I am married to Stephen. We are blessed with a wonderful Harriet Alice, Edmund Paul, and Beatrice Claire. We live in a cute 100+-year-old house which keeps surprising us. I like to sew vintage inspired clothes, experiment in the kitchen, read all sorts of books, and keep the children alive and educated.
My grandad passed away last Friday at home. It was a blessing that Levi and Clara were there when it happened. And it was a blessing that it happened on a Friday so that relatives and friends could get here over the weekend for the service on Monday afternoon. It was really a splendid service with military honors which reflected what he desired for a funeral. I learned yesterday that Texas A&M at Commerce (where he was a professor for many years) flew their flag at half staff in memorial of him. That's pretty special.
Grief is such a weird thing. I still haven't felt the need to have a huge deluge of tears. It's just more of a "bleh" feeling. I mean, it was so hard to see Grandad suffer at the end (although God was gracious in allowing him to be made comfortable by the morphine) and he was so unlike his usual jovial self that I am relieved that he is no longer dealing with that. However, it's the memories of him as he was two, three, or fifteen years ago that makes me feel sad.
A very good thing is getting to spend time with the crazy Texas relatives: looking at photo albums, swapping stories, and just laughing like crazy.
And another very good thing was spending time with the wonderful, fantastic D girls this week. I just can't get enough of their fellowship (sadly, I don't have any pictures on my camera) and it was a blessing to host them in the middle of a crazy week. They graciously postponed their arrival by twenty-four hours and then survived the chaos of family happenings. Maybe we'll have a visit when things aren't so hectic. But I doubt it.
Part of the hectic-ness occurred when I waltzed downstairs to let the Cretans dogs out of their kennels for an afternoon outing and discovered that there was 1/2" of standing water in one half of my basement. [insert much moaning, groaning, and general freaking out] Thankfully, the water was only on the unfinished side and everything that was on the ground was in plastic storage totes so we didn't lose anything. And I was so grateful that Jenny was the dog wrangler, Tim and Julia hauled out tons of soggy boxes, and Levi pretended to be stomping grapes on the water saturated blankets that were in the dog kennels. What caused the momentary disaster? The air conditioning was clogged up with dog hair and was not draining properly. My dear father came over with his air compressor and performed a very inexpensive fix. Now we're all dry!
Baby Jemima is a darling. She has the most massive baby legs I have ever seen. I hope our next baby is this deliciously chubby.
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