One of the Happiest Moments of My Life

October 15, 2010 I became a grandmother.

I had no idea how this would affect me. I knew I would be extremely happy and love this child. But I had no clue. I am beyond extremely happy and I have fallen so in love with this baby. There is a sign that says "Grandchildren fill a space in your heart that you did not know was empty". There is truth in that statement.


Shepherd Joseph Gensic is precious. He is beautiful. He is sweet. He is so loved.

I cry as I write this post because I miss him. My arms ache to hold him.

But I know I will get to see him for Thanksgiving and I am counting the days!

Engorgement and My Daughter

My sisters and I have really been having fun reading Kalyn's blog during her pregnancy. Kalyn is a good writer and some of the things that happen to her really make for a fun story.

Here is a little story that happened today that I just have found so funny I can not stop laughing about it.

I had emailed a couple of my sisters and told them that Kalyn was having breastfeeding class today. I figured this would be quite an adventure just knowing how the other eight months of this pregnancy have gone. I could not wait to hear what Kalyn had to say about this class.

When I got to work this morning I had an email from one of my sisters and in her note she had a little "helpful hint" for me to pass on to Kalyn. Her note said, "Do you mind if I give one hint? Maybe you already know this, but Cabbage leaves really do help the engorgement when the milk comes in." I found this interesting as I did not know this. I have been very amazed at all the things I have learned during Kalyn's pregnancy that I did not know. I really do not know how I managed giving birth to healthy babies and getting them reared! But that is another story for another time.

Kalyn called me just before she went to her appointment, so I read her this piece of advice from her aunt. She got really quiet then she said, "I hope I have no problems with engorging, I would really feel Eve-ish."

I lost it, been laughing all day.

It's Getting Close

I was sitting in church today and all of a sudden it hit me - sorta like a light bulb moment.

Tomorrow is the 20th of September.

October 20th is just ONE month away.

In ONE month I will be a grandmother. (Good Lord willing and everything is on time, of course)

All of a sudden my eyes were filled with tears, this is going to be big. This is going to be exciting.

I am so excited. I am a little nervous.

It has been a long time since this little family of mine has had a baby. Wow, we are going to have a baby, a precious baby. Wow.

I have always loved little yellow rubber ducky's. And I have a few in one of my bathrooms. I have always thought how much fun I would have with a little grandchild at bath time playing with the rubber ducky's. And now it will not be that long until I will actually get to have this pleasure.





The other day I was in the grocery store waiting to check out and there they had the cutest little green rubber frogs - the same size as my little yellow rubber ducky's, and only 99 cents. I had to have them - what fun my grand baby and I would have with ducky's and froggy's!




The excitement is building for all of us. Every conversation is built around this child. We can't hardly wait. The mom, the dad, the grandparents, Uncle Bro, Auntie and Uncle Finch, we are waiting and ready.


Oh, and also - the ducky's and froggy's................




My prayer: A safe and healthy delivery for Kalyn and baby. (and BJ!)

Conversations With My Son

When my phone rings and it is my son I never know where the conversation will go. I do know how it will start 99.9% of the time:

Me: Hello, boy
He: Hello, ladeeeeeee
Me: Whatcha doing?
He: Talking to you on the phone, when are you going to learn that?

Then we are off and going - I just never know where we are headed.

Here are a few examples:

He: Mom, how many points in strawberry fried pie at Whataburger? (I am on Weight Watchers, so he is always wanting to know the points in something he has already eaten or is starting to eat)
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He: Mom, I have a question - I left __________ off refrigeration over night, is it still okay to eat?

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He: Mom, I have lost my keys/billfold, where do you think they are? (this happened a lot when he was in Abilene and Lubbock, not quite as much in Waco)

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He: Mom, what can I eat for supper?
Me: Go out.
He: I can't, I bought a X-box game and I can't eat out for two weeks to justify that.

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He: Mom, can you dress me? Does this shirt match these pants? (gives me colors, this is a hard question to answer, by the way, on a phone)

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He: Mom, I am taking up hiking.
Me: What? Why?

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He: Mom, you need to start buying organic eggs, milk, veggies, etc.
Me: Why, I can't afford them. ( Side note: I am now buying some)

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He: Mom, I bought some hiking boots today. I am looking at some trails in Spain and Hawaii.
Me: You can't go.

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He: Mom, give me your drivers license number and social security number, I am going to sign you up to be a bone marrow donor.
Me: What, why? Can I think about this a week?

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He: I am not even trying to be a good child to you this year. Kalyn is your favorite this year because she is giving you a grandchild and I can not beat that.
Me: Ya'll are equal, don't say that.

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He: You and Kalyn are always making the Tres Leches cake and then calling me and telling me how good it is. Neither one of you cook one for me.

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He: Mom, will you do me a favor?
Me: Sure. ( I always say yes before hearing the favor)
He: Give me $5,000 so I can go hiking in Hawaii.
Me: No, you can't go.

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He: You have made Kalyn a dozen quilts and me none.
Me: I did make you one.
He: Yes, and then you kept it to use on my bed upstairs, I did not get to take it with me.
Me: Okay, good point.


I love talking to JC on the phone. I can talk to him about any subject on earth. He is always so patient and kind and sweet. And ornery and funny and loves to joke around with us. We laugh a lot.


And, by the way, about that quilt. I did make him one. I finished it this weekend and he got to take it to Waco with him.

Love you JC.

Sisters Weekend 2010

Last weekend I had my Sisters Weekend for 2010. As always it was a lot of fun.

When you have four nuts for sisters you can't help but have a wonderful weekend.

We are five very different individuals, but we make a complete "set". Take one out of the picture and it is just not complete.

We can talk to each other about anything. There are lots of grandchildren stories, stories about growing up together, stories about our brothers, stories about our mother and daddy, stories about our spouses and our children, there are tears and there is lots and lots of laughing. Throw in a little shopping, lots of eating, some entertainment, a few games, a Sunday morning worship service and you have a pretty much perfect weekend.

Each of these women are unique in their own ways, they are wonderful ladies.

I am very blessed to have these four women as my sisters. I love them dearly.

My Yard and My Scarecrows

I enjoy working in my yard. I would have never dreamed as a child that I would have gardening as one of my hobbies in my adult years. When Mom and Dad would have us kids go out to do yard work, I would "volunteer" to do ANYTHING to get out of yard work. Most of the time this would work, but not all the time!

But as the years have gone by, I have grown to really enjoy my yard. This year has been a busy year and I have not had the pleasure of leisurely working in the yard, but I have had some beautiful caladiums and some blooming plants.

We have lived here close to 20 years and never had a deer in our yard (because we live IN town and this should not be a problem I have to face!), until last year. The deer ate my caladiums and impatients. I was so aggravated. Well, this year just as the caladiums started coming up the deer came also. I read in my "Country Woman" magazine that scarecrows would keep the deer away. So John made me eight scarecrows out of his old uniform shirts and caps. When J.C. and Kalyn came home and saw all our scarecrows, they laughed. They thought one or two might have been enough, but we wanted to make sure! And guess what, I have a beautiful yard! And so far no deer.

Here are a few pictures:

Irises:


Roses:

My wheelbarrow full of plants:

One of the front flower beds:

One of my Daddy's toolboxes full of Caladiums and a cute scarecrow:

Ooops, that is my daughter, she is not "planted" in my yard, but she is definitely "blooming":

He Is Going To Be Good

My son-in-law. BJ Gensic. Yes, he is going to be a good daddy. This Father's Day 2010 I am going to dedicate to him.

I feel very blessed to have BJ in our family. I am so thankful God lead him in a round about way to ACU just as Kalyn was getting there.

I do not hide the fact that I am very excited that I am going to be a grandmother. One of the reasons that I think I am so excited is because I know this child is being born to a very good set of parents.

I was at a funeral this past week and one of the things that was mentioned by the surviving children was how much their daddy loved them; "we knew he loved us even when we were being disciplined"; "he laid in the floor with us and watched old movies"; "he played games with us"; "he read to us";" he laughed with us"; "he provided for us". I can see BJ doing all of these things with his children, they will know they are loved by their daddy.

One of the reasons I am so sure of this is watching him with his dogs. A new dog comes into the family and he lays in the floor with them, he plays with them, gets outside and exercises them, he disciplines them, he trains them. He loves them.

I was so blessed to be invited by BJ and Kalyn to go see the sonogram that told if we were getting a boy or girl. I had no idea how this was going to affect me. I was deeply touched by this experience. After we were told it is a boy, I looked around - it was like the nurse or I was not even there. Those two were looking into each others eyes, smiling from ear to ear, so lost in their love for each other and the love for this baby boy. This child is being born into a home filled with love. He is going to have a daddy who loves his mother. A daddy who loves his Savior and will teach him to also.

Yes, I am very confident that BJ is going to be an excellent daddy.

I have told many people throughout the past four years that if my son-in-law raises my grandkids like he does his dogs, I will have the best behaved grandkids in town.

But, on a side note, I do remember what is said about preachers kids. Oh well, we will see.............

And I can't wait to watch it all unfold.

Happy Father's Day, BJ.