Mississippi girls don’t change their ways

Grandma Sandy hasn’t blogged in a while because I’ve had to keep a secret.

And no, I’m not pregnant, thank goodness, so don’t even go there.

I usually blog about my family and our life but when the majority of what’s going on in our lives is something I can’t talk about, it’s hard to come up with something else to say, so I just haven’t said anything!

Obviously.

But the secret I’ve had to keep since January does not have to be kept any longer.

This Mississippi girl is heading back home!!

That’s right. Grandma Sandy and her family are moving back to south Mississippi at the beginning of the summer and we’re really excited.

The Chef has taken a position in a church in south MS. The pastor of the church there is the pastor that we started out in ministry with 20 years ago.

It’s a long story, but there’s no doubt that this has all been orchestrated by the Almighty God that we serve. To see how He’s been working the past several months is none other than amazing.

This church is also opening a counseling center and The Chef (who is also a marriage and family therapist) will have the opportunity to do therapy once again.

Sooooo........because the move is just around the corner, it was necessary for me to make a trip down south during our Spring Break this week to find a house.

Pastor Margaret, Peanut and I headed south on Sunday to meet......

.....Rebecca McCollough, our fabulous realtor!

Isn’t she just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?

She’s just so smart and cute and petite and stylish.

I just know that when I die and go to heaven and I’m a figure skater, I’m gonna look just like her.

I got in touch with Rebecca back in February to let her know what we were looking for, and bless her heart, she was gonna have her work cut out for her.

You see, not only is Grandma Sandy, The Chef, our 5 kids, 2 dogs, ginormous cat and Monty, the fish, moving to south MS but we’re taking Pastor Margaret with us!

We were looking for a house with either a guest house or enough acreage to build a guest house. Pastor Margaret needs to be with us but not WITH us, if you know what I mean.

Actually, we would’ve loved for her to be WITH us, too, but for her own sanity’s sake we determined that being with us would be good enough.

So, Rebecca started her hunt for the perfect house which would look something like this: a main house with at least 4 bedrooms and either a separate guest house or enough acreage to build a guest house that also wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg.

Guess what she found?

A main house with 4 bedrooms and a separate guest house.

Unfortunately it cost an arm and a leg.

Actually, more like two arms and two legs and the word was that the owners were pretty firm about their asking price and were not expected to take more than a few thousand dollars less.

But we didn’t let that discourage us.

So, Rebecca lined up several houses for us to see on Monday.

After looking, and thinking, and looking, and analyzing, and thinking and praying, and calling in an expert from Gulfport to come give us her expert opinion on the 2 homes we’d narrowed it down to, it was determined that we would make an offer on the house that cost two arms and two legs.

Actually, after looking at the 2 homes, the expert (who is my smart and talented Aunt Sarah, an interior designer, who is also married to my Uncle Thad, an architect) quite frankly stated,

“I’d jump on this house in a red-hot minute. Don’t even think about that other crummy house. It’s not built well, the owner has tried to take on too many home improvement projects and has halfway done every one of them, and furthermore, The Chef would kill you if you bought a house that needed this much work and he’d have every right to do so. That other house costs 3 arms and 3 legs and isn’t even worth half of that.

Make an offer on the 2 arm/2 leg house because the owner is a former builder and he’s used top quality everything throughout both homes. He knew what he was doing and he did it right.”

Aunt Sarah advised us on what she thought a good offer would be which was within $500 of what smart and stylish Rebecca The Realtor suggested.

So we made an offer.

They countered.

We countered again.

Then smart and stylish Rebecca the Realtor put a little muscle behind our counter by saying to the other realtor, “Look, this is a unique property that will require a certain kind of buyer. You have the perfect buyers and they’re gonna stand firm with this offer. They’ve put their best foot forward.”

And guess what?

The sellers accepted!

So, the Grandma Sandy family has found their home in south MS!!!

Now, I must state that with this new home comes 2 things I never thought I’d have and 1 thing I swore I’d never have again.

I’ll start with the thing I swore I’d never have again because swearing I’ll never do something and then having to eat my words is not an uncommon practice in my life, unfortunately.

This house has......

.....a pool.

Our last house had a pool. It was fun, we loved it, but the expense and upkeep on that thing was a killer and The Chef and I said never again.

Oops.

But it’ll be ok. Our last pool was 45,000 gallons and required loads of chlorine and chemicals. This pool is only 15,000 gallons thank You, Lord,

and its a saltwater pool which is supposed to be much easier and cheaper to maintain.

I HOPE.

Now on to one of the things I never thought I’d have, mostly because I’m still not sure what it is......

This is Grandma Sandy’s new shower. And apparently tub. I’m not quite sure.

Here. Take a closer look.

What on earth?

Have you ever in your life?!?

If I’m honest, I’ll have to admit I’m kinda scared of this thing. It looks like if I punch a wrong button I might be zoomed into outer space or something.

And the seller, bless her heart, was so proud of this thing. She couldn’t wait to tell me all about it.

It has a remote control, why the heck do you need a remote control for a shower..why would you want to turn anything on from outside the shower and if you want to turn something on from inside, can’t you just lean over and turn it on?!? honestly, the remote control feature strikes terror in my heart because I see hours of entertainment in The Chef’s future as he experiments with the remote control while I’M trying to bathe.

It’s supposed to be some kind of steam shower or something or other. As long as it gets me clean and doesn’t zoom me into outer space then I’m good.

And the other thing on this property that I never thought I’d have......

......a barn.

I’m not quite sure what I’ll do with a barn but I’m sure I’ll figure out something. I was just about to say I know I definitely won’t get a horse but because I have a history of saying I definitely won’t do something and then later doing it, I’ll just leave that part out. Now I will hopefully never get a horse but if I do, it won’t be because I said I definitely wouldn’t!

But the best thing, the very best thing is that here’s my back porch....

...and right across the pool....

...is Pastor Margaret’s house!

We can wave at each other from our kitchen windows!

Pastor Margaret joked that one of her favorite things about her new house is the fact that she won’t have to mow her front yard. She can swim in it instead!

So a big thank you to the smart, cute, sweet, petite and stylish Rebecca the Realtor for not only finding our perfect house for us but also.....

.....and here’s the best part....she helped us get our new house for $34,000 LESS than the asking price!

So instead of costing 2 arms and 2 legs, we found our new home for an arm and maybe half a leg!

She may be petite, but she’s tough.

I’ll be sad to leave my friends and especially my other Kindergarten teachers here in TN. Thankfully, we won’t be so far away that they can’t come visit and I’m counting on them to do so!

But in the end......

....this Mississippi gal is glad to be going home.

Don’t worry.......

......Grandma Sandy is still around. She just hasn’t been blogging! For several reasons....

*The Gentleman, our Pawpaw, went Home for his heavenly healing 2 weeks and 2 days ago.

*We’ve had family in town.

*We were out of town. Twice.

*Grandma Sandy got sick on the first out of town trip.

*We’ve had 8 snow days since the beginning of January and a house full of children with cabin fever does not allow Grandma Sandy to do much else but referee.

*I’ve been lazy.

That pretty much sums it up! Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to blogging on a more regular blogging basis.

Y’all come back now!

Family stuff

Thank you all, for your prayers for my nephew, N. I am thrilled to report that he was discharged from the hospital 2 days ago! He will not be able to return to school for some time but our family is overjoyed that he is home with his parents and sisters where he belongs!

My father-in-law, The Gentleman, will be moved later today to hospice care. My sister-in-law wrote the sweetest words about him. Please go read about him. No way my words could ever do justice to the man that he was.

We’ve had a few snow days lately. It’s been hard to get into the swing of things after the holidays when you only go to school a few days a week. I haven’t smocked, blogged or exercised. When I have a lot on my mind it’s difficult for me to focus on much else.

I’m not worried. Well, a little worried about whether The Gentleman is comfortable or is aware that he will be in heaven soon. The other night after we realized that something was different about him, I took Guitar Boy to the hospital to see him. He was the only one of my children who had not been to the hospital. He had been a little apprehensive about seeing his PawPaw in a way that he was not accustomed. But because we were afraid that The Gentleman may not make it through the night, I “strongly encouraged” Guitar Boy to go with me to see him.

Our PawPaw was kind of in and out of it. We sang some hymns and children’s songs (he used to teach toddler Sunday school!) and he tried to sing along. When we got ready to leave, I told him how much I loved him. He looked at me and said, “I don’t want you to think of me in terms of being sick.” I told him that in no way could I ever remember him that way. Guitar Boy told him he loved him and we left.

I hope our Lord will come quickly. Our PawPaw has fought Parkinson’s and dementia for too long. It’s time for him to be healed for eternity. But it’s still hard letting go.

NFH and THS Jr.

**Update: N had surgery yesterday morning to have a chest tube inserted in order to better treat his pneumonia. The Dr.’s feel that the infection in his lungs has been the source of his fever and intense pain. The surgery went well but they weren’t able to accomplish all that they really desired. He will get better, but it will be a long process that will likely take several weeks.

Thank you for your prayers and keep them coming!

See this sweet boy?

This sweet boy is my nephew and he is in need of your prayers.

He is in the hospital with the flu, an allergic reaction to medication, pneumonia, severe stomach and back pain, and a UTI. He’s been in terrible pain and has had a high fever over 102 even with meds.

If you would, please pray for N’s healing, for guidance for the doctors and nurses that are caring for him, and for God’s peace to transcend upon him and his parents.

I praise you because I am fearfully

and wonderfully made.

Psalm 139:14

We have always claimed this as N’s verse.

He was not easily conceived.

He was not easily carried.

He was not easily born.

He IS fearfully and wonderfully made, as we all are!

Be still and know that I am God

Psalm 46:10

The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

The Truth in these verses continues to minister and speak to me under any circumstance.

I can only imagine the stress and worry that my brother and sister-in-law must be experiencing as they have to see their young son so sick.

In situations like this I always want to do something, don’t you?

I’m too far away to cook them food, take their daughter to school, rock their baby, do their laundry, or take them snacks to the hospital.

So instead, I will think about them, pray for them, and ask for your prayers, too.

Would you also please pray for my father-in-law, The Gentleman?

As you may recall, he broke his hip over a week ago and he has yet to fully awaken after surgery.

I took the children to see him today for the first time and I could tell he knew we were there.

The little girls couldn’t wait to sing a few songs to him and he actually smiled twice.

We aren’t sure what may happen, but we miss having him at home yet know that God is in control.

Smocking update and Snow Day!!

First of all, let me start off by saying that I realized I hadn’t posted a pic of my smocking progress in quite a while, so......

....there you go!

I’m almost done. I just have to add some cable flowers inside the big diamonds. I haven’t worked on it at all since a few weeks before Christmas. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish this dress and continue work on the matching dress for The Boss.

I’m really excited about the sewing lamp my parents got me for Christmas! Smocking is so fun and my new lamp should make the process even easier.

I’m also really excited about taking a class later this winter to learn how to construct a bishop.

In my last post, I mentioned that nearly all of our area was under a Winter Storm Warning and we were expected to get a possible 5 inches of snow.

The good news is......

...my “year-round-tree” brought us good luck once again and we got 3-4 inches of snow!

Now one thing I haven’t mentioned is that last Thursday my father-in-law, The Gentleman, fell and broke his hip and has been in the hospital since his surgery Friday night. Because of the predicted snow-fall and The Gentleman’s hospital stay, my mother-in-law, The Pastor, came to spend the night with us!

I just love these pictures of Dogos and The Pastor from last night!

(sorry the last one is so blurry but I loved it so much I just had to post it!)

Three years ago this very month, after Dogos was born and I had to go back to work, The Pastor and The Gentleman kept her until school was out in May.

It just about killed me to have to leave her on school days and I will never be able to put into words how grateful and blessed I was that her grandparents could care for her in such a special way.

I loved knowing that she was in their loving arms and under their very vigilant care.

Every time Dogos gets so excited to see her grandparents I’m reminded of those newborn days she spent with them and I’m thankful all over again.

Finally, after waiting all day long, it started to snow!

It snowed throughout most of the night and the children were so excited to get outside to play this morning!!

In fact, since they could hardly wait and unbeknownst to me, Peanut got the little girls ready to go outside while I was in the shower which explains why.....

....Dogos was wearing a coat that’s too small as well as no gloves.

At least for the moment, Dogos didn’t care so I decided not to care either!

Middle Man was obviously excited!

Early on, one of the older kids left a message for The Chef.

Not sure what # Dad they intended to bestow upon him.

I’m assuming it’s #1!

(it was probably Middle Man...by nature, he tends to leave out important details upon occasion.... bless him!)

Favorite activity of the day for the 5 and under set?

Notice that Dogos’ boot fell off AND that she’s not even wearing a sock.

Rest assured that at that point Grandma Sandy snatched her up, took her inside, and clothed her with the proper snow attire.

Isn’t my Peanut pretty?

For the rest of the day, I decided to make homemade Chicken and Dumplin’s.

(and every time I make C&D I’m reminded why I don’t make it that often but mercy me....it is good!!)

Tomorrow is another Snow Day, The Pastor is here, and tomorrow I hope to make some homemade sauce for lasagna.

Good night all!

Happy New Year and Wow....that’s a lot of kids.

Grandma Sandy had a wonderful, wonderful Christmas!

Well, except for the stomach bug that afflicted The Boss the night before her 5th birthday. The same stomach bug that then swept through Grandma Sandy’s family as well as Lala’s 4 days before Christmas. The same stomach bug that my mom took home with her in the car for a 6 hour drive the day after Christmas.

I tell ya, that stomach bug was a gift that just kept on giving. And giving.

That part was not much fun.

But Christmas turned out to be perfect in every way and New Year’s was just as special!

For the past few years, my parents have left the day after Christmas and we anticipate the arrival of The Chef’s college roommate, Will. Guitar Boy calls December 26th “Will Day.” Will lives in New Mexico. Each year he flies to TX to spend Christmas with his sister’s family and then flies here to spend the following week with us!

Will works in the music industry and he is quite a musician himself, as you can see for yourself in the post below!

Usually around Dec. 29 or 30th we eagerly await the arrival of some other lifelong friends who stop off on their way back to TX to spend New Year’s with us. They have 4 children and our kids all love each other dearly.

Wow....that’s a lot of kids!

Here is Nancy, their mom. She is one of my sweetest friends. One of those friends with whom you can go months without talking and then she walks in the door and you start jabbering like you just saw each other yesterday.

Nancy is a tiny, petite little thing who has birthed 4 children.

You may wonder why I mentioned that as if it were particularly noteworthy.

It is most definitely noteworthy because her 3 oldest children, she birthed at the same time!!!!

TRIPLETS!!

Our husbands started out in ministry together, and the stories that Nancy and I could tell you about us teaming up to manage our many small children while our husbands were gone on their respective youth trips during the summer would either totally impress you or make you question our sanity.

At our old house in Laurel we had a big swimming pool and she and I were reminiscing about how we would bring the kids (at the time, 6 kids ages 5 and under) home from Vacation Bible School, tag-team swimsuits, sunscreen, and sandwiches, have lunch by the pool, then make the kids swim for 6 hours in order to ensure they would drop like flies at bedtime!

Not only have the kids grown a lot since then but so have our families.

After they moved to Texas they had another child and after we moved to TN we had two more.

So you can imagine that during their visit each year there is tons of activity and always someone to play with.

Each year after the Warrens and Will leave we’re all sad and have to battle back the post-holiday blues. We are blessed to have such special friends.

For now, we’re all looking forward to a New Year and eagerly anticipating what this year will bring for Grandma Sandy and her family!

Especially tomorrow. A possible 5 inches of snow is in the forecast!!!

I’ve got my “year round” tree decorated with snowmen and snowflakes to bring us good luck and hopefully a winter with tons of snow!!

Will

Our friend, Will, works in the music industry in New Mexico. He installs sound systems and runs sound for concerts of major artists. He is also quite a musician himself! Here is a youtube video of his band. Will is the bass player (with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth while playing....Will it is time to STOP SMOKING!).

WARNING.....there is a second long clip of someone doing ugly finger gestures so be forewarned!

I think they sound awesome! You can imagine how much Guitar Boy loves it when Will comes to town!

We miss you, Will! Try to work in a summer trip this year!