Life Is Good

Wow… It’s hard to believe it is already Monday. Where did this week go? We had a quiet week here in Willard. Life is so easy. I can do what I want, when I want, and if I want. I am married to the sweetest most easygoing man I know. At times, I pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming. This week was a slow week; we did not do a lot, just worked on genealogy, and played games against each other on pogo.com.

A lot of friends have told me I have it made. Stan’s niece, Patt lives with us. She has some health issues and moved in with him and his previous wife about eight years ago. She helped take care of his wife in her last days.

Anyways, Patt loves to do housework, yard work and loves to cook. So basically all I have to do is keep our bedroom and office clean and our clothes washed. I enjoy our trips to Arkansas, because I cook there, and I do love to cook. So, life is really good.

Saturday, we did take a drive to a little town northwest of us. Working on genealogy, I ran across a site, quite by accident. I had put my mom’s name in the search engine and a memorial on findagrave.com came up. It surprised me, but I was very touched and honored to see it there. It is a free site, where cemeteries are listed, and information is posted. There is even a place where you can leave flowers and notes if you wish. Anyway, we both joined the site, and now we enter different memorials and take volunteer pictures for people. That is what we were doing yesterday. We went to two different cemeteries in our area, taking pictures for people. Then we upload them on the site, in the appropriate place. This is a wonderful tool for people researching dates for genealogy.

It was such a beautiful day yesterday. I also managed to take a roll of pictures on my 35mm of the trees and beautiful leaves. Hmmmm…I guess you know who checked most of the headstones yesterday.

Life is good! What a difference a few years can make.

"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." Psalm 27:14

Fall Is Here...

I love this time of year, the leaves are turning beautiful colors, and there is a little chill in the air. You can see pumpkins and scarecrows on every corner. Soon the leaves will need raking, and in the country you can smell people burning them.
It makes me reflect back …I think you tend to do that more as you get older. As a kid we always camped on weekends, when we lived in Illinois. There were about 4 or 5 families that would go together, two of mom’s sisters and their families.
This was perfect weather for the big campfires at night. Roasted hotdogs, marshmallows, pies made with the irons, and ‘Smores, hot chocolate…mmmm, you can’t get much better than that. We would sit around the campfire listening to our parents telling crazy stories, laughing and enjoying life. Those were good times.
It didn’t matter that mom and dad had worked all week. They packed the camper Friday night, and then we would drive 2 hours early Saturday morning, only to come back home on Sunday evening. And they never complained about being tired.
I hope when my daughter reflects back over her life, she can remember lots of good times. But most of all when my Lord looks back over my life, I hope He is pleased with what He sees.
“…he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” Psalm 96:13b

Eden Jade's Story

So sorry for the long blog, but just felt like this was something the Lord wanted me to share.

Do you ever have one of those days where nothing goes right? You feel like you should of stayed in bed, with the covers pulled up over your head? Just not feeling up to par? We all have those days once in awhile. But for me all it takes is a phone call from a little girl in Arkansas saying “Hi Ganny.” And just for a split second the world stops and everything is on track again. Eden Jade is my fix, just those two words. Yes, she does have me wrapped, but let me share her story. There is also an album of Eden’s story in my pictures.

She came into this world on July 14th weighing 5lbs 4 oz and 17 ½ inches long. She was approximately 6 weeks early. Momma and Daddy knew immediately something was wrong when the nurses let them see her for a second in passing, and then whisked her off to the nursery. Being the person I am, standing at the window was not enough; I had to get a closer look. I was allowed to go in and take a couple pictures. They had an oxygen tent around her and monitors on, and a suctioning tube going down her throat. I have to admit I was scared. Usually as a mom we think we can fix everything for our kids, but not this time. After what seemed like forever, they informed us that they felt it would be better to transfer her to Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. She would be taken by med-flight.

My heart was breaking for my daughter. It was hard enough, Eden was my grandbaby, but she was Jan’s baby. And to see your kid hurting, and upset, it was almost more than I could take. So I proceeded outside to get some pics of Angel 1 and talk to our Lord and Savior. I watched as they disappeared in the distance, feeling at peace knowing she was in God’s hands. Eden’s daddy and the other grandparents followed her to Little Rock. I stayed at Russellville with Janice and we went down the next morning.

Eden was hooked to a ventilator, so she could breathe easier, along with a lot of monitors. At 3 days old, exploratory surgery was performed where they found a blockage. They had to do a small bowel resection. They removed about 10 inches of her small bowel that was not developed properly. She also had a blood transfusion.

She had a very bad case of reflux. Everything in her tummy would come up in her mouth if she were on her back. Also she aspirated if she took anything by mouth. They performed a nissen procedure, where the stomach is brought up over the end of the esophagus and stitched, which helped with the reflux. They inserted a button in her stomach for G tube feedings.
Finally at 3 weeks old mommy could hold her for the first time. Praise the Lord! And 3 weeks later she got to come home.

Eden never knew what a bottle was, she was tube fed through her button, until she was about 21 months old. You can tell in the pictures she had no idea what to do with her birthday cake at a year old.

She is 27 months old now and still has to drink thickened liquids, but she finally got her button out in September. She can now eat anything and everything she wants. She is a happy go lucky little girl who is not afraid of anything. Her momma is very brave and has met every hurdle head on. I believe those first 3 weeks, although family could not hold her, someone bigger had her right in the palm of His hand. I would like to thank everyone at Children’s Hospital, the crew in Angel 1, the staff St. Mary’s Hospital at Russellville, and her therapists, but most of all…Thank you Jesus!
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Road Trip

I have just spent all evening scanning and posting pictures to my Webshots account from our trip to Washington DC. These are accessible to you here, by clicking on the "Photos I Have Taken" link on the right side.
We were in DC for 4 days, however we took two days to drive up and 2 coming home. We had a wonderful time. DC was a place I always wanted to visit. Stan used to work in DC years ago, but it was my first time, and I might add probably my last. What is the saying been there, done that, not doing it again...
It is a very interesting city, a very busy city. There is a lot of history there and the architecture...wow! I tried to catch some of this in the pictures. A friend, Leslie gave me a personal tour of "The National Archives Building." A very interesting place, especially since I am into genealogy. Lots of information available.
We hit most of the Memorials and Monuments. There were two that really touched my heart. One was the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier," in Arlington Cemetery. We were there at the Changing of the Guard. It was awesome, there were probably 100 people watching, but yet you could of heard a pin drop. And the Viet Nam Memorial...soooo many names. My brother was in Nam, Thank God he made it home.
I was surprised at the amount of trees and flowers around town, and how clean it was. Traffic was horrible, we used the subway most of the time, along with everyone else. I remembered real quick why I left the big city of Chicago.
All those busy people, I couldn't help but wonder if I would ever see them again...Heaven maybe?
"Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few..." Luke 10:2

Genealogy - Another First

Genealogy - boring??? I used to think the same thing. Someone would mention that they were looking into their family history and I would automatically think...they need to get a life. How boring can you get?
But actually it can be very interesting, and quite addicting. I started on my mom's side. Her maiden name was Reynolds. I have traced the trunk line back 62 generations to the year 0193. Yngvi - King in Turkey. There are better records if there is royalty involved.
According to the Wikipedia, Reginald de Dunstanville Reynolds FitzRoy was the Sheriff of Devon, Earl of Cornwall and was an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England and Lady Sybilla Corbet. Reginald was in our trunk line - 25 generations back.
I am now working on the branches, filling in holes, researching different questions. My great-great -great grandma was full blooded indian, and I am trying to find her name.
I also am looking forward to researching my granny's side. I found out last year that she had a different mom than her brothers and sisters, no one could actually tell me what her name was, but prayers were answered when one of my aunts found their marriage certificate. So now I will have something to go on.
There is alot of information available online and at the libraries. And of course, older relatives can tell you alot. I wish I would of listened more and asked my mom and dad questions about their grandparents.
I would like to challenge everyone, check out your family history, do some research, talk to your parents or grandparents about their relatives, while you can, it can be very rewarding.
Finding out we were related to King Henry I was exciting, but I already knew I was a child of the King! The One who really makes a difference if we just let Him.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Are We Tooo Busy???

Do you ever feel like the world is passing you by? It seems like the older you get the faster it goes. We get so busy... Busy with work, or raising kids, or your favorite hobby. And before you know it another year has passed. And you look back and wonder what have I accomplished this year? Did I do anything important... have I made a difference?
I think we all feel this way from time to time. Life is soooo busy. And hectic at times...
Our preacher has been discussing how we need to stay alert, and be ready, and we need to do all we can to spread the gospel. Things that we have all heard before in church, but somehow this time it made me really take a look at my life. Maybe that is why I am stepping out on a limb, with faith, by doing this blog, that it will touch somebody, remind them that Jesus loves them just as they are. That He is always there for us, He does not move. "If you don't feel close to God, guess who moved?"
So with that said, we will see where this takes us...
Until next time....God Bless...Nel
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in te name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am withyou always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28:19, 20

What In The World Am I Doing???

I think I have totally lost my mind... a blog. Who would of thought it??? I have no idea what I am doing...so please be patient with me. I guess I am just proving to myself that I can do it!