In Loving Memory of Pawpaw

With a heavy heart I write this entry into our blog. Last week, January 7, we lost one of the most wonderful people I will ever know. Grant's Pawpaw, Kenneth Shanks, passed away. I had the honor of knowing him for almost 5 years. I will never forget his smiles, singing, and genuine love for everyone. I thank God that I was able to stop to meet Memaw and him in Dickson on my way back from Thanksgiving so Maggie had a chance to meet her Great Pawpaw. We will all cherish this picture of Memaw and Pawpaw with her. The other picture is of Pawpaw sleeping with Ellie on her first Thanksgiving. We often get asked about Ellie's reddish hair color and where she gets it from. It was Pawpaw. He had red hair when he was a boy and was so proud that Ellie had red in her hair. She will always have a little bit of Pawpaw with her! He loved his great grandchildren dearly and there was no doubt of that. I could go on and on about how great of a man he was and how much I will miss him. Even though I was family by marriage he treated me like one of his own grandchildren so I know that they will miss him even more so. His faith is what stands out the most to all who knew him. He loved his Lord and was not ashamed to share it with anyone. One of his favorite songs was, "How Great Thou Art". I had the honor to play it for him on my keyboard as he sang along. It is a memory I will always cherish and I can still hear him singing it loud and proud. So I will end with the last verse of this hymn as I know Pawpaw's heart is filled with joy as he is with his Jesus.

"When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee; How great Thou art. how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee; How great Thou art, how great Thou art!"

Christmas and the New Year

We were asked by our church, Long's Chapel UMC, to play the Holy Family in the church nativity on Christmas Eve. Maggie had the honor of playing the baby Jesus. Grant and I both had speaking lines! It was fun and will always be a memory we will cherish! We went to Grant's parents' home in Delano, TN for Christmas. Ellie decided for the second straight year that Christmas is a good time to get very sick. We went to urgent care there, but did not see improvement as the week went on. Ellie did feel okay enough to open some presents and tried her hardest to play with them. We returned a day early to take Ellie to our pediatrician and he told us that he had sent kids better off than her to the hospital. She had a mild form of pneumonia and double ear infections. He trusted us to give her the meds and breathing treatments to help her get well. She didn't eat for almost two weeks, but thanks to all the prayers and modern medicine we are happy to report she is back to running around and eating very well! She was able to enjoy watching the Cotton Bowl with me on Jan. 2. She now says "Ole Miss" and will point to my shirts and say it. She also asks to hear the "Hotty song". I do the G rated version of Hotty Toddy for her. She now knows everyone in the extended family's name and loves to talk. We love hearing what new word she will pick up on each day. She also enjoys helping to do chores and is a little OCD just like her Daddy ;)!

We are working hard on potty training and if you ask her what she gets when she goes tt on the big girl potty she will say "emmy", which means M&M's. She also knows she gets to wear her Elmo or Abby panties as well. Maggie is getting so big and is staying awake much more. We are still wondering who she is going to look like and if her blue eyes are going to stay around. She looks less and less like Ellie. We go for her 2 month checkup tomorrow.

I started back to work last Monday and Grant started his clinical in Asheville. We have Ms. Rebecca and her 2 yr. old daughter coming to our house to keep the girls. Ellie has had so much fun and adjusted well. We are so excited about the arrangement and love Ms. Rebecca. She is so good with the girls.

Pre Christmas Festivities

Before Christmas we had lots of activities going on. They had a Christmas party at Haywood Regional Medical center for all babies born in 2008. That was our first visit with Santa. We saw Santa again at our local Toy Store on Main St. Ellie likes "Ho Ho" from far away, but will not sit in his lap. We saw him again the same night on Main St for the Christmas celebration. Ellie also rode in a covered wagon pulled by horses down Main st with Daddy. Maggie and I watched. Since I was on maternity leave and Grant was out for his break we had lots of family time. Grant took Ellie to a basketball game at Western Carolina. She refers to basketball as "Daddy ball". We had our family Christmas the Sat before since we were going out of town over Christmas. Ellie opened everyone's presents for them and kept wanting more to open. She was more into the opening of presents then she was into what she got! Maggie slept through most of it, but Ellie was sure to show her what she got from ho ho. Ellie knows what belongs to each person and wants to make sure they get it. We also let Ellie paint get well cards for my Grandaddy who has been in ICU since Christmas. She painted herself as well and tried to paint Grant! She loves her baby sister and that is usually the first person she aks for when she wakes up. She still refuses to say Maggie, but only refers to her as "Baby".