Thankful

This fall has been a busy one for our family.  I have enjoyed spending time with all three of our children at various times.  Some of it has not been the way we had intended to spend time together, but we are thankful for God's healing and provision.  I will not go into it here, but will refer you here if you would like to read about it.  There were many difficult moments during this time, and our family weekend did not happen like we wanted.  However, Rebecca documented it well for our family and allowing those of us not there to feel like we were loved and missed.  Even after taking a week of Family Medical leave to be with our son, I was able to take an additional couple of vacation days off to spend time with our Texas children, Caitlin, Clark and M. They were here on vacation and picked me up from the airport after my NC trip.   Puddin' had not seen M seen we left the hospital after her birth.  I had last seen her at two weeks of age.  I was so excited to see them all again.

I am thankful.  Thankful for family.  Thankful for friends and strangers who stood in the gap and have become like family.  Thankful for a job that allowed me to be here my heart was already. Thankful for children who serve, teach, work and desire to become more like their Heavenly Father each day.  Thankful for a husband who would move heaven and earth to take care of me and our family.

High School Geometry

The teacher always said I would use geometry.  It was everywhere.  I couldn't get away from it.  Truthfully, I hated it.  My grades were decent, but I always dreaded going to that class.  If I don't understand why something works (like geometry proofs), I will not retain it nor fully understand.  Anyway, finally made it out of that class and never looked back until now.  We have recently remodeled our bathrooms, and I had a brown shower curtain that was fairly new prior to the remodel.  It did not go with the new color scheme, but I hated to get rid of it. It was a gift from my sweet daughters.  So I hung onto it.  When the fall decorating bug hit, I made the burlap runner in the picture.  I felt like it needed something else.  It finally occurred to me that I could make the freshly laundered, rectangular brown shower curtain into a round table cloth.  As I folded and pinned the shower curtain into a square, and marked my arc where I would cut, I realized I just used my tenth grade geometry lessons.  I'm not sure my teachers would be proud since it's several decades later, but they were right!  I did use geometry. Woowhoo

Nana Puddin'

The name says it all.  We are parents of three kids, have two great sons in-love,  and now we are grandparents of two babies.  As grandparents, we are known as Nana and Puddin'.  When it is announced that one will become a grandparent for the first time, family and friends invariably want to know what the "grandparent" name will be.  I wanted my children to pick my grandmother name since this will, hopefully, apply to all of them.  My only requirement for a grandmother name was that it not sound like an old lady.  I don't mean to offend any Granny, Grandma's, or Big Mama's out there, but, because I'm a bit vain, I could not see myself like that.  Ultimately, I Facebooked (can I use Facebook as a verb?) my children a list of names I could live with.  The pregnant child would not commit to a name.  It didn't really matter to her.  The other two children (without children at that point) picked a couple of names from the list.  However, Nana was the only name the two had in common. Truthfully, they didn't really care either.  I believe our son just said not to have a name that sounded too "country".   We live in the south and southern accent is standard. The grandmother name didn't need to add to the stereotypical south.  I get that.  So with two votes for Nana, I adopted the name two months before the first grandchild was born.  

My husband is a different story. The hubs has a wonderful sense of humor.  At first he said he didn't care about his name as long as the children and grandchildren called him.  He figured he had at least two years before he would have need of a grandparent name.  However,  after being pressed, he came up with Magnificent One.  He hung tight to that name for awhile.  Finally, I think he realized that would be hard for a little one to say. One day he jokingly said since I was a Nana, he would be Puddin'.  The family knows how much he loves a good banana pudding.  Also, once you say something jokingly, repeat yourself, or ever have a blond moment, in this family, it will never be forgotten.  Caitlin, do you remember that time we ate at CiCi's?  I rest my case.  So from now to the end of time, he will be known as Puddin'.  Unless these sweet little ones rename him once they start talking.

Our family is a lot of fun. We are spread out with a lot of miles between us all.  As our children build their lives in other cities and states, this is my small attempt to keep us all better connected.  My greatest job ever has been a mother to these three and a wife to my husband. I am excited to see what God has in store for them.  More than anything, I am a daughter of the King of Kings.  As much as I love my family, He loves them more.  I am forever thankful for being allowed to have these on loan to me.