Where Do I Begin?

I am finally finding a window of time to sit down and write about my California trip! It's been real crazy for me the last week! There is no way to tell all about it, but I will tell you a little. For those of you who wished me "a lot of laughs", your wish came true! One night we laughed ourselves into "hysterical laughter"! It lasted about 15 minutes! LOL! If any of us were not feeling good, that laughter "cured" it all!! No, I'm not going to try and tell you about it, because it wouldn't be funny to you. You know how those times are when something just hits you the "right" way. It was one of those times. :) I had a wonderful time being with my sisters. The celebration for Ronda was done so nice by her family and church family. We all had a nice time reflecting back and telling her how wonderful she is! Family and friends being together is the most fulfilling experience life has to offer.

We have special people in our lives who are more than friends to us. Some of them are Jimmy and Bobbie, Randy and Sharon, Nanci and Brian. You cannot find better people in all the world! They have been part of our lives since we were babies, or very young. Therefore, they are "family". The Shoemakes have known us ALL OF OUR LIVES and have been at almost every celebration or times of loss that we have had! You can't ask for any closer relationship than this. It's very hard to separate them from being "family" so I don't even try! Randy is another person who has been very close to my family. In our talking about when he came into our lives I figured out that I was around 6-7 years old!!! My how time flies when you're having FUN! Randy and Sharon are great friends and we call him our "BROTHER"! Randy has always "been there". I didn't know Sharon quite as early in life, but she is very dear to me! Then there's Nanci!! Of course, I have known her all of her life. She is Ronda's age, so she's like a sister to me. She always brings a lot of laughter to those around. She is a true friend and I love her so much! Her and Brian are wonderful people. Of course, there's my aunt and uncle. C.W. and Gloria are ALWAYS THERE! I don't know when they took a vacation without going to see family or friends. That's their kind of vacation. I love them both so much! TRUE, LOYAL, CARING and LOVING! That's C.W. and Gloria! They are wonderful people! Valere came to be with Ronda on this special occasion and it was wonderful seeing her!

I don't want to bore you with all the "happenings", flight CANCELLED and RESCHEDULED (I was one of the 26,000 people who was misplaced by American, DELAYED flight back home because of weather, my back giving into all the stress of PULLING on LUGGAGE, and all that goes with "flying". I will just say, I'm so glad I could go and be with my "old sister"! LOL! It's so hard to believe she is 50 years old! Of course, that doesn't make me any older!!! We ate alot, laughed alot, remembered alot, and had an incredible time! Nathan and Ronda's church is doing great and I enjoyed being with them in their Sunday afternoon service. The music, choir, praise singing, worship and preaching was outstanding and I was so happy to get to spend that time with them! I will leave you with these pictures. I trust you will enjoy them, but I know you can't enjoy them as much as we did making them!