Lives Well Lived

Last month was a month that was unexpected and was a month that has forever changed my life. The month started with the loss of my grandfather, PawPaw, while at the same time my grandmother, his wife, Grandmary, was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with lung cancer. Within 8 days she also went to be with the Lord. I have had the immense joy of having all 4 of my grandparents in my life. They were like second parents and my relationships with them have been natural. They nurtured their relationships with me by allowing me to grow and allowing me to desire and want a relationship with them on my own. That is what made my relationship with them what it was. They have all guided me and prayed for me as I navigated this world. They helped make me who I am today as a wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend as well as follower of Christ. My first grandfather passed away when I was pregnant with Ellie, which was immensely sad to me. Having lost two more is a sadness that has been overwhelming at times as I grieve. They were my friends and were my confidantes. I know they have so much joy and peace with our heavenly Father, but that does not take away all my grief for their presence here. (GrannyFranny, I know you read the blog, don't be going anywhere anytime soon!! ;))

Grandmary has been my fiercest prayer warrior my entire life. She has seen me through many joys and valleys. It is her wisdom I long for everyday as it is unmatched. Her devotion to Christ was a sight to behold. She never met a stranger and as I told her in my last moments with her she has meant everything to me and my unending devotion to her was exactly how I know she felt for me. It is such peace to know that she without a doubt knew what she meant to me and the impact she had on my life. She prayed for every detail of my life and I told her she was not to leave this Earth until I was married, once that happened I told her she couldn't leave until she met my first child. She had a health scare when I was pregnant with Ellie and I told her she could not leave me until she met all my babies. Our God is amazing and allowed that to happen. As Mia and I ventured down to Tennessee to celebrate my grandfather's life Mia met my grandmother a few days before she passed and that was one of the greatest gifts I could be given.

PawPaw has also taught me an immense love for the Lord and an immense devotion to your spouse and children and grandchildren. He let his family be who God created them to be and go where God took them all the while loving us with all he had. There has always been something about his hug that gave such comfort and peace that is unexplainable. The way he said my name when I called and told me he loved me made all right in the world. I was so blessed to tell him I loved him in the last days of his life as at times he could only listen and not speak on the phone. He knew my love for him and I knew his love for me.

They both leave such an amazing legacy for their family of love for the Lord first and their families. All my family and I have always felt that they have loved us unconditionally and with a fierceness that is hard to describe. Ben will often say he is married to another Grandmary and that I have birthed him 3 more as he considers us to be quite the characters, as she was, and I tell him that is the greatest compliment I could ever dream of having. To be a tenth of who she was would be an immense honor to me.

 My Sweet Grandparents (They were celebrating my grandmother's 80th birthday! This was a couple weeks before Ellie was born!) They were a couple of such humor and wit as well as love! Their joy for life and their one liners could make anyone laugh at any time!

 Mia meeting Grandmary! My Grandmary was never without her "face" as she called it. She always had her hair done and her lipstick on, so to see her without it in the final days was a sign that she was ready to meet her sweet Lord.

 Though there for a sad reason, Mia did get to her PopPop, also known as the baby whisperer!

 And we got to meet our new cousin Baby Cooper! These two are definitely related!

And she got her Nana snuggles and gave Nana exactly what she needed during this time!

Full

Wow, has life been full! It has been quite some time since I have blogged and life has been busy and full and the blog has taken a back seat. We have celebrated holidays and family successes and milestones. We have celebrated an unexpected visit to see family and lives well-lived. And as I sit blogging now I am celebrating that we have moved into our new home! It has been a crazy ride these past months but we are so excited to finally be settling into our new home and beginning to feel like this is home. We face new upcoming milestones and challenges, one being Ellie heading off to school in a less than 5 months, but as I look at all that has happened and we have experienced in the past few months I am grateful for my husband and my girls and the unending love of Christ. He meets me each day and has been teaching me good lessons as He molds me into the woman, wife and mother He desires me to be. My focus is being renewed on what is most important and other than Christ the sweet shining faces I see each day in my home are what Christ has called me to. I prayed diligently for years for these sweet girls and loving man and God answered my prayers and living life with them is what He has called me to in this season. They are my people and I could not be more blessed to live life with them!

 Valentine's Donuts

 Success! Sleeping with her head to the right!

 Sportin' Our Helmet

 Making Valentine's Cookies

 Rolled Over for the First Time

 Success! Sleeping on our Back! Big Milestone for her!

 Enjoying the Outdoors!

 Mid-March Snowstorm meant Snow Cream!

 Ellie completed her 7 weeks of ballet and had a recital!

 Our Awesome Ballerina!

 Finally making ice cream with our ice cream ball in our new backyard!

 My People! All smiles as Mia graduated 1 1/2 months early from her helmet!!

 A special little 5 year old learned to read!

 First swing outside! We moved here before she was big enough for a swing and then it got cold, so we were excited for her to have her first experience. She could not stop giggling!

 We have a little roller who rolls everywhere just like her sisters did!

Mommy Date!!