ninety five ... oh my!

We spent last weekend in Gulfport celebrating Ronnie's Grandmother's 95th birthday.  We had a great weekend with the family, especially since almost everyone was there (except two great-grandkids - Ashlee and Eva and one grandchild - Allison). 

Five generations

MeeMee finally got to meet her first great-grandson ... Wyatt



MeeMee and all the grandchildren and great grandchildren who could be there


While the focus of the day was supposed to be MeeMee, I think little Wyatt may have stolen the show ....

Granny lovin' on Wyatt

Wyatt and his Nana

Trying to decide what to give someone who is turning 95 is a little difficult.  When Granny was here last we talked about it and I decided to make her a small afghan.  I will have to admit that it took longer than I thought it would, but I was very pleased with the final result.

We spent Sunday afternoon with Ronnie's Uncle Charlie, Aunt Pat and Bianca (their granddaughter) boating, swimming and grilling (actually, Pat grilled while the rest of us played!)  My children love going out on Charlie's boat ... they don't get to do this but a couple of times a year and it is always exciting to them.  Charlie is a great sport and enjoys letting the kids drive the boat.  The boys always look forward to their turn and this time, even LB took a turn ... though she wasn't as excited as the boys were.

MeeMee is the only great-grandparent that my children have left and I am thrilled that they got to celebrate her 95th birthday with her.  I hope that this is something they will always remember and that they will know how important it is to take the time to get to know the older people in their lives who have so much to offer and yet are so often overlooked by young people.

celebrating another year together

Today, Ronnie and I celebrate fourteen years of marriage.

This is the third year that I have blogged about our anniversary and I thought it was time that I shared a few pictures from our wedding day.  Unfortunately, my scanner wouldn't work this morning, so the pictures aren't that great since I just took pictures of the pictures.  But, you'll still get some idea of what that day looked like for us.

No post about our anniversary would be complete without mentioning that today is also my parents' anniversary ... Happy 47th Mama and Daddy!

prayers

Today, my heart is heavy.

One of my oldest and dearest friends has just lost her Daddy.  I have known Stacey and her family for nearly 30 years and I can only imagine how hard this day is for her.  I have many memories of both of her parents and the fun that we had when we were kids hanging out at her house.  Despite their pain, I am thankful that Stacey and her family have the assurance that her Daddy's suffering is over and he is at peace with his Lord.

Today is also the day that Marie, one of my newer, but no less dear, friends will be having surgery and then awaiting test results.  I know that Marie is trusting God as she and her family walk through today and whatever lies ahead for them.

I am so thankful for the friendships that I have with these two women and I want them to know that they are being lifted up in prayer today and will continue to be prayed for in the days to come.

ladies in hats

In just a few weeks, we will celebrate the sixth anniversary of my mother being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.  Perhaps celebrate isn't exactly the right word, or then again, maybe it is.  For one thing, she is still with us and there is no doubting that we are celebrating her life.  Another thing is that Mama's battle with cancer has given her the opportunity to live out the grace of God in a way that is undeniable and in doing so she has inspired those around her.  I don't know that I had truly understood how much of an impact she has had on her friends until she was in the hospital awaiting brain surgery in April.  While we waited, I was able to witness the depth of friendship between Mama and her closest friends, many of whom are in the Sunday School class she has taught for just over 20 years.  I was moved nearly to tears on more than one occasion as I saw and heard one of Mama's friends kneel and pray for her.  I have always felt blessed by the relationship I have with Mama, but in those few days in the hospital, I became even more aware of how God is blessing others through her.  What an amazing legacy.

Today, in a show of support for Mama, her Sunday School class decided that they would all wear hats to church.  In the past, Mama has pretty much always worn a wig when she lost her hair.  But since having surgery, she hasn't wanted to wear the wig anymore and decided that hats were a better solution.  So, she bought some and I crocheted a couple for her and she has worn them most everywhere she goes.  The ladies thought it would be fun to wear hats and all sit together in church in honor of her.  What began as only her class grew into what I would guess was thirty or forty women in church this morning, all proudly wearing their hats.  When Mama told me what was going to be happening, LB and I decided to join in the fun.  I originally planned to wear one of Mama's hats, but ended up buying a new one~which gave me an excuse to buy a new shirt, too ;o) ~and I crocheted a hat to match the outfit LB was wearing.  LB's hat just happened to also match Mama's hat, except where LB's is yellow with white trim, Mama's is white with yellow trim.

Again, I am amazed at the outpouring of love for Mama.  There is no question that she has been an influence on many of the people she goes to church with and I think today she was encouraged by their love and support.  And even though I know God's timing is always perfect, I am also encouraged by the fact that this happened just as Mama is again facing decisions about how to proceed with the treatment of her cancer.  It wasn't a coincidence that the ladies picked today to wear their hats and I am so thankful to know the One who orchestrated this day and allowed me to be a part of it.

Mama with two of her three grand daughters

Some of Mama's Sunday School ladies

more of the SS ladies

Mama with her family (the two ladies on the end are my sisters-in-law)

dance on demand

LB's sixth dance recital was last weekend.  I can't believe how much she has grown up since we started in this whole dance thing when she was only 5.  I think she still loves it as much as she ever did and each year I can see progress in her and in her class at their dance recital.

This year she danced a duet with another home schooled girl in her class.  They chose a lyrical ballet to the song You Are My All in All.  They did a beautiful job and looked really well matched for dancing together.  The night of the recital they were already talking about doing another duet next year.  As much as I like the fact that they chose a worship song to dance to, I hope that they will do a tap number next year.

This year's recital was a little unusual because Mrs. Gerry, LB's dance teacher had an appendectomy just two days before the recital and wasn't able to attend.  Her husband, Mr. August, was the emcee as usual, but you could tell that the girls were thrown off balance by Mrs. Gerry not being there.  Mr. August told the crowd that this was the first recital she had missed in 58 years of teaching dance ... wow!

LB and Desi waiting to dance their duet
(and me showing off the bun cover I made)

Pretty girls

The class costume

my favorite picture of LB

she loves getting flowers every year

her Daddy chose these flowers especially to match her dress

wreckers and regulators

Baseball this year was one of firsts for both boys.  It was D's first year playing team sports of any kind and JW moved up to kid-pitch baseball.  Kid-pitch has all kinds of new rules for the boys to learn and JW was one of only two or three who hadn't played in this league before.  Two things that we assumed JW knew about were walks and getting hit by a pitch.  He caught on to the walks pretty quickly, but was totally surprised by getting to "take his base" after he got hit by a pitch for the first time.


I think they both had a good year and now that it is all over, I think I will miss it, at least a little.  I can't say that I really enjoyed having to be at the ball fields 4 nights a week, but I love watching my boys play!


One kind of nice thing about this years' teams was that there were several pairs of siblings on the boys' teams.  I enjoyed getting to know the parents and the kids became friends hanging out while their brothers were playing ball.  D quickly became attached to a little girl on his team named Alyssa.  Her older brother was on JW's team and she even has an older sister that LB became good friends with.  All these new friendships made things much easier for me since the kids weren't complaining about being bored when they weren't the ones playing.


The main point of this post was just to share some of their pictures from the year, so here they are:

JW ~ getting ready for his first game with the Regulators

D's first game with the Wreckers

just waiting to play

waiting on their turn to bat

the kids loved this aftergame ritual

I just LOVE this face!

sometimes I would need something to keep my hands busy!

listening to Coach Danny

leading off of first ... he got pretty good listening to his coaches and stealing bases



D preferred hitting the ball off of the tee rather than pitched by the coach



trying to steal home



JW and Mason at their end of the year party



D and Alyssa at their end of the year party