Granny

Granny passed away Tuesday, April 7, and we drove up to Tennessee on that day. I can't tell you how difficult that was. The viewing was Friday. There was a slide show on a TV at the funeral home with so many pictures of her, even some rare pictures from when she was a teenager. It was wonderful to see all those. The funeral was held Saturday. There were so many relatives there that I had not seen in ages... people I used to be close to and that I often missed. I felt like all eyes were on me, and they probably were, because everyone knew that Granny and I were the closest. Normally this would have bothered me, but I think the Lord carried me through it fantastically. I grieved well, and cried no more than I had tissues for :) I absolutely loved Granny's pastor and his wife. I wish I could see them all the time. Their names are Bob and Bobbie, how about that? Their last name is something long that starts with a Z, so he goes by BobZ. It was so evident that Bob loved my Granny, and knew her very well. He also knew me and my sisters well, from all the stories he had heard, and the pictures he had seen. I used to upload all my pictures to Walgreens.com and have them printed in TN for Granny to pick up, so she always had the latest pics. Evidently she took them to church with her. Somehow I felt like I knew Bob, too. The service at the funeral home was heavy, but by the time we all drove to the cemetery, the atmosphere there was a little lighter. Unfortunately, the weather was very cold and wet. Everyone had to park in, and walk through, a lot of mud to get to the plot. Much to Bob and Bobbie's approval, I changed into tennis in the car. We all laughed about my flowy dress and tennis, and agreed that Granny would have approved. She was buried in the most beautiful cemetery, next to my grandfather (lovingly called Punkin), and my uncle Alan, their firstborn who died at age 33. I have pictures on my camera of the view from that hill, but I have yet to locate my camera in the luggage! I will post them later.

The funeral was lovely, but the rest of the trip was not! Grace was sick on the drive up. She ruined a car seat before we even got out of town. We did get to rent a new, fully loaded suburban, with DVD, nav, leather, power running boards, the works. It was awesome! So we had plenty of room with Hannah and Malachi, and also added Bekah and Noma to the passenger list for the drive home. The drive home included more sleep and was less eventful. I wish our stay in TN had been uneventful, but sadly, that was a lot of bickering over Granny's things. My dad decided to sell the house, and we only had through Monday to help dad move everything out of the house. His brother left town the night of the funeral, and we had to leave Monday night, so we had to clean out the house pretty fast. A cousin of my dad's, who is closer in age to me than my dad, agreed to buy the house, which is fantastic. My dad is busy taking care of that transaction right now. But since we had to move so quickly, a few relatives (nieces of Granny) got very angry with us. I'm sure they felt we didn't allow some proper time to pass before "ripping apart" the house. We have gotten quite a few verbal lashings. I don't know why they don't understand that all of Granny's descendants live in TX, and don't have time to let the house sit for a while. It is not a good idea to leave a house vacant with valuables in it! I just don't get some people. oh well. I hope mom and dad are able to put out all the fires before they come home.

Speaking of home, I am so glad to be in mine! So GLAD! I love this place! And I have some painting to do!

Finally, I posted. Goforth and tire swing!

It has been way too long since I posted! I just haven't wanted to sit down and write about myself I guess. Bubba and Grace and I are doing very well. We are excited to be paying down our debts, Dave Ramsey style, and we are way ahead of the schedule we first set up. I think when we first started out, we calculated that it would take us something like 25 months to reach "debt-free other than the house". Now that we are 7-8 months into it, our projected end date will be just 16 months from when we started!! And if we can get paid for the Jeep that we sold, it will be much sooner! Very exciting. God has blessed us abundantly.

Grace and I flew with Malachi and Hannah to TN to visit our Granny for 8 days, and we just got back last Saturday night. My parents and other sisters also went, but they drove. Granny has lung cancer which has spread to her brain, and she is bedridden and unable to communicate much. Fortunately, she is in no pain. It is the 8 brain lesions that are killing her, not the lung cancer, so she probably won't ever feel much. One of the lesions is on the area that controls heart and lung function. It was hard being there, seeing her so helpless, and even harder to leave. She is very dear to me. I don't know if I will see her again in this life, but I know I will drive up for the funeral, and take Bubba with me at that time.

We did get to have some fun while we were there. We visited one of my very favorite places, Goforth Creek.

And we drove John Deere Gators around the family property, mostly to get to the tire swing. We loved the tire swing. It hangs from about a 40ft branch, so you can swing that thing pretty far.

That's Hannah, with Mary's boyfriend Paul pushing. We have way too many pictures of the tire swing.

OK, happy subject. Grace likes to wear skirts. She just came up and begged me to put on her "princess" skirt so she could twirl to the music on TV. I love having a girl! But she is into that stage where everything "hurts". I don't know if she wants attention or what! Still love her though. She has been sitting very patiently at the chiropractor, watching the dr. Grimm crack my neck. I was very surprised that she was ok with this. Grimm said that little boys flip out when they see their moms get adjusted, but little girls don't. Funny.

Oh, and before my trip to TN, my dear friend Angela got MARRIED!! I was very excited to get to go to not only the wedding, but the bachelorette party too! I'm so happy for her. This is her and her HUSBAND Brent!


One last good thought. Lying in the grass. Don't you want to?