Family – Page 29 – Into the West

Moss Family Christmas eLetter

Moss Family Christmas Letter 2010

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given,
and the government shall be upon His shoulder;
and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
— Chorus, Handel’s Messiah

We are grateful for the Child born in a manger, come to save us all. We are grateful for our own children, born just two decades ago, now released upon the world, making it a better, brighter place. We are grateful for the bounties bestowed upon us this year. We mourn for the passing a grandmothers and cherish the memories their lives bequeathed to us.

Family Gathers in Winfield for Barbara Parsons' Funeral

Spring:

Bitter cold snowy weather in January like I haven’t seen in Kansas since the 70s. February/March attended the funeral of Barbara Parsons and visited with relatives in Winfield. April/May traveled to Nebraska and Iowa to attend a couple of science fiction conventions.

Terry, Rachelle and Dan waiting at KCI for her flight to Germany

Summer:

Rachelle flew back home in late May, but only stayed a few days before traveling overseas to study abroad in Europe, specifically Leipzig, Germany. She celebrated her twenty-first birthday half a world away from where she was born. During her five weeks in Europe, she visited many cities in Germany, Austria and also Prague in the Czech Republic. She returned to the States on the eve of the Fourth of July and remained with us for the rest of the summer.

While Rachelle deeply immersed herself in learning German, my grandmother began to suffer from rapidly advancing congestive heart failure. Just two days before my daughter’s birthday, and actually on my grandmother’s 88th birthday, she passed away.

I was glad to have visited her in her final days and to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her with my aunt and dad. The next week became a blur as plans for the memorial service were ironed out and I offered my house as a staging area for family gatherings. The first, and hopefully last time for many years to come, I actually took advantage of my bereavement leave employee benefit.

The following week, my husband finally attended his Social Security Disability hearing before an administrative law judge (via video conference since the judge lived in New Mexico). We had been waiting years for this hearing, having been denied twice by bureaucrats in the SSA. Just last week (middle of October), he received his first regular disability check, but the settlement check for previous years is still several weeks away. The hearing, while stressful for Terry, relieved some of our agony of waiting.

In August, we mailed, er flew, Rachelle back to Texas and life settled back into it’s routine. I’d joined a vanpool mid-Summer so I wasn’t putting any miles on any of my vehicles. We received the welcome news that Terry’s appeal of denial of SSD benefits was awarded by the judge.

Autumn:

Telescope Birthday Present — Meade ETX-90

Fantastic birthday present from my father – an amazing telescope with a plethora of accessories, which I’ve been exploring and learning how to use.

We traveled to North Texas last week for Thanksgiving, leaving the dogs behind boarded at a local Leavenworth kennel and doggie day care facility. We enjoyed the balmy weather and the kids.

In mid December, we will return to Texas, taking my dad with us, to attend my son’s graduation from SMU’s Guildhall, on Saturday, December 18, 2010. The best news of the year came in mid November when Derek informed us he had been hired by Halliburton for a very nice salary (close to six figures). If you’d like to send a card to Derek congratulating him, please send me an e-mail (jon@mossfam.net) and I’ll send you his mailing address, as I know most of you won’t be able to attend the graduation ceremonies.

We learned this week that Rachelle earned a retro-active scholarship for this school year (2010/2011) which allows her to attend UNT at the in-school tuition rate. She’s being reimbursed for the out-of-state tuition she paid in August.

As with most years, 2010 had it’s ups and downs, and it’s sideways diversions, but we survived, we thrived, we lived and we loved. And with God’s Grace, we will see many more to come.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Jon and Terry Moss

And the angel said unto them,
Fear not; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
— Recitative (Soprano), Handel’s Messiah

A hard copy of the above will be included with our annual Christmas card mailing to family and friends.

And if you’ve made it this far down on this post, why not take a couple more seconds (or minutes) to vote on my unHoliday decorations poll? 🙂

unHoliday Decorations

I returned to work this morning to this lovely creation in the elevator lobby. Is it just me, or does this creations seem to celebrate autumn, rather than a traditional holiday occurring within a few days of the winter solstice?

Happy unHolidays?!?!

November 30, 2010

Post-Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

Before falling asleep Thanksgiving evening, I remembered to turn off my weekday alarm on my cell phone. When Terry and I finally woke up, we discovered a house transformed (see photo to the left). Being gracious guests, we refrained from comment and chortles.

Rachelle cooked her dad an egg-white, ham and cheese omelet and I sampled her beer biscuits. Derek and Royna fell asleep on the couch so they woke up after we ate and came along with us for a short ‘painless’ shopping spree on ‘Black Friday.’

Our first store was Rachelle’s old employer, Ross, where I found a new purse and wallet, an electric razor for Terry and some reasonably priced extra virgin olive oil for Rachelle. I had a thirty percent off in store coupon for Barnes & Noble, so we trekked all the way across the Golden Triangle Mall. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the appropriate gift I wanted to use the coupon for, but I did spy a newer version of the Lightwedge that’s now rechargeable and thinner and lighter. Oh, well.

Next, we stopped at Hobby Lobby pricing small air compressors for Derek (a requested Chrismtas gift wish list item). The prices were mind boggling, so that item will be bought online. Rachelle prowled around for fabric paints and aprons for a Christmas gift idea. She was disappointed in the selection and variety of fabric paints so we eventually made it to Michaels near Bed, Bath and Beyond, where Terry and I found our next hopefully dog-proof stainless steel trash can (no, we didn’t buy it and haul it back here to Kansas from Texas; we’ll buy it at our own local BB&B).

By then, the morning had melted away so we stopped at Paulio’s Pizza Cafe for lunch. We ordered the King and Hawaiian Sunrise (my favorite pizza bar none!). After lunch, we returned to Kent’s ‘Redskins Christmas Extravaganza’ where he and his significant other spent the rest of the daylight putting up the exterior decorations. After Nic returned from work (and Derek and Royna returned to Plano), all four of us (Terry, Nic, Rachelle and I) spent the evening wasting time playing Peggle on the Xbox 360 in the spare bedroom. Rachelle and Nic left ‘early’ to create spring rolls for tailgating on Saturday but Terry and I toughed it out and made it to the credits by 1:00 a.m.

After a quick and meager breakfast of English muffins and almost oversleeping (one o’clock in the morning is way way way past my bedtime), we joined Kent and several others for tailgating on the University of North Texas campus in a parking lot near Fouts Field stadium. This football game was the last ever to be played in the old stadium since the new stadium on the other (south) side of I-35 will open next spring.

Can you guess who was invited to play against the UNT ‘Mean Green’ Eagles? Oh, the irony! The Kansas State Wildcats! Quite funny, if you think about it. Here’s our daughter, sporting her green UNT T-shirt (the girl on the left with short blond hair and white framed sunglasses) prior to the flood of purple pouring down from the north. You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day for an outdoor party and a final college football game for UNT, providing a great game but ultimately a victory for the Wildcats.

We returned to the house, Terry took a nap, and I read a book while everyone else watched several college football games (sometimes simultaneously) on Kent’s amazing LED HD 3D television.

Sunday morning, Terry and I quickly packed the Bonneville and headed north, pushed relentlessly home by another stiff wind. Our gas mileage on the routine trip was nothing short of miraculous. We stopped in Wichita for a couple of hours to visited some old friends but still made it home before seven o’clock.

Monday I relaxed and recovered from all the driving and almost finished the latest Wheel of Time novel published last month. I’m within one hundred pages of finishing The Towers of Midnight. Terry and I went to pickup the Rotts from the kennel around noon, but the groomer hadn’t given them a bath yet, so we went back at two o’clock for some squeaky clean excited Rottweilers.

What a great time we all had, including Roxy and Apollo. Just wish there had been more time to spend with everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving from North Texas

Terry and I drove five hundred miles in record time against a stiff south headwind yesterday to visit our offspring and their significant others. Even though we left over an hour later than I had planned, we arrived in Denton before the sun set and to a balmy 84 degrees. We were so early, Rachelle and I had time to make our first of three trips to the largest Kroger store in Texas (just five minutes away from her residence).

After Terry and I retired to the spare bedroom, Kent (Rachelle’s landlord/homeowner) decided to decorate for Christmas. We woke up to Christmas a la Redskins (I’ll let Rachelle explain that one to you. Or, if you’ve seen the DirecTV commercial about Cowboys and Redskins fans, you’ll have some idea of what I’m talking about). I forgot to reset my cell phone alarm, so I was up by five o’clock since it’s technically a weekday.

I only had to make two more trips to Kroger before I got the turkey in the oven. This year Derek had requested a ham instead of turkey, so I also had to juggle warming up a sprial cut ham with the usual side dishes and the family tradition of sticky buns. Derek and Royna arrived from Plano just shortly after noon, as the turkey was cooling and the ham was in the oven. Everything turned out well and we all sat down for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Everyone pitched in to clean up and we soon had the kitchen back to normal and sat down to enjoy Toy Story 3 on Kent’s amazing Samsung LED HD 3D sixty inch television.

Here’s hoping all of you are having as great a family gathering as we’re having here in chilly north Texas this Thanksgiving.

Giving Thanks Early

God is good! All the time!

Twenty Years Ago ... the Moss Family — The Moss Family ~ Jon, Rachelle, Terry & Derek (1990)

Just a couple of months ago, I had a hard time counting my blessings as I’d been taught. Striving to praise Him during the storms, instead of just when the sun shines, so to speak.

Now, just a handful of weaks later, my cup overflows, my heart is bursting with joy and pride and my blessings seem as uncountable as the stars.

Yesterday, while I was shutting down and packing up to return home from work, I received a jubilant call from my son. He’s currently wrapping up his college at SMU’s Guildhall in Plano, Texas. The reason for the call? He’d accepted an offer from Haliburton for an astounding salary (which I won’t repeat here to protect the parties involved). As soon as I got off the phone with Derek, I spent the next few minutes bouncing off the walls and sharing the great news with my co-workers, who probably thought I’d lost my mind. Once my feet touched the ground again, I rushed down to the lobby to catch my vanpool ride home. I shared the news with them as well and phoned my dad during the commute home.

Once home, I told Terry, because Derek hadn’t called him yet. Later that evening, I received a call from my uncle and aunt in Virginia to congratulate and share in the good news. Overall, Tuesday ended on a very high note.

Today, I received even more good news from Rachelle‘s boyfriend. He also finally found employment in Denton, Texas, within just a mile or two of their house.

Derek marries Royna in July 2009 — Moss Family Addition ~ Derek, Royna, Rachelle & Terry (July 2009)

I’m so excited for all my offspring and would-be-offspring. Next week, when Terry and I head south to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with all of them (Derek & Royna and Rachelle & Nic), I plan to continue my continual prayer of thanksgiving with them.

One week to go before I can be reunited with my kids! Lord, let the days fly by and my heart overflow with Your peace and grace.

Amen!

Honoring All Who Served Veteran’s Day 11 November 2010

My family tree is full of veterans who served this great nation of ours. I can’t begin to list all of them, or even get their ranks and service times correct, since I don’t hold those records currently. My father is the genealogical guru at present for the family. Some day, I know, the torch will be passed to me, but I pray not any time soon.

My great-grandfather, Rev. John Hodge, served in the Army at Ft. Leavenworth in the 1920s (and probably the 1930s, but again, I’m not the expert on this information). I remember him as the pastor of the church I grew up in, the Easton United Methodist Church in Easton, Kansas.

Both of my paternal grandfathers served in the military. Daniel Dempsey, my father’s biological father, did, but I don’t remember what branch. I remember him as a bagpipe playing Shriner and all around musician and showman. My dad’s step-father, Ralph Andrea, served in the Army Air Corps during WWII and in the Air Force during the Korean War. He retired either as a Lt. Col. or a Col. I remember him as a fun grandpa hosting us for summer visits to St. Paul, Minnesota where he worked for 3M until he retired yet again.

My uncle (my dad’s brother) is a retired Air Force Colonel. He lives in Virginia, after a long stint in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He dabbles well in watercolors, writing and reading books I mooch, swap, trade and bargain buy for him like mini-Christmas gifts year round. One of his authorial projects include stories his dad told him of his war and military experiences. Someday, I hope to be an alpha reader for that project.

A couple of my mother’s brothers were Marines and one or two of my cousins (from among her five brothers and sisters’ offspring) also joined the military.

For many months I carpooled with a veteran of the Army, whose wife is also a veteran. Many of my fellow church members are either active and/or retired military, veterans one and all.

I even thought of joining the Air Force when I turned eighteen; my dream to be a fighter pilot. Sadly, that was impossible in 1982, since women were forbidden combat. My hat’s off to the women who blazed the trail without me.

My whole heart, my whole being thanks each and every veteran, whether I’ve met them or not. Your service is unequaled, your courage unmatched.

Sunset, Sunrise, New Moon, Old Stars

With the return to normal time (sans daylight savings time), the commute home last night included a typical Midwestern autumn sunset. Clear blue orange sky streaked with white vapor trails of the jets filled with people from the coasts who hop over the Heart of America and rarely pause to visit. I kept my eye out for the waxing moon’s sliver, since the new moon occurred around midnight Saturday. After the sun set I finally spied it, much higher in the sky than I anticipated.

Terry had dinner nearly ready when I returned from my errand to WalMart where I invested more money in Hallmark than I do the rest of the year combined. Terry had prepared pan friend pork chops with some glazed carrots that were yummy. I ate my sourdough as an appetizer, although three slices may have been a bit much. We retired to the great room to watch the new episode of House, after which Terry entered his food coma and I read myself to a similar somnolent state.

When I woke up this morning, I realized I had forgotten to contact my father, who was on the road to Virginia. My uncle had remembered to call his brother last night and confirmed he’d finally stopped forging east in Coventry, Virginia, only about three hours shy of their home. I call him this morning during my commute to work and we chatted for a few minutes as he once again headed east into the sunrise over the mountains in Virginia. I used the same sunrise to continue reading until the van arrived at work.

Another aspect of the change in time, I don’t see as many stars when I leave the house in the morning. By 6:15, the eastern sky is already a pale yellow, and I can barely see Sirius or the stars in Orion’s Belt. Some stratus clouds were also interfering with stargazing this morning.

Restaurant Review: Nick & Jakes (Parkville)

It’s Friday night and the typical ping-pong Q&A you expect from a 20 plus year married couple trying to decide where to eat out. I routinely attempt to defer to Terry, since his stomach and diet limit our choices some evenings. He was craving a steak and none of the local Leavenworth haunts sounded appealing. Nor did anything at the Legends, which on a Friday night at six o’clock is a frightening experience, especially when looking for a parking spot.

Terry and I occasionally watch KCPT‘s Check Please and recently watched the episode featuring Nick & Jakes in Parkville. We jumped in the car, and enjoyed a sunset drive down K-5, I-435 and MO-45 in the Bonneville, which has new quieter and grippier tires and full synthetic motor oil (again thanks to Terry who took care of all that car maintenance earlier in the week). Once we arrived, we easily found a nearly front-row parking spot. The wait, however, we were informed was at least forty minutes and they were out of pagers. We weren’t in any hurry (knowing that Friday nights can be crowded) so we stood in the foyer. Within five minutes, we had a pager, and we were seated in less than twenty minutes.

Our waitress greeted us and asked if we’d every been to Nick & Jake’s before. We hadn’t, so she cheerfully informed us of the amenities and specials available for dinner that evening. I chose one of the specials, a grilled king salmon with a walnut crunch topping and bourbon maple drizzle, with grilled asparagus and a salted baked potato (as opposed to the steamed potato most often served in restaurants). I substituted the potato in for the sweet potato and apple casserole, as I don’t like either sweet potatoes nor baked apples. Terry ordered the sixteen ounce rib-eye steak (medium rare) , also with a salted baked potato. For an appetizer, we ordered the Irish nachos.

Terry enjoyed the appetizer, which was comprised of thinly sliced potatoes (fried like slithly thick potato chips the size of a potato), smother in jack and cheddar cheese (melted) and bacon with a ranch dipping sauce. I tried a few of the chips with the least cheese (if you know me at all, you know I don’t voluntarily eat most dairy products, especially cheese). We took half the appetizer home with us, as we didn’t want to spoil our appetites for the main course.

I asked for (and received) margarine with my baked potato (harder to come by than you might think) . Yes, more of that dairy aversion syndrome I suffer from. Our main dishes arrived in a timely manner and were presented pleasantly and appealingly on the square white plate.

My first bite of salmon amazed me. Quite possibly the best salmon I have ever eaten. Simply astounding. The asparagus was crisp and flavorful, although slightly larger than I normally prefer to eat it; still excellently prepared and presented. I saved the potato for last, making sure I savored all the salmon and asparagus before dabbling in starch. Terry was proud of me for ignoring

Terry proclaimed the rib-eye the best prepared and tenderest steak he’d ever eaten. I had a couple of bits of the steak and it was delectable.

One final serendipitous perk awaited us, when the waitress informed us desert was on the house for first time guests. Although I desparately wanted to try the chocolate cake, I deferred to Terry’s preference of carrot cake, which we took home to try later. Each of us tasted a bite when we arrived safely home.

We will definitely be returning to Nick & Jakes in the future, perhaps to try their Sunday brunch (next weekend – Sunday – is Terry’s birthday so be sure to wish him well!).

To ensure Terry took his after dinner nap (aka a food coma), I stacked some wood in the fireplace and lit the first fire of Fall 2010 in the Moss residence corner fireplace.

First Friday Fringe

This weekend and next are the final rounds of the 2010 Formula One season. Terry will be watching one of the practices live at home today since Brazil is nearly in our time zone (only two hours ahead of us). Next weekend will wrap up what has been another competitive driver and constructor championship with the last round in Abu Dhabi. I’ll be content to watch them on the reply when I burn the GPs to DVD from the DVR sometime in the next few weeks.

LunchReadingSouthPlazaView — Lunch time view South Plaza early Nov 2010

Since I no longer have any science fiction television to look forward to on Friday nights, I’ll continue reading Blackout by Connie Willis. I’m about half done with it and I have All Clear, the sequel, waiting to pick up as soon as I finish Blackout. Only about twelve hundred pages total between the two and not as heavy as the tome I read in September by Brandon Sanderson: The Way of Kings.

I’ve accumulated over two hundred points over the past couple of years by giving away books via BookMooch, yet because I read fantasy and occasionally science fiction, I’m not finding many books to mooch from others. Yet I still need to divest myself of some more books (hardcovers mostly). So I think I’ll branch out to another swap site, a division of one of my favorite reading and reviewing web sites, the GoodReads swap. That’s my first project for Saturday morning, to prep and post about a half dozen hardcovers via GoodReads swap.

The second task for Saturday morning involves wrestling the Rotts into the car and heading to the vet for some pre-boarding shots. In a couple of weeks, Terry and I will travel south to visit our kids in north Texas for Thanksgiving. Roxy and Apollo will remain behind and make new friends at Deb’s Riverview Kennel. On the way back, weather permitting, we might let them roam free at the Waggin’ Tails Dog Park for a half hour or so.

Once back home, I should probably make a few loaves of bread, for Terry and for my dad. Most likely I’ll make a Rustic Sourdough (dough in the bread machine, but shaped and baked in conventional oven) as well as Honey Wheat and White Sandwich loaves. He’s traveling next week to Virginia for a mini-family reunion at his brother’s home. My aunt from Ohio will also attend. My dad and his brother were born on November 17 and 18 almost exactly four years apart and my aunt was born on November 29 so they’ll be having mutual birthday celebrations. I hope to send a loaf or two with dad for them to enjoy.

In addition to their birthdays, I’ll swing by WalMart and pick up a gift card and birthday card for my daughter-in-law’s birthday, which is the 12th. Terry’s birthday is on the 14th, but at least he’s not leaving town on me. For a birthday present to him, we may go see Mannheim Steamroller in Topeka that weekend.

It’s a new moon tonight so I’ll probably get the telescope out tonight and tomorrow night for some viewing. I might even venture out into the county looking for a nice dark spot away from all the light pollution of Lansing (and the prison that’s only two blocks north of my house with all it’s blazing orange halogen lights) and Kansas City. I should probably dig out some light gloves though since the evening and night temperatures have been dropping down into the 30s most of this week.

Sunday morning I’ll be substituting for the accompanist at Southern Heights UMC during worship, which is also communion Sunday (being the first Sunday of the month) so I’ll be playing a bit more than a normal service. But the choir took the weekend off and the special music doesn’t require an accompanist. All in all, should be a fun hour well spent.

Sunday afternoon will be for relaxing, reading or watching movies. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Fifth Saturday Wrapup

Funny how things snowball once you get rolling. I had no idea when I woke up this morning at 5:45 a.m. that I would accomplish so much today. I had hopes of a quiet day at home, cleaning off the DVR and actually started on this endeavor before getting sidetracked.

I watched the Smithsonian Channel’s Aerial America Vermont episode, wishing I could visit, especially during autumn. That state has more than it’s fair share of spectacular scenery and vibrant foliage. By the time I was nearing the end of that episode, Terry had woken up and mumbled something about an omelet.

I got up to brew some cranberry tea and remembered I had recently purchased a cranberry scones mix from the Queen’s Pantry. So, I quickly whipped up the scones mix and preheated the oven. While they were baking, I decided to continue stacking firewood my dad had helped deliver earlier in the week.

Once the scones finished, I sat down for a proper British breakfast and surveyed the new Sherlock Holmes airing from BBC via PBS and Masterpiece Mystery. Fun and updated for our times, with only a slightly annoying soundtrack. I’m looking forward to the other two episodes (tomorrow night and a week from tomorrow). It’s a pity the BBC could only afford three episodes for this new series … it looks promising.

I packaged up a couple of books to send to BookMoochers, one in California and the other in South Carolina. While waiting in line at the post office, I ran into an old friend, which made the long wait pass quickly while catching up with kids news, etc.

I spent way too much at the grocery store today, but did save ninety cents on gasoline and filled up both Pontiacs with premium for only $1.899 per gallon. I got back home with the groceries (second trip) and finished stacking the firewood. Then we made a trip to O’Reilly’s because they have a sale on gallons of Mobil One synthetic motor oil. We bought enough to change the oil in both cars.

Once back home, we determined we needed to recycle all the oil we’d accumulated and stored in the garage when the kids lived here and we had four vehicles to maintain. We transferred the used oil to a couple of containers without making too much of a mess on the garage floor. Then we packed up the dogs, planning to stop at the dog park on the way back from O’Reilly’s.

With all the walking, stacking, grocery toting (including the forty pound bag of dog food) and oil purchasing (four gallons) and recycling (five or six gallons), I’m already started to stiffen up and feel the aches and soreness setting in. I’ll definitely be soaking in the hot tub before retiring tonight.

Terry and I enjoyed home-made pizza for dinner and will relax to the hilarious Halloween hijinks of Right Between the Ears live from Liberty Hall in Lawrence via KANU in just a few minutes.

Not bad for the fifth and final Saturday of October 2010.