Texas Trip: Days Six and Seven

Day Six - Sunday

I need to catch up on all our activities!

Sunday didn't really seem like a Sunday. We traveled north to Midlothian (near Dallas) to visit my Uncle Seymour and Aunt Lois Ashley (my Daddy's older sister). They live on a farm, of sorts, with a rustic old barn that shelters one horse. They used to have chickens and ducks and even goats, but now all they have are cats and a couple dogs. (which belong to my cousin's family next door)

My aunt and uncle worked in the Philippines as missionaries for many years. Their house is full of knick-knacks, paintings, books, and dishes of far away places.

Aunt Lois had a turkey dinner waiting for us, complete with apple pie--American food! All afternoon, my cousins and their kids dropped by to say "hello" and eat Grandma's good cooking. I let the family-love fill my soul. Aunt Lois reminded me so much of her mother, my Grammy. I was a little girl again.

That evening, Grace and Matt took Randy and me to Dallas, to Grace's church,Matthews Road Baptist Church when she lived near there. They had dinner theater for their Christmas program. It was interesting, but I missed my own church.

Day Seven - Monday

Randy and I woke early to beat the morning traffic to Dallas. Aunt Lois was up before us and fixing breakfast. We never had a chance to get hungry while staying there. She fixed oatmeal (nice and chunky, the way her father, my Grandaddy, made it)and pink grapefruit and coffee and juice and would have done more, if we let her. Uncle Seymour told us of courtship years and of times with my grandparents. I could have listened to him all day, but we had things to and places to go.

My dear husband was kind enough to drive me to the house of Laura Shaw, a Faithwriter that I had known for about two years and never met. Another dear friend, Sunny Shell, met us there, and we had three wonderful hours together -hugging and laughing and sharing beautiful Christian fellowship together. It wasn't long enough, but we'll have eternity together someday!

Thank God for GPS, but sometimes it can be frustrating -especially when you miss you exit in the middle of Dallas and can't get back on the big highway. It's enough to test the best marriages. When we finally got out of the city, Randy treated me to my first white chocolate mocha latte at Starbucks.

That afternoon, Aunt Lois brought out my grammy's old Bible. It must be at least 8 inches thick. Aunt Lois wanted me to put my children's birthdays, weddings, and my grandchildren in the record pages. I imagined future generations pouring over the names and dates.

After a short rest and more visiting, we joined Yvette, my cousin's wife, and her girls and headed back toward Dallas, to see their production of "Annie." Beforehand, we met another friend and Grace's former professor, Rose Collins, at Chick-fil-a (another first for me). Rose and I had befriended each other online, so I was glad for the chance to visit with her, too.

The Artisan Theater produces ten plays throughout the year. The next one is "Prince Caspian." They did a super job. Three of my cousin's girls were in the play: Eden, Ellie, and Lulu. (Ellie was in another concert that night and had to let her double take her place.) The play was performed over 40 times, but they were in only half of them. That's a lot of practice and dedication. Lulu is only 7 years old and played the part of Molly. She was spectacular!

The stage is in the middle of the room. We had seats in the front row and felt like we were part of the play. The singing and speaking and choreography was great. I am so glad we went.

It was well after our bedtime when we got back to Aunt Lois and Uncle Seymour's house. I went to bed with dozens of wonderful memories twirling through my mind.