65 Reasons

     Last February my parents celebrated 65 years of marriage.  I wrote them 65 reasons of why I loved them.  I just ran across it and thought I would share it with you.  Some of it won't make much sense, but it does to them, and that is all that matters.

   65 REASONS WHY I LOVE YOU!  FEBRUARY 13, 2015

1. You gave me life!
2. You brought the egg in from the front porch.
3. You loved me unconditionally.
4. You changed my bed in the middle of the night when I would wet it.
5. You spanked me when I needed it.
6. You also peppered my mouth a time or two.
7. You gave me my love for cooking!
8. You are the BEST cook, next to me, of course!
9. Daddy taught me how to fish & how to clean them once caught.
10. Loved all the times on the lake fishing.
11. I never went without.
12. Took me to church.
13. Taught me to love the Lord.
14. Showed me how to care for others.
15. Love watching you two give of yourselves.
16. Watching Mother put on her makeup.
17. Gave me my love for country music.
18. Road trips to Dallas.
19. White horse.
20. You taught me how to make gravy, the 5th food group!
21. You gave me my sense of humor.
22. Gave me a quarter for the ice cream truck.
23. Loved how Daddy could fix anything, so I married a man who could as well.
24. You made all my clothes, my dresses for church.
25. Mother was always the prettiest Mother around, and still is!
26. Making crafts.
27. Your love for the Rangers.
28. Fun times at the bowling alley and playing 42 with your friends at the house.
29. The way you love my children.
30. The way you love my grandchildren, your great grandchildren!
31. Your love of garage sales and saving a dollar!
32. Your love for dogs!
33. Handing me a piece of homemade pie and saying, “You won’t like it.”
34. On your death bed coughing and saying, “I’m just fine!”
35. Your positive attitude!
36. How you love to go singing at the nursing homes.
37. How Mother loves to go to Hobby Lobby and give people hug coupons.
38. Homemade book marks.
39. The way you tell me I am your favorite!
40. You pray for me.
41. Your sweet tea.
42. Sitting & talking at the kitchen table.
43. The way you love on others.
44. You gave me an awesome sister!
45. The way you tell stories.
46. The way you exaggerate.
47. You are a phone call away!
48. Your birthday song!
49. Sitting in church and hearing you sing.
50. Daddy’s hands, rough but strong.
51. Mother’s hands, bent but never idle.
52. Daddy’s pie crust.
53. Mother filling up those pies.
54. I will always be your baby!
55. Daddy’s step stools he made for all of us.
56. Mother’s sense of humor.
57. Chicken & dumplins
58. Being born & raised in Texas.
59. Picking pecans.
60. Getting a bag of pecans to take home.
61. Both of your “crafty” ways!
62. Your love of stamping.
63. Silver Alert in Walmart.
64. Your church gift bags.
65. The way you love me so!

Weeds

Weeds

     They seem to follow me....I continue to buy Roundup from Home Depot.....I spray like I am painting a house.... But they continue to come back..... They come through concrete, cracks, rocks..... Really?......I pull em, I yank em, I curse em..... But they continue to laugh at me.... It seems like they come back even stronger... Like with a back bone..... Surely the garden of Eden had no weeds....I can't even imagine it.....I certainly don't live in Eden, but would love a weedless life.... Is there such a thing?.... Doubt it.... So now I have changed my attitude....I kinda respect these guys...I mean, look how hard they work.... Coming from nowhere through concrete.... That takes some doing!.... Then a few weeks ago Laura Jo pulled some weeds from a patch at church....a guess they were spiritual weeds.... There were Flowers at the ends of the green stalks and she said "Majo, I got you some beautiful flowers!" ....I went home and put them in a vase and they were transformed before my eyes!. Thank you Lord for the weeds you put in my path!!

Texas meets Florida July 4th, 2015

          This past week, we had my niece Paula and her hubby Kevin along with Landon, Evie & Julie come for a visit.  Most of us here are in our July 4th clothes....Joe thought I said we were celebrating Hawaii....oh well, we will get his hearing checked next week!  
          We had a great time with hotdogs and the such....more food than should be allowed by a large group of relatives!  The little cousins got to meet for the first time...SWEET!  This family is growing as we speak....our Amanda is with child and plans to bring yet one more little munchkin into this family...another one for Majo's lap is just fine with me!....my lap is getting bigger by the day....plenty of room for little babies!

My summer so far...

July 4, 2015

This has been the craziest summer of my memory.....Now mind you, I have little memory these days.....being all of 61years.....it is slowly but assuridly slipping away...it comes with age...I thought wisdom came with age, but now I am questioning that as well.

In May, Joe & I went on a 10 day trip to Europe by way of a barge called a viking cruise boat down the Danube River. We returned only to watch 2 Jacksonville grandgirls, while their parents go on an Alaskan cruise for 10 days. A day later we go to TX to get in a U-Haul truck and drive from Hawkins, TX to Florida hauling two hand made bunk beds (thank you James Musser). We get home and decide to move around 3 bedrooms so that the bunks would have a fitting resting place.  I manage to paint the bunk room a stunning TX blue and everything is in it’s place .... ready for my niece, husband, 3 kids, and 16 others made up of my children and 7 grands and 1 foster child to follow suit to celebrate the 4th!...I think I counted 21 total.  We had a house full of sticky snotty nosed windows, one kid threw up, several hit, bit, and probably spit, and we had hot dogs of many sorts, mac-n-cheese, baked beans, corn on the cob, treats of many kinds, and full tummies all around!  We swam, played tennis, made forts, managed a few theme parks in there (this is Florida, after all), and ate & drank ourselves silly!  And we aren’t through....The summer is only half way done.

As I was sitting here in a quiet house....something that hasn’t happened lately, I reflected upon how blessed and wonderful my God is.  We were walking into church yesterday, when Annie bends down to tell Julie, “Julie, this is Majo & Papa Jo’s church.  You will love it. It is beautiful here.”  They held hands and walked each other to class and I thought....”Thank you God....We managed to get 5 kids dressed, hair in place, and in class before church started....This is a beautiful thing....then Annie proceeds to tell Julie the memory verse she learned at Camp Majo.....””Be Kind to one another. Eph. 4:32”.  And they were kind, if only for a little moment in time....before the hitting and biting took place once they got home, of course.!

     This weekend came to an end with wonderful news of yet another Sherwood grandchild coming into our lives come January.  Amanda is with child No. 3....making me a soon to be Majo of 8!...Eight as of now, that is...and who said “Eight is enough?” ....Don’t know why God continues to shower more grands my way....I guess it’s because He knows I will love them the best way a Majo can.....with all her heart and maybe a few ice cream treats!

Laura Jo, Julie, Evie, and Millie, who refused to pose!

CAMP MAJO!

June 15, 2015 CAMP MAJO begins it's first session

Millie, Annie, Laura, & Emily are excited campers!

There were little complaints at the mess hall!

ICE CREAM.. ICE CREAM...We all SCREAM for
ICE CREAM!

The Camp-mobile was a hit with movies non stop!

FUNNY FACES AT LUNCH were required 

Millie, what kind of funny face is that?

AND of course we didn't even have to go to the zoo to see the wild life!

Papa Joe is using his life guard skills!

What would camp be without crafts?

A lot of concentration was needed

...and of course adult supervision....thank you Millie!

VOILA!  Their Father's Day crafts are done!

On our way to church on Sunday....

Shhhhh.....a sleepy camper is a happy Majo!

Father’s Day 2015

  Alvin Glenn Lyon is his name...he’s my Daddy!  He will be 89 in October.  He was born and raised in Texas and proud of it.  He has been with the same woman for 65 years, and I think they are going to stay together .... for the sake of the children of course!

He was a no nonsense kind of Dad....What he said was the law, and don’t mess with him.  He was strict and I got my share of whoopins!  I will say I deserved every one of them.  Don’t know why I was a contankerous little gal, but I liked to go right when I was told to go left...I liked to bite and spit and draw on the walls....you name it, I probably did it, or thought about it.

He would come home from work at 5:00, almost like clock work.  We would eat dinner at 5:05.  Mother always had something wonderful on the table, and it never occurred to Glenda or I to question it.  

A lot of the time we had Mother’s two brothers living with us and often Mother’s Dad as well....Daddy always welcomed them in the door.  Family is family .... and you take care of family!

He was a man of God from my very early memory.  We never missed a church service unless we were bleeding or sick.  I caught him often reading the good book and he lead the blessing over our food and often thanked the Lord for the bounty.  

He was and still is a quiet man.  Doesn’t say a whole lot, but when he does, you need to listen up!  He won’t repeat himself!  You heard it the first time!  We didn’t travel much except for our usual trip to Dallas from Baytown to visit Mama & Papa.  We would maybe stop ONCE.  If you needed to take care of business, we were supplied with an empty mayonaise jar to take care of that.  We never missed and got pretty good at that over time.

This picture is one of my favorites and was one of the last one taken on our last trip there.  We were going to a HODOWN and had to dress accordingly!  

My Daddy is not a tall man, but he stands TALL in the eyes of the Lord.  When you are on your knees, that is when you are the closest to heaven.

Happy Father’s Day, Daddy!  Hope you get a good nap in before night church.  You deserve the very best!...Your cantankerous wild child LOVES YOU! 

Our Viking River Boat Cruise

Our boat took us to Germany, Austria, and Hungary down the Danube River.                           May 17-24 2015

Our suite was SWEET!

Our boat was a nice ride.

They even had champagne to greet as we got there.

The bathroom had top notch details

nice view from our room

We saw lots of churches

the scenery was fabulous!

the open markets were fun too

We sampled the local food....not bad for this red neck!

Speaking of rednecks, I found me 4 women from Texas...they loved me!

Honestly, this was all I saw Valerie do the whole time we were there!

They even had Joe dogs!

Our first European selfie!

Vicky is showing us her Christian shaped sausage!

Thank you Valerie for your dinner display....looks good enough to eat!

What is a cruise without animal shaped towels?

Umbrellas were a must for this trip!

George & LaDonice were fun to be around!

Our last night in Budapest

Here's to a great trip!