Pay It Forward

Our elementary school had a writing contest for the 3rd and 4th grade. The students were given the prompt "If you were given a thousand dollars, what would you do with it?" Their instruction was that it had to be used for someone else. Savannah's paper was one of the 7 finalists. The resounding theme with the kids was to use it for animals, older people and sick kids. With corporate sponsorship, they were able to make this a reality. The students are buying an assist dog for a handicapped person, they are sending gifts and decorations for the Ronald McDonald house in Ft. Worth and yesterday a group of kids went to local nursing homes and retirement centers and sang, played hand chimes and decorated the rooms with Christmas cards and pictures. They also presented the local nursing home with a new popcorn machine and TV and stand on wheels to take from room to room. The director of the nursing home cried as she accepted the donation offer! Savannah is in the chime choir. I went to watch her perform at all of the places and unknown to me, I was a chaperon!!! So I had a group of 10 girls to keep up with at the performances and Ci-Ci's Pizza...thank goodness my mother-in-law showed up to watch Savannah. I needed her to corral kids with me because I was there to take pictures for the lady in charge!!!! This was entire day and then I had a cookie exchange last night that I had to take TEN dozen cookies to....

She calls me "Bob"

Last year was Reagan's First Christmas, my how time has flown!!!
Now, my little Reagan is a REAL comedian. Her latest "act" is calling me "Bob". It is really funny and she KNOWS it! Today at Target, the cashier said "Did she just call you BOB?" I replied "yes, and I have no idea why!" Reagan just laughed and laughed!!! She was calling in the store to me "Bob....Baaahhhhb....Bob". Now you must understand. She can say "Momma, Mom, Mommy" so it is not like she is TRYING to say mom and it is coming out wrong. She is just being a funny girl. She is really funny doing things like answering "yes" or "no". When I asked "are you ready to go get Blayne from school?" She replies "no". When I said "Do you want to walk?" She replied "yes...thank you". The child has words and she is learning to use them to be FUNNY and get attention when we are in public...I know that it is only the beginning of her being funny at my expense...
Another thing that she thought was REALLY funny happened a couple of weeks ago. My best friend, Michelle, called me from the BEACH in Hawaii. She was on a family vacation for TWO weeks, one WITH kids and one week WITHOUT kids. I was gagging with envy as she was telling me how wonderful things were going! : ) As we talked, Sweet Reagan, awoke from her nap. I continued to talk to Michelle, because it really is sweet when Reagan wakes up, she laughs, and is really sweet and says sweet things. WELL, when I entered the room, I knew that I was in trouble. It seems that Reagan had been busy during her nap. The room reeked of POOP! She had removed her diaper and made a tremendous mess in her bed! When I got these photos developed, the girl asked "what happened to the baby, how did she get that bruise on her face?" I had to tell her that is NOT a bruise!!!! Needless to say, I had to end my conversation with Michelle and let her get back to sunbathing while I scrubbed poop for the next hour! Once again, there is never a dull moment around here!!!!

Libby's Visit to Houston this week

Some of you have asked me, so here is the latest on Libby. She looks so good. I think that it has done her good just to be home! I know that it has been good for Gracie!!!!
Here is the latest...


Libby and I had a good trip to Houston. It was pretty quick, but we got a chance to catch up with the Isenhowers a bit and see their house beautifully decorated for Christmas. Libby said she thought their tree was perfect!!

Yesterday started with an "owie" for Libby as she had to get some blood drawn. She was pretty upset, but we got it over with and I could reassure her that we were all done with "pokies" for the day. She did a FABULOUS job during her echo, xrays, and doctor visits. Her labs looked good and her xray was much better. Her echo showed that her valve is still pretty leaky, which is not a good thing. The hope is that with time and increasing one of her medications the valve will improve. It is a big deal and lays heavy on my heart as we've been told there is "nothing more they can do" surgically to make it better. A valve replacement is not a possibility given her Fontan circulation. So our only option (if it gets worse or causes her severe symptoms) would be a heart transplant, which we've been told would have to be a heart/lung transplant. BUT - as GrandPenny always reminds me - don't let the FEAR of tomorrow rob you of the JOY of today. We are full of joy today. We are home, together, and have SO MUCH to be thankful for!!! We will return to Houston in about 2 weeks for another check up and labs. We hope you are all having a joyful Christmas season, remembering what is truly important in this life.

Love, Gracie

Santa Visit

Well, here is the photo shoot that I promised...also, another couple of things that I failed to mention...Blayne REFUSED to sit on Santa's lap and I had to drag him by one arm up there for the picture...he relaxed a little, but not much. And on an interesting note, the girl that was on the list a couple of names ahead of me was "Jennifer Baldwin"....funny, that was ME before I got married! I thought that was interesting! I told her, and she didn't think the fact that was my maiden name was anything interesting at all....oh, well, I bet if her name was JENNIFER STONECIPHER, she would have fallen over if I told her my name!!!!























I took the kids to see Santa today. There is a local store that sponsors a Santa photo shoot each year and even has a real reindeer most years! (notice I said MOST years!) So, I checked the girls out of school early and we headed to the store for the 3 o'clock photo shoot. We got there a couple of minutes before 3, only to have to sign in on a LIST that was as long as my arm. They told me that it would move "fast"....hmmm, I must have a different definition of "fast". We were there for an HOUR before they took the pictures. At that point Reagan was DONE. She was screaming in the pictures. She was terrified of the old man in the red suit and she almost jumped right out of his arms!!! The pictures will be on-line tomorrow, so I will post some of them. I am planning to try again on the Santa pictures....hopefully I won't have to wait an hour this time! We are going to visit our old neighborhood Santa...we will keep you posted on how THAT goes!

Teacher-Get-Together

Last night I got to go over to my friend Jan's house and celebrate Christmas with my "teacher" friends. You know how you have those different categories of friends? These are ladies that I taught school with over TEN years ago (I am getting sooo old) and some ladies that taught there before me. I often tell people that we get together and solve the world's problems! It is always a real encouragement to see and visit everyone. We are all at different places in live. I guess that I have the youngest child and the oldest children and grown and married! It is a neat group of ladies and last night was the first time in a LONG time that we were ALL there together. We took a group picture and when it gets sent to me, I will send it out. We laughed so hard last night and really enjoyed our time together. One of the highlights is always are Chinese gift exchange. Some people won't dare "steal" from another, but some will TAKE what they want no matter who opened it! It is always a lot of fun. One of my friends said "You can take the teachers out of education, but you can't take educating out of the teachers".

LIBBY IS HOME!!!!!

Libby got to come home yesterday. They arrived last night minutes after I had tied the last balloon and sped away. Libby greeted us this morning at carpool. She was ALL smiles! Here is a copy of Gracie's latest post....


Ahhhhhhh. What can I say?? It is great and honestly strange to be at home. Libby asked about 30 times on the way home where we were going. I kept telling her home, and she said "I don't have to go to the hop-sital anymore? I get to go home? To see who? Daddy? Mason? Camden? Where do they live?" Lots of reassurance there! The closer we got, the greater the joy in my heart. I loved the feeling when I looked at the sights and felt "at home". As I drove onto our street, there were signs and balloons everywhere saying "Welcome Home!" and other things. Sweet Jennifer Stonecipher and my mom did that! I honestly envisioned each of you (some without faces because I do not even know you!) standing on the sides of the street cheering. I truly feel you have walked this journey with us, and today is your victory too. God has had mercy on us and has given us more precious time - with each of our children!!! I pulled up to 2 boys with more welcome home signs, excitedly jumping up and down. There was another sign that all of Mason's class had made with the help of one of the moms who has been a big Libby fan. Camden brought out flowers and told me there were flowers in every room - which there were!!!! Three delivery people arrived almost at the same time with balloons, stuffed animals, more beautiful flowers and an Edible Arrangement. WOW!!! What a welcome home!! When I came in the house, it looked so unfamiliar. I walked into each room, just getting re-oriented. All I can say is it was strange! That quickly passed and we went to look at the house we are building. That was fun! It has changed A LOT in 9 weeks. Libby loved walking around it also. Libby got to swing, which she has wanted to do since we left Keller! We had dinner AS A FAMILY - whining and complaining and all!!! We did the normal too long bedtime routine - I loved it!! Libby fell asleep quickly and easily in her own bed. God is good! Thank you for loving us!! Now I'm going to sleep - IN MY OWN BED!!!!

Love, Gracie

Pneumonia and our Weekend...

Well, I came back late Friday night to find John sick with Pneumonia! He has been coughing for a week and I have been nagging him to go to the doctor and he finally went. Yesterday we did laundry and hung around here. I am trying to get things ready to put my Christmas decorations out. I love the Christmas season!!!! The painters are here RIGHT now prepping the outside of our house to finally paint it! YEAH! I got to take ALL four kids to church today without John. It was a real challenge to pick everyone up after church. I had nursery duty in Reagan's class. I had to almost run to get Blayne and Savannah and Whitney's teacher brought her to me...I was really feeling it that John wasn't there today. Ah, the music was so pretty today. They had the full orchestra and we sang Christmas music. There was a stringed special music piece that was played by people of all ages. It was so good. John had to miss singing a really great choir piece this morning. Well, I am off to be a Homework Nazi! Savannah has a really big project due on Tuesday. I have already been AWANA Nazi today getting the kids to all three polish up their memory verses for tonight!