It's A Wonderful Life

Am I the only person i the world who has never seen the movie, It's A Wonderful Life? It seems to be everyone's favorite Christmas movie, but my attention span doesn't usually allow for movies. But I'm living a wonderful ife so maybe that's why I have no desire to see the movie.



It's the time of year for reflection and evaluation so here's a look back in no particular order of priority...



The holiday season last year was very different at work. We had some very large orders in one department from November - February so we only got the usual paid holidays and not a full week like we're getting this year. Some were a tad disgruntled at not having time off but we all kept reminding ourselves of how fortunate we are to have a job. We got a breather after the facial tissue orders, but in May we started seeing large orders in plastic flatware. Overtime, again. And this time it lasted all summer. Do you have any idea how complicated it is to schedule production when 90% of your employee group has a cap on how much they can make in a month. Talk about disincentives to work! But we have jobs!!



In our family we were anticipating the birth of the 8th grandchild. At one point he was breech, but we prayed & prayed and then he wasn't breech!! Easter morning I talked to Laurie & she was getting her 5 children ready to go to church before she went to the hospital to have Harris. After five uneventful, fast birthings, we weren't anticipating any problems. HA! Harris wouldn't drop into the birth canal & contractions were squeezing him to death. A "splash&grab" C-section (less than 30 seconds start-to-finish) relieved his distress and he was fine immediately. Then Laurie lost 2/3 of her blood volume on the operating table but Dr. Crecelius is a great doctor and Jesus is THE Great Physician. Today both Harris & Laurie are doing great.

Katelee surprised us all by going out for cross-country running and doing well. (I think she takes her athletic abilities from me.) Tucker plays baseball and basketball and loves them both. Who knows which he'll gravitate toward! The Witt family went on a cruise in the spring and then on a familymission trip with 8 Days of Hope in November.

Carter was saved in July at Kids' Camp. His dad, Dewayne (an ordained deacon) had the privilege of baptizing him with many family/friends in attendance.

We were blessed to get together with extended family several times through the year to celebrate birthdays, holidays and other special events. When I say "extended" family, I mean all our girls' in-laws. Our joys and our challenges are shared by one and all. What a tremedous gift God has given us in the Witts, the Phillipses and the Tates.

This year has seen some "old" friendships reforged. I keep using the word blessing, but I just don't know how else to describe all these events. It has been a delight to get to know the grown-up versions of childhood friends.

There have been so many other blessings this year that I can't count them all. My Heavenly Father has blessed me beyond measure and far beyond what I deserve.

Middle of the Day Thoughts

Yesterday was a wonderful day. Bethellen came down from Horn Lake to get me and we went on to Nettleton to attend the celebration of Mr. Lester & Mrs. Gracie Weeks' 65th wedding anniversary. WOW!! Sixty-five years together! He's 89 and she's 87; they married when they were 24 and 22 respectively. As Peggy, their youngest daughter, said, "In those days Mama was an old maid." Well, she didn't stay an old maid and here they are 65 years later. Their 3 daughters did a wonderful job on the reception - decorations and food. And amazingly, they cooked lunch for an indeterminate number of people. There was fried chicken, bar-b-q chicken, meatballs, roast beef, all kinds of vegetables and all kinds of salads and desserts. While the food was very good, the fellowship was even better. I got to talk to many people that I haven't seen in years - people I went to church with, former teachers, friends of my mom & dad and so many more.

And I really enjoyed spending time with Bethellen. She's one of the friends I went all the way through school with, got in trouble with, laughed with, cried with and then separated from. Funny. We tell ourselves we'll be friends forever, then life happens and we move on. The blessing is that some of us have gotten together through Facebook, email and {gas} telephone. Oh, what fun!!

This morning we woke to light snow flurries and they have continued throughout the day. Did I mention that it's extremely cold and the Weather Channel alert for tomorrow predicts a wind chill of 3*. Can you say B-R-R-R-R? It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

I have the absolute best Sunday school class of older ladies. Last Saturday we had our Christmas party at Old West. You'll never meet a group that enjoys life more. There's always plenty of love and laughter and some pretty sneaky tricks. For one thing, how did everyone get such nice Dirty Santa gifts for just $5? Methinks someone spent more!

Our Christmas lunch at work will be Tuesday. Everyone always gets a nice gift and a nice gift card to Wal*Mart. We're hoping the nicest gift will be the decision to close the plant the week between Christmas and New Year's. It's been quite a few years since we've had a full week off and we'd all love that Christmas gift!! Our orders have slowed and we have some good stock, so as one of my employees said, "I'm just having a lot of faith this will happen."

Don't you think it's about time for a cup of hot chocolate?

By definition...

Accident: An unexpected and undesirable event, especially one that results in damage or harm; an unforeseen incident.

Yesterday business unit managers were "invited" to a big pow-wow (conference call) to discuss the increasing number of accidents at work. Believe you me, I don't want anyone getting hurt at work, or anywhere else for that matter. That's the very first consideration. But I especially don't like it when employees get hurt on my watch. But there seems to be some unreasonable expectations - we're supposed to foresee and correct any potential for an accident. If I were omniscient I can guarantee I wouldn't be working for a living. How am I supposed to perform this superhuman feat?

The last three incidents at work have been in the category of Slip/Trip/Fall. Two employees tripped over each other while rushing to the time clock. An employee was trying to unstop a toilet and slipped on a wet floor. Two employees were going to their work stations and one tripped over the other employee's cane. In all three cases, the potential was there for an accident, but how do you stop these accidents before they happen?

By definition, an accident is unexpected, undesireable, or unforeseen. If you asked the people involved in the incidents described above, all of them would tell you they did not plan the accident; nor did they want it to happen. So how do we eliminate accidents? Because, yes, as the responsible person at our facility I'm being held accountable and responsible. It's a huge stressor and burden.

So when I go back to work Monday staff will do a walk-through and try with all our human might to see the potentials for accidents. But if we correct every single possibility for an accident, we might as well close the doors and go home. What to do? What to do?

Can you hear the laughing and fussing and encouraging? And can you see me smiling? My 3 girls and oldest granddaughter and oldest grandson are having a craft-y morning here at our house. They saw some "picture frames" at the Mistletoe Merchant Event in Memphis earalier this month and decided they could do that very thing for very little money.

And now Laurie is making a white chicken pizza for lunch, along w/ some sort of chocolate/peanut butter concoction that's already making my mouth water. I hear Katelee outside hammering on sheetmetal and they're still discussing the pros and cons of certain colors and decorations for the frames.

We all spent a few minutes congratulating Molly on a job well-done. Scores are in for teachers in the Desoto County school system and Southaven Middle School 6th graders scored very high marks. Out of 54 6th grade teachers county-wide, all six of the 6th grade teachers from last year scored in the top ten. And Molly is #5 overall. Yea! Molly! See..what you do matters for a lifetime.

We'll eat lunch and all go our separate ways - Katey to a State game, Laurie to Ole Miss, Molly to her in-laws, Katelee & Tucker to a fall party and me to the BBC Fall Festival - but it's been a wonderful morning. It's been a blessing to have all my girls here.

It's usually a riot at the Phillips Phamility abode. When you have six children and you homeschool, they're always there to provide entertainment. Laurie posted this on fb today:

My 3yo daughter asked my 4yo son, "Marcus, you think I pretty?" My son replies,"I guess so." My daughter tilts her head a little, smiles, and begins to bat her eyelashes. "Ok, Marcus...NOW you think I pretty?" He says, "Yeah Marlee...you're real pretty!" (He was sincere!). When I find out who taught this little "move"... to my daughter, I'm going to hurt you. Then lock her in her room until she's 30.

Reminds me of the saying... She's payin' for her raisin'.

Yesterday was Katelee's 12th birthday. Gracious! We went over last night for a pizza/cake/ice cream supper for friends and family. She's growing up fast, as are all our kidlesttes. Before you know it, Harris (almost 7 months old) will be crawling, then walking; and I won't have a lap baby anymore. Hey, MOLLY!!!

All the negative things I anticipated happening today didn't. I told Terry this morning that he was being mean to make me go to work, but it didn't sway him. He brought me right on up to the end of the sidewalk and told me to get out. Well, actually he said, "OK, I love you; bye-bye; have a good day," all in one breath. It's not that I don't like to work; I do. But I've been coming to the same place for 29 years next Tuesday and a body gets tired of the sameness. Or maybe I'm just tired of dealing with folks who don't appear to be grateful for a job in this stinking economy. And besides, what would I do at home by myself all day, every day? I'd last 2 weeks, max!

On a brighter note, we had a wonderful, unusual, beautifuly worship experience yesterday at Belden. One of our members is from Central America and some of her family, not conversant in English, has been visiting Belden. Yesterday when Bro. Jim got up to preach, Margie went to the pulpit with him. Hmmmm..what's going on? She stood right up there with a microphone and translated the entire sermon. You could tell it was an effort for both of them, but it was beautiful and not distracting at all. One of the men told the congregation, through Margie, that he could really feel the presence of God in that place. He was very appreciative of the love and acceptance he felt from our congregation. Looks like we have a mission field closer than we knew as our area has a large population of Hispanics and Latin Americans.

It's hard to believe, but Katelee will be 12 years old tomorrow. Seems like only yesterday we were welcoming a tiny 3lb/12oz girl into our lives. Now she sings at church and school and has started running cross-country. I wonder if Katey feels any older?

It's been a while - about 2 years - since I've posted here. First was the move to xanga; then the move to Facebook. fb is the fast-food of networking, but I've felt the need lately to write in more detail about my daily life. A few friends and family might be interested enough to read occasionally, but that's okay.

A lot has happened in 2 years. Terry & I have another grandson - Harris. He's our miracle baby and his mommy is a walking miracle, too, after a harrowing Easter Sunday afternoon birth. We're thankful every day to have both of them with us. Another momentous event (2 of them, actually) is reconnecting with dear friends from high school. We got together in October '09 and again in October this year. We're going to make it a more regular meeting and try to include some others.

One more thing that has happened, and probably the reason I feel the need to post here, is the rapid decrease in my visual acuity. Over the last 2 years I've lost more peripheral and central vision. And recently there have been several times when everything has gone very dim. It won't surprise you if I say this is scary. A friend asked me recently how I kept from getting mad about going blind. As I told her, I got over mad a long time ago; I can still throw a fairly dismal pity party from time to time, but I'm not mad. I believe God is sovereign, working in all events through His directive will or His permissive will. Blindness didn't happen to me without His permission so I have to believe He has lessons for me to learn through this. No, it's not a pleasant process, and I pray I'll continue to learn the lessons God has for me. And I'll continue to post here occasionally to vent, to praise God and to record what I'm going through.

Truth is, God has graced me with so many wonderful blessings, that it's hard to be mad about one little inconvenience.