I'm torn.


I'm anxious for the hottest, driest summer in half a century to be over. I can't wait until the first crisp breeze.


And yet, where did the time go? There's so much summer stuff I didn't get done! Ah, but I got to spend lots of days and nights with a sweet little granddaughter, so I won't complain about what didn't get done. 


I wouldn't mind, though, if someone were to sneak in and insert two more weeks on my August calendar.


Cool ones.

Labels: Grandkids, Summer, Weather

Okay, it looks like I haven't been "here" since July 1. You'd think summer would give me the free time to blog, huh? But not in 2011. This summer has held surprises, trips, changes in plans, and a lot of driving involved with all of those. So my blog has languished...


In fact, I've considered giving it a quiet expiration party, but I'll wait until fall to decide that :-)


I am back in Shawnee, Oklahoma, with CJ and Tony and Ava, enjoying some more snuggle time with my granddaughter. She's made such tremendous progress that it's hard to imagine her at 3lbs 4.5oz just a few weeks ago! She's now looking much more healthy at 5lbs 9oz and beginning to do some of the things that term babies do. As she should, since yesterday was the day she was scheduled to be born!


It's also been a big blessing to see how tenderly and patiently these two newlyweds have learned to parent Ava already. I know from experience what a shock it is to have a preemie after seven months of marriage. Though our little one did not survive the first month, I still get flashbacks of caring for him when I watch them. And in many ways, what they are experiencing is even harder than what we went through, since they are now responsible for the total care of this tiny one. It can be scary, and it's exhausting! I'm delighted to see that God has equipped Tony and CJ, so early in their marriage, to be all that Ava needs...

Labels: Family, Grandkids, Summer, The Papa

On June 5, CJ gave birth to little Ava June, weighing in at 3lbs 4oz at 32 weeks gestation. She has lived her short life so far in the NICU at OU Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City. When I knew that CJ was either going to deliver right away or be on bedrest for several weeks, I drove up from San Antonio to move in with them and do whatever I could, and I'm still here. So many of you are and have been praying for Ava since before her birth, and I can't tell you how much that means to me. Many others have helped CJ and Tony with food and drinks, preemie clothes, offers of places to stay, gift cards for the extra expenses...thank you so much. You've been "angels unawares."


If you'd like to follow Amazing Ava's Adventures, let me know and I'll add you to her Facebook page where you'll see updates and more pictures.

Ava, just moments old, being wheeled out of the delivery room on her way to the NICU

CJ was under general anesthesia, so just minutes after she woke, Tony shows her the video of the birth

Ava's first evening

24 hours after birth, Ava finally gets to be held by her mommy

First day of being dressed in real clothes, a reward for reaching the 1500 gram milestone

Granny gets to hold Ava

First, the two mommies who didn't know they'd be delivering cousins ten days apart!

Tummy views, 30 and 40 weeks

This was pretty much the position for the whole labor

You'd think we were watching a movie, huh?

Minutes after Donovan's birth, but he wasn't named until several hours later

Welcome, little one!

Janet weighs the little guy

Okay, something about this picture reminds me of the Scarecrow, The  Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion! The uncles were not present for the birth but were admitted minutes afterward to greet the newest male in the family.

Six Slaughter kids!

Two very different births...one very faithful God. Praise God, from Whom ALL blessings flow!

Labels: Babies, Grandkids

Yes, he's in the net, getting the official weigh-in. At 7 pounds, 8 oz., he's definitely in the Bantamweight class  :-)

Labels: Babies, Family, Grandkids, Kids

Labels: Books, Food, Good Stuff, Grandkids, Movies, TV

Labels: Books, Grandkids, Kids, News, The Papa, Theater of the Absurd

This is grandson Isaac's (age 9) idea of the perfect peanut butter sandwich. Made it himself. Just the way he likes it.

Labels: Fun, Grandkids

"At my Dok's wedding, people were getting hungry and Granny did NOT have enough food in her pantry for everyone because SOOO many people showed up.  TONS of people came.  We DID NOT know all of them.  They just showed up. So, Papa called a RESTAURANT to come and bring us food! LOTS OF FOOD! They brought it in a restaurant truck with lots of people and food in it and bad iced tea. I think Papa had to pay them a MILLION dollars for all that food! But they let Granny keep the food that we didn't eat and then we ate it for Family Dinner Night. And now I don't like barbeque chicken because I ate too much."

Labels: Books, Family, Fun, Grandkids, Weddings

Anne is thinking about having this enlarged and laminated and put up in our grandson Jude's room...



Hey Jude Flow Chart

Labels: Fun, Grandkids, Music

New mommy Annie, reading to all three of her children. Baby Savannah is ten days old and is slumbering peacefully in the sling behind the book :-)

Labels: Family, Grandkids

It was my joy to take Erin, my youngest (conversant) granddaughter, to a late breakfast/early lunch this morning. She's adorable, of course, and made a delightful companion. Some day, it will be little Savannah picking out the yummiest pancakes!

Labels: Fun, Grandkids

Today I'm giving top billing to my little snippet of a granddaughter, just two days old! Savannah Joy Welty was born on Friday night in Virginia, the third baby for my third baby :-) Siblings Erin and Judah and Aunt Beth welcomed her home yesterday. Congrats to Caleb and Annie, proud Dad and Mom...Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Now of course it wouldn't do to have a grandbaby that I haven't seen! Not for more than a few days! So I am going to take a break from school and wedding planning and make a trek east. I haven't traveled at all since the latest chapter in my orthopedic saga, so it's definitely going to be a challenge and I wouldn't mind your prayers. I will leave here Thursday morning and stay with the Weltys for six days. I'm just about as excited about seeing Erin and Jude as the new little one. Miss them all terribly!

And speaking of wedding planning, we are moving right along. Sometimes I want it to S-L-O-W down...not because I'm afraid we won't get it all done, but just because I'm in no hurry to see my sweet CJ move away. Since I know that in some ways she IS in a hurry, I'll refrain from attempting to bend time...

Häagen Dazs Caramel Cone. Thank you.

Someday I'm going to Machu Picchu. If they have to take me in a wheelchair. But first, cruise to Alaska. Not in the same week.

So this week I got my shoes back from the orthotic shop after a very long wait. And wouldn't you know, they don't work. Evidently the measurements were off, and the darn things are too tall. Now I limp in reverse. So back to the drawing board. And I won't have them for my trip.

Friday night, while our granddaughter was being born, we were attending a benefit concert for Voice of the Martyrs. Shelley and friends sang in the choir, performing some beautiful "early" music. She also sang in a quintet, pictured below (Shelley is second from right). The evening was beautifully put together...entertaining, inspiring and convicting all in one lovely presentation. And of course, Shelley did beautifully :-)

(photo shamelessly lifted from Robin M.)

Congrats to our dear friends Greg and Candace, expecting baby #9 in March. They've caught up with us!

Next Sunday I'll be in Virginia cuddling a little one, so the Snippets will be on vacation...have a great week!

Labels: Babies, Food, Grandkids, Music, Sundays, Weddings

It was a good, if out-of-the-ordinary week at Granny's House. We've loved having the Slaughters with us, even though Dave was gone most of the week and Kristen spent much of the week getting their house ready to vacate. (Hey, does that mean it's a "vacation"?) Now things should settle down a little for the rest of the summer...

Even though we don't remember giving our permission, some stray cat had four kittens under our deck a few weeks ago, and we've had to figure out what to do with them. We've cleaned them up, fed them, medicated them, and are hoping to have them ready for adoption soon through the Human Society. Of course my kids are begging to keep one, or two, or three, or...

Is it November yet? No, not for the cool weather, not for Thanksgiving....for the ELECTION. PLEASE, look ahead now, and if you're not going to be in your regular voting location on November 2, make a note to request an absentee ballot or to take part in your state's early voting days. Some of the damage done in the past year and a half may be irreversible (Read: Elena Kagan), but some of it can be undone now if we act quickly. Remember November!

Aubrey is home from the hospital after her surgery. Thank you to those of you who are praying for her and ministering to her in other ways. She is still in some pain and having trouble sleeping, but so far no complications. I'm hoping she recovers quickly so I can see her...she can't come down stairs and I can't go up!

Five-year-old Sam doesn't want to drink after his mom, because he doesn't want to "catch your surgery".

We had a great wedding planning meeting this week, and thanks to our friend Cori we think we might actually be able to pull this off. She has that rare ability to hear a few sentences of what you want and be able to visualize the whole scene and be off and running. CJ is very relieved to have someone telling us what to do :-)

Last night we celebrated the birthdays of Molly (12) and Carrie (6). Since our youngest daughter just turned 18, it's fun to have some younger girls to share parties with. But I think we all agree that the best part of the party was Kristen's renditions of Pioneer Woman's Strawberry Shortcake Cake. Oh man, you have got to try this. And make sure it doesn't all get eaten the first day, because it really is better the second day. It might be better yet on the third day, but alas, we'll never know.

Trusting that soon I'm going to be able to travel without being in a wheelchair or stretcher, I've made some plans and some plane reservations. I'm going to Virginia at the end of this month to meet little Savannah Welty for the first time. She will, of course, be waiting with baited breath to see me so I'm doing my best. Then in August I'm going to fly to southern California for a week of relaxing with Lyric, and then up to northern California where I'll meet John (not for the first time, of course). We're going to speak to a group of homeschooling couples outside Modesto and then have a couple of days to just enjoy friends and enjoy being away together!

With the help of two excellent books that I've had for a long time, I made myself a list (on a Google Spreadsheet, of course!) of all the classics that I want to read before I die. No, I'm not in some morbid phase...quite the opposite. But I am taking seriously the Psalmist's plea, "So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom." (Ps. 90:12) Proverbs tells us that "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10), and so I've made a renewed commitment to be in the Word to a greater extent. But I also believe that God has buried treasures of wisdom for us in many places and would rather have me reading great literature than playing a game on Facebook (which I haven't done, by the way, but in a vacuum I'm liable to succumb to things that are complete wastes of time). And I know myself well enough to know that without a plan, a lot of what I want to read will go unopened. So...armed with my literary "bucket list", here I go!

Al Mohler has a valuable blog post this week on why today's men and women are finding so little happiness in being parents. Here's a taste, but you should definitely read the whole thing:

Christians must see children as gifts from God, not as projects. We should see marriage and parenthood as a stewardship and privilege, not as a mere lifestyle choice. We must resist the cultural seductions and raise children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and understand family life as a crucible for holiness, not an experiment in happiness. [Emphasis mine]

I continue to make good progress in my tenth week of physical therapy and look forward to the day when I don't need it any more. I can still say this has been my quickest recovery ever from a major leg or hip surgery and for that I am grateful. I'm enjoying cooking, light housework, and even driving myself to the grocery store, and now looking forward to travel!

Bethany has now been in Virginia with Annie for ten days and I am SO missing her! John Caleb will get his turn tomorrow as he will fly out with The Papa, who is going out for business as well as to see the kids.

And that's all, folks...may God give you a wonderful week!

Labels: Family, Food, Grandkids, Health, Political Action, Sundays, The Papa, Weddings

I love long weekends! Around here, a long holiday weekend almost always means a cookout with family and friends, and this holiday is no different. Tomorrow we'll grill chicken and brats and enjoy the day with about 40 here. We've made lots of preparations today so Granny's House is already smelling good...

Yesterday was Onslaught(er) Day at the House. Our sweet kids and grandkids have moved in for a couple of months, giving us lots of smiles and hugs and the sound of little feet once again. Pure joy!

Weather in the past few days has been very muggy, but on the good side we've had a lot of rain for June/July and more is forecast for this week. Good for the lawn and trees!

All week long, books trickled in from my orders and we saw Mike, our UPS man, nearly every day. Most of the books have to do with 18th century history, one of my favorite periods to study. As a matter of fact, I'm drooling over some Teaching Company courses for my own study as we move into the fall's Tapestry of Grace unit.

Tony is here! This weekend he and CJ made a construction paper chain that now hangs in the kitchen, with 97 links, one for each day until their wedding :-) Tony will be here for the big cookout tomorrow and will have to return to Oklahoma Tuesday. Not long enough for us (or for CJ, of course!) but we're thankful for every day we can get.

And for another addition to the family this year, we are eagerly awaiting news of the arrival of little Savannah Welty, due within the next couple of weeks. I'll be planning a trip to Virginia soon!

This week I'll be finishing up the last few pages of How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil. This book isn't an easy read, but if you want to dig deep into the issues of pain and suffering and the whole "when bad things happen to good people" questions, it's a must-read.

Because of the prevalence in the past 15 years of in vitro fertilization and implantation of multiple embryos (read: lots of babies), we've forgotten just how rare occurrences like this are in the natural world: Having Babies 1-2-3

And, for your July 4th weekend required reading, we have It's All in the History Books and A Cold Man's Warm Words. There may be a pop quiz.

Please pray for Aubrey, our oldest daughter, as she goes in the hospital for major surgery on Wednesday of this week. And pray for her husband and sweet kiddos as they minister to her and keep the house running while she recuperates.

From this morning's glorious worship service:


Enjoy your celebration of Independence Day. Happy 234th birthday to the land of my birth!

Labels: Books, Family, Grandkids, Holidays, Music, Weather, Weddings

I've received a lot of flowers in the past few weeks, and I treasure them so much...they make me smile.

But so far, these are my very favorite, made by granddaughter Molly:



Thank you so much, Molly! These are keepers!

Labels: Grandkids

Sweet 5 year old granddaughter Carrie: Mom, I'm so upset.
Kristen: Upset about what?
Carrie: Because sometimes the thinks that I have go away when I start thinking about something else and I still want those thinks!


I hear ya, Carrie. And you're only five.

Labels: Grandkids

Finally, some color in the leaves! True, it's a paltry autumn compared to most other places I've lived, but it's nice to look up and see a patch of red on the occasional tree...

So this is the week that the girls and I work on seating charts for Thanksgiving Dinner. We have a slightly-larger-than-usual group this year but we still want it to be a special, sit-down experience for each one who's with us. So since we don't have the optimum floor plan for eating with large groups, it takes some planning ahead and careful use of the available space. Happily, I have kids who excel at this sort of thing :-)

I was able to visit with my mother this week. Her Parkinson's, along with her very fragile bones and all the meds she must take for both conditions, have left her in a state that makes me sad to see. This visit she was confused about CJ, my companion for this trip, thinking she was Aubrey even after I told her several times. She knew me, but asked me the same things over and over...I'm tearing up as I write this, as it was a painful realization that disease is taking its toll and usually only goes in one direction.

Well FINALLY I made the decision on a new printer this week and get to ditch the Dell. We've had it three years and it's never worked right, and we've probably spent fifteen times as much money on the ink for it as we did on the original purchase. The new printer is a Canon PIXMA MX860 Wireless All-In-One Photo Printer and I'll let you know if it ends up being any better than our old one.

And because this news will get out anyway, I'll confess that I took some of my spending money this week and bought myself a Kindle. I've been very curious about this gadget, wondering if I would really use it. After playing with it, loading my NASB Bible and a couple other books on it, I have already become attached. No, it will never completely replace books for me, but it lets me travel with a lot more reading material than I can fit in my luggage, and it also means I can enjoy a lot of books without having to find shelf space for them.

Looks like we'll forgo our usual day-after-Thanksgiving trip to choose a live Christmas tree. The Papa and I will be leaving for Hawaii early on Friday morning, and we've also decided that it will be better for our sweet asthmatic grandson if we don't bring a fresh tree in the house. So I'm on the lookout for a really nice, TALL artificial tree. The Papa says that this time it's gonna be pre-lit.

I'll be loading Going Rogue on my Kindle.

Happy birthday to Joshua, who is T E N today!

Labels: Books, Family, Good Stuff, Grandkids, Holidays, Technology

Well, no sooner did we feel a chill in the air than I was inspired to get out my Thanksgiving menu grid, get serious about Christmas shopping, and look through my holiday magazines to find some new recipes to try. Part of me wishes we'd have cool/cold weather all year long, and the other part of me knows that I'd miss the change--that sudden rush of high energy and optimism and yes, ecstasy that fall brings me every year.

But of course, with changes in the weather come risks. We have a metal gazebo with nice zip-up mosquito netting and an outdoor chandelier light fixture on our deck...or rather we did. It's usually screwed down onto the deck because everything we own blows away out here, but when Dave got ready to resurface and enlarge the deck we unscrewed it and put it in the yard. Alas, we waited one day too late to replace it, and now it's just a memory, sawed up into pieces and waiting for the dump. High winds threw it across the deck and very nearly into our Suburban, stopped only by other deck furniture that was in its path. So...now we have 1400 square feet of new decking with very little on it.

If you've ever misplaced your cell phone and your land line isn't handy to call from, here's a quick, nifty way to get it to ring. (Now, if you've left your ringer off, you're on your own.) Where's My Cell Phone?

And speaking of phones, we're about six inches away from the decision to give up a land line altogether. We can always be reached by cell phone, and for the two youngest who don't have cell phones yet, we can get one cell to be left here in the house for when all of us are gone and they need to reach us or be reached. Tacking a new cell onto one of our two family plans will just cost us $9.99 a month, much less than what we're paying to keep a redundant land line.

I LOVE this quote from Mark Steyn on Obama's hemming and hawing over Afghanistan when he'd really rather being working on socialized medicine: "Why squander your presidency on trying to turn an economically moribund feudal backwater into a functioning nation state when you can turn a functioning nation state into an economically moribund feudal backwater?"

For your afternoon historical/political reading assignment, I submit this piece from Townhall. (hat tip: Pam Y., who wonders with me why we see Dick Morris everywhere but never his wife/coauthor Eileen McGann.)

Anyone know a good source for inexpensive but dishwasher-safe charger plates?

Many of us are holding our breath waiting for the new cookbook--The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl . It will be out week after next...go pre-order one. And if you aren't already hooked on her web site, go here and here.

Have you enjoyed a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte yet this season? Ahhh....and I can already taste the upcoming EGGNOG Latte. What day does that start?

This is a fun story. Something about it smacks of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers...do guys still do this?

Granddaughter Carrie, 5, came in my room this week and looked at my bed. I have a very large feather body pillow that helps me greatly (now that I'm sleeping in the bed again) by giving me a place to rest one of my legs and keep pressure off my hip. It was under the covers and the quilt was spread up over it when Carrie arrived. She looked at it, looked at me, looked back at the bed, back at me, and said, "Granny, did you put that under there so I would think it was you?"

Smiling with you through a new week!

Labels: Food, Good Stuff, Grandkids, Holidays, ObamaNation

It happened fast. Annie and family, after being with us for a lovely three months, drove away on Tuesday morning with only a few hours' notice. Monday night Caleb received a call that a company in Virginia with whom he'd already interviewed once wanted him back for a second interview, and because it looked like a good "risk", they took off in their car the next day. We sure miss them, but we're praying that this job is the one that will have them settling down in his chosen field and building the next phase of their lives. Once again, the house seems way too quiet without grandkids...

Here in San Antonio, we're trying to figure out where to put all the water from the torrential rains in the past two days. Last night was one of the loudest electrical storms I've ever heard, continuing for hours and hours. It seems like nature is trying to make up for two years' drought in one or two nights!

After a rather up and down week, I received good news on Friday from all fronts in my recovery. I was freed from my PICC line, which although better than being hospitalized for IV's, is still a big headache and no fun. Now I can turn over without having to worry about everything getting tangled. Not to mention the pleasure of discharging my home health care nurse :-)

McDonald's at the Louvre. Gotta love what this is doing to the culture snobs:

"This is the last straw," said one art historian working at the Louvre, who declined to be named. "This is the pinnacle of exhausting consumerism, deficient gastronomy and very unpleasant odours in the context of a museum," he told the Daily Telegraph.

Didier Rykner, head of The Art Tribune website found the idea "shocking".

"I'm not against eating in a museum but McDonald's is hardly the height of gastronomy," he said, adding that it was a worrying mixture of art and consumerism. "Today McDonald's, tomorrow low-cost clothes shops," he said.

What? No Marshall's in Paris yet?

Last night, the kids of our church, including most of my children and grandchildren, put on another fabulous musical, this time "Psalty's Camping Adventure". The culmination of six months' work, it was once again a dazzling combination of costumes, choreography, music, humor, and teamwork. I'll post a few pictures tomorrow.

On my list: renewing my driver's license. It expired on my birthday, June 20, while I was still recovering from my June 5 femur fracture. Obviously I haven't needed to drive since then...but now that there seems to be light at the end of that tunnel, I'd better get it renewed before they decide to make me take a driving test!

While I did not actually buy any Christmas gifts this week, I DID fill up my Amazon shopping cart with quite a few. That counts, right?

Family favorite ND (4-1) pulled out another ugly win yesterday. Good thing we have a bye week to breathe before taking on USC on the 17th! Look for some of our family to be scrounging for tickets when the Irish come to San Antonio to play Washington State on the 31st...

The Postal Service complains that mail volume goes down year after year, necessitating spiraling increases in stamp prices. I say hike postage prices on all these catalogs that stuff my mailbox the second half of the year and they'd have more than enough to service the bloated union contracts that keeps USPS in the red. Every day, The Papa brings in fifteen or more catalogs, of which I keep approximately ONE, and the rest go to the landfill. What a waste.

It's birthday season around here! From September through December we have one or two birthday celebrations every week, keeping Granny hopping with the gift bags. Today it's Liam, youngest son of Kristen and Dave. He's three today--Happy Birthday, Liam!

I can hardly wait to see the coloring of the few deciduous trees in our area. We're not exactly a mecca for autumn leaves here, but any little bit makes me smile!

Happy October from Granny's House, "where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average" (apologies to Lake Wobegon, but here it really is true).

Labels: Family, Fun, Grandkids, Health, Holidays, Sundays, Weather

Our youngest grandson, Judah, delighted when he spotted the moon...

Thanks to the photographer, Beth Warren

Labels: Grandkids