Old friends!!

Roxanne is with me in North Carolina and we've had fun visiting old friends! Today we had lunch with William Brown, Terri Russell and Ed Arthur! Of course, there's always laughter! Yesterday, Roxanne met up with an old friend of hers, Wendy Justice. They attended Gospel Light (Christian School) here in Salisbury and also were in each other's weddings. So .. of course, I had the camera handy!!

A houseful of boys!!

I'm at my brother's home right now .... he and Susan have three boys, ages 23, 20 and 16. I raised all girls although I was raised in a houseful of boys! They were all younger than me so that gave me the upper hand! It's amazing how different life is when there are all boys or all girls. Yes, hormones rule when there are all girls. However, Susan has done well in raising the boys to take on responsibilities that seem to be attributed to females ... loading and unloading the dishwasher. I have offered to do it several times -- and have. But, if I do it when Michael is assigned to do it, I am reminded that it is his responsibility. Yesterday, I thought I would get it done early -- but there was Jonathan on the spot (I know, it's "Johnny" on the spot but I doubt that Jonathan wants to be called 'Johnny'!) So, I put the task off until later in the day.

I remember when I was young and hated dish duty -- I still dislike it but am so thankful that someone invented the dishwasher!!

Not much substance today, huh? I was trying to upload a video of Tim 'singing' along with Jonathan playing the drums on "Rock Band" ... perhaps I will get that accomplished later in the day. It was just uploading too slowly and I gotta hit the road soon!!

Since I didn't get that done, I'll add a photo of Tyler that I took last week. It's amazing what he can find to do and to create ... his mind is never asleep!!

Heading north ... sort of ...

Roxanne and I are headed north tomorrow -- well, relatively so. We are going back to Salisbury, NC where we lived when Kasi was born. We'll be staying with our friends, Ed and Janet Isenhour. Janet and I knew each other when we were young (REALLY young). We lived in Salisbury for four years -- and Ed and Janet lived there, too. Somehow, we never got connected until a few years ago -- all the way out in Colorado.

If you check out William's blog, I understand that Janet painted the backdrop for "The Victor" being presented by Trinity Wesleyan Church. Ed's mother attended the same church we did when we lived there pastored by Rev. J.D. Young. What memories -- lots good -- some not so good. We always look forward to seeing old friends ... what is it they say about good friends, "They can see through you and still like the view ... "

Okay, it is getting late and I'm getting tired! And when that happens, I ramble ... and ramble ... and ....

Happy Birthday, R.J.!

Actually, R.J.'s birthday isn't until the 11th -- see, Shonna, I remembered!! He was born late at night - I believe shortly after midnight so the 10th sort of stuck in my mind! It's hard to believe that he is now 5 years old! Yet, he's quite the little guy!! He can keep up a great conversation with me -- and still calls Bob, "Hon"! (Yup, he got that from me!!)

He loves to send me emails and sometimes I get long text messages. Do they say anything in particular? No ... the usually look like this ... lubnsomrepn2idmbs'nbiqgh!!?? eivh0-dm.... fjslbgjgal8s9e3ns.

However, as any parents or grandparent knows, we can translate that in a heartbeat. It says, "Hi, Nina! How was your day? I am fine ... I love you!" So, I text or email him back a message that says, "Ditto" .. but in a few more words than that.


He's in the front in the photo above.

I love it when I tell him goodbye whenever they drop by and I'll say, "I love you R.J." ... His response is, "I lov, too!" All sort of run together but I know exactly what he is saying.

One day, he was trying to call his other grandmother (Bernie Keeling) and she didn't answer so he announced to me, "I will leave her a voice message." On the phone he stated clearly, "Hello. I am leaving you a voice message! I am coming to your house!"

I don't get to see the grandkids as often these days so have to resort to the text messages or an email other than phone calls. So, today, I wanted to take a moment and simply say,

"Hi, R.J. Happy Birthday ... I love you!"