Tennessee Family and Friends Fun

 Hey Friends,

Hello from the home front. We were gone Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. 

This time, it was time for a road trip with Mamaw and Papaw to visit Friends. We had a great trip! The travel went smoothly, the fellowship was superb, and, of course, we had delicious food along the way!

I failed as a blogger in documenting everything. However, I do have a handful of pictures from our short trip to share.

The weather was gorgeous. On the trip down there, it was terrific to see spring in action! Redbud trees lined the road, and we enjoyed the sunshine.

Mamaw and Papaw wanted to visit a long time family friend, Gladys. It was great to see her once again. Tuesday afternoon we met her for dinner at Cracker Barrel.

Dad often loved to quote the words of wisdom from Garfield the cat. I saw this towel in Cracker Barrel and knew he would have loved this one! It would have become part of his regular vocabulary!

Wednesday we traveled to Oak Ridge Tennessee. Where we met up with Bro. Herman, Sis Margaret Woods and Sis. Sue Nicholas. We enjoyed a great lunch with them at Shoney's. That is where I started forgetting to take pictures.

Before heading back to the hotel. We did stop for ice cream at Dairy Queen. I can not spend too much time with either one of my Papaws without an ice cream.

I did take some pictures of DQ to show Papaw Danny what he missed. 

We took a drive to see some of the beautiful scenery along our route. Here are a couple pictures that Mom captured of Papaw Eugene. I thought they were wonderful!

Wednesday night we attended church at Beechfork in Wartburg, Tennessee. It was great to be in service again with Pastor Herman Woods, and all of our precious Beechfork friends! We love those dear people like our family! They have been so instrumental in our lives over the years.

Thursday morning it was time to point the car toward home. We took our time driving home enjoying scenery in Kentucky. 

The car magically found its way to Sonny’s BBQ for lunch! Yes, the food tasted just as good or even better than it looks! below our pictures of mine and Mom's meals.

The company was even better! 

I love my Mama!

I always have to take a quick picture of Sonny’s sweet barbecue sauce to send to my Uncle Danny Morgan.  He loves it! Well, it is one of my favorite barbecue sauces too.

That is a full recap on this week’s travel. I hope you enjoyed a peek into our week. See you tomorrow.

Odie

Throwback Thursday 100 Days

 Hey Friends,

Thank you for reading. Today, we are throwing it back slightly over a year. Dad shared this video a 100 days post stroke.

It was a great seeing Dad’s recovery progress. The Lord helped him so much! We were so thankful! Mom and I were so proud of Dad for working hard to overcome!

Some people have told me they have recently watched this video again. I love looking back on how God helped us then!

Today marks 5 months since God called Daddy home. We miss him so much! It is still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that Dad is gone!

It comforts my heart to think about Dad walking without need of his walking stick on streets of gold. He is completely whole!  He has been walking in Heaven over 100 days!

Thank you, Lord, for your goodness now and always! We have made it this far because of you! My heart is filled with praise even in the pain of loss.

I will see you tomorrow.

Odie

Oklahoma Friends And Fellowship April 2025

 Hey Friends,

Thank you for dropping by for a visit. I hope you stay for a while!

Yesterday I wrote about the Golden Celebation we attended Saturday in Oklahoma. Click here to see that recap.

Today, I have the rest of the pictures from our trip. Visiting Oklahoma gave us an excellent reason to see the Mayhans! 

Bro. Bruce and Sis. Priscilla have made many trips down the road to visit us countless times! It has been rarer for us to see them at home. We contacted them when planning our trip. They were going to be home. Plans began to take shape. 

First, we flew from Dayton to Oklahoma City with stop in Atlanta. Both flights were great. We love flying with Delta. Their company makes most travel days so smooth. 

It was a beautiful day for flying and pictures. Here are the pictures I captured during our travel.

The Mayhans kindly picked us up from the airport on Thursday night. They made sure we had dinner and got us settled in the hotel. 

Friday was a day of adveture. They took us on a driving tour of their area of Oklahoma. Mom and I greatly enjoyed spending time with our special friends!

Food was also high on our priority list of the trip. It was exciting to eat at the Mayhan’s local favorites. Here is our pictures from Friday. 

We also enjoyed the opportunity to fellowship with Tyler Mayhand and family and Zach Mayhan and family. I was enjoying the visits so much that I neglected to take pictures. The fellowship was precious. 

Bro. and Sis. Landress also came by to visit with us too. We loved being with so many fabulous people. 

Saturday was party day. Before and after the party the Mayhans continued to be phenomenal host and tour guides.

Sunday was time to travel home by plane. The Mayhans were up way to earlto help us make our flight. 

I am so thankful we made this trip. It was amazing to visit friends! It was a great encouragement to all of us. 

See you later!

Odie

Celebrating A Golden Anniversary

 Hey Friends,

Thank you for stopping by to visit with us. Today you get to see the reason for our recent Oklahoma trip. 

We went to Oklahoma for a very special celebration. Bro. Rickey and Sis. Sharon Searcy recently had their 50th wedding aniversary. They have been dear friends of our family for over 30 of those years!

God placed this special family in our path to help us survive life. Our families have been together for the happy and sad moments of life. The Searcys have proven to be true friends! They have been real blessing to us. 

Bro. Rickey’s prayers, friendship and dedication helped pull Dad through an extremely rough time in life! Just one of the ways he encouraged Dad was a weekly Sunday call. He never missed a Sunday for over 7 years. Dad often pointed out, that was before free long distance calling. Bro. Rickey was a faithful friend! It was something my Dad never forgot! He was forever indebted to him!

As soon as we received the 50th anniversary announcement, we marked the date in our calendar. We knew we would make the trip to Oklahoma. We wanted to be there to celebrate this Golden milestone!

The plans began forming. Last minute we found flights that fit our schedule and budget, so we decided to fly. The Mayhans helped us navigate transportation. We did not tell many people that we were coming.

The party was Saturday afternoon. Many family and friends gathered in Blanchard, Oklahoma to honor Bro. Rickey and Sis. Sharon. 

The weather was cold, rainy and gloomy, but the fellowship was sweet and cheerful! We got to see so many wonderful friends! Mom and I really enjoyed the party. 

Below are the pictures I snapped while visiting with my friends. Turn out I did not get as many pictures as I thought I did. This is just A handful of the people that we were able to see.

That wraps up the anniversary party. Tomorrow, I will have the rest of our trip pictures. 

Odie