For memory sake......a blog posting about the great blessing of spending time with our family this winter.
Andy had a conference to attend the first of February, so I went down to help Carman out with the 3 kiddos. When I arrived in NWA, I meet Carm and kids along with Rachel and her kiddos at CFA for lunch:
I enjoyed my time with them. One of the days, Laine went to a Tea Birthday Party. She looked so cute!
Ellie and Shep stayed home with DeDe
The ice cream truck happened to come by when we were outside, so since Ellie didn't get to go the party, she got an ice cream sandwich :-).
This little guy had grown a lot since I last saw him at Christmas. He has to endure a lot of "pink" since he uses hand-me-downs of his sisters :-).
Just a week later, I made a rush trip back down to their house on a Sunday morning (Valentine's) after receiving a call that Shepherd had been admitted to the hospital for RSV :-(.
I did enjoy time with all the family, but hated the reason for it. It was our first time to experience a grandchild being in the hospital (or child, for that matter, as none of my kids were ever hospitalized while living at home).
Sunday afternoon, while Rachel's kids were napping and Daddy was with them, she came over to the house and stayed with the girls, so I could go to the hospital and check on this precious baby.
Then later in the afternoon, after naps, Jonathan brought Copeland and Eisley over and then went to work on a project. So we enjoyed the evening together.
I was so grateful to those who brought food to feed the kids and I. Carman's sister, Courtney brought us lunch and Andy's assistant, Pam and husband, Jim, brought us dinner! Thank you!
So sweet!
After the McCrary's went home, Josh, Michelle and Avi came over (and Michelle brought several dishes she had prepared for Andy's family to eat when they came home from the hospital, which was so sweet of her!). The girls loved having so many of their cousins visit that day.
They did a dress up show for us
On Monday, Papa couldn't resist coming down to see his sick grandson. Thankfully, by time he arrived, Shep had been dismissed and was home. So thankful for the many prayers and a quick recovery for our boy.
Then the weekend after Valentine's, we did our annual Valentine's outing with the grandkids at a hotel. Avi was only able to stay for a few hours as it was her weekend with her dad's, so she and Shep weren't there at the same time to get all 6 in a picture -- so two pictures:
Valentine's Presents:
Shep didn't spend the night, but did stay for a couple of hours in the evening with us so Momma and Daddy could go on a Valentine's Date
Cutie patooties!
Swimming time:
Josh and Michelle came back to get Avi and got some cuddle time with Eisley
And then sleep.....sweet, sweet sleep :-)
Next morning.....
Carman and Shep came to get the girls and Rachel to get her babies (they both had attended a women's meeting at their church prior to coming to get them)
Time to go home
I became sick the first of the next week.....finally went to the doctor and was diagnosed with acute bronchitis. The grandkids all had been sick prior to our Valentine's weekend with bronchitis, RSV, ear infections, etc., so thankfully didn't get it again from me.
The first week of March, I kept Eisley and Copeland for a few days so Mom and Dad could get some household chores done.
Copeland is losing his "baby" boy look and is becoming such a handsome big boy!
All the kids love for Papa to read them a bedtime story and pray over them
Thankfully, we had one pretty day to go to the park
And for Copeland to return to visit his beloved Cars
One night, he got to go to the Galena Bulldogs basketball game with Papa. He loved it!
Especially the popcorn :-)
And Eisley and I had a girls night
A couple more miscellaneous pictures while they were here
Mom rode with me to take them home one day. We met Carman and kids for lunch (but sadly didn't get Shep in picture)
It was a busy speaking time for Jeff too. In January, he did a Sr. Adult Conference at Antioch Baptist in Conway and in March, he spoke at a Saturday women's event at Trinity Baptist in Pittsburg and then on Sunday, he spoke at Bethel Baptist in Bentonville. Our nephew, Mike Goering is the new pastor there. We were so surprised that Andy and family came to the morning service (one of his other pastors preached for him in the second service). Also our good friend Hollis Stanbery came. The church had a delicious potluck dinner, so the cousins had fun playing together.
Andy's family returned for the evening service, along with Rachel and her family and Hollis and Gilda. We all went to eat at Cracker Barrel afterwards (including the Goerings).
We really enjoyed worshipping with the Bethel family. It was a wonderful day!
And then we went on our cruise.....post about that follows this one
And then this week, since it was Spring Break in Arkansas and Laine and Ellie didn't have school, they came and spent 3 days with us. I met their Momma halfway both coming and going home. The girls and I ate at CFA once we got back to Joplin and they had some time to play. They are both becoming such sweet and pretty young girls...growing up way too fast!
When we got home, I had a surprise for them. One of the wonderful ladies in our church had given me some of her granddaughters' toys that she had outgrown. One of which was a Barbie yacht. They were so excited!
I had told Carman to have them bring some of their Barbies which they did
Wednesday night, they attended AWANA at First Baptist. They always love reuniting with the friends they have at our church.
Lauren French and Laine love each other
They are pen pals and write to each other
The next day, Papa surprised them with two more Barbies. Jeff had purchased several new (still in boxes) Barbies from one of our dear ladies (Judi LaTurner) at her garage sale a few years ago. I had forgotten all about them as they are stored away. But he remembered and decided to give each one a doll. He will also be giving our other granddaughters dolls in the future when they visit.
So they had a lot of fun playing with the Barbies and the yacht. I loved listening to them as they talked and played! They have quite an imagination!
The girls and I went to see the movie Zootopia while they were here. It was a really cute movie.
It's always a lot of fun whenever any of them come and visit! We love it....even though it is exhausting! So thankful our kids share their kids with us.
These last few pictures are some that were texted to me and I wanted to post just for memory sake as they are so cute.
Eisley was so tired, she slid down the slide and took a nap - ha!!
Handsome Copeland Ware:
And then one of the Swart kiddos :-)
And a silly picture of Josh, Michelle, Avi and Avi's cousins :-). The bunny with a beard needs a shave! :-)
And the lastest "month" pictures of the two babies:
Shepherd - 4 months on March 23rd:
and Eisley at 18 months (today!)
As you all know -- I love my family :-)!!
