Friday, June 27, 2008

Amy and Brian

My cousin AKA sister:) is getting married in August. She and her fiance live in Texas (where Amy is finishing up her doctorate and then moving back to Arkansas to be closer to her favorite cousin/sister/best friend:). Her and Brian came up for the weekend for a wedding shower and we thought we'd take a few pictures. These pictures were taken at the lake in Guy. Sonny and Betty have the most beautiful back yard!!! Here are some of my favorite pics... there's also one of my niece Jacey (couldn't you just eat her up in that John Deere hat:).



Sweet Surprise, Cute Tee and Short Temper

Cameron bought me the prettiest flowers today:). My birthday is Sunday so he thought he would get me something sweet to kick off the birthday weekend:).


We got Piper some really cute onsies at Target the other night:) This one is one of my favs... it says DADDY ROCKS and sings to me:) how sweet and appropriate!


Ugghhhh... I hate my flesh. I despise losing my temper and seem to do it often with sweet Parker. I think it's because he's so much like me with all of his passions and energy. He is sooo passionate about life which is super fun but he's also just as passionate when he's upset and I try so hard not to lose my cool with him but unfortunately I fail all too often. I screamed at him today before nap time so when he got up I apologized and told him I wanted to pray with him and ask God to forgive mommy... only problem is I probably should've turned off Word Girl first:)... Do you all have kiddos with entirely different personalities and find it difficult sometimes to handle?

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Mr. Personality

These videos are sooo sweet of little Parker. In the first one he's being a RoCk StAr and in the second he's singing to
Sweet Piper:). I really wish I could freeze these moments forever!



2 months, dirty words, diaper update

It's hard to believe that Sissy is already 8 weeks old! She's doing great! Her favorite thing is to be swaddled. She immediately stops fussing once we start to swaddle her. It's so sweet. She still sleeps in bed with Cam and I and I just love snuggling with her in the morning:). Parker is still ridiculously crazy about her. This is pretty much what Piper looks like all day...

Parker's face is permanently glued to hers with a kiss:)

I've been trying to prepare Andrew for Kindergarten. He really is sweet and innocent and I'm just wanting him to be prepared for some kiddos that might not be very obedient and say ugly things. I told him that some kids might say ugly words sometimes. He and Parker were like, "what kind of ugly words?" Andrew said, "You mean like stupid or maybe they'll say that the teacher has poopoo on her head". I said, "Yea, something like that":).
Cloth diapering is still going great. I've only dried the diapers in the dryer once, all other times were on the line. I'm still washing every 2 days but sometimes am able to wait until the 3rd. Since I'm cloth diapering, I decided to make my own baby wipes, too. I just cut up a couple of baby towels and make a mixture out of baby soap and water in a big glad bowl. It's much easier than disposable wipes because I can just throw them in the diaper pail instead of making a trip to the trash can. I thought I would probably use disposables every now and again but since I started cloth diapering 6 weeks ago, I've only used about 2 disposable diapers.
Just had to add this pic.. we went swimming the other day for a LONG time and Andrew's hands looked like the hands of an old man:).

One of my biggest fears has come true...

I am so terrified of spiders. I think every spider I see is a black widow, tarantula or brown recluse:). Cam always thinks I'm ridiculous. Well, I killed a spider the other day that I really thought was a brown recluse but I threw it away so I couldn't show him. Our bug guy was scheduled to come today and Cam told me right before we go to bed that he has a couple of spiders for the bug guy to look at to see if they are brown recluse!!! AAAAAHHHHH!! Needless to say, I literally didn't sleep at all. I kept thinking spiders were in our sheets. Well, the bug guy confirmed that we do have brown recluse. I'm sooo scared. Spiders just paralyze me with fear!! And the boys have been playing in every dark, undisturbed place we have today.. like they're just trying to get bit!! Cam, trying to make it better sends me this from Wikipedia "this spider is not aggressive and usually bites only when pressed against the skin, such as when tangled up within clothes, bath towels, or in bedding"... Is he crazy, that only made it worst!! Now I'm horrified to get in bed or dry off with a towel.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Just for fun (at my husband's expense:)

While I was filling out the police report and waiting to finish up at the wreck, a lady came up and said, "Hello Doogie Howser" to Cameron:). It was so funny! He gets that a lot but he also gets called several others. So who do you think he looks like?




And by the way, he said it was okay if I posted this but did request I add who he really looked like (hehehe:).

Monday morning

The house smells great because I'm making this, thanks Jennifer. Poor Cam is at work and is going to miss out:( We miss him!! He was off work 3 days last week which was VERY helpful because of our wreck. I've had a constant headache since and my neck is horrible:(. Maybe I should call Dr. Parker, he's currently playing doc with Piper. It's sweet:) He's got some of his toy tools and is fixing her. She doesn't seem to mind.
We don't really have anything planned for today, hopefully it will be a nice, lazy Monday.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

I need my head examined!

Well, we made it to the outdoor theatre tonight to watch Narnia. We packed all kinds of good snacks and were all so excited because the weather was perfect. I saw Narnia a few years ago but somehow forgot how absolutely SCAREY it can be, especially for a 3 and 4 year old. Our poor boys are probably permanently scarred. I'm not sure if it will be the evil witch or the pack of wolves attacking the little boy but one of the two will probably cost us a lot of money in therapy. It probably didn't help that we were right by a speaker that was turned up WAY too loud. Right about the time the wolves were at their peak, a train went by which only added to the drama. Andrew really liked the movie and didn't mind being scared but Park was pretty frightened. When we got home Andrew said, "I'm glad we went to the movie... thanks for scaring us". Oh brother:). Even though we left half way through the movie, we did all have a good time and will definitely go back when there's a more kid friendly movie playing;).

Friday, June 20, 2008

Vaccination drama...

Piper went in today for her check up and shots. She's 7 1/2 weeks and weighs 12 lbs and 3 oz and was 22.5 inches.
As a special education teacher, I've really been introduced to a lot of questionable things dealing with vaccines/autism. I've had one student who immediately quit talking after getting his MMR shot when he was 2 and didn't speak again until 5. I've read for hours and hours different information regarding vaccinations and really don't have a peace about them being 100% safe. I decided with Piper that I would delay some of her vaccinations and spread them out so she's not getting so many at once. I knew I would face some grief over it but I am shocked by how much. It began on the day she was born. I did not sign the waiver for her to get her Hep B vac at the hospital. I told them I didn't want her vaccinated for Hep B at day one (since the only reason I've ever been vaccinated for it was because I traveled to Africa). Anyway, the nurse didn't bother to look and see if I signed the form or not and gave her the vac anyway. Then I hear her say, "where is that consent for the Hep B vac so I can sign off?" I said, "I didn't give consent", she says, "Oh, sorry about that". Uggh!!! Well today I tell the doctor that I didn't want her to get all 8 vaccinations today (imagine that). She got very upset with me and said, "well that's not going to make us happy at all". I told her that I didn't have a peace about it and it's something that I've researched for a long, long time (seriously around 2 years, because it was when Parker was about 18 months). She told me that it was proven over and over that vaccines do not cause learning disabilities or autism and I need to be careful about what I read. She was sooo defensive, I literally got teary eyed. She practically didn't give me an option to skip any or space any out. I knew she was very, very upset about it and pretty much griped at me for 1/2 an hour about it. I really almost gave in because I felt so uncomfortable. She kept telling me all of these horror stories of life before vaccines and asked if I wanted my kid to get meningitis? I said, "no, but I feel the same way about them getting autism." It was odd because it's not like I went in there bashing vaccines. I just wanted to get some today and some in a few weeks, which is what I plan to do. Piper got 3 vaccines today and will get the others in a few weeks. Poor Piper, she has been inconsolable all evening and her leg is swollen and red:(. The boys didn't have any real problems with their vaccines but she is in the worst pain. She screams and screams until finally she falls to sleep and wakes up screaming again every 10-15 minutes:(.
Sorry for the long vent about vaccines, I'm just so frustrated about the whole ordeal.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Silvermoon Movies..

Have any of you ever gone to the Silvermoon outdoor theatre downtown? I think they're playing Narnia Saturday night but wondered what your experiences have been? Did you take chairs, blankets, etc?

I better get busy...

Whew... I'm really behind. I've had my baby announcements for a while and mailed off some last week but still need to mail the rest. I'm also behind on my thank you cards, same story, mailed some not all. Well today I really felt behind because I got my 2nd thank-you card for the same gift from Anna, who had little Jack-Jack the same day I had Piper. Man, not only has she mailed out thank-you cards but she even was thoughtful enough to send me two:). I really need to get busy! So for those of you who never receive an announcement because I'm super slow, here's a pic of them:)...


Also, update on the wreck. Piper and I have been going to the chiropractor the last couple of days. My neck and stuff are pretty bad, mainly just giving me tons of headaches. The doc said Piper has a couple of knots on the side of her neck, probably just some muscle spasms. Bless her soul. She really does enjoy being adjusted. The doctor is so good with her.

Red vs Blue

Well, it looks like JuJu (Andrew) has a girlfriend, or make that two. When Andrew went to VBS last week he came home and told us all about the new friends he met and then kind of smiled and said one of them was his girlfriend. I said, "really" did you talk to that girl a lot, he said, "sure I did... I told her I loved her". I said, "you did, what did she say?" he said, "she said... stop it". :) I said, "why did she say that?" he said, "because we were singing". The same church has a Bible Club on Wednesday nights for Parker and Andrew's age and when they came home I asked Andrew if that same girl was there and he said, "no but there was another one. I have 2 girlfriends, one wears a blue shirt and one wears a red one."

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Praise the Lord!

Last night Piper and I were in a car accident. We were going to pick up a baby book at Hallmark and were hit pretty hard. I was in the turning lane about to turn onto Lower Ridge Rd and a lady was pulling out of there and I'm assuming she was going to pull straight into the turning lane except she didn't look to see if anyone was in the turning lane and she hit us really hard, my car spun around. I don't know if I've ever been so scared. I saw it about to happen the second before it happened and I left off of my brake so she wouldn't hit mine or Piper's door and she barely missed Piper's door. We were spun around into traffic and there was a 3 car pile up not far behind us. I was sooo scared. I jumped out and pulled Piper out. She was horrified. It was sooo loud and jolting. The fireman wanted us to both go to the ER to get checked out. The doc said he thought she was fine and after x-raying me said I had whiplash.
The lady that hit us was unbelievable. She came up and gave me her business card (she's some sort of pastor) and asked if the cops needed to come. I couldn't believe it. I could barely stand up b/c I was shaking so badly and so worried about Piper. Not to mention, my car was pretty messed up. She never said another word to me, never asked about sweet Piper. I was so disappointed. My prayer for her is that God will give her compassion for others, or at least that she'll not ever hand out another business card claiming to be a pastor when she shows no display of love or compassion.
I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am this morning that we're okay. Things could have easily gone the other way. As Cam and I were leaving our hospital room in the ER we saw two men wheeling away someone who wasn't quite so fortunate. Earlier that night we had seen about 30 people waiting at the ER and we knew they were all family, I'm assuming they were the ones to receive the bad news about their loved one. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

A Challenge...

---- Updated... see below ------
Okay, this goes out to all of my friends (blog stalkers) who read my blog but don't comment b/c they don't have a blog or google id. You should SOOOO start a blog. It's super easy!! Just go to blogger.com and follow the directions. Lanna introduced me to the bloggy world and I LOVE it. Probably the best thing about it is that I've really got to know a lot of people much better. There are several women from my church who blog and I feel like I've been able to really develop relationships with them because of our blogs. This season of life is sooo busy and I don't really have a lot of time to make friendships so reading blogs and keeping up with people this way has been such a great outlet for me.
What's holding you back?
1. No time - It really doesn't take a lot of time to blog... just upload pics and write a few words about it.
2. I don't have anything to say - you don't have to.... obviously, if I dedicate an entire post to bird poo then surely you have something worthy to say
3. No one would read it - I would:) and what a wonderful way to keep track of these precious moments

So, for those of you... and you know who you are: GET A BLOG, please:)

*UPDATE*
Thank you sooo much Shane for sharing your blogging experience. I know sometimes men have a hard time truly opening up and I appreciate your candidness.
"I just want to give a testimonial. Before my blog, my life was empty and meaningless, but now....(tearing up)....my life is full and I see what truly is the meaning of life: To blog like there is no tomorrow. Thank you Jenny for your challenge and thank you Blogspot for changing the world one comment at a time!!" - Shane

When I have no control...

ha.. that title alone is funny because we never really have control but ohhh we think we do at times. There are several things going on in our lives right now that are requiring me to really understand that my life is in God's control. We found out last week that Cameron will be out of a job at the end of the year because of Alltel's buyout. We both have a peace about it and know that God is in total control and will provide for us. It is hard at times not to worry about because he has such great benefits. If we have to switch to my school insurance (which would be the exact coverage we have now), we'd be out about $700 more a month.

A huge area I've had to let go and trust God in is with Andrew starting Kindergarten. He's sooo excited and I know he'll do great but he is young (just meets the cut off by 2 weeks). I found out today that his elementary school they are building (also where I'll be working in the Fall) is not going to be ready in time. We'll all have to be displaced for a couple of months in two other schools. Part of me just worries... will Andrew be okay with this? what if I'm not in the same building with him, is that alright? will moving to a new classroom bother him? will it affect his learning? should I request a certain teacher? Then I feel a peace come over me and I'm reassured that God is in control.

Sometimes I get so caught up worrying about the little things and not fully trusting God. I am so thankful He constantly reminds me that we are solely here for His glory. Yea, I hope Andrew has a wonderful Kindergarten year and I hope he gets a great teacher.... but my sole purpose is to bring Him glory and to teach my kids that this is their purpose, too.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Okay, maybe it's just me...


..but isn't this the cutest bow you've ever seen. I found it on etsy.com. A site that sells all homemade items, which is also where I got my diaper bag. The actual site I found this bow on is here. I also bought a cute yellow one. Since Piper loves them sooo much, I'm sure she'll be wearing them all the time:).

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Happy Father's Day and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

Cam and I were married 6 years ago tomorrow (June 15th). What a busy 6 years we've had. Cam and I met at Association of Baptist Students at UCA. We became friends and continued our friendship for years. Cam, Brian, Jalyn and I had the best time together. We all had similar personalities and sense of humors and had so much fun being silly. A couple of years into the friendship, Cam and I began dating. A few months into our dating relationship I left for Africa for the summer. I think we both knew when I was getting on the plane to leave that we would spend our lives together. God has blessed us so much with 3 wonderful children. Our children are little miracles since I was told I wouldn't be able to have children. Cam and I are so thankful that God has chosen to give us the opportunity to try to teach Andrew, Parker and Piper all about Him. Cameron is the most amazing husband. He's patient, kind, loving, and just tons of fun to be around. I honestly can't imagine my life without him. Every morning as he leaves for work, I thank God that he's my husband and pray that He brings him home safely from work. He is also an amazing daddy. Andrew and Parker love playing with him. Piper is also very fond of her daddy. She LOVES to be held by him. I have learned so much from Cameron and am so thankful God has given me him to spend my life with.

Iron Chef Wallace

Andrew and Parker were having a mean Mud Soup throw down tonight. Parker added all kinds of herbs (grass) and spices (grass) to his soup while Andrew chose a few more unconventional flavors as he could be heard saying, "get back in there beetle". I think Andrew's search for the unconventional flavor scared Piper.. she thought he might be coming for her next.


Ummm.. that's not an egg



Cam and Parker were mowing today and when they finished Cameron told me to go get my camera because they thought they saw a momma bird laying an egg. Parker said, "she just did this (he bent down) and then there was an egg". Well as I got closer I noticed it was a baby bird laying some poo:) The birdy was sooo cute until she started chirping and the momma started squawking at us.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Code Blue...

Cam bought me an early b-day present tonight (my b-day isn't until the 29th). I've been wanting DDR (dance dance revolution) for our PS2 so I can work out. One of our fundraisers at the Jr. High for the kids of Uganda was a DDR and Guitar Hero party. Those Jr. High kids were awesome at it and I thought it would be fun to do to get in shape. You know they have a workout mode... Have you ever DDR'd or Guitar Hero'd?? They're super hard... or at least to me. The boys are at VBS so I'm getting a workout (or possibly having a heart attack). I told Cam we'll have to have some friends over and have them do it so we can laugh at them:)... I think Anna and Shane would be pretty funny:).

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Vacation Bible School

Today I took the kiddos to the park and on the way home I realized one of the churches right by our home is having Vacation Bible School. I loved VBS when I was younger! Last year, I took Andrew for one night at a church in town and all he kept saying was, "IT WAS SOOO LONG". The boys have always had Mrs. Mindy come to the house to watch them while I'm working they're not use to going places like that, except church. This year Andrew is much more excited about it. He was sooo wired when he came home telling us all about it. Too bad we only found out about it today:(. We're sending Parker tomorrow night, turns out they can be in the same class. Parker is really excited about going with big brother (and I'm excited about maybe getting to swim:). I had fun spending some quality time with Parker and Piper. I'm hoping to find a few VBS's around so Andrew can get use to being around other kids his age. Cameron said when he pulled up to the church Andrew said, "hey look.. there's a girl, I like her.. and there's a boy that looks like he's my age, I'm going to be friends with him".

Also, I took some pics last night of sweet Anna, Jennifer and David's baby. She was soooo precious. She practically smiled the entire time. Jennifer added some photos on her site but I wanted to add one that I played with in photoshop.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Who cares if it's 10:39 pm?

I was craving twice baked potatoes so I'm making them:). 
So I'm trying to figure out how to design a header for my blog and I'm clueless. Okay, so it's probably because I don't have time to figure it out but I will one of these days. I'm wanting to do something like  Aaron has done. He has alternating pictures as the header that change every time his page is refreshed. I started reading something about how to do that last night but didn't have time to finish reading it. I'd also love to have several different pictures collaged as the header, but HOW do you do that? Let's all try to figure it out.... Aaron can't have the only cool alternating header!!
Just for laughs:)...
Cameron came home the other night from work and couldn't find Piper in the floor... he said he felt like he was looking at one those Where's Waldo books:). This is seriously what the living room looks like at least once a day. 

Monday, June 9, 2008

Sunday, June 8, 2008

For me??




One of the best things about having sweet, little boys are all the flowers they pick me. Okay, so most of them are weeds but I love them just the same:)!

Say CHEESE...





We've taken a lot of pictures today. I've been trying to find some older buildings that I can get some cool pics by and on the way home from church I found this pretty red building. I'm hoping to get some cool pics of my cousin in her wedding dress by some cool buildings. She'll be here at the end of June so I'm on the lookout:). We also took a couple of pics along our fence line. **Just a side note, today was the first day Piper has worn a bow:)... isn't it sweet??!!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Splash Series, Swimming Turtle, Relaxing Pool Side

We've had a full day and it's only 2:00. We had a lot of cleaning to do, and still do, but we got a lot of it tackled. I've been cleaning clothes, dishes, sorting mail, cleaning counter tops, etc. Parker had a water bottle and dish rag and he cleaned all of the cabinet doors, the fridge, stove, dishwasher, washer and dryer, etc. He had so much fun and kept saying, "what can I clean now?" Andrew swept and daddy helped Parker clean his room. Piper, well... she just kind of slept or looked around:).
After cleaning, we all had some fun at the pool.
Parker - Splishing and Splashing



Our Little Turtle:)

Just chilling by the Pool

Friday, June 6, 2008

Sweet girl and Mud Soup



Piper is such a sweetheart. Earlier this week she found her voice and has been making some funny noises. The other night she wouldn't go to sleep because she wanted to make noises:). She's also been smiling a lot lately. We're all loving our little Piper.

Andrew is obsessed with the Food Network! He LOVES it. He could really sit and watch it nonstop. It's so sweet. He and Parker are constantly making mud soup outside. I can't tell you how many hours they spend finding all kinds of fun, yummy things for their mud soup. One day a couple of months ago Andrew was whipping up a batch of soup outside and all of the sudden I saw him drop his drawers and the next thing I know he's adding a special ingredient, his pee. He then bends down to smell his mud soup. Cam and I were sitting at the table eating and just shook our heads. So, pretty much if they ever offer you mud soup, I would just politely decline. Boys will be boys:).

Water Fun





The boys have had the best time today playing in the water. Cam and I bought this cool little sprinkler thing in the 99 cent section at Target. Great, cheap fun:). I'm hoping to go swimming tonight when Cam gets home. My mom had the boys for a while yesterday so I was able to go by myself for a bit:)... have I mentioned how much I LOVE SWIMMING??!! Poor little Piper thought she was left all alone because I had the monitor on so I could hear her when she woke up.. guess it would've helped to have the monitor on the right channel. Uho!! I did come to check every once in a while and she was still sleeping but when I came in she was crying pretty hard and I realized the monitor was set to the wrong channel. I will say though that I really enjoyed the relaxing alone time:) sorry Piper!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

About Me

I've been tagged by Krista to answer some questions... bear with me because I have the hardest time answering questions about myself. I always feel like my answers aren't good enough:)


Favorite person (outside family)? Too many close friends to think of but one of my all time fav people is a guy named Che Smith. I went to high school with him and he was sooo stinking funny! I haven't seen him in over 10 years but I bet he's still funny:)

Favorite food? My mom's fried shrimp!

Quirks about you? World's greatest backseat driver:) I don't like milk, I don't even like to watch people drink it.

How would the person who loves you the most describe you in 10 words or less? Cam says... loving, caring, playful, encouraging, bubbly, empathetic, smart, witty, passionate, sensitive.

Any regrets in life? I'm sure I have several but one of them is not soaking up my time in Rwanda Africa as much as I wish I would've. Also, every time I am impatient with my family.

Favorite Charity/ Cause? Invisible Children - It's a movement started by 3 guys in California to bring awareness for the children of Uganda who have been taken as child soldiers. My students at the Jr. High have helped raise over $7000 over the past 2 years to help the Invisible Children.

Favorite Blog recently? I have several favs but one I've been checking a lot over the past week is a blog about a little girl who was diagnosed with leukemia a little over a week ago.

Something you can’t get enough of? definitely time with Cameron... it's sooo great when we get to go out alone, we usually end up grocery shopping but it's still fun:)

Worst job you’ve ever had? I've really liked all of my jobs... one of my favorites was being a carhop at Sonic:)

What job would you pay NOT to have? Embalmer, Cam helped with that one:)

If you could be a fly on the wall, where? YiKeS... I can't think of anything.

Favorite Bible verse right now? James 1:2,3 "Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds because the testing of your faith develops perseverance".

Guilty Pleasure? Chocolate covered strawberries

If you HAD to spend $1,000 on YOURSELF, how would you spend it? An airplane ticket to Hawaii... Cam can hide in the suitcase:)


Favorite thing about your house? Our yard!!! I love how big our yard is.

Least favorite thing about your house? furniture

One thing you are bad at? Putting up my clothes

If you could change something about your circumstances, what? I wish Cam were a teacher so we'd have summers off together

Who would you like to meet someday? Bono

Who is your real life hero? My Grandma

What is the hardest part of your job? Getting waaaay too attached to my students and their circumstances. I know it's what makes me a good teacher but it can be sad sometimes.

What stresses you out? Chaos

What can you not live without? God's grace.

Why do you blog? It's so fun to share pics and stories. I love getting to keep in touch with friends through blogging and getting to know people better

Who Am I Tagging? Any of my bloggy friends who would like to participate:)

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Ready for Kindergarten... say it aint so:(


Today Andrew went for his Kindergarten Pre-Screening to make sure he's ready for Kindergarten. He had sooo much fun. He took one dollar bill and a nickel to give to the teacher:). I told him that we didn't need to give them money they may think we're bribing them:). As soon as we went up to sign in he told the lady, "I have money". She said, "you do, what are you going to do with that money?" He said, "I want to give it to you". It was sooo funny. She thought it was sweet and told him to save it so he could get himself a snow cone. I was so proud of him. He wasn't scared at all. They took him back to a room with a lot of different stations to see what all he can do. The kids stay in there for almost an hour. As soon as he was finished, he came out of the door and screamed, "Mommy... I DID REALLY GOOD". He was so proud of himself! It was so cute. All of the other parents giggled. I'm really excited for him to go to Kindergarten but I'm also soooo sad:(. What a big boy he's becoming.

Tonight while I was reading some Bible stories to Andrew and Parker we started talking about how we are all sinners but when we get to Heaven we no longer sin. Andrew said, "You mean like when we eat something that has a wrapper on it, we'll throw it in the trash instead of on the floor":)... how sweet!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Goodbye Old Pictures and Peas and Cornbread...








Today was Grandpa's funeral. It was a beautiful service. It was sooo great to hear old stories about him, I just soaked it in. The pastor, who was Grandpa's friend for years, talked about how he would always ask Grandpa if he could pray with him and Grandpa would always decline but then he talked about the day he said Yes. I just sat on the edge of my pew clinging to every word. I could envision my Grandma sitting there listening to the story with tears of joy in her eyes. The pastor talked about baptizing my Grandpa at the age of 94. It was such a sweet, sweet story. The day reminded me of the play . It is an amazing story of how life rushes by and we don't take time to notice. In the play, after people die they are allowed to go back and watch one day of their lives. They warned Emily it would be hard. She thought they were crazy and couldn't wait to relive one of her favorite birthdays. She soon realizes why it's so hard because no one realizes how precious each moment is. I've pasted the monologue from the play below.
Oh, Mama, look at me one minute as though you really saw me. Mama, fourteen years have gone by. I'm dead. You're a grandmother, Mama! Wally's dead, too. His appendix burst on a camping trip to North Conway. We felt just terrible about it - don't you remember? But, just for a moment now we're all together. Mama, just for a moment we're happy. Let's really look at one another!...I can't. I can't go on.It goes so fast. We don't have time to look at one another. I didn't realize. So all that was going on and we never noticed. Take me back -- up the hill -- to my grave. But first: Wait! One more look. Good-bye , Good-bye world. Good-bye, Grover's Corners....Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking....and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new ironed dresses and hot baths....and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth,you are too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every,every minute?
I took these pictures while I was at my Grandparent's house tonight. They are pictures of things that remind me sooo much of when I was little spending the night with them. I miss those days!