We were blessed with an overnight visit from our good friends the Gruenthers, with Jess, of course.
This trip was made more interesting because of our recent acquisition of the feisty kitten Rocket. 

Jess was not exactly welcomed by Rocket  /  But her reunion with "Uncle Eric" was very heart warming

We tried to do a group picture but Rocket can't sit still that long.

Tonya and JR, cutting up  /  JR and Greg checking out a makeup kit JR was instructed to "steal."

Happy Birthday to me!  I got my 40th birthday gift from Eric early this year.
A gas-powered pressure washer - woo hoo!  I have a passion for power-washing 
and now I can super clean stuff whenever I want.  (Even the neighbor's stuff if they're not looking!) 

Speaking of birthdays, Happy Birthday Eron!  My friend Eron had a birthday on December 3rd
and a bunch of us girls from church got together to take her out for the evening.  We went bowling and
out to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack.  It was a great time!

Scenes from the AIS Christmas Party at the OKC Country Club.
Our ex-coworker and still friend Lisa Hill's Christmas party was there then too - so we got to see her as we came in.

We had a Christmas tree decorating contest after lunch and my team got 2nd place - yea! 

I am so proud of my city.  I suspect that very few
cities in this great country have the courage to acknowledge
that the birth of Jesus Christ is what we are celebrating.

Hurray for Oklahoma City!! 

 Ron's Christmas Fantasia

This is what happens to your office when you go on 
vacation and your co-workers have some free time.

History in the making!  Eric and I are developing a product called,
"Memorize Scripture - On the Go!" which is an audio CD + workbook packet
to help people memorize verses from the Bible.

Here we are in the very nice home-based recording studio of my friend Rob.
My friend Ray is the 'voice of MSOTG' and is truly excellent. Exciting!

In early November, a gang of us met for Mexican dinner and a great concert.
Here we are at dinner: Kristin, Eric H., Ellie, Me, Eron, and Levi

A beautiful afternoon in our beautiful park - Edgemere Park, OKC

Here we are at a very fun evening spent at Michael's house where
he hosted a neighbor dinner - several of us from the street got together
for a really great time.

Here I am out to dinner with Ellie, one of my new 
International Friends.  I met her through the, 
"International Friendship Families" program at OCU.
She is awesome!  

On Saturday, September 26 2009 I ran the 5K of the Capitol Challenge.
My friend LaRhonda ran the 10K and her son Gary ran the 1 mile.  Daughter Bailey & husband Kendall took these pictures.

I saw the interesting clouds with this church steeple
after a run one day in Edmond.

Eric - very pleased with the feast
Rusty & Cody put on.

The next morning was COLD and windy!
The day improved as it progressed, thank goodness.

On Monday afternoon, August 17 our good friends the Gruenthers
lost their apartment to a fire caused by a lightening strike.  
Thankfully, everyone: Luc, Cassy, brother Chance, and sweet dog Jess are all unharmed.
Sadly, they lost almost everything they owned.  Here is the news story.

Luc & Cassy watching as their apartment is destroyed in order to stabilize the building.

On Saturday, August 15 we enjoyed
a really great comedy show by Kenn Kington

 On Saturday, August 15 we went to a baby shower for the soon-to-be-born Alex Chavez.
Here big sister Kayla shows off both her new glasses and Tito, who was a bit skiddish.

Rusty filling in an Eric sandwich.  
Jokes, man, jokes! 

Here's a shot of our church, Calvary Chapel of OKC
after some recent cosmetic work to make it look more "church-ey."
I like the results, but we know what matters most is what's 
at the heart of a church and CCOKC has that totally nailed.
(Pun intended)

July 31 - August 2 I went to a Ladies Retreat in Dallas with
some ladies from my church.  I drove the van - which was the cause
of much fervent prayer! :-)  Below you see our blue chariot awaiting us. 

This was the gang at the retreat - what an awesome group of ladies!

Heartland International does great work all around southeast Asia.
 

Here we are out for a great evening with our friends
Greg & Janie at a Brazilian restaurant

Another successful Blue Star Mothers pack day.
Those ladies know how to run an operation!

T'was the season for sibling visits - the day after we saw Amy, we also got to see brother Larry.
Eric had hurt his back, but a visit from big brother had him up and about in no time. 
We made Larry run the grill for us and had hamburgers with the works. It was a fun evening.

Our sister-in-law Amy came down from Montana to visit her Grandma in June.
We were fortunate enough to spend a morning with her and a few hours at Grandma's 
talking with Grandma, Amy, Amber, Tralika, and baby Aubrey.

It was a very nice visit.

Mall of America - on a business trip with my co-workers Matt S. & Barbara

Photographic evidence of the birds eating our house.

OKC Sunset on Monday night, May 25th

My sister Desirae sent me this picture of her husband, Keith.
The caption was, "What white guys have to do to stay out of the sun."
He's a creative guy - you've got to hand it to him!!

I attended Doaa's graduation on May 9th.  She got her MBA from OCU.  I'm very proud of her!

The morning of May 9th I met my friend Candice for a great morning.
We had breakfast, then went to Lake Thunderbird and took a bike ride.

On May 8th we had a very fun evening with Ken, Sherry, Lena, and Dan.
Here we are about to play a rousing game of Balderdash.  It was a lot of laughs!

Mom came to town April 25 & 26 to run the half marathon (13.1 miles) at the
Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.  Here we are out to dinner with Doaa.  (Eric took the pic.) 

We had a fun evening with Dan & Lena Hunt - 
dinner on the patio then an outing to the Arts Festival.

Here Eric repairs the mortar that the birds keep eating away.

 I took a Compass & Navigation class with the OKC Outdoor Network.
My compass had North & South confused so I was a remedial student!

  
Our church had a Seder dinner to observe Passover on April 10th

We had the honor of helping Doaa with an art project one night - we BBQ'd water bottles!

On a short trip home to Westville, I got this shot of Mom's
beautiful cat, Momma Kitty helping us sort running clothes.

Here are some pictures of the sweet daughter of our friends Martin & Tonnie Beck: Leila Grace