Our Angel Granddaughter Eden Rain

The past 18 days have been hard...so very hard.

We have questioned WHY over and over and over...

This mommy adores her children...every. single.one.

Eden is so perfect...couldn't be more perfect.

Daddy {our son} loves his girls very much.

Eden is no exception.

He loves her dearly.

Grandma and Grandpa saying goodbye...hardest goodbye E.V.E.R.

They named her Eden Rain...such a beautiful name.

It is hard to tell children that their little sister didn't make it.

Mommy's parents...they have suffered great loss in their lives
 as they each also lost a daughter in the past. This is another great loss that
is hard to fathom. Why do some families have to endure so much I will
never understand. If you think about it please say a prayer for them. 

If you look close you will see a little teardrop on sister Annika's eyelash.
The girls were so excited to welcome Eden into their family.

8 lbs. 2.9 ounces...beautiful baby girl

How do we go on from here? I don't know. I don't have any answers. We are looking for answers as to what
went wrong and we pray that we find some...somehow... someway.

An organization called

Sufficient Grace Ministries 

was called into the hospital when we lost our precious Eden.

They took all these beautiful photos that we will always cherish.

They gave mommy a "comfort bear" to hold when her arms
ache to hold her precious baby.

Matching bracelets for mommy and baby.

They gave the girls each a little bear.

 They also gave books, blankets and a beautiful white dress.

 They made an impression of her little hand in clay.

They also did hand and footprints.

Everything they did and gave was FREE.
If you check out their site you must read their book called:

Sufficient Grace. 

I couldn't put it down.

 God is doing a mighty work through this ministry.



God was present in that hospital room through Sufficient Grace Ministries

and

He continues to hold us during this difficult time.


We covet your continued prayers.

I miss you Eden Rain...so very much...angel kisses
straight to heaven for you...

Long distance grand-parenting

It is a rare day when all the grands are here at gma and gpas house at the same time so we tried to get
a few pics while they were here for the holidays.  There was NO snow {which I REALLY wanted for pics}
 and it was cold and rainy.  I had visions of many different poses and it just didn't work. We were lucky to
get the ones we did.

Underneath all the kiddos there is a gorgeous white bench, but didn't get any of that showing
either. I still dream of the pics I wanted to take...hopefully someday. 

We got all the kiddos in the pic except the little guy in the front.  His daddy would stick him
in the picture time after time... just as we were getting ready to snap the photo. lol

Too cute and so amusing. We got numbers 6 and 7 mixed up so they will probably be traumatized
  for the rest of their lives every time they look at these pictures! ha! 

1.Allysha   2.Jon    3.Annika   4.Keira   5.Joshua   6.Ainsley    7.Kanaan   8.Daniel

and baby 9 is missing. Her mama was sick so they stayed home. 

What a CUTE bunch of kiddos we have in our family!! I love them all and miss them terribly already.

Do you grandparent long distance? Our oldest son and his family live about 2 hours from us, our daughter and
family live 3 hours from us, but our youngest son who did live about 20 minutes away now lives in North
Carolina. 13 or 14 hour drive straight through. It has been a hard adjustment, but we are surviving.

PaPa swooped up Ainsley as soon as she got here!

 The night we said our goodbyes to them was heartbreaking. We had just finished Christmas at my moms and
Ainsley was eating more salad {what child eats more salad??} and I was sitting beside her. She looked at me and
said in a shaky voice, "Grandma I won't see you for a long time"...I replied, "I know , but we can write and we can
 call"... yea ,that didn't work.

Again, in a shaky little voice "Grandma, I won't see you for a long time"...I picked her up and she started crying.

That was it for this grandma. I cried right along with her! She has never done this before so she must be getting
old enough to realize exactly what is going on. I held her for awhile and she and I cried together. {in front of lots
of other family members}. I finally handed her off to grandpa and she cried some more. She was still crying
when they left and when she got to her other grandmas house.

Oh the hard knocks of childhood and life. We miss those two little gals to much. We used to be able
to just drive over and visit them on the spur of the moment, but not anymore...and life goes on.

 How do you grandparent long distance? Do you do anything special? I would love to hear about it.

Blessings and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Trick-or-treat!

Just look what I found!! A pretty little mermaid  getting ready to go trick-or-treating.

...along with her sweet little sister. Aren't they both so precious and don't they make
beautiful little mermaids? :)

My son also donned a costume ...lol!

Hubby and I went to our son and daughter-in-laws place and trick-or-treated with them and the girls
 last Saturday evening. We had a lot of fun, although just as we were starting it began raining so we
 had to break out the umbrellas.

The above photo is an apartment building that we walked past.

Two little mermaids getting ready to head out for treats.

 {yes I got the photos in the wrong order...sorry}

Grandpa and Grandma all ready for a fun evening with the pretty little mermaids. ♥

This was my costume! HA HA! We did look for ears on the spur of the moment, but didn't find any.
 Annika wanted me to say "meow" at every place we went so I tried to oblige her. HA! They are only
young once and we are making memories. I found out when I became a grandparent that I will do
things for my grands that I have never done before! :) Fun, fun times that will pass all too soon
 and they will be 16 before we know it. I am treasuring these days and holding them close to my
heart.

Take me out to the ball game...

...the TEE BALL game that is!! How fun it was on Tuesday evening to watch our granddaughter Annika play her first Tee ball game. Well...it was called a game, but there are no outs and each person gets to bat until they hit the ball. They are basically learning the fundamentals of the game I believe and it is FUN to watch.

They also got their individual and team photos taken so I snapped a few as well.

You know us grandmas...we can't just take one or two ...we have to take a zillion. I forget that all of you do NOT want to see that many photos of my granddaughter. I really did pare them down, but probably shouldn't even put as many on this post as I did. Can you tell that I am a proud grandma? hee hee

This was so fun to watch...we were sitting in the bleachers across the field {looking through a wire fence} so I really had to zoom in. Annika decided to swirl the dirt around with her feet while playing infield...or outfield...or whatever it is called! Ha! ha!

She swirled it this way and that way...

...and every which way.  I am sure I got more photos of her "swirling" talent, but thought three would be enough for now. :)

She is the only lefty on the team I think...so cute and she puts a lot of effort into it.

BOOTHMAN...yea!!

She HIT THE BALL...run Annika...RUN!! She did just great. I have to tell you this though. One time when the other team was up to bat and she was playing first base, some little guy on the other team hit the ball and his coach yelled RUN...so ANNIKA ran to second!  ...and then when someone else hit it, she ran to third...hey I said fundamentals here...so it doesn't all sink in immediately. hee hee We chuckled!! I think the girl on third base must have clued her in because instead of running for home plate when someone else hit the ball,  she got off the base and started playing infield again. Tee hee...Too cute!!

I thought this post was up a few days ago, but apparently not so I hope it posts this time. At any rate, we had a wonderful day watching Annika play ball. Happy summer!! :)

It burned down!

Remember this post...the house and barn that used to be

my grandparents? The barn is now gone...accidentally burned down.

So very sad to me as it still had many goodies inside.

Do you also remember that it was right across from our church? Well...the siding on our fellowship hall is now all melted too.

{I hope to get a picture soon...hubs and I drove past the other night,

but it was dark and I didn't have my camera with me}

Our good friend who had purchased the property {and also

attends our church} was eventually going to tear it down,

but he did not intend for it to happen this way.

He was burning a little pile in front of the barn as he was

cleaning it out and he just walked a few feet away to get

something and that quick the wind must have changed

direction and

whoosh...no saving the barn.

I am so so glad that I got pictures taken before this happened.

The house is still there, but the tree was also partially burned.

I was told you could see it for miles. I am sure it was just

like a tinder box with a hole in the roof , the end and the side

along with lots of stuff inside to make a hot, hot fire.

Can you believe that just moments before the fire started,

a lot of stuff had been moved from our youth building

and put in the house for storage??

So thankful that it didn't take the house too.

I now call our friend the *firebug*. lol.

Many sweet memories at that homestead...

blessings~

Memories at the old homestead

My Grandma and Grandpa Good lived just down the road

from us when we were growing up, but when they got

up in years they moved to a tiny little town a few miles

away called Kunkle, Ohio and into a house right across

from the church they attended.

{my husband and I now attend there as well}

Grandpa passed in 1977 and Grandma followed in 1987, the

place was sold and others moved in. Sad to say it has become

very run down over the past several years. Last winter it

sustained a lot of water damage and the ceilings are even

falling down. In the near future it is to be torn down so

I just had to take a few pictures for old times sake.

I couldn't decide if I liked this photo or the one below

better so I included them both. These were taken on

the south side of the barn.

I never noticed this pretty trim on the roofline until today. Funny how that happens. We were in this house a lot over the years, but just didn't see it. Probably not a priority when you are a youngster...playing is much more important!

As I walked through this house...this piece of my past,

I was flooded with memories. Watching my dad and his dad playing carrom almost

everytime we would visit. It was fun to watch and listen

to them hollar when one of the rings went in the pocket.

Time spent with grandma through the years. Baking,

cleaning, sewing at her old treadle machine. Snitching

pieces of raw yeast dough when she was making donuts.

It was soooooooo yummy!!

We laughed, we talked, we played and had wonderful times.

Oh how I miss those days.

Look at this chain embedded in the tree. We figure someone

must have put it around the tree when it was young to

hold it together and it was never removed. Now it is

embedded in the tree. Amazing!

Grandma and grandpa lived a

very simple life

never having a lot of money, but they sure loved

their family and their God.

Grandma's prayers have followed me all throughout

my life and I miss her dearly. She prayed daily for

all her children and grandchildren that we would

come to know her wonderful Savior. Her prayers

of long ago are still being answered today.

The old dilapidated barn...you should see inside this gem. You would not believe it. The floor in the loft has half

fallen down and there is a ton of stuff in here.

I rescued a old pink table and also brought home a

white chenille spread to wash up and see if it can

be salvaged. Stuff just strewn about everywhere.

{A friend has purchased it so yes I asked first before

I took anything. lol }

It was cleaned out when our family auctioned it off, so I

am assuming the "stuff" came from others living

here. I hope I get to poke around a little more soon.

I will be linking up with Kathleen again over at Faded Charm for another White Wednesday.

Happy day! Blessings~