July 4th and Allstars!

We went to Linville on July 4th (all of us but Dad and Jason).

 Hallie was very excited to be a part of the golf cart parade!

We ate at Deda's house with Charlie, Arlo, Nolan and Ellie then swam.  Both kids have been a little worn out this week so we headed home in the afternoon. 

Justin was chosen to be on the All-Star baseball team. The tournament games were on the evening of Friday July 7th.

We lost both games but on his first bat, he fouled twice and then swung to strike out.

 He got a hit in the next game but out at first and then walked making it home to score.

We were so happy since during the regular season, he was intimidated to even swing.

It gave him confidence that he could swing and at least make contact with the ball.

During the second game, he pitched two innings and had a few strike outs! He also got to play 3rd base and centerfield.

Grandma

 Grandma passed away on Friday morning, June 23rd, in the same hospice room that Dean was in and a month after Grandpa.

Something I didn’t know until Jason, Lee, and their uncle Mike were talking was when Grandma started dialysis three days a week, Grandpa couldn’t understand why it took so long and why he couldn’t go with her.

It made sense considering they were married 68 years and stayed together most of their retirement years as well.

I know it’s not accurate, but I can’t help but picture Grandpa in heaven this past month asking, “When will Wilma be here?  Why is it taking so long?”

Reminds me of the quote from The Princess Bride: “Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.”

I put the above on Facebook.

We're glad that we got to see Grandma when she was home the Saturday before we left for Disney. She had gone back to the hospital while we were at Disney World for pneumonia and we have wanted to see her the weekend of Father's day but we're exhausted Saturday and then just ran out of time on Sunday since we had been up at Linda and Gary's.

Monday the 19th Mike texted everybody to say she wasn't doing well. She was real confused and not speaking and they couldn't do dialysis.

They decided later that afternoon to do hospice so Jason and I left about 4:00 to go see her in the hospital. They had given her medication so she wasn't conscious but I'm glad we got to see her. She spent five days in hospice and almost a week without dialysis before she passed...one tough lady!

VBS!

I took off work to do VBS with the kid!  Hallie and I were crew leaders for Justin's group and we're supposed to have three other boys but only one of them, Evan, showed up.

This is us in the science room!

 Monday was "when things are dark, shine  Jesus light."

The Bible story was the birth of Christ, focusing on how the government was unkind and they hadn't heard from God in a while.

Tuesday was "when people don't get along,  Jesus' light". 

The Bible story was about Zacchaeus. 

 It was a little challenging as the group of boys behind us were screaming the songs during opening and closing time.

I had to point out twice to them not to scream since it was bothering the preschoolers in front of us as well.

Wednesday was "when good things happen, shine Jesus' light."

The Bible story was about the triumphal entry.

 It was cute during the Bible time they had the kids do a conga line.

Thursday was "when people are sad, shine Jesus light" focusing on the crucifixion story.

The kids said their favorite sessions were the Bible time and the science activities.

They made a small thing that projects constellations, put together a small rocket with darts, and this thing that you flip and a penny disappears!

Justin got a little dehydrated I think on Tuesday and didn't want to participate in games after that. I think he also might have had some sinus issues.

But here he is doing a little tug of war game!

The big stage!

What Bible time looked like (not our group here though)!

For the songs during the opening and closing session, they call different sets of groups up to the stage to sing.

You can see Hallie in the back and me on the right side. Justin was up there too but you can't see him.

All the VBS workers.

 Hallie and I are on the first row of standing people on the left side!

Kittens!

So the day after we got back from Disney World our neighbor from up the street that we didn't know very well noticed Jason and Justin outside and approached them about some kitten she had found.

Of course each kid got attached to one and we took a third thinking Linda might want, but ended up keeping her too. 

The Calico is a girl named Kiff.

The gray stripped is a boy that Hallie named Winnie.

The gray is a boy Justin named Pebbles.

We're keeping the kittens in the sunroom and Sawyer inside for the time being.

He's getting better about being around them.