Grandma Honey: 10/1/18

Not the anniversary we expected

Last week was our 19th anniversary.

I spent most of the night before taking care of our sick grandson.
He had a cough that would not quiet even for 3 seconds so we
couldn't sleep. He was exhausted and felt crummy and didn't want
to be alone, of course.

Poor Jonas.

So I gave him everything I could think of for his cough

but nothing was working.

Finally in the wee hours of the morning,

I did something I have never done with any of my grandkids...

I gave him my iPad and told him he could play a game on it
till he fell asleep.

An hour later I came back to check on him
and he was finally sleeping.

Coughing still, but asleep.

Den and I had a day planned to celebrate,

but instead we were happy we could snag a dr appt
for Jonas that morning.

Being a grandparent is similar to parenting, in that when they need you, there is no place you would rather be.

As I sat with both of them at the doctor's office that morning,

I thought back to 19 years ago to our wedding day.

I thought how this man has been by my side for 19 years,
no matter what we go through, he is there by my side.

And no celebration,
no adventure,

no gift in the world,

could mean more to me than that!

My marriage to Dennis has brought more joy than I could have imagined back on our wedding day in 1999.

Reminiscing how our family came together, I found this old video when my sons met his daughters for the first time.
Here's a clip of that....

My son Logan, and his son Keith were both on missions at the time...
so we were originally making this video for them.
(Just explaining why we mention them in the video.)

And the sound is off sync, but you can still hear it.

I especially like Kim's chicken demonstration at the end....

Wonders this month....

1. Sears came by to fix our ice maker on our fridge. Before leaving the Sears man turned to me and asked if I'd like to buy extended warranties for all of our appliances.

Not 5 minutes after he walked out I got this news alert on my phone:

Not that I was considering buying those extra Sears warranties. but never the less, glad I didn't.

2. I loved this book....read it for one of my bookclubs and it made for interesting discussion.

It is Newberry award winning historical fiction. It would be a GREAT book to read with your children or grandchildren, starting about age 9, I would guess. It would open up great discussions about compassion and empathy. And it's such a sweet story. It made me want to go out and rescue someone.

3. And this chili recipe with pumpkin in it was served at another book club. Not spicy at all, and so good!
(Rather than using 2 cans of black beans, she subbed out one for kidney beans.)

4. McKenna sent me this...

5. Karen and Tyler sent me this picture.

They said it was "National walk to school day" in Meridian.

Richie is the one in yellow.

I can tell just by looking at this picture

they have lots of town spirit.

7. And if you have a baby,
this might be an economical costume for Halloween.
(have no idea who this baby is...just found it on FB.)

But she might be a little crunchy to pick up.

I thought we'd never get that off!

Do you see something odd about this picture?

Yes, you see it.

The wreath is not centered on our pantry door.

The day before we took ownership of this house

(over two years ago!),

we did a walk through with the previous owners....

since they were also our realtor.

Everything was in perfect shape except they did show us this little Command hook...

They said they could NOT get it off. And they were worried the more they tried they would end up damaging the door.

So they said we would need to take care of it.

Fair enough (since the rest of the home was flawless)

We jiggled it, we pointed a hair dryer at it hoping the heat would melt it right off (according to google).

But nothing worked.

Every few weeks or months we would try again.

I even put it on my bucket list for 2018.

Finally I asked my good friend Rebecca if she had any ideas how to get it off. She said "try dental floss."

I thought that was funny since her husband is a dentist.

But okay. Why not.

Just in case it worked (not that I was holding my breath)

I wanted Dennis to witness it.

So I waited for him to get home.

Then I took out a piece of floss and started at the bottom. At first it wouldn't budge but then suddenly that floss went flying right up to the top, and off popped the little Command hook!

Really? It was that easy?

We'd been looking at that little out-of-place Command Hook

for over 2 years!

And now, we can't even tell where that hook once was!

Makes me wonder how many other little annoying things we might

be able to fix if we just find the solution...

A Violet kind of day

Violet's Grandma Lynn captured this picture without us knowing.

She and I were discussing her upcoming sleepover at my house.

I asked her to please be all packed by 4pm on Friday

(5 days from then)

She said "I'm already packed!"

Violet had a main focus this time...

she wanted to get a Christmas gift for her Primary teacher.

(Den suggested Halloween instead, and she went for that!)

She spent some time choosing a card for her.

The first one she read to me and I said, "oh that's sounds good."

But she said right back, "No, I think it sounds creepy."

So she read another and this one hit the spot in her heart.

She found several things for her teacher,

but this was my favorite...

"I want to get these little trophies for my teacher

so she will feel like a winning person!"

Later that night...

About 2 am I lost this in my sleep:

I cannot sleep without this thing.

I need it under my arm. (it protects my shoulder).

Den even got up to look for it.

(It may have been my flashlight that woke him up.)

As soon as he stood up from bed,

we both saw that he had been sleeping on top of it!

Well that was too much excitement for me in the middle of the night so I could NOT go back to sleep.

So I got up and started doing laundry, and other chores.

By 6am when Den's alarm went off.

He had a breakfast date with his grandpa friends.

I was way sleepy by then.

I wanted to go back to bed!

But Violet would be waking up soon.

I didn't want her feeling alone, but I couldn't stay awake.

So I wrote her a note

and then looked around for somewhere to put it,

that she would hopefully see!

It's nice when 7 year olds can read!

She told me later she saw it right away after she woke up.

While I slept she got her Primary teacher's gift bag all decorated....

And her card all written up with lots of love spilling out of it.

That's our Violet.

She even had time to decorate her own notebook.

Amazing how kids this decade just know how to pose for pictures.

It's NOT like I told her, "Now put that notebook up by your face and smile."

***Just in case you are worried about Violet

if she hadn't seen my note I know she would have come in our bedroom looking for us.

But that note gave me an hour of sleep.

I was up before Den even got back from breakfast.

This is how Violet knew she had the right card!

Looking back 20 years....1998

If you knew us 20 years ago and you lived in town, you may be on here. Logan's missionary farewell party.

I took out LOTS in this video...
mostly upside down or side way stuff, but it's still not short.

Many of these people are no longer with us.

Bill (my first husband)'s Dad had the camera. With McKay and Tyler filling in at times.

I think he was incredible

This may just look like an old man from the 1800s to you.

Enos Lewis

1799-1889

He is my Great Great Great Grandfather Enos Lewis.

Enos' son Morgan Berney Lewis, is my Great Great Grandfather.

Morgan's daughter, Lella Lewis is my Great Grandmother.

Lella's daughter, Lella LeMaster is my Grandma.

Her daughter, Gaynor Lea Slinkard is my Mom.

Okay, you got that?

Now I want to tell you what I found out about this man Enos Lewis.

I found the info below in an old book first published in 1903.

(thanks to my sister Heidi)

From Morgan M Lewis about his Uncle Enos:

"He was one of the first to take a stand against American slavery and wielded a power that was felt both in his public speeches and through his financial aid. The writer well remembers going to his house and seeing a company of splendid looking colored fugitives, some twenty-six in number, who were being sheltered and fed. Uncle Enos never seemed so happy as when he was doing some act of kindness to his fellowmen.

"He abhorred intemperance and profanity and was a shining star to those who might look for the light and in him could find an example that would be safe to follow.

"He loved children and nothing pleased him more than to teach them, and his lessons were of a high order. He believed in a future and a just and impartial God who never created a soul to be lost."

Enos Lewis' daughter said,

"Father's sympathies were enlisted at an early age in behalf of the poor downtrodden slave. I have hear him tell how, when they lived in Ohio, he aided the fugitives who were fleeing from bondage in quest of liberty, by hiding them in his father's barn before he could get a chance to help them on to a place of safety. On one occasion he had three or four of them secreted in the hay mow. His brother Hervy (who was then too young to share the secret, but who afterward became a strong supporter of the anti-slavery cause) went to the barn to hunt eggs and walked all around over the fugitives, but did not happen to discover them. When night came, and the family were all in bed asleep, father took his father's horses and wagon and carried his charges toward the land of freedom to a place of safety, returning to his bed in time to not be detected. He continued in that work until slavery was abolished. He was always in support to those needing help and mother always sustained him in his good words.

So I started to wonder where Enos got his strong objections to slavery and sense of duty to his fellow man. Than as I read further I found this:

From the death notice of Enos Lewis:

"...He was an early and active opponent of slavery. His parents having left their Virginia home on account of that curse existing there, left a lasting impression on his mind that governed his whole life..."

What Richie has to say about his ancestors

I sometimes I ask my grandchildren two questions:

What are you happy about?

and

What are you worried about?

Like I did in this post with Elora 3 years ago.

I'm not trying to pry into their sweet little lives. I'm just interested in what's on their minds and in their hearts.

Two months ago when Karen, Tyler and family were here, this was Richie's response to the 2nd question....

Next I will have some info about one of Richie's (and my) ancestors.

The weekend we are together but not together

So last Saturday I wanted to see how all my sons and their families were enjoying watching World Wide Conference of our church.

The first ones arrived, came from Idaho....

Juliet and Leo