Page 7 - WE GET OUR DUCKS IN A ROW

* My husbands Dad was an Assembly of God preacher and they had a hard life,but God really blessed them

* My family moved a lot when I was growing up and I sure do relate to cleaning up yucky places to live

* I forgot about Indian Head tablets!

Page 9 - TUDADDY DIES

* This was terrible.

Page 11 - A SCARY MAN

* ...this story made me love the Lord...

* That Tippie was a good dog, he did his job with biting off a hunk of that man's leg, also when he came back in and laid on the couch, my kids liked it too...

Page 14 - A MAGICAL DAY

* I know you dont want to hear about kleenex but happy stories can make you cry to.

* I loved th pictures of Daddy and the picnic.

Page 17 - FOUR LITTLE PUPPIES - AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

* Oh I could just feel the pain and frustration and injustice. I really hope bullies like that have to be accountable for their actions, someday, somewhere.

* I hope those puppies died quick. I was up all night worrying about that.

* Did you bury the puppies with the cans on their little heads or take them off. I can visialize that and it has been bothering me

Page 18 - IT IS FINISHED

* You aren't finished, are you Lynne ? You just meant the story part of that part of your life was finished, right ? How happy you all must have been when you walked away from that "stinky house". We used to have meat packing plants here in St. Louis, and had to pass thru that neighborhood sometimes, so I know exactly what "stinky" you are talking about

* Now that you heard the prayer your mom prayed, you ain't done. You gotta make another page for the train ride and the new house and church and you dad's first sermon there

* My best friend was a PK. I always hoped my adult life would turn out being just like their family life

* Do you mean you are finished with your story or that you Daddy is finished with school?

Page 19 - CROSS COUNTRY TRAIN RIDE

* I was right there on the train with you Lynn....and, LOL, now I know exactly why they are called a flop house.....just never had the correct picture in my mind

* Hi Lynne, Boy when you gotta go to the bath room ya just gotta go.... hee hee

Page 20 - WHERE'S THE TOILET? (This chapter was the #1 favorite,it got twice as many hits as any other!)

O* h Lynne: I am still laughing...being of the generation that used 2 holers and thunder pots....this was the funniest story yet

* THANK GOD FOR THE OUTHOUSE, AND THE THUNDERPOTS

* We called it a 'slop jar'. LOL..

* too bad that beautiful little white dream home had a flaw, but after the stinky house that probably ended up not being as bad a problem as it seemed

* Had to laugh reading this one, that old outhouse Ain't no fun .. especially at 20 below :-).

* I have used the 2 holer before not bad as you might think except in the winter in the snow. We always called it visiting Mrs. Jones. Don't know where that term came from but that was it. hee hee Oh, in case you wern't aware. A 2 holer was first class... 3 holer meant you was rich and one shot, errrr well, you was poorer that dirt..

* By the way, speaking of two holers, my relatives lived in Arkansas and when we went to visit them, I also wasn't quite sure about them.......thank God I did not have to go out at night!!

* I was happy you got to a nice clean happy place.!

* HOPE YOUR BROTHER WAS ABLE TO WAIT TILL THE NEXT DAY FOR THE TWO HOLER. hA hA

* it has taken me back to when I was five years old and a trip to Arkansas to see my aunt. Especially the part about the "two holer" , LOL, as I had NO experience with those, living in CA all my life!!! Also wasp's nest (in the outhouse).

* I loved the story about the toilet, I remember them well, back in the hills of Arkansas. and the boom pots. ha now they sell as antiques

* My Grandma, who we called "ma" had "chamber Pots" in the bedrooms but a rose is a rose no matter what it is called. She had the "two holer" way out back and I dreaded having to go to the bathroom at night. Ma had kerosine lamps--no electricity, so we had to go to bed when it got dark or sit around and make shadow

* being a preacher's wife...can relate to much of this...and the little house out back LOL...loved that tooo....we had a three seater....hehe...

. Page 21 - DADDY GETS HIMSELF INTO TROUBLE

* Nothing like a little bit of Murphy's soap to get you into trouble.. law am glad they understood. It sounded like great congregation.

Page 22 - DADDY'S FIRST SERMON

* If I could find a small Church that made me feel like that one did, I would be a church go-er too. I just pray in my heart. :-)

* For a minute I thought you were writing about the church I was raised in....

* I remember all that talking back in church, oh i sure do miss it nowadays is different...

Page 23 - BEING A GIRL

* I am glad you found a friend, poor kid

* I moved a lot when I was growing up and I sure do remember the thrill at finding a girl friend when mostly I had my three little brothers to play with!

* ...both of you were darling little girls, this makes me wish I could go back in time to when I was little, I had a best girlfriend and we didn't know how lucky we were to live back then, we were always up to mischief....

Page 24 - SISTERS

* It is so true, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My Mother also made feed sack dresses. My sister and I weren't embarrassed because we didn't know to be. My how times have changed

* I have been fortunate enough to meet several people like that .. would never win a beauty contest from the outside ... but their soul soars forever.

* Lynne i just read your story about Flower sack dresses......let me tell you i had tears running down my face..i has a many a flower sack dress.....and they were beautiful....my mama she would add lace and buttons to make them one of a kind....I loved those dress's and had not thought of them in many years .....till i read your story

* I just love this page, and especially the last line. Isn't that just SO true. You may see someone, but not know them at all. Both my gramma's were fat little ladies, and I loved them so very much. They were wonderful people.

Page 25 - THE LITTLE BIT EXTRA CLUB

* I could just feel that toothache. Poor little you feeling guilty on top of all that ... glad you got watermelon though. :-)

* Yes, the Lord is Good and one has to taste Him and see. I have experienced a lot of miracles in my life, the most unbelievable of having a baby (son) of my own after eleven years of our marriage (because chances were remote). We are a living testimony to the world.

Page 26 - FIRE!

* It brought back to me memories of my own childhood and all the miracles that have happened in my life too

* I'M GLAD IT DIDN'T GET YOUR HOUSE AND CHURCH...

* I love your little Mom too.

* I was standing across the street with you and your Mom, this was so real to me. Cold and wet.

Page 27 - STAND BY ME

* You were so smart to keep Fern in your back pocket as a school friend....

Page 28 - BEING MARRIED

* I know just what Lena was feeling. I was 11 when I had went through the same thing.

* This really points out how important your Mom was to your family.

* each page leaves you waiting for the next one to come out! Kinda like the old "serials" we used to watch at the movies on Saturday afternoons! Spent all week waiting for the next one!

* ...people get their priorties mixed up.

Page 29 - THIS TOO SHALL PASS AWAY

* I loved the photo of your grandma, Mutter. She was a wise lady. I also enjoy the church ladys, I remember them myself. Where would we of been without them? I wish I had some of them to talk to now, or even a grandma...

Page 30 - BROTHER RUDY'S SECRET

* I got the biggest lump in my throat. When my Grandmother, whom we called "Ma" died we found that she had been chewing tobacco for years. She would take cigarett butts from the ashtrays and tear out the tobacco and chew it when she didn't have the regular tobacco. She would often buy chewing tobacco for her brother George and would tell us she was mailing it to him. After her death, many came forward and said they knew about her chewing but never let on. She kept her dignity and her "chaw"

* Rudy's wife's death was sure weird...like she knew it and had the sense to turn around and tell him that she had to go.. I think the chruch ladies did the right thing by keeping Rudy's secret. No need to try and figure out why - that's just what he did.

* Brother Rudys a drinker. wonder where he bought it. odd that noone saw him. I grew up in a dry county and ever once in a while my parents would host a catfish fry and we would have to go to a town about 30 miles away to buy some beer for the group. we usually would see someone we would know from church there buying something.

* people are funny, no doubt

Page 32 - DADDY TELLS OUR CONGREGATION THAT WE ARE LEAVING

* Hi Lynne...moving was tough. My parents moved 35 times in the 21 years they were married (my dad was killed in a plane crash in 1968). Sigh. No, I wasn't an army brat either. I just tell people my dad was a "gypsy". He was a golf pro (the guy who runs the club house, teaches lessons, sells golf clubs, etc.) He was just a restless man, always looking for a better opportunity for the family. Me and my three little brothers learned to rely on each other a lot. My kids also got to grow up in one place and it's still a concept I don't quite grasp! LOL. My husband lived in the same house his whole life until we got married, and then we went back and lived there for 7 years of our marriage and THEN built our first home right around the corner from it. A lot to be said for roots. I've lived here in this town since I was about 15...so all that moving took place before then in my life.

* One thing that brought me through it all was my church. Aren't we glad for that!?

* Brings back a lot of my family memories - of living in a home where decisions are made by faith and prayer, and not always understood by the little ones.

* we had to do this too many times to the kids, and I always felt so bad for them, but when the Lord says go, you have to go.

* Sure hope when you arrive at the new home, there is a lot to be happy about after this tear jerker

Page 31 - MY LAST DAY WITH VERA

* Wouldn't it be wonderful, if somehow, through this cyberspace medium that you & Vera find each other..

Page 34 - WHAT HAPPENED AFTER WE LEFT

* I felt sad to see the pictures of the little house and church...things do change

* Bittersweet is going back and finding your house, a part of your life, in tatters... Memories will never fade

* I know you must have been so happy to have found the old place where the church and the house was!!You called them mud wasps,I call them dirt dobbers.lol! Tareing a board off sounds like something I would do!! LOL The house was cute and the church was beautiful with it's rusty tin roof.

* It was so sad to see the house you lived in go to ruins,the house I grew up in as since been demolished,and it feels like a part of me has gone with it.

* It was so sad at the end to go back and see the house and church in such disarray. Been there done that

* The story of your family's leaving your first church made me weep, because 3 years ago, I lost a beloved pastor the same way. He saved me, saved my marriage, and found Jesus for me. I know exactly how your daddy's parishioners felt. This is a story I needed to read, one of God's abiding love and strength. We all need that, or a least a firm reminder, right about now.

* I felt sadly alone at the end, wishing to be with this family of good people, in these terrible times, just for a bit longer.

Page 35 - SLIPPING INTO THE GULF OF MEXICO

* I laughed out loud at you trying to decide which would look better, eyes open or closed

* That is a great chapter, "Slipping into the Gulf of Mexico." I thought about Jonah with all the seaweed and alge in his mouth and nose.lol!! I Really I thought that was cute when you wondered if you would look better with your eyes open or closed if you died.

* I had that same experience myself in the Gulf, years ago!! Thought sure I was going to drown! In my case though, I had just gone out too far...now I limit it to WADING in the Gulf when we go!

* i found out about green algea the same way you did just off the belle chase highway heading towards the gulf of mexico, somehow it is always funnier to those on dry land than to us in the water.

* I really enjoyed reading your Gulf Of Mexico page.I do hope that you can swim now,and I had to see the funny side when you were deciding whether to keep your eyes open or close them when you thought you were about to drown.

Page 36 - THE WRECK OF THE OLD 97

* A pie-er pie, huh? Reminds me of when my mom and I went back to her home in North Carolina for a visit. We drove down the coast and stopped in a little town, and talked to a lady who said her husband carved bards. I wondered what the heck a bard was until I saw them...they were birds! LOL.

* Those were sad songs.

* Its no wonder you cried, you felt like running out to the forest and crying and you didn't, so you had to let it out sometime.

* Thank you so much for sharing your childhood. It brings back so many memories for me. I grew up in Jena, LA, and have visited Winnsboro often. That was a wonderful time to grow up, a simple time, with much lovE

Page 38 - ALICE FAYE

* I think all of us either had an "Alice Faye" for a best friend, or maybe we WERE an "Alice Faye" in our young teen days!

* I am glad you wore the salior blouse any way ,,,,,,,,,,,

* Alice Faye certainly must have kept you on your toes

* I think I knew Alice Faye, only her name was Denise.

* What a laugh I had over that and of course the one about Alice Faye. I guess we can all relate to similar situations.

* Do you like Alice Faye now that you found her after all these years? Or is she still an up and down person?

Page 39 -PIANO LESSONS

* I have to ask.......did the plant live? and do you still love plants? I would guess that you probably do.

Page 40 - THE DEATH OF LAUREL JEANNE

* Did your parents keep the name you had chosen as the babies name? (I mean, for burial, death certificate, etc)

* I am also deeply sorry for the loss of your sister.

* so sorry for the loss of Laurel and what your Mother went through.

* I'm so sorry about the loss of your baby sister. It really leaves a hollow place, doesn't it? I have always wanted a sister

* I am so sorry about your baby sister.You made me cry on this one!!I felt like I wanted to try and help you do something.So glad Mom was ok

* I cried.

* Naturally the death of the baby brought me to tears.

Page 41 - MY LOVE FOR BJ

* "CRAZY"....that say's it all, doesn't it Lynne. I guess you didn't need to see the "handwriting on the wall" when you saw the spaghetti on the wall....LOL What a "crazy" episode of life for you.

* what on earth was your first boyfriends name? I probably knew him. I went to the First Baptist Church in Jena, my grandmother was the Adult Sunday School Director and my grandfather was the chairman of the building committee that built the church that now stands

Page 42 - A WINNSBORO CHRISTMAS

* I can remember one Christmas back when (sister) and I were real young that money was really tight, and all we got was clothes and galoshes, and things like that, that Mom and Dad had gotten from our grandparents' general store, on credit.....well, we must have showed our disappointment, because Daddy came to us later that day and said Mom was in the bedroom crying because she knew we were so very disappointed with our Christmas presents...Well, you can imagine how that made me feel!!! I tried to "fake it " after that but I will never forget how awful I felt that I had been so selfish and had made my mother cry...a very very painful lesson!!!!

* I remember those meager Christmas too. My Mother was very religious and we were never told there was a Santa because that wasn't what Christmas was about. We always got two presents. Mine was usually a doll and the second was always something I needed like a pair of gloves or something like that. Mother thought it was disgraceful to see people spend a lot of money at Christmas and be in debt until the next year. One year I snooped and found my presents before they were wrapped. I was so disappointed. I never snooped again. I realize now how lucky I was to have parents that were giving me much more than a lot of presents. It is incredible how spoiled we have all become, isn't it? I would give anything to still have them here to celebrate Christmas again.

* How do you make cottage cheese pancakes?

* if there had at least been a key you probably COULD have been thankful. I can identify with "Daddy had no idea about life & how to live it"...I've been married to a husband like that for 49 years ! LOL !

Page 43 - COTTON PICKIN'

* I've never picked cotton, but I have spent most of my life in the South, so I have some idea of what you went through. As close as I can come is the "great opportunity" my Dad gave my brother and me, when he let us earn all we could earn by clearing the pulpwood trees out of our back lot. We sawed with a two man crosscut saw (I still have a scar on my ankle where it cut on one occasion) for two weeks during the summer and stacked almost a cord of wood at the driveway to be picked up. That two weeks netted us all of $9. The hardest work I have ever done!

* Thats the way it was back then!!! Always a struggle,but thank God He brought us through it all. GOD IS SO GOOD

* My mama was raised in Pikeville, NC and she and her 8 siblings picked cotton too. When I went there to visit I walked out in a field to feel those prickly bolls. I "got" to pick beans for my school clothes at about that age. It was miserable too

* They had a big family, and a poor little farm to sustain them. Apparently my grandpa was kind of nare-do-well...is that a term? Anyway, my little grandma worked awfully hard and they didn't have much. Like you said, it was more the rule than the exception.

Page 44 - CHICKENS(CHICKENS was the second most popular chapter)

* Loved the chicken story. Chickens are very religious, did you know? They are so religious they have their "necks twirled" in this world!

* I remember my Mother wringing the neck of a chicken and I was horrified! The chicken ran around the yard without its head. I wanted no part of that meal. My Mom was born and raised in the country and that was what you had to do if you wanted to eat. I was just fine with a bowl of cereal. I don't want to see the animal walking around if I am going to eat it. I am afraid I am not a country person and I would probably starve if I had to kill something.

* When I was young we raised chickens to sell. My sister and I had to de-feather them and we would race to see which one got the feathers off her hen first, resulting in feathers on the walls and feathers on the ceiling, floor and all over!

* Mom and Dad decided they would raise rabbits...so we got a buck (Old Pete) and two does (Molly and Polly)...and of course pretty soon we had a whole cage full of babies, which were to eventually go into our freezer...except we all got so attached to them, and my sister and I would pick weeds for them and hand feed them....Well, when they got to be frying size, and it was time to kill them, Dad couldn't bring himself to do it!! He wound up hiring a man and paying him to kill and dress them!! And we DID have a lot of fried rabbit that year!! But Mom and Dad quit the rabbit raising after that....and we gave the buck and the does away.

* I can just see ol Roscoe strutting around the yard before his adoring wives! My mama says when her mama cut the heads off the chickens, they would fling them up on the woodpile, so they couldn't run around the yard and bleed all over

* First we dipped them in very hot water and then after picking the most feathers off, we did have to singe them and you are right, the smell was atrocious!

* we always had several hundred, so we didn't get attached....we ate 'em. Eventually, we invested in the "new technology"....metal cone that hung in the tree...stick the bird in...pull the head out...apply butcherknife....no headless chicken flopping around.

* I too have some Cotton Pickin memories...and one about chickens...I copied this from my own history...By the way, I, too am a preacher's daughter! "We had peach trees, plum trees, and nectarine trees. We also had almond trees. We raised chickens and rabbits for meat and eggs. We had a cow for milk and butter. I remember one day several of the chickens had escaped from the chicken yard. When this happened, as it did occasionally, it was our job to chase them and get them back into the pen. This particular day Clayton and I were the chasers. (my brother, Clayton was two years older than I) There was one hen that we were having a lot of trouble catching or shooing back into the pen. After chasing her for quite a while, Clayton said to the hen, “When I catch you, I’m going to wring your neck!” Of course I thought he was just talking. He wouldn’t kill a chicken just because he was having trouble catching her to put back into the pen. Well, when we finally had her cornered and he caught her, he did indeed, wring her neck. I was standing there with my mouth wide open and I’m sure my eyes were as wide open as my mouth. Then he started laughing and he told Mother had told him to kill one of them for Sunday dinner which was the next day! He sure had me going!!

* I remember seeing my Grandfather hang a few hens on his clothesline, by their feet...then walk down the line, cutting their heads off.....My Mom sure didn't like him 'doing this where my little sisters & I could see it'...(we were about 3, 4 & 6 yrs. old)....she whisked us away.....but the image has been burned into my memory forever! It might not have been so 'traumatic' if the hens would have died right away....they were still trying to twist off of that clothesline as we were 'leaving'....Ugggghh!

Page 45 - MY DOLLBABIES

* I had my childhood toys stored in the attic at home and when I was graduated from college and working, my parents sold the home and as they did not tell me right away, I had no chance to go and retrieve my childhood from that attic. I had letters from my two brothers and friends from WWII and books of poetry that I had written

* I had a Shirely Temple doll too.......wish I still had her, she'd be worth some big bucks, I'm sure. My one sister was 1 1/2 years younger than me...seems we always got the same things. We both got Shirley & then one year, we both got little "black" dolls, which, looking back now, was a profound thing to do in the 30's

* now you have turned weird on me. buriedyour dolls???????

* its a wonder you did not turn out to be an ax murder.....

* Would you just about kill to have that Shirley Temple back?

* You're daddy's sermon on 1st Corinthians 13:11 had a real impact on you (:-) I skipped school once in early high school years and got caught and had to write a 1000 word theme on why I wouldn't and shouldn't skip school ever again. That same verse in Corinthians kept rolling in my head when I was trying to think of what to write. So I started my theme with that verse from the Bible. And I still have that theme in my collection of things I saved from school. I think I grew up a little that day myself.

* Now I know why you collect dolls!

* I would love to have some of my old dolls; if nothing else just to give my children's children (if that ever happens). I hope you will tell us in future chapters that you and Jesus had a talk and he told you something different than what you thought you heard

Aren't these wonderful? Some have made me cry, some have made me laugh, but they are all just beautiful! I love y'all!

Lynne