Happiest Of Birthdays Ethan

Dear Ethan,

Twelve years ago today, I first laid eyes on you and fell in love. I was so excited to be your Gramma.

Your first year, your hair became curly and your blues eyes sparkled.

By year two, your happiness and laughter filled our hearts with such joy.

You were curious about everything, and loved anything of your Aunties, including shoes and purses.

Long before you turned 3, your love of dogs was apparent.

You and your mom made a great team in everything you did. At 4, the two of you had moved 90 minutes away and we missed you so much.

Thankfully, you visited often and your favorite thing to do was mow the lawn with Grandpa.

It didn't take you long to move from lawn mowers to fast cars.  I still am not sure how you got your car seat into the driver's seat of my car, but if you could have, I'm sure you would have found a way to drive.

First it was Power Rangers and Spiderman, but once you found out about Transformers, you and I spent a lot of time shopping. No matter what store we went into, you knew exactly where to find Transformers.

Your great grandparents took you on your first trip to Disneyland when you were 7.  I am so thankful I got to be a part of it.  Not having any expectations, your genuine surprise and excitement was priceless at seeing the characters and riding the rides. Your favorite part was watching the kids be Storm Troopers and fight against Darth Vader with Light Sabers.  You practiced for years afterwards, no doubt awaiting a turn to do the same.

You and your mom continued to be best buds.

You loved baseball,

And we continued our quest to try to buy every Transformer ever made.

 And then it wasn't just you and your mom.  You had a new dad.

But still loved your Aunties & Uncle very much.

 You became a big brother.

 

At 12, you are the best big brother ever!

And you still love Transformers!

Happy 12th Birthday, buddy! 

Love,

Gramma

"Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!" (Ps. 66:1)

Color Or Not Color

A good friend of mine, now that she has her first grandchild, has decided to rock her natural hair color. Because the two of us share a grand daughter, I wondered how I would look with naturally white hair. The time, hassle, and cost of continually coloring my hair is annoying. This led me to hours of searching through pics of my hair.

2001-2002 

In the top left photo, I am 39 years old. Believe it or not, I was still highlighting my hair. As you can see from the middle picture, it was definitely gray. By the third, I had quit bleaching and was instead applying temporary color.

 2003
After turning 40, I decided to grow my hair out. I'd never had long hair in my entire life. I truly mean never. While my sisters were sporting ponytails, I had pixie cuts.

 2004

2004

A dear friend, who happens to be a hairdresser, pulled me aside and convinced me to go red and cut my hair.  It took a few tries to get the right color, but Michael fell in love with this ginger.

 2005
Red fades more than any other color, so I began going darker in an attempt to keep it from fading so fast.

2006 

I added blonde highlights,

2007
and continued to play with the color.

 2008
I couldn't decide about the cut.

2009
I experienced more than one bad haircut.

2010
A bad haircut results in a bad hair day,

2011
which can ruin my week,

2012
and can last for months.

2013
After I turned 50, I noticed my hair had also aged.

2014

Then I got busy and haven't had time to get my hair professionally done.

 What do I do??? Cut? Color? Go gray and return to my childhood pixie cut? I have an appointment with the hairdresser. Yikes!

Truthfully,

Joanne

 "The glory of youths is their strength, but the beauty of the aged is their gray hair." (Prov. 20:29)

Blessed Indeed!

I can't believe I have to wait a month to see the professional wedding photos. I can't wait to share them.

As the mother-of-the-bride, I didn't have a chance to take pictures myself, except when I grabbed Michael's phone and got this one.

I felt unbelievably blessed at the wedding. Not only was the bride beautiful and everything perfectly lovely, but I realized once again what an amazing family I have.

As I looked around the room,

 I saw 20 family members who had flown in from out of state to celebrate my daughter's wedding: my daughter's grandparents, cousins, aunts & uncles.

I looked at my own 5 children, their 4 spouses, and my 3 grandchildren;

I felt abundantly blessed.

Yet in that moment, I realized an even greater depth to our family.

Danny's parents were at the wedding. Lauren's parents were not only present but helped set up for the reception. Brian's mom was in attendance, as were Travis' parents. All 7 parents of my inlaw children were joined together as family to celebrate the wedding of Sarabeth & Travis. I  am blessed indeed!

Truthfully,

Joanne

 

(P.S. I hope to share pictures of everyone once we get the wedding photos back.)

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Ps. 133:1)

Happy Mother's Day

Mom's come in all varieties.  Some have babies, like to travel and have adventures. 

Some are good at juggling more than one child, while working a full time job.

 

Some have twins,

 some space their children 5 plus years apart.

 Some moms have grown children and younger ones too.

 Some have children while young, then add more when they are a bit older with grandkids older than some of their own children.

Some have lots of children who are all grown up with kids of their own, and since the grands are so far away, they collect dogs and puppies. 

Some moms manage to find time to see their grandchildren, in spite of having big families with adult children getting married, having wedding showers, baby showers, graduating/going to college.

And some moms have the privilege of being a mom/grandma to all of these other moms. 

Happy Mother's Day Mom, see you on Friday in New Orleans!

Truthfully,

Joanne

"May the Lord give you increase more and more,You and your children." (Ps. 115:14)