my fav...

my nephew, ross took this shot of our house on the 4th/5th.

i LOVE this shot!

my michigan girls....

these are my people.

these are my cousins.

one of the worst things about living out of state is times like this.

they all live in michigan, i live here. boo.

but the great thing about these girls is that they all make a point of keeping in touch with me.

MOST of them are face book friends.

although most of my adult years have been spent in washington (i moved away when i was 15), i still feel 'connected' with these girls.

left to right is....drum roll...

heather

misty

dee dee

lisa (and her cute little bun in the oven)

jodi

sadie

aubine (jodi's sweet baby girl)

gina

and my dear, dear gram.

it was grams birthday on june 30.

she is just turned 85 but she doesn't look a day over 60.

i think she's aging beautifully!

since i've been meaning to share a little about my gram, i'll share.

for almost 6 years she has lived in assisted living.

shortly after my grandpa died in 2003, her health started going downhill.

we came close to losing her after a very serious heart condition but she rallied back.

she's a fighter this gram of mine.

however, her memory has only gotten worse. a few years back she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

thankfully, my gram is happy. so. very. happy.

and funny. so. very. funny. i wish i had the time to write down all her funny little stories.

trust me, she's funny.

let me back up the train and tell you about what a wonderful, sweet woman she is.

way back when, in my early years i always remember her & her candy holder. it hung on her wall. it was brown with cut out wood suckers on it. every time we went to her house, she would let us pick something out. she was always changing what was in it so you never quite knew what you were going to get. even as i kid, i remember thinking that she was SOO cool!

and this gram of mine was always put together. and pretty, i always thought she was pretty. i still think she's pretty.

in my late teens/early 20's gram and gramp (someday i'll tell you about this wonderful man!) let me live with them when i moved back to michigan. they put up with MUCH. let's just leave it at that.

they were gracious and kind, always making sure i was taken care of. they always looked out for me. feed me.

trusted me when i probably didn't deserve it.

she dried lots of my tears.

i could always count on lots of loving from my gram.

she's a dandy of a cook.

and knit, this woman can knit anyone of you under the table. even with her hands full of arthritis, she knit.

one of the best visuals i have of gram was walking into her living room and seeing her with her bible open on her lap.

i saw this often.

everything in her life resolved around how she could please the Lord in all she did.

and it shows.

she loves people well because she loves the Lord well.

she was always very patient with people in her life. some who didn't always deserve it.

i always admired that about her.

our jackson was named after her. well, kind of. her name is Hermina Myrtle. i don't think either one of those names fit very well with jackson. so we decided to call him jackson Roon. Roon was her maiden name and we think it fits him perfectly. when we called her, from the hospital, to tell her what we had named him, she just chuckled. she was giddy. and that made me giddy and quite frankly, i wanted to chuckle myself but since i had just given birth, i wasn't in a chuckling mood.

anywho....

i wish you could meet her (some of you have) because you would instantly LOVE her.

when you look at her, you can't help but smile because that's usually what she's doing.

i am so very thankful for her life.

her very precious, smiling, God-filled life!

i love you gram!

missing you everyday.

the fourth/fifth.....

Isaiah discovering sparklers!

"what to blow up next?"

this warms my heart.

i knew i could count on my dear niece, taya to bring a 'pretty cake'!!

by now i bet you're good and tired of seeing the word 'finished' pop up when you check into my blog.
don't blame you.

i'm sick of it too.

while i'm awaiting (patiently, right lor? :)) the picture disk to come from my sis, i thought i'd blog about the few pictures i DO have. which i might add are few and far between. since we had like 400 (ok, about 8) cameras between all of us, i figured 'why bother'.

now i wish i would have 'bothered'.

july 4th was celebrated july 5th so that we could buy our fireworks on clearance.

ok, not really but kindof.

since the 4th fell on Sunday this year, we celebrated the day after.

after all, what difference did it make?

Miss America wanted a celebration so a celebration is what we gave her!

finished....

the family is gone.

today, life gets back to whatever sense of 'normal' used to be in this house.

last night, a friend asked, "what was the BEST part of your last 3 weeks?"

my answer?

just being together.

watching as we interacted.

watching our children play until their little bodies could hardly function,out of sheer exhaustion.

it's been 4 LONG years since all of the cousins have seen each other.

i have made a trip out to Jersey.

my siblings and i were all together to honor my grandmas life.

but still, we have not ALL been together for far too long.

for 3 weeks we played.

first a week with just me out in jersey, then them all here for 11 days.

even as i write this, i cry.

i miss them SO much already. this is NOT the way it was supposed to be.

like a 2 year old i want to drop to the ground and scream, "i want to live by my sister! why can't i live by my sister??? this is NOT fair.i hate this! "

can't you just hear it now?

it may be selfish and immature but that's how i feel right now.

jipped.

please, don't get me wrong. i KNOW that this is the way it's SUPPOSED to be.

i accept that.

but i don't have to like it.

not ONE bit.

we will continue to make the most of what we have but i'm just putting it out there.

this bites.

plain and simple.

there it is.

that being said,what sweet, lifelong memories we made.

i wish i could articulate how much i appreciated and LOVED this time.

this will, by far, be one of the greatest events in my life.

i am tired.

i am sad.

i am thankful.

i am blessed.