I am blessed to have in my life, my sister JoEllen! Today she turns 56! “Wow-ee”, she would say!
JoEllen is special and just about everyone who meets her becomes her friend. Although her ability to function is the level of a seven year old, she is quite smart! Her speech is difficult but she is easy to understand. I grew up hearing her say, “When I get to heaven, I’ll be able to talk”. She communicated that by pointing upwards and saying something that sounds close to “hea, me talk” and then point to her mouth, shaking her head yes the whole time! That is confident faith!
JoEllen is easy to pick on but she knows how to pick right back. If you told her today that she was getting old, she’d hump over and hold her back and pretend to be holding a cane, and say “old Man”. She has come up to my brother in law and run her fingers across his balding head and say “No hair, Ter-ree, No hair”.
If you are ever looking for that needle in the haystack, you’ll want Jo to help you. And I’ll bet she finds it! She won’t quit looking until she does! When she comes to visit she spends a lot of time on the floor looking under the furniture and she usually finds something that has been long lost; an earring back, a game piece, or a yellow piece of string! (You’ll have to ask Robin for the story on that one. Let’s just say they turned their house upside down to find that string for Jo)
There’s a couple of things that are off limits with Jo. Don’t go looking in her purse or her Bible! They both contain treasures she does not like to part with. Sometimes those treasures end up in her pockets. One time as we were going through security at the airport, she set off the metal detector. She was asked to empty her pockets and I could not believe it when, among other things, out of that pocket came a metal Sheriff’s Badge!
JoEllen loves to sing. She knows a lot of hymns. And JoEllen is a prayer warrior. If you pray with her you might make out words like, mommy, daddy, the names of her siblings. She prays for us all. But I am pretty sure God hears a whole lot more than that when she prays!
Here’s some other pics of JO.
The Party girl when she turned ‘’five-o”
Aunt Jo holding Elaine last Christmas. She loves hearing there is a baby coming and our family does their best to keep her happy! Jo has eight nephew and four nieces, one great nephew, eight great nieces and two on the way! (I hope my math is right!)
Last summer Robin, Jo and I spent a day making cards. She sends out Birthday cards to all her family members. This year many of them will get a nice handmade card. We always get our Birthday cards on time. I am sure Jo pesters her house mothers to death to get them mailed. So sometimes they do come early. Okay, Wally did get his card shortly after Thanksgiving and his Birthday is December 14. But it’s the thought that counts!
We must have tea pictures because we always go to tea or host our own parties when Jo is home.
I Love you JO! I hope you have a fun “par-tee!”
1 comment:
Happy Birthday to Aunt Joe!
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