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| July 4, 2016 Hide-A-Way Lake |
What an exciting life we live. Our family is a constant source of joy. Suzie's family all came from Florida for a week over July 4th. Trish & Steve have Jenna (15), a talented artist and Christian (12) an entrepreneur. Jenna designed and constructed our entry for the boat parade and won the prize. I made a deal with Christian to harvest some clams that appeared by our dock and he was a very industrious worker.
Alison & Tim have Matthew (5), Ryan (3) and precious "Saint" Catherine. She has just turned 1 and looks like a little Orphan Annie with red curls. It was one of those wonderful weeks that you file in your memories. The children are all happy, very well behaved and fun to be around. Timmy & Steve did odd jobs around the house if they saw a need. We enjoyed them all so much.
Sandy & David are loving their new home near the Tennessee River in Loudon, TN.
Our big news is that Danielle has purchased a home with a big fenced yard for Rufus in Lawrence, Kansas. It is such a treat when she calls asking for advice. Smitty loves it and we are very proud of her. She continues to be given more responsibility at the property management company where she runs the office.
She and Sandy met in Dallas for an early Christmas celebration
and spent time with Joy and Emily on their way to Hide-A-Way
to help me get Smitty home from Rehab.
Darling Danielle came and visited her Papa in Rehab and enjoyed sharing pictures and videos with us of her new home and the Dallas Symphony Christmas show that we missed.
Joy and Dan's little Emily graduated from O.U. this year and received her RN pin. She is working in a maternity area in Oklahoma City and loves it. 
Smitty and I drove to OKC to attend Emily's graduation ceremony and got a real treat when we were invited to an OKC Thunder playoff game.
Andrew is 2nd year Law at University of Arizona. He spent last summer studying at Oxford and has been offered an internship this summer. Sam is a Senior and is filming wonderful things with his drone. Joy & Dan are busy running their law office and enjoying time at their home in Desert Mountain.
We just finished up a year being in charge of noon meals twice a month for Seniors at First Baptist Lindale. It has been such fun. We have a great committee, beautifully equipped kitchen and a friend who owns a big meat company donates our meat. We serve about 60 hot meals plus 20 take-outs to shut-ins. Our ladies decorate the tables beautifully with china, silver and fresh flowers and the old folks love it. Smitty has gotten very good at the big dishwasher.
Our Thanksgiving this year was one of the most memorable. After Smitty was treated for a virus and headaches, we had to visit the ER and discovered subdural hematoma's were causing pressure between the brain and his skull. He was operated on November 6 and has two 6" scars on each side of his head. It has been a very painful few weeks with a few setbacks, but he is a good patient and is now working on his Rehab that will help return him to his smiling self. We have a team of wonderful doctors and they are working on the proper protocol. Suzie came early on to surprise us, Sandy & David drove in from Tennessee and Dan and Joy flew in from Arizona. We all enjoyed so much being together as it gets harder as we are all so busy. We all realized how much we really do have to be thankful for.
smithawl@suddenlink.net 903-882-4729
