There are many highlights of our time in Norman, Oklahoma and many of them were times spent together as a family. Grandma and Grandpa Leal spent as much time as they could with us, especially in the summers.
As a family we made as many fun and memorable experiences as we could. One time I kidnapped Bill from work and took him away overnight. I arranged this with his boss, Mary Fleming, ahead of time. The kids were in on this one. He thought we were just going out for lunch. I told him the restaurant was quite a distance and I kept on driving. He was very worried about getting back to work: "I have a meeting!" He began to get suspicious after half an hour. So I told him that Mary already knew and had given her OK. She was in on it!
Another time we had planned a vacation and Bill pretended he had to work and couldn’t go. The three of us went on anyway and hoped he would join us soon. Meanwhile a friend had dropped him off at the side of the highway where we would be driving, with his luggage. He had his thumb out and acted like a hitchhiker who wanted to be picked up! You should have seen the kids faces when they recognized who was standing by the road. Bill still remembers both children with their faces and hands plastered to the car windows, gaping. Of course we stopped and picked him up and went on to a fun vacation. Jenny says she most remembers how shocked she was that I would pick up a hitchhiker!
Here are a few pics from one of our vacations and an anniversary celebration in the early 80's. Note the amazing homemade anniversary cake made by our kids!
Having creative kids helps make a family memorable. Jonathan was by this time finding his stride in writing. He and Jenny developed their own magazine they self-published called "Pure Gold." They and their friends wrote the stories, poems and art work and then sold them for 25 cents each.
Jenny was a whiz with vocabulary. The kids had to memorize a lot of words for their different subjects. She did more than just memorize them and to this day can carry on spirited discussion with Bill, who also has a large vocabulary. Jenny was also a huge help to me in the home and in the classroom. She still is!
Both our kids were a delight to our hearts (still are!). They did well in school and their hearts were turned toward pleasing us and pleasing Father. We spent a lot of time in God's Word, memorizing some long passages. They both had good friends and played a lot with them, especially when we got our ten acres that they could roam, explore and claim.
So what else makes family memories unforgettable? Sacrificial love is what holds a family together. And that love is unforgettable. For us, showing love still means making fun, zany unpredictable memories. Jonathan likes the one about my birthday surprise and his "bad fall." Bill arranged for a (pretend) housewarming. After folks arrived, Jonathan faked an accident upstairs to get me upstairs and distract me while the people downstairs got out the presents.
We've been known to drive 7 to 14 hours to surprise loved ones on birthdays. Maybe Jenny can tell you how we drove from Alabama to Georgia to have a surprise lunch with her after church at her favorite restaurant, the Olive Garden (her friends and roommates helped get her there!). Surprises are kind of a tradition for our family. For my 50th, Jonathan dressed up as an uninvited old lady that was dying of throat cancer and couldn't speak. We allowed her to stay and I never recognized that it was Jonathan till he made it obvious. Then last weekend we surprised Jonathan by being at the restaurant he and Barry were going to have his birthday lunch at. Some pics are posted on Facebook: Jonathan's birthday surprise 2016.
Speaking of zany memories, that brings us to housing and land. Backing up a bit, after living in our first house in Norman for a year or so, a larger house with a swimming pool came up for sale.We all thought that would be a great idea and good investment. Little could we predict the future. Our smaller house quickly sold and we purchased a house that was really too big—but we did have room to share with single people in our community. We especially remember Gary Nishmuta who was single at that time and whose wonderful sense of humor kept us laughing. Then along came a young lady who stole his heart!
Later, three families in our community got together and decided to buy land and build houses near each other. We each purchased ten acres adjoining each other's ten acres: the Nivens, the Wimers and the Leals. What an adventure each one had, but I’ll only tell ours. Maybe they will add theirs to this rendering!
Again, we sold our house--the "too big" one with the pool--and moved out to a small three bedroom mobile home. We purchased a "build it yourself" kit from by Miles Homes so we could build our own dream house from ground up. We knew that would take time, which was why we lived in the mobile home while building. But before moving in, we had to get rid of thousands of cockroaches. We set insecticide bombs inside and left the place closed up. When we returned it had literally rained thousands of cockroaches all over the counters and floors. But apparently it did the job and we were thankful to not see any more of those menacing creatures
We called our land, “Redbud Acres” because there were so many beautiful redbud trees. We loved living on the land that also had a stream—especially strong in storms. It was truly beautiful in all seasons. I described the house to Joshua, our six year old grandson and he drew his picture--without seeing the real one!
We then began the process of house building. It was professionally framed and put under roof. Bill did all the interior work, little by little, after he got home from work. We had energy then!
The kids loved the land and built a clubhouse out of scrap lumber, seen in the photo. That's one of our nephews, David Hazelton, next to the clubhouse. It was great to have my sister and family near enough to share life together. We were surrounded and blessed by many gifted and loving people.
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