Memaw is with Jesus

My Memaw went to be with the Lord (and with Granddaddy) this afternoon around 2:45. She went peacefully without any struggle. Both my Aunt Judy and Uncle Butch were with her when she died. She was wearing her white ball cap that has become a necessity in her wardrobe lately! Please pray for the family as we make arrangements for a service that will honor Memaw's life and bring glory to the Lord. Also, pray for John, who is to play the piano and is down flat with the Flu! (first case of the season is what he was told at the doctor's office today!) So, we appreciate your prayers as we move forward and complete this journey.

Toddler Class

My friend Erin and I teach a Sunday School class each week. I took my camera this week and took some pictures. Almost all of the friends were there this week. Aren't they precious? They are learning and growing so much. They like to sing and listen to the story and of course they LOVE snack time! They are a blessing!

God IS Good

and His mercies are new every morning. I am exhausted this morning after a very busy weekend. Friday night, we hosted out Home Fellowship, and then I headed off to my sister-in-law's house to finish setting up a garage sale that we were having. She graciously offered to host the sale. I have spent hours pulling out things for the sale. She is going to continue to sell stuff for the next couple of days, and I will post more about it in a later entry. We had a ridiculous amount of things to sell!!!

After the garage sale, I headed to see my Memaw at the nursing home. My parents had come to town to see her today, and my mom said "she doesn't look good", but I don't think that I was prepared to see how badly she looked. I did a double check of her name on the door before I walked in. I brought her some yellow roses and a Coke that was from Mexico (she loves bottled Coke!). She roused when I entered the room and could barely open her eyes, but she knew who I was and told me how pretty those flowers were. She just looked so frail and helpless in that bed. She has lost so much weight, and she has dark circles under her eyes. The head RN came in to see her while I was there and asked her a lot of questions. When she got ready to leave, she asked "are you her granddaughter?", and when I said "yes", she called me into the hallway. She wanted to discuss with me the fact that my Memaw doesn't have a lot of time left. She was sooo sweet. It was obvious that she was a Christian. She told me that she had been a Hospice nurse for years and that she just "knows". She wanted to be honest with me because she thinks that it is not fair for the family to not know how bad the situation is. Well, a lot of stuff happened and since *I* was THE family member there, they were wanting some papers signed and stuff I used my "I'm JUST the granddaughter" line several times last night and I quickly called my Aunt and Uncle to come as they are the medical power of attorneys along with my mom. After a long (like until midnight) meeting, the process was begun with Hospice. Our goal is to keep her comfortable and pain free. The Hospice nurse was an oncology nurse before starting Hospice and 1993. She was really sweet, but yet a straight shooter. She talked to us about the fact that Memaw is actively dying and that Hospice is not "giving up" it is "giving in" to the fact that our loved one is dying. My head knew that, but my heart may not have been ready to actually hear that. Anyway, I am very confident in their care and they seem to know what they are doing. The Hospice nurse talked a lot about her faith and that we all need to know where we are going when we die. I know where my Memaw is going, and I take comfort in that!
Okay, I want to highlight some points of my conversation with my Memaw (mainly so that I will be able to remember later!)
*She told me more than once that she loved me. (And I told her how much I love her)
*She told me how much she loved my kids and that they are precious to her.
*She cried about having to take off her wedding rings that she had worn for 63 years...that was a tough thing to listen to her talk about.
*She chased a rabbit for a bit and talked about a friend's dog that had died and she cried about it telling me how sad she was for that friend's daughter. (that was really on her mind because she told other relatives about it too)
*She told me that my parents had been there most of the day and had done all that they could do, but that there wasn't much to do for her now.
*She said "I didn't want it to be this way" I told her that I didn't want it to be like this for her either.
*She said more than once "this is just a nightmare"...she would say this in lucid moments, but also in kind of "out of it" moments too.
*She told me that nobody explained to her why Granddaddy shuffled his feet and had the tremors...kind of random, but kind of sweet in the fact that she was thinking of him and it won't be too long before they are united again.
*She talked about living in Springtown and Reno really, but that nobody wanted her, so she really lives in "no man's land". (had to be there, but it was a funny conversation).
*She told me that my Uncle was getting her new teeth (dentures) long story, but when I got there her bottom plate was not in and I looked all over for it: in the bed, under the bed, in the furniture, on the table, etc. I thought that one of the Alzheimer patients might have stolen them! (it was in the denture cup the whole time!!) She said that they don't fit anymore and she needed new ones...I thought she was talking crazy, but my aunt and uncle confirmed that there was indeed and appointment on the 13th to get those new teeth!!!
*She told me she hurt, her hip and her belly hurt...that is when I asked if they could give her something for pain...I don't want her hurting. (She has not complained of pain this entire time.)
*When the aide came in, she asked "Mrs. Hardison, what can I call you?" I told her that a lot of people call her "Baby" the aide said "oh, that will be an easy one" and Memaw chimed in "I've been called that all my life. My daddy called me that. I am the oldest child in the family, and all of my sisters call me Baby"
*She told me that she has been a lot of trouble for my aunt and uncle. I told her that they love her and want to take care of her. And, she had taken care of them for years. (a tear rolled down her cheek)
*I told her that Blayne had told me that "Memaw's hair is broken", she smiled a small smile, and if she would have had strength, I think that she would have chuckled.
*She took her hat off and told me that the doctor doesn't think that ALL of her hair will fall out, so she had them get her some Prell (she loves the stuff) shampoo so that she can take care of her scalp.
*Her skin is incredible dry (probably from chemo) so I spent some time putting lotion on her. Her skin looks bad and she is very boney. I rubbed her fingers and felt how tiny they were in my hands. I told her that people pay BIG money for good manicures like this!
*She told me that there was a picture of "Texas" (my cousin's baby) "over there" and she pointed at what I thought was her table and so I told her "no, there is no picture here" and she said "no, by the winda" and sure enough, I pulled back the curtain and there was a sweet little picture of baby Texas, she said "isn't he the sweetest thing? I think he is gonna be red headed"

I felt like she went even more downhill while we were out of the room talking to the Hospice care nurse. She was sedated pretty heavily before we left, but I bent down to kiss her and tell her goodnight. She barely opened her eyes (just slits) and said "Bye Jennifer, bye hun, I love you!" (which is how she has always told me goodbye.

So, I sit here grateful that I was able to have sweet conversation with her last night and I am okay if that is the last conversation that I get to have with my only living grandparent. God was so good to give me those sweet moments and allow me to tell her that I love her and allow me to get to hold her hand, rub her with lotion and have sweet fellowship. God has put some great people in her path to care for her in her last days, and I think that she is in excellent care.

Thanks for letting me journal this, if you are still reading!!!!


Aunt Judy, Hospice Nurse Barbara, Uncle Butch

My Memaw

My Aunt Judy let me know today that my Memaw is not doing well. She is in a lot of pain and has developed a sore that is a Stage 2 ulcer. They are going to meet with my aunt on Monday to discuss the plan of action for her. She will not be able to be on the Assisted Living side anymore...sad. She is weak and has lost 10 pounds just this week. It makes me so sad to think of her having to suffer. I hope that they will keep her comfortable!

On the homefront, Blayne started his steroids this afternoon and is karate chopping me right now while I type this. He is singing a happy song and is on the "hyper" side right now. Hopefully he will stay happy and not swing the other way. I am going to keep him home tomorrow and miss Bible study. I hate to miss again, but I also don't want to potentially expose other kids to his Croup, or expose him to something while his immune system is down.

Well, I will keep you posted about my Memaw. I hope to go see her on Saturday afternoon.

Holy Croup!!!!

Blayne was up a good part of the night "barking" with Croup. I felt so sorry for him. He was panicking because he couldn't breathe. We did the cool air/steamy air thing and he finally got his breathing back. He could not lie down to sleep without it starting again, so he slept from 4AM on laying on me on the couch sitting up. Whitney came in at 6 when her alarm went off to watch TV and she started laughing. Blayne was snoring like an animal, and she thought that it was ME!!!!!
I am heading out in a while to get his medicine. He will go on an oral steroid to get rid of this...poor guy....poor me!!!! Hopefully he will do okay and not get to emotional or hyper.

I'll update later, hopefully with the great news that everyone is healthy and wonderful!

I think that I might take a nap today...I am so tired.

Dr. Appointment

Well, Blayne doesn't have Strep and neither does Whitney! They were both swabbed and fine. They were hyper and happy at the doctor. I was kicking myself that I didn't take my camera with me. They loved being there together. I told Dr. Nichols "I promise that they were BOTH sick this morning!!!" John came back home and stayed with Reagan so that I didn't have to take her with me. Blayne has congestion and fluid on his ears. They both seemed fine today and they relaxed and rested. Whitney has constipation issues and had another x-ray today that showed that things are improving...so we will continue on with treatment. I guess this was just one of those fluke weird things! So everyone will go to school tomorrow!!! Savannah has her Boosterthon fundraiser tomorrow so she is calling people for pledges tonight. She is doing this on her own, so it is a big deal for her to call and ask for pledges.

Some Health Updates

My mom got her 25 staples out last week and is continuing to recover nicely from her surgery. It is just a long recover when they cut you open and rearrange things! Pray for her complete recovery, please.

My Memaw is not doing well. She has fallen twice in the last week. She hit her hip last week and hit her head yesterday morning. She is falling when she gets up to go to the bathroom. She is very weak and down to 114 pounds. She is fading away. She gets easily confused and stays in a pretty grumpy mood these days. I don't know if the Chemo has done anything good for her or not....pray for decisions that need to be made with her care and for peace and comfort for her.

And, I am home with TWO sick kids today. I think that Blayne probably has Strep throat. (will confirm at 10 when I take him in for a swab) and Miss Whitney threw up moments before we left to go do carpool! Ahhhh, some of the many joys of motherhood!

So, plans have changed for our day!!!!

She Won!!!! She Won!!!!

Today was the annual Fall Carnival at our elementary school. There were many exciting things to see and do. They have been selling raffle tickets all week at school during lunch time for a Wii game system. Whitney was really excited about it and wanted to buy some tickets. Savannah, Whitney and Blayne have been saving their money for a Wii. John told them that if they each would save $50 (totally $150), he would pay for the other 1/2 of the Wii. So, they have been not buying things that they want so they can save for the Wii. They have been culling through their things to put in the garage sale that I am having next weekend, so that they could earn some more money. Well, tonight something VERY exciting happened. Whitney's ticket was drawn and she WON the Wii!!!!! She just bought tickets yesterday. I actually forgot to give her money before school, and I went and worked in her classroom, and still forgot to give her the money. So, I called my friend, Gracie, who would be going to school at noon to take her kindergartener, and asked if she would give Whitney the money for her tickets. I asked her to give Whitney $5 so that she could buy 6 tickets. I paid her back when Whitney got home from school yesterday afternoon. It was so sweet, a little boy in Whitney's class told her this week that he hoped that she got the Wii since she didn't have one....
I cannot tell you how excited my kids are tonight. Whitney said that she feels like it is a dream!!!!! It was sweet. She told me that she prayed before she put her name on those tickets and she prayed at night this week that God would let her win. And tonight, my sweet baby girl told Blayne and Savannah "let's pray and thank God for giving us this Wii" She and Blayne BOTH prayed sweet prayers thanking God for the Wii, well, Blayne actually thanked God that Aunt Rosie and Uncle Bobby gave us the Wii...we had gotten some mail from them, and for some reason he decided that they must have given us that Wii!!!!

Here is a slideshow of our fun time at the carnival tonight...ending with pics of the kids with the Wii...

We are so thankful! What a neat lesson for our kids to learn.

5th Grade

It is hard to believe that Savannah is in 5th grade. It has been a different year for sure! She has a lot of responsibility in 5th grade and A LOT more projects and homework. She had to make a bird last week and a zoo exhibit this week. She had pajama day this week as part of her "Say No to Drugs" week. Last night she had her BCI Bash. It was a crazy night of organized chaos. There were bounce houses, lots of food and candy, hair painting, tattoos, Crab Soccer and a DJ with group dancing...I was there to chaperon and work the Crab Soccer. It was much different than our elementary school gatherings, I must say. Savannah's friend, Mandy, went with us and came over to spend the night. The girls had a great time.

Two of our "Pumpkins"

Well, with the nice fall chill in the air, I began my pumpkin pictures today. I have an idea for my Fall Card this year and I am working on the pictures. Anyway, here are a couple of shots of Blayne and Reagan and a slideshow to show you how difficult it can be to take pictures some times. Reagan has learned to skip, so she kept skipping off....of course Blayne grabbed her!!!!

Casa Manana

We went to see Sleeping Beauty at Casa Manana. Libby and Gracie went with us. We went with our group that we have gone with for several years. It was good to see some of the old friends that I haven't seen in a while. I was surprised at how big all of the "little" kids are getting. This was a very "artsy" version of the story. We had to wait a long time before the show started. Libby was having a great time visiting with Blayne and Reagan, but once the show started, she lasted maybe 10 seconds. Poor thing, she was terrified!!!! So, Gracie got to have some good one-on-one time with Libby in the foyer while we watched the show and then we all went to eat yummy Mexican food for lunch...I don't know why I didn't take pictures at lunch!

A Home Fellowship Funny!

We host a Home Fellowship in our home twice a month. We have snacks, sing with John leading from the piano and then the kids go play while John facilitates our lesson. We are studying 1 Corinthians and we are in Chapter 11. Well, this week was just hilarious to me, because the text covered the submission of women in the church....here's the funny part. NONE of the men were able to come this week. So, it was John going solo on teaching about submission with a room full of women!!! It was a good study with great discussion. I just found it to be funny. And, these men were supposed to come, but because of circumstances out of their control, they couldn't make it!


Savannah took this picture!

Sam

We have had John's "cousin", Sam, for the past few days. His "parents" Uncle Bobby and Aunt Rosie have been in Australia for a few weeks and he has been with relatives here in the states. He is a good boy and VERY obedient. We were glad to get to see Uncle Bobby and Aunt Rosie last night after John got them at the airport. The kids were excited to see them and play with them. Sam was happy too!

Allee's Birthday & The Air Show

Allee and her gift from Savannah:

Our old neighbor, and friend, Allee celebrated her birthday by coming to the DFW area to go to the AA center to see the Olympic Gymnasts perform and to go for a fun/educational visit to the Kimbell Art Museum. She took Savannah along with her to the museum and to The Purple Cow for lunch. They had a good time. Savannah made a nice painting at the end of her tour of the Impressionist art and was so excited to put it aside to give to Aunt Rosie who was coming to visit this weekend.

While the girls were at the museum with Tamera, John took Blayne and Allee's brother, Noah, to the Air Show. They had fun!!!! They got to play some virtual reality games, slide on a HUGE slide and see exhibits at the show. Whitney chose not to go and to stay here with Reagan and me!

Cousin Chaos

Today, John's sister's family left for Disney World with his parents for a week. Last week, I was thinking about my sister-in-law having to get ready for this trip and all that it would entail, and I decided that I would offer to keep her three littlest children one day so she could run errands or pack for the trip. The kids were GREAT, but it was a busy day for sure. While I fixed lunch, I put the girls in Reagan's room and closed the gate for them to have some roomtime contained while I was occupied in the kitchen. After only seconds of being in the room, they both went NUTS....of course, I had to go grab my camera. Blayne and Charlie enjoyed making Lego Star Wars ships and pretending with them. Baby Jack was precious and full of smiles. At the end of the afternoon, both Katie Beth and Reagan were tired. They had their blankets and pacifiers and were sitting on the couch. I was taking pictures and said "night-night" and they both laid down on the couch...it was so funny! Becky said that she got a lot done, and I can guarantee you that she got a lot done MUCH faster without these three little people in tow!!!! Hopefully they will enjoy a wonderful week at the Happiest Place on Earth!!!!

Xavier's Exit!

Well, we had a fun but sad day on Tuesday. Blayne's best buddy, Xavier, went to the zoo with us for one last hoo-rah before he moved to California today..... These boys are such good friends. Carrie (Xavier's mom) and I were in MOPS together 6 years ago and were pregnant with the boys and had them on the SAME day. The boys were in the same pre-school for two years (by God's providence) and we have been having regular playdates for a couple of years. They are so much alike and get along so well. We are so incredibly sad to see them go, but we are happy for the promotion that his daddy got with his job in California and we wish them well as they adjust to their new life out west. And, they had better be prepared as many of our friends will attest, The Stoneciphers WILL visit you when you move away!!!!!! So, here is a slide show of the boys enjoying the zoo this week.

The Alamo and The Mexican Market

Whitney's big request for our trip was the visit the Alamo. She wanted to go see it and record "important facts" We spent a good part of yesterday down at the Alamo and the River Walk area. We rode a trolley to the Mexican market. I wanted to get the girls rings with their names on them. I was so excited to show them the street vendors that made the rings. The girls were not impressed. They graciously turned down my offer for the nice sterling silver rings. Instead, they opted for a cheap necklace and a dream catcher....well, at least we saved a lot of money! Blayne got a sling shot and he was very proud of it! They were doing a military installment at the Alamo and we watched part of that. We got to eat a a restaurant that John loves that is on the river. We then loaded up and headed home. It was a short trip, but we got to do lots of things. The kids seemed to really enjoy the trip and were great travelers. It was a great time to be together as a family.

Sea World

We slept well at the hotel. We did not get a suite this time so we were all in ONE room. It was cozy, but I was very pleased with how well everyone did. We all slept in and then got up, got ready and headed out. We stopped by one of the ballrooms downstairs because there was an Irish Dance competition going on at our hotel. It was fun watching them. We then headed to a "mom and pop" donut shop. After a nutritious breakfast of donuts we headed out for a fun-filled day at Sea World.

The kids did AWESOME and we had a great day of riding rides, watching shows and laughing. We went on a family friendly spook trail. It let me know that my kids are not ready to go through a haunted house!!!! They were freaked out. I will say, that at the first of the the trail, we had to walk into a pitch black room and squeeze though what felt like two tight inflatable pillows. It was like a nightmare of a bounce house collapsing on you and suffocating you! It was freaky. Blayne screamed through most of it, and Whitney got pretty freaked out. We all rode the log ride. Reagan said "I all done" throughout the ride and she was laughing her nervous giggle when we were done. All in all, it was a very fun family day. We also ran in to my friend's son, Daniel Jolley. He attends Texas A&M. It is always fun to run in to someone you know in a random place. After talking to him, I regretted that I didn't take his picture for here, but I did call his Momma!!!! Sarah Palin was in town too, but we didn't see her. Whitney really wanted us to because she wanted to tell her "hi!"

Our Trip Part One!!!!

We picked the girls up a little bit early from school on Friday and headed down to San Antonio for the weekend. We got to stop on Austin on the way and visit our old neighbor, Mrs. Tamera (the seamstress that makes all of the cute clothes that Whitney wears) and Allee (her sweet daughter that is Savannah's age). They squeezed us in on a Friday night before their high school football game. I miss being in a town where everything stops on Friday nights and all the people go to the football game...ahhh the memories! We had a great visit and enjoyed the food at Chuy's. We had never been there. Sweet Tamera got there early and waited for more than and hour for us to get a table! It was well worth the wait....well, for us it was!!!