Here I am!!!

I don't know where time goes theses days, but, wherever it goes, it's doing it way too quickly!!!

Mom and Dad are well. They, like all of us, are staying indoors as much as possible to avoid the heat! Mom walks down to the road for the newspaper and tends to her plants outside in the mornings before Dad gets up, and then they spend the rest of the day in the house. Often, they go out for lunch or dinner and they don't miss Mass on the weekends!

Their helper, Jerry, has decided to retire. That's good for him, but not so great for Mom and Dad. They really liked him and he was a great help for Mom. She trusted him with some of her laundry and house keeping chores, which was a huge step for her. He took great care of Dad and Mom didn't have to worry a bit when she would leave Dad in Jerry's care. That's life I guess...subject to change! Winston Churchill said that there is nothing wrong with change, as long as it's in the right direction! We'll just haveMom in seeking more help and making sure that she is happy with the results. It is sadly true that good help is hard to find!

Danny and Lisa spent last Saturday at Mom and Dad's. I know Dad loves his girls, but there's no one quite like that son, you know! Danny is such a wonderful, Godly man and I am so proud to be his sister! He is an elder in the Lutheran Church in Elgin that he and Lisa have attended for many years. He is a reflection of a respectable father. "What was silent in the father speaks in the son, and often I found in the son the unveiled secret of the father." ~Friedrich Nietzsche
The previous Saturday, Glenda visited with Dad and fixed lunch for him while Mom attended a bridal shower for one of the daughters of dear Church friends. Of course, Jean is still visiting on a regular basis also. We all are so blessed to have each other! Glenda tells all her kids' friends to be sure, when they have kids, to have more than one because they will need each other, especially when their parents are older! We didn't think of that...Jean and Jimmie have one daughter, Glenda has 2 kids, I have one, Ollie has one, and Danny has one!! The great part, for our kids, is that they were raised close in proximity and close in heart, so they are like siblings to each other. At least we did that right...all with the loving example of our parents!

I'm hoping to visit with Mom and Dad tomorrow, as long as they don't have other plans. I am going to call Mom as soon as I post this. Mom and Dad love to listen to our stories of mine and Ollie's "treasure hunting" for our antiques business. I am sure that I have told you that Ollie is a bookseller and specializes in old and out of print or specialty signed books about Texas, as well as old Texas maps, documents, slave documents and old photography. My part of our business is selling things that are old Texas pieces...furniture and oddities. So Ollie and I are always "on the hunt." It amazes Dad what we find and loves to hear all the details of our travels and of the purchase to us selling it! We are often borrowing their flat-bed trailer to haul our finds! Last week we followed some leads to Hebbronville and Burnet Texas, and found good things at both places! We are preparing for our big upcoming sale in Warrenton that will be held September 22 through October 1. Come see us! We are in a building called Cole's at the intersection of Hwy 237 and FM 954. In Cole's, our aisles are named, and we are on "Waco Dr."

For now, I will leave you with this passage from Isaiah 41:10...

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Amen!!!

HAPPY #87 DADDY!!!

On July 29, 1924, my Dad was born to Mabel and Sewell Smith in Elgin Texas! He was their first child, and he was born on Mabel's 17th birthday! I am so proud to say that he is my father! God blessed our family with him! His life's accomplishments are too numerous to list!
Thank you God for Harvey Smith!!

Upcoming Birthday!

Howdy everyone! While I think about it and am at my computer, Dad's 87th birthday is Friday, July 29th! If you'd like to send him a card, his address is...
6850 CR 120
Marble Falls TX 78654-7914

I spent part of the day with Mom on Thursday. She came to Austin for a couple of doctor's appointments. I like to go with her when I can so I can ask questions on her behalf. She likes that! All is well with Mom...I think she is healthier than I am!!! She is an amazing Godly woman!

"Surprise" Visit!!!

My long-time friend Cindy who lives in Reno NV is in Austin visiting her kids, grandkids and me this week! She and I drove out to see Mom and Dad Tuesday. I had talked to Mom on Monday and told her we were coming, but she forgot!! Cindy and I arrived about 10:30, as I had told Mom we would, and, when we knocked and went in, she had the most surprised look on her face! She laughed and said that she had forgotten all about us coming and that she had only been up 30 minutes or so! She was just about to head out the door to walk down to get the newspaper and then work in the yard and Dad was still in bed asleep!!! We laughed and told her no worries, I had brought the paper up, so we would just go help her work in the yard and let Dad wake when he was ready. Mom mainly wanted to clean and change the water in the bird bath and water some shrubs and trees. As you can imagine, Cindy and I mostly watched because Mom likes to do things herself! That's fine...I am thrilled that she can! I am so like my Mom in that I would much rather be out working in the yard rather than in the house!! I am blessed that Idid inherit a bit of her green thumb, but Mom can put a stick in the ground and it will grow and probably bloom!!! The drought is really hurting her crepe myrtles and shrubs, just like most of us. What's we do to deserve this?!!! Pray for rain!!!

The newspaper should have been my clue that Mom had forgotten we were coming! Mom always gets up, gets dressed and walks down to get the paper so it's waiting on the table when Dad gets up. It was still down at the road when Cindy and I turned in to go through the gate. It just didn't occur to me why it was still down there!! I guess I wouldn't make a very good detective!!!

Dad was awake and sitting at the table reading the newspaper when we got back in the house from watering the yard and such. He couldn't believe it when the three of us walked in the door! He pointed at us and then at Mom with a quizzical look on his face and then he got a big laugh when Mom told him she forgot we were coming! He was so happy to see Cindy! It had been quite some time since they last saw her.

Once again, we assured Mom not to stress or rush. She and Dad ate a kolache and then she took him to get him shaved and dressed. Around noon we all went "up on the hill" to Russo's for lunch. Dad loves their steaks and Mom loves their East Meets West salad! Russo's has a wonderful atmosphere and their view is spectacular. It's owned by a couple who lived across the street from them when they lived in Meadowlakes in Marble Falls. So, it does feel "homey" when we dine there, and, the food is great!

After lunch we all took a drive through Dad and Leslie Stephen's last land development, Stone Mountain, which is just down the road from Mom and Dad's place. Dad is so proud to show it off. Talk about spectacular views...from many of the lots you can see all the way to Lake Marble Falls and further! There are quite a few homes built in the subdivision, and they are lovely! Dad always enjoys that trip! Just FYI, there are still lots available!!!

Cindy and I left around 3:30 to get back to town for my grandson Austin's T-ball practice! We were picking him up from "school" and taking him, and you never know what to expect with traffic, so we left about 3:30. I always leave with my heart warmed from all the love my parents show us! "The love of a family is life's greatest blessing." I believe that wholeheartedly. Dad always hugs me tightly and then looks directly at me smiling to say "I love you," then Mom and I wave and say "I love you" as I drive away. That's always one of the highlights of my existence. My heart is warmed, I let out a big sigh, smile and drive away thanking God for them.

Thank you Lord for my wonderful parents. They are faithful examples of Your love and teachings through their devotion to each other, their family and their friends. Keep them safe in Your loving care and be merciful to them. Amen.

Poor mistreated Dad!

Yesterday was my birthday! One of the most important things I wanted to do was to spend time with Mom and Dad! After all, they're the reason I'm here!!! I believe it is very important to be grateful!!! Ollie and I went to Mom and Dad's house to pick them up and go out to lunch. My sister Jean surprised me and joined us! After lunch we all went back to the house and while the men napped, we girls drug out the old pictures from our childhood and did some reminiscing! We laughed at some, especially the hairdo's, and were sentimental over others. What I love about doing that is the stories that we share. Inevitably I hear a story that I hadn't heard before. We are so blessed to have those pictures to spur our memories. It makes me so sad for the people who have suffered loss of those things through floods, hurricanes and fires. I know we are not meant to put so much value on material things, but it's hard not to. The great part is that most of those memories are kept in our hearts!

Another important thing I like to is to call my Aunt Mary and wish her a happy birthday the day before mine! I have always felt a special connection to her because of our close birthdays! She sounded great and we had a wonderful phone-visit!

As I mentioned in a previous post, most of the family was together at Glenda's for Father's Day. What I didn't know was that Dad used his cane, and some assistance from Mom and Danny, and climbed the stairs so he could see the 2nd story of Glenda's new home! Now that's pretty impressive! Dad is still making progress, maybe not on a daily basis, but it is happening!!!

Mom told us a cute story yesterday! She said one day recently she had fussed at Dad about something. A bit later she was doing something back in their bedroom and, using his cane, he came walking in singing the words to this song..."I've been cheated, been mistreated, when will I be loved?!" She said they shared a great big laugh over that! She was amazed because she could actually tell what he was singing!!! When Dad sings, like when he sang "Happy Birthday" to me, you can tell what he's singing! Way back when Dad was in Reliant, the speech therapist told us that you use a different part of your brain to sing than to talk. After Mom told us about him singing to her, I said it would be great if he could just sing to us to communicate!! Sadly, it's not that easy! Dad wanted so badly to tell us something at lunch yesterday, but we just couldn't figure out what it was. I cannot imagine how frustrating that must be for him. It makes me admire his fortitude that much more! Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Patience and fortitude conquer all things." My Dad has conquered so much more than any of us thought possible. The greatest of those was not to let the stroke conquer him!. All through the grace of God!

Glenda hosted me, Ollie, Whitney, Austin, Lisa, Danny and friends, Dennis, Linda and Stuart to her house last night for a wonderful birthday dinner! The greatest gifts I received yesterday were the sparkling-eyed smile, hug and laughing "Ah" that I got from my Dad when I walked in the door, the warm, loving, healing hug I got from my Momma, and the love that I received from Ollie, my kids, grandkids and all my family and friends! "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy and peace." Galatians 5:22 ~ I am so truly blessed with all of those things and so much more! Amen!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY GUYS!

I know, I know! I am so remiss in blogging!!! Sorry! Someone please tell me where the time goes!!!

I have a funny/not so funny story to tell you on Ollie and myself! Every year, for many, many years, Ollie's Mom's family has held their family reunion on the first Sunday in June. After Ollie's sweet Mom passed away, they stopped having the reunion for about 8 years. Then, fortunately, they decided it was important and started having it again. It just so happens that my Dad's side of the family has been gathering on the first Saturday of June and the Goertz side of the family, my maternal grandmother's family, holds their reunion on the first Sunday of June (as they have for all of my life without fail). Since Ollie's family resumed their reunion on the first Sunday of June as well, he and I have alternated reunions each year. This year was our turn to go to St Louis and miss my family's reunions. So, we booked our flights, our hotel room, our rental car and bought tickets to two Cardinal's games. We were set. Here's the catch...Ollie got the email with all the info about the reunion, but he didn't notice the date. Yep, it was moved from the first Sunday, June 5th, to the second Sunday, June 12th!!! Fortunately, I said something on my facebook about planning on going to a couple of ballgames while we were in St Louis and Olile's cousin Al started putting 2 + 2 together! He immediately sent Ollie and email and said that something was screwy because he knew that the Cardinals were on the road the weekend of the reunion!! This was the night before we were scheduled to leave, mind you! Well, l ong story shortened, we decided to go ahead and take a little vacation and go on to St Louis so we didn't lose the money on our airline tickets and our Cardinal tickets! Ollie flew to St Louis this past Saturday evening and spent one night so he could actually attend the reunion!!! He got ribbed quite a bit by his relatives!!! Fortunately he can handle it!!!

The great part is that he and I had a fantastic time while we were there! We bicycled around Forest Park, drove around the area of Washington and New Haven MO where his Grandma and Grandpa Anderson were raised (we think), we went to two Cardinals' games, both of which they won, got to see Albert Pujols hit a total of 3 home runs, Lance Berkman 1 home run, and spent Sunday in Mark Twain's home town of Hannibal MO! All in all it it worked out fine! Poor Ollie was so upset that he didn't catch the date change, but as someone said, "Everything happens for a reason!" We just said "oh well..." and rolled with the flow!!!

The reunion for Grandma Pauly's side of the family met at my sister and brother-in-law, Jean and Jimmie's ranch on Saturday June 4th. There was a smaller turn-out than in the past few years, but there had been a wedding in the family just the weekend prior, so I guess some of the relatives felt like they'd seen their kinfolk enough!!! Mom and Dad thoroughly enjoyed those that were able to go!

Mom's Goertz Reunion (Grandma Grohman's side of the family) was held on Sunday, the 5th in Rockne, Mom's home town. That reunion is usually huge, and it didn't fall short this year! However, last year Grandma's bunch had the most attendees, but this year there were only 37 of our group. On average there are about 250 to 300 people that attend! And that's not nearly all of us! It's pretty awesome to look out over the crowd and know that you're kin to at least half of them! I like to think about my Great-Grandma and Grandpa Goertz looking down from Heaven and witnessing what they started! Yes, pretty amazing!!! I think about that, too, when all my immediate family gathers for Christmas or some other major event in the Smith family. I often go to Mom and Dad and say, "Isn't it amazing that the two of you started all of this?!" Dad usually lets out a big laugh! I'm not quite sure what that means!!!

Ollie and I went out to Mom and Dad's yesterday. I was so tickled when she asked us to come in the truck because she had a few honey-do's for Ollie! She wanted him to load up and haul her recyclables to their local recycling center, change her A/C filter and check her TexTag account. I highly complimented her on letting go of those things! It wasn't much, but it isn't like her to ask for help! She then told me that Leslie had been over the previous day and she had a list of honey-do's for him also!! Way to go Mom! Delegate those duties!!! Ollie and I picked up barbeque from Peete's Mesquite for lunch. Mom and Dad love their pork ribs and Ollie, who is quite the connoisseur of grilled foods, also thought they were excellent! Dad also loves their cabbage slaw! He let out a huge "Ah" when he lifted the lid of the to-go container!!! I love hearing that sound!!!

I never mean to leave out when any of my siblings go visit Mom and Dad. I find it hard enough time remembering what I did, much-less what they've done! Jean, Glenda and Danny each do spend quality time with Mom and Dad and I want to give them lots of credit for that! I am so incredibly blessed to have such a special family. I am so grateful and praise God for that! "One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts." Psalm 145:4

Dad's spirit and perseverance remains strong and Mom remains diligent in her loving care for him. I think this passage from Nephi sums up some of my feelings..."Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard." Nephi puts his trust in the Lord, as do my parents. I am honored to be a witness of their faithful service to the Lord.

Ollie and I are headed to Coppell tomorrow to spend 4 days taking care of our twin 2-1/2 year old granddaughters, Livi and Madi, while their Mommy (Neely) and Daddy (Carl) go to Mexico for Carl's brother's wedding! It should be "interesting" because they have never been away from their Mommy for more than one night!! I have a box-full of little girly 'prises to use as distractions any time I feel a melt-down coming on!!! They'll go to their "school" on Friday and Monday to keep in their usual routine. I think we can keep them busy enough on Saturday and Sunday without any problems. My only "fear" is bed-time, when tired and they're so used to Mommy putting them to bed. Say a little prayer for us!!!

Since we will be in Coppell until Monday night, we'll have to celebrate Father's Day with Daddy another day next week! He gave us his blessing on that! All of you great dads will be in my Sunday prayers! "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48

I hope and pray that you and your families are having a happy, healthy and safe summer! My love to all of you! Pray for rain! Amen!

Beautiful Sunday!

Ollie and I went to Marble Falls yesterday and met up with Mom and Dad after Church for lunch. Dad now uses a cane with a base and 4 rubber feet, rather than using his walker!!! Mom said that he "told" her that he wanted one and she shopped but couldn't find one. When she told him she was unable to find on, he "told" her that he knew where they could find one. They got in the car and he directed her to a local pharmacy. Sure enough, they had just what he wanted! For the first time since his stroke, Dad walked up to communion during Mass at Church yesterday!!! He must have felt so proud! He also walked into the restaurant and back to the car using the cane! Again, while we were back at the house, Dad walked around the house, rather than using his wheelchair! Hooray for progress!!! "Faith in one's progress brings contentment."

Mom looked beautiful, as always, in her Sunday best! She and Dad were in exceptionally happy moods Sunday! Mom has scheduled Jerry to come more often and she has hired a housekeeper to help her with cleaning around the house. This week she is only having her clean the bathrooms. That's what works for Mom, so we are happy that she is doing it her way! I think having this type of help is helping Mom to have more rest, hence the brighter mood! Having help for Mom makes Dad happier also!

When we got home from lunch, we all picked our spot and took naps! I don't think I've had that restful a nap in a long time! There's just something about being at my parents home that gives me peace! Pulitzer Prize winning journalist John Ed Pearce said, "Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and a place you grow old wanting to get back to." Amen!