Visit with Arkansas family

September 22-26, 2022

On Thursday, September 22, we drove to Newport, Arkansas to visit with Bobby and Suzanne and enjoyed their hospitality in their house on the farm where Rod grew up. We greatly enjoyed the time of just sitting and visiting with them. It had been April of 2019 when we last visited with them, given our limited travel during the Covid era. It is about 470 miles, so close to an eight hour drive.

We were pleased that Brent and Mandi joined us for supper - in fact they provided the nice sandwich supper. We were happy to get to visit with them since they were headed out the next morning to fly to Fayetteville to pick up son Eli and take him to a Razorback football game in Texas.

Brent is a very experienced pilot with his agriculture business, Pro-Ag, and they own a plane that they can use for all kinds of adventures. So he and Mandi will fly to Fayetteville tomorrow to pick up Eli from the University of Arkansas and fly him to Texas to go to a Razorback football game vs Texas A&M.

Brent and Mandi then flew Eli back to Fayetteville, and I believe, stayed to go to church with him on Sunday before flying back to Newport.

September 23

Rod and Brenda attended Rod's 65th Anniversary high school reunion.

September 24

On Saturday, we just relaxed around Bobby & Suzanne's home and enjoyed extensive conversations and reminiscing about the family history.

We were looking forward to seeing Garrett and family and were waiting for his arrival back from Fayetteville, the headquarters of the company he is flying for. He is flying mostly Lear jets, as I understand it, and has traveled all over the country. Bobby said that for one interval, he reckoned that he had flown the equivalent of around the world. He seems to be very happy with this employment.

After allowing some time for Garrett to settle in at home, we and Bobby and Suzanne went over to their new home to visit. This was our first time to meet Nolan with his proud Mom Sarah and Great Granddad Bobby. He is Rod's Great-great-great-nephew.

Garrett and Sarah with little Nolan, who at five months is sturdy and active. They are just settled in to their new home which they have been building over the past few months.

Nolan with Father Garrett, Mom Sarah, and Great-Grandmother Suzanne.

It was indeed a pleasure to see Sarah and Garrett take such delight in their healthy little Nolan.

Suppertime for Nolan and he settles happily in Mom's lap.

Dad has his time with Nolan.

After supper Sarah put Nolan in his little car that suspended him and allowed him to put his feet down and jump.

We were surprised at the strength of Nolan's jumping and how happy he was with it. He would look at Mom and smile and even laugh our loud!

I think this is a look of love in both directions.

It was a delightful time of getting to know the youngest member of our family, Nolan Lassiter.

After our time of visiting with Garrett and Sarah and young Nolan, we got to listen to Suzanne practice her piano pieces for the church services on Sunday. She is the Pianist at the First Baptist Church of Newport.

September 25

We attended the First Baptist Church of Newport on both Sunday morning and Sunday evening. Suzanne was the pianist for both services and did a beautiful job with all the hymns and songs.

The evening service is unique and is called Restoration Church. It is a service designed for persons who are in rehabilitation programs of some sort and is a strongly evangelistic effort. Suzanne is the pianist along with the guitar and percussion and the vocal praise team.

September 26

We enjoyed breakfast and further conversation on Monday morning before we headed back home.