Today is 1 week before our daughter and her husband (we call him SIL for son-in-law) comes to visit us before boarding a plane and heading to their new home in Phoenix, via California. SIL’s job is taking them to this new adventure, away from Texas for the first time. Our new baby boy (7th grandchild) will not be born a Texas unless he rebels and comes early before the moving van gets there. So we are getting excited about not only getting to see them, but getting to love on them and pamper them in the good ole southern way. Randy has already warned me  that I cannot cook like I want because they will be here only 3 days, so I am having to think about that and cook only enough to be eaten, as Randy does not eat left overs and I will be leaving with the kids to help them unpack since Jodi is 8 mo pg. This is just what I love. Having our kids here and getting to cook for them. The menu is already planned and so today I began to clean. 

Found some pictures that had not been hung up behind clothes that were in a closet. So that made me rearrange some things, which is right up my alley. The sun is shinning today and I am also going to Houston’s with a friend for lunch to have Key Lime Pie, which I have written about before,my favorite Key Lime Pie….no one makes it like Houston’s. 

So back to cooking! Jodi has requested Smothered steak with scalloped potatoes and chocolate cream pie. Eric will want a fried chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and of course, they both will drool over the Heavenly Hots for breakfast with fresh blueberries. Jaden and FIL (which will be Randy’s name for the week when they are here, stands for….you guessed it, father-in-law and yes, I am called MIL for….mother-in-law) will be taking us downtown Pasadena to their favorite ice cream parlor, 21 Choices which we went to every night when Jaden came in the summer. So next week will be so much fun, getting to show them around our home town and cooking and visiting. It will be fun to make some new memories with them here, as we don’t have any memories with them yet in our new home. So now, the adventure is on, not only for them, but for us, as we watch them enter a new season of their lives and settle into their new home. What a special week it will be. I hope Jodi found out if there was a Whataburger in Phoenix before they actually move in…that might change the whole picture if not. I honestly don’t think she could live anywhere there was not a Whataburger.   I thought the same thing about living where there was no fried okra or Sister Schubert rolls, but I am alive and well and enjoying so many things here that I didn’t have back in Texas. Jodi and Eric, Jaden and Caleb, when the door closes on the plane, sit back, relax, get out that last Whataburger you have stuffed in your carry-on and get ready for a whole new life. You have allowed God to direct your paths and taking this new position, now get ready to see what all He is going to do in your lives and be excited for the new blessings that will follow…God will be faithful to fulfill His purpose in your lives. We love you all, MIL and SIL

Well, we were up and ready to head out this morning. Randy was feeling good after having gone back to work after his surgery this past week and life was good. We were excited to be having a “normal” Saturday in front of us as we headed out to storage to take some winter items and bring out new spring bedspreads, etc. We left storage feeling good that the storage unit did look like maybe there were getting less and less boxes to have to go through each season. Maybe the prior visits of us going through and refining really was working. Well, we load up our car, you know the one, the new one with the navigation system which, by the way, I have totally mastered.

We have arrived at Wal Mart and am just visiting and talking about how fast Randy’s head is healing after the surgery and how fast his hair is growing back when we get out of the car and begin to walk into the store. Randy begins to nudge me and point with his head toward a lady walking into the store. We cannot believe what we are seeing. She is actually plucking hair from under her arms. Yes, you read me correctly, she is plucking hair from under her arms. Now, maybe this doesn’t seem like a big deal to you, but this little southern girl, who was taught never to ever even think about wearing short sleeves, white shoes or linen before Easter, is now watching a lady, not only wearing short sleeves, but is “plucking”? hair from under her arms. I instantly called 711 for the Fashion Police, but I was told that they don’t go on calls to WalMart, so I would just have to look the other way and take a chill pill. Ok….we were now in the store and we bought all the items, plus more, that we came for. We head to the car and are so excited that we know that loading all these items, which does include a new toaster oven, will now be so easy, as we now have a hatch back which opens by itself when I press a button under the dashboard. I leave Randy behind the car, waiting for me to go unlock the car, where I proceed to push the open button for the hatch back. Unbeknownst to me, Randy had already pushed it with his key chain and by the time I head to the back of the car, all I see are Randy’s legs sticking out from the back of our SUV, yelling at me to push the button to open the hatch door. When I pushed it, because he had already had it opened, it closed on him, as he had crawled up inside  to push our storage items so he could now load $200 worth of groceries.

Just seeing his legs sticking out from under the “hatch door” ,well, let’s just say, that I should have used better judgement. I couldn’t quit laughing. Now I know that he did just have surgery and I should be a little more sensitive, but seeing this picture now in my mind ,it will be a memory we won’t soon forget. As soon as his legs get over being sore from where the door closed on them, I’m sure he will see the humorous side to this story. Something happened on the way home that took his mind off his sore legs. Upon looking in the mirror on the sun visor, he discovered that his hair is growing back a different color and in different directions. We got so tickled about it growing in a little crooked, that he decided that he needs to hold his head lopsided hoping that that will make his hair grow back in correctly. So, if you see us in a restaurant or at church and he is walking with his head to the side and his knees are bent sideways, you won’t have to ask what happened.  you will already know the rest of the story.