Welcome Home, Grandieu

 What do you do on the day when the woman who has been like a grandmother to you for many years goes home to celebrate Easter with Jesus from the other side of the grave?

You talk to your bestie, and your daughter in love, and your mama, and your sister. You put on a pretty dress and go to the Farmer’s Market with some of your people. You find sweet friends to visit with, plus beautiful jewelry, freshly baked challah wreaths from your Easter table, and locally brewed coffee from small businesses. You go grocery shopping so dazed and confused that your son’s girlfriend has to come find you wandering in the auto parts section of WalMart and finish your grocery shopping for you. You celebrate the birthday of a dear friend’s miracle baby. You pick up a surprise gift from a generous friend of a t-shirt that you’ve been wanting. You laugh with a friend over your haphazardly made Easter dinner plans. You hug your people 73 extra times. You hang out with your ridiculously handsome husband and are grateful for having someone to share life’s burdens with each day. You prepare to feed your delightful assortment of family and friends and probably a few random strangers a big meal, hope you have enough forks, and are reminded anew of the many Many MANY blessings in your life.

Welcome Home, Mary Hover Parker, aka Grandieu. Your race is finished. I’ll see you when I get there.

It's the Little Things: Day 184

I want to focus on the good things this year.

All the things people get right.
All the times that everything works out just perfectly after we assumed disaster had already struck.
All the times that the right word was spoken at the right moment.
So, let's celebrate those little moments together, shall we?

• It's a successful day of work, which involved making kites, walking to the park, watching Mary Poppins, and laughing at the kiddos antics.
• It's being SO ridiculously grateful for Air Conditioning in this insanely hot and humid (for Cruces) summer that we are enjoying. 
• It's having an easy peasy and tasty dinner ready to eat in 5 minutes.
• It's having big kids that means I can slip off to Starbucks around the corner to enjoy a free iced tea and blog for an hour (or two).
• It's that same big kid that still enjoys having me read him bedtime stories. I KNOW I'm on borrowed time and I'm trying to soak up every minute. 
• It's a friend requesting that we have our annual Independence Day bbq and then donating all the money to make it happen. (We are so blessed, guys!) 
• It's celebrating with 'Shua and Lauren over the purchase of their first home and a successful and safe move last weekend. They live 6 blocks from my mom now. Woot for GiGi! 
• It's a friend offering a free Herbalife shake to help me start my weight-loss journey. And enjoying some delightful mama chatter while doing it.
• It's a bestie that calls to ask how things are going...not the socially appropriate answer of fine. How are things TRULY going? And being able to answer without fear of ridicule or a scolding reminder that others are worse off than I am right now. She's a gift, that's for sure.
• It's having brake lights that WORK again after some attention from Hercules and Dastroyah. I feel so fancy and special now! 
• It's a new sermon series by Pastor Dennis that rocked my socks off and caused me to rethink several long held ideas about my commitment to the Lord. And that's always a good thing. 

 

What's on your Little Things list?

It's the Little Things: Day 147

 

I want to focus on the good things this year.

All the things people get right.

All the times that everything works out just perfectly after we assumed disaster had already struck.

All the times that the right word was spoken at the right moment.

So, let's celebrate those little moments together, shall we?

• It's a lovely hour and a half long chat with your bestie after she calls to announce that she's just dropped her daughter off at my house. The last one we lived in while we were in IL. #ItsASmallWorldAfterAll
• It's using and enjoying Wal-Mart's free grocery shopping app so I don't have to wander through the grocery store on a holiday weekend. Plus, it helps me avoid impulse buys...or snacks to keep my shopping 'helpers' happy. 
• It's having friends and family to celebrate with for the upcoming Memorial Day holiday. That's not a little thing, but something to appreciate for sure.
• It's getting a new bookshelf at the LFAL office so we can bring in more books to add to our lending library. 
• It's having an overdue convo with Dan after a compelling sermon by Pastor Dennis in regards to our marriage and how we can improve it. Good stuff.
• It's having another stellar week of community group. I'm loving our study by Rick Warren- '40 Days of Love', a study based on a book called "The Relationship Principles of Jesus" and also the topic of our current sermon series. 
• It's getting a phone call announcing big news from my daughter-in-love. No, they are not pregnant, but it's still big exciting news that will be made public in the near future. Sometimes, secrets are fun.
• It's keeping the counters clean and dishes done this whole week again. 
• It's another fun, late Game Night. Adam learned how to play 7 Wonders, we all laughed ourselves silly over Bananagrams and Farkle, and then once everyone else was gone, Dan, myself, Pat and Nathan played Golf until like 3:30 in the morning. Eek! 
• It's a friend that wants to you come play paper with her and when you are too busy, she brings it to you at a more convenient time. 
• It's being invited to Little Miss's birthday party. DT and I had just been talking about her this week.
• It's a friend that wants to set up a toe-nail painting party and checks with you three times to make sure the time is good for you so you can attend. 
• It's a working lunch on a Saturday with your sister and nephews while admiring your new bookshelf, filled to the brim with books.  
• It's a nephew that comes early to Game Night to share dinner, help set up and to squeeze in some extra visiting time because he's moving away soon and won't be able to attend anymore. 
• It's your sons knowing that they can bring home friends without first asking for 'permission' and that their friend will be welcomed without question or reprimand. It's satisfying to know that our children know our home is a safe place for not only them, but for their friends that are struggling at home. 
• It's a friend that you can truly talk to about your life. Not the perfect soundbite options you post for FB fodder, but the gut-wrenching, brutally beautiful, bittersweet, take-your-breath-away moments. Everyone should have a bestie like my Lizzie. 
• It's the truly simple things, like cutting my own boys' hair. It's a happy little time every few weeks when we get to chat, just us. Or when I pop my head in their room just to say hi and end up chatting for 30 minutes. It's when they wander into the kitchen and start helping make a meal while we are laughing together. 
• It's paying off your ridiculously high library fines so you can start checking out books again. (Some day, there will be a plaque in my honor for all the fines I've paid. I just know there will. LOL) 
• It's a high capacity washer so that even know I've only done one load of laundry this week, it will only take me 2 more to get caught back up. Phew! 

Life is so full of little blessings, happy moments, and beauty. If we only take the time to look at it, we will realize how rich, and how deep and how sweet our lives are. Take a minute to look around. 

What's on YOUR little things list today?

{Grand}Mama K Goes to Illinois!

Y'all, I FINALLY got to IL! Wooty woot woot! I'm dying, yes DYING, to get my hands on that sweet baby, and tell my son and daughter in love how incredibly proud I am of them, and how wonderful they are as parents, and how they obviously brought the cutest, smartest, more wonderful baby that ever lived into the world. Oh yes, I'm that Grandma...the one that believes her grandchildren are the best thing that has happened in the history of ever. I'm right, of course, but it doesn't stop me from being obnoxious to others. HA!!

Truth be told, I am longing to hold Baby Caden as if my life depends on it, but I'm equally desiring to hug my son and daughter in law, spend time with my bestie on her birthday for the first time in a decade, visit with my mama and her friends, and to see our extended family that lives in the area. It's just a huge cloud of YES right now.

^^^This was from before I left for IL. The rest is from when I returned.

I won't bore you with a detailed itinerary of every single thing I did, but let's cover the basics and get to the pictures, no?
I flew into Chicago on March 12th, in time for a snow storm to hit (and we're already considering turning on the AC in Cruces) and got picked up by Lizzie, who was kind enough to pick me up at 11pm on the night of her birthday. We slipped and slid our way to my mom's house while chatting as if I'd never left IL and then spent several hours laughing and talking with my mom...until 4 am. Oops!
On the 13th, I got to go meet my precious grandson for the first time and it just took my breath away. He's such a gift. I think I held him for 5 hours straight, I could NOT put him down. Lauren and I swapped new mama stories, and caught up on life in general, while we stared at him and marveled at how we came to be so blessed. Lizzie and I went out later that evening to just hang out, and we picked up a gift for Alex and Christina's baby shower that I missed on Sunday.
Tuesday found me over at 'Shua and Lauren's again, and this time I spent the day with 'Shua since he'd been sent home from work before he ever even got there due to snow. So Lauren handed over the baby and went to bed. (Being a new mama is hard work) 'Shua and I got Caden settled for his morning nap and then we hit the game tables, with 'Shua teaching me a few new games like Tsuro and Ticket to Ride, which I think DT will like quite a bit.
Tuesday evening Kelly took me out to have dinner with the extended MeYeR family, which is probably the most fun I've ever had with them. We had so much fun that we closed down one restaurant and went to another to keep the fun going.
Wednesday I got to babysit Caden while Lauren had her 6 week check up, then 'Shua and Lauren joined us at Mom's house with Arda for dinner and board games. Arda hadn't met Caden yet, so it was a fun evening for him to meet 2 of his great-grandmothers.
Wednesday night I stayed with 'Shua and Lauren so that they could get a full night of sleep and I stayed up with Caden who doesn't have his nights and days figured out yet. (I'm too old for this, there's a reason YOUNG people have babies, LOL)
Thursday I spend some time with Kelly, her kids and her scrapbooks before heading back to my mom's for a long nap while she did my laundry. I am blessed. Thursday evening found me out to dinner with my good friend Laura Hepker who has been a dear friend for more years that either of us want to admit. We laughed and talked and laughed and talked the evening away, and could probably still be talking as I don't think we've EVER run out of things to talk about, but all good things must come to and end and she headed home and I took myself to bed. (all this traveling and talking and laughing is hard work, ya know)
Friday was a quiet morning with Lauren and Caden and then some prep work for an Illinois Game Night. I had an enjoyable dinner with 'Shua and Lauren and her parents Russ and Ramona at Red Robin (YUM) and then we headed to Game Night, where Mike and Kelly's family joined us as did Lizzie. What a good time we had! So much laughing! And passing of the baby around and around.
Mikey and Opal Jo spent the night and we spent the next morning cleaning Mom's house for the open house that afternoon and Kelly's house just to be nice :)
The open house was a massive success! EVERYONE came over and the good times rolled. Laura came back from the city, Ed brought his cutie-patootie Milo over to meet us, Mom's neighbors came to say hi, Lee and Marsha came over, Rachel came to see me even though she was having a very hard mental health day, it was such a blessing!
Sunday I attended Crossroads Community Church and enjoyed sitting under the preaching of my favorite pastor ever. Such a blessing to enjoy time with the church family that was so special to us during our years in Illinois. They just 'happened' to be having a potluck that day, so fellowship time was built right into the afternoon for us. Lizzie and I stole away for one more meal together and then we headed to my mom's for me to pack, hug ALL the people one more time and then head home. Lizzie drove me to the airport and I flew home.
Somewhere in there, I spent a few hours at Lizzie's with her husband and dear children, whom are ALL too grown up these days, and we got all caught up. How I've missed them!
In El Paso, David, Patrick and Nathan were waiting to meet me since I had a late flight and then it got delayed. I was so pleased to see them, what a welcoming sight they were. I laugh and tease all the time about how they are a bunch of pests, but my goodness do I love these boys! Dan was walking out the door for work when I arrived home, so it wasn't quite the reunion I had imagined but I was home safe and sound and that counts.
Overall, one of the best trips I've ever taken.

OK OK OK, we all know you're here for the photos: Here's the highlight reel.

 Caden, I miss you already.  'Shua and Lauren, I wasn't wrong, you're doing a great job and he's the best baby ever born. Family and Friends, please come and visit more often, I miss you all like crazy!






PS. Somewhere in all of that fun, this happened.

Thug Life St. Patty's Day Style.

My Best Friend Liz

Oh, this one is gonna be so fun! My best friend is named Elizabeth, and she is the best gal pal a girl could ask for! We met under difficult circumstances for both of us...me from a terrible break up and her going though some serious private issues. How we ever became friends is beyond me, I just call it a God thing! We had so much fun 'growing up' together, even though when we met I was already 18. She introduced me to the concept of sneaking out my bedroom window (relax Mom, I never did!) and I taught her how to drive a stick shift. She taught me how to be less timid and I taught her how to temper her feelings about things with tact. She taught me how to stand up for myself and I reminded her that it's OK to let people walk on you...for the right reasons. We did all sorts of stupid things together, like getting a flat tire on the WRONG side of Chicago, in the pouring rain, with no spare and 3 babies in the car. Like putting 7 large people in a car that should have only really held about 4.27 small ones...LOL! Like road trips with no real planning involved, just get in the car north of Chicago and drive to Mississippi, no big deal right??? Like going camping when we are indoor people. We also have so many shared hobbies...like singing, scrap booking, kids, cooking, music and being voracious readers...although I like historical fiction and she likes mysteries and thrillers. We love to go get a cup of coffee and slice of pie at the Baker's Square and discuss our lives. We have been together through trials, tribulations, joys and sorrows. She held my hand as I had a miscarriage...how many friends will do that?? As we've grown and matured, our relationship has deepened, instead of talking about boys and which one is cuter, we talk about babies, teenagers, health problems, hubbies and bills, etc. But we also discuss what God is doing in our lives, what He is teaching us and what areas He is growing us in...in spite of ourselves. I'm so incredibly blessed to have a best friend that shares my faith and reminds me of it when I forget, or lose my way. Her father once said that the most loving thing a person can do is point someone back to the cross...and that is sooooo true! Oy, this is all over the map, but that is par for the course with us...LOL! She is compassionate, has a deep love of teenagers, FUNNY, practical, moody, makes great spaghetti sauce from scratch, loves her family fiercely, manages the local KFC and wins awards for it, is super creative and LOYAL to the core. I admire her "intestinal fortitude" as I call it...she can give and give and give of herself and just when I think she must have been wrung dry by the constant giving of herself to others, she just keeps on giving. I am one grateful recipient of that giving...my life is richly blessed by her presence in my life. Now that I live here in the wilds of NW, we can't do the grocery shopping in the middle of the night together anymore, but we still find ways to stay close despite the miles. I love you Squeeks! Don't ever change!

Krissie

PS. I heard "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights" the other day...I miss you!! LOL!