Christmas 2009

We have had a blessed Christmas day with Ed, Deb, and the girls. Gil called his Dad and Helen to check on them. He also talked with both his sisters in Ft. Scott. They had snow there. When he talked to his son Dan in Iowa he found out they had snow as well. Gil's daughter Pat called from Kansas and they were having a nice Christmas at her mom's house with snow as well. Emma, Gil's 5 year old great grand daughter got new boots for Christmas and was begging to go out and play in the snow.....but it was very cold there and grandma would not let her go out.

News from Tate publishing this week let us in on a new advertising on TV. Our book will have a trailer made and the 30-second ad will air on four major newtworks which will give us some good publicity all over the nation. It will air on Fox News, Lifetime, History Channel and American Movie Classics. I should see some activity on the website soon afterwards.

I am publishing a new picture of DJ, our 4 mo. old granddaughter. She sure is filling out and growing! I am eager to hear how much she weighs at her check up next week.

December 2009

Merry Christmas to all my blog followers! Gil and I are taking Ed, Deb and the girls to Hot Springs tonight to the Garven Gardens to see the millions of Christmas lights. We will have a nice dinner in Hot Springs beforehand and return after the sightseeing tour of the lights. I will get some pictures to post here.

Visiting in Kansas with Niemeirs

Gil and I traveled to Ft. Scott, Kansas, last week to see his Dad and step-mother, Glen and Helen. We stayed with Gil's sister, Carol and her husband, Dan. Carol had a brand new grandson, Noah, born Nov. 30th. We spent time each day with Dad and Helen, then visited Gil's sisters and brother in the evenings after work. We had only 2 days to stay, but had a very good visit. We wanted to visit early in the month because sometimes if we wait until Christmas, the weather is very cold and sometimes icy. We had lovely weather for traveling there and home. Suzanne went with us as she always enjoys visiting the Niemeirs in Kansas. I am attaching a couple of pictures taken there.

Celebration in Shreveport, Louisiana

The Louisiana Arts Council for several Louisiana districts held a Celebration of the 80th Anniversay of the Great Depression at the Artspace Center, Shreveport, Louisiana. Mother and I were honored to be invited to be speakers at this celebration on Nov. 14th. Mama was unable to attend, but Aunt Sue and Suzanne went with me to Shreveport that beautiful sunny Saturday. We did some shopping on the way and got into Shreveport about 1:00 but had a little trouble finding the Artspace Center. As it turned out we had been passing it by on Texas Street several times in our search but the building was not marked well enough to see the name on the front of the building.

When we got our table set up with books ready to sell, we joined the group of authors and speakers there for the program. It was very interesting to hear about other people's books and their lives or the subjects about which they wrote, many including people or times during the Great Depression. After I gave a review of our book "Sharecropping in North Louisiana: A Family's Struggle Through the Great Depression," Aunt Sue read the chapter about the Flood of 1927 and shared with the group mama's oil painting of the syrup mill. A fun time was had by all.

November book events attended

This week has been a busy one for me and Mama as we traveled to book events in Louisiana and Arkansas. Wednesday morning we drove to Minden, LA, and met with the library staff there and talked about our book and signed them afterwards.

That afternoon we drove to Jonesboro, LA, where we had a room full of ladies who listened to us read from the book and then asked questions of us about mama's growing-up years. It was a wonderful time had by all...refreshments included. Thank you to the ladies at both libraries who hosted those events.

Friday, Nov. 6th, we drove to Magnolia, AR, to the Columbia County Library and spoke to a room full of students from the area schools. There were 4th graders, 5th graders and 6th graders in attendance as well as a number of adults. The room was full and the questions were wonderful. The students listened to us read from the book, then questioned us about the way mama and her family lived during the 20s, 30s and 40s. We sure had a nice time there. Thank you Laura, Dana and Dennis. You were perfect host and hostesses.

CMA Colors Rally in Hatfield, AR

Our trip to the Changing of Colors Rally with the Christian Motorcyclists Association was wonderful this year in spite of rain several days. The 3,000 plus bikers enjoyed the church services morning and evening along with seminars each day. We had a special treat this year with Herb Shreve preaching on Saturday night. Herb is the founder of CMA which was started in 1975. He had a truly inspiring message for us all. All the preaching was great and Miss Becky Ogden sang a wonderful song this year. Go Becky! Stand up for Jesus!

When we left the rally on Sunday we took our RV and trike to Eureka Springs and stayed two nights at Beaver Lake. The fall color was spectacular until the rains came again. Still, we are glad we went. We spent our last night on the road in Toad Suck RV park near Conway on the Arkansas River. That is a beautiful park.

November book events scheduled

Wednesday, Nov. 4th will find us at the Webster Parish Library in Minden, La. from 10:30 - noon. Then we will be at the Jackson Parish Library in Jonesboro, La. that afternoon from 2-3 pm. We are excited about these two events and hope that some of the area people will come see us.

Then on Friday, Nov. 6th we will go to the Columbia County Library in Magnolia, AR from 9:00 - 11:30. Area schools will bus in about sixty 5th graders for our book review that morning. That will be a fun time reading some of the book to those students and hopefully some adults in the area will come to meet us and buy books.

Meeting old friends at book events in October

The Bastrop book events were wonderful. The Snyder Museum was the perfect backdrop for us. A number of people came to see us and buy books. It was a surprise for me to see three of my classmates that day. Thanks Sandra, Dianne and Cherie for dropping by that day. I hope you enjoy reading the book. The Morehouse Parish Library was our afternoon event. Not a lot of people came to see us, but thanks to those who did. Ellen, thank you for inviting us.

We had a fun time at the Lake Providence book events. The Louisiana Cotton Museum is very interesting. We did not sell many books that morning but it was a beautiful sunny and cool fall day. I guess most people were out on the lake or enjoying the sunny day. The rain had really fallen in that part of the state and some of the cotton was still in the fields. Harriet Bridges was a wonderful hostess for us.

That afternoon we did meet some ladies at the library who bought books. The librarian there turned out to be a niece of Lillian's sixth grade techer. What a small world it is. Thanks Renee for your hospitality.

Our last October book event was at the Schepis Museum in Columbia. We stopped by The Martin Home Place that morning on our way to the Schepis. The hostess there was so glad to meet us. She was new in the gift shop and said five of our books had sold and she was glad to have more there to sell. What a unique old home place there in Columbia that has been preserved. We had many visitors at the Schepis, one of whom is a granddaughter to one of my grandparents' friends down on Beouff River named in the book. Mama and I enjoyed meeting her and talking about her family who knew our family many years ago. She is from Rayville and did not know we would be at the Schepis that day so it was a great surprise for us all. She had read and enjoyed the book. Another visitor that day was Mr. Buster Shipp who remembered mama when they were children. Buster knew and remembered mama's grandfather Judy who lived on Buster's fathers land at one time as described in our book. He had read the book which had been checked out of the Columbia library. He wanted his own signed copy. We are so glad those folks came by to see us.

Now it is time for the November book events.

October Book Events Scheduled

Our first of three book events in October will be held in Lake Providence, La, at the Louisiana State Cotton Museum on Friday, Oct. 2nd from 10:00 until Noon. Mama and I will be interviewed live on KWCL Radio out of Oak Grove, La, that morning at 8:05.

That same day we will have another book review/signing at the East Carroll Parish Public Library in Lake Providence from 2:00-3:30 pm. We hope to have some local school children attend one or both of these events in Lake Providence.

Then on Saturday, Oct. 10, we will again be at the Schepis Museum, Columbia, La., from 10:00 - 3 pm during the local Arts Festival. We had a lovely time last year at this event on Main St. there in Columbia where we met some old friends and made some new friends.

DJ is now 2 weeks old

Our little DJ is now two weeks old and doing fine. She is not sleeping all night yet, but is sleeping longer periods of time between feedings. Daddy is still home on family leave, but will be going back to work in 10 days. Mama is feeling fine and has recovered from surgery very well. Sister Suzanne is being home-schooled by Daddy at this point and helps some with the baby and home chores. DJ is a little wiggle worm when I hold her and she grunts sometimes in her sleep. She is a real cutie and we all adore her. See picture to the right of Grandma and Grandpa with our newest granddaughter.

New granddaughter born Aug. 28, 2009

We have welcomed a new beautiful baby to the family, Destiny Jubilee Kitchens, who was born to Carl and Debora on Friday, Aug. 28th. Destiny will be called DJ by the family, and even though she is still in hospital at this writing, we hope to have her home soon. She was born by C-secion and had pneumonia at birth. The El Dorado Hospital is taking good care of her at this time. I am posting several pictures of her and her sister, Suzanne.

We pray blessings for them as a family and look forward to getting to hold DJ and spending lots of time with her as soon as possible. DJ is so beautiful and her grandfather and I wish nothing but the best for her future. See you home soon DJ.

Book Events for September

Our first book events for the fall are now scheduled in Bastrop for Sept. 24th at the Snyder Museum from 1-3 pm and at the Morehouse Parish Library on Sat. the 26th from 10:00 until noon. Thank you Ellen for inviting us to the library. It was great fun seeing and talking to you the day I visited. We have so many good memories from our high school days. I can't believe it has been so long since we graduated from BHS! I am looking forward to our book events there in Bastrop.

The Snyder Museum is going to be a wonderful place for another book event, and I have personally invited the Family History Club of Bastrop to come to one of our events that weekend. Thank you also to the ladies at the Bastrop Chamber of Commerce and the Visitors Center in Bastrop for displaying our book at their businesses so people will know about this book written by a local author. Mama is so happy to be back in Bastrop after living in Arkansas many years. I enjoy going back there to visit her and my sister and seeing school friends.

I am now working on October book events and will post them as dates are confirmed.

Going to Bastrop for a few days to see Mama

Now that we have been home for a while, it is time for me to go to Bastrop to see mama and my sister Judy. I know Judy will be going back to work soon, driving a schoolbus. This is the best time to visit them because Gil will be leaving on Friday morning for one of his prison ministries here in Arkansas. He got the trike out of the shop so he has wheels for his trip. One of us needs to be home with Sylvia because she has epilepsy and needs meds morning and night to prevent seizures. I will be back Thursday. It is also time to order more books and get back into scheduling some book events. I know Columbia wants us to come back in October, so I need to call the school there and see when we can set up that book event for the school kids.

It is good to be home.

We have been home almost a week now. It took several days to unload the RV, wash the clothes and get settled in. Gil has cleaned the inside and outside of the motorhome along with the outside compartments that had dust and dirt from a few gravel roads on the trip. He has turned his attention now to getting his trike fixed (which happened today) and the bike is also being worked on. Now at least he has one set of wheels for the prison ministry next week.

I will be going to Bastrop soon to visit mama and my sister. It has been hot here this week, in the 90s all week, some days in the high 90s. The humidity has been very high so that makes the heat index higher. We have a new date for our granddaughter's entrance into this world - Sept. 2nd so that is not very far away. Deb and Ed have everything they need at this time, but we do need to find a babybed for her once she outgrows the bassinet. They have decided to home-school Suzanne this year so there will be lots of changes at their house.

July 31; Friday, Last Night on the Road

Well, all good things must come to an end; thus, our dream vacation must do the same. We spent two nights in Ft. Scott, Kansas, visiting Gil's Dad, step-mom and his sisters and brother. This morning Dad and Helen left for Wichita, and Gil's sister Glenda and her husband Bill were to join them there tonight and then they all would drive out west to Dodge City to see Glenda and Bill's son and his wife and their children. They have a lovely new home there where one is a dentist (the son), and the other a pediatricain.(dau.-in-law). They have six children at last count.

Gil and I had a nice meal last night at Carol and Dan's house with Bill and Glenda. After supper Doug and Diana came out and we all looked at the trip pictures on the laptop computer (as slide shows). We left Ft. Scott this morning and stopped by Pittsburg, Ks, to see Gil's daughter for a while. She was helping her mom out at the Yarn Barn downtown. Then we headed east into Missouri, then south into Arkansas. We had a very pleasent drive through the Boston Mountains, and then stopped in Conway just 130 miles from home. We love this Corp of Engineer park here named Toad Suck on the Arkansas River. We will be home by noon tomorrow.

Wednesday in Kansas

This morning we took our RV into Olathe Ford & RV Service Center to get the electrical problem fixed. To kill time, we drove back into Kansas City to see the Steamboat Arabia Museum. It was one of the most interesting museums I have ever seen! The Arabia was a steamboat built in 1853 but it sank in the Missouri River, near Kansas City in 1856. All the 132 passengers survived but it lay, not at the bottom of the river, under 40 ft. of dirt and water until in 1988 five businessmen from the area decided to locate the boat. It was no longer at the bottom of the river due to the change in course of the Missouri River over the many years and was located in a corn field on property owned by an area Judge. His forefathers who knew about the sinking of the boat had passed down stories through the years to the family. The way in which they found the ruins and dug up the parts of the boat which lay beneath the ground is fascinating. The preservation of the artifacts found on the boat is an on-going project and what we saw in the museum today was amazing....hundreds of pieces of dishes, pots and pans, cutlery, thousands of buttons and shoes and even some canned food that remained good during the years! The food that was still good included canned coffee beans, and canned pickles. One of the brothers who helped recover all those artifacts spoke to our group today after we viewed a brief videio about the recovery of the steamboat. He had some fascinting stories to tell about the unearthing and preservation of those things found with the boat. It took over a four-month time-frame to dig it all up. I also met his mother (in the elevator of the museum) who helps preserve some of the clothing. They all had to learn how to preserve these artifacts for future generations. If you are interested in this piece of history, just google the Steamboat Arabia, Kansas City, KS. I will put a few pictures here on the blog.

We were able to pick up our RV (problems fixed) and head south out of town toward Ft. Scott, Gil's hometown, and visit with his father and step-mother this evening. Doug came by a while to visit as well.

Monday and Tuesday in Shawnee, KS

On Monday after we moved to the Kansas side of Kansas City, we parked in the Walnut Grove RV park near Gil's friend from grammar school and college - Larry Elliott. Larry is off for the summer because he is a teacher and they just returned Sunday night from a short trip to Hermann, MO. We visited with Larry Monday afternoon in his lovely home and he fixed dinner for us and his wife (who had been at work) that night. We had a lovely meal and talked a lot about their trip to Italy last year on a cruise ship. It was a fun time for us all. It has been many years since we had seen the Elliotts.

Tuesday morning we went back to Larry's house and he and Gil took Suzanne to the KC zoo. It was cool when they left this morning and it began to rain before they left the zoo. Suzanne took lots of pictures some of which I will put on the blog. After lunch we came back to the camp. It is now after 6 pm and the sun is finally coming out for the first time today.

Quiet Sunday in Independence, Missouri

Having quiet Sunday in Missouri today. We enjoyed hearing Bro. Stew teach SS and preach this morning. We had lunch with him and Norma and some church friends. Took nap this afternoon and will be going back to Beverly Hills Baptist Church again tonight. They are having an ice cream social and Gil has been asked to sing. Will take pictures tonight and post them asap.

Later: Ooops, I forgot to take the camera tonight so no pictures. But I did get to talk to a dear ole friend from our church in England - Lynn Reichley, who lives in Utah. Hi Lynn. Hope you enjoy the blog of our trip.

Saturday; Nothing much to report

We slept late; bought some groceries. Mitch's mom and step-Dad picked him up at campground. Had leftovers for lunch; Gil took nap; we washed clothes. Gil and Suzanne went to Royals baseball game with Gil's brother Doug. I am having quiet evening at "home" watching some TV (strange! not seen much tv this summer). Will go to church tomorrow at Bro. Stew's church. No pictures today. Check back later for more exciting news on this blog.

Visit with Bro. Stew and Norma Wine

Our visit today with Bro. Stew and Norma Wine was another highlight of our trip. We have seen them a couple of times in the past 22 years after we left Friendship Baptist, but it has been a number of years now. Bro. Stew and Norma have a church in Independence, MO, where they have lived now for a number of years since leaving Europe. We had lunch with them and a lovely visit into the afternoon, then we went to their church tonight for a gosepl concert which was wonderful. The first guest was a couple named Amassadors of Grace, a husband and wife who really have a wonderful ministry. The next guest singer was a young medical student, Cameron Smith, who comes from Baxter Springs, KS, but who is doing his internship here in the Kansas City area. What a great voice he has, due to training in the opera style. I'd like to have a singing doctor! We will see the Wines again tomorrow and Sunday. Gil and Suzanne will go to a Royal's ballgame with Bro. Stew so they are excited about that. Mitch will be picked up tomorrow morning by his mother because they have plans for something special here in KC. Oh, and Gil's brother will drive up from Ft. Scott to join them for the ballgame. Suzanne has promised to get some pictures at the ballpark.