Good-Byes

It's tough saying good-bye to this. Last week wrapped up the end of Candace and Madison's 10 day visit in Texas. Of course I have tons of pictures and will post a few more.

This is her in the airport with her monkey backpack.

We also took Randy to the international terminal where he flew out to Israel for two weeks.

It was rough driving home.

Our last family photo. Boy! it beats the one we took last year where Madison was crying everyone was fussing then putting on one of those fake "smile for the camera" faces.

This is GENUINE! Nothing but love for my family.....

Create in Me....

The last few months I have had the need to be creative. I haven't played around doing crafty things for a few years now. One day I woke up and it was all gone. I wondered if it would ever return. Hallelujah! Praise The Lord! it has come back.
I saw something online and thought I could do a fair job with the same idea so I took my old paintings from the high school days and painted over them.
I sent these to Candace & Andrew for their 2nd anniversary.

Women's Retreat

We enjoyed our Women's Retreat in the country setting at Rock High Ranch.
It boasts, Rustic yet Refined. We had pool time, devotions at sunrise and crafts. We made new friends with the multitude of women who were joining us for the first year. Speakers, Pat and Christy brought lessons on Psalm 139 reminding us that God's thought toward us number more than the grains of sand. Do you know how much sand is in the Sahara? on the beach? It tells us that His thought are on us always, continually, endlessly and eternally. Nothing enters our life without being filtered through him, his right hand holds us. If I rise on the wings of morning, or plunge to the depths of the sea, he is with me.

Happy Fourth of July!

My post wouldn't post. So after two days of trying, I deleted the text...some of what I would've said....

Years ago we started a family tradition for just our family of five. We camped at Raymond Gary Lake for July 4th. We met a great family that first year and every year we met them at our spot for fun, food and fellowship of like-minded Believers. Mike and Cassie shared their pontoon boat and took us swimming in the hot of the day and for a toodle around the lake after supper. The annual fireworks show took place from the piers around the lake and from homeowners there. We would sit in the middle of the lake while fireworks burst overhead showering us with light. More than once we weathered lightning storms hoping not to get struck. It was so hard to freely enjoy the light show when you know you're in an aluminum boat on the lake. We loaded up on junk food 'cause Cassie is the ultimate fun camping mom.

It was always fun to arrive at the campgrounds and watch the kids run to climb on this one certain low hanging tree. With each passing year I noticed the tree seemed smaller than the year before. Hmmm. We each had an important job to perform to get camp set up. After the work the boys would hop on their bikes and fly down the winding hills. We always enjoyed Daddy cooking breakfast and Jansen's famous camp toast.

One year as we were on the lake waiting for fireworks we called Derek to let him know what he was missing by not coming. The next year we were calling Candace. As we heard her choke back the tears we knew we had succeeded in making those "family memories" that run deep. Regardless of how nice life is we think of those years camping.: The muddy water of the lake, the temperature changing with the depths, the year we had the johnny boat, waving at the passersby, meeting new folks, johnny coming by for coffee and a chat.

Thank goodness for a country where our lives are free because someone loved America enough to fight for her. Happy Fourth of July!

July 4th Memories

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I went to see my parents for the Father's Day week end. Went to church with them and out to Rosa's for lunch. Oh my goodness! I stretched that meal into three, it was so much food. The eatery brought out slices of chocolate cake for all the dads. It's so nice to see someone go the extra mile.

Daddy was born in the Depression Era. He was one of eleven children born to Gid and Ola Crutchfield. He's also a twin and for many years the brothers lived just down the road from eachother. Lester and Vester once ran over a flock of guinnies just to see if they could be run over. The saying was that they were too fast for a car...well, these weren't of the "swift " breed and evidently the Crutchfield boys were faster in the Model-T. Vicie Lee ran out to see what the commotion was and found those two dead birds that belonged to Mr. Cutler down the road from their farm. She dressed them quick as she could and made Guinnie stew.

The family also used to pick blackberries and sell them to the colored folk in a neighboring community. If they got 25 cents a gallon, they were doing good. Daddy can't remember very well but I wonder if it was less, 'cause 25 cents was hard to come by.

Last year I took Daddy to the doctor and as we rouned the corner at 1510 he burst out with a story. Randomly he said, " That's the old Smiley place. One time Snowbie Jo called me and said, Lester, go to the house and look behind the door and find my shoes. He went and sure enough, they were right where she said." She was in town, he was in the country. He delivered those shoes. I pictured some little old lady dressed the way my Granny used to dress in her polka dot dress. No, this lady wasn't old...maybe she was his age. I'll never know. The story came and was gone just as quickly. I fell in love with her name though. What a great story.

Dad also once took a bus cross country with his future sister-in-law so she wouldn't travel by herself to see her fiance'. He served his country in the Merchant Marines and U.S. Army. He knew to keep neccessaties with him when he was abroad, like his coat. He kept the issued cigarettes (which he never smoked) and sold them to men who wanted them to make a little money. He sent most all of his money back home to his parents to support them and he lived off what the U.S. gave him. Onboard ship he loaned his coat to other sailors who hadn't the forthought to bring one. Everyone on watch would take turns in the night wearing Dad's coat. He was once on a ship that was one of near a hundred out in the ocean and all the ones around him were torpedoed. His was safe. He's had a life of many stories.

He laso served as County Judge my first 16 years. He went from a country boy who educated himself to the Judge. To my knowledge he's the only one who did that. The others were lawyers first. Quite a man to live up to. Happy Birthday PePaw!!!

As a post script to the Spring on Margaret post...
The Mountain was levelled by the city who so kindly removed the tree that fell but it also removed the land of adventure for the children. How sad that it is gone...it really did mark a passing of time for their imaginations. Also gone is Sissy. As I went to work part-time we found it hard to leave her wandering about the house, alone. She went to a wonderful family who was about to lose their daucshund of many years. I am sure she will hold a special place in their heart and bring great joy.