This week

Sitting here watching Embry lick hummus off of his Enjoy Life chocolate cookies (gross!) and thought I would post about my week. I joined the ranks of every woman who has ever been scared crazy sitting for a mammogram this week. I found a lump on Tuesday evening right before bed. I was so exhausted that I was able to sleep, but the next morning, it was all I could think about. As soon as I got to my office, I asked our female physician to see what she thought and she agreed, it was worrisome. Thank God, we have mammogram downstairs from our office so our referrals coordinator got me in during the lunch hour for a mammogram and ultrasound. I had never even had one before and within 12 hours I had one ordered with extra views for a diagnosis of breast lump. You can imagine how i felt. I texted 10 girls and my family to start praying like mad and was just so thankful for all of the texts I got all morning telling me someone new was praying. Thankfully I was busy that day at work and so appreciated all the nurses and people who tried to keep me calm and distracted. I am so blessed to work with some wonderful women. Anyway, the radiology people were wonderful at their job as well and I just could not have been more thankful. Right away, the radiologist read the films and US and was able to let me know he saw nothing and did not any additional views. I was so emotional. I wanted to go straight home and be alone but unfortunately still had to work. I really wasn't alone until the next morning when I had to dive to a parent teacher conference for Ashton and I just cried the whole way. I think finally the emotions of the day came out. I am so thankful beyond words for my results but also so conscious of the fact that many women do not get the same results. I kept thinking about someone I had heard speak about their cancer diagnosis recently on the radio and say, " If you truly believe God is good, is God good in cancer?" It really stuck with me.

How blessed I felt yesterday sitting in Ashton's conference with that weight lifted off me. His teacher said some things I wanted to post so one day he could read it. She said he was the most mature child in the class and was great at carrying on a conversation. Apprently he always informs her of what he and his brothers are doing after school. He is such a planner!!!!! SHe said she thought it was fun to tell a joke knowing the only people that would get it in class would be her teaching assistant and Ashton. HAHA I thought that was hilarious. He has really come out of his shell this year and enjoys speaking to so many adults on campus. Many teachers have told Wes that he speaks to them. It really is a different atmosphere than any school I ever went to.
Today I had my conference with Collin's teacher who told me he was a joy but a whole different entity than Ashton. Surprise Surprise! These boys are so sweet in their own ways but also so different! She said Collin is quite the social butterfly! He really loves school even though every morning when I wake him up he tells me he does not. He adores his teachers and loves the other kids in his class. He is learning so much. He is constantly pointing out shapes and numbers now as we are out. Last night we were reading about Moses and he told me that his mother was Jochebed and that his name meant "drawn out of the water." I was super impressed with his knowledge!! I am so thankful that he and Ashton have such a love of God's word and can only pray that they maintain that throughout their lives.

October Day

 Had a great time this weekend celebrating my mom's birthday with a trip to Amicolola and Elijay for apple picking! It was way hotter than any of us expected, but a beautiful day and we all enjoyed it! Wes had to go to UGA for the day so wasn't able to join us. He's a hard workin' daddy!!!

At first, it seemed like the whole idea was to hunt until you found an apples! The place was so picked over and there were so many on the ground that had been trampled by the crowds. Finally, we spotted some and the boys had a ball!

The boys LOVED picking the apples!

My dad's hand

Tractor ride around the farm!

Playground!

FARE walk 2013

Last Sunday, we particiapted in our second FAREwell to Food allergy walk put on by the major Food allergy research and education goup. Sarah and Nick walked with us again and we raised $225 this year! this is such an encouraging event for me. To have so many other families in one place who go through the same fears, worries, and meticulous planning you do on a daily basis is just a relief to see. Being a food allergy mom is the hardest thing I have ever done. You are NEVER off duty! But it has taught me to rely on God more. I was reading a fellow milk allergy mom's blog who mentioned that not only has food allergies taught her to rely on God more, but also has brought her family closer together. This is so true for our little family. It is amazing to see how even Collin has learned he cannot touch his brothers after eating yogurt and how he cares for them. He will one day realize that he could have eaten out a lot more and eaten birthday cake at his friend's parties but for now, we treat him as we do his brothers and he actually prefers to eat the stuff I bring.

Last week I took Collin and Embry to the allergist and yesterday took Ashton. Collin had 2 days where he broke out in hives a few weeks ago so we were naturally quite concerned. Our allergist thinks it was his body mounting an immune response to the stomach virus we all had. Weird, huh? Embry is doing well, just extremely allergic to milk. Ashton is doing great. He skin tested positive for almond this time, but it was hazelnut last time so we just continue to avoid all dairy, egg and treenuts with him. Our allergist thinks he may benefit from allergy shots when he gets a little older since he is also seems to be so allergic to ragweed. We'll see how that goes. But for now, we trudge along so  thankful for our healthy babies and God's protection on them daily. We are so thankful for our babysitter and Ashton's teachers who take care of him at school!

Grandmother Barbara's Tribute

My sweet Grandmother Barbara passed away over 2 weeks ago. She had suffered from Alzhemier's for so long and had started to live in a nursing home this summer when she started to really decline. My sweet, sweet Granddaddy took care of her so faithfully until the end and my whole family is so blessed to have watched such a picture of love between the two of them. The week before she passed away, I visited her with my other Grandmother Jo and mother and I was able to feed her some ice cream but she was just asleep the whole visit. She was sleeping until the end except for one day. She just woke up and was actually alert and talking for one whole day and was able to recognize and talk with my grandfather. My dad and mom and I went down to see her that day after work so we could always remember her awake the last time we saw her. She smiled and I believe she did recognize us. It was so great to see her laugh and see Grandaddy tickle her toes. She slept until she died after that one day and passed away 4 days later. Alzhemier' s is such a horrible disease and I pray we would find the cause quickly. My aunt, brother and I were all able to speak at her funeral which was truly a celebration of a wonderful life. It was a beautiful fall day and the planes flew overhead as she is buried near her beloved airport my grandaddy worked at for so many years. We will miss her dearly. I wanted to post what I said so that my children would one day know a little more about her and how much she meant to me. When I told Ashton she had died, he said, "Ok, Now she can be with Pop! (My other grandfather who died in Feb). I know Grandaddy will be sad though for a little while." Then he said the sweetest thing he has ever said, "This is funny mommy but when Pop died, I didn't know they had stopped making Bible stories and I thought they would write a Bible story about him!" How precious!!! Both my Grandfather and Grandmother would have loved to know he said that...

A few yrs ago at my cousin Laura's Bridal luncheon

So thankful she was able to see that I had three boys just like her. She loved being with them so much. This was from March at embry's first birthday

 

Grandmother Barbara

  I took the day off work yesterday to spend some time writing  this  and was hoping to get some cleaning and errands done while my kids were at school,  but while we were getting the older two off to school my husband tells me the baby has thrown up in his crib. So I decided to keep him home from daycare and just as has happened to any parent, my day was turned upside down. He came along  with me to get my haircut and to the grocery store and was acting fine. Well on the way home, as we pulled onto our street, he threw up all over himself and his carseat. It was in every crack and crevice you can imagine! So while I am trying to figure out how I am going to clean him up and clean the car and unload the groceries, a neighbor’s CAT jumps into our car trying to get our groceries. It scared me to death and I screamed so loud I was surprised neighbors didn’t come out. So I finally did get everyone and everything cleaned out and the cat out, but I decided to share this story because I think Grandmother would have loved it and she would have said, “Don’t worry about your speech. Take care of your family” because that’s the kind of woman she was. I have three boys of my own just like she did and I hope I can be the kind of wife and mother she was. Grandmother exhibited so many of the Proverbs 31 qualities found in the ideal woman.

The Bible says, An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
¹¹ The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
¹² She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.

My grandmother loved my granddaddy. I have so many fond memories of them sitting side by side holding hands or giving each other pecks on the cheek. I love thinking about the times when my brother and I would tag along with them to square dances when we were little and get to watch them dance together as they loved to do. I love to hear the story of when they first got married and granddaddy was in the airforce and they traveled with all of their belongings and another couple in an old car with a mattress on top and lived together in a one bedroom apartment.  They were such sweethearts and I was able to witness my grandmother’s last words to him a few days before she died which were, “You’re a sweet boy” as he kissed her.  When I was pregnant with my first son and had such awful morning sickness, I remember her telling me how when she was pregnant the smell of bacon made her so sick in the mornings. I asked her why she even cooked it and she said, “Well granddaddy wanted it.”

The Bible also says in Proverbs 31, She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household.” I can remember as a child when granddaddy still worked at Delta, Grandmother would pack his lunch every night and I can see her filling his green thermos with coffee in the early mornings. Whenever we stayed at their house, I always looked forward to grandmother waking me up by scratching my back and it was always fun to see what large breakfast she had made for us. She was a great cook and a worker bee both at her office and at home! I have never seen anything out of place at their house or a speck of dust! My family loves to tease my dad and his brothers about their ridiculous cleanliness which I am sure came from grandmother!

Proverbs also says of the Godly woman that “Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
²⁶ She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” My grandmother was a kind and joyful person. She loved the Lord and it showed in how she treated others. She was such a lady, always friendly and hospitable. I can always picture her bright smile and hear her laughter. She and granddaddy loved living life to the fullest. They always had so many friends and were always going somewhere whether it be a square dance or a concert or a cruise or a trip on an airplane, which they were able to do so often with granddaddy’s job at Delta.  Grandmother loved airplanes and she loved to travel. They would take long flights across the country and then come right back just to get a nice dinner and get to fly. Being the first girl in the family, they would bring me back many dolls from the various countries they visited. They also loved to play games and had weekly game nights with friends. I can remember countless times playing rummicube or uno around their kitchen table. As you can see in her pictures, my grandmother loved to be on the floor playing with us. I can remem ber often playing kitchen with some old dishes she had. I have pictures of her trying to get teeny Barbie clothes on my dolls. She loved to tell a story of when I was little and wanted to play with her alone in my room. I had shut the door so my brother couldn’t get in and she said he would stick his tiny little hand under the door and I would say, “No Patrick! You can’t come in here.” She said she felt sorry for Patrick!  The past few years, it has been so fun to see my boys and Laura’s boys play with the trucks she and granddaddy have kept for so long that my dad and his brothers played with. She loved playing with all her children.

Even as we got older, I don’t think my grandparents ever missed a band concert and came to many of all of our baseball and soccer games. My brother and I loved every Christmas season when we got older because we would  spend the night with my grandparents and they would take us shopping for our own Christmas presents.

Proverbs says “Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
³⁰ Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

My grandmother was a beautiful woman who always looked her best and loved being a lady. I know now that that is not always easy when you live with four males but she always carried herself well outside but most importantly inside. She loved God and her church and hardly missed a Sunday. She taught Sunday school and played piano for many years.  I will miss her greatly but am so thankful to know she is with Jesus and I bet she is playing the piano or cooking a meal in heaven as we sit here and Praise God for her life!