Belated Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, a little late, from all the Smith family! We are all thankful for you, the faithful followers of the blog, friends and family members who keep Mom and Dad in your thoughts and prayers!

The majority of the Smith clan were at Jean and Jimmie's ranch for Thanksgiving Day.

Personally and selfishly, I was happy that it was cold and windy so everyone wanted to stay in the house most of the day, rather than be spread out all over inside and out! Mom and Dad arrived full of smiles and happiness to share with all of us! We gathered in the kitchen shortly after their arrival for our prayer and our meal. Isn't especially spiritual for the whole family to pray together?! I just love that!

Jean and her sister-in-law La Rose made the turkey and dressing and it was outstanding! The rest of us provided the side dishes and desserts. If anyone went home hungry it was their own fault!!!

Dad bundled up in the middle of the afternoon and went out to Jimmie's shop to watch all the guys shoot pool and harass each other! He really loves that! He is using his hemi-walker much more lately and it has enabled him to be more active! Some days he's faster walking than others, but the important thing is that he is walking!!! Mom is great about suggesting he use the walker rather than the wheelchair! It sure makes it easier for her!

Jean and I are spending the day with Mom and Dad tomorrow. It will be the last day with Marge, the speech therapist. We are continuing to work with Dad on his communication machine. I asked him Thursday if he was using it at all and he said he wasn't. It's not something that is absolutely necessary for Dad and Mom to communicate, but it would be so beneficial if he would use it when he has visitors or family members there. We'll keep encouraging its use, of course, but it is something that requires practice. It's tough since we can't be there every day or even every-other day to work on it with him. We all do what we can...

I will look forward to blogging after tomorrow! I am thankful for each and every one of you!

"Blessed are You, loving Father, for all Your gifts to us. Blessed are Your for giving us family and friends to be with us in times of joy and sorrow, to help us in days of need, and to rejoice with us in moments of celebration...Father, we praise You for Your Son Jesus, who knew the happiness of family and friends, and in the love of Your Holy Spirit. Blessed are You forever and ever." Amen.

Here I am!

Well folks, all I can say is that time sure flies between postings these days! I know, I know, no excuses! I do apologize! Cousin Donnie thought something was wrong with the blog since the last posting was in October! Well, the blog is working fine, it's the one who's supposed to be doing the blogging that hasn't been doing her job!!!

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!

Remember me?!!!

Howdy family and friends! Can you believe how great Dad looks in these pictures?! Dad and our great friend Leslie bought this boat. Leslie modified it with a chair lift similar to the one that helps the handicapped person get upstairs. However, the dock at Horseshoe Bay was level with the entrance to the boat, so the Dad and the wheelchair were easily loaded! This is now designated the family fishing and fun boat!!! Yeehaw!!!

Mom, Dad, Jean, Jimmie, Lisa and Danny accompanied great friends to tour the Painted Churches on Wednesday of this week. Jean said they all had a great time, enjoyed the churches immensely and had a wonderful lunch together. Mom and Dad got home Wednesday evening and are probably spending today in their chairs. Dad, however, does have speech therapy today, but I'll bet the rest of the day is spent resting! Mother said they were both really tired! I hope to get some pictures from Jean to share with y'all!

Last Sunday Mom and Dad went to Mass, which is their current routine. The great news is that Dad used his hemi-walker to go to Mass and lunch afterwards!!! That's a huge accomplishment! It shows me that he is determined to continue making progress, despite maxing out on his physical therapy! Way to go Dad!!!

Ollie and I just returned from 7 days in New York. The highlights of our trip were visiting with friends who toured us through some of the western part of the state and then to Niagara Falls! That was absolutely a memorable spiritual experience for me! We then rented a car on Monday and spent a whole day antique shopping and driving to Cooperstown to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday! Let me just put it to you this way...I am not sure Ollie's eyes were dry the entire day we were there!!! We were told that an "average" baseball fan could get through the museum in 3-4 hours. Well...it took us about 7!!! Ollie was raised on baseball in St Louis and visiting the Hall of Fame is something he has wanted to do all his life!!! I felt privileged to be there with him!!! We are so blessed to have been able to take this trip!

I'll go spend a day with Mom and Dad next week and have more to report then! God's blessings!

Finally, I'm back!!

Hello friends and family members!!! I am finally back from our big sale at Warrenton! Ollie and I got back Sunday night and were happy, but exhausted! Thank you God for a successful show!

I went to visit Mom and Dad today. I arrived simultaneously with the physical therapist. I was sad to learn that today was Dad's 15th, and last, home physical therapy treatment. Susan, the therapist, said that Medicare requires specific progress and, if he is not making it, then they think that he can do "maintenance" on his own. Truthfully, he is able to do the exercises without her supervision. The problem is that he is pretty stubborn about doing them! Mom said that he does walk around with his hemi-walker, but he usually won't exercise at the handrail or lift the little weights to strengthen his arm when she suggests that. I believe he will do the exercises with us kids when we visit, so we are determined to take turns so that someone is there a couple of times a week, if possible.

Dad's right shoulder has been hurting. Due to the effects of the stroke, the arm has separated from the shoulder in the socket. This is a common issue with stroke victims. Dad wears a special splint when he is up and supports it with a pillow when he is in a chair or in bed. The therapist said that people who have this issue from a stroke either have no feeling at all in the affected limbs or they have pain. Sadly, Dad has pain. It doesn't seem to be constant, and it mostly hurts after it has been exercised. Mom said that she has been trying to get Daddy to let her make an appointment with an orthopedist. I don't think that's a bad idea, especially because I don't think that shoulder has ever been x-rayed. I'll talk to Mom about making that appointment.

Speaking of appointments, Mom told Dad last night that he had a dental appointment scheduled for today at 12:50 to have his teeth cleaned. She said he started blurting out all kinds of negative "words" of disapproval! She laughed and said to him, "You're cursing aren't you?!" Mom deserves so much praise for retaining her sense of humor!!! Maybe it's a good thing that she couldn't understand what he was saying!!! Rev. Billy Graham said, "A keen sense of humor helps us to overlook the unbecoming, understand the unconventional, tolerate the unpleasant, overcome the unexpected and outlast the unbearable." Mother is the epitome of that!

Despite Dad's grumblings, we did go to his dental appointment!!! You'd think that, after 64 years, he'd have learned not to argue with her!!!

After the appointment we went to lunch. Mom was headed towards a restaurant called the River City Grill, but when she got to a stop sign where she needed to turn right, Dad made it very clear that he wanted her to turn left. We had been talking about Janie's Mexican Food restaurant and turning left would take us there! So...we had a nice Mexican food lunch!!! Dad reads the menu and points to what he wants to eat. Today it was Steak Ranchero!

I headed back to Austin once we got back to the house! It was already after 3:00 by that time!The day sure does fly by when we're visiting! One of their favorite daily activities is to sit in their comfy living room chairs and watch "The Virginian" on the western channel on TV. We don't talk during that show and it was about to come on, so it was a good time for me leave!

Oh...good news...the communication machine that was ordered weeks ago came via UPS today! Marge, the speech therapist, is scheduled to be at Mom and Dad's tomorrow, so I am hopeful she can start setting it up immediately! Dad isn't very optimistic about it, but I have high hopes that it will be user-friendly and help him "talk" to Mom and all of us! Prayers please!!!

Ollie and I are taking a little vacation next week, October 14 - 20, and going to New York to visit some dear friends of ours who lived across the street from us for about 9 years and deserted us to live where it's not so hot! They live outside Buffalo in a little Amish village called Orchard Park. We plan to go into Canada from there as well as see what should be the 8th modern wonder of the world, Niagara Falls! After 3 or 4 days with our good friends, we will rent a car and drive to Cooperstown NY. Ollie is a HUGE baseball fan (he grew up in St Louis MO, so guess who's his favorite team?!), so "we" are thrilled that "we" get to spend a WHOLE DAY in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown! We'd better take a bunch of tissues with us because my ol' softie of a husband will definitely shed a few tears that day!! If he had a bucket list, visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame would probably be Numero Uno!!! I'm sure it will be wonderful...I'll be happy just watching him enjoy it!

Thank you all for your patience in waiting for this new blog posting! I am not sure how much I'll post between now and when we depart for NY, but you are all always in my heart and in my prayers! "Love is not written on paper, for paper can be erased. Nor is it etched on stone, for stone can be broken. But it is inscribed on a heart and there it shall remain forever." Amen.

Wednesday

Hello all! My sweet friend, Kim Wagner and I spent the day with Mom and Dad on Wednesday. Kim and I have been best friends since we were Juniors in high school! Let me tell you that we have gone through a LOT together!!! Kim is one of the kindest and sweetest persons you could ever hope to be blessed with as a friend!

Mom and Dad were up and having breakfast when we arrived! Mom seemed so much less stressed in getting Dad ready for therapy, since they come to the house now! I am so pleased to tell you that Dad's home therapy has begun! It is so nice for Mom not to have to deal with getting Dad to Burnet and for the therapists to come to the house! I did pluralize therapists! Somehow it was approved for Dad to have speech therapy AND physical therapy at home!!!

Dad's physical therapist, Susan, is a young blonde, so Dad is VERY cooperative with her and smiles a lot!!! He's still such a big flirt! Susan had Dad make a couple of trips around the house with the hemi-walker and then had him walk forwards, backwards and sideways back and forth at the hand-rail. After he was back in his wheelchair, she exercised his right arm, shoulder and hand. The hour with her went by quickly and then we had lunch.

Sweet Kim had gotten up at 6:00 and prepared lunch to bring to Mom, Dad and me! She made King Ranch chicken, corn and a beautiful salad. Oh, and she made peach short-cake for dessert! Mom was especially thrilled to not to have to cook and to taste someone else's cooking for a change!

Kim told Mom that they should move to Georgetown, where she lives, and she would cook for them a lot! Mom got this great smile on her face and said, "Okay!!!" I think she'd take her up on that in a heartbeat, but there's no way on God's green earth that she could get Daddy to move from their house! They've talked about it from time to time, but Dad makes this stern face and points to the ground as if to say, "I am staying right here!!!"

Time flew and Marge, the speech therapist arrived at 3:00. This was her second visit to the house. She took Dad to the computer and continued working with him on turning on the computer, calling up his emails, reading them and responding to them! So, if any of you would like to hear from Dad, just send him and email! Either Marge, Mom or one of us kids will help Dad to respond! If you email him, just a short message is best! I am also proud to say that Mom is now able to retrieve and respond to emails too! She doesn't get to the computer often, maybe once a week at best, but she loves to hear from her friends and family! You don't have to be concerned about the length of the email with her! She loves to read your news! Marge is keeping track of the communication machine that's on order. It should be arriving any time now! Hoe blessed we are that she will help Dad get it set u p and teach him how to use it!

Between therapies and after lunch, Kim and I helped Mom with folding and putting away some of her laundry. It was fun having girl-talk while our hands were busy. We also stripped the bed, washed the linens and hung them on the clothesline! Kim nor I had hung clothes on the line in YEARS! We laughed and laughed because we couldn't even remember how to hang sheets!!! She said she couldn't wait to tell her daughter Heather about our fun! She doubted Heather even knew what a clothesline was!!! Some of the sheets were close to dry by the time we finished since it was so hot and the wind was blowing! Think of the electricity we saved! After about an hour we went back out there and took them down! Ah, what a wonderful scent sheets have that are dried outside! It brought back so many memories of my childhood! "Pleasure is the flower that passes; remembrance, the lasting perfume." ~ Jean de Boufflers

The day flew by much too quickly, but we shared lots of laughs and hugs, so it was a very good day! Mom and Dad loved spending time with Kim, as she did them! What a treasure my friend is to me and my family! "Friends are kisses blown to us by angels!" ~ author unknown

Thursday, September 23 marks two special events, the first day of Autumn and the opening of the big antiques sale in Warrenton TX! Ollie and I set up two booths in a building there called Cole's and spend September 20 through October 3rd there! I probably won't be posting again until after the end of that show. I pray all is well with each of you and I look forward to "talking" to you in October! My love to all of you, Sandi

Dove Season!!!

A huge tradition with many of our bunch is Opening Day of dove season, September 1. Ollie and I went to Jean and Jimmie's ranch so he could hunt with Jimmie and with Jennifer's guys, David, Randy and Bradley. This year 9-year old Kelly joined them as did 3.5 year old Austin! They, like all the hunters, were decked out in their camo and Kelly had the 410 shotgun (well-supervised, I promise!)! While the hunters are out, Jean and I get a chance to relax and visit, watch a movie, or whatever suits us!

The highlight of Opening Day is the tailgate party at dusk. All the hunters and visitors gather in a pasture and back the trucks into a circle. We set up a table, open a couple of tailgates and spread out the food...it's a night of junk food, chips, dips, jalapeno wienies, sardines, smoked oysters, brownies and all kinds of unhealthy but tasty things!!! Fortunately we only eat like that at the taligate party!!!

Mom and Dad joined us too! They arrived early enough for Jimmie to take Dad (and Austin) for a ride around on the ranch on the Kabota! Jimmie took them to see the hunters and then to the tailgate party! They really enjoyed the ride! For they guys in our family, hunting is an opportunity for fellowship and camaraderie.

This is blog 3 of 3! It was a busy week with Mom and Dad and we loved every minute of it!

Yay for Caffeine!!!

Like I said, Dad was pretty perky during speech therapy! Usually, when we get home from Burnet, Dad heads straight for his chair in exhaustion! Well, not Thursday! I guess that caffeine from the Mocha Frappe' kicked in 'cause as soon as Dad got out of the suburban, he headed for his scooter!!! He got himself out of the wheelchair and onto the scooter and took off! We could hardly keep up with him! Mom went in the house to get her sun hat and Dad was out the gate and halfway to the garage before she caught up with him! First he wanted to go check out the back garage. After he was satisfied as to what was in there (Ollie and I are storing some furniture in there), he turned around and was well on the way to the front garage before we could get the door locked, catch up with him and get the front garage doors opened!!! The scooter Leslie and Kim Stephens bought him has given him a new sense of independence! Leslie and Kim live on the property next to Mom and Dad. Leslie plans on laying a pathway between their houses so Dad can come visit! Mom will have to be on her toes to know where he is!!! Maybe we should tie a bell on the scooter!!!

Caffeine still working, we all went back to the house, Dad got himself back into the wheelchair and went right to his office computer! The Internet was down, so we couldn't check emails, etc., like he wanted. By the way, Dad and Mom have a new email address. It is WHSmith@txwinet.com. Mom has been practicing opening and reading emails, so feel free to send them a message!!! They LOVE hearing from all their family and friends! Speaking of that, they also relish visitors! Call Mom before you go, but please go see them!

Keep reading, more to tell!