Happily, we have all been doing a good job of keeping Mom and Dad company! One week Jean will go (and often Jimmie or Jennifer accompanies her), I'll go the next week, Glenda and Mollie usually go every-other Saturday and Danny goes every 2 weeks or so. Dad goes to the deer camp once a month for poker night to have steak dinner with the guys and play cards for a little while! We are all so grateful for our dear friend Leslie who makes sure Dad gets to go!
Recently Mom and Dad took a tour of some of the Painted Churches near Schulenburg. Jean and Jimmie picked them up and met up with six of Mom and Dad's close friends. Mom loved seeing the Churches. I am not sure that Dad enjoyed it as much as she did! Needless to say, they were worn out by the time they got home and took a couple days' rest to recuperate! Mom said it was well worth it! If you haven't toured the Churches, I highly recommend it! One of the sites you can get information about them is www.klru.org/painted churches/
Last Saturday Danny picked Dad up and took him out to the deer lease. They chose a deer stand that Dad could get in and out of easily and hunted together! They didn't shoot anything, but Dad got to sit there and watch the deer and enjoy being with Danny! Dad loved that and, no doubt, so did Danny!
My sweet friend Kim Wagner has gone with me to visit with Mom and Dad on at least two different occasions. She doesn't work on Wednesdays, so that makes a great day for us to catch up with each other on the ride from Austin to Marble Falls and then to visit with Mom and Dad! She and I have been best friends since we were juniors in high school! We all love her dearly AND she brings home-made lunch when she comes! Last time she even made a pecan pie!!! That put a great big ol' smile on Dad's face!!! Mom especially loves it because she doesn't have to cook or worry about what to do for at least lunch and another meal from the left-overs! Someone said, "It is never best friendship until it has gone through and survived some rough times." Well, let me tell you that Kim has seen me through and helped me survive a LOT of rough times!!! Of course, we have LOTS of great happy memories together!!! "A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure." ~ Sirach 6:14 ~ I am so very blessed to have great friends in my life, like Kim!
Coincidentally, the last time Kim and I were there, Donnie and Mary Vollette also came! They visit often, as do several church friends. Donnie and Mary picked up a coconut cream pie, Dad's favorite, from the Bluebonnet Cafe in Marble Falls on the way, so Dad let them come in!!!! Just kidding! We had plenty of sweets that day with the pecan pie and the coconut pie! Dad's mother, Grandma Pauly, made the best coconut pie you ever tasted! However, none of us had any problem eating the one from the Bluebonnet either! Kim's pecan pie was a close second to my Mom's pecan pie...and that's a HUGE compliment!!!
Please know that Mom and Dad truly enjoy your visits and it sure helps to make their week go by more quickly! Mom and Dad are a little slow getting their days started...Dad doesn't get out of bed until close to 10:00, so they eat a very late breakfast, a mid-afternoon lunch and a small night-time dinner. If they know you're coming, they will adjust their schedule accordingly! Luckily, they're flexible! They still love to eat lunch out and do that often!
Jean and I went to Mom and Dad's yesterday and spent a good part of the day. Dad's speech therapist Marge was there for well over her usual hour because we were all playing with Dad's new communicator! Yes, it finally arrived and it is really cool! The main thing is that we just have to get Mom and Dad comfortable with using it! It has all kinds of tabs and options to help Dad be able to be more social with visitors and family. Mom and Dad don't seem to have any trouble communicating with each other. However, when someone else is there, Dad obviously stays out of the conversation other than to laugh or respond with facial changes. This way Dad can push a "key" and actually ask the visitor a question like, "How's your golf game?" It is SO COOL! Marge is only able to continue speech therapy through the end of this month, so she is working diligently to train us in the use of the machine as well as other speech-related therapies.
The rep for the machine was with us as well and we had him program the machine with a page for poker night! Ollie and Danny are going to keep a pad of paper handy and write down things that they know Dad would say during the game (no cursing though!). In addition, we are all keeping a notebook of things that we think should be in the machine. It's supposed to be easy to program, so we will each enter new phrases, words, etc. as we go there to visit.
Mom and Dad were in their usual good spirits and loved having two of their kids there for the day! Time flew by much too quickly and we headed home about 4:30. It's funny because Jean was trying to be back to her house by 4:00 and we didn't even leave Mom and Dad's until after that! She and I agreed that it is so hard to leave once we get there! I count my blessings to have such admirable people as my parents!
Billy Graham said, " The family should be a closely knit group. The home should be a self-contained shelter of security; a kind of school where life's basic lessons are taught; and a kind of church where God is honored; a place where wholesome recreation and simple pleasures are enjoyed." I am so prayerfully grateful that I am one of the blessed ones whose family fits warm and snuggly into that category! TO GOD BE THE GLORY! Amen!
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