It has so many parts and times and pieces. There have been many "times" in my life when I thought that surely "these were the best times!" But then there would be other experiences and I would declare that "NO - THESE are truly the best times!"
What I have come to realize is that life brings us many BEST TIMES - and there is no way to categorize them into GOOD BETTER BEST! Instead - each season is PRECIOUS and good in different ways.
I am currently experiencing an incredibly PRECIOUS time in my life - the NENE YEARS! Oh my goodness - it is overwhelming bliss!
It is a time when I get to stand back and watch in AWE as my son's become Daddy's. I have 3 OUTSTANDING son's! It is a humbling experience to see the men that my little boys have become! They make me PROUD - button-popping proud! I had a favorite saying when the boys were little and growing up - I had to say it often - I especially had to remind myself of it when they were in the middle of some sort of mischief or trouble -- "A little boy is all God has with which to make a man." It's true and God made my little boys into remarkable men!
As my son's have become Daddy's - I have become a Nene!
Poppy and I had the 3 oldest grandchildren for a couple of days just prior to Christmas this year. It was so fun!
Lawson - 6, Taylor - 4 and Britain - 3, made our hearts extra happy!
I picked them up between 5 and 6 pm on the 23rd - they went home with their Mommy and Daddy after our family Christmas on Christmas Eve.
We were very busy.
In just over 24 hours we accomplished the following:
* Ordered Pizza and watched Christmas movies until everyone fell asleep
* We stayed in our pajama's until just before the rest of the family arrived on Christmas Eve
* Made beautiful gifts for their parents, Uncle Aaron & Aunt Audrey, Nanny Green
* Made sugar cookies and decorated them
* Lots of singing - Christmas carols and the Razorback Fight Song (numerous times)-each of Nene's babies are Hog fans!
* Made pigs in a blanket
* Helped Nene vacumn, empty trash cans and clean up messes
* Read Christmas stories - I think Olive the Other Reindeer was the favorite
* Talked about Jesus and His birthday
* Built a tent and played in it
* Colored in our new color books
* Practiced a "Program" that we would perform on Christmas Eve
* Jumped on the bed
* Laughed and laughed and laughed
* We tracked Santa Claus all day on Christmas Eve (NORAD has a website for this). We saw that he was in China, Japan, Africa, Ireland, Sweden, Guam, Morocco, and countless other places.
* Sat in Nene's lap and lavished her with countless hugs, kisses and "I love you Nene's"
Whew.... makes me tired just thinking about it. ;-)
Thanks kids for making wonderful memories for your Nene!
You make my heart happy!!!
Here are a few pictures. Not many pictures - not my camera's fault this time - I was too BUSY to take pictures!!!
You're such a good Nene!! It's great the cousins can enjoy growing up together and spending time with Nene and Poppy. It's a pleasure to read how much you are in love with life. It's a shame more people aren't like you. Thank you for raising such wonderful sons. I'm proud to call one of them my own. :-D
ReplyDeleteThank you for raising MY beautiful Audrey!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that you are my friend and my family - we have lots of life to share and enjoy together!