The Christianville Spirit: TCS Series;Grandma Honey

The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that touches lives

April 30, 2008- TCS # 99
OK everyone; it’s time for the next installment of The Christianville Spirit series, “Soundtrack of Your Life”. The person in this installment some know as Grandma Honey, G-Honey, Jan, or Mrs. Smith. To Me, I call her Grandma Honey or G-Honey. So, without further ado this is the Soundtrack of G-Honey’s Life. Let’s kick off from the start, when she was born. She was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan with the name Janette. When she was born, we had yet to learn about awesome and wild she would be. For this will be our first song, “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf and While living and being raised in Detroit she was the only child, raised with her four cousins. From Kindergarten to High School she went to Catholic School, for this we’ll play “Here I Am (Majesty)” by Delirious from Kindergarten to 5th Grade. And, we’ll play “Dive” by Stephan Curtis Chapman for 5th Grade to High School. After that, Janette married Warren Smith who people call Budsy, ”The Duke”, and Popi. For this we’ll play “Heaven” by Brian Adams. And, while this is playing; I’ll tell you that they had 4 Children named Brian (Uncle Brian), Julie (My Mom), Craig (Uncle Craig), and Bruce Smith (Uncle Bruce). Later, they moved up to Auburn, ME because Popi found out that it was a lot safer there than living in Ann Arbor, MI and as they start driving toward Auburn, ME we’ll play “Life is a Highway” by Tom Cochrane. While they lived up in Maine, Jan Smith decided to have a program for unwed mothers, which helped them a lot. Well after that, they moved to the East side of Toledo for a short time and she hated living on that end because it was run down. For this and what happened next we’ll play “Hole in the World” by The Eagles. After living in Toledo for a while she unfortunately divorced Popi. And, of course Popi married Sue. And, even though they were divorced and Popi was married, they still loved each other very much. I’m sure even today even though Popi has passed away, she still has the love she had for him. After all this, her job moves her Atlanta, GA and for this we’ll play “Life is a Highway” by Rascal Flatts. Once she moved to Atlanta, she found her first dog to have in Atlanta which was named Taffy. As we stated earlier about the children Popi and G-Honey had. They also had children. Uncle Bruce had Gram, Callie, and Parker. Uncle Craig had Taylor and Anna. Uncle Brian had Lyall, and, of course Julie had me and My Brother. Uncle Bruce, his wife, and his kids are the only ones that live in Atlanta, in the same city as G-Honey. As far as G-honey is today, she loves the beach and wishes she could live there. And, for that we’ll play “Cheeseburgers in Paradise” by Jimmy Buffet but, for right now she lives in Atlanta still and of course has a job with Black Diamond which really cares for her and she cares for them. Now, if you ask me that’s quite an awesome life already and she has much more to live. Who knows what could happen? All in all, though like Popi, she is living a life of wonderfulness, class, and a great legacy.
Thanks for reading The Christianville Spirit. Live everyday as if it were your last!

The Christianville Spirit: The Storm of April 10, 2008

The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that touches lives

April 16, 2008- TCS # 98
Ok, I know it’s supposed to be another person in the “Soundtrack of Your Life” series but, this is a story that requires attention, so here is goes. It happened at around 3:30 in the morning on April 10, 2008. There I was in the middle of sleeping when I was awaken by the loud sound of thunder, our electricity going out, and rain falling outside. The rain outside was coming down hard and the wind was blowing the rain against my bedroom window. Also, I heard noises above me that sounded like the wind was strong. So, I got up and I thought “What’s going on??” So, I walked to the west-angled window in my former bedroom which is now Kathy’s Room and the lightning was flashing so much, it was hard to see what was going on. All I knew was the wind was blowing hard, the rain was being pushed hard on the window, and there was a lot of lightning. So, then I heard My Mom’s Voice calling me to see where I was. And, I told her where I was and she told me we had to TAKE COVER and I asked her why. And, She told me there was one of those circle marker things over us on the radar (by the way, in Texas weather terms, that means there‘s a sign of rotation that might become a Tornado.) By now, I’m thinking “I hope I don’t hear a train-like sound because that means there’s a tornado on the ground” so, My Mom, 3 Dogs, and I sat in a small laundry room for about 30 minutes or so sitting on the pillows My Mom gave us. And, I just sat there shaking because I thought a tornado was going to hit us. The Weather man named Pete Delkus who we were watching on My Mom’s battery-operated TV said the sirens were going off in Allen (which is not to far from us) and there was what Pete Delkus calls sheer markers which are those circle makers I was talking about earlier over us for a while. After 30 minutes, the electricity came on and the storm was over. So, we got out and looked to see if there was any damage and here is what the damage. Part of the fence on the east side of our house was down, the fence on the northwest side was down, the lower part of the door to the outside from our sunroom was damaged by the chair, and the tree between us and our east neighbor fell on his hummer and his house. There was damage all over Plano and I knew by watching the 10 o’ clock news the night before that there was going to be swall line of storms that was going come through at about 3 or 4 in the morning. But, I didn’t know it was going to be this bad. Later that day, I found that National Weather Service called this kind of storm a Derecho. Then, My Mom told me something that was shocked me; it turned out that there was on F1 TORNADO that hit at the intersection right by My House. They say that it skipped going up and down throughout Plano. It hit the elementary school down the street from My House and then it picked up and landed again at the intersection. And, the part that get us the most, the sirens in Plano did not go off. The ones in the surrounding cities of Frisco, Allen, and Carrollton went off but, not here. Now, Channel 8 says that the spotters of The City of Plano didn’t think it was going to be that bad and boy were they wrong. All in all, it was something of a storm.
Thanks for reading The Christianville Spirit. We’ll back with our series next week.

The Christianville Spirit: TCS Series; Popi

The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that touches lives

April 9, 2008- TCS # 97
So, A couple days I was on my Facebook page listening to music like I always do and I decided to play “Against the Wind” by Bob Segar and dedicated it to Popi since he’s still in the hospital. And, then I thought “Well, maybe I should detail his life in a list of songs to show the legacy that he has and the legacy he’ll leave in our heart now and forever. Now, my veteran readers of The Christianville Spirit know that I hadn’t hit a good series of newsletter in a while and I’m sure they think we’re long over due. So, here is. I call this series “Soundtrack of Your Life”. You know how we want to know what the world is in God’s Plan for us. Well, think of this way. God is listening to his I-pod, I-phone, or other music devices playing the songs of your life. Which ever stage you’re on, it’s a song. When the song is over, the next song comes on. Or in other words that’s another stage. So, considering Popi’s current condition and believe it or not he’s still chasing nurses around. So, either there must be a lot of nurses to chase or those nurses must pretty for him to stay this long. But, without further a due, this is The Play list of Popi’s Life. First song we’ll start off with is when Popi being born to when he was young “Walk Of Life” by Dire Straits. He was just beginning his life as he was born. Little did he know what a life he was going to live or a legacy he was going to lead? Then, that famous story of him and “Rags” getting into trouble together with the girl that hung around them. For this episode we’ll play “I get by with a little help from My Friends” by The Beatles because even thought they would get into trouble to no end, they have been some pretty good friends. Next, several years later he marries his first wife, Grandma Honey for which we’ll play “Heaven” by Bryan Adams. Next, her and Popi have Julie Smith (who will soon be My Mom), Bruce Smith (Uncle Bruce), Craig Smith (Uncle Craig), and finally Brian Smith (Uncle Brian). After all those children we’ll play “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns and Roses. Later, he sadly divorces Grandma Honey and later married My Steppi Sue, for this we’ll play “Life’s Been Good” by The Eagles. A couple years later, was one of my memories tied to his life and that was the Spring Break that we went to up North to a friend’s cabin; for this we’ll play “Life is a Highway” by Rascal Flatts. About a year later, we went to up to Toledo for My Grandma Mimi 90th Birthday on Super Bowl Weekend when it was in Detroit. That night My Uncle Bruce, Aunt Carolee, and Popi for some reason drove into Downtown Detroit to see all Super Bowl celebrations. For this we’ll play “I Want Rock N’ Roll All Night” by Kiss. So, we’ll add all his life and legacy together and play the “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong for the last song of Popi’s Play list Series. All in all though, he has led quite an awesome live and legacy. But, no matter what happens to him now. His legacy will live on forever; he’s made a good hand print on the world. And, his hand print is like no other in the world!


Thanks for reading The Christianville Spirit. What’s the Play list like in your life?

The Christianville Spirit: The Online Mapping World

The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that touches lives

APril 2, 2008- TCS # 96
The Online Mapping World has been through a lot of different changes. Remember when you could pull up something like Google Maps and you could barely see your street and your house has blurry? Well, it’s not like that anymore. First off, on a website called Live Search Maps, they have a function called Bird’s Eye View. Bird’s Eye View shows you Cars, The Side of Your House, even almost clearly what a Highway Sign says! So, yesterday I looked Google Maps and I found something like Street View. Street View is a function which you can see the houses and the roads as if you were driving on that road. That means People can see the front of your house, what car is in the driveway, The Street Signs, you name it. Now, I think that’s some pretty cool access but, it’s kind of creepy knowing that people can see your street, your house, your car, and it also the approximate address which the point of the Car on the road taking pictures is on. So, that could mean that it could say your address or close to it. Next thing you know it, they’ll have pictures of your backyard, who knows? All in all though, the Online Mapping World has changed largely.
Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Tell someone your family that you love them every day. Because it would be better if that were the last thing you said to them before the time they pass away.