"Love is unselfishly choosing for another's highest good." – C.S. Lewis
We love summer around here. It’s warm and bright and filled with exploring and freedom. God has been so good to create all we enjoy.
I haven’t been blogging. In fact, this will be the first of this new year. Our house has been a little hectic. To make a long story short, my husband spent the first 26 days of the year in the hospital. Then my sweet firstborn turned 6 on Valentine’s Day.
We planted this rosebush at the front corner of our house. It was planted in April, right after we brought it home from Nana’s funeral. The past couple of weeks it seems we have all missed Nana even more. I think a big part of it is that one year ago we were all headed to Pensacola Beach to have a family vacation. She made a big deal out of celebrating Katie’s birthday there and making it special for all of her grandkids. Nana enjoyed fall, driving around Cade’s Cove and looking at the changing leaves, getting ready to laugh at her grandchildren in their costumes, preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I guess what continually shocks me is she is really not here. Really not ever going to be here to see Katie’s haircut, to see Theodore dressed up as a scarecrow, to see Foster’s first missing tooth space, to watch Parker smile. And not here to check on us grown ups either, to call and see if we are taking care of ourselves, to encourage my husband and I to go on a date and take time for our marriage. Not one of us would have said to each other last year at the beach “we better enjoy this trip together because it will be our last one with all of us.” Grieving is an up and down rollercoaster. And I hate rollercoasters, so that’s a good analogy for me. The rosebush that we planted in Nana’s memory has consistently given us a beautiful rose, sometimes two or three but most of the time just one. Roses were Nana’s favorite flower and I love to have the reminder of the joy she brought to our lives. I feel like our rosebush is humble and that makes me think of Nana the most. Humility made her beautiful in the sight of God.
OK – Here comes the update in a short digest version.
March – My wonderful husband and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. We sent the kids to my mom and dad’s and had the whole weekend and whole house to ourselves. We went out to eat at grown-up restaurants and watched grown-up movies and talked about grown-up things. It was really great.
April – I celebrated my 33rd birthday on the 6th. I felt different this year – I guess it’s something about being the same age Jesus was when He was crucified. It kind of raised the bar on what kind of person I wanted to strive to be and the kinds of things I wanted to fill my days with. On Good Friday, April 10th my husband and I led my 5 year old son to the Lord. We called both sets of grandparents and all celebrated with tears of joy. April 12th we celebrated Easter and my mother-in-law’s birthday. On April 19th, Foster was baptized and both sets of grandparents were there. On April 26th, Nana passed away, my mother-in-law who was just there at her birthday lunch and her grandson’s baptism was gone. I have never experienced a death this close. It was unexpected, my husband was only 28 years old. I was expecting another grandbaby for her to spoil with gifts and love. God’s ways are not our ways but HE is so awesome in the ways that He provides for us and lifts us up to carry on when we feel like giving up and sticking our heads in the sand. The loss of Nana has left a tremendous hole, more on that
later…
May – my husband celebrated his 29th birthday. Without his mom, it wasn’t the same for him.
Foster and Katie got to watch a tractor tilling up the ground in our neighbor’s garden and then Foster went back with a bucket and collected some mud and some huge worms. He kept the mud moist all day and wanted to “hide them so the birds won’t get them” every time he had to come inside. Although I think they were much more in danger from the stick he kept poking at them to get them to squirm!
Katie really loves our new swingset. She still doesn’t like to swing very fast or high but she’s getting braver.
We have been enjoying the past few days of sunshine! Theodore is really having fun outside now that he’s walking. He loves to climb in his big brother’s power wheels and just sit there. I guess it makes him feel like a big boy.
I took this picture from inside because it was almost time for Theodore’s nap. Foster and Katie didn’t stay out long, they might have if they had been dressed in a few more layers of clothes. Katie doesn’t even have a pair of gloves because they are so rarely needed most winters. Oh well, maybe I could find some on clearance and she could have them just in case we get some more snow. They had fun knocking all the snow off their swingset and I was just daydreaming about summer when we can really start to enjoy swinging and sliding. It is fun to see the kids enjoying the snow, I remember getting all wet and frozen when I was little and the best part was coming in and warming up. We had the best hill in front of my house when I was little. In my yard and on the road, it was very steep so we didn’t need much snow to get one of those plastic saucers going pretty fast. It was a lot of fun living in a neighborhood because even if school was out we had friends near enough we could just walk to their house or they could walk to ours.
Oh by the way, in case you didn’t know, we are expecting baby #4. I didn’t have a picture to go with this post, but Chris and I are going to a New Year’s Eve party tonight so maybe someone will take a good one of me and I can put it on and look all cute like you do when you are less than 7 monthes pregnant! I am due in July. I am very excited about having another summer baby. And in the middle of summer will be even better because all you have to put on the little guy (or gal) for the first couple of months is a onesie! Yeah! And nursing is so much easier without trying to maneuver under a sweater and jacket and blanket….LOL Plus the winter months are hard on me emotionally and I don’t need to have the post-partum stuff hit right when we can’t go to the park or bask in the sunshine. Anyway, there is only one baby in there so they told me when I was about 8 weeks. Things are moving right along, I have “morning sickness” more with this one than with the others. And it’s not really “morning” but more of an all day kind of yucky with a lot of fatigue thrown in. BUT I will be 11 weeks on Saturday and can see the light at the end of the tunnel (= If I am blessed for it to be over in the first trimester, I know some women are sick their whole pregnancy, but I do not want to join that club thank you very much! Anyway, lots of rambling, my mom has the kids for a couple of days and so I just get to sit here and type for as long as I want. What a nice break, I’m sure glad God made grandparents. So I guess I’ll go for now. Just wanted to say “WAHOO” I’m a mommy of 4! I always dreamed of having a big family and God has blessed us.
All the Little Grubbs 