Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to you all! I pray that your holidays were filled with joy and good community and family.

Family Reunions

In addition to being here for my brother's wedding, we took 'Odom' family pictures. We were all together, for the first time in three years, and with four additions since then. It was a bit chaotic and loud, but if you are only going to have two days together every three years, it seems worthwhile.

Here I am with my five siblings, on the swings of the "fort" that my dad built for us nearly 20 years ago.

I was able to have another family reunion too, one that I honestly didn't expect to have. Back in March I heard that my grandmother was declining in health and might not live much longer. I didn't expect to get to see her again. A few days after my brother's wedding, however, I got the chance to drive down to Texas and see my grandmother and spend a few hours with her.

Even though she didn't recognize me it was truly a blessing to get to visit with her, tell her a little bit about what I've been up to, and give her a gift from Tanzania.

40 Before 40

I am a fairly task oriented person. To do lists are exceptionally effective for me. There are several things that I have wanted to do for a while, things for which I haven't had the time (or money). They, however, deserved to be put on a to do list with a lot of freedom regarding the time frame in which I would like to do them.

I gave myself 8 years and 40 'to do' items and the result was my list of '40 before 40' (because I'll be 40 in 8 years! Oh, and I didn't quite get to 40, so if you have ideas of things that I could add to the list let me know, there are still 3 slots.)

The list includes some tasks that I've simply never gotten around to doing, like making butter from scratch (still to do), or dying a single streak in my hair (done!).

There are many things on the list, however, that will take time and planning to accomplish, like learning a 4th language or doing another half marathon (that one is planned!).

Last night I got to check an item off of the list. One of my favorite musicians happened to be playing in Tulsa and I got to go! I've never, as an adult, been to the concert of a musician that I like, so that was on the list. It's a terrible picture (and that is to be expected in this venue), but I was at a Josh Garrels concert last night and it was lovely!

Thanks to the life that God has given me thus far, there are so many things that I could have added to that list, but didn't need to because I've already done them: living overseas, going skydiving, being a missionary on the African continent, speaking multiple languages...

We'll see what all I will do in the coming years!

A New Sister

Two parents, six children, three in-laws and nine grandchildren all gathered together this past weekend to welcome and initiate a new in-law. It was the first time in three years for the whole compliment to be together.

So, I now have a new sister, Amber. Thank you Wesley for bringing her into the family!

One of my nephews, upon seeing Amber, asked to dance with the princess all night long. He took great care not to step on her dress when he got the chance.

So, that was yesterday. Today we're all exhausted and taking it easy, including letting kids see how many curlers they can load onto your head.

Ah, good family times.