July 4th Rocks!

With the exception of the year my Dad chose Independence Day to declare his Independence Day, July 4th has always been one of my very favorite holidays.

Growing up, we spent every Independence Day going through the craft show at the National Guard Armory, enjoying the carnival rides and parade, and then either watching the fireworks in the Park in Snyder or shooting off fireworks in a Fluvanna field.

The summer after my Big Wreck, I spent July 4th in Stephenville with the Norris family. I remember we shot fireworks in a big field. I was glad to be alive!

The summer after my Junior year in college, I had the opportunity to spend July 4th at the Iwo Jima Memorial in Washington, D.C. I was with three former National FFA officers. What an incredible experience!

The summer before Biggsy started his MBA, we spent the 4th in Austin and watched the fireworks from a parking garage with another soon-to-be MBA and his wife. We were embarking on an adventure and that excitement really made the trip memorable!

Biggsy spent Abbie's first 4th on the couch with a severely sprained ankle. My Dad came in that weekend and went with Abbie and I to our first July 4th parade. That was the year we found "The Tree." The Tree would become our parade-watching spot for the rest of our time in Plano. We met the Scotts, Matthews and Depners there every year.

One year we met Alan, Amber and Kodie at the park for the fireworks. I have the cutest pictures of Abbie & Kait on Kodie's first 4-wheeler.

Once Biggsy started working for Dresser, the parking garage of his building became our fave spot for watching Addison's Kaboom Town Fireworks. We'd park a car at the top of the garage in the early morning, blocking off a couple of spots. We'd move that car to open up party space right before the show started. The key was to park your getaway car on the first floor of the garage, so you didn't have to fight the traffic.

I have the BEST memories from the top of that garage! We'd be eye-level with the fireworks. It was so cool!!!

This trip down memory lane makes me miss our friends!!!

Poor Kam. That was the year she had stitches in her chin.

This is my favorite picture of Linds. Ever.

And I miss those curls!!!

Our first summer back in Houston was a time of uncertainty. Mom was back home in Snyder, but we had no idea what was going to happen. But we knew we needed to bloom where we were planted. So we decorated the girls' bikes and let them ride in the parade. We met up with the Bruins there and spent the evening on Happy Street, eating make-your-own sundae's and getting some idea of what Baghdad must have been like!

Look at those cheeks!
That was the summer of Abbie's "Africa Necklace" that she made in Sunday School on Missions Sunday. She wore it until Biggsy made her take it off for safety reasons. I still have it, though.


Those are some cool bikes!

Last year, we watched the parade with the Jean family. And spent the evening shooting off fireworks with the Hensleys and Venettes.

And... That brings us to this year!!! The girls have figured out how to do the parade by now. We get a seat along the route, so they can watch the parade and get CANDY. Then, we fall in with the rest of the bike riders after the parade goes by.

Here they are with some neighborhood cuties.

And here they are with Will & Brooke.

We had a huge crowd over for hamburgers and hot dogs on the 4th.

Brooke was our social coordinator and arranged lots of games for the kids. They had a great time! Afterwards, we had a pinata and fireworks. And only one kid got hurt (minor injury!) I consider that a success!!!

The Rockport Files....

Our trip to Rockport was SO relaxing!!!! It was a great vacation! We stayed at the Baehren family beach house -- a great house on one of the canals. And Omi made sure we didn't go hungry! What an incredible cook!

We spent our first day there at the Texas State Aquarium making lots of new friends.... Sea turtles, sting rays and a dolphin or two.

Kassidy trying to hug the dolphins:

Kait & Kass.... What a pair!

Wing Span Test:We got inked!

I've gotta get her hair cut!

On our second day, the guys went fishing, and the girls hit the beach. The girls had a great time catching hermit crabs and then building moats for them to live in.

The highlight of the trip??? Cruising by George Strait's house and hoping for a sighting!!! No luck. But what a beautiful house! And what a HUGE boat!!!

You Can Put a Monkey in a Red Dress...

... but you've still got a monkey. The woman who taught me that and so much more turns 75 this Friday. She's the one who's going to absolutely kill me for posting pictures of her out there for all the world to see. Whether you call her Granny Nelva, Aunt Nelva, Nelva Ruth, simply Nelva or Miz Jones, I know you've learned a lot from her, too.

Maybe she taught you to pull up your knee socks. Or she told you to put on your big girl panties. Maybe she taught you to make bread or wild plum jelly. How to get invited to pick a pea patch. How important it is to take care of the people around you. How to bring home bluebonnet seed in a paper sack for a springtime reward.

Maybe her lesson for you is hospitality. How to welcome anyone and everyone into your home, feed them a great meal that almost always includes gravy with lots of pepper in it, macaroni & cheese with lots of pepper in it and a big glass of sweet sun tea.

Maybe her lesson for you is service. Feeding and caring for and toting and loving and doing whatever is needed, whenever needed, to make sure everyone in her flock (and it's a big flock) is AOK.

Maybe for you her lessons were in Sunday school. How to sing the books of the New Testament, how Paul could go just about anywhere on a felt board, Baby Moses floated down the river in a Walnut shell, Dr. Pepper's at 10, 2 and 4.... All in that little room with the kitty cat clock on the wall that had moving eyes.

Maybe her lesson for you was one of survival. Like how to kill a rattlesnake.

Maybe you're one of the unlucky ones... one of my friends who hasn't ever had the opportunity to be loved on by Auntie Nelva. But if I'm living my life right, you get to learn her lessons through me. Minus the kitty cat clock.

If you get a chance, give her a call and love on her on Friday. Her number's (Snyder Area Code) 573 2426. If you don't know her, just tell her you heard that this amazing Christian woman, a Godly servant, is celebrating a birthday.

Children's Museum

We were SO lucky to spend a couple of days with Rebeckah, Reagan and Gage last week. While Miss Kelly went to the doctor with her Mom, Mr. Jimmy and I took the whole gang to the Children's Museum. Much fun was had by all, but it was so darn hot and so darn crowded I forgot to snap many pictures. I missed Reagan in the pictures, but here's the rest of the gang!

Holy Cow.

I don't even know where to start. I really didn't intend to go on vacation here. It just sort of happened that way. And tonight, as I sat down to go through pictures to choose which ones to post, I began to realize just how much of a vacation I took.

It's a big, honkin' pile of pictures. Enough that it's going to take me forever to load them.

I really don't want to stay up until 3 a.m., so here are three pix to wet your whistle. The rest will be coming tomorrow -- hopefully.

While I was chillaxin, I did manage to finish a quilt. It's wall-hanging size and is for a special friend of mine. I'm hoping she understands that I'm still learning this new machine. Oh, and it's meant to hang vertically. So just turn your head sideways as you look at the pictures. That's easier than turning your monitor sideways, don't you think??

It's machine-quilted in white. And then I went back and hand-stitched daisies in random colors. I love it and hope she does, too!

So.... A little bit of what's been running through my head.

For one thing, I never really told you what I thought of that whole Michael Jackson business. I found out at gymnastics -- right after he died. I was sitting there with three other women, one of whom couldn't seem to talk or think about anything else.

She kept wondering out loud how on Earth he could have died of a heart attack when he was a vegetarian. After listening her go on and on about that, one of the other women remarked that you never knew.... Maybe he ate beef when he was younger.

It was all I could do not to get up off my corn-fed, West Texas-born hiney and set them straight right then and there. I'm pretty sure even vegetarians have heart attacks. But even more? I'm fairly certain the drugs, lifestyle, skin bleaching and all the rest was far more harmful to his heart than having a rib-eye for dinner.

For the love of Pete. Come on, people.

Honestly, I pretty much checked out on that whole mess the next day. The girls and I left for the Creek and haven't really come up for air since. I didn't watch the funeral, although the tiny bit I saw of the hearse going down the freeway brought about the memory of OJ's white Bronco and how that just went on and on and on.

I really found the whole mess pretty disturbing. Here's this whole African-American community (is that the PC way to say it??) going on and on and on about how great Michael Jackson was and how misunderstood he was. And the Reverend Al Sharpton (who I rank right up there with Quanell X and Sheila Jackson Lee) was the worst. We're talking about a child molester who lived a completely bizarre life....

And I just kept thinking, that poor family of Farrah Fawcett. How sad. Here was a truly inspirational woman who died with dignity after a long, long battle with cancer. And all you hear about is Michael Jackson.

Other than that, I pretty much tuned out of the news. I'd watch the weather to see if anything was going to pop up anytime soon, but that was about it.

By the way, nothing "popped up." We still haven't had any rain. 102 today and the ditch beside our house is brown. Really brown. If smoking in a barn is about the stupidest thing you can do, smoking near our ditch is a close second. We really are in a fire danger here. I find it a bit unnerving.

I do have hope for rain, though. I've even started filling up my hurricane closet with supplies. The important stuff first -- Pop Tarts and ramen noodles. Two cases of water bottles.

Speaking of hurricane supplies.... If we're going to have one, I need it to wait until after Labor Day weekend. You see, I've given up the "Big Four" until we go out to Fluvanna for Opening Weekend. The "Big Four" being caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and any food from any restaurant with a drive-up window. If it has a drive-up window, I can't even go in to get what I want. We're talking Cold Turkey, here. I'm on Day Six.

Biggs kind of laughed when I told him what I'm doing. For one, I really don't drink that much. Like hardly ever. And even if I wanted a glass of wine at the end of my self-imposed restrictions, Opening Weekend is hardly the time to drink one.

Starbuck's and my Chai Latte addiction is knocked out with a triple whammy, though -- caffeine, sugar and a drive-up window. That's going to be a hard one.

But the simple fact of the matter is, this is a necessary move for me. Even with my new custom grandma orthotics I haven't been able to walk like I need to. I have an appointment in a couple of weeks to get the left one tweaked, and I hope that works. But even though I haven't been able to walk, my love of food hasn't diminished one bit. So all that weight I lost last summer? It's back. With a vengeance. This is the only way I know of to stop it in its tracks.

And you know what? I can do it. If Ruthie Cahill can do six more weeks of treatment for her cancer, I can do this. Maybe Ruthie and I can celebrate with a bootleg Reese's when she's here for her next appointment. Works for me!

Ruthie was here this week. Are you still praying for her? If not, you'd better get on it. She got a great report from MD Anderson. No sign of cancer. She made friends with NED. No Evidence of Disease. She'll be back August 18 for another battery of tests. Keep praying. It's working.

And while you're at it, my friend Ann Camden needs more prayers. She's struggling with the chemo and struggling with the decision of what to do when it's done. Does she go for the lumpectomy or go with the annihilation method? She's feeling weighed down tonight and needs God to show her the MORE. That He is MORE than she could ever ask or imagine. She knows He is. She just needs a little reminder.

Let's see... What else? Oh. I've started writing a book. I know. The dream. But I've had this book idea on my heart for a couple of years. It's a storyline I've never read, and I think it needs to be told. Fiction. One that could soften the hearts of Christian women -- we're so often caught up on what's right that we forget to look for more. And it will be a way to share Jesus. I'll let you know more when I know more.

Speaking of books, I've become the library Queen. I just read Chasing Fireflies by Charles Martin and It's All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg. Both are great reads -- while vastly different from each other. Both have a Southern feel. Great books.

Whew. That's gotta be it for now. I'll try to get lots of pix on here tomorrow. It's crazy insane how many I need to load. Hang in there!

- d.

Would Jesus Do That??

At the Texas State Aquarium, the girls couldn't agree on who would get a spray-on tattoo first.

Me: Okay. Who's going to be like Jesus?

Abbie: (While pointing at Kait) She is.

Please Pray for Gary

Hi. I'll write a big update in a bit, but I didn't really mean to check out for a week. I've been at the Creek, and coudln't get access to my blog on the library's computers.

In the meantime, please be in prayer for my cousin Gary. He left for Afghanistan yesterday -- again. He's a Major in the Army and someone I am so very proud of.

The situation in Afghanistan right now is frightening. Please be in prayer for Gary during this next year while he's there. Not just today, the day that we celebrate our Independence -- but every day.

This picture was taken at my cousin Robert's Master Sargeant ceremony. That's my Aunt Gale in the middle with Robert on her right and Gary on her left. Please pray for her as well. Her sons are both serving our country proudly!

Thank you!!