It's time.

Halle . . .

. . . meet Soft & Precious.

This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Grandma

I’m gonna wrap my arms around my daddy’s neck
And tell him that I’ve missed him.
And tell him all about the man that I became
And hope that it pleased him.

There’s so much I want to say.
There’s so much I want you to know.

When I finally make it home.
When I finally make it home.

Then I’ll gaze upon the throne of the King,
Frozen in my steps.
And all the questions that I swore I would ask,
Words just won’t come yet.

So amazed at what I’ve seen,
So much more than this old mind can hold.

When I finally make it home.
When I finally make it home.

And the sweetest sound my ears have yet to hear,
Voices of the angels.

When I finally make it home.
When I finally make it home.

- "Finally Home", by MercyMe


My great-grandmother, Grandma Hester, was born February 22, 1916. She would've been 93 years old today. She died last Monday at her home in Kentucky.

Never have I known someone so ready to be home.

When I think of Grandma, I think of her never-ending love for her children and grandchildren. She loved us equally and always, no matter what. I also think of a woman who was tough as nails and who had a great sense of humor.

I love the above picture of Grandma and Tekia. In 1991, when Grandma held our foster baby Abby, she remarked that Abby was the first black baby she'd ever held. Growing up in the time and place that she did, I'm sure Grandma never imagined herself ever having a black friend, much less a black great-grandchild. But she had not a judgmental bone in her body. She welcomed Jamal and Tekia into her ever-growing brood of grandkids with great love, and every year she was just as happy to see them as she was any of the rest of us.

On Thursday Grandma's body was laid to rest in our family cemetery, alongside her husband's and right behind her parents'.

Below are some pictures of Grandma from Christmas 2007.

Grandma with her firstborn, my Paw Paw, and her 3rd great-great-grandchild, Chase

Five generations . . . Grandma, Paw Paw, Mom, Jared, and Hunter, Avery, & Chase

Grandma with some of her great-grandkids (Paw Paw's grandkids, that is)
Grandma with her three great-great-grandchildren

That last picture of Grandma and her oldest three great-granddaughters was actually taken last Thanksgiving--the last time each of us saw her. It was literally taken during our last few moments with her, right before we left to come home. After taking that picture, we each hugged and kissed her goodbye and said our I-love-you's, expecting to see her next year as we always did. We told her to take care of herself and Grandma said she would, and then she told us, "Just think about me every once in a while."

We have, Grandma. And we will.

purple people eaters

Or something like them.

A barn is born.

A couple weeks ago, our fearless barn-builders, Titus and Philemon, arrived to build Bandit a new home. (For more information on what happened to his old home, read this post, this post, or this post.) Okay, their names are actually Titus and Steven. But, seriously, isn't it more fun to call them Titus and Philemon? I think so. Anyway, Titus and Philemon are Mennonites who live in Kentucky, and they came all the way here just to build a barn for us (well, they got paid, of course). And they are great at it! They are incredibly dedicated and hard workers--even working in the snow!


The two of them built the barn entirely by themselves in just one week (well, really it was one week and one day, but they didn't work two of those days). As I said, very dedicated and hard-working. But it made me a nervous wreck to look down at the pasture and see things like this . . .


See one of them standing on the very top? I was just sure that one of them would fall and get hurt and I would have to go save them, or at least attempt to. Apparently they're pretty good at this, though, because they never fell down or got hurt. They will never see these pictures or read this post because they don't have computers, but, if any of you ever need a barn (or any other type of building) built, we highly recommend Titus and Philemon. We can give you their contact info. They are very nice guys who build high-quality buildings for a decent price. Thanks, Titus and Philemon Steven!

And here's the finished product!

It's very different from the last barn. We chose a mostly-metal barn for various reasons, mainly because it's cheaper (and harder to burn down!). Though it's actually a bit bigger than our last barn, it only has two stalls instead of three; but if we ever needed or wanted to board another horse, we could add another stall on the end. I like the overhang part, because, if it's rainy, Bandit can get under the roof without us having to go open his stall. The big open space above the tack room and stalls is a loft, where you will most certainly not find any teenage boys or fire crackers. This barn's also a little closer to the fence than the last one.

Mom's favorite part

Here's Bandit enjoying his new view . . . there's a window in the tack room. I guess he's never seen his reflection before, because he stands by that window all day long! I suppose he thinks he's standing with another horse. A new house and a new friend . . . what a deal!

snow day!

Memphis saw a snow day last week! Though the snow was short-lived, it lasted long enough for schools to be closed. The kids had a great time playing in it. I took Halle out for just a few minutes - I had to get pictures of her first snow! Actually, I was at work during her very first snow, and apparently no one else in my family knows how to work a camera; thus we have to settle for pics of her second snow. I don't think she knew the difference, though.

early in the morning - before the kids trampled all over it

There were no other adults at home, so I had to recruit Kia and Rumi to help with the Halle pictures. I was trying to hold her away from me so Tekia could get a picture of just Halle. She had a few zooming issues. Either she zoomed too much, like in this picture (which of course is still precious because it shows her beautiful smile) . . .


Or she didn't zoom quite enough, like in this picture . . .


Regardless, I think they are some very cute pictures of a very cute baby.

It may appear that Halle was just wearing her pajamas and a hat, but - don't worry - she was warmer than that. In lieu of a snowsuit, Halle wore three layers of clothes (four if you count her blanket):

Layer 1 - long-sleeved onesie, babylegs, socks

Layer 2 - long-sleeved fleece romper, booties

Layer 3 - fleece blanket-sleeper

Plus 2 hats (a stretchy hospital one and a cute pink one from the $1 aisle at Target) and socks for mittens. She looked quite confused when I was putting all these clothes on her, but seemed very warm and happy once we got outside. :-)