Tulsa, snow and family!

Mom and I had a great visit with Justin, Juliana, and Sierra in Tulsa. Family is the best! We helped paint and fix up some rooms in the house, so J&J can put their house on the market soon. The first day we painted a bit outside, and it was warm - maybe even 70 degrees. But the weather changed and it snowed and got really cold - with a windchill below zero! We were surprised by the snow and cold. And we guessed that Tulsa had maybe only has one or two snowplows in the whole city, because the streets stayed icy and slick for several days. Sierra and I walked to a coffee shop one morning and with the north wind we thought we were in Minneapolis!

So, then we worked inside the house and our biggest project was painting the kitchen walls and cabinets. We took off all the doors and laid them all over the house and it came out really nice. You can see the new wall color behind JJ&S in the first photo, and the cabinets in the photo with Justin.

Sierra is now occupying what she has dubbed "The West Wing" and we put a new light in her room, along with some metal blinds, and fixed up the bathroom too. And we got her signed up on NetZero, so she has internet access right in the West Wing!

On Friday night Juliana and some friends had a surprise Birthday party for Justin! We all kept the secret and totally fooled him. It was fun to meet lots of friends, and there was even a Toña beer (Nicaraguan) that I had. Justin got some fun gifts, and Sierra even did a little crazy dancing. Turns out Tulsa is a rockin' place after all.

We had told Justin that we were going out to dinner at Kilkenny's Irish pub, so we did that on Saturday night instead. It was a great place,with great beer and really good food. Sierra and I each got the fish and chips and it was yummmmmmmmmy!

Pastor Justin Schroeder did the church service on Sunday, and we all went to hear. He spoke on the topic of "Helpers, Fixers, and Servers" and it was very well done. A separate highlight was a guitarist/singer who sang a song by bob Dylan called "Gotta Serve Somebody" which tied in really well with Justin's sermon. After church we had lunch and visited with some folks.


But, wait, I haven't told you the real highlight of the whole trip....
I saw a new bird! It's called a Smith's longspur (or as we affectionately nick-named it "snit's longsnur"), and they breed way north in the arctic, but spend the winters in central Oklahoma! I went out two mornings and found one on the second try. Yippee! Life is truly good!