Our Youth

 Last night, our church hosted the Top O' Texas Baptist Associational meeting.  People from about 17 different churches were here at First Baptist Church Groom for the Sunday evening meeting and meal.  Andy made an announcement this Sunday morning that he was hoping some of our people could come about 30 minutes early and be available to direct people to bathrooms, help them find seats, or just give them directions to the activity center for the meal after the meeting.  That was just in a little information blurb after the morning service.  We were overwhelmed by the response.  First of all, you have to understand that it's generally senior adults who attend these associational meetings.  But we had probably a dozen young people show up 30 minutes early and also many of our adults.  Andy quickly gave them instruction and they began handing out bulletins, greeting, giving instructions, giving up their seats for others (and sitting or standing at the back of the church), and just generally being helpful.

Youth intermingled with our adults at the back of the church.

Youth in leadership at our church.

I don't know if you've been around many young people lately, but it's so hard getting them to interact with adults.  Not these guys!!  I've never been so proud in all my life!!  Andy divided these guys up by twos and placed them all over the church after the service.  Two-by-two they were standing at various places in our church to give directions, welcome our guests, and just be helpful.  AND THEY DID!  These young people were looking senior adults in the eye, shaking their hands and welcoming them to FBC Groom.  I was amazed.  Not only did they greet others, but they stood back and waited to make sure we were going to have enough food and seats for our guests and were some of the last people served.  (We had more people come than expected!)  And because we knew during the service that we had more people than expected, some of our young men helped us set up more tables and ran with me to my house to get more chairs.  They stepped up to the plate.  I knew these guys were great, but I've never seen a group of youth shine like these did last night!  I was so proud.

And then last night and today, we've heard nothing but praises for their excellence in serving and greeting.  We've made a bunch of Baptists jealous over our youth group.  We didn't set out to do that, but we just can't help ourselves.  ;)

Tour of Groom

I know most of you will never get to come to Groom to visit us.  So I wanted to give you a little tour of our new town.   

Of course, we are well-known for our 19-story cross.  If you've driven down I-40, you've probably seen it.  You can read all about it here.  It is well worth the visit--and don't miss the gift shop on the premises!  Come on a nice day so you can spend some time there.

The Grill! The Grill is one of two restaurants in town and has home cooked meals.  I haven't eaten anything there yet that I didn't love!  Be prepared to talk to the friendly locals if you visit.

This is downtown.   The thing that impressed me about Groom when I first came here was how well-kept the town is.  It's obvious our people take pride in it!

Groom S&H Grocery is owned by Charlene.  She does an amazing job---look at everything she offers here! (This is only a small portion) I knew it would be a small grocery store, but it's really remarkable...well-stocked and well-priced.  She also makes her own German sausage, banana bread, jellies, salsa, cinnamon rolls....amazing!  

Across the street from the grocery store is the Groom News.  It's a weekly newspaper and our owner/editor does a great job!

If you follow my blog, you may remember me talking about how quiet the town is--no loud traffic and you seldom hear a siren (I haven't heard one yet!).  That was before I heard the noises coming from the grain elevators!  (My cousins will be laughing at me!)  But I guess it doesn't happen often...at least at this time of year.

One of my new favorite stores--Little Bit of Everything.  And it truly has a little bit of everything!  You can even see what they carry on their Facebook page.  And if you know Jill Babcock, this is Jill & her kids leaving the store.  (She called me later wanting to know why I was taking pictures.  Ha--I got caught!!)  Hi, Jill!!

 This is the Groom post office.  I often forget to go pick up my mail.

This is the local public library connected to the fire/ambulance station.  My friend, Tina, is the local librarian.

The four churches in town (Left to right, top to bottom):  First Baptist Church (11 a.m. Sunday service ), Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, United Methodist Church, Church of Christ.

The Groom Schools--Kindergarten through High School.  We are the Groom Tigers and our colors are red and black!

The Dairy Queen--the other restaurant in town!  It's located off one of our exits next to the motel.  The DQ has the friendliest staff!

This is one of my favorite sites--the Justice of the Peace.  Wouldn't this be a great place if you were wanting to elope?   The stuff movies are made of!

I wanted my friends and family who may never get to come to Groom to see where we live.  But...I hope I've made you want to come!  It's a great place to visit!  

Empty Nesters on the Move!

My children have only known one house where their grandparents have lived.  Both sets.  My grandchildren have known 4 houses where we have lived!  Of course, most were too young to even remember two of those houses, but we've now lived in 4 houses since we've had grandchildren.  There was one house in particular where most of their memories were made with us.

This house.

But we moved.  And we're not alone.  I don't know if God is doing a new thing...but there are lots of people (even among our acquaintances, friends & family) who are giving up their houses which echo with memories...for a new life.  And we're among them.

Where the generation before us has chosen to stay in one home and build memories, our generation seems to be on the move.  Some, like us, are following new jobs, but most seem to be chasing after relationship with those grandkids!  After all, memories are in our hearts and not just wrapped up in a place. 

I don't pretend to know what God is doing.  But He sure seems to be ShAkiNg ThIngS uP!

Life's Adjustments

Yesterday, we finished our move to Groom.  YEA!!  We're so ready to be "all here" and get involved in our new community.  I won't lie...the journey has been difficult at times.  There are so many adjustments to make.  For instance, I couldn't even sleep the first week I was here--it was too quiet!  Yep...you heard me right....too quiet!  No traffic, no sirens...nothing but peace and quiet.  It's an adjustment I think I'll make quite easily, but it's an adjustment.  And did I tell you how bright the stars are in Groom??  AND...we're in the geese flight pattern!  It's amazing to hear a flock fly by honking!

We went to Borger yesterday and moved everything out of our storage unit and Andy swept it out.  Done!

The parsonage has a small basement.  I decided it was the perfect place to put our boxes of decorations so I could go through it at leisure and put things where they go.

We're so grateful for these shelving units!  When I worked at Living Water, I had to order some for that ministry.  So while I was at it, we bought some for ourselves.  They hold a LOT!  And even though it looks nice and neat, each box represents work.

These are boxes I have to go through--I still haven't found my coffee pot.

And more dishes to put up.

And trying to figure out if these curtains are washable.  Ugh.  So much stuff to wash to get rid of dust!

And pictures to hang!!  I have nothing on my walls yet. 

Even though Andy & I are very excited to be in Groom, it's been tough to leave Borger--a place where we've lived for 25 years--and where our kids grew up.  (I'm so grateful for the deep friendships we have there.  The good news is, we only live 40 minutes from Borger and can see our friends often!) God so gently and very sweetly told me one day as I sat in my new living room that I would soon be making new memories in our new home.  And wah-lah!  Within a few days, my whole family was here and we celebrated New Year's Eve together.  I didn't realize at the time how significant that was.  A new place, new memories, new ministry--on the crest of a new year.  God is so faithful!

It's been a year since Andy & I lived alone.  So we're adjusting to being alone again.  At the beginning of 2013, our daughter-in-law and two granddaughters moved in with us while Matt worked on their home.  What a sweet time--building memories with those two girls!  Priceless!  And then in March, we sold our home to our son, David & his wife, Lindsey.  So as Lisa and the girls moved out, David & Lindsey moved in and we moved to the basement and lived with our kids until we knew what we were doing.  That took 9 months...long enough to birth a new ministry.  And again, we built memories with that family.  It's a time I will always cherish.  It was much harder to leave them than I ever imagined.  

Change can be difficult.  But living things change and grow.  The thought that keeps going through my mind is that I could have gone my whole life and not known the people in Groom.  But my life is going to be richer because of friendships I've made/will make here.  And how exciting to get to heaven and already know the people from Groom!

Andy & I are making the adjustments.  It's been an emotional roller coaster and we're being stretched.  But God has transplanted us and I'm a girl who loves roots--deep roots.  And I'm believing God has put us in fertile soil where those roots will spread, go down deep, and grow.  I can't wait to live this new life!  

(And I keep seeing people driving golf carts in Groom!  I WANT ONE!)

The New Year with Family

Jay & Amy decided to come see us in Groom and spend a few days.  We were so excited!  It's been so amazing to have our kids involved in our move and wanting to check out our new home--it's helped the transition and just given us a big "hug" in the process.

So last Saturday, we had some great help from family and new friends and went to the storage building in Borger to move our (HEAVY) furniture.  

The Bowens

We didn't even have a place for people to sit at our house--much less sleep there!  We couldn't have made the move without the help of Matt, the Bowens & the Langfords--what a sacrifice!!

When the Wright family got here, we gave them the tour of Groom and went to the gift shop at the cross.  It was my first time there as well and we were all very impressed.  They are standing in front of the frozen fountain here.

It was too cold to spend time outside, but we caught this quick photo!

And we made our way to Dairy Queen--one of the two restaurants in Groom.  Olivia especially liked the ice cream--with her fries.

I've always kept lots of dress-up clothes for the grandkids and we FOUND THAT BOX!  I think Olivia probably changed clothes 100 times while she was here.

On Tuesday, the rest of our family came over.  Addie & Olivia played dress-up together...

...while the boys watched The Lone Ranger.  (Dax, the two-year-old, wanted to come watch and these three warned me it was too violent for him.)  And it was obviously violent because the boys acted it out the rest of the afternoon.

The kids eating lunch.

Shanna tried to eat lunch and all of the munchkins attacked!

Gus riding in the car while keeping his left arm out the window the whole time.

Hadassah taking her baby on a ride.

Gus sitting with Aunt Lala and petting Betsy.

Me and my girls.

The guys taking it easy.

Dax got a "guitar" for Christmas from Uncle Jay & Aunt Mamy.  He took it out in the yard and sat down to play it.

The guys snitching cookies!

Four out of five of my granddaughters.  Caitlin was sick and didn't get to come.

What a great way to start a New Year--with family, in a new place ready to start new ministry.  I can't even begin to tell you how excited we are about Groom.  We already love the wonderful people here.  We are so ready to see what great things God will do in 2014!

The Accident

Our move was going so smooth a week ago today.  It was the last thing on the truck...our king-sized mattress.  Matt & Andy were getting it off the truck and Andy was backing it down on the ramp.  The wind caught the mattress and Andy fell off the ramp, hitting his head on the fence, his knee and hands on the ground, twisting his ankle.  I'd been taking pictures and had my back to them but heard everyone yelling.  By the time I turned around, Andy was telling everyone he was ok and was standing up.

That evening, we were pretty tired and hadn't been to the grocery store yet, so we went to The Grill here in Groom to eat supper.  When we got home, it was dark...and Andy tripped over a 1-2 inch rise on the sidewalk and began hopping around on the foot he'd hurt earlier.  He came into the house wanting to bite nails.  We immediately got ice to put on his ankle and I began looking for some Advil.  He was moaning and sweating and trying to find some relief.  My stomach was in knots.  We both knew it was broken...and we had no insurance.

I went over and laid my hand on his leg and prayed, asking God to heal Andy's ankle.  I went to our bedroom (across the house) and got my phone and texted my kids, asking them to pray for healing.  I then texted some friends who are prayer warriors and asked them to do the same.  I went back to Andy and he was already worried about preaching the next Sunday--he didn't think he'd be able to stand.  I got more ice and kept praying.  Friends were offering to get an inflatable cast for his ankle and we were trying to figure out how to meet to pick it up.

Within an hour, the pain was gone.  Completely gone.  And Andy was walking without a limp.  It never did swell or turn colors...unlike his hand.  The next day, we went to Amarillo to do hospital visits and some Christmas shopping.  Andy walked all day on that ankle and it never hurt.  (Andy never shops all day without his feet hurting but they never did that day.)

Of course, we never had an X-ray so we can't prove it was broken.  We can only go by the intense pain.  But even if it wasn't broken, God healed Andy completely...no pain and no residual effects.  We were amazed and wanted to share what great things God did that night!

Christmas

Christmas was so different for us this year.  We began our move to Groom, Tx on December 19.  We only moved the things we had with us in David & Lindsey's house.  The rest is in storage and will come later.  So we're living bare bones in the parsonage at this point--but we really wanted to be here sooner rather than later.  So...no Christmas decorations.  And I delivered all of my gifts to my mom's house in Pampa where we all planned to meet on Christmas day.

Zach & Shanna called us and told us they were coming on Christmas Eve to our candlelighting service.  They were going to surprise us, but they didn't know what time it started.  So they gave us a call and I was able to cook supper for them.  As we were dishing up food, Matt rang the doorbell and walked in the door!  We were definitely surprised!!

Shanna got a photo of all of us with the timer on her phone before we walked over to the church.  The parsonage is right next door to the church.

Dax with two balls he found to hold.

As we were getting seated, my mom, my sister and her family all walked in!  I was so surprised!

Teri Williams (Chris Coffman's sister) from Pampa also showed up!  She said Chris had told her he drove more than 30 minutes to his church...so she could drive to Groom.  Their grandmother helped build this church in Groom.  It's such a small world!

Before the service started, my brother, Gary and his wife, Amy, walked in--from Amarillo.  It was so special having my family with me on our first Christmas Eve in Groom.

The praise team did an amazing job.  We sang 4 Christmas carols together and then they sang, O Holy Night.  It was awesome! 

It was also my first time to play piano at our new church.  (Matt caught me in action)

Barbie Bowen read The Tale of Three Trees to the children.  Dax joined them on stage (his back is to me in this photo in the gray jacket)--holding two balls he'd been playing with.  He sat so still and really listened.  He told me what the story was about later.  "Trees...and Jesus."

Andy gave a gift to Garrett--a young man who is truly a servant in our church.  His message was that we have to receive the gift of Jesus in order to actually have Him.

And then we had the candlelighting.  Andy started with his one candle and it grew as each person passed the light until the church was full of light.  It was so special.  After the service and after we had hugged necks and wished everyone a "Merry Christmas", my family joined us at the parsonage.  Mom had cooked and brought supper for everyone and we sat on our few folding chairs and enjoyed one another.

This is the beautiful scenery we saw as we drove from Groom to Pampa on Christmas morning.  It was amazing!

 Mom's tree was loaded with gifts!

Dax found Granny's train and was perfectly content playing with it by himself.

Gus took a nap on Granny's water bed.  I think his mommy had to wake him up a couple of hours later to eat.  That bed has kept many a child asleep through the years!

We have a Sanders tradition of letting the kids open their gifts first and then going around the circle and opening gifts one at a time.  (It's a lengthy process!)  Ryan, Addie & Benjamin were elected to hand out the presents this year.

This was the first kid to open a gift.  Uncle Matt gave Dax this drum.  He immediately put it on and never took it off.  We asked him, "Dax, do you want to open another gift?"  "No," he said.

My mom is in the center of the photo.  She wins the trophy for the holiday!  She worked like a horse to cook for all of us and make the day so special!  (Although my sister contributed a lot!)  Andy's mom is to the right in the photo.  

Both my mother-in-law and Sandra's mother-in-law joined us and were a part of the day.

Addie wanted a Jesse doll for Christmas.  Her other grandmother got Addie the cowgirl hat.  What a perfect match!!  Ryan & Benjamin were playing hard all afternoon and I missed getting a photo of them.

My sister & I had recently hit the antique stores in Pampa.  I had admired these glasses (looked at them twice!) and told her I wanted to start collecting 1940-1950's drinking glasses.  She surprised me with these!!  I was so excited!

My mom got me this enamel covered cast iron pot.  I love it!  And it was so needed since my pots and pans are in storage.

David sent us all this photo  Christmas night.  Our last Christmas for our family to own 512 Crockett, Borger, TX.  He & Lindsey are selling the home to buy a farm between Borger & Fritch--which is their dream-come-true!  This house has served our family well for the past 21 years.  I love this house and it's so full of Dietz memories.  I'm hoping a sweet family fills it again.  

What a blessed Christmas...and how blessed I am.