Grandma Photos

Grandma's Girls on the Hearth

Opening Gifts at G'Wanda's

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I know it's late, but here are a few pix of gift openings at G'Wanda's on Christmas Eve.

After eating a wonderful baked pork stew lunch, we opened gifts. Later we went together to G'Wanda's church for a Christmas Eve service. Then we headed home and opened our immediate family gifts. Then we got in the bed for a big day following.

Christmas Day we went to church, where I played prelude, "Sweet Little Jesus Boy", then afterwards we drove down to Statesboro for the McDonald Christmas gathering (Grandma Jane's family). We had a great time seeing everyone. Then we stayed the night and Jeramy, Shiphrah and I headed home, leaving Moriah and Lily for 4 days with Grandma Jane. Everyone had a great time and we were glad to be reunited the day before New Year's Eve. Shiphrah was so excited to see her sisters again, they had a slumber party in their bedroom for almost 2 hours before finally getting to sleep! We don't need a bigger house! Kids would rather share a room with siblings, at least in our case.

Shiphrah's Birthday!

We had a blast for Shiphrah's birthday! I made two kinds of cupcakes: Yellow Butter and Triple Chocolate with two different kinds of frosting: cool cream cheese and chocolate. Everything turned out really great. We opened presents, then ate lunch and afterwards had cupcakes and ice cream! Grandma Jane and G'Wanda joined us for a small celebration that Shiphrah fully enjoyed! Moriah and Lily were a little upset that it wasn't THEIR birthday, but they got to drink sweet tea, help open gifts, play with new toys and both grandmas, and they got cake and ice cream. (I think the big sisters survived. :-D)

4th of July Cupcakes With Grandma Jane

Happy Birthday Grandma Jane!

Grandma Jane celebrated her birthday in June, but we didn't get to gift her until the 4th of July and we were so blessed, as always, to have her come visit us! We love you Grandma Jane!

Did You See That Baby's Hair?

Happy Birthday G'Wanda!

Grand Daddy's Visit

Grand Daddy Dennis decided to come up and visit us Good Friday through Resurrection Sunday. We really enjoyed his visit. The last time he came up was Labor Day weekend when Jeramy was ordained. He seemed to really enjoy his time with the girls and hanging out with Jeramy.

Snuggling with Grand Daddy

When Grandparents visit, Moriah eagerly looks forward to early morning snuggle time. She usually rises to snuggle with Grandma Jane before sunrise and when we're at G'Wanda's house, she'll do the same - climbing up into the bed. Jane usually gets up with them before I can take a picture, but it's a regular occurrence when she visits. :-) This time Grand Daddy Dennis slept on the couch and decided to remain long enough for me to grab this shot. We enjoyed your visit Grand Daddy!

The Best From Resurrection Sunday

Holy Mayfield Cow, Batman!!

G'Wanda took the girls to the Mayfield Ice Cream factory to learn about how ice cream is made. The tour costs $8 and a scoop of ice cream is included. :-D

Sitting With Shiphrah

Valentine's Day

The girls and I did a very low budget and very high effort and meaning to express our love to family this Valentine's Day. We made Daddy and G'Wanda cards out of cardstock, crayons, glue, markers, and tissue paper. For Jeramy I made banana pudding for about $5 and for G'Wanda I bought a single rose for $2.50. Note to self: if you ever need to put a message in whipped cream for a fruity dessert use raisins.

G'Wanda's cards

Jeramy's cards

And banana pudding with a special message in red sprinkles.

Lily Is Two!

Happy Birthday Lily! She turned two years old Tuesday, the 4th! We celebrated with G'Wonka (that's how Lily says G'Wanda :-) and Grandma Jane the Saturday before. Enjoy the pictures.

Thanksgiving in the 'Boro

G'Wanda, Moriah, Lily, Shiphrah and I drove down to spend Thanksgiving with the Andersons and MacDonalds. There were a lot of people there and it was great to see everyone again. Unfortunately Jeramy had to work on Thanksgiving Day and missed out on seeing everyone. But hopefully these pictures will give some small bit of consolation.

We had Thanksgiving dinner just after lunchtime. When that was over we celebrated Moriah's 3rd Birthday PRINCESS style. :-D She's such a diva. Enjoy the pix. There are all the November pix in the right sidebar too.

A Brief Update

On October 31st we celebrated the first year we've moved into our new house! Yay! It's hard to believe that it's been a year already. We've made some necessary improvements and had many opportunities to fellowship which have all been sweet! God has blessed us abundantly over the past year that we've dwelled here.

Moriah is learning the U.S. Presidents (and the States and addition). Out of the 44 that we've had as a nation she now knows more than half of them! Her memory is amazing. It's really funny too. Obama is in the dollar store book that we bought and Jeramy and I have taught her well. When she gets to Obama she says, "That's Obama. He's a communist. He's bad." It's funny not just for her words but her emphasis too! She will have her third birthday on November 26th! We plan to celebrate it at Grandma and Grand Daddy Andersons after our Thanksgiving meal with a Disney Princess party.

Lily has learned to count to 20 about as good as Moriah can, because Moriah is her teacher. One through 10 is perfect and 12 through 15 is a little mottled. She has graduated out of her crib into a twin sized bed on the floor. And she has a booster seat to eat at the table. Our little Lily is growing up. She has peed in the potty several times, but nothing consistent yet. She will be two years old on January 4th, the day after Grand Daddy Dennis' birthday.

Shiphrah is still so cute and chubby cuddly. She will be three months old on the 17th. Much of her early gas issues have been under control for some time so that now she is much more able to sit in her bouncy seat and swing whereas she couldn't before. Her sleeping is not a whole lot better, but still very inconsistent, but I put her down earlier so that I can get to the gym before the other family members wake up.

I'll post some pictures soon, stay tuned.

Calm After the Storm

Wednesday Shiphrah had her two month check-up appointment and we went to Bi-County Gwinnett Pediatrics. We had a pleasant experience: I came prepared with all the forms filled out in advance, submitted the new insurance card and co-payment. The reception desk was friendly and they also took the other forms I prepared for both Moriah and Lily at the same time. Within about 10 minutes or so we were moved to triage. Shiphrah weighed in at 11 pounds and 10 ounces. :-) The triage nurse was nice and enjoyed playing with her while doing her examination. When we moved into our formal examination room we were met with a medical student within a short time who asked basic questions and performed a simple exam. After another 10 minutes or so the doctor comes in and does her round of questions and exam. Everything went very pleasant until Shiphrah received her vaccinations. The expected crying commenced and she was comforted accordingly. Upon leaving we were able to check out with our next appointment set. We were in and out in 75 minutes. Yay!

Then the storm began. (Literally it started raining when we left.) Then Shiphrah began screaming, literally screaming, in pain for the next 12 hours. She did have some short bouts of unsettled comfort, maybe 30 to 45 minutes. But her appetite was abated and when she was hungry, she couldn't bear the pressure on her thighs to breastfeed! G'Wanda came over from work to help out. I could not have made it through the evening without her help! She did finally eat from her first bottle which she was VERY reluctant to take. Every time she kicked her leg, pressure was put against it, or she was in any position other than over the shoulder, she would scream bloody murder. It was really rough. I don't mean regular baby crying. Her face would get red, hot and sweaty, the scream was blood curdling and her entire body would tense up. Her entire left thigh was red. She did not run any fever but it was obvious that she was miserable. Tylenol didn't do anything to relieve her pain.

But, by the grace of God alone, at about 1:30 a.m. it stopped! It was like a miracle! Seriously, one minute she is screaming and then the very next minute she would coo at me, kick her legs and not be in pain! It was amazing! She nursed and was fine! Then she slept for 5 hours before her next feeding! Thank the Lord! I can't describe the gratitude Jeramy and I had when she was no longer in pain AND slept well.

I don't know if we'll submit to those vaccines again. If we can put them off until she's older, I think I would much prefer that instead.

Tricycles!

G'Wanda bought the girls some really cool Lil' Tikes tricycles. The seats are adjustable as they grow, there are foot rests for when they don't want to peddle and a steering column for an adult that can push them along. There is also an attachment for a child as young as 8 months as on Lily's trike. (I'll have to see the instructions on that one to verify.) Moriah and Lily have loved these!

God's Grace on a Tuesday

Last Tuesday, Mom planned to drive back up to Virginia for one more visit before beginning work at her new job. All the preparations were made and she set out early in the morning. As she was driving up the highway, not more than 50 miles, she began to feel dizzy and noticed some kind of visible fumes coming out of her air conditioning vents. She also realized that she had been following a carbon monoxide truck for quite some time.

After turning the A/C off and opening the windows, she decided that she needed to pull over when she could no longer read the writing on the road signs. She pulled off at an exit near Jefferson into a Waffle House parking lot. After resting a few minutes in the car she realized that her condition was not improving and she needed an ambulance. She was able to step out of the vehicle and enter the Waffle House before collapsing on the floor with a fully conscious seizure.

The employees called an ambulance which came and took her to the hospital. We met her in the ER and she appeared, in all respects, to be normal. The EMT personnel did not give her any medication and she seemed to recover on her own. After only a few hours of collecting blood work and performing other tests, the ER discharged her and we took her home.

The next day the mechanic found nothing wrong with her vehicle and concluded that it was safe to drive. The day after, Friday, Mom's follow-up appointment with the doctor indicated that her episode was consistent with carbon monoxide poisoning and should not produce any long-term side effects.

Praise the Lord!

So many other things could have happened! This situation could have ended much, much worse than it did! God's grace is great and amazing! We know that He still has some work for my Mom to do, more time to learn, be sanctified and to glorify our God in heaven! He is sovereign, even if the circumstances were drastically different. Let us trust in Him.

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."

James 4:13-15