Happy 4th From Us to You!

For 3 years now, we have traveled to St. Mary's, GA for their parade. We love it! St. Mary's is typical small town America. Their parade consists of old tractors and cars. Police cars, trucks, and tanks. Firetrucks. Radio stations. Tae Kwon Do academies. Day cares. Music Studios. Knights of Columbus. Boy Scouts. There are no marching bands or anything else that would make you think typical parade. We love it. The neighbors drive their golf carts to Osteola Drive. Moms walk their babies in strollers. It makes me think of 1950's America!

After the parade, we returned home for necessary naps for all since we would not only be up VERY late, a certain unnamed 9 year old slept for a whopping 4 hrs the night before keeping said child's mother up. Once said child fell asleep, a certain 7 year old woke 1 hour and 33 minutes later followed by a certain 5 year old 25 minutes later. These unnamed children only allowed their mother to sleep from 4-5:33am - she was a tad cranky!

  After naps, we prepared to go see the Jacksonville Suns play the Chattanooga Lookouts! The final score was 3-0, Suns. So, it was a bit of a boring game! However, Daddy did catch a ball for the kiddos. Also, Grandma was able to join us! Father David was supposed to come, but there was an emergency at our parish, so he was unable.

After the game, Winn Dixie sponsored a huge fireworks show. Normally on Friday nights they will have fireworks, but this was about double what is normally done. The kiddos loved every single second!

After the game, Grandma, Daddy, and I grabbed a kiddo and headed to the van. We parked in the garage across from the field and arrived to our van at 10:30. We were finally exiting the garage at 11:05. Once out of the garage, all we saw were brake lights in all directions. There are only a handful of ways out of downtown Jacksonville and every single one was backed up. We had to go over the Matthew's Bridge and we could see that things were not moving at all. Finally, at 11:40 we were over the Matthew's bridge and headed towards Grandma's house. We dropped her off and were home shortly after midnight....

The kiddos were still on cloud nine from everything, but after a little night time routine aided and snuggles, all were out by 1am, quickly followed by Mommy and Daddy.

It was a wonderful 4th of July. I love the tradition we have began of attending the St. Mary's Parade in the morning. As we were driving home, Daddy and I agreed that this is something we always want to do - even when the kiddos are grown and we are called Granny and Papa!

Maura's Memory Bear

 

11 years ago, after the death of our brand new baby brother John David, we were introduced to DD's Memory Bears. She used her incredible talents to create not 1, but 2 bears using the hospital gown that Mama wore... {I am not able to upload a picture to this post, but if you click on 'bears' and 'hospital gown', you will see the gown and then one of the two bears...}

 With Maura's death, we all knew that Maura Memory Bear's were a must. After Rachael, Clare, Aunt Mary, and I cleared our her room and brought home all of her clothes, the search began for memory bear materials. After they were chosen, we placed our items in a ziploc bag with our name so that they could all be shipped together. Honestly, that time was such an incredible blur, that I had forgotten what I had chosen!

Finally, 10weeks, 8 bears, and 1 pillow later we have our Maura Anne Memory Bears! They were all shipped to Mama and Papa's house, which as much as I want mine N.O.W., I think it will be more beneficial to get her surrounded by my parents and siblings...

Without further ado, here is my memory bear...

The main fabric was a long sleeve cotton shirt and the colorful fabric was a zippered jacket that she picked out all on her own! Maura Anne had a love for color and patterns that was all her own! I ADORE the hood/bonnet that was created!

God's {Ever So Mysterious} Timing

God's timing is incredible and always works in mysterious ways!

Daddy is the president of our HomeOwners Association. Because of this, he has different signs made and keeps them here at the house. The majority of these signs are delivered by the wife of the owner of our management company (did you follow that?!)...

Friday, she dropped off a new 'Yard Of The Month' sign. Since she had no kiddos and mine were playing quietly (!)we took the opportunity to catch up and chat. At one point, she mentioned her sewing room and bells went off in my head and I ran to m room to gather my supplies....

Aunt Maura's Nightgown created be her niece and nephews

As some of you may know, I have been searching for nearly 2 months for someone to help me create a blanket of sorts using some of my Maura Annie and John David's materials - most importantly the nightgown my kiddos made and the blanket John David used. Everybody that I have asked, does not feel comfortable with such memorable items. There was one lady I called that wanted over $150 for a simple small blanket. Because of these constant road blocks, I pushed it back to the dark recesses of my mind thinking that if it were God's will, the perfect opportunity would arise...

I returned and laid all of my goodies out for her to seep. She looked at the stuff and immediately had the idea of a memory quilt - something I had never thought of! We chatted a bit more and she asked me to gather a few more things and then we are a go!

When she left, I sat in my closet and sobbed. What she is envisioning is far better than anything I could have ever thought of! It was the glimmer of light that I needed after a very difficult week! God is SO good and His timing is so perfect - always!

Memory Quilt Exmple

Later that evening, I emailed my parents about this. I wanted to let them know about the incredible kindness that is still being shown. Well, my mom wrote back that she also looked into one, but the lady in MS wanted to charge well over $1000! Because of that, mama pushed it out of her mind. But, when I saw this, my wheels got to turning!

Since I live so very far away, there is not much I can physically do to help my family, but THIS was something I COULD at least try to help with. I thought about asking mama's approval first, but then decided not to in case it was not able to happen...

So, I thought of different ways to get the word out as to what I was looking for and decided upon social media - a.k.a. FaceBook!

This is what I posted at 5:09pm...
My Dear MS Friends: my mama is wanting a memory quilt with some of Maura Annie's special things. Do any of you sew or know someone that would be willing to help her out in this endeavor? She found someone who could, but wanted over $1000 - no bueno! This gift would mean the absolute world to her, and the entire Gray-Lewis family as well...
By 5:14pm, I had my first offer. Then, at 5:16 came the second!

Papa and Miss Hudspeth 2012

I called mama and informed her that I had 2 people willing to make a quilt! She was speechless - which NEVER happens! It meant the world for me to be able to help with this, however little my part may be! Hearing my mother full of joy is so incredible and after all that she does for us, being able to help in some way with this special project makes me SO very happy!

Mama and Maura Annie loved to snuggle...

During this call though, she informed me that had I called just 30 minutes later, she would have nothing left of Maura Annie. She had all of her clothes packed and waiting by the door and she was going to drop them at GoodWill when she out later!

God's timing is always perfect!

A Picture's Value

A few weeks ago, I received a package from mama that contained some Maura memorabilia - pictures, news articles, prayer cards, and such. At first, I could not look through them as it was just too painful. The slowly, very slowly, I began to pull things out - every few days, I would pull out a new picture or news article. I would shed my tears and take my time. The package remained on my kitchen counter waiting for me to finish going through its contents....

Well, today was the day. I shed many tears this morning, and I felt like this afternoon I needed to look at that last picture. I needed to remember. As I looked at it, I began to cry - the remaining picture was the first one taken after Maura's birth...

Rachael, Phuong, and I stayed behind the curtain with Dr. Wender (a family friend and Neonatologist) while Mama, Papa, and Dr. McMillan (another family friend and Maura's God Mother) helped Maura Anne make miraculous entry into this world, late in the evening on August 13, 1991. It was a beautiful occasion - the first birth any of us siblings had attended and we were just awe struck. We rejoiced. We cried. We were in love. We watched as Maura Anne was Baptized immediately after she was born by Dr. McMillan. We observed when they brought her behind the curtain so that Dr Wender could do his exam - we all just stared at this little 4lb 10oz miracle. We made memories...

That first Meeting

Finally the time came for us to see Mama and for her to hold her brand new daughter. We all gathered around Mama and could not take our eyes off of this absolutely incredible being that just entered the world. It was beautiful...

As I looked closely at the picture, I noticed the pillow case Mama was leaning against - the pillow she had brought from home to use during labor. You cannot read the entire thing, but it says 'Mary Paul' - it is MY pillowcase painted by a dear friends mother when I was little. It is a pillow case I found shortly after we moved to FL that I have slept with every night as a reminder of my family at home...
What a special, unexpected link - one that came at a perfect time when I was feeling lonely and homesick. Now, I have a special link to Maura. One that has been there since day 1, yet we never even noticed!

To The Salon We Go...

Yesterday, Hannah and I decided to go t the salon to get our nails done. My gel polish from Maura Annie's funeral was looking a bit decrepit, so it was time to go - I was not prepared for it to be a bit tender and received many a look from those around as my Precious Hannah sat with her head in my lap, hugging me and then providing the necessary distraction! What a gift she is!

At first, I had to soak off my prior gel polish - Hannah could NOT stop laughing at this... for obvious reasons! Miss Hannah was acting SO silly and kept asking me to do things she knew were impossible to do with aluminum foil wrapped fingers. Great fun was had during this phase of the manicure!

After the soak off, It was time for the fun part - picking out a color! I have never been one for color, but since Maura died, I have found that it is one thing that makes me feel close to her. Hannah on the other hand, has ALWAYS gotten color - she loves it, and bright colors at that! At the salon, there was a plethora of bright pinks, purples, greens, blues, and so on. But, Miss Thang settled on a color called "Where is the lizard?" It is one of those colors that changes colors in the light when you tilt it - so there is gold, green, some blue, etc, etc. Hannah helped choose mine, and I was not sure if I wanted to go with another 'Maura Color' or something light and subtle. I went back and forth many times and finally settled on neither a super bright color, nor a very light one - you decide what color it is!

If Hannah stops biting her nails, she will get free color from now until they take back the incentive! She is MOTIVATED!!!!

We had such a great time. We were at the salon for almost 2 hours (most of the time waiting), but it felt so good to have a special outing with my one and only daughter!

"A daughter is a little girl who grows up to be your friend."

Hannah, mommy LOVED spending time with you on our special outing today. Thank you for being the best daughter anyone could ask for. Your heart is so big and you are always thinking of everyone before yourself. I thank God every single day for allowing you to be my daughter. I love you so very, very much.
XOXOXO, ♥ Mommy ♥   

Ps. Skinamarinkadink, Skinamarinkado, I love you! ♥