Lutheran Synod Assembly in Amarillo, TX

Bob and I went to the Lutheran Synod Assembly in Amarillo, TX this past weekend. Pastor Julio Cruz, his wife Maria and our intern Monica went with us as delegates of the Emanuel Lutheran Church. We flew to Amarillo on Friday. After lunch and a bit of shopping, (Maria forgot to bring a jacket and when we landed, it was 48 degrees!), we drove to the Civic Center for the registration and welcoming part of the assembly. There were close to 300 people from churches from Northern Texas and Northern Louisiana at the assembly. We had dinner at the Civic Center on Friday night. The assembly started bright and early -- 8:00 a.m. on Saturday. There was a worship service, mission moments, Bible studies, and voting on church issues and voting for the officers of the synod. We had classes we could attend in the afternoon. Bob and I took a break to go see Cadillac Ranch. There was a western dinner at the Civic Center on Saturday night. We were told ahead of time to bring our cowboy/cowgirl hats and boots. I have a red cowgirl hat that Zach gave me to wear at my Red Hat outings, so I wore that. This morning, we went for the business part -- more voting -- of the assembly. Then, the five of us left to go see Palo Duro Canyon. This was the best part of the trip! You can see my Shutterfly photos at: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EbMmLJq3aKLQw

"Life"

"Life"

A Tribute to Cavan Scott Tubbs by Linda Tubbs Moody

My Son, Cavan Scott Tubbs, was a man who loved life and lived it to the fullest. He was passionate about the ones he loved, his parents, wife, family and friends. Cavan had a passion for any sport that gave him a rush like snowboarding, water skiing, bungee jumping and above all else, motorcycles.

At the age of fourteen, I watched Cavan buy his first motorcycle for fifteen dollars. The motorcycle didn't run, but Cavan took it apart and put it back together again. The motorcycle worked so well that he sold it for $250.00 Cavan was quite an entrepreneur and was able to use his skills to make money.

At the age of twenty-seven, Cavan built a racing motorcycle and joined his friends racing on a motorcycle track. On November 6, 2005, Cavan joined his friend Dale and drove to Jennings, Forida for a practice run, using Cavan's custom-made racing motorcycle.

According to Dale, both he and Cavan were attempting to pass a group of racers. Dale made it around the group but Cavan was nowhere to be seen. Dale went back to search for Cavan and could not find him. Dale contacted the officials who found Cavan "deep in the woods" that surrounded the track, lying on the ground with his motorcycle close by.

Life Flight was contacted and flew Cavan to Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. Family and friends joined me to support him. After a long night at the hospital, the doctor met to inform us that Cavan no longer had brain activity and was considered dead.

Lifequest, an organ -donor group was contacted as Cavan was an organ donor. Cavan's liver, kidneys and pancreas were able to be used to give life to three other people in need.

After a year, I sent correspondence to three recipients. Two who responded were Michael and DeWayne who received Cavan's organs. On January 10, 2010, I was able to meet them in Gainesville, Florida. It was a consensus of opinion of all, that Cavan was present in our meeting.

Cavan lived life to the fullest and upon his death gave the hope of life to three needy people who were able to receive his organs. May Cavan live on through these men and in some way continue his legacy.

I want to thank my sister for painting the picture of Cavan, DeWayne, Michael and me to submit to the National Learning Congress Gallery of Hope 2010. I also want to thank my dad, Rollin Smith, my sister-in-law, Chris Smith and Jeanette Laury for helping me write the 400-word description that will be submitted with the painting. And, I want to thank my friend Mary Kulpon for suggesting that we name the painting, "Life", which I thought was so appropriate.

Weekend with My Friend Jeanette

My friend Jeanette Laury who lives in Atlanta flew to Dallas on Friday to spend the weekend with us. I met Jeanette around 1983 in Broken Arrow, OK when we both lived there and our boys played soccer together. We have stayed close friends every since. On Friday, Bob went with me to pick up Jeanette from the airport. I think Bob was afraid that I'd get lost. I love having a considerate husband who chauffeurs me around! After we dropped off her luggage at our apartment, I took her across the street to West Village where we had lunch at Taco Diner and shopped 'til we dropped. We both LOVE to shop! And Dallas is the place to do that! The three of us went to Frisco for dinner at Lochrann's. My friend Allegra Calkins was celebrating her 40th birthday there. We listened to three of the Mysterious Ways band's music, then left for home. We decided that we are too old for that LOUD music!

On Saturday, we were lazy most of the morning. Jeanette says she likes coming to our house so she can get lots of rest and relaxation. Bob and I are big on R&R! After running a few errands that afternoon, Jeanette made us dinner. She told us that the recipe came with her electric bill. It was a crockpot dinner made with corn, chicken, taco seasoning, salsa and black beans. It was yummy! I was having a problem with a sore back, so Jeanette massaged it for me. She is a nurse at Emory Hospital in Atlanta. Well, I found out that the soreness wasn't really my back, but the piriformis muscle in my butt! It is much better now.

After church on Sunday, we took Jeanette to Plano to meet a girlfriend of hers from high school whom she had not seen in over 40 years. What FUN! We had lunch together. I love looking up "old" friends. Jeanette told us that she found her friend Peggy on Facebook. On the way back home, we stopped at the new outlet mall with the Nordstrom Rack store. More shopping! Jeanette made another wonderful dinner for us -- stir fry with tofu and Szechuan sauce.

Of course, she didn't leave before shopping at my own apartment with my jewelry. She picked out several pieces for herself and some to take back for her daughter-in-laws. I had to take Jeanette back to the airport at 2:30 p.m. I did get lost on the way, but thank goodness for the GPS, I got to the airport AND back home again! I miss her already, but we'll be together again soon.

Allegra Calkins 40th Birthday Party

My friend Jeanette Laury flew in from Atlanta on Friday to visit Bob and me for the weekend. On Friday night, we took her to Lochrann's for Allegra Calkin's 40th birthday party. I worked with Allegra at Project SEED for five years when we lived in Dallas from 1996 - 2001. The photo on the left are the SEED girls present at the party -- Kathryn Anderle, me, Party Girl Allegra Calkins, and Dennett Delzer. We had dinner, then Mysterious Ways, a U-2 Tribute Band played. Bob, Jeanette and I decided that we are too old for this LOUD music, so we had to leave after the first thee songs. Anyway, it was a FUN party!

Katy Trail

Last night was so warm and beautiful and I thought that Bob and I should get outside to do some walking. When I go during the daytime, I walk in areas that I know and mostly around West Village or to Albertson's or the Walmart Neighborhood Market. With Bob last night, I decided we needed to try a new route. We had driven down Blackburn Street (the street where we live) to the Oaklawn/Turtle Creek area before, but we had never walked it. I wanted to see how far we were from the Turtle Creek park and to take our walk there. About three blocks from our apartment, we saw a staircase that led to the Katy Trail. I didn't know we were so close to it! Bob and I walked the north end of the Katy Trail last June. We went up the staircase and decided to walk on the Katy Trail last night. It was so beautiful. Friends of the Katy Trail here in Dallas have remodeled it and lots of people are using the trail for walking, rollerblading, and biking. I learned recently that "KATY" stands for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad, or M-K-T or commonly referred to as "the K-T", which was its stock exchange symbol; this common designation soon evolved into "the Katy". I plan to walk on the Katy Trail more often now that I know it is only three blocks from our apartment. The photo is on the Katy Trail, called "Snyder's Union".

Gallery of Hope 2010

My sister Cindy is a terrific artist! She has wonderful talent of capturing portraits. She first made some portraits of her granddaughters and now she is making portraits for friends and family. I asked her to do a watercolor painting for me. In November of this year, there will be a National Learning Congress for families of organ donors and recipients in Grapevine, TX. I plan to go. And I hope that DeWayne & Michael, who are the recipients of Cavan's organs, will come to Dallas to go with me. There is to be a Gallery of Hope 2010 at the Learning Congress with original artwork done by family members of the donors and recipients. Since Cindy is a family member, she qualified to enter the contest. If I painted the same picture as this one, all of us would have looked exactly the same. I sent Cindy the photo that was taken of DeWayne, Michael and me in January when I met them for the first time in Florida. I told her that I wanted Cavan in the painting too. I think I have THE BEST SISTER IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!!

Trip to Kansas City

Bob and I took a trip to Liberty, MO to visit with his daughter Jenny and her husband Stephen. They bought a house last June that we hadn't seen yet. The house is in a nice neighborhood and it fits them well. Jenny is a biology professor at William-Jewell College. Stephen is a graphic artist. Jenny wanted to map some trails at Isley Park, so we took an afternoon and did a little nature hiking there. Jenny had a GPS to map the trails, but it didn't pick up a satellite signal, so she couldn't do any mapping. We enjoyed a long hike in the beautiful woods, however. The weather was in the 70's and so perfect to be outdoors. They took me to four bead stores and we also went to a couple of real record stores to hunt for a Leonard Skynard album that Bob was looking for. Bob's best friend was Steve Gaines when they were young boys in Miami, OK. On Sunday, we went to a KC Royals baseball game. We sat in the hot sun and we all came home with a little bit of sunburn. It was a wonderful weekend! If you would like to see photos, you can go to my Shutterfly website:

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=f93c1706874aaa7d&sid=8EbMmLJq3aKLPI

Easter & Corbin's Birthday

Bob and I had a wonderful weekend in Tulsa for Easter and Corbin's 34th birthday. We drove up on Friday and checked into the Hampton Inn hotel for the weekend. We had some dinner, then we went to Joy Lutheran Church for the Good Friday service. We had to get up early on Saturday to get to Caty's soccer game at 8 a.m. She did really well and scored a goal! The only goal that her team received. Then, we went to Carson's soccer game. The five-year-olds don't have goalies and they don't keep score. But, her team won, hands down! Bob and his brother Nick was to drive to Claremore to play golf, so I took Bob to Nick's house in Broken Arrow. I then drove to Redeemer Covenant Church for the egg hunt. I missed the hunt, but I did get a nice photo of the kids with their filled Easter baskets! Then, I met my friend Rhonda for lunch at P.F. Chang's at Utica Square. While I waited for her to arrive, I found some bargains at 40% off at the Ann Taylor store! Rhonda and I enjoyed getting caught up on each others lives. We do write emails now and then, but we had a good time looking at some photos and spending the time talking to each other. Her daughter Jaime had gotten married and I saw the pics she brought. After lunch, I went to a couple of bead stores in Tulsa. I then drove up to Nick & Sandra's. Thank goodness for the GPS in our new car! I usually have to drive on the city streets and to get from the northwestern part of Tulsa to the southeastern part of Broken Arrow, which only took me 20 minutes via the expressways. It would have taken me at least an hour on the city streets. The new expressways around the city have been built since Bob and I left Tulsa in 1996 and I'm not used to driving on them. Sandra and I had a little time to go to another bead store. I taught Sandra how to do the bead work, so she also enjoys looking at and thinking up projects for the beads. After I picked up Bob, we had just enough time to get cleaned up before meeting Corbin and his family at Joe's Crab Shack for his 34th birthday dinner. We all had a wonderful time and the kids enjoyed doing the Hokey-Pokey dance with their dad and watching him sprinkle "fairy dust" on everyone in the restaurant while we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Corbin!! The kids had a good time feeding the ducks on the pond too. We all had to get to bed early as Sunday morning came really fast. Bob and I met Corbin and his family at their church for the Easter service. After a yummy brunch with all of Christy's family at Corbin & Christy's beautiful home, Bob and I drove back home. What a wonderful and busy weekend with loved ones!