May we introduce ourselves........we're Don and Jo.
We live in the Mid-Atlantic area of the United States. We're
retired, and are very blessed to live in this beautiful location. We thank God
for bringing us here. We're grateful that our Lord Jesus Christ loved us so much
that he was willing to die in our place to pay the penalty for our sins, since
we would never have been able to pay so great a debt. We wish to honor the Lord
in all that we do and to always give him our best.
Meet Don
We moved in the year 2001 to a nice home not too far from where we lived by the lake.
It was time to scale down a little bit so we wouldn't have quite so much to take care
of in our retirement years. We worked long and hard in our next home, especially Don,
to get that straight. Then after some health problems and increasing age, we decided that we needed to scale down a good deal more. We sold our beautiful large home, and bought a home with a little less than half the square feet of space. It has been a huge job getting rid of all the things we had collected over the years, but we're making progress. Soon we'll be more able to take life a little easier, and hopefully have some spare time to relax. Here is a photo of our present home.
Don likes to go fishing and to work in the yard around our home.
There is always plenty to do, even in retirement life. You never get finished!
Until recently we lived in a home on a partially wooded lot, just over an acre
and a half, and on a beautiful lake. Don cleared all the underbrush from the
woods and over 1000' of shoreline so we had a great view of the lake. It was
a park-like setting. He was able to just go down to the lake, get into the boat
and away he went for a relaxing morning of fishing.
Don also likes sports, and enjoys watching baseball, football, basketball, golf, and just about any sport, mostly on TV these days, though in years past he was a participant. He played these sports in high school, and baseball and football in college. He hoped to play pro football, but a couple of injuries kept that dream from becoming reality.
Don has a smooth, mellow bass voice and really enjoys singing. Our favorite gospel singers are the late Jake Hess, the late George Younce, and the late J. D. Sumner. Everybody who loves gospel music is familiar with Jake Hess and with J. D. Sumner and The Stamps Quartet. These wonderful singers have blessed us a great deal over the years with their singing. Don sings in a community gospel chorus, which is lots of fun. They sing the old time gospel favorites, and they sing at nursing homes, retirement centers, and churches in this area, and some out of town. Don is also a deacon in our church and was a choir member in years past.
Here's the gospel quartet with which Don used to sing. Left to
right these guys are Jack, Woody, Dewey, and Don. That's Sheila playing the
piano back there. These guys had a great time together singing for the Lord.
They entertained at church and nursing homes and other places.
Don used to raise a small garden each summer. Just enough to have a little fun watching a few things grow, and to enjoy the vegetables to eat and to share with neighbors and family. He no longer plants a garden, but does some container gardening each year. And he has helped me a great deal with planting a couple of flower beds and some flower pots here and there with our favorite plants.
Meet Jo
with precious Hollis,
granddaughter, 2 yrs old.
Jo enjoys working outdoors in the yard as well, but after recent neck surgery with spinal fusion, two previous back surgeries, the last of which was extensive with spinal fusion, and since a diagnosis of "fibromyalgia" several years ago she hasn't been able to do as much heavy work. At times she's not able to do very much at all, but then after a few days or so she can bounce back and do a little more. Anyone who has fibromyalgia or who has a friend or family member with it understands the constant pain, fatigue, muscle
spasms, dizziness, balance and memory problems, and many other symptoms that have to be
fought daily to live a life that somewhat resembles "normal." Jo enjoys music
also and was a choir member in past years. Needless to say, Jo really enjoys her
computer. She's certainly no expert in its use, but hopes to gain greater skills
as she "learns by doing" while attempting to create and add to this web page.
Jo likes
to crochet afghans and has made quite a few for gifts. She enjoys making silk
flower arrangements. In years past Jo did a lot of sewing of clothing, curtains
and draperies, and a few other things. She has done counted cross stitch as
well. At different times in her life Jo has enjoyed writing poetry and has done
more of that in recent years. We'll share some of that with you, as well as the
motivation behind it on our
Poems From The Heart page.
