Dateline: Abilene
July 7th, 2008 at 1:31 pm by Dee O'Neil Andrews
As our trip from Picayune to Texas worked out Friday, July 4th, we ended up driving all of the way to Abilene late Friday night. We left home about 8 a.m. Friday morning and spent a long, boring day on the road up through the middle of Louisiana (Interstate 49) to Shreveport. There we hit I-20, driving straight west to Dallas (Grand Prairie), where we arrived about 5:30 p.m.
We headed straight to a Mexican food place and ate an early dinner, which was very good. We hung out around Grand Prairie with Tom's daughter and family, who had orchestra camp kids staying with them, until about 8 p.m., when we decided to go ahead and drive on over here to Abilene to my mom's house where there was more room to sleep.
We got a good night's sleep and had a great breakfast and lunch with my mom, my sister, Laura, and my 23 year old niece, Erin, who was visiting from Amarillo for the weekend, on Saturday. Tom left about 3:30 p.m. to go back over to Grand Prairie as the start of his long trek home, which is about 750 miles from here. That's a long way, folks! We were on the road Friday from 8 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. Friday night when we got here to Mom's.
Poor Tom is going to have to make that long trip, again, next weekend to come up to Grand Prairie to bring his grandkids home. Fortunately, my stepdaughter, Kristine, is going to be able to drive over from Grand Prairie Saturday morning to eat lunch with me and my mom and then take me back to Grand Prairie with her to meet up with Tom and the kids, who will be arriving Saturday evening. Next Sunday, Tom and I will go back home together.
It's been a good weekend. It was great visiting with Laura and Erin both Saturday and yesterday. Tom and I hadn't seen Erin in at least a year and a half or two years, since she graduated from ACU. She was in and out over here Saturday, but Laura stayed until fairly late Saturday night, so we could catch up on all the "latest."
Then, yesterday morning Mom went to the early service at Hillcrest and Laura, Erin and I went to the late service and got to see the newly renovated auditorium afterward. Hillcrest will be back in its auditorium and back to one morning service on Sundays beginning next Sunday, but we won't be here (Erin or I) so we were excited to get a sneak peek of the changes. It's beautiful!
We all ate lunch together, again, and then Laura and Erin spent most of the afternoon here visiting some more. We always laugh a lot when we're together. Isn't it great to have a Christian family, y'all?!
Today it's just me and my mom hanging out. I think I'm going to read blogs the rest of the afternoon and try to get caught up a bit. I'm pretty caught up on reading lots of blogs, but haven't had time to comment around, which I really like to do. I know I love to get comments from my readers. It's always very encouraging. So, I like to do the same on others' blogs to let them know I appreciate the time and effort they put into blogging. It takes dedication (and time and energy), y'all, to keep up with one. I know - I've done it for 3 1/2 years now.
What are you all up to this week? Looks like it's going to be a quiet week here. Rebecca (my daughter) is not going to be able to come over from McKinney this week, but my brother, Neil, is hoping to be able to come down from Lubbock Friday afternoon for a day or so. Of course, I'll be leaving Saturday afternoon, anyway, but will be glad to see him because it's been a year.
How often do you get to see your family? It's hard when everyone is so scattered across the country.
Y'all comment and share your thoughts today, okay?! I'd like to hear from you.
Cheers & Blessings to you all today! Dee
Sounds like you’re having a good time Dee. We too are renovating our auditorium and have gone to 2 services in our Fellowship Hall. We dubbed our first service the “innovated” one and yesterday, my son was part of history and he sang on the Praise Team with our “Praise Band” as we held our first instrumental service.
Plans for this week are getting ready to leave for Colorado this coming Friday for a 5 day “Wilderness Trek” with our youth group.
Being an only child and with both my parents passed away I see very, very little of “my family.”
I saw one of my brothers last Christmas and we will be spending this Christmas with their family. They live 10 hours away in Brisbane. They moved to Australia a couple of years ago and it’s great to have family in Australia now. It’s over 3 years since I saw my sister and other brother and their families (and nearly 4 since I saw that brother’s childen) at my father’s funeral. They live in South Africa, where I am from.
On Sunday we ate at a country pub and at the next table was a large extended family all out for the day. It saddened me that my daughter doesn’t get to experience that. I shared that with her, and she reassured me that she has never missed it (as she has never known it) and that her dad and I are all she needs. But I wonder sometimes.
Welcome to Abilene. Glad we are having some nice weather for you!
Reading your blog today made me wonder if Neil is your younger brother?
Remember, I told you in a post before that my friend and I dated guys in Abernathy way back in Junior High and High School days in Lubbock. My friend dated a guy named Neil. Could this be the same Neil?
You know the world is a small place and wouldn’t that be crazy to have our paths intersect like this?
My friend’s name was Gail and she lived in Lubbock and went to Lubbock Christian High School but I went to public schools.
Hope you enjoy your visit this week. Bet it is hot in Abilene! So, stay cool!
Hi Dee. Glad you’re with some of your family this week. It is hard to make connections lots of time with those we love, even when we live in the same town………unless they are right next door! Both my parents are deceased, and now two of siblings have passed away. (One, older than me, they lost when he was between 2 and 3 years old, so I never knew him.) Another has dementia, so when I do see him, every few months, sometimes it’s like NOT seeing him. I have one other brother but, for various reasons, we rarely see each other. Nieces and nephews are busy with their own lives. I spent some time last night, though, swapping text messages with my sister’s yougest daughter. That was nice. Fortunately, I have family surrounding me in Memphis, my sister-by-choice’s family which “adopted” me nearly 40 years ago. It’s a huge family, and we see some of them weekly.
This isn’t stacking up to be a real busy week for me, except for today. We have a house to clean today, need to clean our own LR carpet and get an oil change on the car……then we’re invited to a fish fry tonight with family.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
Glad that things are going well! Tell your mom hey from all of us!
Sorry we’ve missed you on another trip to Abilene. Just read this post Wed. a.m.; we finish VBS tonight and leave early tomorrow morning for the metroplex (or metromess)–we’ll be staying with the Vogts while I help out at a Mission Alive thing and Maureen and our boys hang out with Candace and Lucas, while Hannah is at camp — in Abilene, no less. Sounds like you’ve had a good time with family, though. Your mom is precious!
Morning Dee,
sounds like ya are have a good visit!
in joy the reat of your visit,and have a safe trip !
huggs
My daughter came down from Sulphur Springs for the July 4th weekend. We saw fireworks, the Bellaire parade, toured Bayou Bend for free and drove around the traffic-free downtown streets of Houston. That evening I baked salmon for dinner with Blue Bell vanilla ice cream, blueberry bundt cake, strawberries and blueberries for dessert. Gathered around my table were two divorced mothers whose children were with dad, a never married single and a widow who’s husband of 50+ years had died this year. Holidays are times when loneliness can rear it’s sad head. I think our time together laughing and just being together was a balm.
Now this morning I’ll be heading up to Plano for a quick trip to go to a 45 minute art exhibit tonight. My 11 year old granddaughter has been attending the summer art classes for the gifted and talented, and she will be a contributer. Her aunt is coming in from Sulphur Springs, her grandparents from East Texas, her Dallas uncle and cousin will be there for a buffet supper with her parents and 7 year old sister before we go to the exhibit. She’s worth it!
In the morning I’ll come back to Bellaire because of my weekend schedule: 8:30 Saturday morning 8 - 10 women who meet monthly to discuss a book, encourage each other, pray and intentionally turn our hearts (again) to the Lord. Then I’ll go out to the Cenacle Retreat House to meet with a directee (I’m a spiritual director)who is spending the weekend in silence, except for the one hour each day we invite the Spirit to share the room as I companion the directee in his/her journey. Friday evening we will meet and he/she will explore where/how God may be present in the hours of the silent retreat and the future.
Let’s pray for each other - that our travels will be safe and our gatherings blessed.