Joseph And Eden

There have been many changes in our family in the last 5 years. Our son Joseph and his family moved away to South Carolina where he has worked with Davenant Institute. He teaches post grad theology and philosophy classes through them. In the midst of all this change, there was an unfortunate divorce. That is partly why our Grandson Sam came to live with us for the last 2 1/2 years. But in these years there has been a lot of healing going on, and as families move on and people adjust to a new normal, our Son Joseph and his former wife Becca have moved on.

There was this post grad student last year that caught Joe's attention and he caught hers. The one complication, is she is from South Africa! So, early this year, as he took on a new job at Florida Christian College, in Indian Beach Florida, which is a classical Christian college that is fairly new; he went to South Africa to meet his Eden. The two of them got married 2 months ago in South Africa and she will finally be coming to her new home in America next month.
We are all very excited to meet her and plan to introduce her to Texas Brisket right away! I sure do wish they lived closer!

Welcome to our family Eden! We cannot wait to meet you!

Boys to Men

The boys have grown so much as have we. :) The photo with all of us was our wedding day almost 37 years ago! We have taken more recent photos and I am so proud of each of them.

Chuck continues to flourish in his music as well as working as a pharmacy tech. Tim, due to a horrid reaction to a covid injection putting him in ICU with life threatening blood clots, no longer teaches but works for an insurance company. He loves his work. Joseph is teaching at a Christian college in Florida and also continuing to write. Marcus works for a construction company. What a great group of guys. :) I'm really thrilled that they are kind and loving to their sisters. Next week Joseph and Eden will be coming to visit and we cannot wait! Chuck will be coming too! Those are our two outta state guys. We also have 2 outta state girls. Albina and her husband will be coming down soon to pick up a crib for the new baby and to visit.

Its World Kindness Day

 This is the 65th Anniversary for World Kindness Day.  I am thankful for those in my life who have been so kind to me.  Today, is a day to recognize kindness and to be kind to one another.  Of course we should ALWAYS be kind, but I'm thankful for a day to recognize it.

 My son, who is a philosophy professor is wearing a "Mr. Rogers" cardigan to teach today.  I'm proud of him for standing out and saying, "Be kind"....

He grew up watching Mr. Rogers.  He wanted to imitate him, and would try to catch his shoes like Mr. Rogers did. He'd zip up his zipper sleeper all the way up, then back 1/2 down to wear it like Mr. Rogers.  We didn't DARE try to zip it all the way back up... "NO! Mr. Rogers doesn't wear it that way!" 

When I think of the word kindness, I also picture tenderness, gentleness, patience, and a gentle smile.
Children NEED us to simply be KIND.  They need us to be tender, gentle and patient.  And they need us to smile at them affectionately, so they know we love them.

I'm thankful for all of the lovely, kind people that speak into my life.

The Weekend

 
This weekend was Joe and Becca's 10th anniversary!  Now that they are in Texas, we had the joy to watch the grand boys.
Felix stayed for 4 hours so they could go out on an Anniversary Date.  My responsibility was to give Felix a bottle for the first time. 

Let's just say, he was not a happy camper when it came to feeding time! LOL
We settled for a "sippy cup" and he seemed to like that.

He was certainly happy to have his mama back!!!!

Truman enjoyed playing hide and seek with Erika.  His favorite place to hide was the Pantry, where he wanted her to hide with him. LOL

 Truman will be 3 next month!   Note the gun and sword Miss Alli made for him out of paper. He is a well armed toddler! LOL

Sam just loves spending time with Grampa.  He is a hard worker and LOVES to keep himself busy!
He even helped me fold towels and showed of his towel folding skills well! :)
His favorite thing though is to go out with grampa and work in the auto shoppe. :)  He is such a big boy now!  6 years old, going to school and reading!

 And here is pick up time.....

 Happy Anniversary to two of my favorite people in the world! :)

                                             "MY THREE SONS"

This Last Week

Well, it has been a fun and busy week!
The Fontes' Family, stopped overnight once again on their way home.
In fact, they had to reassign seats in their van, because they brought home another child. :)

 Playing dolls

 Resting

 Playing Ninja with Sarah

 Relaxing

Here they are packing up and getting ready to leave:  New seating arrangements were needed. :)

What a precious family....

Joe and Becca moved into a new apartment, but we are going to babysit their piano for a while. :)
Here is Truman looking at a book with Alli.  Truman is 2, and quite the talker!  I took him with me to the hospital to pick Erika up from volunteering and had the attention of the entire lunch table with his charming smile and impressions of a pirate..... "I'm a pirate!" (with one eye closed) "I have a sword at home!" LOL

It was a week full of fun visits and rest during the hot days of Texas Summer.

 Getting aquainted with Uncle Joe.

 Aunt Alli making baby Felix laugh.

 Marcus making me laugh.

And good conversation.......