Ten Things Tuesday

1. The power of "kiss it and make it better."
2. Mac and cheese. Kids love it and it's so easy. Paul will even eat carrots to get a second helping!
3. My mother's cousin, who shared with me her genealogy research and ancestry.com, which is my latest new toy.
4. Great partners at work who will trade shifts with me as needed.
5. Playdoh. Both boys can spend hours playing with it.
6. The vacuum cleaner (see #5).
7. Paul's eagle eyes. He spotted the long-lost universal remote Coker's been looking for. Coker will be very happy.
8. Holding little hands.
9. Holding big hands.
10. Talking to good friends.

Girls

This is a sweet picture from Paul's birthday party. As he gets older, he'll dream of being surrounded by such beautiful girls.

My Memories of Lola Mae, Part 3

Grandma made many quilts. Every time we went to visit, she would pull out several she was piecing to show us and one she'd recently finished. While I was a young child, she would also have some clothing she'd made for me. It would be a dress or a skirt or a nightgown. One year, I decided to make a skirt myself. She helped me pick the pattern and material, pin and cut, pin and sew. It was a long process; I thought I'd just be able to sew a few seams and have something to wear. After that, I spent many hours sewing Barbie clothes. Grandma wouldn't let me use the machine for the Barbie clothes because she was afraid I would sew my finger, so I used a needle and thread. She also taught me to crochet. I made a simple jacket for the Chihuahua and a decent sweater for my Cabbage Patch Kid, Cassie. She was as proud of that sweater as I was. As a teenager, I decided to try making a quilt with mom and grandma. We all pieced a bit of it and had it quilted, then I used it in my college dorm room.

At night at her house, I would beg her to tell me stories about when she was a little girl until I fell asleep. She would lie in the bed and tell me about running out to the road to see cars as they passed by because she just hadn’t seen many cars before. Her daddy had a cotton farm and she did her fair share of picking cotton. She told me how she'd carry a long bag down the row, picking handful after handful, putting in into the bag until it was so heavy she could barely drag it. As she told the story, she would rub her fingers remembering how chapped her hands would get. She told me that she didn’t like babysitting as a girl and would “peench” the baby to make it cry so mother would take it back.

There were sad stories, too. The Newman family was moving to a new home and packed up all their belongings on a wagon. Lola Mae, about 17 years old, drove the wagon with her mother, Minnie, sitting in the back. Minnie was pregnant and holding onto a clock and her sewing machine instead of her seat. As Lola Mae drove the wagon through a ditch, Minne fell out and under the wagon. She was run over and died right there. Grandma always felt her father held her accountable, and I think she couldn't forgive herself, either.

Even though she was nearly 70 when I was born, I remember Grandma as a tall, strong woman. She inspired me to be a strong yet humble and serve the Lord at every opportunity. I hope I can live up to her example.

My Memories of Lola Mae, Part 2

Every time I went to her house, she would cook fried chicken and mashed potatoes. They were my favorites then and still are today, though no one makes them like Grandma. She was a great cook and the fact that she had a huge garden didn’t hurt. Those homegrown vegetables she cooked in her little kitchen were the best I’ve ever eaten. You can’t get fried okra like that anywhere. I recently fried up some squash and savored every bite remembering those days. If she were alive and cooking today, my husband and kids would like squash. I helped her and played in the garden out back, digging potatoes, hoeing weeds, admiring watermelons and hiding in the corn. We would sit on the front porch and snap beans or shell peas. Her front porch was a testament to her ability to grow things. There were flowers and plants and more flowers and plants. She tended her yard lovingly and saw its beauty as God’s creation. Grandma said as a girl, she'd been baptized, but one day was working in the garden singing hymns when she felt as if at that moment she knew that she was saved. The next Sunday, she got baptized again.

She was so saving. My husband teases me for the little bit of saving nature I learned from her. She would not throw anything useful away; it had to be used up. Turn out the lights if you’re leaving the room. Keep the refrigerator door closed; that one came from the days of the icebox, which is what she called the refrigerator. The icebox was cooled by ice, not by electricity and coolant, so if you had the door open, the ice would melt faster. She would save up her kitchen scraps and throw them out back for the strays. Her refrigerator was full of leftovers, which she would pull out for anyone who stopped by or finish herself. Scrap material could be used for a quilt. Nothing went to waste at grandma’s house. Mom told me this is because she lived through the depression and didn’t have much growing up.

She had her “programs” she would watch everyday. I call them soap operas; Days of Our Lives was her favorite. She also liked “police stories and dog stories.” She loved dogs, but not cats because cats “went” in the house. Grandma had a dog at her daddy's house that she described as a good watchdog. This was high praise; while she loved animals, she was not easily impressed. She told the story of spreading out a blanket in the yard and telling the dog to watch the baby on the blanket while she prepared a meal. After a while, a snake came along and the dog snatched up that snake and shook it until it would never slither again. After seeing a picture recently, I realize the dog’s name was “Watch.” I never understood that all the many times I heard the story.

My Memories of Lola Mae, Part 1

My mother's cousin sent me a notebook containing the genealogical research she and her father completed. In addition to searching library records, courthouse records and cemeteries, she's interviewed family members and written her own memories. She inspired me to write down my memories of my grandmother.

My Memories of Lola Mae

My grandmother told me I was her favorite grandchild. I knew she didn't really have a favorite, but I was the youngest by at least 15 years, so I didn’t have any competition in the cuteness category. Some of her great-grandchildren were closer to my age, but we weren’t comparing grand to great-grand. Honestly, we were very close. I spent a week or two at her house in Avery every summer and she came to visit us in Arlington or we visited her every 6 weeks or so.

When she died, I asked for her bible because the thing that most impressed me about her was her devotion to the Lord. She was a member of the Avery Missionary Baptist Church and was there every time the doors were open, Lord willing. She was Sister Carey to her fellow members. I always thought it was strange that her friends called her Mrs. Carey. They were from another generation. I work to have my kids at least add “Ms” and “Mr” before my friends’ first names today.

She didn’t just attend church. She knew the bible, told me stories and asked strangers in stores if they were going to heaven. At some point in each of her visits to our house in the city she would say, “All those cars. I wonder how many of those people driving are saved.” I think one of her favorite bible passages was John 14:2 “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” I remember her telling me Jesus said he’s preparing a place for us in heaven. She taught me John 3:16, and I remember she had a drawing of a brown-haired, bearded Jesus with Revelation 3:20 written on it: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” These verses always remind me of her, as does King James Version of any verse. She sometimes spoke in KJV. One year I went on choir tour with my church, and Grandma sent me a letter while I was gone signed, “I love ye.” Our song was “Washed in the Blood.” I don’t remember why it was our song, but it was and she was always happy to sing along anytime I asked.

Paul the Nudge

It made me smile to watch little TJ put "Cow" down for a nap. He carefully lay his stuffed horse down on the treadmill, covered him with my pajama pants that he'd pulled from my drawer and said, "Sleep...good...Cow." I thought how sweet my little boy is to care for his "Cow" so tenderly.

Paul was also watching TJ, but his thoughts were not in line with mine. The moment TJ stepped away, Paul swooped in and grabbed the stuffed animal. He laughed and held it over TJ's head while TJ cried, "No Paul! No Paul!" I said, "Paul," in my stern mom voice and he gave the horse back and the process repeated itself until Paul became bored with that form of little-brother torture.

I'm an only child. I don't get it, but I know that one day TJ will purposely torture Paul.

Busy Day

Paul played in his first T-ball game and had his birthday party today. What an exciting and fun day it was! I was lucky enough to have a photographer join us for both events. Thank you, Kayla for providing me with about 500 pictures of all the fun.



Paul runs with his tongue sticking out.

Lego City Carnage

What was last night this...

Is today...
There's an ABP out for the policemen and "bad guys" alike.

Paul is 4

Today is Paul's birthday. He thought his party would be today. I guess I forgot that "your party is on the Saturday after your birthday" doesn't mean much to a four-year-old. He's been counting down the days until his birthday and was a little disappointed that we weren't going to the bounce house with all of his friends today. We did have a very nice evening with my parents and Paul got to open his gifts from us. Now he thinks he's turning 5 on Saturday. Coker and I can't convince him otherwise. Oh well!Like the pirate cake? Paul did!

Paul got a Wall-E movie theater book from Amina, and he will get a bond from Papaw. He received pop-up books, legos and some Star Wars action figures from Coker, TJ and me.

The guys set up lego shop in the office and spent FOREVER working on putting them together correctly. I had to sit down and finish up for them.

Birthdays and Random Thoughts

Tomorrow is Paul's birthday. He shares his birthday with my great-aunt Lyda Ruth. Paul will be 4 and she'll be 90. Aunt Lyda's children threw a big party to celebrate the big 9-0. It was fun to see so many relatives and hear their stories. My aunt looks so very much like her sister, my grandmother, that it made me lonely for her. I wish she could have met Coker and the boys. She would have loved them so much.

There was a slide show of photos running and a table full of photo albums to page through. I found one photograph of my grandmother at 40 or 41. She looked so young and happy standing there with her husband and 3 of her 4 children. I've never seen a picture of her at that age or many of her smiling. She believed that if you were having too much fun you must be sinning, but I thought she was fun anyway. She rarely smiled for the camera; I guess she didn't want proof that she ever had fun to be found film.

Aunt Lyda Ruth never hid her fun. She is every bit the fine Christian woman and has helped and loved so many people in her long life, but I saw several pictures of her as a younger woman wearing (gasp) a swimsuit! She volunteered at the VFW and attended parties, too. Aunt Lyda is smiling in the picture I took with her. Now, why didn't I get Paul in that picture, too?

Boy Humor

I held a sleepy TJ, who put his head on my shoulder as I gently swayed to the song the church sang. He began to laugh and lifted his head to look gleefully into my eyes to share the joke with me. "I toot," he giggled.

Ten Things Tuesday

I'm finally back. My mother-in-law, Edwina, passed away two weeks ago and life has been upside down, or maybe sideways. She will be missed and always loved and remembered by her family, of which I am proud to be a member, and many, many friends. There are still so many things to be thankful for, so I'll get to counting...

1. My husband's sweet family treats me like one of their own. I love each one of them.

2. Our church family has been so loving and supportive. We've been prayed for, received kind words, calls, cards, food, e-mails and two men even drove to Abilene for the funeral. The love from our church is unbelievable!

3. My family, our friends and neighbors are the best. More prayers, calls, cards, food and trips to Abilene came from them.

4. TJ's personality and vocabulary grow every day. I love watching him discover new things and display an amazing amount of kindness for a 19-month-old. He took a chair to his great aunt without being asked. He gave me a pillow when I lay down beside him on the bed.

5. Paul has discovered that TJ can be fun. It's great to see them play together more and more. Today they modelled dad's shoes together, yelled together, and played "tackle mom and help her up again and again" together.

6. Coker is home. He stayed with his dad for a while to help out, which I'm glad he did, but I'm selfishly happy to have him home.

7. God's word and the ability to study it with others.

8. I'll have a few hours of free time once the boys start mother's day out next week.

9. We had leftovers prepared by a sweet friend for lunch.

10. Crayons aren't permanent (unless they go through the dryer, and they didn't today).