DSTSS

The picture tonight is Gabe, holding little Willow. Gabe is the world's best nanny. He's hard as nails and the 'baddest' guy, but nobody can handle a baby or child better than he can. He amazes me. He, like the rest of us, couldn't wait to hold Willow at the reunion.

Now, DSTSS. That's Don't Sweat The Small Stuff . . . and it's all small stuff. Ruthie told me that when we were in Gatlinburg and I was so hacked with resort people for moving us around and for not providing WIFI. I repeated it a lot that week and today I repeated it all day. The Direct TV guy was supposed to be here at 8, but instead he called to say he'd be here at 1. He arrived at 2 and was disrespectful all day until right before he left, 6 hours later. He still didn't get the job done. It's still only TV and in the grand scope of things, that's small stuff.

I did get a lot of stuff done today, in spite of the guy. I stayed far out of his way. I ground up 8 pounds of chia seeds, so they are ready, in the freezer, for use for the next several months. While I had out the grinder, I ground up several bottles of whole pepper, so I now have good pepper at the stove and don't have to keep robbing the pepper grinder off the table. I put ground beef, mixed with chia seeds, into 42 patties and put them in the freezer. All that makes my daily cooking simpler, so it was all good to get done. My back is really mad about standing all day, though, so I'm on my way to power plate.

God knew I was in trouble because I kept saying DSTSS and asking Him to help me with it. So when I went down to the basement to get my second batch of chia seeds to grind, He had me glance up at the top of the file cabinet where I saw the little pink box of ALL the IMPORTANT cds that I haven't been able to find since I bought this new laptop over a year ago! I put it down there to protect it from getting blown away in a tornado and never remembered it or saw it, again. I've looked everywhere, except there (including the lost and found at the resort where we were in Branson when I bought this computer) and had totally given up on ever finding it. God is so good to me. He knew I needed something to cheer me on today and that was a wonderful gift. I needed something to shock me into realizing that things really do work and He is always with us. I cling to that.

Willow's family.

Tonight's picture is Willow's family. Willow is in the buggy, but this is the rest of her family, her mom, Holly, and her dad, John, and her proud sisters, Elizabeth and Maddy. They were so generous to let us all wag Willow around and love on her. These girls were great hula hoopers, too. We thank God for this happy family amongst our family!

Today we're waiting for the Direct TV to come and install a new system for us. I've always had trouble with Dish, so maybe I can work Direct better? I seriously doubt it; I just don't do TV enough to know how to work the remote. I come from the era of when you get up and go turn the TV on and off and make all the changes by using knobs on the TV. In fact, as the littlest kid at home it was my job to jump up and make all the adjustments on the TV. Maybe that's why I never got the TV habit; I probably made a big effort to be away from the TV. Not to mention spending 6 years in Japan, where we had no TV. Anyway, today we are waiting.

While I wait I'll be grinding chia seeds and then I have a bunch of beef to put into patties. Whew; when I get that done, I'm sure it'll be time for some other project. However, I have the puzzle we started in Gatlinburg I'd sure enjoy finishing. I put a piece in place here and there. It's a good reminder to me of fun times we spent on it in Gatlinburg.

More Willow.

Publish Post

Tonight's picture is Trish, holding Willow, and sitting with Willow's daddy, John. Trisha is almost always holding a baby, but it's usually one of hers. It was fun for her to hold Willow and give her back to someone, I think. We all thought she was such a cuddly baby and we were like a bunch of 9 year olds wanting to hold her! I'm not sure if 9 year olds or grandmas are worse, but we were all standing in line to hold her.

Today has been very busy. Our new preacher arrived from Tennessee and a bunch of us helped them unload their truck. Then they came over here and ate supper. They had been on the road for 2 days, so I thought they ought to have a sit down meal tonight. Bless their hearts; none of us envied their having to put their whole house together before they can settle. They have a 9 year old daughter, a 6 year old son, and a 3 year old son. We thank God for a young family to come and work with us. We're gone so much, I'm glad we could be here when they arrived.

Agony of defeat.

Tonight's picture is sweet baby Willow, our nephew, John's baby. The reunion was the first time we'd seen her and she was everyone's delight! She is so cuddly and such a precious baby. Thankfully, she was happy to be passed from person to person. I guess she could feel the love and we didn't seem to stress her a bit! We thank God for Willow Grace! She has two older sisters, Elizabeth and Maddy and we give thanks for all three precious girls.

Now, the agony of defeat. We experienced that today at Bruce's games. The first game we lost 9-0. Ouch. The next game they saved face, but lost 9-7. I thoroughly enjoyed being outside in the heat and watching the games, but the losing part isn't fun. We've experienced the joy of winning and we're learning about the agony of defeat this year. Bruce has always been on a winning team, so this year is a new experience for us. Bruce pitched part of one game and played first base the rest of the time. He made some great plays and had some good hits, so we were pleased to see him do well. We enjoyed time in the stands with David and Susan, too. We are especially thankful for a safe trip. We came through some storms and got home in the middle of one. I rushed in and shut down the computers in time. The storm is gone and we're back up and running. I'm sure the farmers and my flowers are happy to have had a drink. Praise God for rain.

Before I moved to Oklahoma I thought it was so funny that Don's mother used to always ask us if we'd had rain. We lived in Tennessee and we had rain almost every day, and it was pretty much a nuisance to me! Then we moved here and I get that rain is so important to the farmers and if the farmers do well it's good for everyone. Sometimes we go for months with no rain! If we don't get rain, the crops fail, the cattle have to be moved, etc., etc. Rain is a really big deal. I appreciate it for my flowers and trees, but I get that it's a deal maker or breaker for the farmers. I give thanks for living and learning and rain!

Time goes so quickly!

Tonight's picture is one I took at the reunion of this generation of cousins. Deanna is on the left and David is on the right; they belong to my sister. John is next to Deanna, and he is my brother's son. Then our Gretta is next to John, and then Tricia. Trish and Deanna and John were all born the same year; I think David is 3 years older than them and Gretta is 3 years younger than them. How can all these kids be so grown? Time flies; that's for sure! I thank God for precious memories and precious kids. It was so great to have them all at the reunion. John has a new baby (Willow Grace, who is 4 months old.), and I will have pictures of lots of us holding her in the near future. We are so proud of all these 'kids.'

Today has been another busy day. I am still working on this last batch of herbs. It takes forever to package them, but I've got to get it done as we're out of the last batch I did. We are planning to go to Norman for Bruce's baseball games after church tomorrow, so I've got to get ready for that, too. No wonder the kids grew up so quickly; time really does fly!

I feel good and thank God for the health to travel and spend precious time with our family. It was encouraging to meet a lady at the Relay for Life last night who is a 27 year breast cancer survivor! My goal is to follow her example! This little town raised over $31,000 in this difficult economy; pretty amazing I think.

Grace's Granddaddy?

Tonight's picture is Grace in the lap of my brother-in-law, Phil and Phil's daughter, Deanna. As often as possible Phil and Ruthie join us in Branson or come here or we meet at the reunions. Anyway, Grace has seen him enough to know he is special and she was cuddling up in his lap and said, take a picture of me and my Granddaddy. We all got such a hoot out of that. She calls Don her Poppy and her other granddad is Papa Sam. I guess she figured Phil must be her granddaddy. This was such a great reunion because Deanna was there with two of her boys and her brother, David was there, too. It was fantastic. I'll keep more pictures of this special reunion coming.

Today I worked in the yard and had a great detox session. I trimmed all our trees, which mostly haven't been trimmed since before I had cancer. It's probably not the right time to do it, but it got done. I loved it. I thank God to be able to do such a thing! Woo hoo. It's Relay for Life in Hobart tonight, so we're off to that.

Old playmates :)

The picture tonight is one from our family reunion. This is Frank Fox, who makes the reunion happen, with the help of his sister, Suzanne and the rest of their helpful family. That's me in the middle. Suzanne is a year older than me and Frank is a year older than her. I was closer to these two of all my cousins because they were close to my age and my mom was so close to their dad, her brother. Suzanne and I were roommates in college. Our kids call her Aunt Suzie because she's always been like a sister to me. I thank God for a family of really good people

Today I didn't even go out in the sun. I've been throwing herbs and vitamins for the next 42 days. It's amazing how quickly that 42 days gets past me and I need a new stash! It seems like yesterday that I threw them last; Tom was here, visiting. Time sure flies. I felt fine all day today; a good night's sleep re-programmed me and I only remembered getting overheated yesterday. I take 15,000 units of Vitamin D3 every day, so it should be okay to miss some sunshine today.

Tomorrow is Relay for Life here in Hobart, so I'll be walking the survivor loop in 105 degrees (predicted heat index; no telling what the real temperature will be). I can make it; I'm going to stay out of the heat until then.

Heat tired.

Tonight's picture is one I took of Grace and Don one night in Gatlinburg. Don had been sitting in that one spot whenever he watched TV. This was the sofa we made out into Grace's bed, though. So, one night everyone had gone to their condos and Don got up, so Grace laid down in his spot. When he came back in he sat down on her and she thought that was so funny! It really was. She's a great little ham and she was a great suite mate for us all week. This was just another of many precious memories.

Today was something else. I was laying out in the sun when Don came out to tell me it was 103. I was eating ice and had ice all in my swim suit, so I didn't realize it was THAT hot. As soon as I walked in the house, though, weakness really hit me. I'm sure I'm not going to stay out that long tomorrow if it's that hot. I've been weak as a cat ever since. I'm going to get a good night's sleep and start over wiser tomorrow! God is so patient; I thank Him for all the chances he gives us.

Irises done.

The picture tonight is one I took of Grace when we were hiking in Gatlinburg. She has no fear and can climb anything. Precious memories and we thank God for them.

Today has been great. I was so tired yesterday, so Don let me sleep until I woke up at 8:20 this morning. I love it when I can do that. Joan had been out in the yard for an hour, already! She was working to finish up the iris trimming and thinning. She had done a bunch while we were gone, but there was one bed out front that she finished up today. It looks so neat. I sure thank God for Joan who helps us out so much with the house and the yard! What a good friend!

We had bought strawberries on our way home, but we had more strawberries than shortcake. When I went to buy more shortcake, I was out of luck because there was none since we don't have strawberries in our stores. So, I bought a cake and baked a cake. I haven't baked a cake since I can remember; it was kind of fun. I hope Don will eat it, because I can't. I made quiche for my breakfast for the next week, while the oven was hot. Besides, I needed quiche for breakfast; I love it. It feels good to accomplish a few things.

Always an adventure.

Tonight's picture is one I took of Gabe and Garrett not two minutes after we got out of the car at the creek in Gatlinburg. They had already caught treasures! Gabe had a salamander in one hand and a crawdad in the other. Garrett had a big crawdad with a gob of eggs on it. See Tricia's camera as she is getting a good shot of the crawdad with eggs? In the background is Raynie and farther back are Grace and Sadie. Man, we had fun exploring around this creek! I thank God over and over for the great family time we had in Gatlinburg!

Today has been pretty hectic, with catching up on all the mail and details that went neglected while we were gone. Doris and Jerry left first thing this morning and we got right to work around here. Don mowed the yard and it looks great.

I got word from our reunion planners tonight that we need to get our rooms booked for the reunion or we're going to lose our block of rooms; that means folks will show up at the last minute and there won't be rooms for them. So, Itazuke people, please get your room reservations made! 703-416-4100 I know you like to wait until the last minute to make reservations, but please don't do it this time!

Most of the vacation kids.

After Gretta and Elena left Gatlinburg, the rest of us went hiking. Gretta isn't much into hiking, so we waited until she was gone, but that's why Elena is not in this picture. This is Grace/7, Gabe/15 holding Raynie/3, Garrett/13, Mason/9, and Sadie/13. Fun, fun, fun!

Today has been wonderful; we had a wonderful guest speaker at church (Ken Jones, from Lubbock, TX) and we went out to lunch at the Mexican restaurant with David and Dorothy. Things seemed right. However Dorothy's great grand son, Tyler, who will be 16 in September, is in the hospital with a serious viral infection. I don't know exactly what it is, but he is very sick. Please pray for Tyler.

This afternoon Don's sister, Doris and her husband, Jerry, arrived from Houston. They're on their way to Santa Fe, so we are a good stop off place. We're so thrilled to have them visit! We see them every time we go to Houston, but it's great to have them here! We thank God for their safe traveling and their visit.

My, my, my!

I've got so many pictures, it's hard to pick which ones to share! We're just home and finally unpacked, but I've got lots to do before bed. Thank God for Joan, who looks after the house for us while we are gone!

The picture tonight is one someone took of Don and I with Gretta and Tricia at the reunion. If you look closely you might see the Fox on mine and Don's shirts. My mother's maiden name was Fox; it's the Fox reunion that we enjoyed last Saturday.

I'm headed to power plate and jiggle; my back is so ready for those, and my very own bath. It's so wonderful to be back to my computer nook where there is high speed. Man oh man, have I missed that, but we are so grateful for a wonderful and safe trip for all the family. My mother had the most descendants at the reunion; pretty cool, huh?

WIFI!!!

It is so good to be back in the land of WIFI! I finally got all the email from all last week downloaded. No telling when I'll have time to read it!

The picture is Gabe and Garrett. Garrett is Gretta's son, who is 13. He and Gabe are great buddies, as well as cousins. This was taken when we were exploring a creek in Gatlinburg this week. The minute we got out of the car these guys were in the creek and Gabe came up with a salamander and a crawdad; Garrett found the one you see in the picture and it had a bunch of eggs on it. I had never seen such a thing! It's not so clear in the picture, but maybe it will show up better if you can click on it.

We're still thanking God for awesome family time and safe travels!

Fun family times.

I have to hurry and get this posted while I can get online. This week has been as frustrating as ever connecting. Let me learn from this to make arrangements before I leave home for some connection other than dial up; it turns out that ATT dial-up is nearly worthless. I'm not willing to devote as much time as I've had to give it to connecting.

The picture tonight is Raynie in Papasan's dress. A doctor told me once that you can always tell what a girl is thinking by watching her feet. I wonder what it means when Raynie is crossing her toes? (Check her right foot!) That little mischievous grin must mean something, too. Bless her heart; she's a delight! We thank God for sweet kids to wear Papasan's dress, here 92 years later! Mamasan would be so pleased! (And she'd be so pleased that I found it in time for them to have their pictures made in it!)

Today we did some fun hiking and spent some time at the pool . Fun, fun, fun!

Elena looks like an angel.

Tonight's picture is one we took of Elena in Papasan's baby dress. This is the dress I'd lost since we had Mason's picture made in it when he was a baby. (Mason is 9.) Then when we re-did our floors and moved out the washer and dryer this dress was behind them in a plastic bag. We had intended to make pictures of all of Papasan's great grand children in this dress, and I thought we'd never get to have the last three made in this dress, but I found it! So, we made pictures of Raynie and Elena this week. Blake was sick, so he didn't make the reunion, but we'll catch him in the fall on our way to my school (Itazuke) reunion. Now, our nephew, John, was at the reunion with his 3 month old baby, and we should have made her picture in this dress, but I wasn't THINKING! I was so excited to see the baby I totally forgot the dress. I hope we can catch her in the fall, too. If not, it won't be too late at the reunion next year. Obviously this dress is way long and if we can get 3 year olds in it, we can sure get baby Willow in it when she's one. It's a fun tradition! We called my dad Papasan because when I was growing up we spent 6 years in Japan where that's what they call fathers. He would have been 92 this August, so that dress is 92 years old. It was scary to handle it so much this week; I was afraid I'd rip a finger through that fragile fabric, but we had no casualties.

Gretta and Elena went home this evening because Gretta has to work tomorrow. She needs the 'rest.' After this vacation she was so ready to get back home to rest up from it. She's been such a trooper; every day she took 7 kids to the pool! We're taking her son, Garrett, back to Oklahoma with us, so he's still here. He and Gabe are having a ball.

We are all having a ball. In spare time we are working a great jigsaw puzzle. (Spare time???) A few years ago I bought a puzzle tote and this is the first time we've used it. It's great! We can work on the puzzle and then roll it up and put it out of the way and use the table. We haven't played cards so much; I think the puzzle has taken the place of cards.

My sister, Ruthie, advised me to remember: "Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's ALL SMALL STUFF." She is so right! I was so mad at Bluegreen when we moved on Monday, but Ruthie helped me not let it ruin our trip (or my stress level). It reminds me of the scripture that says that vengeance is the Lord's. I love that one. I was always scrawny and all my life I relied on God to 'get them,' because I knew I never could. God will take care of Bluegreen, too.

Quick!

I have been unable to get online all day, so I've got to be quick while I've got a connection! The picture tonight is one I took as we came from the reunion to Gatlinburg. Raynie is on the left and Elena is on the right; then in the back seat their brothers are behind them. That's Gabe on the left and Garrett on the back. This was a riotous trip; these kids had me laughing so hard! The guys are a couple of clowns and their baby sisters adore them; of course I adore them all!

They are at the pool tonight with Gretta. They'll come in all exhausted soon. I thank God for great family time! Nate said they don't have any more water in the basement than they've had before with big rains, and the water in the kitchen is minor, so Trish shouldn't worry. That was refreshing to learn. We thank God it's no worse than it is.

My little Sunshines.

Tonight's picture is of Elena and Raynie, taken at the reunion. Many of you have read this blog since both of these little sweeties were born; I've been writing it since December of 2006 and Elena was born Feb. 20, 2007 and Raynie was born on July 10, 2007. They are both so much fun. They chatter, chatter, chatter and bounce along keeping us entertained. I guess they won't remember these times, but they've sure given us lots of wonderful memories. I thank God for these darlings and for the memories.

Today has been stressful for many reasons, The flooding in Oklahoma City is terrible and Tricia's house is getting wet inside due to some issue with the roof, not the flooding. They are up high enough that the water won't come into their house, unless it gets into the basement. Rob had to leave home today to go on a business trip, so he couldn't stay to do anything. Nate is there, but he was working a double shift, so there's not much he can do. Trish was very tempted to go home, but the Interstate was (and may still be) closed, so she couldn't have gotten home, anyway; if she were there, I don't know what good she could do, anyway. It's just been very stressful for her, knowing there are problems at home and nobody to take care of them.

We are still limping along with dial up and it's stressing all of us. Today we had to move to a different condo and none of us were too keen on that, but I had to arrange it this way because I made our original reservations for the wrong week. When I corrected the reservations to coincide with the reunion, we had to accept this move. But, when we got here they insisted that they could work out a better plan for us, so they got us excited; then today when they proved they were only shooting bull, it was difficult to accept the move. Bluegreen is not a company that I recommend at all. Now, having said that, I have to admit that our units are very nice and our view is absolutely awesome of the Great Smoky Mountains! We're having lots of fun and, as Gretta said, "What matters is family time and we're getting to do that." It's that attitude that made me call HER my sunshine when she was little. All the kids and their kids have been sunshine in our lives and I sure thank God for them.

No high speed on Sunday.

It's interesting that we pay for Internet every day, whether we use it or not, but ATT doesn't give any customer service on Sunday. So, I'm plugging along, barely, still with dial up. Ugh.

Otherwise, everything is great. It's wonderful to have fun with our two youngest daughters and 7 of their kids. We're a wild bunch. If the picture ever loads tonight, it is Me with Sadie behind Gretta and Tricia. Sadie is Tricia's daughter, so that's 3 generations of us.

I got only 4 hours sleep last night after struggling with this dial up. I hope to get to bed sooner tonight! Rest is a must and I need to catch up right quickly!

Still connection problems.

Good grief. We are stuck with only dial up connection. That means it will take forever for the picture to load. It's worth the wait, though. This one is of Sadie sitting on some rocks at the reserve; she's way better than the collared lizards, and the lizards are pretty cool!

It's been a fantastic day. We got to see lots of wonderful family and our traveling has been perfect. The kids are awesome travelers. Tomorrow we're going to check into getting high speed, but we got here too late to check tonight. When we first get here we have to get groceries, get all moved in, etc. No time for technical issues.

I'll get pictures downloaded tomorrow and have some to post from the reunion. It was so great to see everyone. God is great to give us great families, health and safe travels!

Sorry; connection problems!

This is the female collared lizard; no fair how the guys gets all the coloring, but that's how it is. Even these are fun to see and I think they have their own beauty. God makes the plans, so I thank Him for being in charge and for our abundant blessings.

Sorry this post is so late. We couldn't connect last night and now I'm rushing. All is good. Have a great day!

A male mountain boomer.

Tonight's picture is a beautiful lizard that lives around here. Well, not around the house, but in our mountains. Folks make fun of our mountains because they're not so high, but they say they are this country's oldest mountain range and they've worn down to the size they are. If you know how the wind blows here, you can imagine the wind wears them! Anyway, these lizards are called Mountain Boomers, but their real name is collared lizard. The female is brown. We got this picture the day we went to the reserve when Tom was here. I think we saw 7 or 8 that day; it was a good lizard day.

Today I've been packing. It's hard for me to keep all the details straight, but I'm working on it. I thank God we can travel and I thank Him for family that makes reunions great. Gretta called and she's going to let us have Garrett and Elena for a night while she goes back to get Joe to bring him to Gatlinburg. Woohoo! We'll miss her for a night, but it's so fun when Joe can get away to join us. We see so little of Garrett and Elena, that I'm thrilled to get to have them! Garrett will be fine, but Elena's only 3. I think she'll be fine, with all the other kids, especially. Woo hoo! I'll get good pictures to share.

A Quartz Mountain memory.

This picture is one Tom took of us at the Quartz Mountain Lodge. That's a beautiful piece of quartz behind us!

I have been busy taking care of details today. I hate details, but I have to get to them every now and then. Once a month I have to file a state tax report and I got that out of the way today. I thank God I don't have to show up to work somewhere and have the constant stress of details. I fumble around here and manage, with Don's help. I wonder at how some people manage to have a family and a job and go through cancer and end up with chemo brain and keep surviving as well as performing!

I've got lots to do, including my exercises, so off I go!

Birds found the cherries.

Tonight's picture is one I took of Don with his cherry harvest a couple of weeks ago. He has been so happy with these cherries this year. We planted these trees (3 of them) about 5 or 6 years ago. Every year they bloom a little, but then there are only a few cherries on each tree. Then this year they were fully in bloom and they had gobs of cherries on them! He's been going out every other day or so and getting a bowl full of cherries, like this bowl. Well, today he went out and there were only about a dozen cherries on all three trees! No doubt the birds discovered his trees and pretty much cleaned them. Oh, well. It's been a great ride until we ran out of 'gas.' If they produce next year, maybe we'll wrap them in nets or something. We thank God for the fun we've had with them and we're glad to share with the birds. (I use the term 'we' loosely; Don may not be so happy to share.) :) Doesn't he look proud of those cherries?

I got sunshine today, but otherwise I'm spending my time in the basement altering clothes I got at the yard sales Saturday. Everything is always too long for me. It's fun!

We got a call from Don's sister, Doris, today and she and her husband, Jerry, are coming through here on their way out west! We're so excited to have them come by for a visit! It's great to have company! We don't usually get a lot of company because we're mostly on the way to nowhere, so we're so happy when folks come through here! I'll get pictures when they come and share on the blog. Woo hoo! (We always stay with them when we go to Houston for MD Anderson check ups; it's going to be so fun to see them when it has nothing to do with cancer!) Woo hoo! I'm so excited!

By the way, you know I am working to be vague about exactly when we are doing anything because I never know who is reading the blog and what their purpose is. So, if I sound vague, it could be because I am on a chemo brain trip or it could be very intentional. Mostly it's because I have little concept of time and details. Ha. If you need to know exactly where we are and when, just email me or call.

Finally!

The blogger wasn't available last night when we got home from Bruce's game. We were exhausted so I went to bed without blogging. I hope nobody worried. I attempted to make a comment on the last post, but it wouldn't let me do that, either. Anyway, we made it home just fine. We thank God for wonderful weather and safe traveling. Tonight's picture is one of Bruce that I 'swiped' from Susan's FaceBook photos. It doesn't show all 6'3" of him, but it's a good smile and he's not all dirty like I would get him. Thanks, Bruce for keeping us entertained!

Bruce's team showed up to play and they did a great job. They had been brutally defeated on Saturday, but they came back with a vengeance yesterday. They beat their opponent 13-0. We really enjoy watching Bruce play and we're so glad that we went back for yesterday's win. Winning is way more fun than losing; it's nice when it's close enough to home to come home to sleep, too. These games were a little less than a 2 hour drive from here, so we got to come home.

This week we're getting ready to go to Nashville for my mother's family reunion. We missed it last year because we were house-sitting in Hawaii, so it'll sure be good to see everyone this year. Then after the reunion we'll go to Gatlinburg for a few days with Trish and Gretta and their families. Woo hoo! We're really looking forward to this trip.

Baseball!

Today's picture is Don and Ryan on top of Mount Scott; notice Mason and Grace are outside the lookout spot. They climb everywhere and are great climbers! This was taken last weekend when we went to the reserve. That's Don's 'look like his daddy expression.'

Today was the town wide yard sales in Hobart. We've been hard at it since 8 this morning. Now, we're headed to Yukon (near Oklahoma City) to watch Bruce play in a tournament. We saw a couple of games the other night, but we skipped yesterday. Hopefully he'll be playing first base tonight and they'll win like they did yesterday when he pitched 7 innings.

I thought I'd better blog before we go as it will be late tonight when we get done. It was so hot yard saling, but not too windy, so it was really a good day for it. I am so grateful that we can still get out and do things even if it's hot. God is good to us!

The seek and find game; I'm still at the seeking part.

This is another picture I took at the reserve. On the left is Don, then Sadie, then Ryan, then Nate, carrying Raynie, and then Trish. Mason and Grace were behind me and Rob was in the parking lot answering a phone call. We were all pretty hot by this time, but it was such a fun day.

Today has been really hot, but we didn't do too much outside. We did go out long enough to get some vitamin D, but we don't stay long enough to burn. We went out to David and Dorothy's today and gave them haircuts to last until we get back from Tennessee.

Today has been much easier, physically, than yesterday, but it was tougher, mentally. I've been hunting things all day. I can't seem to keep up with belongings. Ugh. I hate that part of chemo brain. I love the part that I'm alive and I feel great, so I give thanks and keep hunting.

So tired!

This picture is one I took of Sadie, bringing Raynie across the dam at Quanah Parker Lake at the reserve last weekend. That's Nate coming up behind them, and Trish is way behind them. It was such a fun day. After we got across and started hiking, Nate took Raynie and carried her on his shoulders. Mason and Grace were way ahead of us, already.

Now, today was a big day for us. Our 'old' preacher and his wife were moving out of the parsonage, which is next door to us. We went over to help them, but they had packed most everything yesterday. I helped by mopping the floors and cleaning the glass stove top. After they left Don mowed the grass and I trimmed their trees and piled the branches all out in the alley. That was way more than I've done lately! Don mowed our grass, too. Plus he mowed down most of the iris beds, so it was way more than he usually does, too. I raked out all the junk from the iris cuttings and bagged it up and hauled it to the alley. So, our corner looks neat, but the two of us are worn out! We thank God that we're able to do this stuff!

Josh was an awesome preacher and we will so miss them, but I think they will love it where they are going. Josh's sermons will be on the Internet and we can keep in touch by face book, so I can survive. Plus, we have a new preacher coming next month, so we're excited to be getting new neighbors; we met them when they were here a few weeks ago, so we're looking forward to their arrival.

Ball time!

The picture today is Bruce, our grandson who plays very serious ball. We're on our way to watch him play a couple of games tonight. Then we'll come home, but it'll be too late to blog.

Today we're headed to Lawton to take Floyd to the airport. He's on his way to spend the summer with his son in Missouri. Then we're on our way to the ball field. We love watching Bruce play and we haven't seen much this year. Our schedules don't click like we'd like.

We thank God for his ability to play and our ability to watch. There have been times that we couldn't go to his games and times that he couldn't play due to injuries. God is good to give us healing!

Happy June!

I just hit the Enter button and that posts before I'm ready. I'm so sorry to do that to you who are on the mailing list; it happens every now and then. Please pardon me.

The picture tonight is Grace and Mason at the visitor's center at the reserve. They made great friends with the ranger, Randy. What a great personality he had and he was so good with all the kids. More sweet memories.

We got word from Tom that he arrived home around 3:30 this afternoon. We thank God for his safe trip! We loved having him here, and we're so relieved to know that he is home and safe. Motorcycles really scare Don and I; I'm happy Tom is enjoying it so much, and I know that he is very careful.

Our good friend, Frank, (we play cards with he and Jo Ann; you've seen him on this blog many times) was admitted to the hospital today with pneumonia. We rushed over to Altus to visit him this afternoon. Of course we couldn't do a thing to help him, but we let them know that we are concerned and keeping them in our prayers. He is coughing something terrible and I so hate that for him. I suspect he will respond well to medications and be much better soon; I pray for that!

Our dear friend, Dot, who lives in Springville, Tennessee, is reportedly doing extremely well! I talked to Ruthie today and she said that Dot is amazing everyone. Praise God!

I continue to feel better than ever. Thank you all so much for your prayers and your love and concern. I can't remember feeling better. PTL!