Here is your Monday morning smile.
And here’s another smile in the form of a video. Nathan took Madi on a Valentine’s Day daddy-daughter date. It just melts my heart.
I added some music so there is no audible dialogue but one of the main things I love is when Nathan goes to the door and says, “Hello. I’m here to pick up Madison,” and she says, “That’s me!”
And then as they are walking to the car she says, “It’s our carriage!”
And since I’m on the subject of Nathan, here is something Meagan posted on Facebook about him recently. (The root canal she refers to was one of several major dental procedures she had to have done recently; she has been very brave and I am so proud of her.)
This guy…my hero!This is just a short snapshot of the kid of dad, husband, and leader he is to our family. He loves me well and is always trying to learn new ways to show his love. He stays involved with each one of our kids. He takes time to love them in ways that speak to their little hearts.He gives his all in providing for our family. He prays for us. He makes us all laugh. When things didn’t go as expected after my root canal yesterday, he made fast arrangements to come and get me. He cared for me and the kids throughout the night even though he had had a long workday.I don’t know what we would do without him in our life. Our life isn’t perfect, but without him it would be much harder. I love this man beyond what my words will ever be able to express! My heart is overwhelmed with thankfulness for him.
On Friday night, we had the honor of hosting three of Gage’s brothers and their friend/adopted brother for dinner. From left to right: Gage, Liam (friend), Braden, Caleb, and Nick. They had all come to check out Gage’s new apartment, town, and church.
I had to giggle a little bit Sunday morning when they all came to church. Usually, Gage is upstairs doing kids’ church and on the one Sunday a month he is off, he (of course) sits with Sarah in service. Well, yesterday, he was upstairs with the kids and so Sarah sat with the four guys. Until Steve introduced them later in the service, I’m sure people were wondering why Sarah was sitting with all those fellas!
All five avid disc golf players and even though the temps were in the thirties and there has been flooding due to many days of rain, they didn’t let that keep them from having fun.
Aren’t Gage’s photos beautiful?
On Friday night, we re-celebrated Gage’s birthday and also celebrated Caleb’s birthday, as their birthdays are days apart. The Hat even made an appearance.
The other guys thought that was pretty entertaining.
We so enjoyed the meal on Friday and having them over to eat again on Sunday where we had the chance to get to know them even more.
All of the guys have lived in other countries with their parents on the mission field and all have been homeschooled. And the brothers are not the only ones from a large family; Liam is one of 13 siblings, has lived in Honduras with his family, and his dad is a former Green Beret instructor.
Between the five of them, there are interests in guitar, piano, songwriting, producing, filmmaking, real estate, underwater welding, construction, and trades craft. And they ALL love discussing movies, so we had quite a few discussions on favorites and non-favorites.
There were many things that impressed Steve and me over the weekend but the mains ones were that the guys were all unfailingly courteous, complimentary, respectful, appreciative, and excellent listeners.
To be honest, when I first heard that Gage had five brothers my heart sank a little, mainly because Sarah is a bit soft-spoken and doesn’t really enjoy loud, boisterous gatherings. And what could be any more boisterous than six young men all in the same room?
But what I saw this weekend made my mama heart happy. In addition to being embraced and accepted by Gage’s love, I saw her actively listened to by the other five guys; they didn’t talk over her or drown her out with brotherly exuberance. She was affectionately welcomed into their circle, eating pizza with them at Gage’s apartment and playing both tabletop and video games with them at our house.
She shared with me last night after everyone had left that Gage told her his brothers thought she was truly wonderful–words to make a daughter and mama happy.
And for those of you who love the Outer Banks, I’ll share one last video of the weekend with you. It was when the guys were driving back to Manteo from playing disc golf. They just happened to be playing the music in the car and it went perfectly with the sunset. Enjoy!
What about you?
What was something–big or small–from YOUR weekend you would like to share with the rest of us?
Have you ever been in a situation when you needed a compliment or a kind word, and someone shared one with you? What kind of difference did that make for you?
I loved your story about Nathan and Madi’s “father – daughter date.” It melted my heart too, as did the photo of Nathan’s children at the piano!
Fred and Lucy,
I know, I just loved the fact that he went outside and then came to the door to “pick her up.” Training her how a real gentleman acts on a date.
The piano was given to them by Meagan’s mom who had to make room for some other items. A wonderful thing to have in any home–especially when there are cute children standing in front of it.
I’m definitely in the “LOVE the Outer Banks” club! We’ve been vacationing there for the last 9 years, I think this summer will be trip #10! So many wonderful memories–we share a house with my sister & family, and some family friends. We’re especially excited this year that my oldest son is able to come. He’s had to miss the last two. 2019 he left for Basic Training on the same day we left for vacation (we sat in the airport with him all day until his flight left, and then drove overnight to the beach!) Then last summer his two weeks of training (he’s PA Army National Guard) fell over vacation. He wasn’t quite as sad about it once he found out they were learning to drive Stryker vehicles, though! We are long overdue for a full family week at the beach, and his girlfriend, who we all thankfully adore, is able to come too!
Emily,
So happy for you that your son and his girlfriend can join the family festivities this year! I had to look up what a Stryker vehicle was and I have to admit, it looks pretty cool! So at least he had something interesting to do while he was missing family vacation. I love that you all waited with him in the airport in 2019 before heading out to vacation. That’s what family does.
Glad to hear from a fellow OBX-lover.
I have not opened up Smithellaneous in quite some time. I’m not sure why, but I’m glad I did today. What a beautiful post in so many ways — Nathan and Madi’s daddy-daughter date, Meagan’s words of thankfulness, Sarah’s new boyfriend, Gabe, the beautiful pics — all made me smile. And you used the phrase “made my mama heart happy.” I use that so often — maybe I picked it up from you?! Hello to the entire Smith family and glad to see you are well!
Karen,
Welcome back! Always happy to see your name pop up.
Don’t know where that mama phrase came from but I sure do love finding reasons to use it.
Hello to all the Catheys!
The video of Nathan and Madison is beyond sweet! How sweet for him to take her on a daddy/daughter date. It’s tough growing up as the only girl in a family. I only had two brothers though.
My weekend consisted of driving 115 miles one way to take my dad to the ER – he has shingles. I’m sure the stress of my mom’s fall, surgery and hospitalization contributed to that diagnosis. He seems to be doing pretty good although I think he has a bit of cabin fever. He was able to go out on their porch today. A friend stopped by and they chatted for a while.
Is Gage the oldest brother? It looks like she had a great time and you can tell the brothers have accepted her.
Phyllis,
Yes, Gage is the oldest at 26. His next brother, Nick, is 24.
Bless you, for taking such wonderful care of their parents; I know they must feel very fortunate to have a daughter like you. Shingles are no fun; Steve has had them before and they are awful. I hope your dad continues to improve–and your mom, as well.
I loved the daddy/daughter video, too. 🙂 Teaching her how she should be treated by a gentleman.
All Those Fellas are having a great time! I’m so happy they are in your life! What happy memories being made.
And that son of yours sure is a gem. You raised him real good =)
God Bless!
Krista,
Thanks for your kind words about Nathan. I like him quite a bit. 🙂
What precious pictures from the Florida Smiths! It sounds like y’all had a wonderful weekend with Gage’s brothers – and what spectacular photos from their outing. We spent our weekend enjoying “the big thaw” and saw all our snow melt away (and fortunately it looks like we suffered no broken pipes or other damage from “snovid 2021”.
Sue Ellen,
Thankful your snow is gone and pipes are intact. We have sun and temps in the 60’s today after weeks and weeks of rain. Spring can’t be far behind!
This post just makes my heart sparkle! 💖 From the adorable daddy/Madi date, to Meagan’s sweet words of appreciation about Nathan, to the fact that Sarah was treated like the Princess she is by the guys, to knowing that there are fine young men coming up who will help keep the next generation glued together, to the beautiful sunset with music–pure nourishment for the soul. Thanks for sharing!
Words of encouragement are so vital. I work as an aide at an elementary school and a few weeks ago, I had to deal with a child who was basically coming unglued at the seams–it was a meltdown in the hallway at lunch with lots of kids around. Somehow I was able to get him calm enough to get him out of the hall and back to the classroom. Later one of the more experienced aides told me I did a beautiful job of handling the situation. I cannot even begin to say how much that meant to me. I was feeling like I had done a rotten job and her kind words were a healing balm to my spirits.
You and Steve are such purveyors of encouragement yourselves and you have passed that skill along to Nathan and Sarah. Love how the gold flows from one generation to the next!
Love, Deb
Aunt Debbie, I can just imagine your tenderness with the upset child. I know he appreciated love of a mother in that scary moment.
-Sarah
Sarah,
Love this reply to Deb. She done good!
Thanks, dear Sarah, and dear Beck too. 🥰
Debbie,
What a beautiful comment from you, starting with your heart sparkling to ending with the visual of gold flowing from one generation to the next. Your WORDS are gold!
I can just picture you helping that child calm down; you have always been a calming, reassuring presence and I know you communicated that to him in your patented Debbie way. And how wonderful that another aide didn’t just notice your skill but took the time to point it out.
What an encouragement and challenge to ALL of us to speak the words of affirmation we feel.
Proud of you.
Well, the sun came out and the temps got above freezing so on Saturday we went on a road trip with 4 of our good friends. We drove about 100 miles to a small town (Albion, NE) that is home to Highway 14 Brewery that brews some pretty amazing craft beers. My hubby is in the beer distributorship business and they are going to begin carrying some of the beers from this place so we really wanted to go check it out. Jeff is a sales supervisor but still has the opportunity to sell quite often and he likes to sell something that he has tried and can honestly tell about. And so we went. We enjoyed. And we totally approve! After that we wandered down to Columbus, Nebraska and had lunch at Glur’s. It’s a bar and grill and is the longest continuous operating bar west of the Mississippi (since 1876) and Nebraska’s oldest tavern! There’s a bit of fun trivia for you. 🙂
I love the picture of the 4 grands. It must have been Valentine’s day, I’m guessing by their clothes. They are all just so darned cute. Well, Noah probably would like to be referred to as handsome….he’s getting SO big!
Gage took some really great shots! I’m impressed! I love all things beautiful but especially love sunrises and sunsets.
LeeAnne,
Hooray for above freezing! And hooray for road trips; one of my favorite things to do. And when you put “small town” into the road trip sentence? I’m all about it. Glad you had such a fun day.
Yeah, the grandkids have got a bad case of cute. And Noah is definitely turning into quite the young man. Seems like just yesterday Nathan and Meagan were getting married!
I loved Gage’s pictures, too. He was out there at exactly the right time, catching that sunset.
I look forward to your blog every Monday. Growing up with Steve in Clovis, NM, I love your precious family, and your love for life and all things beautiful.
Suzie
Suzie,
What a very sweet comment. So much meaning packed into so few words.
We loved our visit to Clovis and I loved getting to meet all the wonderful people in his life from back in the day. Blessings.
Hey Suzie, thanks for stopping by Smithellaneous. It’s great to hear from you! I always have to read the blog each Monday to find out what’s happening in the our lives; Becky is always in search of a story! Maybe all of us 75 Wildcats can meet again at our 50th CHS Reunion.
Steve
Steve,
That would be fun to meet up again.