Changes....

 I was born and grew up in Spring Branch, Houston, TX.  I've about decided I grown up in an  ideal time.  

Currently I read facebook posts from a group called "I grew up in Spring Branch,"  most of them are happy memories from the time period I grew up in and experienced Spring Branch.   I also read from a group called "The Branch 2.0."  This group is more of current life, and is very different and reflects the many changes that have taken place in the area - both good and bad.

I grew up attending First Baptist Church Spring Branch.  I think my parents joined in 1957 when they moved out to the west side of Houston.  (My father thought he had moved to San Antonio we were so far west.)  FBCSB was an active church, and relatively large congregation.  As a baby, I was on the "cradle roll" and moved through the nursery and the children's building.  How could you forget the sturdy wooden chairs and tables and the short little spinet pianos.  The bathrooms were just large enough to turn around in, and an old water fountain with steps to reach was out in the hallway.  The lights in the classrooms were circles with lightbulbs in the center. The rooms had windows that you could wind out to get a breeze.  From my early memories, I remember the cooling chamber for the air conditioning.  The water would pour over the cooling chamber and you'd get a little wet.  In the early 60's, after you finished 4th grade, you left the children's building and went out to the white wooden buildings in the lawn on the back side of the church.  The year I was to move in to those old wooden buildings, the church completed the building program of a new educational building - In October of 1967, I went into the new shiny classrooms (with air conditioning).  The old white wooden buildings were moved out to Sister Gay's Mission Yahweh out in Carverdale.   The church also had a metal gym building where we held dinners, played volleyball (every Monday night!) and had a youth space (the coffee house) on the second floor.  Many good memories happened in that old metal gym.  Mrs. Catherine Woodruff designed and built a large commercial kitchen so that large group meals could be prepared.  Wednesday night dinners were held in the gym and on Sunday afternoons, the youth had dinner snacks between choir and training union followed by Sunday evening services.

I have fond memories of activities and people attached to the church.  Several people had great influence on my life.  Mrs. Dickson, Mrs. House, and Mrs. Harris were all school librarians.  All three of these ladies were models for my career as a school librarian.  I remember Mrs. Dickson always having a children's book (or two, or three) in her purse.  When we played volleyball on Monday nights, Mrs. Dickson would pick up a book and read during the "off times", when she was our transpiration - she always had a book to read.  When I became a librarian - I followed her lead and tried to read most of the books in my library.  I can remember talking books with Mrs. Dickson and knew that is something I wanted to do with my students.  Mrs. House was the librarian who knew where or who to go to for an answer.  If she didn't know it, she would get back with you sooner rather than later, I took her skills to heart as well - as I always tried to find an answer for a students, staff or community member.  Mrs. Harris was a consistent constant.  She was diligent in her work - again, I added her skill set to my tool box.  I was so fortunate to have 3 school librarians to follow in their footsteps.  (I had others - but these three I knew from my early childhood through my years in the library.)

Front of the Main Sanctuary

Arial view of the campus.  On the South side of the Sanctuary is the

children's building.  The big building at the top of the photo is the gym.  The remainder of the space

is the educational facitilites.

This building had the chapel on the first floor, and classrooms
on the second floor.  On Sunday mornings, students would hang out
on the balcony and visit until time for Sunday School.

The loss of a friend.

I've been praying for Lois for years.  Today she got her wings to heaven.  I'm not exactly sure when Lois and I first crossed paths...from all of our connections it could have been as a child, but I know we connected through our children (Mallory and Holly) at Tallowood Baptist Church.  Our girls were in the same group at church and sometimes ended up at the same locations.  Lois was also in my Sunday School class.  I don't remember when she started coming, but I know she was one of the intial members in the newly established Covenant Class.

Our children are now in their 30's so it's been over 25 years that we have been friends, acquaintances, prayer partners, partners in projects, and involved in activities at Tallowood.  I learned that she knew many of the same folks I did in Alexandria, Louisiana and Shreveport, Louisiana.  She spent most of her childhood in Louisiana....

One of the fun things she did for our ladies group is to tour us through Memorial City Mall.  She worked for the team designing the mall and she knew so much.  It was fun to learn the back story on so many stores in the mall.

Lois was also a hostess.  She was always going over the top hosting dinner gatherings at her home.  She never did paper plates, no...Lois went all out with table scapes, special dishes, special food and the lively conversation around the table.  

Throughout the years we met at her house to begin the Mission Projects at Christmas.  I have years of photos of us in her front yard praying before we took off to deliver gifts to needy families.

In the past few years, Lois rarely missed a day to post a greeting on Facebook.  She would find a cute photo to send daily blessings to her followers.  Sometimes I wonder if she was sending those for us, or as a way to lift herself from the pain of her cancer.  No matter what, she brought a smile to faces everyday.  

She married Scott 13 years ago.  I never knew her first husband.  Scott has been amazing through all of Lois' health issues.  He's taken such good care of her, fixed others homes, and still had a hot meal on the table at night.  My prayers tonight reach out to Scott - I can not imagine what he's going through right now.  13 years ago they were married, shortly after that was the first indication of a health issues - cancer.  It's been 13 years of treatments, remission, doctors and more.  Thankful for their 13 years.

Lois has been a constant in my life for over 25 years.  Not a daily call, but frequently a battery of messages.  I'll miss those conversations.  I'll miss her hospitality.  I've admired her courage, perseverance and strength over the years.  She never doubted that God was on her side.  He provided for her needs.  He knew it was time to call her home.  Heal her.  Make her whole.  Thank you, Lord for the life of Lois.  May we all be so strong when we face difficulties.  May we all have the faith of Lois.  Rest in peace my friend.  I know you are rejoicing in Heaven at the feet of your Savior.  You have run the good race, you have completed your task.  We will miss you.

January 2024

 Well, it's been a long while since I've written.  I'm going to try really hard to write at least once a month.  I really want to try to be more regular.

We're just back from a long 4 day weekend in Galveston.  We had no plans, just a place to stay.  Ended up riding a tandem bike all over the island.  It was a good way to spend time together ....we stopped when we wanted, we found places to eat, to experience and rest.  One of our favorite shows on HGTV is Restoring Galveston.  We love the old houses found on the island, so we kind of took our time to find the houses from the show.  We were pretty successful.  It was a good trip and we came back rested.

Another goal for the year is to spend time visiting with folks.  By the second day in January I had already contacted two friends who had moved from Houston last year.  My goal is to keep up with these folks more than just a text once a month.  Let's see if I can make it happen.

I've had a lot of divine appointments this year - some are people I hadn't seen in a long time.  Today in the grocery store as I reached for a rack of ribs, another person reached in - she was a former parent of a GT student.  They spoke Chinese when they first enrolled in Rummel Creek. The kids were brilliant, but weren't making it into the GT program.  I wrote a petition explaining how they had to translate to Chinese and then back into English - and then they were in.  You wonder, are they really gifted - Joanna is now at Johns Hopkins working on a PHD in neurological surgery.  She had just left to go back to school to complete a few trials for surgery.  Frank, a little younger is now at CalTech working on his PHD in Physics.  Yeah - I think they are a little GT.  Mom had not changed, once I realized who she was, she was just as she had been when a volunteer at RCE - It's been at least 15 years since they were at Rummel Creek.  Caught up on a few more of the kiddos they were grouped with - Davis Palmie - he too is still in school.  That group of boys was a challenge - anything I shared, they already knew it and usually had mastered.  They pushed my buttons and my knowledge - but my did they have fun learning.  I can only wish for other students to love learning as much as those boys did.  About the time they were graduating from undergraduate programs - they dropped by the library - it was so good to see that they had all excelled, all gone to different colleges, but had remained good friends.  Everyone should have good friends like that to help push you along.  I hope those boys know how much I enjoyed working with them.  For years I kept up with some of them on a regular basis...even attending their Eagle Scout Ceremony.  As I move through year 2 of retirement - it's good to know that some of the students going through RCE have excelled and gone the extra mile.

Well, I've rambled enough for today.  Hopefully by the end of the week, I'll pick up a new post....Just a way to keep my thoughts all in one place.