Tribute To Memaw

For those of you who don't know my grandmother went to be with the Lord this past Friday. I went to Texas to be with my family but I didn't get there in time to see he one last time. I take comfort in the fact that she was surrounded by family and friends who loved her and had prayed only three minutes before that the Lord would take her into His presence. Memaw is now worshiping at the feet of Jesus. She is whole, complete, healthy and happier then she ever could have been here on earth.

There are so many things I will remember about my precious grandmother. Most of all I will remember that she was always praying for me and reminding me to go to the Lord with my burdens and stay close to Him in times of good and bad. Her marriage to my grandfather was one which I try to mimic everyday. Once I told her, "I want to find a husband just like Pepaw." She responded, " Oh, honey, you will never find anyone like your Pepaw, he is one of a kind."

Memaw was always a hands on grandmother. The first ten years of my life I lived just streets away from her. She saw us almost everyday as we went to her home after school was out since it was donw the street. before she would get home we would always raid the fridge and pantry until she told us she was going to count the lunch meat and would know if we ate any. HA! I wonder if she really did. We both had the same love for water and she taught me how to swim, dive off the diving board, and do the "american crawl", as she called it(freestyle). She was always cooking and sewing. I remember having to stand for what seemed like forever as she pinned me into beautiful outfits she was making for me. She made the best pies, always carried andy's mints, and LOVED to shop. We always made the joke that only Memaw could find a way to fill a shopping bag at the closest gas station. It didn't matter how much older she was you, she could out shop you! Memaw loved to her me sing. Her and Pepaw are truely the reason I continue to use me voice to praise God today. If not for them I would have let the world keep me from understanding that God can use our gifts even when we don't think there is a gift there to use. We don't have to have the best voice, just an open heart to be led by Him.

There was something special about my relationship with my grandmother. Something between just her and I. In many ways she was my biggest fan and I am feeling like she took a big part of me with her, leaving me part empty. I am finding the world is much less appealing without her here. It is as though my family makes up a thick armor around me and her piece of it has been lost. Now I feel vulnerable where she used to stand. I know that sounds silly, especially since I know that Jesus is my ultimate protector who will never leave me. I guess it is just that my family has created my pesonal safety zone in this lost world and loosing one of them to Heaven makes me feel that bubble has burst a little so that this world is even that more scary. i feel special loss that I was never able to give her ggreat greandchildren. It seems cruel even that God would give me children just weeks before she died, never allowing her to meet them. I know God has a plan but at this moment I can't help but be confused as to why He would allow this. What I do know is that Memaw would have loved them. I will try to send them her love through me. She loved me so much, that is something she never would let me forget.

She was my precious grandmother and what a wonderful grandmother she was. I will always miss her and I will let her legacy live through me as I teach it to my children. I will always love you Memaw and I will see you again on the other side of eternity.

Has it really been a month?!

Tomorrow will be Greg and Bella's one month anniversary with us. I can't believe it has already been one month. I already can't imagine life without them. Good thing we won't have to since they will never have to leave. We can't wait until we can adopt them. It will be at least 6 months since that is the minimum but in our hearts they are already adopted.

Greg has started school and is doing really well per his teacher. He is making a lot of friends and seems to be quite the popular guy (even with the ladies as more than one girl in the school has a crush on the "new guy"). We will have his middle school orientation in a couple of weeks. Ah, they grow up so fast...hehe :) I feel myself wanting to take advantage of every minute with them. I have missed out on so many years i don't want to miss anything else. I hate having to leave them everyday but another part of me is glad to go to work. It is a weird dynamic. We are trying to get Greg enrolled onto a baseball team but think it may be too late. I am praying he can get on his friend, Noah's, team but I can't get the coach to call me back. He also wants to get some guitar lessons and golf lessons.

Bella started preschool as well and has adjusted in many ways even though she would much rather stay home with "mommy". Yeah, they are both calling us mom and dad already. I love it! We are working on the potty training with the help of the preschool. It is going well I think. She now will sit on her potty at regular intervals throughout the day. It was hard to decide what approach to take as everyone and their mom seems to have their own opinion about the best way to potty train. We ultimatly decided to go with the preschools approach thinking that consistency is probably the most important aspect. So she is now wearing pull ups with "big girl panties" over them. She is loving it actually. She loves to ask anyone and everyone if they would like to see her big girl panties. This could be a problem......I swear i didn't teach her that!

Please keep praying for us as we brave the world of parenting. It is not easy but I love it!

Spring Break

It has almost been two weeks since Greg and Izabella arrived. I have already fallen in love with them. I have been off since Thursday of last week. This week in spring break in Terre Haute and I took off to spend the week at home. It is going to be soooooo hard to go back to work. I am not looking forward to it at all! Charis and Sam came this last weekend. It was so good to see them, to get to know Sam better, and for them to get to know the kids before they move overseas. I am seriously going to miss them. Thank goodness for technology so we can stay in touch.

Excuse me while I talk about "my children" some more:
Bella is such an adorable little girl. Her laugh is to die for and her little voice can melt my heart! She is very lovable. She loves to sit in your lap and be held. Bedtime is my favorite part of the day. She is so cute when she says, "don't read it, talk about it". She randomly starts singing and will not stop until she has sung all the songs she knows. Then if she is not done she will continue to make up songs with a random hodge-podge of words until she has had her fill of singing. I found a preschool for her and she starts next week. We might as well have bought a freaking car as much as they charge for daycare! Good night! She is in love with Dora and that is really all she will watch on TV. I got her a Dora lunch pale for school with a Dora thermos. It is funny how sneaky I have gotten. I was told by my friend Jaycie that this would happen. It is amazing how I can manipulate her into doing things. I actually added a drop of red food coloring to lemonade and told her it was strawberry lemonade when I knew she would eat her lunch for strawberry lemonade. It worked! I also allowed her to feed the dog a bite of bacon for every bite she took. Poor Dallas, He is going to be obese so that Bella will eat a balanced breakfast. Dallas is doing pretty good with the changes considering he really has gotten the boot to the back yard for most of the day. He growls at them both when they get too rough. Bella is a budding animal abuser. She likes to use Dallas as a punching and kicking bag, not to mention she loves to hit him with things. Dallas loves Greg because Greg likes to play rough with him and lets him sleep in his bed every night.

Greg is am amazing kid! He is independent, confident and personable which has made him quite the popular leader in the neighborhood. He has made a hand full of friends already and wants to play outside often. I am so glad he isn't always in front of the TV. He is adventurous and a little too brave. Ryan has to remind me often that he is a 12 year old boy. I get nervous when he starts jumping ramps with his bike. Although I will not have to worry for a while. This kid loves to build things.......and take things apart. Although he arrived at our house with two totally functioning bikes we now how a porch of bike parts. Greg decided to take his bikes apart after he found a discarded bike frame and got it into his mind that he would replace his with it so that he can sale his for money. It started with only one bike which I had decided to allow but before I new it the second bike had gotten involved without my permission. I guess you could say he will have to learn this lesson the hard way. I think he is sweating a little but I know there are some guys at the church who we be able to help him when he is ready to admit he is in over his head. As "cool" as he is in public he is a very lovable kid at home. He loves to come in our room every night and talk until we "force" him to go to bed. And, no, (don't be a dream crusher!) it has nothing to do with him avoiding bedtime, he just like to be with me! I love to buy the kids gifts. I have little self control. But HOLY COW! it is impossible to buy him anything unless I am prepared to spend $50! I feel old saying this but "when I was a kid" we didn't require all these expensive things! hehe

OK, I seriously have to get some sleep! I am totally exausted these days! Love you all:)