for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these

My 4-year-old nephew Chase praying for his Granna yesterday morning . . .

Notice how he started each sentence with "thank you."

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." -Jesus, Matthew 18:3

sandy

"No, Chase, you can't take a picture with my camera right now because you're too sandy. You might get sand on the camera."

Apparently that was not what he wanted to hear.

biogical moms

Hunter and Avery (my oldest nephew and niece) are spending a few days with us. Here's a little bit of our conversation from dinner tonight. It should be noted that Hunter and Avery's mom, my sister-in-law Shelby, was adopted. And of course you know their aunt and uncle were as well.

Oh, it should also be noted that Avery says "biogical" instead of "biological." Anyway... 

me: "Avery, who's your 'biogical' mom?"

Avery: "I don't have one."

Mom/Granna/Trish: "Yes, you do."

Hunter: "No, she doesn't - she's not adopted!"

Oh, the woes of growing up in a big, confusing family. Love it.

Life is good.

Dad: "Hey, Chase, what does your shirt say?"

(silence)

Dad: "I know. It says 'Papa is good.'"

Chase: "No, it doesn't."

Dad: "What does it say then?"

Chase: "Soccer."


Hanging in Little Rock with the family, going to the soccer and baseball games of really cute children, trying to ignore the fact that Mom has a scan in two days.

Life is good.

chase

I'm not sure if you have an opinion about who the most adorable three year old on the planet is.

But,
 

if not,

you

probably

do

now.

(Apparently the wearing of clothes is not a prerequisite for the title of most adorable three year old on the planet.)

speaking of Granna . . .

Thought you might like to see what Camp Granna looks like. Every August, my niece and nephews come spend a week with us for "Camp Granna." Mom (and me, when I'm not working) takes the kids on all kinds of fun field trips and outings, and I take a million pictures. Sometimes we're joined by friends. In 2008, I made the one and only (thus far) Camp Granna video, which is now a favorite of the kids. I just recently discovered that Vimeo will let you upload a 10+ minute video for free, so I thought I'd share my masterpiece with you. I love Vimeo. And I also love Camp Granna. 

so proud

My niece knows how to work photo booth all by herself . . . as evidenced by these masterpieces I just discovered on my computer.

 

Her parents must be so proud.

party in Granna's room!

Now do you understand why we've limited visitors to family only? Our family fills up the room! Alright, technically two of the couch-sitters aren't family, but they might as well be. There were four more people in this room tonight, including the guest of honor. Jared, Shelby, and the grandkids (those are two of them, Chase and Hunter, on either side of my little sister Tekia) came back into town this weekend to see "Granna." Fortunately, Granna was feeling well enough to get enjoy the kids for a little while yesterday and today. And Tekia talked Mom's ears OFF this afternoon . . . telling her all about her first practice for this year's children's Christmas musical at church. She said Mom seemed like her old self. :-)

After bidding farewell to her beloved pain pump, Mom didn't have a very good night last night, and her morning didn't get off to a very good start either. However, the majority of her day since then has been great! She's walked around "the block" (out of our unit and past three others) a total of 6 times today; that's a new record as she usually just walks 3 - 4 times! She's not using a walker anymore and can usually push her own IV pole. Despite a couple setbacks (I'll get to those), her spirits are good. Earlier she told someone that today's the first day she's been able to envision herself going home.

Now for the setbacks . . . her white blood cell count was back up again today, meaning her infection is not going away with just antibiotics alone. So sometime tomorrow, she will have a drain tube placed to drain the fluid off of her abdomen. It's likely she'll go home with this drain. We hope this will help with her pain and also help her body get back to normal (i.e. swelling!). We don't know a lot about the actual procedure she'll have, but, from what little we've heard, it doesn't sound like something that's incredibly complex or something that takes very long. Mom also ended up back on IV fluids (per her port) this morning.

So keep praying . . . for her infection to disappear completely . . . for the placement of the drain tube to go well and for the drain to help Mom heal . . . for Mom's recovery process . . . for Dr. Behrman and Dr. Tauer and their teams . . . for our family, especially Jamal and Tekia . . . for Mom to remain cancer-free forever . . .  and for God to get all the glory!

the boogie-woogie piano teacher

If you want to see something awesome, you should probably click here. There you will find my sister-in-law's blog, which is where you will find a video of my nephew Hunter starring as the "boogie-woogie piano teacher" in his school program. And that is awesome - not just in an oh-she-just-thinks-it's-cute-cause-she's-his-aunt kind of a way, but in a wow-that-kid's-really-cool-and-I-wish-he-were-my-nephew kind of way. Trust me.

Two.

This weekend my family went to Little Rock to celebrate the 2nd birthday of a certain small--but very loud--boy.


My nephew Chase turned two last week, and yesterday we celebrated with an Elmo party. Didn't Shelby do a great job on the cake?

Chase was a little too eager to blow out his candles (as in, they were out after the first line of the song), so he got to blow them out several more times for pictures.

He was so enamored with his gifts that he never even had any cake! His favorite gift was whichever one Avery was wanting to play with at any given time. Actually, it was the tricycle from his Granna and Papa (my parents), and I'm ashamed to say that I didn't get a single picture of him on it.

Though the party was only attended by family members, there were enough kids there that it still felt like a "real" party, as least as far as Chase was concerned. And it was chaotic enough that it still felt like a "real" party, at least as far as the adults were concerned.

Or maybe it just felt like another day in our family. Yeah, I think that was it.

Happy (belated) 2nd Birthday, Chase!

speaking of

My nephew is cuter than your nephew. No, really, he is. He is. Really. I'll prove it to you. Here is a video of my then-22-month-old nephew "reading" Goodnight Moon to himself after hearing it only two times! If you've never read Goodnight Moon, the basic story involves identifying everything in and outside of a room, and then saying goodnight to everything in and outside of said room. You'll hear Chase saying goodnight (actually he prefers "night night") to kittens, stars, a cow, and, my personal favorite, a little toyhouse.



Speaking of Chase, I just discovered that he and Tekia recently had a little fun with photo booth on my computer.

Speaking of Tekia, she's been coughing her head off the past few days (not literally - you know what I mean). Last night at 12:15am, after listening to her cough for a solid hour, I made her try a trick that I'd read about on the internet. When I googled "how to stop coughing", I found that many people swore by putting Vicks Vapor Rub on your feet! I had actually tried it a few times with Halle but was never sure if it really worked. Anyway, after unsuccessful attempts at stopping her coughing with her inhaler, cough medicine, and cough drops, we were desperate. And tired. Tekia thought I was crazy, but she put some Vicks on the bottom on her feet, put socks on, and went back to bed. And, sure enough, it worked! Isn't that crazy? I only heard her cough twice after that, and she was asleep within ten minutes. And so was I. The first thing she said when she woke up this morning was, "It worked."

Speaking of Tekia waking up this morning, she stayed home from school and I was home with her (Mom had HeartLight and cancer stuff to do, and I was off work). Her breakfast order was as follows: "Two pieces of toast. One with jelly and one with mayonnaise. But do not put them together."

And speaking of mayonnaise toast, Tekia asked for seconds. Gross.

reunited and it feels so good

Avery's one Camp Granna request: to see Halle.

I know it seems crazy, but it was almost like Halle remembered her. They are BFFs (best friends forever, duh) as far as Avery's concerned - further evidence can be found here and here.

Avery's in heaven.

oh, by the way . . .

It's Camp Granna week! A good time is being had by all . . .



. . . most of the time.

7.31.09 PM update on the sickos

First up, Paw Paw. He's home from the hospital and doing well. He still needs lots of help getting in and out of bed but does okay walking with a walker once he's up. He thinks he can tell a difference already in the use of his leg! My aunt and uncle are coming to spend the weekend, so he'll have plenty of help for the next few days. He'll start physical therapy next week and will go for at least three weeks.



As for Hunter, his surgery went well, and he's also home. He felt pretty good most of the day, but tonight he's been throwing up (his only-liquid diet). :-( He probably swallowed some blood during surgery. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Chase (who's not sick) is having fun here. He and Papa have been working on their hog-calling skills tonight. And he's currently putting crushed ice in Tekia's guitar.

our sick list grows

Paw Paw had a great day yesterday! He got out of bed for a while, and physical therapy got him up walking with a walker. The swelling in his right hand has gone down significantly (it's been swollen for months)! He can't tell a difference in the strength of his right hand yet, but we're prayerful that will come next. He's obviously still in the hospital, and I would imagine that he'll be going home today.

Next up on our family sick list is this little hooligan!


My 7-year-old nephew, Hunter, is having is very first surgery today. He's been tongue-tied since birth - I have many pictures to prove it.


While it hasn't affected his speech, his dentist strongly advised that they get it fixed. It's so severe that it can't just be clipped at the dentist's office. Hunter will have to be put under general anesthesia at an oral surgery center so they can remove the entire thing-that-holds-your-tongue-

to-the-bottom-of-your-mouth (that's what we in the medical field like to call it). It's outpatient and not a major surgery, but we (and a nervous Hunter, especially!) would still appreciate your prayers. He's looking forward to being able to stick his tongue all the way out at his sister!

Meanwhile, guess who has come for his very own mini-Camp Granna? Chaser! Mom thought Shelby's next few days would be a bit easier without a 22-month-old there to help out, so Chase is staying at our house for a little while. This is his first time here without his mom or dad. So far, so good!

a few things before I go

I'm about to go on a trip. But first . . .

Happy Fourth of July! Hope you had as much fun cooking out and watching fireworks as I did!




I have lots of catching up to do when I get back. Maybe I'll blog about the time I put some of my mousse in my youngest nephew's hair.
Or maybe I will tell you about the day when this girl and her big sister came over to play.
Oh, and of course I'll have to blog about my first trip to this place! My family leaves for Riviera Maya, Mexico in the morning! Well, the Memphis half of my family anyway. The Little Rock half is currently vacationing in Colorado. I'm not sure how our internet access will be at our resort, so I may or may not be blogging while I'm gone.

Hope everyone has a great week!

an Avery day

As previously mentioned, yesterday we had an Avery day. My 4-year-old niece Avery came to spend the day in Memphis. She tagged along with her dad, who came to play in a golf tournament for Agape. Fortunately, I had the day off work and got to hang out with her, my mom (aka "Granna"), and Halle. After Mom, Halle, and I picked Ave up at the golf course, we went to lunch at a restaurant of Avery's choosing, which turned out to be Cracker Barrel. Apparently she LOVES Cracker Barrel. She also LOVES Halle, and probably would've been just as happy if we'd stayed home and let her play with the baby all day. Here she is reading to Halle while we waited for our food.

She ordered pancakes and then bummed some biscuits and bacon off Aunt Callie and Granna.

After lunch and some shopping (of course, which took a really long time . . . very hard for a 4-year-old to pick out just one less-than-$10 toy), we had to do some rocking and checkers-playing on the front porch.

Our next stop was Grandmother and Paw Paw's house, where Avery got to visit with her great-grandparents and play with their new kitty, Dollie, and pick some of Grandmother's flowers.

Grandmother gave her one daisy, and then Avery asked if she could have one more so she could take it home for her mom. So sweet. :-) Oh, but they're both still on our kitchen table.

She was really interested in the clothes hanging on the clothes line.

We finally came home and Avery spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside with Tekia and her best friend Rumi. They played with American Girl dolls, got muddy while playing in the puddles in the backyard (notice Ave's wardrobe change), and looked for four-leaf clovers. I LOVE this picture!

Soon our day with Avery came to end, and I had to return her to her father. Our day ended with some Michael W. Smith and her prizes from Cracker Barrel - a giant lollipop (which, she told me, was "beautiful on the inside") and some plastic necklaces.

What more could a girl want?