Our Hawaii Trip Recap.....

Well, it's been a few days, so I thought I would take the time to blog a little...like...I have a ton of things I need to be doing, but i'm tired and just want to chill, so I thought I would entertain you all that stop by to read my blog with something new to read. Lucky ya'll..lol
We started off early Mon morn...weather was yucky, the flight to Dallas was bumpy, but sitting in First class helped..at least in my mind it did..but actually they say the closer to the front your seats are, the smoother and safer they are. Our seats were the very first seats in the plane in First class, so you can't get any closer to the front than that and just be a regular passenger. When we left Dallas, the weather there wasn't much better, so the pilot got up around 36,000 ft before he found smooth air...from then on it was pretty much a great flight. When we finally landed in Honolulu some 8 hrs later, we were wore out and sleepy. There is a 4hr time difference there this time of year..its 5 hrs diff in the summertime. It turns out being one of the longest days cause you keep having to relive the hours...When we got there it was about 3:30 over there, but our time here at home was 7:30...time for bed..lol. But we had to make ourselves stay awake those 4 hrs, and it was hard to do..or else we would have been off on our time bad....as it was, we were waking up at 4 and 5 am...which was 8-9 am our time...so it took a few days to get on Hawaii time, just about the time we got used to it, it was time to come home...lol.
Hawaii is a beautiful place. We stayed on the island of Oahu. It's amazing. Our view from our lanai was breathtaking to say the least. We spent a lot of time out there on it, enjoying the sound of the waves, the view, and the wonderful breeze that came at us directly off the ocean...the moon shining down over the water is an amazing sight to see. At night, we watched planes come into view from out of nowhere, at first, their super bright lights looked no bigger than one of the millions of twinkling stars, soon becoming a blinking beacon in the pitch black sky, letting you know another plane full of people had made the long journey over the ocean and were probably so glad to see land and all the bright lights below...I know we were!
Our first day we just enjoyed our resort. We got up and ate breakfast at an all you can eat outdoor buffet. Nothing like enjoying island fresh pineapple among other fruit. Bacon, eggs, rice, different types of sausages..just all kinds of breakfast foods. You ate outdoors and watched the waves roll in and enjoyed the breeze. You had to be watchful of the birds though, for they didn't seem to realize that you didn't intend for them to eat out of your plate! There was a gentleman sitting at a table beside us that had set his plate down and then walked back to the buffet to get something else and a bird landed on the table and started to eat right off his plate. When the man came back, he just shooed it away, and the waitress brought him another plate...we then headed back to the villa and retrieved our beach gear. Tony and Chad wanted to snorkel. Donna and I would have liked to , but we didn't want to get our hair wet...ha ha..the water was cold actually, but we got used to it after a few minutes. I got ready to come out a little sooner than Donna did. I was already sitting in my beach chair and here she comes out...I told her to pick up her dress a little so the water could flow between her feet and lower legs, but did she listen? NOOOOO...the wave caught the tail end of her dress, it was like a sailboat catching the wind in it's sails and the fight to stay upright was on! HA HA...I can still see the look on her face as she struggled against the inevitable...the waves motion coming into shore sent her "sailing", her arms flapping as she was trying to maintain her balance, then when it came back, it did the same thing to her dress only in the opposite direction, and here she goes, arms once again reaching for some sort of invisible support...when the wave got past her, she was trying to stand upright, but couldn't get a good foothold, and she loses her balance altogether, and she takes off going sideways down the shoreline, past some other people sitting out on the beach, her arms flailing, trying to stay on her feet, but the momentum was just too great and down she went...I tell you, I laughed so hard..I only wish I had had my camera handy...and bless her heart, before she could make it all the way in, she lost her footing with the next wave and she was once again floundering in the water...even the people in the water busted out laughing...and the people on the beach sitting down from us couldn't contain their laughter either...it was so funny!! She finally was able to get in an upright postition and stay on her feet long enough to get into her beach chair...what a time we had that day..LOL. ..Tony and Chad played in the sand like two little kids, burying themselves in it..it was a good time for them...Chad grilled out steaks that day and they were awesome..we went to bed early for Hawaii...still wasn't on schedule with the timing thing...
The next day we went to Pearl Harbor. We've been there before, but Donna and Chad hadn't. Chad really enjoyed it. We stayed there a big part of the day. Later, we were going to meet up with Resiana's birthmother, Monke, pronounced Mon-i-kay. She has been staying with friends and family recently. We picked her and her friend up and took them out to eat. We later took them to Wal-Mart and bought them some food and supplies. When we took them back, they invited us into their home. Trucie, the lady who the house belongs to, is sick and needs care. Monke helps her in exchange for room and board. After we went into the house, she called for us to come to her room, where she welcomed us with a big smile. Within minutes, she told her family that she wanted to sing to us. She called for them to sing with her and to bring us gifts. Of course all of this was done in the Marshallese language, so we didn't know what they were saying or about to do...Monke told us that Trucie wanted them to sing to us. We told her we would be thrilled to hear them sing. They sang a song, and brought me and Donna a headpeice, which they put on our head like a crown. They gave Chad a necklace made of seashells, and Tony a handwoven necklace made out of coconut husks. We later found out that the necklace they gave Tony was the type that represented an important chief. They put it around their neck as they sang. It was almost like a crowning ceremony you would see in some sort of ceremonial event. This of course made me and Donna cry. It was so touching..and humbling. To think that these people, who are so very poor, gave to us the best they had as a way to thank us...and the best they had was nothing more than a couple of songs and handmade necklaces and headpeices. But there was no way you could have put a pricetag on any of the gifts they gave us. No professional singing group have sung any prettier song to us than what they sang that night. We didn't understand a word they sang to any of the songs, except for the last one..the last one was ♫ So long, goodbye ♫. That was their farewell song. One of the ladies, who Tony and Chad adopted as their "mother" because she had a lot of facial features that really did put you in the mind of their mom, asked us to pray for them. They believe in Christianity. That the Lord hung and died on a cross for our sins. They asked us to come back and go to church with them on Sunday. We accepted the invitation...that's later.
We flew to Maui one day. Can't say I was impressed. I guess we just didn't know where to go to see all the pretty sights, although we did find this huge "mountain"..I don't know if it was a dead volcano or not, but it was over 10,000 ft high. I had Tony drop me off at a station at 7,000 ft...I felt some tightening in my chest and was afraid to go further. I found some real Eucalyptus growing on the side of a road, and I was so excited. Normally, I love the smell of it...but let me tell you, you do not want fresh Eucalyptus in an enclosed area, say like, a car. I couldn't take it for 5 min. I had to roll down the window and throw it out..I was so disappointed. And I couldn't get rid of the smell the rest of the day. I guess the oil had gotten in my skin and clothes, and even after washing my hands like, 1365413 times, I still reeked of it...ugh. They all laughed at me for "stealing" it to begin with, but hey, it was on the side of the road growing everywhere! (and I sorta gave it back..lol). We rode around all day, went along the coast..then flew back to Oahu that night....
One night we went to a luau. They made us handwoven bracelets out of palm leaves and flowers, Donna gave the Hula a try, and we had our pic taken with a Hawaiian guy and a Hawaiian girl...We enjoyed the food, and the show itself was ok, but i've been to a better one on Kuaui.
We flew to Kuaui for a one day excursion also. Now this island is beautiful! It has some awesome sights to see. We drove up to the top of a mountain/volcano...and the sights along the way were breathtaking to say the least. Words or pictures do not do these sights justice..you just have to see them for yourself. This is the island that we came to when we got Carter, Michael and Crystals firstborn. Tony drove us to the very resort that we stayed in while we were here getting him..I walked out onto the back lawn, where I have a pic of me, Michael and Carter standing underneath a crooked tree. The tree was still there, only quite a bit larger, and I couldn't help but cry as I stood there and relived that moment..remembering back 11 yrs, to the day we were coming home, and going out there to take some final pictures before leaving...remembering how happy we were to be getting our first grandson!....again we flew back to Oahu later that night.
It's Sunday now, and we were anxious about going to church with Monke.. we had planned on going to church over there somewhere...we had heard there was a Holiness church on the island and we were gonna look it up and go to it's Sunday service. But Monke asking us to attend her church changed that. We didn't know what to expect..but there was no need to have worried. The women of the church wore very colorful dresses, and their hair was adorned with fresh flowers, flower headpeices and flower rings...even the little girls were dressed this way. The men wore regular clothes, and their deacons wore suits. Not that it mattered how any of them dressed, just trying to set the scene for you...the church was open aired. One side was solid windows, from ceiling to floor, that had been rolled open. The other side was sliding glass doors, one right after the other, all open. So a cool breeze blew straight thru the church! Everyone was so friendly to us..like it was normal to see 4 American people sit in their congregation every service..of course we got some stares, but when we would return their look with a smile, we were always given one back. They sang a song to open their service, and of course we didn't understand a word they were singing...they read a bible passage along with the minister. When they started the 2nd song though, I tell you what, I felt something. I felt their humbleness. I felt the peace they had. I felt their contentment, but mostly, I felt the love they had for our Lord. I mean they were really putting a lot into the song... I could not help myself one iota. I cried. I don't know if i've ever felt the Lord in any song i've ever heard anymore than I did that morning while they sang. I looked over at Donna trying to focus on something else so I could redirect my tears, and there she sat, crying just like I was...she had felt it too. What amazes me is, it wasn't the words of the song that touched me..I mean, I had no idea what they were singing or saying..it could have been a gospel version of Old McDonald for all I knew, but there was no mistaken the feeling I felt! I looked at Monke, who was sitting beside me, singing loudly, and in perfect harmony I might add, and this intense feeling of love and gratitude for her come over me. This woman had given me 2 grandchildren. She had made the ultimate sacrifice of letting her children go, releasing them from a life of hunger and homelessness.. giving them up forever to people she barely knew...trusting that this was the christian family that she had been praying for. And she had given them to MY children. And she did it because she loved Resiana and her unborn baby. The realization of what this woman had done and the sadness she must have felt upon letting them go, hit me like a ton of bricks sitting there beside her. The feeling of love I felt for her at that moment of realization, was overwhelming. I wanted her to know that. But I couldn't find the words to say. So I reached out and took her hand and held it, hoping she would feel the love I had for her with this gesture. When the song ended, I began to gently pull my hand from her's, but she grasped it tighter, not letting go. I knew then that she had felt what I had tried to convey to her. A few minutes after the song ended, she slipped her hand away so she could turn the page on the service program. From that moment on, I knew I would do whatever I possibly could to help her. After service, they introduced us, best they could, to a lot of the people and we went to eat at McDonalds. She had never ate at one before! Before we left, they invited us to a birthday party for the woman she took care of. It was on Mon night...when we got there, they offered us seats on the couch, but we noticed that everyone else was sitting in the floor. I asked Weina, the woman's sister, why that was and she said that it is their custom to sit on the floor. That way she said, everyone was on the same level as everyone else and nobody had to look to up anyone. It shows our honesty to one another. Such a simple thing to do, yet the message it conveyed was so astounding to me..The guys proceeded to get down on the floor, but I told them I was not able to do that and they were fine with it...(thank the Lord)...cause what happened next would have done me in ...everyone was enjoying the party when I see this 2 inch cockroach crawl across the floor...my first response was to jump up and holler...but I didn't...Chad saw it too, and he remained calm as well..and he was in the floor..lol. It had run behind something, but I guess it decided the coast was clear so he come out of hiding and crawled alongside Weina's leg and stopped at her foot..I could contain it no longer..i'm like.."Weina, look, look!!!!"..and she says..."Ahhh...it ain't gonna bother nobody...it's just hungry too"..and she shooes it away with her hand sending it straight for Tony who sees it coming straight for him! He begins to scramble, trying to get out of the floor and out of it's way...lol..you should have seen him...everyone busted out laughing..thing was, this happened while a family member was saying the meal prayer, so they are trying to keep it down, but Tony, who can't hear much and has no idea they are saying grace, continues to try to get up and shoo the roach away from his leg sending everyone who can see into semi-uncontrollable fits of laughter..he said later that he had seen 2 or 3 scoot across the floor in another room and was trying to keep a lookout for them incase they came into ours...we sang songs again, and I was surprised at the gospel songs they knew..and were able to sing with us in English..then it came time to eat. I'm sorry, but there was no way I could eat the fish that they brought out to me that was still whole, guts and all. The only thing missing from this fish was it's eyes. I apologized, and they just laughed..I felt bad, but I didn't want to puke either...oh me. After about 2 and a half hours, we said our final goodbyes. We wouldn't be seeing them again. There were some tears, hugs and a few last pictures...the kids all swarmed our vehicle and wouldn't hardly let us leave... Tony and Chad both gave their hats to the boy that lived in the house and his friend. We have promised them a box with some Alabama gear in it..we also told them we are supposed to return in August and would try to visit them again then.
We came home the next day, but not before driving to Honolulu and going to Waikiki beach and doing a little sightseeing. It took me several days before I could get back on schedule with the time difference.
This trip has been something I had wanted to do with my siblings for a long time now. The only thing that would have made it better would have been for Darrell and Tamara to have been there...maybe next time huh Doe?

WARNING: This is a sad one...(well, to me)

It still looks like Christmas around here..trees are still up, still have some candy, cookies and fruit around the kitchen tree...my Christmas countdown clock has been changed to tell me how many more days til our Hawaii trip...the kids have taken home their goodies from Granny and Pappy's and the silence is deafening...all the days and weeks spent in anticipation of the big day, only to be gone and over in just a few hours....no matter how much you love and enjoy Christmas Day, it only lasts for a short time...then all the memories of the day go into photo albums, get posted on FB, or just find a quiet corner in your memory bank, to be withdrawn and relived when you feel like i'm feeling right now...

... Christmas hasn't been the same since my parents arent here anymore..Not on Christmas day when my kids and grandkids are here, we are making our own memories and having a ball doing so!....but when it's me, Donna, Darrell and our kids...It's like, the kids are all here, but where's Mom and Dad? The ones who instilled what Christmas means to me today..the ones who taught me how to make my children happy with baking Christmas cookies..and Daddy, who always managed to do a little "buck dance" to some corny song...Well, yeah, ok...we got Darrell, who is always after a laugh, and he usually never fails to deliver..he would make Daddy laugh so hard sometimes that he'd lose his breath and proceed to go into a coughing fit that we just knew would kill him..ha ha..

It's been a few years now since Mom and Dad have passed away...Funny, it sure doesn't seem like it's been all that long. You never think about them being gone and how it'll be cause you really can't comprehend it til it happens..then you think..."if I had just done this"...I wish I had spent more time with them. But nothing you can do or say or think will ever change that..there are no more chances to undo anything.. I wish I could have been a better daughter to Mom..seemed like she was closer to Donna than me, but that was ok..I lived down here and Donna lived up there close by for a long time..eventually we all wound up down here. By then I was so used to not having her and Donna close by that I would forget they were...I missed Mom and Dad when they lived up North. I would count the days when I knew they had a trip planned. Me and the kids would start in deep cleaning, and i'd do all I could to make my little trailer seem impressive. Daddy always spoiled the kids when they came down. He'd take them to the store every day..and there was no discipline allowed much when Daddy was in the house! That was one thing he couldn't handle..by the time they'd leave they were rotten..lol. Mom always had some new clothes for them, maybe a toy, they never came empty handed.The first Christmas and Thanksgiving without Daddy was awful. He always wanted us to sit around the piano and sing..he always played Santa..we still laugh at how he called out everyone's name..lol. ?"To DON-NA"?...he always sing songed our names when he called them...Mom would sit quietly in a chair close by and move her foot up and down and watch ...he always acted like Christmas was no big deal to him, but we knew better...he would have a fit if we had not celebrated it.Every holiday that first year after Daddy died was hard. You know there is a face missing from the picture, one less plate to set at the table...and then, 18 yrs later, you're going thru it all over again after losing Mom...and you relive all the sadness again. You feel the emptiness that their passing left behind.....Now, they're both gone...and all we're left with are their memories. And they're precious memories. Some good, some bad, some funny..some sad. Sometimes I look at the picture I have of them together on my fireplace mantel and wonder what they would think of things today...their oldest grandson is the pastor of a church, their only granddaughter sings like a angel in a group, Donna's boy's are grown and on their own now, and she has 2 beautiful grandsons named Coen and Crossan...Darrell's boys have all grown up too and one of them loves to hunt probably as much as Daddy did! Boy, Daddy would have loved that! And Darrell has 4 grandkids, 2 boys Jameson and Landon, and 2 granddaughters, Audrey and Journey. Daddy would have also loved the fact that I live so close to the river he so loved to fish in..and that we have a camper right on the water...Mom would be proud to know that Donna, Darrell and I, love each other beyond words and get along so good. And that we're trying to carry on the holiday traditions they started with the family, so many years ago. Sadly, we can't go back and change anything, we can't call them back for one more hug, one more song, and we can't live in yesterday...we have to go on...we'll just re-live the memories...and make some of our own that our kids can sit at a computer one day and remember us by!....

Almost done....

Well, i'm almost done with Christmas decorating...or I should say, my deco-elves are...lol. I have a total of 10 trees up, with 1 more to go! I've gotten about half of my shopping done though...ugh. I don't know what to get the kids this year. Last year, we told them from here on out it was gonna be about the grandkids...that they have had their "big years"...but I don't know if I can do it...we've had treasure hunts, guessing games, some big surprises, (think Corvette) and a lot of shocked looks when they realized what we were gonna do for them... and all that was fun..so I dont know if I can just say..."here is your gift"..I know, I know, it's not about the gifts...but isn't it fun to give em? The kids worry themselves to death over what to get me and Tony, but they don't realize...(one day they will)...that just having them here, around the table, and later the Christmas tree, is something that all their money couldn't buy. Time spent with us, is something that one day will be priceless to them... laughing, eating, opening the gifts with Pappy playing Santa....Slick worrying that one of the kids are gonna sneeze or cough, which will immediately send him checking them out..their temp, how many times did they cough in the last 15 min...etc...lol But i'm not kidding. He's paranoid. I think sometimes he forgets that i've raised, (by the help of the Lord)..two kids of my own and they had temps, and coughed and sneezed...but I understand to some degree his issue...2 of the kids have Asthma...and if one gets a cold it has to make its rounds through the whole gang..
I bought Tonys gift the other day..I'm all done with his...and, hee hee...he knows i'm done with his, and he has no idea what to do for me and i'm just playing it cool...I don't even think he's asked me what I want...I didn't ask him. I got him what I wanted him to have, and i'm not gonna mention it here cause I don't know that he don't read this...or that Slick wouldn't think he needed to be informed of what his gift is..like he did several years ago...yeah, ole Slick was taking care of good ole Dad..back when money was a lot tighter, me and the kids would go in together to get Tony his gift, and Tony would go in with them to get mine...well, we bought Tony a leaf blower...sounded good to me and the girls..we had a yard full of trees and it would make his job easier..well, good son Slick couldn't stand it..he thought it was a bad idea and he felt sorry for Tony and didn't want him to be disappointed when he opened it up....so he decides to tell Tony ahead of time to give him a chance to wrap his mind around the fact that he was gonna get a leaf blower...HA HA...so Slick tells him...and Tonys like "A leaf blower???"...yeah Dad..but, come Christmas morning, Tony opens his present and plays the part...lol..Slick confessed to his crime later...we laugh about it now..but we wanted to wring his neck. It's not the first time Tony was enlightened to his gift thanks to his one and only son Slick...
This particular year, I was so excited about Tony's gift! He had wanted an aquarium for years, but I never could get one for him. But this year...YES! I was able to get it...oh it was a nice one too..I'm not quite sure of the exact details, I think I block it out cause I wanted to strangle my son and I temporarily lost my senses.. ha ha, but I think it went something like this...(on our way to church) "Hey Dad, I know what you're getting for Christmas...it's an...." and Tony IMMEDIATELY knew..."An aquarium!!" Tony yells excitedly... He could tell by the look on my face that he had guessed right, and Slick...oh I wanted to murdle-ize that boy...I started crying, and was still crying when I got to church...I was SO disappointed..Christmas was over for me...of course Slick felt bad, his Dad's Christmas was spoiled, his mother was sitting on the front bench at church trying not to cry..what a sight.....but we laugh about it now...it's one of my favorite Christmas stories..actually I could have started a series, I guess....I could have called them " How the Slick Spoiled Christmas" Season 1 "The Leaf Blower" and Season 2 "The Aquarium". lololol.....awww, the memories..

Oh the weather outside is frightful..

Ok, so it isn't time to "Let it snow", but Christmas is definately in the air at my house! I have 10 trees up and 1 more to go..They are all decorated but 2, and no, I didn't do them myself. I have very talented friends who turn into elves that come to my house and decorate when Tony isn't around..lol. He can't stand all the mess and dissarray that goes along with the decorating, but he sure loves the holiday celebrations we have when it's all done..It helps them with Christmas spending money, and it lets me keep enjoying all the decorating that i've always loved to do but not able to so much anymore. Of course since they've started doing all the work, I don't get tired and keep adding more and more! At some point, the garage will no longer hold all the tubs that I store the deco's in..so I gotta stop...NOT..ha ha We love Christmas around here that's for sure. Slick, Crystal and the kids came to see us tonight, and Crimsyn was loving all the trees and by the time they left, he was covered in glitter..ha ha..I think they all were probably.
I'm very excited for Thanksgiving too. This year we're taking all the kids and grandkids to Gaylord Opryland Hotel for Thanksgiving. We have a lot of fun things planned to do there. Going to see the Rockettes, ICE, have a character breakfast with Shrek and the Madagascar gang. Some sort of treasure hunt and dinner at a great restuarant. Not your traditional Thanksgiving gathering, but we love going on family trips and I kept getting emails from Gaylord about their upcoming packages and the kids were all for it, so hey, why not? We will be celebrating Thanksgiving with our extended family Sunday, so we'll still have our turkey.
On the flipside of things...I had surgery this past Sunday. We were supposed to go to Disney with Janice, Duane, Stanley and Carol Sanders. Had this trip planned for at least 6 mo. Tony was leaving, with Stanley and Carol following him, on Friday afternoon. Me, Janice and Duane were flying down on Sat. Well, on Wed morning I woke up feeling fine. But within an hour I started hurting in my stomach..not too bad at first, but as the day wore on, the pain became more severe. By late that afternoon it was almost unbearable. I had them meet at the church to pray and I got relief, came home and slept all night.I had a regular dr appt the next day for routine bloodwork results and they came back that my liver enzymes were extremely elevated. I explained what had happened the day before and she said if that happens again, go straight to the ER. But the rest of the day Thurs I felt fine, til around 4pm. The pain got worse this time. Tony was delivering metal, he was over an hour away, so I had Slick take me to the ER. I was in agonizing pain I tell you..never hurt that bad that I can remember..long story short, I wound up having gb surgery on Sun morning. I hate that we had to cancel our trip, but would have hated for this to have happened while we were on it and be down there and not able to get home..the Lord sees about us when we don't even know we need seeing to..He's a wonderful God. Ever since the surgery, when i've prayed, i've not been able to ask the Lord for one thing. All I can feel right in saying is "Thank you Lord". I've thanked Him for seeing to me, helping me thru the surgery, allowing them to find out what was wrong, cause at one point they thought it might be something else...I've just prayed from a thankful heart. I still have one more hurdle to get over. During the surgery he found a spot on my liver. He biopsied it. They really don't think it's anything, but i'll know next Tues..i'd appreciate it if you could think of me during your prayers...
Our trip is rescheduled for Feb..during Valentine's week. Stanley and Carol will be celebrating their 36th anniversary on Valentines Day. They went to Disney on their honeymoon, so I think it's cool that they'll be back again to celebrate an anniversary...I guess as long as we can stay healthly, our next trip will be to Hawaii with Donna and Chad in Jan...we'll see!

Hello, Hello

I thought I would sit down and blog for a while tonight. Didn't seem to have anything better to do for the moment. Sometimes I wonder why I do this. But, I have found that sometimes it seems to help to put it into words. Now I need to define what "it" is..I guess it's things that I wonder about, things that I don't seem to find a reason for..have ya ever had something just bug the daylights out of you, and it seems so big and real to you, until you tell someone about it. And it seems that as you speak the words, you can just feel how silly it sounds, or how dumb it is that you're struggling with it. Many times this has happened to me. I would wallow and struggle and have a full blown warfare in my mind going on and i'd try to be a good gal and not say anything, but then the man i've lived with for 38 yrs asks me what is wrong, and after a few "it doesn't matter", i'll cave and tell him the reason i've been cranky, or weepy, sometimes cranky and weepy, whichever the issue called for. And as i'm playing this dramatic sequence of events out to him, I feel dumber and dumber, til i'm almost embarrassed that I ever did or said anything...and I can see that it's really no big deal at all...well, enough of that. Don't know where that come from, but it's gone now. LOL


I'm gearing up for the holidays! I already have 5 trees up. Not decorated, but put together. Gonna start decorating for Christmas the day after Halloween! It takes about 2 weeks of solid work to get everything out and up. I am planning on a total of 10 trees this year, but it may just wind up being 9. Tony is going to try to start putting the lights on the house next week too. He'd like to have them up so that we can light up the house the night after Thanksgiving. We are going to Florida with Janice, Duane, Stanley and Carol the week before Thanksgiving. I think we are going to have a good time. They are old friends..and we're looking forward to going to Disney with them. Disney at Christmas is gorgeous! Love the decorations, and the Christmas parade at the party they have. This trip will be kinda laid back though, considering that 3 of us will be in electric wheelchairs..ha ha..Janice and Duane have never flown, so that will be an experience in itself. Janice is in panic mode thinking about the flight..I hope the weather is good so it will be smooth.


I don't know about ya'll, but I can't hardly believe that it's almost the Christmas season. Slick has already started emailing his wish list to me...lol. He has no problem letting me know what he wants for Christmas. Erica doesn't either most years. She just wants money or gift cards, but this year I hope she finds something different...only so many ways you can wrap up an envelope..lol. (yeah, i've put it in boxes, played treasure hunt...etc) This year, i'd like to have a Christmas party with all my old friends from up North..(hey Sherrill, if your reading this, HELP)..lol. We had some come to the house last year, and it was so much fun reliving our younger days..I hope I can pull this off.


Well, I need to go check on my mama dogs. I had one who had her pups Monday. She had 6 and 3 of them died today. I got another mama dog who is 3 days overdue..but I think she'll have them tonight, oh..i'd say bout the time I get good and asleep...I had another one born last Fri and I about drowned it..didn't think the dog was gonna have any pups..she sure didn't look like it. And when her estimated due date came and no pups, I figured she just took a break this time. 2 days later, I go out to feed them, and she has this other female by the neck, growling and shaking her. I get the water hose and start pouring it to her, but she won't let go..in a min I see this little puppy floating in the barrell. OH MY GOODNESS...she was protecting her baby!..He lived, but I pert near drowned the little fella..I told Tony that surely I could come up with a good testimony outta that experience!!! HA HA Til next time.......

Yes, I am still here....

Man. Has it really been 2 months since my last blog? I remember posting that last week, right?..oh well. Time flies. Been a hot summer here at my house. But thankfully it has passed with no major health issues for me. I usually have at least one bout of bronchitis during the summer, but thank the good Lord, I have made it thru the worse of it without one it seems.
I'm getting anxious for the holidays too. Yep. Already have a christmas tree sitting in the hall..lol. It's still in the box, I just got it a few days ago. I ordered it from the Christmas Shoppe in Pigeon Forge this spring, and it's just arrived! That definately put me in the mood and it's debut now ups my tree count to 10. Gonna start putting them together the first week in Nov..we're off to Disney the second week, and thats when these "decorating elves" come in and do all my decorating for me! When I get home, everything is decorated and ready to enjoy for the season. I've always decorated big for Christmas, altho not to the scale that I have these past few years. I have some friends who like to decorate, and need money for Christmas, so I hire them to do it all while i'm away. That way I , well, actually Tony, doesn't have to deal with all the mess that comes along with decorating and they have some Christmas cash! Works for me. These same girls come back in and take it all down and store it for me too...I'm just not able to climb that ladder up and down to even finish out one tree, much less the others..so this has really been a blessing to me and has allowed me to carry on some of my decorating traditions. Wow! A blog about Christmas decorating already....but it will be here before you know it!


Something else that will be here, and not quick enough I might add, is our upcoming trip to Hawaii in January with my sister, Donna and her husband, Chad. I invited my brother, Darrell and his wife Tamara to go, but HE DECLINED! Can you believe it? He was just too scared of the plane ride. Donna said she was too, but she was gonna get over it. LOL. I don't blame him. Some fears you just can't seem to override, no matter how insignificant it seems to others. I've made the trip twice already, (and got some beautiful grandchildren out of the deal)...but it still makes me nervous. I know they say if it's your time to go, you're gonna go...but Darrell says he's not gonna get on a plane and say..."here I am"...lol. I told him if something happened to our plane and he lost us, he better not put "I told you so" on our tombstones..ha ha. I really wanted it to be a trip for all 3 of us. I don't remember us going on a vacation as a family, unless you count the annual 2 trips to Alabama that we took growing up. Those vacations consisted of going to Granny and Papa Brazier, and Granny and Papa Gray's. Now, i'm not gonna say we didn't have fun...but we didn't do anything just as our family..know what I mean? Darrell said we can get together and go to the Smokies as our "sibling" trip...yeah right....me and Donna said..."get over yourself and go to Hawaii with us"...and he finally agreed to go...but with much pleading, and trying to console him and reassure him...but in the end, I could tell he wasn't at all excited about it. Not one iota. So..I called him and let him off the hook. I'm very disappointed, and he's very relieved. Oh well...maybe someday we can do something together, but i'm pretty sure it's not gonna be the Smokies..ha ha...
Kristen had a girls night here at the house Fri nite...she's such a hoot. She gets a lot of her personality from her daddy, ugh....but honestly, i'm glad she's a people person. If she's with the older teen-agers, she just hangs right in there with em...and when she's around the 5yr olds..well..she can act just like them as well..(sometimes she will do that when they're not around...:)...kinda the "only child" syndrome I hear...but nonetheless...she's my oldest granddaughter, the one that officially earned me the title of "Granny"! It won't be long and the boys will be knocking on her door, giving Todd heart spasms like he did us...and I hope they're good strong ones too...he might as well get ready for it...And it looks like our darling Resiana is gonna be Ms Personality as well!...she loves being around the older girls too...she has done so well, it's amazing actually...bless her heart, when I told her that I was going to Hawaii, she asked me was I coming back...and I told her yes, it was just like the vacation when she went to Disney...we go to visit, but always come home. I asked her if she wanted to go back some day and she said, "on vacation like you and Pappy?" and I said yeah...that she would have to come back home to Alabama when it was time to leave. She thought about it a minute, and then nodded her head "yes"....she's such a blessing to us all...her story, her laugh, Lord I love to hear her laugh...when we were just learning about each other, and she would laugh, (she kinda cackled..lol)...and i'd say..."Lord, I hear that chicken!"...and she'd just laugh harder...that memory still brings a smile to my face when I think of that...she kinda took up with me in the beginning...several noticed it...which of course made my heart swell...but now, she's comfortable being around people for the most part and doesn't "need" Granny as much, but she still will come running, arms open wide, with that big ole grin of her's, to hug me when she sees me...and she loves her Pappy as well. And Crimsyn! You talk about Granny's buddy!...he loves his Granny! And that just thrills me too...when he sees me, it's all over folks...ha ha...I got it figured that he will be our last grandchild, so i'm trying to take in every moment of his babyhood...almost like I did my own...I want to know every new accomplishment, can't wait for him to walk, (I think I do, but that means he's getting bigger, leaving that baby stage behind)...so I dont know if I want him to or not..lol...me and Crystal have laughed and said we want to enjoy him at this stage as long as possible, but we don't want to make him retarded...ha ha...and Caden...sweet, loving, sneaky Caden..oh boy...this one is gonna make Slick pay for his raising alright...there is no way that Slick could have had a blood kin kid that would have been anymore like him...i'm serious..it's like being with Slick all over again...always wanting to make you laugh, but sneaky as a snake..he can tell some of the biggest yarns you ever heard too...and eats non-stop when he's at the house..If I know they're coming I try to have something on hand that they like, but with Caden I don't think it would matter...I mean, he even tried, and liked, turnip greens!!!! But I love that they come to Granny's and Pappy's and enjoy their time here...he is truly funny, until you laugh at him for something that wasn't supposed to be funny...then he's not happy...and that makes us laugh even more. Those episodes usually end with him stomping out of the room, but Tony usually has him laughing in no time again...And wow, Carter...he is so smart..and getting older...I don't feel like it will be too much longer before he comes to the Lord. He is very protective of his siblings...and is a perfectionist. Everything has to be just right. When he stays the night on a school night, and he has had to when the baby was in the hospital..he got up, 1st call, showered and got dressed, no compaints. Then he helped me with the other 2...like gathering bookbags, or tying shoes. He is a big help to Crystal I know....my goodness, he's gonna be 11 this December....where has the time gone.....
Well, I guess i'll close for now...maybe it won't be 2 months before I post again...but then....

See Ya Later.......

Well, today I said goodbye to my dear friend Rhonda...we're all gonna miss her. It's so hard to believe that she really did die...I mean, we all gotta go someday, but I had always told her that I would go before she would. I felt like I was in worse shape than she was...she showed very little outward appearance that she had any problems...here I am, overweight, high BP, and lung issues, mostly chronic bronchitis. She on the other hand didn't complain of many ailments..mostly a achy back and swelling feet. It wasn't until that day when she got out of her car and picked something up that something in her back gave way...and it was all downhill from there...little did she know that cancer was ravaging her body at several points..she just thought she had twisted her back...so it just goes to show, you never know.
But one thing I do know...the Lord took care of her. She had almost no pain whatsoever. Even the doctors were amazed that she wasn't in agonizing pain. They kept bringing in pain medication to give her, and she would just turn it down because she didn't need it...the Lord was so merciful to her and spared her the pain she should have been in. For that alone, her family and us were so thankful. Towards the end she did have some...but she was able to handle most of it with very little help.
Her funeral was beautiful and touching. One of our vendors that we buy material from, was there. He had drove from Tallassee, AL. an almost 4hr drive. He knew Rhonda from when she worked for us at TJ'S, then later at K & C , then she ordered from them when she worked for Michael at the Georgia plant...His name is Archie, and he thought highly of her and even made the drive to see her when she was in the hospital. He wanted to go to the cemetary, so he rode with Tony and me out there. On the way, he asked us what was the name of the song they sung as they wheeled Rhonda's casket out the door after the funeral. After I told him the name he said "I've never heard that song, but I do believe that's the prettiest singing I've ever heard"..he proceeded to tell us that he'd been to Gaither homecomings, and had been to many gospel concerts, but he had never heard singing that beautiful before, and he loved that song. He even wants us to send him a copy so his church can learn it...I wanted to tell him that the reason the singing was so good was that it was sung from the hearts of people who loved the Lord with all their hearts and that He himself let His presence be felt thru the singing, cause He was there...I hope He will come to mine when it's my turn....
Well Rhonda, I'm kinda miffed cause you get to get Roger 1st for leaving us when he did...but I think i'm still gonna take a swing at him cause if I know you, you were so happy to see him that you couldn't punch him in the nose like we agreed to do...I just wished I had thought to tell you before you left so he'd be expecting it when I get there...LOL.... And I worried about telling you goodbye...didn't know how to do it...and I didn't have to..cause after I thought about it, I didn't want to. I don't want to say good-bye...how about.."see ya later".......