Mo's Corner

Visit anytime - it is my hope you will leave with a smile and maybe a new thought laced with a dash of hard-earned wisdom. I’ll always share a few "pearls" and "pebbles".

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Location: Azle, Texas, United States

Barbara is a retired bookkeeper, married to a retired Baptist minister. She was administrative assistant for ten years at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Pacific NW Campus in Vancouver, Washington, and bookkeeper at a local nursing home in Texas for six years. She has three grown children and is "Mo" to seven grandchildren. She and her husband, Jack, were born and reared in Illinois, moved to Fort Worth, Texas in 1979 so he could go to seminary, moved to Washington State to pastor in 1989 and back to Texas in 1999. They live on a farm with a horse, a donkey, two goats, ten cats, two grown grandsons, a daughter and son-in-law in the back yard, and a Border Collie, Cassidy. Barbara retired in 2005 and has co-authored with her daughter, Ellen Newton Driscoll, When Christians Divorce, a self-help guide for victims of divorce. Most of Barbara's previous writing has been in the area of family and church humor. Several years ago she wanted to see if she could write an interesting mystery that was not dripping with sex and blood, and so two psychological suspense novellas were born, Sammie and Death for the Holidays, soon to be published.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Mo's Corner

April and May in Newton world is social confusion and family chaos, a time of entangled birthdays and celebratory events. As matriarch of the clan, it falls to me to initiate the coordination of events. I have tried to relinquish my title many times, but the young women in my family merely smile and tell me why my latest proposal will not work.
For instance, Jack's birthday is April 27th, but of course we never celebrate on the 27th. This year I tentatively planned that happy celebration for Sunday, April 26th. Then I reset Edwin's birthday which was loosely planned for May 3rd, to May 10th, even though his real birthday is May 6th, when I learned that one grandson will be available only every other weekend.
Easter is the 12th of April this year, and we will certainly celebrate that blessed Sunday with our church family and part of our family group. We don't mess with Jesus' resurrection, but we will do our family egg hunt and treasure hunt on a Sunday two weeks before (or after) the real day because Linda's family will be going to the Bierle's this year on Easter day. We observe the rotation system. Therefore, I need to combine the silly part of our Easter with something else, probably Jack's birthday day. I will need to modify the dinner to a grilling event as it takes several hours to hide the five dollar eggs and plant about forty clues for the men/women teams of treasure hunters, not to mention shopping for the Silly String and putting together Easter treats for the youngest. Also, I like to work in a chili and hot dog dinner the Thursday before our egg hunt so the young in heart can color eggs. Soccer, baseball and school events are problems here.
On March 29th I cooked my son-in-law's (Terry) and Breyanna's (Cody's girl friend) birthday dinner because their January 17th and 24th dates were otherwise occupied. As you can see, I am already two months behind.
As I said before, I could move Edwin's party to May 10th and combine it with 16-year-old Kevins' May 12th birthday. That would work except that the 10th is Mother's Day and the women in our family have dedicated themselves to avoiding all cooking on Mother's Day. I believe I can get around that by buying Subs and baking the guy's cakes the day before, but I have to be careful that sufficient time is left for Tom and Terry's mothers.
In addition, eight-year-old Anna Grace will be baptized on Easter day, we need to go to Illinois in May, Illinois friends have promised to visit sometime this summer, Ellen is going to Scarborough Fair to sell her books, and she and I have two book fairs and one seminar to attend in May, but thankfully (as far as I know) I will not be cooking for the last groups. There is also a wedding to attend in April.
If the latest plan does not work out, I'm going to scoop up all of these occasions and lump them into one Sunday in June, or July, or whenever. What bothers me most is that I'm not sure I even remember what the real dates are for any of these things. I clutch a Day Planner most of my waking hours and have nightmares that it will disappear in the wee hours of the night. If that happens, it will be December before I get it all straightened out. Meanwhile, none of our grandchildren are allowed to marry anyone who has a birthday in April or May.
Nevertheless, have a most joyous Easter for He is risen!