Home again, home again!!

Ollie and I got back home from our Warrenton sale Sunday evening about 5:00.  It wasn't a record-setting sale, but it was profitable, and we are so prayerfully grateful for that! 

As soon as we unloaded the car and the truck, I headed from Mom and Dad's house!  I couldn't get over there fast enough!  I was so pleasantly surprised at how well Mom and Dad both looked!  I must say that Mom looked better than she had in a few weeks!  Her color was good, her strength was good and her spirit was unfailing, as usual!  They warmly welcomed me home!

Jean, Glenda, Danny and Whitney did a great job of assuring Mom and Dad had food and that all their needs were met while I was gone!  I praise God for a family that works so well together!

As most of you know, Dad was born and raised in Elgin TX.  Recently, Danny and Lisa moved back from Lexington to Elgin.  Their Church and Danny's office are there and they wanted to be somewhat closer to Mom and Dad and the rest of the family.  Danny was outside and saw that his next-door neighbor, an elderly woman, was also outside.  He went over and introduced himself to her.  She asked him if he had any relatives named Smith in Elgin.  He said no, that he and his Dad and one cousin, Troy, were the last of the Smiths.  She said that she used to know some Smiths in Elgin, Harvey, Dorene, Mary Ethel and Roy Dale.  Danny about fell over!!!  He said his mouth just hung open for a few seconds before he could respond!! He asked how she knew them and she replied that her mother was their father's sister!!  Our Grandpa Sewell Smith was her mother, Cecil's, sister!!!  Yes, her name was Cecil! As it turns out, and talk about a weird God-thing, Danny and Lisa are living next-door to Dad's first cousin, Mamie Ruth King!!!  None of us kids have met her nor really knew to ask about her!  Danny also has met Mamie's daughter, Cecilia!  Cecilia has been working on her line of the family's genealogy as has our cousin Troy been working on this side of the Smith clan. Troy is anxious to talk to Mamie and Cecilia and share information!  We do not know, at this point, where Grandpa Smith was born.  We know it was somewhere near Brady Texas, but that's all we know.  We are all hoping that Mamie and Cecilia can provide us that information.  We also want to know where our Great-Grandfather, Clint, was born.  We know Great-Grandmother Ida Lafayette Smith was from Louisiana. If you know more than we, please call and tell Troy or me! 

Someday soon, I will take Mom and Dad on a little ride to Elgin to see Mamie!  It will be a very spontaneous trip, based on how Mom is feeling that day!  We know that we want to make that trip soon. I will keep you posted on the outcome!  We are all so thrilled and hope to include Mamie, Cecilia and all of their family in our next reunion.  Grandpa Smith had one brother, Jim (married to Marie - one daughter Margie Lou), and sisters Cecil, Willie Faye, and twins, of whom I do not know names.  Mom said she remembers that one of the twins drowned when she was young.  If you have any Smith family information, please call and talk to Troy or me!  If you know how to get in touch with Margie Lou, please share that information.  I would like to call her and include her and her family in the reunion also! To me, family is our link to the past as well as the future!  It is so cool to find another link to our past and her daughter, a link to our future!!  As I said, I will post as soon as we go see Mamie!!

Dad has been spending a good bit of time each day entertaining himself playing Solitaire on the computer.  Yesterday, Jean showed Mom how to retrieve her emails on their new account, whsmith9707@gmail.com.  So, if you feel inclined to do so, email away!!  Mom enjoys reading emails and/or greeting cards to Dad!  

I have been doing 12 days-worth of laundry all morning and hope to go over to Mom and Dad's around 3:00 for a visit with some cousins on Mom's side of the family. 

I was sick and you visited me. 
 Matthew 23: 35-40

Thank you all for your visits, calls, cards, flowers, emails and, most important, prayers!  We all sincerely appreciate you!  You are all in Mom and Dad's and all of our thoughts and prayers also!   

Love, Sandi