Love Story...

I used to be so jealous of my friends for having a "Grandma and Grandpa."I mean, I had them too, but we grew up calling our grandparents "Mamaw and Papaw." I would say to my friends "I'm going to see my Mamaw", and they would say "what's a Mamaw??" Later on I learned to just call them Grandma/Grandpa to friends so I would avoid the questions and embarrassment. What a dumb thing to worry about, huh? But now...what do my kids call my mom and dad??? That's right...Mamaw and Papaw. I love this picture of my dad's mom and dad. They loved each other soooooo much. After my Papaw died and my Mamaw was left alone, whenever she spoke of him, and I mean every time his name came up...she would cry. Even at the young age of 10 I knew they loved each other so very much. I knew that what they had was rare, and beautiful. When my mamaw passed several years back I pictured them young and carefree holding hands and enjoying every moment...and of course him kissing her hand like the picture above. I'm thankful for their love story.

Unity...

One thing that always seems to come from tragedy is unity. I felt unity with Chris' family even though we were only there a few short days. It felt good to see peace and happiness and most of all laughter and support amongst this great clan of people. It is impossible to not love each and every one of them. I feel blessed to know each of them. I wish I had pictures of all of them. Unfortunately I only have a few to share, but if you saw all of them, you'd just be jealous at what a great looking family Chris has. ;) I am so thankful we were able to be there. There are few times in life that you absolutely need to be there with family, and this was most definitely one of them.

Veeka...oh how I love this child.

Carl's oldest daughter Lindsay. I couldn't help but compare her to my own daughter Halee...they are only 1 year apart in age, and their personalities so similar. Lindsay is a strong and amazing girl.

The most adorable twin nieces ever...Brooke and Brandee

Uncle Joe and Aunt Dorothy...two of the nicest people on earth. I know he looks mean, but really he isn't.

Chris and his little sister Brande...she never stops smiling.

Hanging out with my little Scarlett at Greg's home. Hmmm..only having one child to deal with was kind of fun for a while.

When a mama leaves the room...

My mother in law said it best when she said she can make sense out of many tragedies, but when a mother is taken from her children, she just can't make sense of it no matter how hard she tries. 8 days ago, my 35 year old sister in law (my husbands brothers wife) woke up early in the morning having a massive stroke. She was in good health, and this was completely unexpected. We thought she wouldn't make it. Who could survive something so severe? It was made known by the Doctors to Chris' brother that there was very little hope of survival. But Willa is a strong spirit, and within a short time, she was alert. She was talking. She was able to talk to her 4 beautiful girls. Chris would call his mom several times a day asking "How is Willa now?" and we would hear about how awesome she was doing. Wow. It felt miraculous. She even stood up with help and was able to remember every ones birthdays. Amazing. A few nights ago however, her brain began to swell and she started having seizures. The doctors did brain surgery, but it was not successful. The lords Will was finally being made known. The doctors explained that she would not survive and if she did, her quality of life would be extremely poor. Her brain was dying. They have done all they can possibly do.

She is still alive right at this moment, but within minutes, hours, or a few short days she will leave this world, and be with her father in heaven. A husband is devastated. 4 girls, ranging from ages 14, all the way down to 7 are heartbroken. How does the human spirit survive losing a mother? Especially a mother who loved her girls, and would do anything for them? A mother, who was truly hands on and put them first in her life? I didn't know Willa very well, because of the distance between us. But what I do know of her, and can say unequivocally, is that she loves her girls with every piece of her soul. That transcended in her every time I have ever spoken with her.

There's a talk that was given in General Conference by our Prophet President Monson that helps me to make sense out of something that just doesn't. It's titled "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." He spoke of an Author by the name of Robert Blatchford, and his book God And My Neighbor. Blatchford wrote "Death is not what some people imagine. It is only like going into another room. In that other room we shall find . . . the dear women and men and the sweet children we have loved and lost." I know that My Brother in law will see Willa again and she will see her lovely daughters again, and even though we don't know why she is gone, God does. And he has a purpose in everything. President Monson said in this same talk "To all who have lost loved ones, we would turn Job's question to an answer: If a man die, he shall live again. We know, for we have the light of revealed truth.

A mother will be missed. A wife will be missed. A friend, daughter, sister, aunt, etc. will be missed, but we will all see this beautiful woman again. God loves us all that much.

For now, we will be praying for healing of the heart, and most of all courage for Carl and his daughters to find joy until they see their beautiful Willa again.

I never thought it would happen...

I have to say that I am not a huge sports fan. Growing up, the only sport I ever enjoyed watching was baseball, and though I am a true blue Atlanta Braves fan, watching football is something I never have wanted to watch even for 5 minutes. My husband isn't a big football fan and I have always treasured this in him. I see other sports obsessed husband and have felt true sorrow for their wives. I thought I was off the hook from watching football forever and ever. Hmmmm....no one told me that just because you don't watch it in your home, certain boys have the natural born instinct to love it and obsess over it. I should have known that having three boys would result in a different vision than the one I dreamt up. Connor is currently obsessed and I don't have it in me to crush his obsession. I guess their could worse things to be obsessed with. And I have to say, once in a while I even get excited if something big is happening and my competitive side jumps out and I surprise even myself that I actually care who is going to win...and last night during the huge Ducks Vs. Auburn game when the Ducks tied it up in the last 2 minutes of the 4Th quarter, I jumped so high and screamed so loud that my boys' chins fell to the floor....and even Chris had to remind me to be quiet or I might wake up the baby. Yep, I'm thinking deep down inside me, I could actually get used to this football thing.

For the love of blankie...

So, when Scarlett was around 6 months old, I decided it was time for her to vacate my bed and learn to cry herself to sleep in her own. I always have a hard time with this and look for any little way to ease the sadness of my poor babies. I bought her a pink princess blanket that was so soft and snugly. Well, this blanket definitely wiggled it's way into her heart because when it is absent, all heck breaks through. So, whenever I need to wash it (which is often because she literally lives with it attached to her hip) I have to sneak and do it and pray she doesn't see. On this particular day (see below pic) she found it. We have a front loader washer and there it was in plain sight. Oh boy. She cried the entire time it washed....AND dried. I felt like yelling "For the love of blankie child....BE QUIET!" But, who could say that to a child this precious? Not this Mama.

Perfect parent, where are you?

When I think about Moms and Dads and childhoods, It reminds me of the "Is your glass half empty, or half full" analogy. There was a time before I became a parent, that I wondered why my parents did things the way they did. But through the recent years of raising children, I have learned to cherish my parents more and understand why and how it is truly impossible to parent perfectly. I also worry too much, and therefore think to myself that today could be my last day talking to them, or saying "I love you." My parents made mistakes, as all parents do but they taught me values. They taught me hard work. They taught me to love myself and others. They did little things too. My siblings and I always laugh because one of our "traditions" as children was that my mom would take us every single day to the convenient store and buy us a candy bar. And even though it wasn't the most healthy tradition in the world, it is one I will forever cherish. I will always cherish my dad making up his own goofy words to familiar tunes. Or hugging us. He always hugged us and told us he loved us. He was very affectionate. And my mom...she showed us she loved us by being with us. Staying up late and watching movies with us...scary ones! She too told us she loved us despite the fact that she was raised in a home where these words were rare. She picked up the slack all those years when my dad traveled and couldn't be around as much as he wanted to be. I have had those times where I'm angry and frustrated that my parents did things differently than I thought they should have, but I have come to the conclusion that life is too hard and too short to do anything but tell the ones we love that we love them, completely, unequivocally and unconditionally.

Okay, enough of the sappy babbling. I love the pic of my mom below trying on the gift from my dad. This picture is so cute and illustrates her funny cute personality. She reminds me so much of a little girl in a woman's body. :)