Warren, Nashville, Grand Prairie.

It was great to spend about 6 weeks at home. Debby came for 1 ½ weeks over Christmas and New Year’s and she and I did a lot of sewing. I took her to 2 quilt shops. We attended the Townhouse/Villa luncheon and a couple of fine arts presentations at the home. Christmas day was just 4 of us and we opened our gifts, had cinnamon rolls and played games.









We took a day trip to Mavis & DeVon’s for a short visit. We got to spend some quality time with Coleen’s dad and enjoyed playing games. I got a beautiful flower arrangement from Debby for my birthday.


I quilted some Valentine place mats for a challenge at the Engine House Quilt Shop


and made some seasonal towels for the kitchen.


I made a rag lap quilt for Phil for Christmas and his birthday.




Bob & I also spent quite a bit of time getting programs loaded onto our new laptops. We had a visit from Heidi, Shelley and Alec. Michael, Tina & Alana came and spent the night.

Lloyd and Nick stopped on another day.
Bob got an e-reader for Christmas and we joined a club and spent quite a bit of time downloading and converting books. I have more than 400 on my Kindle and I think he has over 300 on his e-reader.
Deb left the day it started snowing.




Bob had left for men's breakfast on January 5 and I saw this beautiful sunrise out our back door.



By January 12th we were packing again. We left Warren on January 14th and drove to Nashville where we spent the week. We stayed at a timeshare but went to Deb’s each night for dinner. We even got to attend her “crochet night”. Deb took me to tea at Savannah Tea House. It was really fun and the food was delicious.
We left Nashville on Sunday, January 22 and arrived in Grand Prairie on Monday. We stayed with David & Jo Glazener and had a wonderful visit. Karen & Ruby came on Saturday. We also got to spend some time with other friends in the area – Bill & Pam Skaar, Darrell & Gloria Davidchik, Burt Seligman, Cecil & Betty George, Bob & Stacie McIntosh (& family).
We drove to Waco on Sunday, January 29 and spent the week with Phil, Susan & James. It had been 10 months since we had last seen them. We got caught up and even played some euchre. On Saturday, February 4, David very graciously took us to the airport for our flight to Hawaii.

ILC, Rockville, VA – October 13 – December 17

We spent 2 months at the International Learning Center for the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Church as volunteers.







There were 4 couples and we all lived in Quad 27.


They thought it was a first that all 4 of the couples had served overseas with the board. As a couple we were on duty every 4th day which meant we worked at the administration desk from 8-5 and then carried the master keys and a cell phone until 10 pm for issues such as lock outs after hours. We also conducted tours of the campus when asked. Bob & I spent some time getting to know the folks that were going to South Asia. We were also able to go to some of the sessions that were being held. I helped a few times with the babies and 1 year olds.
When we weren’t on duty we were free to come and go. We spent a lot of time sewing in the Quilt Quad. I helped a few folks with some sewing and quilting but was able to sew a lot of things. I made 4 quilt tops,






a lap quilt for my dad,



a blue & white quilt for me,


3 scrap therapy bags,


a jewelry travel case,


about 10 book-covers & a Kindle cover,


a Bible cover,


some hobo bags


and I altered 13 tops that I had originally had made overseas. I also made a tissue box cover from a kit that was mostly stitched on the sewing machine but looks a little quilted.
Bob made a needlepoint tissue box cover from a kit I had. He learned to cut squares for quilting using the rotary cutter and used the leftover scraps from projects. He was given some scraps to cut which he thought were too nice to cut into smaller pieces. He did some research and found a pattern to use for guidance and put together scrap pieces as a quilt top. He thought I was going to sew it. By then we had only 4 weeks left and I told him that he could get it sewn together in 4 weeks. He said that he didn’t know how to sew but I told him I would teach him. He actually had the pieces sewn together in a couple of days and then determined that since it was the first one he had ever made he was going to keep it. So we bought backing and he quilted and finished it.



Then he proceeded to design and sew 3 more quilt tops together. I am so proud of him.





One day we took a trip to Appomattox Court House National Park. It was a beautiful scenic drive with many fall colors in the trees.






Thanksgiving week end we were able to drive to Ashland to Randolph Macon College and see Sean Myers (Coleen's nephew) play in a basketball tournament. He is playing for Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX. It was fun to watch and also visit with him afterwards for a short while.
Another day trip we took to Colonial Williamsburg to see the natural decorations they use for Christmas.

















We left Virginia on Friday December 16 and drove home to Warren in 2 days. It was only a total of 650 miles so both days were easy. It felt great to be home after 3 1/2 months.