Life of a Mamaw - 2016

Today is the last day of 2015! What happened to this year! I blinked and it was GONE! I had every intention of sharing my jeweled days and not so jeweled days on this blog! Busy gets in the way of my intentions sometimes. Rusty and I have had a very interesting 2015. This time last year we were making plans to move my mother into our home. She's been in our home almost a year now. She has had a pretty significant change in her mental and physical health over the past few years! It has been sad to see how fast she went from living completely independent to needing almost around the clock care. I have bore witness to a severe decline in her health the last 6 months or so. Most days she has difficulty with remembering and/or keeping up with dates and planned events. Not remembering if she's eaten, etc. She has fallen multiple times over this past year and ended up with only a fractured wrist. We were fortunate in that respect. She forgets how she got to our home and oftentimes, just wants "to go home." It is incredibly sad to see her in this position. I am grateful that I can continue to care for her. However, it's a blessing! ...and a curse.


The curse comes because we are often called upon to face the fears of our childhood past. It is difficult to do right; even though, right may have not been done to you. It is with God's Grace that I am able...


Our children, Chad, Kym and grandchildren continue to give me great energy as I try to participate in their lives. Our family continues to be blessed with our sweet "love in laws," Amanda and Bart. What a difference they have made to our life! 


Update on the GRANDs... Haylie, Hannah, Jesse, Mary Kaitlyn, and Brynlee.


Spring baseball (our little ones, Jesse and Mary Kaitlyn, played T-ball this year) and Softball. Haylie, our oldest granddaughter, ROCKED the mound in rec ball. Hannah played travel ball and we had a blast going with her to the tournaments.


T-ball was so fun! Watching Jesse and MK playing and getting to be together on the same team was the FUNNEST (most fun) we've had since, well, Haylie and Hannah played T-ball. LOL!! :) It was a blast, but a little challenging as we had 4 grands on the field almost everyday of the week. Life is beautiful when you're hanging with your family. 


Both Jesse and MK had their 4th birthdays in the spring! Jesse had a night out with the family bowling and Mary Kaitlyn had a pajama and pancakes birthday party.


Haylie gave us a great scare in early February; when after a bout with the most horrible flu, she had a seizure at school. Even writing about this event gives me great anxiety for her. She was in the hospital for a couple of days. Our family was so grateful for her sweet teacher and principal of the school for their being there with her and taking such good care of our precious Haylie. Good news is that she has only had one other seizure since her initial hospitalization and recently had a wonderful check up with the doctor and if all goes well (we absolutely claim that everything will) she will begin being weaned off of the meds in another year. All tests came back normal thus far! God is so Good! Amen!!


Now back to my year in a year! So Haylie did such a great job on the mound and she made the ALLSTAR team. I was able to be her ball buddy and we had a blast! They ended up 3rd place in the state. Now days, she's playing basketball. She is enjoying herself and that's all that matters. 


As I mentioned earlier in the post, Hannah is playing travel ball. She played last fall with Wicked Fast Pitch and then in the spring with the TWISTERS! Now we're back with WICKED! It's a great time for us ALL. Hannah is very talented and seems to be enjoying herself immensely!


Rusty spent the summer in Watertown, SD again. He fell right before he was scheduled to go and really messed up his right shoulder and arm. He had two torn rotator cuffs, two tendons torn, and his bicep torn off his arm. The surgery went well but he still doesn't have any strength in his arm. He continues to do physical rehab at the VA. He got a new puppy (Scout) while in SD and seems to be pleased with his progress thus far...


I spent most of the summer traveling with Hannah's ball team on weekends and hanging out with some very cool folks. The parents of these sweet girls on the team are amazing and full of fun!! I like to know who is also influencing my grands.


Of course, we were supposed to play in the World Series down at the beach. So we booked the condo for 2 weeks and the sunshine was plentiful! The beach is absolutely one of my most favorite places. Hannah had her birthday on the beach!! Hopefully, we'll be right back again next year! That's the plan anyway!


Jesse and MK were selected to attend Pre K this fall. Now all but Brynlee are in full time school.


Sweet Brynlee turned 3yo this past October and the "tea party" was a great success! I am rejoicing in her finally starting to talk; as we were beginning to get really nervous that she might have some problems in that area. Now we know...she just didn't have much to say! At this time...She is full of words! I think she might take after her Mamaw...she's also a little sassy!  It is always something!


Haylie just celebrated her 11th birthday in November! I'm not sure when that happened but she's turning into the most precious and beautiful young lady! She has such a kind soul and shares it with everyone in her path.


So after all...it's now back to the end of the year! Rusty and I celebrated our 32nd anniversary the 3rd of December. Kym and Bart celebrated 7 years on the 5th. Lots and lots of wonderful things were shared in our family. Nothing more important than LOVE and GRACE from our Heavenly Father.


I'm not sure whether anyone cares about the words on this blog...If by chance you happen to find it and read it...I hope that you can see that LIFE is important to me!


My FAMILY is my life...