the ONLY woman in my age group...but I like to think I was also the only female my age gutsy enough to tackle the park hills and the cold, dreary day. (At least some runners complained a bit, but after the 10 miler really hilly run, the hills didn't bother me. I WAS cold though, especially after the race.) AND I did beat my Crosswinds 5K by about 4 minutes. When I complain about my times to my daughter, she often says something to the effect that most women my age can't even run three miles. Maybe she's right. After all I WAS the only one my age running the 116th....

Running with soldiers was a new experience. Many soldiers in the 116th are deployed to Iraq, as I understood the MC during the awards presentation. My landlord's husband did a year in Iraq riding around in a humvee according to his wife; and he has a bad back and difficulty hearing because of it. Though the war in Iraq is in the news almost daily, the reports have become akin to elevator music -- constantly present and never heard. Participating in this 5K and watching the parade from my second story window today -- one foot hanging outside and the other foot inside -- made the war more real and reminded me of my need to pray more about this matter.

Stats (for those interested): 27:44 total time, 69.9% in the field, 8:56 mile pace. My legs turned to jelly near the end; I ate like I do for my Saturday morning 10 milers. I think I didn't eat quite enough for a 2:00 p.m. 5K race; so I learned something. I'll eat a bit more before next Sunday's run in Bridgewater.

Veterans' Day Parade Photos

I sat in my second story window today -- one leg hanging out and over the sidewalk, and the other inside.

More Veterans' Day Photos

Princess Liza

Eliza made her crown from a piece of copper, according to her mom. She added pennies for shape and jewels; donned the flower girl dress I made for the wedding and voila! she was a princess for a night. This photo was taken by her daddy -- Steven David Johnson. I wasn't there, but I nabbed the photos from his website.

Eliza Grace ... Costume Designer Extradoinaire

Anna Maria dressed up to take her kids out for Halloween. Her Rennaissance outfit was her dress from her sister's wedding (made by her momma) and a cape that her sister made way about seven years ago. Add her husband's foil...
But Eliza Grace made Maggie's costume...She asked Maggie what she wanted to be, and then began designing. She found gloves for paws, made a mask, added black tights for legs, and stuffed the leg of another pair of tights for a tail, and turned her sister into a kitty. Isn't that an awesome big sister?
Eliza took a piece of copper and designed a crown, donned her flower girl dress from Auntie Ana's wedding and became a princess. All these photos were taken by Daddy Steven David Johnson.

Big Black Truck Headed Right Toward Me

Today I ran 10.9 at 12 minutes per mile pace. At one spot, however, I thought I might run home to glory. I had reached a spot where the steep bank of a hill abuts the shoulder, a spot where the narrow shoulder is all the room a runner has. There was no escape route to a ditch or field. And just then the driver of a big black truck with a double cab decided it was time to check his heater or radio. I can tell you he wore a hooded sweatshirt. I could see his face -- looking at the dash and not the road. I could see one hand on the wheel, the other messing with something on the dash. And I saw him cross the white line...toward me with no way of escape. There couldn't have been six inches between us when he finally looked up and steered back onto the road. I don't know that he even saw me, though the sky was clear.

Actually as I thought about it, going home to glory wouldn't have been so bad -- for me anyway; but actually he was going slow enough that he probably instead would have just taken me out of next week's race. The incident got me pondering about all the stuff in life that threatens to take us out of the race of life. As I read my Bible this weekend and listened to this morning's message, I have a collection of thoughts in response:
1. Somebody loves you. And that Somebody loves you a lot. "God did not send his Son (Jesus) into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world..." "Come! (Rev. 22:17) "Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life." Those who "are led by the Spirit of God are the (sons and daughters) of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. ..We are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ." Friends and family members on earth die. Some even betray and abandon us. Not so with Christ. He doesn't reject. He doesn't abandon. In fact Paul said, "We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39). 2. And one day, we'll be called home where no big monster trucks can find us. Look at the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Here, on this side of heaven, the big black trucks can, as the rich man did to Lazarus, make life pretty miserable. But once we reach glory, we will be safe. "...(B)etween us and (the rich man) a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, not can anyone cross over from there to us." I've often heard it said that God wouldn't really keep anyone out of heaven, since He is a God of love. But a heaven allowing those who don't want any part of God's lifestyle wouldn't be any different than life here on earth. And a heaven like that provides no hope. Instead the Bible says, "....there will be no night there...Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life" (Revelation 22:24-17).

2. And there's hope on this side of heaven, too. In the story of the crucifixion, Pilate gets a pretty bad rap. And, for the most part, that is true. He had a chance to set Jesus free, but he didn't. Instead he washed his hands of the whole affair and let the crucifixion occur. Even so, when it was seemingly too late to make a difference, Pilate did finally take a stand for Christ. In three different languages, assuring that the majority of the crowd would see it, Pilate wrote, "Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews." As long as we are living, we will have chances to make the right choice and fail. We will also have chances to make the right choice and succeed. God forgives. It's not a gift to be taken lightly, as we never know when we'll be given our last chance. It's not a gift to be taken lightly, because wrong choices cause harm. Nonetheless, nothing, not even our wrong choices, can stop God from doing what God wants done. God says that what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open (Revelation 3:7). Even Pilate's wrong choice became a catalyst for us to have salvation, hope and freedom. Pilate's better, and right choice, told all those present that He at last took a stand for Christ. I will mess up. You will mess up. Don't wallow in the mistake. Dust yourself off. Thank God for His forgiveness. Ask for His power. And move on with His power --

and that leads me to #3 from the book of Ezekiel. The prophet had this crazy vision of lightening, smoke, fire, creatures with four faces, wheels with lots of eyes. But catch this, "Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels." Now that last statement is important; we know that it's important because Ezekiel says it twice (21:20 AND 21). When God's spirit is in us, we, too, will move with the spirit. And that's a fact. When the Spirit controls us, we will be moved by the Spirit. Later, in chapter 4, Ezekiel said, "The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord upon me." Even our stinky attitudes can't stop God's spirit from controlling us IF at the core of our being the Spirit does control us. We're humans and God knows that. He works with us anyway. Look at the story of Jonah. And then claim God's almighty power, a power bigger than us and our failures, a power big enough to accomplish what God wants. A power big enough to calm our fears, big enough to set us free from whatever hinders us, big enough to change us.

4. "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Now on this earth, that's not necessarily freedom from monster trucks. And it's definitely not the freedom to do whatever you want. Instead this is freedom from the stuff on earth that looks so good, yet, in reality, ensnares us till we're all tangled up and controlled by the thing that looked so good. This freedom is the power to do God's will. It's the power to do the right thing, to make the right choices. And we are all invited to enjoy that freedom. But freedom is never really free. And this freedom, too, came at a great price. It cost Jesus His life and The Father His Son.

So treasure the costly gift of freedom by making the right choice to believe and obey God's Word. Get up. Get moving. Let God's Spirit move you and guide you. Yes, there are big black trucks out there. Get going anyway. God is bigger than those black trucks. There is work to be done. People need to know that Somebody really does care. And that Somebody won't reject them, won't abandon them. And one day, one glorious day, you'll reach the place where big black trucks aren't allowed. And there you will have peace forever. And, if you've been obedient, hopefully you'll find a host of people following you to glory or maybe even going there before you.

God is good. Sometimes we see it; the rest of the time we live by faith.

Sisters

My granddaughters: Eliza (left) is 6, and Maggie is 4. This photo is another from their photographer-dad's blog:

http://homepage.mac.com/steverinojohnson/iblog/