Another funeral and a very special Christmas

We lost a life long member of the Highway Church last week. Alena was the last of our elderly ladies who were raised in the Highway congregation which began in a “tabernacle” on the river. She suffered a stroke 2 ½ years ago and had been housebound since. She was recently diagnosed with cancer and decided to go on hospice rather than undergo any further medical tests or treatments. She passed away in her home, surrounded by family, at the age of 88. She will be remembered by the whole community as someone who loved to serve others and who was a master pie baker. She will be greatly missed!

Cara and Heather spent Friday night with us after eating supper at Sheila’s and playing with Nam for a while. We really enjoyed their visit. I stayed up much later than I’m used to these days talking to them! They left Saturday morning to go visit more with Sheila and Nam, and then headed home from there. Nam loved meeting them and playing with them!

Sunday, we picked up Daddy and Bobbie and went to Henrietta Creek for services. It was nice to visit with the group over there and eat out with a few of them. Of course, we also enjoyed the time with Sheila and Nam. Nam did really well during both the assemblies. He is still learning to be quiet and still, but he is making good progress. After the second service, Dennis took the folks home, while I went home with Sheila for the night. We put up her tree and decorated it (she waited until the last minute, because she wasn’t sure how Nam would act with it). He was thrilled! Then we drove around until we found a Vietnamese restaurant that was open and had pho for supper. When we got back to the apartment, we opened our first gifts, which were pajamas (and also a new pair of slippers for me!). Nam also got the animated version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, which we watched (after having changed into our pjs). We ate junk food and watched a little tv until Nam finally fell asleep. Sheila and I stayed up for less than an hour before we gave it up for the night. Knowing that Nam would be up before the sun the next morning has a tendency to make one turn in early!

Nam had no idea what day it was when he got up the next morning or what it meant. He crawled up beside me on the couch to snuggle a bit while he fully woke up. Then we showed him what was under the Christmas tree…a tricycle! He was super excited and rode it all around the apartment. Then we showed him that he had a few other presents to open, which he also enjoyed. His trike has a little “trunk”, which he used to stash away his stocking stuffers. After breakfast, we got dressed and headed over to Weatherford to see “Memaw and Papa”. Unfortunately we had to rouse them out of bed. Bobbie had had one of her “spells” the night before and went to the ER. They hadn’t made it back home and to bed until around 4 am. So we just wished them a Merry Christmas, let Nam give them hugs, and then left to come back to our house. Nam couldn’t wait to see Grandad! He also got his gift from Ricky, which was a set of toy power and construction tools. Well, he loved that! He and Grandad spent the rest of the day “fixing” things around the house, when they weren’t “hunting”. We had tamales and rice for lunch and our traditional seafood boil for supper (with key lime pie for dessert). Nam enjoyed both meals! I do believe the shrimp was his favorite though…just like Grandad!

Dennis left this morning to go hunting in Brownwood. He will be gone until Sunday afternoon. I’m planning to spend all day tomorrow at Sheila and Nam’s apartment. I plan to make jerky on Saturday, as well as prepare food to take to the Pettit’s New Years Eve party Sunday evening. Since Sunday afternoon will be our monthly singing service, Sheila plans to bring Nam over for that. That kid loves to sing!

Sheila starts back to work next week. I plan to go over Monday, so she can do a practice run for a couple of hours. Then she’ll work a couple of half days on Tuesday and Wednesday, while I keep him at their apartment. Hopefully, he’ll be ready for her to start back fulltime after that. We’ll just have to play it by ear. The first couple of days will not be easy. He does NOT like his Momma to leave him! Even though we tell him she will be back at a certain time, he is still insecure about being separated from her…not really trusting that she really WILL be back. Poor little guy! I think he’ll do fine once he sees that she comes back every day when she says she will. It won’t be easy on Sheila either. But we will all get through it together…and with God’s help. Your prayers for our little guy would be much appreciated!

I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year!

Special times with friends and family

Well, we enjoyed our time spent with Janette last week. Although I’ve seen her at meetings and such for years, it has only been very recently that we’ve really gotten to know one another. It was fun to have her in our home, and she helped make the long drive to Benton and back more pleasant with her presence!

It was good to see everyone in Benton, but it was heartbreaking to “say good-bye” to dear Kenneth. Ken read a note that Kenneth had written for Sue’s funeral, but then forgot to take, so he wrote another note instructing “the boys” to read it at his funeral. It was very sweet. Then Jack did an excellent job talking about Kenneth and Sue, because you really can’t give credit to Kenneth for his work without mentioning her. Jack was able to add a very personal perspective to his comments, since he grew up with Kenneth’s boys. We stayed and enjoyed the lunch provided by the local churches, as well as a little extra visiting with the family. I also got to hold cute little Eleanor K. so her mom could eat without distraction. She is adorable! I’m sure looking forward to having one of those in about 4 months!

Thursday morning, I had court (which, thankfully, went very quickly and well!), then came home to Sheila and Nam. They actually arrived a little before I left. Sheila said Nam did not like having me leave! We had a fun day with them, and then drove around looking at lights after supper. I had cooked Zuppa Toscana for supper, and Nam loved it! He went back for seconds and upended his bowl! That kiddo is probably the best soup eater I’ve ever seen in a young child…even when the soup has kale in it! I also sent them home with some leftover shrimp etouffee. Sheila said he loved it too, when she heated it up for him. She told him that I had made it for them, and he said, “I love you, Granny!” What a sweetie!

Sheila and Nam spent Thursday night, so Friday morning we took them to see my Aunt Coez. She has been so excited about the adoption! Nam enjoyed our visit with her. She has SO many cool things all over her house. She gave him a cute little musical decoration that plays “Jingle Bells”. I think that has now replaced “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” as his favorite song. I had come home from Benton with another cold, and was feeling worse each day, so I didn’t do much for the next couple of days. I finally started feeling better Sunday morning. I didn’t fix Sunday dinner, so we just took the folks back to Brookdale after taking them to Braum’s for lunch. Then that evening, a bunch of us all went out to Rosa’s together. It was fun! Sarah P. and her kiddos were visiting, so they went with us.

This morning, I’ve been taking care of insurance stuff and paying bills. I THINK I’ve got Daddy’s insurance straightened out again. It has been a real pain! I am NOT a fan of TRS for creating all of the problems that I’ve had to clean up. After lunch we went to Walmart to buy groceries. I got my regular stuff, plus what I’ll need for our seafood boil next Monday…shrimp, crab legs, baby potatoes and stuff to make a key lime pie. That has been our “traditional” Christmas dinner for the past several years. Dennis isn’t a ham eater, and it is too soon after Thanksgiving for turkey, so I decided to do something completely different for our holiday meal. We all really enjoy it. It is one of those meals that is too expensive to do on a regular basis, but it is perfect for a special occasion!

We are taking Daddy to do some errands tomorrow. He needs to get some bloodwork done, plus we need to go get a handicap placard to place on our rearview mirror when we are driving them around. We got the paperwork from the doctor a couple of weeks ago, but we’ve been too busy to go get the placard ever since. Daddy will then have his PT that afternoon. He started last week, and he thinks it is helping already to build up his strength. He will have it twice a week for 6 weeks, plus they’ve told him to do it on his own a couple of times a day when they aren’t around.

We are going to Sheila’s and Nam’s on Wednesday to visit, go out for supper, and go look at lights in either Hudson Oaks or Willow Park…I can’t remember which. It is supposed to be a display that you can walk around amongst. Nam ought to LOVE that! I hope they have snowmen, because that is his favorite right now.

Cara and Heather are coming into town this weekend. They will spend Saturday visiting with Sheila and Nam and then come over here to spend the night. (Sheila isn’t quite ready for entertaining overnight guests just yet.) Then we all plan to go to services at Henrietta Creek on Sunday, including Daddy and Bobbie, and spend the day visiting. Dennis will bring the folks back home, but I plan to spend Sunday night with Sheila and Nam. We want to start our new tradition for Christmas Eve…exchanging pj’s, then wearing our new pajamas while drinking hot cocoa and watching Christmas movies. Then Monday, we’ll head back over here for our seafood boil. Everything is a little more special now that Nam has become a part of our family!

Well, I need to take care of some things, so I’ll bid you all adieu and wish you a very merry Christmas!

Travels and tears

My heart is breaking for the Avaritt family as they mourn the loss of dear Brother Kenneth. He was a special guy and will be missed by so many! When I think of him, I will always remember his deep voice, his twinkling eyes, his “Hello, Sugar”, and his HUGE heart. As a child, he seemed like a somewhat intimidating man; but as I grew to know him more personally, I realized what a sweetie he was. He had a strong love for God which directed everything he did and had a deep love for people and a committed desire to serve. He also had genuine humility. I sure loved that man, as many of you did, and the world just won’t be the same without him. However, I know that he is better off now. The last few years have been very hard on him, and now he can rest from the pain and sorrow that he had to endure. Our loss, his gain!

We enjoyed our short trip to Paris last week. Stephen and Mandy had a company party to attend, so we stayed with the boys. We spent the whole evening camping and battling coyotes! We would hike through the Grand Canyon looking for “tails” (we had brought the boys a book from there that identified different animals living in the Canyon by their tails). We would gather firewood from the bathroom and hallway and then cook marshmallows over the fire. But the most fun was when a couple of us would hide (either in the closet or under blankets) while the other two chased off those pesky coyotes! You would not believe how many of those critters they had in their house! Ha ha!

We were a little concerned about how the boys would do at bedtime, because they (Jessie in particular) do NOT like to go to bed when company is around. I guess we had worn them out, though, because after reading a couple of books to them, they crawled in bed and went to sleep, and we never heard a peep out of them! When Stephen and Mandy made it home, Dennis and I were dozing on the couch. Those boys had worn us out, too!

After a little more playtime Friday morning, we went out to each lunch with them before heading back homeward. We stopped at Sheila’s to visit with her and Nam on the way. Sheila cooked us supper and then we went driving around looking at Christmas lights. We found this one house that was amazing! It had lights choreographed to music that you tuned into on the car radio. We sat and watched the lights for a LONG time…through four or five songs. It was so fun to watch Nam, who was mesmerized by the whole thing. After each song, we would all clap and cheer! Nam finally started getting sleeping in the dark car, so we went back to their apartment and played some more until his bedtime. He did really good again! He gave us hugs, told us he loved us and then bid us goodbye as he saw us to the door. I think he got a bit teary a little later on and had to call us to get cheered up again. If he had his way, the four of us would all live together in the same house. It is so hard for him to wait patiently for our visits! I have to admit to getting a little teary-eyed myself. That little fella has sure wound his way into our hearts. I think I miss him as much as he misses us when we are apart!

We had brought gifts from Stephen and Mandy and Daddy and Bobbie for Nam, plus I’d brought him a pair of overalls that I’d ordered for him. As soon as he saw the overalls, he started stripping down to put them on. He LOVED being dressed like Grandad! He would put on Dennis' hat and say that he was Grandad! Then he opened Stephen and Mandy’s gift and found some PJ Mask pajamas (as well as some other neat goodies). He was super excited about that, too, and couldn’t wait to put them on! Then he opened the Mickey and Minnie Mouse that “Memaw and Papaw” had sent. He would hug them and call them “Baby Granny” and “Baby Grandad”. It was quite an exciting evening!

In some ways it is hard believe that Nam has been with us a whole month. In other ways, it feels like he has always been with us. He still has his struggles, and he is a 4-year-old boy (with all THAT entails), but he is one of the sweetest little guys I've ever known. Sheila really hit the jackpot with this kid! Even though we felt like we could "read" his personality from his early pictures, we didn't know what he was actually going to be like. But the pictures really did accurately portray his character. He is sweet, mischievous, fun-loving and sensitive...all the things that we could see in his face from the beginning. Our family has really been blessed by having him join it!

Janette D. is coming to spend the night tonight, so she can ride with us to Benton tomorrow. We want to leave fairly early, so we’ll have time to check into our rooms before the visitation tomorrow evening. We will stay until after the funeral Wednesday and then head back home. I have court on Thursday morning, and then Sheila and Nam are coming over to spend Thursday night with us. So this week is pretty full!

I’m looking forward to seeing many of you this week, even though the occasion will be a sad one. Praying for safe travels for all who will be on the road!

Getting back to "normal"

Whew! Been helping Dennis clean out the garage today, and I’m pooped! So I decided to do a little blogging to rest up a bit.

First time we've been able to park in the garage in well over a year!

We fit everything on one side, with room to spare! (of course, the trash men will have their work cut out for them tomorrow!)

Daddy’s tests all turned out fine last week…no blockage anywhere. The tests were done partly to make sure it was safe for him to wear compression stockings for the swelling in his legs. After discussing it with him, though, he’s decided not to wear them anyway. The doctor ordered thigh highs, and it would be impossible for him to put them on without assistance. He says the swelling has gone down some anyway. I guess it is something that he can live with easier than wrestling with those stockings every day.

We went to see Nam and Sheila last Wednesday. We went to the park, played around the apartment, and then decided to go to the FW Zoo. We LOVE that zoo! We’ll probably get a season pass next year, since it only takes about 10-15 minutes to get there from Sheila’s apartment. We arrived about 2:30 and stayed until they ran us out after closing time. Nam really enjoyed it and did really well. We rented a stroller and weren’t sure how he would do with that. But he enjoyed the ride. He would hop out every time we came to a new animal to see and want to be held so he could see better. He LOVES elephants, and lions, and tigers, and bears, and giraffes…and most everything else. Dennis took him inside the aviary to feed the birds. He was a little nervous at first, but he eventually worked up the courage to hold the feeding stick for a little while. He was worn out by the time we left! That didn’t bode well for when Dennis and I had to leave. That boy is certainly attached to his grandad!

I went over the next morning to help Sheila take Nam for his checkup. He did great! He would hug on the doctor and nurse. I don’t think they are used to that! Sheila put off his bloodwork and vaccines until later down the road, so his first experience there would be a positive one. He was found to be a healthy little boy...a little lightweight (about 27%) and just about average on height (around 48%). He has a problem with eczema, but we are hoping a change in soap and lotion will take care of most of that problem.

Dennis and I went back to see Nam Saturday morning, and Dennis finished installing the bench over Sheila’s fireplace. It turned out perfect! Now she has extra seating and toy storage, plus we don’t have to worry about Nam falling and busting his head open on the brick hearth. We stayed for lunch and naptime, so Nam was in a good mood when we left. He did great! No tears! That was a first. This week Sheila is trying to keep him home and things “normal”, so we won’t go over there until Friday evening. He really needed to be weaned off Grandad! Sheila says he is doing very well. Of course, he is still a strong-willed 4 year old boy, but he is adjusting to being home without a lot of entertainment and learning to obey Mom a little better.

I have one Nam story that I want to share. Sheila has been ordering her groceries from Walmart, online, and using their pickup service. She went to get some things one day this week, including more bread (for Nam’s PB sandwiches) and the yogurt and jello cups that he likes for snacks. He fell asleep in the car and didn’t wake up until they got back home. When he saw her unloading the groceries (with HIS stuff), he hugged her really big and said, “Thank you, Momma!” Now that is a sweet kiddo who appreciates the simple things in life!

Dennis and I have been discussing needing a bigger car now that we are driving Daddy and Bobbie to church every Sunday. Our Avalon only sat four, comfortably, and we have five riding to church every week. This past Sunday, we had to take two vehicles to make it work…I picked up the folks in the Avalon and Dennis and Ricky rode in the truck. So we started shopping online for options. Dennis found a really good deal on a 2013 Toyota Highlander, that only had 53.000 miles on it, at a dealership in Frisco. So Monday morning, we drove over there to check it out. It was in pristine condition, and we loved the features and how it drove, so Dennis worked out a deal for a trade-in on our Avalon, and we drove the Highlander home that afternoon. It ended up taking all day, but we are happy with the results. It comfortably seats six adults (or five adults and a carseat), and with the back seats put down, it has plenty of cargo room for vacations…plus a trailer hitch and cargo rack. It also has the backup camera, which will be very handy with 3 active little grandsons around!

Yesterday, I spent the day doing “Daddy stuff”.  His medical insurance was messed up, so I had to get a notarized form to send in to TRS, then spend a lot of time on the phone getting him set back up with the insurance that we had him on. He also needed to do a Walmart run, so we took him there to get a few things. Bobbie had fallen in their closet, so Tonette spent the day with her in the ER. She is fine, but they did discover an old compression fracture in her spine. She had been complaining that her back had been bothering her lately, but she was attributing it to their mattress. I really don’t know what, if anything, they can do about it, other than possibly fitting her in a back brace. I’m not sure that she would wear one if they did. There are just some problems with “old age” that can’t be fixed (actually a LOT of problems).

Tomorrow morning I take Daddy to see his primary care doctor, then Dennis and I are heading to Paris for the night. Dennis killed another deer last week, and we are taking the meat to Stephen and Mandy. They also have plans for the evening, so Dennis and I are going to “sit” with the boys. We are looking forward to it! On our way home Friday, we plan to stop at Sheila’s for supper and a visit. So we’ll get some time in with all three of our boys! (Just not all at one time.)

Well, I guess I’ve avoided work long enough. I hope everyone is enjoying these cooler temperatures as much as I am. (Sheila said Nam got up yesterday morning and did NOT like the cold…but some thick socks and a vest took care of it!)