At Least We Were All Together

This year Thanksgiving did not go as I had planned or hoped it would.  I usually host Thanksgiving at my house and I enjoy it very much--all the planning and shopping and cooking and setting the table...  But this year my parents were not able to travel so we went to them.  We were supposed to have lunch together, but my Daddy fell and wasn't able to come to lunch.  We had a really nice lunch with my brother and his family, but it just wasn't the same.  My Daddy always says the blessing and I missed that.

After lunch we went to my Mom and Dad's new apartment at the Assisted Living place.  He was not doing well, but he still appreciated us being there.  He put his hand on Allison and pronounced his great-grandbaby a girl.  Boy or girl, may the mantle of this great man fall on this new life.

We came home and watched the Aggie game - they played very well, but lost.  My son-in-law handled it really well.

All in all, a good day.  I am thankful that my precious children (and I include my children's spouses in this group) were all with me and Roger.  I am thankful that we are all healthy and that we have a new life on the way.  I am thankful that we are all happily married and enjoy being together.  I am thankful that we all have homes and jobs.  I am thankful for all the blessings the Lord has given to my family and I am thankful that we were all able to be together again this year.

The Best Days of My Life

There are 5 days in my life so far that I count as the "best days of my life."

The day I married Roger

The day Ryan was born

The day Allison was born

The day Ryan married Chelsa

The day Allison married Justin

Today is the anniversary of one of those days - Happy Anniversary Allison and Justin!  I pray that the rest of your lives will be as happy for you as the last three.

I look forward to what I pray and believe will be the sixth "best day of my life" - April 29, 2010.  May the new life that God has blessed our family with be healthy and strong and grow up to love the Lord.

She Likes It!

My brother and I moved my Mom into a really nice Assisted Living place in Nacogdoches last Wednesday.

 

When I left her on Friday morning, she looked like a deer in the proverbial headlights so I was kinda worried about her.

Yesterday her good friend called me and said that Mom told her she loves it!  I also talked to my Daddy yesterday (he is still in the hospital rehab place) and he said Mom likes it and he thinks he will also.  Thank You, Lord!  I am so relieved!  Now I just can't wait for my Daddy to get over there with her.

My Daddy is 91 years old and yesterday my brother got him a cell phone so he could talk to people in the hospital (they don't have phones in the rooms).  I can't wait to see how this turns out!

My grandbaby is the size of an avocado this week - we find out on December 2 whether we are having a boy or a girl!  I am so thankful, Lord, that you are allowing me to experience this with my daughter.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

My Daddy always told me that it is the people who can't accept change that go crazy.  I really hate change most of the time, although some of the time, change can be good.

This week was hard for my parents--a lot of changes going on.  Routines that have been established for 30 years had to change.  They had to move from their home of 30 years.  They have to get used to a new place and new people and new routines.  It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

This is the childhood home of my brother and me.

My parents bought this home after my Daddy got out of the service after WWII.  They paid $5,000 for it and Daddy told me that sometimes they had to eat beans for dinner a few nights just to save up for the $50.00 per month payment.

Years later, Daddy gave me the house and I lived in it for several years, but neighborhoods change, too, and I had to sell it and move.  It was sad for me, but I moved on.

Later, my husband and I bought a house and lived in it for 20 years and raised our children.  We eventually sold this house and it was sad for me, but I moved on.

My parents know that the move was necessary and they are willing to do what needs to be done.  I know it is sad for them, but they will move on.

Pray for our family and especially for my parents.  May their llives be filled with love until the Lord calls them to their final home.  They can live there forever and won't be sad and won't have to move on.

Where Are My Treasures?

Today I have to go to my parents' house and help them decide what "stuff" they will take with them to assisted living.  Of course they will "need" some things just to live, but they will also "need" some things just to make them feel at home.  They won't be able to take very much, so this is difficult.  I want them to be comfortable and to feel at home, but truthfully wherever they are together should be "home" for them.

The bottom line is - wherever your family is, that is home.  Things don't make a home.  People and family make a home.  Memories and photos of loved ones make a home.  Friends and family that visit make a home.  I am thankful that they still have each other and they both love the Lord.  The three of them should be right at home no matter where they "live."

"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break though nor steal."  Matthew 6:20

Good News/Bad News

The Good News first - To my great surprise, I had a lot of fun at the 60-something Frat Party!  I think it is because I had come to know them all by working with their pictures when I was making the slideshow for the party.  I especially enjoyed the football game when they got to go out on the field and be recognized.  I am sure they had a lot of fun seeing old friends and talking about old times.

I finally got to meet Fatsie - the guy who black-balled Don Henley and he was presented with a guitar signed by Don Henley at the gathering Saturday night.  Don sent a message to Fatsie that there were no hard feelings and he thanked the Delta Sigs for saving him from a career as a plumber in Lufkin.  That was fun!

The Bad News - my brother and I have to move our parents to Assisted Living this coming week.  We really like the place and their apartment is nice and roomy, but it's not home for them.  I know they will be sad, but this is the right thing to do and I hope they will learn to be happy there and make some new friends.  Things change - life goes on.  Pray for my family and especially for my parents as they adjust to their new home.

Frat Party!

When I was in college I never went to a frat party.  I was not "cool."  I was a geek and really didn't date much and certainly didn't date a frat boy.  But I did manage by the grace of God to marry a "cool" frat boy and we have been together now for almost 30 years.  This weekend his fraternity brothers are getting together to celebrate the 45 year Delta Sigma Phi chapter reunion.  They are all 60-somethings now, but I am sure that when they are together they will still feel like those 20-somethings in college.

Even though when I tell him something he can't remember it 30 minutes later, I am sure he will be telling stories that happened in the late 1960s and early 1970s and never miss a detail.  I will know very few people there, but I will know some of the stories by heart, having heard them many times over the years.  My favorite one is about how some of his frat brothers black-balled Don Henley (of the Eagles) from getting in the fraternity because he was a "long-haired hippie."  Don Henley wrote a song about this later called "Greeks Don't Want No Freaks."  You can download it on iTunes.  No kidding!

I will sit in a corner and take pictures and let him have his fun.  Now that I think about it, this is what I did in high school and college, too.  Sit in the corner and watch the "cool" kids.  Things haven't changed much.