July 4th at Dickens 2nd Year

We were going to my parent's house this year for the July 4th celebration. We had such a great time last year, so we were going again and Kelly & Tami & the girls were coming up, too. But Daddy & Mama called last Saturday just to apprise us of the fact that they had a mutant cat down at my brother's house that has shared ringworms with multiple persons in the families that have been there. Daddy wanted us to know before we all came home. . . . the vote was easy unfortunately and we all regreted having to decline the invitation this year. We didn't want Sandy coming home with ringworms and Kelly & Tami didn't want 6 girls with long hair coming home with the present either. We missed not being there this weekend!

Happy 9th Anniversary!

Tony & Elena have been married 9 years as of July 1st! It doesn't seem like it has been that long, but they do have an 8 year old and a 5 year old. Here they are after the wedding upstairs in the Anne Hathaway cottage in Odessa, Texas. The wedding was outside in the courtyard and then we had cake and punch inside. Tami's mom, Marva Cagle, was a real friend and planned and helped out with the wedding and reception. Elena thought that they would just go downtown to the court and get married there in front of a judge. So it was a real blessing to get to give her a wedding like we did.

Happy 58th Anniversary!

Here is the happy couple posing before their wedding cake 58 years ago. The wedding was in Papa & Granny's house on June 22, 1951. Look at that phone! And love that wallpaper and those coordinating drapes.

This picture was taken at Christmas of 1985. What an example they have set for all of us. Happy Anniversary, Daddy & Mama!

Happy Birthday, Tony!

33 years ago on Father's Day I gave birth to Tony Lee Smith (the middle name was for a good friend Randy Lee Singer) and David was supposed to be preaching at our church in Tulia that morning. But he didn't make it. Tony was a great Father's Day present. It's just hard to believe that was so long ago! Happy Birthday, Tony Lee! Love you!

Pray for Andrea & Mack

A dear friend from our Sunday School class, Andrea Canady, found out this week that her Leukemia is back. We are just heartsick for her and her husband, Mack. Andrea is a fun lady and we have enjoyed Sunday dinners with them & others in our class. She will be in the hospital for 3 to 4 weeks taking chemo. Not fun. Please pray for her body to accept the chemo so that the cancer is stopped in its tracks again.

Do You Have Lice?

I have remembered and forgotten this conversation that Nikita & I had a dozen times since we went to Kora & Aubrey's piano recital. We stopped in Kyle and exchanged Sandy for Nikita & Ana so they could play with Kora, Aubrey, Brynna, Hailey, Lauryn & Ashlynn. That meant that I had to "play Mama" again and basically I failed. Nikita & Ana kept saying, "Granny, you need to. . . . Granny, we're supposed to. . . ." Good thing the kids knew what was supposed to happen or the majority of Elena's instructions to me would have gone undone.

Well, Saturday night I was combing hair after their baths. Nikita was first. I was using my own hair brush. He turns around and looks at it and says real serious, "Granny, do you have lice?" I laughed and said "NO, I do not." He told me that kids at school have lice in their hair and they aren't supposed to share hair brushes. You didn't have to worry about that when we went to school----at least that I remember.

Sandy & the Squirrels

Sandy is just absolutely convinced that there are squirrels up in the live oak tree in our front yard, all the time, every time he goes outside. Because he's seen squirrels both come out of and go into that tree, he just thinks now that they are there all the time. And he will jump up until his belly is right against the bark trying to climb the tree. He uses his front paws like hands and wraps them around the tree trunk trying to get farther up in the tree. And bark, bark, bark, he does at that tree.

And you can't convince him otherwise, because the next time you take him outside----there just may be a real live squirrel up there!!! See? He tried to tell you there were squirrels in that tree!