Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas Eve 2008


Dear Family and Friends,

(Pic at right is Duke Holiday, the Brown family's new English Bulldog that came as a surprise gift to Steve from Nikki and the boys for his Christmas gift this year.)

I am writing from the home of my daughter, Nikki, and husband, Steve, in the Nashville, Tennessee area.  Ted and I have been here since Sunday visiting with our grandsons, Steven, now 13, and Brendan, now 11.  Both boys have big Christmas plans, wishes and dreams.  It has been my Christmas joy to be with them and sit and visit, hear about what's going on in their lives and hear their dreams of the future. Steven is in 8th grade and Brendan in 6th grade.  It seems impossible that they should be this grown up already.

It has been very cold, windy and a heavy, driving rain fell off and on today.  Steve has built a big, blazing fire in the stone fireplace and Nikki and I made rich chocolate fudge together from an old family recipe after dinner.  Tomorrow we have a honey baked ham, homemade potato salad, a good casserole, hot rolls, and a chocolate cake, among other goodies to call our Christmas dinner.  We have played games and have a couple of good championships going on!

I know, deep within my heart, that we are blessed.  Being with family and dear friends is my fondest wish for Christmas and I celebrated my 66th birthday yesterday amid much festivities and planned activities here.  When I awoke yesterday morning, there were seven envelopes taped to my door, each with a different greeting and specific instructions about when to open them.  I celebrated all day and opened other gifts in the evening.  We also got to take part in a small "Christmas miracle" for a young man in the area.  He is a good teenager, who works hard to help his folks and he is getting a bright red pickup truck unbeknown to him for Christmas. His face will be one to see in the morning when he wakes up and goes outside.

I wish for each of you a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy and Blessed New Year.  For those who have lost loved ones this year, may your hearts find peace and rest and may 2009 bring renewed joy.  We, like so many of our dear friends, are waiting to hear from Texas Windstorm Insurance as to whether the rebuilding cost of our home will be covered.  If so, we have a busy year ahead of us rebuilding and getting settled back into our home on the beach in Port Bolivar.  Hurricane Ike took a lot of things from us, but he did not take our hope and our inner joy.  We still know that God is good and that He has a plan for our lives, as He does for yours.  

Merry Christmas, until the next page turns,
Brenda
Psalm 37:4



Monday, December 15, 2008

Monday, December 15, 2008 from Galveston Island

Hello family and friends, 

We, like almost everyone we know, are trying to finish up our Christmas shopping and sending since so many of our family members and friends live in different places.  Poor Ted has been to our local post office three times already and I believe that with today's shipments, we are finished getting our Christmas cheer into the mail.  May God bless each of you during these happy holidays.

We had snow in Galveston last week.  On Wednesday night, the large flakes started falling early in the evening and it was so beautiful coming down between our condo and the dark water of the Gulf.  Beaumont and some parts of Houston had up to three inches, which is just downright rare here in these parts.

Four or five of our Yahoo Group BolivarBLUE have December birthdays so we are throwing a big birthday party for Max Watson, Warren Adams, Terri Ward and myself on Saturday night to celebrate birthdays, not Christmas.  Jay Cowart, a former neighbor on the Peninsula, has just written to say his birthday is December 24th, his mom's December 23rd, and his son's December 26th.  My good friend, Ginger Bragg Doster, in Atlanta, celebrates on December 26th, so Happy Birthday to all of the December babies.  My baby daughter, Nicole, celebrated on December 2nd as well.

We've had some more disturbing news from Texas Windstorm Insurance.  The Agency had promised us "slabbers" that we would have a definite answer by the end of the year as to whether they were or were not going to pay on our claims for windstorm coverage on our homes.  They announced last week that the study group they had hired to determine this issue could not reach an agreement and that it would like be the end of January now before they would be able to make their decision known to homeowners.  It is so unfair and it seems so long to wait.  It has been over three months now since Hurricane Ike hit and it will be more than four months before they rule.  They have successfully evaded the 30-day rule for payment of claims by sending each of us certified letters (at $5.32 a pop) asking for something more. When you call to see what more they want, you are told, "Oh, not to worry.  Your file is complete.  We do not need anything else."  But with the letter, they have complied with their responsibility to respond.  It is an awful problem and one that takes the patience of Job.  So, please keep on praying for our situation.

Pam Hicks Gresham, a dear, old friend from Georgia, came up with a wonderful holiday plan for the ladies of Bolivar Peninsula who lost so much to the storm.  She has organized among her relatives and friends a collection of good, used, and some new jewelry, and is sharing those gifts with the ladies of the Peninsula.  Right after the first of the year, we are planning a get together where these gifts will be distributed to anyone from the Peninsula who wishes to participate.  If you'd like to have a part in this collection, please contact Pam at pamgresham@comcast.net and let her know your desires.  Pam wrote to say she doesn't see how we ladies get along without our "things."  Some days, she is more right than others!

As for now, Ted and I plan to travel to the Nashville area to be with Steve and Nikki and the boys, Steven and Brendan, for Christmas.  We plan to buy the boys each a young calf to tend and to grow.  We think it will help teach responsibility and it will also gain them some money toward college costs if we can keep this idea going for the balance of their high school years. We will also visit with Christine and David, Ted's daughter and husband, while there.

From Nashville, we'll head to Amarillo.  Ted must check on some rental property there and we will see Darrell, his son, and Michelle, his daughter in law, and their children, David and Rebecca, as well as visit with Nelda and George, Rick and Dutch, and others on this leg of the holiday trip.  Pray for us as we travel, please.

Take care and may God grant you a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed and Happy New Year.

Until the next page turns,
Brenda

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Happy Birthday, Nikki, my youngest daughter...Updates


Things are settling down into some sort of routine here now, although it is new and different for Ted and myself. We are living in a nice condo, The Dawn, at 7000 Seawall Blvd., on Galveston Island, just across the bay from the Bolivar Peninsula, where we call home.  We are still waiting, as our most of our friends and neighbors, on Texas Windstorm Insurance to decide whether or not they will be paying the value of our hard-earned policies.

Tuesday, Dec. 2 was Elena Nicole's (Nikki) birthday and she celebrated with her immediate family and friends at her home in the Nashville area after having to attend the funeral of a friend's grandmother in the afternoon.  She was grieving over turning 32 years old.  I can barely remember 32, but I do remember balking a bit at the decades' birthdays.  Her sister, DeAnna and I both sent flower arrangements and will take gifts when we go nearer Christmas, but there's really nothing like being with a person on his or her birthday.  I kind of dread Nikki's birthday some years because mine follows exactly three weeks to the day on the 23rd.  When either DeAnna, Brent or Nikki talk about how old they are getting to be, I ask, "What about me?  How do you think your age makes me feel?"  Truthfully, I feel great and I realize that I have some wonderful blessings in my life.  Happy Birthday, Nikki!

On Saturday, Nov. 29, BolivarBLUE, a Yahoo Internet Group that I founded, hosted a Thanksgiving Celebration for those on the Peninsula who were not going to be able to travel this year.  We originally planned for about 30 to 40 people, but the word got out and we ended up with some 135 people at the gathering.  It was wonderful!  We had to move the location to Coconuts, a nearly-ready-t0-open business housing four different entities on Bolivar, and it was certainly a good thing we did move the gathering.  It was overflowing.

Brent, (Dr. John Stancil), my son, who pastors Val Verde Baptist Church in Groves, in cooperation with Greg Rife, director of Restore Ministries, brought down two huge trailers of good canned food and bottled water and distributed it to the residents of Bolivar.  The water was a big blessing as it is very difficult to obtain on the Peninsula just now.  Everyone seemed grateful for the food and for the attention, and it was really a great day for all of us.  Our sincere thanks to all who participated to make the day so special.  There are 26 pictures of the event on the BolivarBLUE Group site.  

Should any of you who read the blog wish to check out the Yahoo Group site, just go to Yahoo Groups and click on BolivarBLUE.  The BLUE is an acronym for Beach Lovers United Effectively and we are having fun with this group as well as exchanging valuable information with each other about Hurricane Ike, Galveston County and the huge task of rebuilding our lives.  Please continue to pray that we will get a good word from our insurance claims.  So many are waiting on that to happen to continue to make plans to rebuild.

We had our septic system inspected yesterday, which is the very first step on the long road back to living on the Peninsula.  It passed, which is great news to us.  Now, we can file with the County, get a permit and get our electricity hooked to a new temporary pole.  It is really starting over from square one right now.

A dear friend of mine called from Beaumont and said the three magic words that I find difficult to resist.  She said, "I need you."  And then, she added the question, "Can you and Ted drive into Beaumont this morning?"  We did and I met with a board of trustees concerning a new Foundation being formed in memory of Todd Christopher, a local businessman who lost his battle with cancer at only age 57.  I am going to be serving as the publicist for this outstanding group of people.  

We also met Martha, Ted's sister, for an early dinner before returning to the Island.  How exciting!  I just found out that my sister-in-law, Connie Davis, just joined BolivarBLUE so she can keep up with what's going on in our lives here in Texas.  That's the beauty of blogs and groups — They help to keep folks connected even with miles between them.

The Foundation is hosting "An Evening of Hope," featuring Mitch Albom, the very successful author who wrote "Tuesdays with Morrie," "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and "For One More Day," his latest effort.  There will be a book signing, his speech to the crowd, and a dessert and champagne reception following the event.  I actually had to start working really hard again this morning, but it is fun, too.

Two exciting things happened today: I received my new Storm Blackberry phone/thing in the FEDEX delivery and DeAnna is furious with me because I got one before she did.  I don't know anything about it yet except how to answer it when it rings and how to place a call.  They tell me I will love it when I get the hang of it all.  Second thing is that the editor of the Galveston Daily News, the oldest newspaper in Texas, called me and is running a piece I did this weekend. So that is rather exciting in itself.

Please continue praying for the Peninsula residents who are facing rebuilding after the devastation of Ike.  When Brent and DeAnna, and others from the church group, drove down the main highway on the Peninsula, they were aghast at the debris and destruction they saw.  It is difficult to describe until you see it in person.

Oh, one other bit of really exciting news...One of my oldest and dearest friends in Georgia has had an idea that is just fabulous.  Pam Hicks Gresham just can't understand how women can function without their "things," and she has questioned me about the losses we have had.  She had an idea of collecting gently used jewelry from her family, friends and church members and sending it to the women of the Bolivar Peninsula around the holidays as a personal expression of her care and concern about our lives.  Pam is an organizer and the idea took root and she is busy about making it happen.  If you want to have a part in this in any way, contact Pam Hicks Gresham at pamgresham@comcast.net.  She'd love to hear from you and I think her idea will bring a really bright spot to lots of ladies who lost everything they had. (The pic is the view out my bedroom window here at the condo - looking at the Gulf).

Until the next page turns, Merry Christmas,
Brenda