Old Sally

Rest In Peace Sally 

Our old dear friend Sally left us today to go where all very good and loyal pets go after they have given everything they have to improve our lives.   Is that place Heaven?  I don't know for sure and really do not want to debate with anyone.  I remember years ago when a Catholic school teacher really upset my oldest boy after his cat died.  I had suggested to him that A.J. (the cat) was now in Heaven with Papa Gus (my dad), that thought comforted Kenny and when he shared it at school this particular teacher sent my 9 year old son home in tears with her theory. Not nice..  What does it hurt to believe that your very best friend in the world is in the best place you can think of?  

Sally and her boy a few years ago

I myself am choosing to think that Sally, who let everyone of my grandchildren pull her ears and kiss her nose has now met Olivia in Heaven and that both of them are happier and healthier than we who are left behind here can imagine.

Sally was thirteen years old and has been ours since her and Caleb were both babies.  Crystal brought Sally and her 8 siblings home in a laundry basket, from the pet store she worked at so they wouldn't be turned into the pound.  We worked real hard to find homes for all of them except little Sally the runt.     She was always what we called soft lipped, a very gentle spirit and perfect family dog.  She was Caleb's best friend and always slept in his bed until this last year or so when the jumping became too much for her old bones but she still slept in his room.  These last 3 nights she when was just too weak to make it up the stairs, Caleb slept downstairs with her instead.  He hand fed her left over turkey and helped to carry her outside to go potty.  I am very proud of him.  

Sally will be missed.

Laughing for the camera...  :-)

   

The Holidays and History

Caleb and I are studying ancient history this year and I am finding it, as I do all history, very interesting.  I have recently become especially interested in the origins of  our holidays.   I just did a  study on Halloween, All Hallows Eve (the eve before All Saints Day), Samhain, the Celtic observance of the end of summer, kind of like our Harvest Festivals.  A lot of legends and traditions are mixed into this day to bring us trick or treating, wearing masks and carving Jack-O-Lanterns. Very interesting stuff, some things things that make you say hmmmm but not really an exceptionally evil beginning.

Of course Thanksgiving is a no brainer on its beginnings, all of us have read "Squanto", but how it actually became a national Holiday is interesting;
http://tarrytown.patch.com/articles/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-thanksgiving-but-were-afraid-to-ask-2

Now I have started looking into the origin of Christmas, Wow, Very interesting stuff here, how did I get to be 53 years old believing in so many things that are not true?  No Santa? Really? (haha jk) It seems  that Christmas tradition is really a hodge podge of all sorts of old pagan Druid celebrations that "the Church" tried to get the people to forget by introducing the celebration of the Christ Child's birth  (that was not really even in December!).
I am really a little put off at the thought of being spoon fed these very nice ideals that are untruths made up by some old bishops during the time of the Roman persecution, and I am feeling rather moronic that I have so staunchly defended "keeping Christ in Christmas" when He really is not the "reason for the season", that would be the Roman Saturnalia, a winter festival that marked the winter solstice- the return of the sun-and honored Saturn, the god of sowing. Pretty crazy huh?


Now, no need to worry, I nor any of the family will be wearing togas on Dec. 25th this year and none of this has anything to do with my belief in the Gospel truths surrounding the birth of Christ, the Messiah. Please don't call an exorcist. lol  I am just stating that for me knowing the 'true' history of things is very important. 

Heaven

Jesus, the loving Shepherd

Growing up in the Catholic Church I was always surrounded by pictures of Jesus and for the most part I found them very reassuring.
Being an animal lover from my very earliest memory made this picture of Jesus loving the little lamb  always my favorite.  I had heard and understood the story of the good shepherd leaving his flock of 99 to search for the missing 1 early in my childhood and it left me feeling safe and cared for.  I also had a very sweet Grandmother who lived with us until I was ten and she loved to make Bible stories come alive. She had a French Canadian background and always spoke Jesus in French which sounds so sweet and endearing.
So the thought of Heaven being some awesome family farm in the country where a very kind French Jesus tends to all the animals is the sweet picture I had for most of my young life.

Laughing Jesus!

I love to laugh.  Some of my best memories are of times where I laughed till I cried at a story being told by someone in my family, we all love to laugh.  I know my Mom taught me how to see the humor in life, she would just look at me and raise an eyebrow in a questioning kind of way and I would crack up, then we would both crack up and oh how good it would feel to just let the endorphins flow.  We laugh a lot at this house, it's probably the biggest thing our in-law children have had to get used to, hardly a dinner goes by without some old (or new) funny story, usually about a sibling, coming to light then it happens, loud, head tossing, knee slapping laughter.  Nothing is better.
I like to think about Jesus laughing, sitting around a fire with is dearest friends and telling some funny story, (did you see that Pharisee trip over his robe today?) and everybody laughing until the tears rolled.  Sometimes you just have to laugh, even in troubled times.


Our sweet baby Olivia went to Heaven 73 days
 ago, she has been gone as long as she was here and I still miss her so much. I catch myself looking at babies in the stores and thinking "she would be that size now", "she would be doing these things now".
 I still think about her a lot.  One of the things I think about is what is she doing in Heaven? What is Heaven like for a baby?
The Bible does say some things about Heaven but nothing I can really wrap my head around, streets of gold, diamond and sapphire cities, many mansions, winged worshipers. Nothing I can really get a picture of, nothing I can relate to. I just really wish I could get a glimpse.
Yesterday I got this picture in an email from one of my cousins, I really like this one.  So today when I think of Olivia being in Heaven the picture I have is of a very happy little girl sitting with a very kind and loving Jesus, I think maybe he is telling her a story about a little sheep on a french farm and any minute now they are both going to burst out in uncontrollable giggles.  That sounds like Heaven to me.

Shamu Family Fun Walk

Team Livie's Heart!

Today was the Shamu Family Fun Walk to benefit Rady Children's Hospital.
Rady is where Olivia was treated.
We are Team Livie's Heart;  we are 88 strong and we raised close to $4,000.00 for the hospital.
What a Kick!
We are not special or famous, we are just a family that had a very sick baby, who went to heaven after only 73 days with us.  But she inspired us and look what has come of it!
Old friends reunited, Cary it was so great to see you again and to meet your family. New friends like Heather and Brooke who are now just like family.  Family that has been absent but is now back like Tiffany and her beautiful children and new friends like Beka and Rachel who we share a special spot with as they continue their journeys and challenges with their special little ones, and really way too many more to mention here.
Thank you all for being a part of my life

My beautiful daughter, Crystal my hero...

Papa and Evie, ready to Go!

Now that the "race" is over I'm a little numb, not only because I've been up since 4AM!  But, what next?  Olivia's journey has taken me places I didn't know I could go, I have learned things that I didn't even know I didn't know! These last seven months have been so consumed with so much emotion and now it seems so quiet.

Crystal, Kim, Me and Heather

Next weekend we start looking for a place for Kimmie and Ed's wedding in the spring.  I am so happy for them and so excited about another wedding (aka a GREAT reason to party).

So I guess for now I will try to appreciate the lull in activity and rest up, the adventures are never too far apart at "Mammy's House".

"Mammy, I don't feel good"

Every mother knows the feeling of being woken up with the words "Mommy, I don't feel good"....  Oh how I hate those words!  It has been my experience over the last 33 years that that statement is the preliminary to at least 24 hours of agony. Yes for both the child murmuring and Mommy, or in this case Mammy.
Erik and I have 8 children spread over 19 years, we categorize them into two groups, the "big" kids; Kenny, Crystal, Kelly, Mike and Kim, and the "younger" kids; Shawn, Katie and Caleb.  We really have raised one family and are now raising another one as well as now being pretty active with grandkids too.  All that to say, I have heard this statement many times.
When my "big" kids were young they were great about being sick in the right spot.  I had them trained to run to the bathroom BEFORE they came into my room to announce their tummy troubles.  I was very spoiled.
Our younger kids have not been so kind.  Shawn and Katie could never make it to the bathroom to save their little souls, maybe they were such sound sleepers they just woke up too late.  

Feel better soon Macen....

Caleb was born with an immature esophagus and that is just a whole other story but we were able to train him to grab a trash can on his way.

This morning my grandson Macen, who is spending the weekend here, woke up early.  I was already up and just knew my day had taken a turn when his first words were "Mammy, I don't feel good"!  He was telling the truth.  So here we are 4 hours later, Papa has already made the emergency run to the store for 7-up, the washer and dryer are in full force and sweet, sweet Macey Boy is back asleep on the couch.  I seem to be having a lot of Dejavu lately, I wonder if that is just what happens when we get older.

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. Albert Einstein..(1879 - 1955)

A long time ago one of my favorite self quotes was "reality is an illusion".  Maybe I had heard the Albert Einstein quote but I can't really say.  It makes perfectly good sense to me.  We all pick the reality we want to live in and project but it does not make it true.

Turf the perfect terrier

 I can say that my dogs are perfect, to me they are,
but to someone else their shedding and barking would disqualify them as their "perfect" pet.
See my reality is really also my illusion.
Hmmmm, just thinkin.

Four Funerals and a Wedding!

Kimmy and Ed are getting married!

It is with great excitement that I can now
say Kimberly, our child # 5 is engaged!
Ed has been "in the family" for a while
now so he knows what we are all about
and still his love for Kim won out.  ;-)


We (as a family) have gone through and done a lot this last year, I absolutely can not believe it was barely a year ago that Crystal and I ran the Disney Half Marathon, that Erik and I flew to Tenn. where our grand daughter, Selah was in Children's Hospital, that 10 months ago we found out that Crystal was pregnant with Olivia, that 9 months ago we remodeled two upstairs bedrooms and 19 year old Shawn moved back home, that 7 months ago we found out Olivia was coming with a heart defect, that 5 months ago my sweet cousin Debbie passed away, that 3.5 months ago Olivia was born and that 4.5 weeks ago she went to heaven, that 2.5 weeks ago we found out Crystal was expecting again, that Jerry K and Uncle Hank were both laid to rest this month, that just 5 days ago we found out Kelly is expecting again and tonight Kim got engaged!
Holy Moly!

I think having a big family is fabulous, eight children, all wonderful sweet kids with awesome spouses and perfect children.   I am so blessed.
This last year has been harder than most but I feel the tide turning now, thank you Jesus for the change of seasons, not just wonderful fall (my favorite) but the seasons of life too.
I am excited about looking ahead.

Kim and Ed, engaged!