First Column of the Year!!!

1 John 2:15-17 “15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. “

Prayer list this week: the families of Mary Katherine Miller, Thelma Grice and Minnie Ruth Morgan.

Birthdays over the past few weeks include: Renee Smith (Dec. 28), Karlee Castle (Dec. 29), Norma McCoy (Dec. 30), Betty Grace (Dec. 30), James Gill (Dec. 30), Markayla Jackson (Jan. 1), Dixie Martindale (Jan. 5), Delbert Moring (Jan. 5), Doris Kee (Jan. 8) and Ricky Sanders (Jan. 9).

It's 2011... I hope every one of you had a pleasant Christmas and New Year's Day.

Avery Skelton spent a few days last week in Bradley Medical Center with a nasty virus. As of this writing, he's back up and bouncing around.

The manhunt conducted near Pansy last December 22 included the following volunteers from this area: Major McClellan, Stephen McClellan, Randy Linzy, James Gill, Toby Johnson, Brent Huddleston, Dustin Cearley, and myself.

Amy Pilkington and daughter Joy had a car wreck outside of Fordyce on Dec. 23. Despite flipping the car (which is often fatal), Amy and Joy escaped with their lives. It could have been a lot worse.

The town lost three of our own since you last read this column: Thelma Grice passed away on Christmas morning. Mary Katherine Miller passed away Dec. 23, and Minnie Ruth Morgan, the mother of Wanda McClellan, passed away Jan. 2. Many thanks to our friends at County Line Fire Department who assisted.

The New Edinburg Volunteer Fire Department responded to a trailer fire on Broughton Rd. at the property of J. R. Avery on Christmas Day. The trailer was roughly 50 feet from a trailer fire that occurred about three weeks earlier.

Visitors for Jim Granderson over the Christmas season were stepchildren Mary Jane Attwood and Tyler Attwood. I ate Christmas dinner with them and it was most excellent.

Family visiting Henry and Rachel Jones during the Christmas week-end were Greg, Allison, and Josh Dallen of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Luke Dallen of Seoul, South Korea, Zach Dallen of RIT, Rochester, New York, Deborah Jones, Meridith Armstrong of Arkadelphia, Rhett, Holly, and Cole Hanry and Rick and Peg Cole of El Dorado.

Visitors for Jean Parrott this week included Ron, Jan and Joe Parrott from Arizona. Ron is the nephew of Victor Parrott.

Meleah Castle held a birthday party for her daughter Karlee at the home of grandparents Belinda and Harold Langford. Those attending were Harold and Belinda, Nita Beth Hall, Joann Hall, Frankie Hall, Tate Hall and Linda Knight.

Tyler Attwood made a generous donation to the New Edinburg Museum during the holidays. The museum stands as an archive of town history... school, church, commercial and personal history is what the place is about. Many have given in both money and material items; let's hope the trend continues because we need to preserve what we're all about. If you have material items you'd like to donate or loan, please contact me at home or in person. If you'd like to donate funds to improve the place (for a tile floor, shelves, cleaning supplies, picture frames, etc.) again please contact me at home, by mail, or in person. Every little bit helps!

As we ring in 2011, many people have been very generous in sharing items for this column since I started over two years ago. An excellent example is Mrs. Ollie Moring who takes the time to write down the birthdays and anniversaries of your relatives each month and mails the list to me. Let me start this new year right by thanking each of them and also every person (somewhere in the hundreds now) who has approached me face to face and expressed his or her gratitude for the revival of this column. You are much appreciated. Go Eagles.