The best thing about being home is that it feels like HOME!
We don’t have to introduce ourselves to everyone we meet here – we hug them!
No using the GPS – we know where everything is!
Beads, doubloons and candy was thrown at the Hammond Christmas parade this morning – that doesn’t happen elsewhere!
Our Southeastern Lion’s football team is winning right now in the playoffs at our own Strawberry Stadium in Hammond.
We were able to buy merlitons (other states call them alligator pears and most can’t get them) to cook with pork sausage and bacon! And we were able to buy andouille sausage for our gumbo which we haven’t found anywhere else!
There are fresh fruit markets and stands here unlike up north! How refreshing is that!
People say ya’ll here with us instead of looking at us odd when we say it!
This and lots lots more are of reasons to feel blessed to being spending the Christmas holidays here in Hammond, Louisiana.
It is so very cool to be here when the Southeastern Lion’s (the university I graduated from and where Roy and I both retired from) are playing in their first playoff game at home since football came back to Southeastern several ago. We couldn’t get a ticket to this game but when they win tonight and if they play here next Saturday I plan on us being in the stands for that one!
Update on our medical things: Roy’s right knee replacement surgery was scheduled for this coming Monday, but this week he was going down the steps on the RV in the dark and misjudged where the ground was and twisted his left ankle. Since he needs a well left leg and foot to be able to put weight on it when the right one is operated on he cannot have the surgery Monday and will have to wait a few weeks until his ankle heels. He’s in a knee high boot and using a walker right now while it heels. He goes back to Dr. Chiasson two days after Christmas if it’s not better before then. He’s doing well enough to not really need the walker right now which is (we are hoping) a good sign!
This has changed all our plans about where we stay, when we leave, etc. We are now staying here at Calloway RV until Monday and then going to Abita Springs to an RV park there for a week or two. When we know he is having the surgery we’ll reschedule to go to Pass Christian during his recuperation. I’d like to find a temporary job while we’re still here so we’ll see how that goes!
My neck/shoulder physical therapy is going well. About half the time I feel better and half not so good. A couple of visits ago my PT, Debbie Starring, put this tape down the side of my neck, in a V shape up my arm to the shoulder and then across my back. Some of it is suppose to give the muscles support and others are suppose to inhibit something (I have real medical names for things) and it really does work. When it’s on me I hardly hurt at all which is really weird but I’m thankful for it. I go back to Dr. Chiasson next week to find out where to go from there.
We have been blessed to spend a good bit of time with sweet Madisyn;
and with our son Chip;
and with Chip’s girlfriend Kim and her little boy’s Braxton and Bentley! Braxton started crawling this week!
I was blessed to be able to help with our home church’s garage sale today benefiting one of our youth member’s who is blind and in need of a braillex notebook to help in her school work. I taught little Emily in Sunday School when she was younger and she’s now almost a young woman and I’m so proud of her achievements in life. The best part was getting to visit with so many of our church members who helped out today. Ya’ll know how much I love garage sales and it was really a great time. We made over $2,000 and so many people contributed their possessions and time to make this possible. Great job Trinity doing God’s work helping others.
We had Thanksgiving dinner with my sister’s family last Saturday which is always a blessing. I haven’t seen my sister since we left Louisiana in April and it was wonderful to have time to catch up plus the food was delicious and I didn’t have to cook anything! That’s a first and it was kind of nice! Madisyn had a wonderful time playing with her cousins and in the pictures below she’s playing with John (my niece’s son) in one and in the other she’s swinging with Sally (my nephew’s daughter). We’ll be visiting around with family between now and Christmas and are looking forward to that.
Roy and I were at our family doctor’s office getting his pre-op clearance and we got a call from the RV park that they had to shut off the water to our RV because there was water flooding out from underneath Dora. As soon as we could we left and when we got back sure enough there was water everywhere outside. It turned out to be the hot water hose off the main line and had to be changed. The carpet in our bedroom (which is all of 2 feet by 7 feet) was soaking wet. Roy had to get on his back in the little space (AGAIN) and change the hose without being able to look at it with his arm over his head up in the little hole. Picture below shows him doing this. Seems like something is always happening to the washer but they are extremely expensive to replace and he’s just about replaced everything that could break so we should be good for a while!
Roy hasn’t just been twisting ankles and fixing washer/dryers she’s also been adding lights under the RV and under our overhead outside awning. When our youngest son was growing up he and their dad were all into lights under their trucks. Well Roy has reverted to that time but is now using modern day technology of LED lights. It really is perfect for Christmas but it makes him happy and with all he’s got going on that’s a good thing! The only color that photographed well was the red lights. The lights on the bottom are from underneath the RV and the lights above are right up under the awning attached to the RV
I’ll try to take more pictures of the lights at another time. Even though I was against spending the money Roy knows I think they are pretty cool!
I’ll leave with this news flash: Southeastern has won their first playoff game 30-29. Go Lion’s!!!!! We are sooooooo very proud to be Lions and so proud of the young football players who gave us this win We play again in Strawberry Stadium for the next round!
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I’ll let you know how we’re doing next week when we move to Abita Springs. Please remember why we really celebrate Christmas and ya’ll come back now, ya’ hear!
BECAUSE HE LIVES 