Kyleigh Marie getting a Medicure

Kyleigh and Matt at a Drillers Game in Tulsa

Sweet Little Kyleigh Marie

Bill Mitchell and Great Grandson Zain Blaze (Dewayne and Judy Dalrymple's Grandson

Ronnie and Cindy Newton
Elk City, Oklahoma

Kyleigh Marie Pate in her dress for her Dance Recital 2011

Kyleigh Marie Cowan last day of Kindergarten 2011

Ronnie's Girls

This is my Youngest Soon Rickey Lee Cowan. Rickey passed away on April 18th 2011 and buried at the feet of his Grandmother Nellie at his request. We miss him something awful. Ricky is in a much bettr place today. (smile)

Anthony James and Aliya 2011 in Florida

Janice and her friend Linda at the Mothers Day Tea at the Senior Center 2011

Kyleigh Marie taken at Granny's house

Randy took me to The Red Lobster my favorite place for Mothers Day

Aliya at Easter Egg Time 2011

Anthony and Aliya Marie and Parrot

Louis (McConnell) Thacker her son Gearld grandson Chance and Great Grandson Noah

CANDICE,MATTHEW AND KYLEIGH

ALIYA MARIE COWAN BEAUTIFUL GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER SHE IS ONE YEAR OLD

Candice and Granny at her Graduation

Candice and Kyleigh Marie

Anthony Randy and Bill Taylor

Kyleligh Marie Pate 4 years old

Anthony, Sara and Aliya Cowan

Randy and Aliya Marie Cowan

This is My newest Great Granddaughter Aliya Marie Cowan daughter of Anthony & Sara



BEST FRIENDS FOREVER -
We just had a wonderful reunion in Claremore, Oklahoma
Sandy, Sandra and Janice

This is a Very Special Picture of Randy and his new granddaughter and Sara her mother



Of all the flowers that God has given us to enjoy I love the Morning Glory more than any flower. It reminds me of the beauty of Our God and how he gives us such a lovely flower that blooms and grows from a tiny seed. If I could have a garden it would be filled with Morning Glories.





My New Great Granddaughter "Aliya Marie Cowan"



KYLEIGH MARIE'S THIRD BIRTHDAY

Mother's Poem when she was a little girl.
This is a special poem that my Mother wrote when she was a little girl and she drew the picture. I have several of her writtings of letters and poems and pictures from the early 1920's.







Kyleigh Marie's First Haircut







This is a special picture to me. This is all except two of the McConnell Grandkids this was taken at Mothers funeral. Dwight and Randy are the only ones that are not there. Mother and Daddy were proud of all their kids and grandkids.





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I was sent this special gift by Sue Holbrook she thought I would appreciate it and I do very much. It is a little hard to read because it is so old and aged. Aunt Mary graduated from Boyd High School in 1927. Sh then came to Hobart right after graduating from high school. She went to work for the W. H. Carlton Family and worked for them until she met and mattied Uncle butch in April of 1928. They were married by a Rev. McConnell (no relation to our McConnells).

When I was a little girl we (Linda - Arlene - Janice) would go to the picture show in Lone Wolf while Mother attended the Rebecca Lodge. The Lodge met above the Hartson Drug Store for many years. I got to thinking about this when my cousin Vernards wife sent me a picture of a row of theater seats that came out of that show. Uncle Butch had bought that old show building long after it was not a show anymore and put in a antique/junk store. I am sure that I have sat in one of these seats many times. Sue thought they were in the balcony and that colored's sat up there. I dont remember them having to sit up there but they may have but I know we sat up there plenty times. The balcony was so much more fun. Also as Sue was cleaning them up she found a lot of gum stuck to the underneath seats and I am sure some of that was ours as well. I love memories like this one. Thank you Sue for bringing it back to me as well as sharing the photo. For awhile we could not find out the name of the show so I sent out emails to several to see if they remembered. Ann Kosanke (second cousin of ours) answered and her husband Bill looked in some old High School Annuals and found a advertisement for the show and it was called "Wolf".
I don't know for sure but I would imagine it was named after Chief Lone Wolf since it was not Coyote which is what Lone Wolf football team was called. Sue had also ini the meantime checked with some people and they said in the later years that someone had added feathers to the Wolf head that was on the marque so that pretty much tells us that is what it was. Good memories.

This is such a special gift that I just recieved from my cousins wife Sue Holbrook. This is the Church where my Fathers family went and in the community where they were born and a lot of the older McConnell's are buried. Garvin Cementary. My mother had a plate just like this one and my sister Linda had it and after her death I did not get anything of hers from her home. Sue thought I would like this and appreciate it perhaps more than leaving it to her child because I have been there many summers when our family would go to the Cementary Reunions. Those are special memories. We would take picnic lunch and they would have what they called picnic on the ground under the Brush Arbor there at the Church. There would be old time singing of Hymns and lot of people visting. We would go and Uncle Butch and Aunt Mary would go as well as Uncle Leland and Aunt Agnus. My Dad loved to go. I dont remember how many times we went but I remember it was when Linda and I were young and perhaps Arlene and Johnny as well. I so appreciate Sue giving me this plate especially since it belonged to Aunt Mary. THANK YOU SUE
This Church has quite a history:
Garvin Methodist Church 1870 – 1955
Garvin Methodist Church was organized in the Fisher home one and one half miles southeast of the present location by Rev. Miller, a Methodist Church South Circuit Rider. The first members were Mr. Mrs. Henry Fisher, their son John and daughter Rebecca. They worshiped in the Fisher home then in a school house until 1872. Dr Morton donated the land and a log house was built on the present site of land in 1876. A second house was built that replaced that log house. In 1886 an addition was built to the house. A man by the name Garvin moved to this location and built a store and US Post Office that gave this settlement the name of Garvin.
This church was the home of the Garvin Circuit which consisted of a church at Briar, Annie Chapel, Cotton dale , Greezbend (now Boyd) and Garvel Hill. About 1903 this present house was built. The parsonage and pastor moved to Boyd in 1899. Among the pastors were Rev. Miller, Elder Price and Rev. Hightower.

This would be the newest members of the McConnell family. This is Doris and Bill's great grandchildren (twins) Shelba and Carl's grandchildren They are so precious and lovely gifts from God.

This is the lovely flowers that I received for Mothers Day from Rickey and Merle from Florida. I also got a beautiful card from Randy and Joan and a gift certif.
Mother's Day's are normally sad for me since I can never spend them with my boys however it wont be long before I will be spending it with Randy when he comes home.
I am just praying for that day to come.

This little picture just makes me think of how much I love writing and sendng cards to people I love. Sending and Recieving cards and letters mean more to me than pretty much anything I do at this point. I have been going through a pretty tough time lately and seems like the cards and letters and emails I write have helped me make it on some days that were just pretty darn hard. So those of you that get the emails and cards and letters I hope you understand why I do that. I love you all and your pretty much all I have since losing my sisters. How really special the memories are now to me and the book that I have written and even if no one reads it online it has helped me to put it there.
God Bless and Love from Me to You

Just Checking In

I have not blogged in quite awhile for several reasons but main one being that I just have not felt really well for a few weeks now. Had some tests and then having a little trouble getting my strength back. I hope to be blogging again on a regular basis like I was. I am working on the Family Recipe Link to the blog at this time.
I want to get several more added soon.
I got to spend some time with my sweet little Kyleigh and Candi on her 23rd birthday which was really nice. Dont see her as much as I would like to.

Trip To Florida

In July 2008 I found myself in a very difficult place. I had just lost another sister Arlene to death and had already lost Katha and Linda in the spam of a year. At this time my own health was pretty bad and I not only was physically ill I was emotionaly ill. I was in a pretty bad place and the depression was about to consume me to a point of no return. I was having a very hard time griveing my losses and no one seemed to care how it was affecting me. I then decided that I would just leave Elk City where I was so unhappy at the time and move to Florida where my youngest son and Merle lives. I really didnt give this move very much thought and planning I just wanted to move out of Elk City and as soon as I could. Merle being the wonderful man he is saw to it financially that I could move. They found me a nice place and proceeded to move me.It was a really nice place that I moved to and I quickly found me a doctor (mainly because I had a heart attach during the move - but that is another story) smile This doctor took one look at my medical records and all the medication that I had been on for many years and he started cutting them out one by one and by the time I left that doctors office that day I went from takinig 15 pills a day to taking 5 pills. Boy was this a change for me because I was also on oxygen 24/7 and could barely walk across the floor. So on his insistance I started going to the pool each day and getting exercise that I had not had or able to do in many years. I lost 25 pounds in the matter of weeks and still losing. All the sudden I could breath again and no more daily asthma attacks and no swelling of my legs and just over all feeling much better. This was a good thing for sure. Also during this time I was able to really grieve the losses that I had and come to some understanding as the why I was left the only McConnell child in our family of 8 kids. During my stay in Florida I had lost my last sister Doris which left me alone to be the only one. After about four months into my stay in Florida I began to realize that I was pretty lonely and really thought I should move back to Oklahoma but not to Elk City. I briefly moved to Tulsa to stay with Candi, Josh and the baby but that did not work out. I was then left with yet another move which would be my third in 6 months and major moves at that. I made the decission to move back to Claremore, Oklahoma where I lived for many years prior to my disability and retirement. My dear friend Jayne and her husband Donald and son said they would move me. I had a hard time finding a place in such short notice but I decided that I would move to the Senior Citizen Housing which is not a Nursing Home but it kind of reminds me of one. I have a nice little apartment and I am able to live fine and comfortable in it. I also am able to go back to my church that I loved for so many years, St Andrews United Methodist. I have been able to see my old friends from work and that is really going to be nice. I thought when I was making this choice that someday I would more than likely end up in a Nursing Home since I have little family left and none that can really care for me if needed. This place will be fine and I will be as happy here as I will anywhere. I am still pretty much grieving the loss of my sisters and that may never end. So as I said in the beginning of this post the trip to Florida was not a loss it allowed me time to get my thoughts together to decide what I would do for the rest of the time God allows me to be on this earth. Dont know why I am still here but I do believe there is a reason.