September 1, 2007

I wanted to write all of you and thank you for your prayers, calls, e-mails, and letters.  It is hard to believe Mom has been sick for three months now.  I keep thinking it will get easier but until her leg strength returns she cannot do anything for herself.  This is very hard for her (and me).  Her cognitive has mostly returned.  Every once in a while we will have a blip but she isn't as confused as she was.  They have cleared up all the infections and now we are just working on strength and eating.  Her appetite is not good and she HATES physical therapy.  So this is just another request for prayer.  Pray for me too that I will have patience and not push too hard.  I just want her to be able to do some things for herself. 

 

I enjoyed my five days with Meredith.  She was a blessing and came at the perfect time.  She was also a good buffer between me and Mom and that was nice.  We ate out a lot and saw three movies:  The Nanny Diaries, Becoming Jane, and No Reservations.  We liked them all but they were all sad in their own way. Meredith's pregnancy is going well.  She enjoyed eating American food and shopping.  It is fun to look at little girl clothes.  My cousin and two friends came by and brought presents.  Mom got to watch her open them and this was fun.  Like I said little girl clothes are fun.  She is due October 30.  Ben continues to work very hard getting the new store ready.  He is also working part-time at an ice cream parlor.  I'm glad I'm not there.  You know how I love ice cream.  I'd be his best customer.

 

I will meet John in Miami to renew our Brazilian Visa on Tuesday, September 4.  It will be wonderful to see him again.  I just hope we have everything ready and it will be smooth sailing through the process.  It will be the first time I have not been with Mom all day in 100 days so it will be an adjustment for both of us. 

 

I am loving my first football Saturday.  I've been listening to the games on ESPN and it is great.  I can't believe Clemson is playing on Labor Day and at 8:00 at night.  There will be a lot of people that drink too much. It isn't fun when they have late games.  Right now Appalachian State isbeating Michigan State 27-14 and the broadcasters are about to swallow their tongues.  We saw lots of cars today flying their Georgia flags on the way to the Atlanta Airport.  We thought of The Bryant Family when we saw them.  There were some Oklahoma State fans at Cracker Barrel.  I hope they got out alive.

 

June 17, 2007

I want to thank all of you for your prayers for my Mom.  She is now in rehab and doing well.  After a month she is still pretty weak but continues to work hard to strengthen her legs especially.  She agrees with me that she can no longer live alone in her home and will be moving to assisted living when she is dismissed. Please pray for her strength, that her house sells for a good price, and that she and I will be able to say good-bye to our home of 52 years.  It will be most difficult.

 

I wanted to tell you that we had a wonderful 30 year Anniversary celebration.  John met me at Mom's and we drove with Mary Beasley to Philadelphia where we dropped her off at her daughter's house.  Kathy & Clinton are good friends from high school.  She was a patient traveler and put up with all our stories.  It was fun.  We visited the Historic Area of Philadelphia and got to see the Liberty Bell and many other wonderful things.  One very sweet moment there was when the officials at the Liberty Bell allowed a young blind boy feel the crack in the bell.  The only bad thing about the day we were there was IT WAS THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL and there were thousands of kids on field trips.  We finally just gave up trying to see some things. John and Meredith met us the afternoon of May 15 and took our car to visit his parents in Lebanon, PA.  and we rode the Amtrak to New York City.

 

We spent 4 days in NYC and had a great time.  We spent an entire day on the top of a double-decker bus seeing the sights and hearing the commentaries.  We spent time at the Twin Tower Sight and the church where the firefighters rested before they went back to the site to work.  We went to the top of the empire state building, ate at the Battery, ate at Little Italy (best lasagna I've ever had), went to China Town, toured Brooklyn's Guggenheim Museum and ate ice cream at Serendipity 3.  We saw the Broadway  Play The Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  It was a sad story but the music was just wonderful.  When we came out of the theater is was pouring rain.  We had 10 blocks to walk and no umbrella or taxi in sight.  We walked and walked and got more and more wet.  We stopped for a red light and John told me to step back because the cars would splash me.  I looked at him and died laughing.  I was already soaked so what would a splash from a car hurt.  We watched as thousands of little girls were lined up to audition for The American Girl Movie.  The line was totally around a city block.  We were on the front row of David Letterman which was just so special and we got to see the set of The Today Show.  We met some Brazilians in our hotel.  I heard them speaking Portuguese and actually recognized the language.  My teacher, Marina, would be proud. 

 

We rode the Amtrak back to Philadelphia where John and Meredith picked us up.  Ben and his girlfriend, Wendy, met us in Washington, DC and we had a wonderful time touring DC with them and being together.  It had been a long time since we had been together as a family.  We saw as much of DC as we could before they all had to leave two days later.  While at the Lincoln Memorial a group of soldiers started walking up the steps.  Everyone cheered.  It was a very moving moment for me.  Meredith and John went to South Carolina where Ann Bryant and Shirley Reeves had a baby shower for her.  Ben and Wendy flew back to Los Angeles. (I have put some pictures on the blog). 

 

John and I attended the wedding of Amy, daughter of John's Sister, Katherine, and her husband, Jim.  We had such a good time again being with family.  Betsy and Alan (John's other sister and her husband) came too.  The wedding was at the wonderful old Catholic Church and it was beautiful and the reception was at an Officers Club in DC.  We especially loved Amy and Kevin's first dance.  They had practiced and practiced and it was perfect.  I like this new trend of the first dance being choreographed for the bride and groom.  The food was perfect and we got to meet Jim's family and see his other two daughters, Elizabeth and Peggy.  We had never met Peggy's husband or Elizabeth's fiance so this was a real treat for us.  I know Jim feels so blessed to see his daughters so happy.

 

We did get to spend one day in Anderson.  John had a business trip to South Carolina.  What a treat to see old friends and see the ever changing Anderson, South Carolina.  It is booming.  After all of this traveling John has promised not to even look at the Mastercard Bill.  I don't want him to become sick in Brazil. = )  He is back in Brazil and doing well.  He struggles with the cooking but is doing well other than that.  I miss him.  He took care of Mom and me while she was in the hospital.  Thank you for all your calls and cards.  They are encouraging to both Mom and to me too.

Parati, Brazil 4-13-07

We spent this past weekend in Paraty with 8 other couples.  We walked, shopped, ate and enjoyed Saturday on a boat cruising the ocean and bays near Paraty.  It was wonderful swimming in the ocean, seeing the beautiful coastline and visiting with friends.  Paraty, also spelled Parati, is a lovely colonial town, 125 miles from Rio de Janeiro on Ilha Grande Bay, Brazil's southeastern coast. It lies on the border between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states. It's a favorite with Brazilians and visitors who want to get away from it all in an historic town, laze on one of the many beaches, and indulge in a restful vacation. In the 1700's when the mines of Minas Gerais were pouring out gold, the perfect bay of Paraty was a busy port, the second most important in Brazil during the Ciclo de Ouro, or Golden Century. It was a hard overland trip, though, and when a new road was built to another port in Espiritu Santo state, Paraty was all but forgotten. This stage of oblivion or neglect is what kept so many of the colonial buildings pretty much as they were when the last gold-laden ship sailed for Portugal. Old town, the historic center is a national historic monument. Closed to vehicles, the streets and buildings are preserved.

Nine Happy Faces 4-12-07

I finished all 9 of my snowman pillows and they are so cute!  I wanted you to see them.  I wish I had bought enough ball fringe for all of them but didn't.  9 Happy Faces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good-bye Sue & Happy Birthday Priscila!!! 4/4/07

We said good-bye to Sue and celebrated Priscila's 28th birthday.  It was such a treat to sit down at a beautifully decorated table at Wendy's home and have delicious food and conversation.  Just like being in the South.  Wendy is definitely a Southern Girl.  We have all adopted Priscila as our "Brazilian Daughter".  We all love her so much.  Sue has promised to eat American food for us and think of us every time.

Newest Rug completion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This rug took me the longest to complete plus I did 9 pillows.  It is my favorite so far.  It will also be Cheryl Beer's favorite rug as she likes snowmen as much as me.

My Nativity Scenes from Peru

My friend Maria visited Peru recently and brought me an early birthday present.  There are 3 different and distinct Nativity Scenes in Peru:  The Mountains, The Coast and The Jungle.  She brought me one of each.  Look at the pictures.  They are wonderful.  It has made me very happy.