What a lovely Thanksgiving weekend with the whole family! That included our two, spouses, and grandchildren, plus Gina’s mother, sister, spouse, children. Eighteen in all! And everyone stayed with Josh and Gina but us; we went to a hotel. Quite a crowd! The grands are ages 8, 9, 13, 13, 17, 18, 21, 22. Yesterday … [Read more…]
My 75th birthday started off with a bang, driving to Hendersonville, Tennessee, for lunch with my dad’s cousin, Judy, who is only three months younger than I am. We had a delightful lunch at Cafe Rakka, a great Mediterranean restaurant. Then to Nashville to meet our granddaughter, Kinley, a freshman at Lipscomb University, for the … [Read more…]
In the month of June, Steve and I traveled to seven states and worshiped on Sundays in five different states—Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, and Ohio. It’s been quite an adventure. At the Kentucky church, Summit Church of Christ, I met an old friend, Barbara Wims, that I hadn’t seen since we were 15 years old. … [Read more…]
You may have noticed that stores everywhere—department, grocery, gift, right down to Dollar Tree—seem to have skipped Thanksgiving. The displays and decorations went right from Halloween to Christmas. In a way, that’s deplorable. After all, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year! I love the special food and getting together with family and friends … [Read more…]
In spite of temps in the 90s, we had a lovely Fourth of July celebration at the home of our daughter, Kelsey, and her husband, Stephen. Everyone was in place by 10 in the morning because of getting there early to park. The parade started promptly at 10:30 with seemingly dozens of gorgeous Corvettes leading … [Read more…]
What a beautiful, sunny day to celebrate the life of my dear Aunt Juanita! Our trip to Goodlettsville, Tennessee, was uneventful and quick. We were there for the visitation and then the funeral. At the visitation, I renewed acquaintance with many cousins and enjoyed talking to eight of my NINE aunts and uncles. Uncle L.D., … [Read more…]
I knew this Queen as Aunt Juanita, for whom I was named (and for my Aunt Lola.) She was born Vivette Juanita Ralph on a farm named Vertical Plains near Goodlettsville, Tennessee, and married Tom Gilliam Hawkins not long before I was born. She was the second oldest of nine children, but was the oldest … [Read more…]
What does “family” mean to you? At Central, we talk a lot about our church family, and we treasure those connections. Of course we are closer to most of the people there than we are to some of our “kinfolk.” The definition of family in Wikipedia (I know—not always a reliable source) is pretty funny: … [Read more…]
Of course Christmas was as wonderful as I expected. And it started early in December when we went to a Christmas production starring our two oldest grandchildren, Kinley and Knox. The night before Christmas, the three oldest grandchildren led our annual reading of the Luke 2 story of Jesus’ birth. Even Finn, the first grader, took … [Read more…]
Steve and I, psychologically speaking, are a perfect match: he is a younger brother with an older sister and I am an older sister with younger brothers. (If the idea is that he’s used to a woman bossing him around, I can assure you it hasn’t worked that way.) But the big difference is where … [Read more…]
