December, 2012

Our house is on the market!  I have been ready for a long time but it has been hard for Smitty to leave our lovely home where we have had so many happy times with the girls and their families.  It's time for a new chapter in our lives and we are looking forward to it.  Since this is a slow time for lake property, it may take a while but we will keep you posted.

We just returned from a dream vacation at Joy and Dan's get-a-way in Desert Mountain, Scottsdale, Az.  Everyone was able to come but Suzie, who has several model homes that are ready to install.  She is in Louisiana today.  ( it is with her help and patience that I am able figure out this blog)  Our girls are all superb cooks and we enjoyed much good food.  Sandy is the organizer and came early, did the shopping and had all the assignments ready.  She is the expert pie baker and always had her daddy's favorite - mincemeat for him.  Everyone left Sunday morning so we had 2 days of beautiful sunshine and gorgeous sunsets all alone.  What a treat.

For some time Joy and Dan have been supporting the Maisha International Orphanage in Kenya, Africa.   This summer, she and Andrew and Sam went over and volunteered.  It was quite an experience.  We are very proud of them.

We came home ready to jump back into the busy routine.  Today was BINGO at the Assisted Living where our neighbor, Doris lives.  Every Wednesday is BINGO and it is the highlight of their week, they tell us.  Our friends are very generous about donating prizes and we usually make sure each one wins!  Since their needs are small, we set up our "Bingo Boutique" and let them select gifts for their friends and families.  Smitty keeps them laughing and we all have fun.

Over a year ago, after Doris fell, she finally agreed to move to a lovely new facility here in Lindale.  It is privately owned and has only 20 apartments, each opening out to a large common living room.  She has attached herself to Smitty and because her nephew in Dallas isn't able to come very often, he is her caregiver.  He visits her almost every day and we have both become part of that large extended family.  We love them all.

My passion is still cooking and I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchens at Bethesda Health Clinic and our church.  I have great committees and we do Board dinners and lovely luncheons for groups interested in learning about the Clinic.  Once a month I cook for the Soup Kitchen at the Catholic Church with my friend, Carolyn.  We have fun and produce some really good food.


Our church was struck by lightening this year and we have been in the process of rebuilding. We work together with one of Smitty's former competitors who owns a box company here in Tyler and his wife.  We cook dinner for the youth once a month and helped them open a coffee shop on Sunday mornings to raise money for summer camp.  They named it "Holy Grounds".  We get cookies donated and it has been a big success.

Our plan is to move to Edmund, Ok. where Joy and Dan live and to take Doris with us.  Epworth Village is nearby and it is a lovely facility.  She says she doesn't care where we go as long as she can go.  She has visited there with us and loves our 14 year old Sam and talks about him a lot.  She is 98, has macular degeneration, has lost a lot of her short term memory, doesn't hear well, takes NO medicine and really gets around very well on her walker.  We should all do so well.

We are well and feel so blessed.  While we were with the girls last week, we got the call that our dear friend, Ernie Warlick (former Buffalo Bill) died and we weren't able to get back for the service.  Smitty's close friend and college roomy also died this year and we miss him.  We wish you all health and much happiness this coming year.

                        smithawl@suddenlink.net                                              903-882-4729

Welcome to the Smith Family Journal!

Can you believe we have our own blog? I shared with my kids that our lives have gotten so busy that we just can't seem to keep up with everyone as much as we'd like to and they surprised us with this very techy way to share our activities. Now that Smitty has a great new laptop that will help us keep in touch when we are on the road, we are hoping we'll be able to share more of our stories about what the kids and grandkids are doing as well as our disaster relief adventures.

Please be patient - this is very new to us but we are really excited about keeping up with all of you!

Catching Up

It's hard to believe that it has been almost 27 years since Smitty's retirement. They have been wonderful action packed years and we are trying to keep it that way. It is interesting that many of our activities are now involving "old" folks. Doris, our almost 98 year old next door neighbor sort of attached herself to us years ago when the grandchildren were little and came often. As she got older, she depended more and more on us so we have become the caregivers. She was able to manage next door by herself until last June. I had a total knee replacement and while I was in the hospital Doris fell and had to be hospitalized. Poor Smitty had two women to look after! She went to a nursing home and then to a new assisted living facility here in Lindale. She has a 3 room apartment with a screened porch and is very happy. Since she prefers men and especially my man, we have compromised by me continuing my volunteer work and Doris is Smitty's volunteer work. He visits her every day and sees to all of her needs.

On Wednesday afternoons, we sponsor a hot bingo game. There are 19 residents and we try to make sure that each one gets a bingo. (so far they don't seem to notice) Smitty is such a kidder and has a nick name for everyone. It gets pretty loud and funny because there is one sweet lady that can't hardly hear a thing. Getting prizes is also a bit of a challenge but our friends are helping out and we have some very nice ones. We call it our "Bingo Boutique" and encourage them to use the prizes for gifts. We love these dear folks and several have said that Wednesday is there favorite day.

I seem to spend most of my time in the kitchen.  One of the fellows has dubbed me "The Queen of Cuisine".  I have designed and help build 3 commercial kitchens. Smitty finally decided I could do one for myself and ours is a beauty. He even let me have stainless steel work surfaces as well as the granite counters. We have had cooking classes here and do a lot of prep work for functions at the church or the clinic. I was the founding president of the Women's Alliance of the Bethesda Health Clinic. ( I am now the kitchen coordinator) We have about 250 medical personal who donate their time to treat the working uninsured. We take no government aid and function on donations and grants. It is a beautiful clinic and some have said one of the nicest in the country - there are very few. One of our popular outreaches is to entertain church groups etc. for a delicious lunch and then give them a private tour. Our ladies have donated lovely dishes, linens and silver and a group of us have fun decorating, preparing and serving. I am also asked by the church to do about 2 dinners a year when we serve about 200. Cooking is my passion and I love to entertain.

We live in a gated community of about 1500 homes with 3 lakes and 27 holes of golf. We bought our house in 1985 and have added on 3 times to accommodate all of the kids and their friends. But we no longer need 5 bedrooms, an office and all of this living area. Two years ago we put it on the market and then Doris fell so we have moved downstairs (we have a master suite up & down) and Smitty doesn't want to budge. It is a lot of work but it is on the lake and we have a ski boat that we enjoy taking our guests out on for a cruise.

Last year for my 80th birthday, the girls took me on a mystery trip. It turned out to be to Joy and Dan's new vacation home in Desert Mountain, Arizona. What a treat. All of the girls were there plus my sister, Julie and Tom, her son. We spent Thanksgiving with the family there and recently came back from a few days R & R with some friends. Dan's business is growing and they just bought The Calvary Baptist Church in downtown Ok. City. It is a landmark where Martin L. King preached when he was in town. They have great ideas for retaining the beauty while turning it into offices. Sandy is "Girl Friday" for a Dallas entrepreneur and does everything from lining up a helicopter to doing his books. David is a rep for a Boston Medical lab. Danielle is working toward her doctorate in psychology at the University of Kansas. Suzie is very busy decorating models in several states and giving speeches. She has websites under Lifestylist.com. Her Trish has 2 beautiful children and Tim just had little Matthew.

Our church is a community church right up the street. It is a very friendly conservative church with an attendance of 350 to 400 a Sunday. We sang in the choir until we started Bingo and now are too tired to practice Wed. night but we sing in a community choir of about 60. Our next "performance" is at 6:30 Easter morning for a community sunrise service sponsored by our church on a friend's nearby ranch. The church is really the heart of HideAway and we are quite involved. Sadly 2 weeks ago the sanctuary was struck by lightening and burned to the ground. They were able to save the Fellowship Hall so we will be meeting there until we rebuild. We have a wonderful new minister and after the initial shock, everyone is excited about the future. Last Sunday we met in the park and it was very inspirational. We have magnificent azaleas in all shades of pinks in front and by the back deck so I took a big bouquet and even the bees liked it. They asked me to take something this week so I am doing white azaleas and some special lavender curly iris and purple clematis.

I still steal a little time for my crafts. I just put away my beads. I have quite a collection of beads from Hawaii and all over and since beading was so in, I made necklaces for gifts and must have made over 100 bracelets. I made some on elastic for all of the ladies at the nursing home and the assisted living. Now I'm making greeting cards. Smitty is still busy doing all of the handy chores. He is amazing. But I have to watch him or he gets up on the roof to blow off all of the pine needles.

We are blessed with good health and are very thankful. Smitty still has the clot in his leg but after several years, the doctors say it is drying up and he takes his blood thinner so it hasn't slowed him down much. Now if we could just get new ears!