Thanks and some family pictures

Thank you to everyone that has been praying for our family during the hard time of saying goodbye to my Grandma. It's still pretty difficult, but I'm thankful the Lord is our comforter! Thank you for praying for Josh and Patrick, too. They've arrived safely in St. Barths. Patrick said the airplane trip was a real eye-opener for Josh :o) They love our house! They received our first shipment of stuff today and have started unpacking. Pray for me and the girls and Silas as we leave Tuesday morning to catch our flight.

Here's some pictures my Mom took of our family not too long ago. I just love them!

Today

Today was a pretty hard day for me and for my family, too. Today was the day we had the funeral for my Grandma. Even though it was a difficult day, I'm so thankful that God is our comforter. He gives such peace. Grandma requested that Patrick be the one to preach her funeral. He did so well, and two people raised their hands to say that they accepted Christ as their Savior! Praise the Lord!

Then we had the graveside service. Afterwards we (me,my Mom, and my 3 sisters) noticed my Dad and our husbands were huddled together in a circle, with arms around one another, praying. Today was also the day of good-byes for Patrick and Josh, too, as they leave for St. Barths in the morning. It was so sweet to see our "guys" praying together, and then shedding some tears as they said good-bye.

One of the things written in a letter from my Grandma, that she wanted read after her death, admonished our family to remember to "Stay Together" I'm so thankful for my family! I love the time we have together, and the way we work together. I praise the Lord that my family all belong to the same church and serve the Lord together. God's been so good to me!

Pray for Patrick and Josh. Pray for safety. Pray for an easy adjustment. I think they're excited about spending some "guy-time' together.

So, this is our last week here. We have a ton of things and our "Must-Do" list, and even more on our "Want-to-do" list. I know it will be super busy, but I'm looking forward to one more week with my Dad, Mom, and sisters and their families. Thank you Lord, for this time!

I love you, Grandma

I thought of many titles I could give to this post. I thought, "legacy" would be perfect, or "You'll be missed" or just a simple, "Blessed" But, I'm just not sure which would be fitting. Today, this morning to be exact, my wonderful Grandma took her first step in heaven. Right after we got back from language school my Grandma asked if we could come and talk to her about heaven. When we got there, she said that she had accepted Christ when she was younger, but she just wanted to "make sure" she had a home in heaven. As Patrick shared with her the entire plan of salvation you could see in her eyes and watch as her head nodded that she did "know for sure". She said, "Yes, I know I'm going to heaven when I die". What a blessing and comfort to me! She said that she knew she didn't have much longer here on earth and wanted to make sure everything was settled. A few months after that she went into the hospital, then into rehab. It's been hard on my Grandma. She was tired of the pain and ready for heaven. Then, late Wednesday she went back into the hospital. When Patrick and I saw her yesterday she seemed a lot worse than she had before. But, even though she was in pain, she reached out her hand to my Dad. It's as if she was telling him that it will be soon, but everything is going to be okay.

Grandma, I have been so blessed to have you as my Grandma. You have left behind a wonderful legacy, you will truly be missed, but Grandma, most of all, I want to tell you that I love you.

Looks better, doesn't it?

I posted not too long ago a picture of Patrick's Mom, Denise's, garage. What a horrible mess we had made with her neat garage! Well, I'm happy to say, Monday night (at 2am) this is what it looked like. Neat, orderly, labeled, weighed, measured, and packed boxes ready to be shipped! We sent the first shipment out Tuesday and should actually be on the ship as I type. We will send out the second shipment our things the Monday before I leave.

A New Boo-Boo

While having some fun at my Mom and Dad's house the other night, Silas got a new boo-b00. The Poor Baby. We went back and forth on whether we should take him to the ER or not. We decided yes, then no. Our final decision was to buy some liquid bandage. Other than pointing a few times at it and saying "hurts", it really doesn't seem to phase him much. That night when he saw his "boo-boo" in the mirror he said, "no no, hurts" Tear my heart out!

I do have a sweet memory from this, though. We loaded Silas up in the van, then my 3 sisters came out to check one more time on him. He was in his carseat, one sister, on her knees, in the front seat turned around, the other two right next to his carseat. They were all checking to make sure he was okay. Then, they all three started laughing and playing with him. He's got 3 wonderful aunts! Silas, you are blessed!

For now, it's lots of neosporin!

"Silas's Favorite Things" Quilt

Last month Silas started to cry at bedtime that his quilt is "broken." I really didn't understand at first, then he was saying "feet." I realized he has grown too long for his baby blanket. :o( Of course I cried! But, then, when I realized it meant it was time for me to sew him a new one, I got excited! :o) When we get to St. Barths Silas will have one of the bottom bunk beds. So, it really was time for him to have his own twin size quilt. I looked through all of the patterns that I have been saving and I had some fun ideas. Then, I realized he's my 2 year old boy. He loves so many things. So, I went

and picked out fabrics of his favorite things and decided to go with an easier pattern that would focus more on the fabrics. I have dreams of having some fun I-Spy time in the future. Then, I decided to put his name on the quilt, too. I love to do applique!

For the back I decided to try and do some fun strips. My Mom is always doing something creative to the backs of her quilts, and being the follower that I am, I had to try it too!

I love to name and label the quilts that I make. Here's the message I wrote to Silas:

My little guy loves his new quilt! Success!

Feelings

This week has been a little bit of an emotional roller coaster ride for me. We've been so busy packing and trying to squeeze in lots of time with family, too. It's a really strange feeling knowing you are going to really miss you family (Dad, Mom, sisters, grandparents, nieces, nephews, etc. etc) but at the same time being very ready to get to your new home. I met a new missionary-blog-friend about a month ago and I love what she just wrote on her blog. She talked about the "spot" where you are supposed to be. Even though I'm going to miss my family terribly, I truly can't wait to get to my "spot!" I've been looking this week (over and over!) at the pictures we just received of our house after the renters have moved out and after the landlord did some "fixing up". Well, look what picture we saw!

Talk about one happy Momma! We did not realize there is a play house right in our yard!

Before we surrendered to the mission field, I asked a friend of mine that is a missionary to the Philippines, "How do you do it? How do you stay away (far away, across the sea) from your family, and not see them for long periods of time?" Even though I've lived away from home for most of my married life, the thought of living "across the sea" was, at the time, unbearable. I love her answer! She said the only way to explain it is that God gives you grace. It never gets easier, necessarily, but God will give you grace to not miss your family constantly. God gives you grace to make your "spot" home. And it's so true! Our family is getting so thrilled and excited to get to the place where God has called us. It's coming soon!

Where do we begin?

It's definitely time for us to start packing. We hope to ship our things on April 25th, and since I've married Mr. We-need-to-be-prepared-early :o), it's time to get busy! We've been working hard this week spending lots of time going through everything we have. We're trying to be careful not to ship anything we don't really need. Shipping is expensive! Sometimes I look at something, set it aside, pick it up again, and try to really determine if I need it. I guess the even more important question is, "Will it fit in our house?" We have some boxes set aside that will stay. Things like memorable baby clothing. (Sweet things that my babies have worn. I've actually done very well in that department and now have a "special" newborn outfit I've kept for each of my kiddos, and one sleeper that all 5 of them have worn. It has the cutest little ducks on it. sniff sniff. Time goes by too quick) Also, stuff like cards and letters, and air force awards will stay behind in Florida, too. So, we've been super busy packing and getting ready. My goal is to get everything done soon, and to be a woman of leasure! Ha! We'll see!

Happy 11 Months~Callie Grace

s Oure little Callie Grace turned 11 months old! What a sweetie she is! She drinks from her cup better and better each day. She's slowly weaning herself :o( She talks more and more, but it's still not understandable. She says, "Dada" and "Mama" and waves goodbye.

She started taking her first steps in the past two weeks. Brenna tries to bribe her to come with Fruit Loops.

I love you, My Callie Grace. I have one more month with you as a baby-baby. You're growing so quickly! Your Daddy and I pray for you everyday that you will accept Christ as your Savior at a very early age. We pray you will live your life for the Lord! It's the best life!

Sewing Day

For the past two Tuesdays my Mom, my Mam-maw, my girls, and me have been getting together for sewing days to make culottes! Yay for culottes! I love to use the pattern from Hook Publications. I prefer to have the darts and zipper put in for mine, but the girls like the easy add-some-elastic method. My Mom and Mam-maw are excellent seamstresses and I learned so much from them. My Mam-maw made all of the dresses for my bridesmaids for my wedding. (They were so beautiful!) And my Mom is my major inspiration for all things quilting. We can spend waaay tooo much time looking at quilts and fabric together!

So, now the girls and I have a total of 8 pairs of culottes ready for the summer! And just in time too. We leave 4 weeks from today!

Thanks Mom and Mam-maw for all of your help! I love you both!

Teaching him young

My Josh loves to make pancakes and crepes. He's very good at it! He decided it was time to start teaching Silas. The two cuties had so much fun in the kitchen together. I love the flour on Silas's cheek! Happy Saturday! Don't Saturdays just scream for pancakes?!