A Fantastic Reunion

I love the nearly annual trek to Siloam Springs....my home of 4 years in NW Arkansas. The JBU campus was as beautiful as ever. The fall leaves, bright mums, and familiar faces are a welcome site....though I am taken back by the students on their cell phones texting as they stroll down the walkways. I guess we were "old fashioned" and actually had to say hello as we passed someone. Maybe they just text hello these days....darn technology.

Things are looking up in the ole homestead. There is a Hampton Inn!!! Suites, granite countertops, jetted tubs and quite possibly the most comfortable bed in the world. After a wonderful nights rest in that most wonderful bed, we went to the car to head to my reunion. What did my ears hear?? Meow, meow, meow, MEEEEOOOWWWW, meow, meow, MMMMMMEEEEEEOOOOOOWWWWWWW. There was a cat, no, a kitten somewhere in our tank of a truck. The kitty was somewhere under the hood near the engine, but neither Rick or I or the entire hotel staff could find it. Rick somehow scared the cat toward the fuel tank....so we turned the car on a started to drive very slowly around the parking lot. It was quite a scene--to say the least. I'm figuring we'll be on youtube someday--as there was a little girl capturing the whole thing. Ty Herndan's tour bus was parked directly behind us. His band members were getting quite a chuckle out of us driving in circles with an insanely loud MEOW coming from the car. We decided to drive up to JBU because the stinkin' cat was not coming out. Corbin was in the backseat praying, "Dear God, please help our daddy not to be mean and turn the car on and kill the cat...." We get to school, call animal contol--who couldn't lure the cat out either. Finally, after lunch, Rick popped the hood again and there stood a little gray, fuzzy, scared to death kitten whom we lovingly named "John Brown." No, we're not nice parents. We didn't keep the kitty. Rick held him as we drove to the animal control. All the while, he was sweetly saying...."Nice kitty. I know you're giving me all sorts of gross diseases, aren't you?"

We enjoyed Barnett's hamburgers, going to the soccer game, seeing and talking with old friends, going to hear the Cathedral choir sing (A Mighty Fortress is my favorite!), and quite possibly the best thing of the weekend was holding my precious neice, Halle Joy. We had a wonderful trip.