Saying Goodbye to Grandma/G.G.

Lucas' Grandma Huckaby passed away earlier today at the Circle of Life hospice center in Springdale, Ark. We were thankful for the time we had earlier in the week to tell her we love her and tell her goodbye. Her funeral will be on Monday.

We love you, Grandma, and we will miss you.

Grandma Huckaby

Please pray for Lucas' Grandma Huckaby, and for all of the Huckaby family. Grandma had an aneurism that burst yesterday, and is now she is in the hospital. She is not expected to live through today.

Lucas and I were able to spend some really precious time with Grandma yesterday at the hospital, and she was fully aware and we had a good talk. Later last night, Lucas took Max back so that he could tell her goodbye. We had explained to him what was happening and that this would be his last time to see G.G. Huckaby. When Max got to her room, he hugged her and said, "I love you, G.G. I'll meet you in heaven!"

Some family is already in from out of town, with more on their way. Please pray that everyone who is able to will get here safely in time to see her and tell her goodbye.

Conversations with Max and Maggie

Riding in the car on the way home from church on Wednesday night.

Lucas: Max, I heard you went to a new class tonight. Did you make good choices?

Max: Yes.

Maggie: (Butting in to the conversation) In my class, one 'nother girl not make good choices. She crying. She not obey the 'nother mommy.

What's that verse about the speck in your brother's eye and the log in your own eye? Perhaps we need to introduce that verse to Maggie. :-)

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Maximus helping Maggie get the doll's legs into the right spot in the toy stroller:

Max: See, Maggie, you just put his legs right here. Then he sits in the stroller

Maggie: Oooooh, its works! (Maggie gives Max a hug) Thank you, brudder. Thank you for helping me fix it. I so proud of you.

Prayers for Mom

THANK YOU to all of you who have been praying for my mom this week and today. I just got off the phone with my dad, and all seems to be going relatively well. The new set of scans yesterday revealed two more cancerous spots on her brain, so there are a total of four spots that they are going to "zap" with the surgery. The surgery is now pushed back to 2 p.m. so that the neurosurgeons can plan how to deal with the two new spots.

Please keep praying!

The Real Star Wars

Happy 35th Birthday, Lucas!

Happy Birthday, Lucas!

Today is Lucas' 35th birthday. His choice for a birthday celebration? A night at Chuck E. Cheese's with the kids! Of course Max and Maggie were thrilled with their introduction to the world of Chuck E. Cheese. And the birthday boy had a great time enjoying all the games with the kids.

For his Daddy's birthday, Max wrote him a story. He worked really hard on it. He chose the theme, the plot and dictated the story to me sentence by sentence. Then he illustrated each page. Literally the only input I had was to type the words and print it out. I was so proud of him- I could tell he wanted to do something really special for his Daddy's birthday, and Lucas LOVED it.

I'll post the story so that you can see. Here's a picture of Lucas opening up Maximus' gift:

Happy Birthday, Lucas/Daddy! We love you!

Holiday Recap #5: WHITE CHRISTMAS!

We had the most wonderful Christmas day! This Christmas brought two new firsts to our family: Our first Christmas to spend in our own home with both our kids, and our first WHITE CHRISTMAS!

In fact, as I got to thinking about it, in my 30 years of life, this was my first real White Christmas! I couldn't remember one, but I thought maybe I had just forgotten. So I did some research online and it confirmed that there had not been any White Christmases in the years I've lived in Arkansas, and there was only one Christmas where there was snow on the ground in the Tulsa area in the early 80s- but no snowfall on that day. So this was it, the first real white Christmas for me!

For several weeks leading up to Christmas, Maximus had been telling Lucas and I that it would not be Christmas until it snowed. He was convinced that was how he would know it was Christmas day. We tried to tell him that it usually did not snow on Christmas in Arkansas, but he would not be persuaded. You can imagine his glee when he woke up first thing Christmas morning to find snow! When he woke up, he climbed up on his bed and looked out the window, then ran into our room and exclaimed, "Christmas is here! There is snow everywhere! And Santa already came!" It was like a hallmark commercial. So magical for him- and I won't ever forget how precious it was!

We had a fantastic day together with just the four of us. We never left the house except to go out in the snow for a few minutes. Can't remember the last time we did that- it was such a great day. Here are a few pics:

A magical Christmas morning for Max.

Checking out the SNOW!

Presents!

Christmas morning.

"It's Tinkerbell, Lost Treasure!"

FUN IN THE SNOW:

Back into the warm to play with Christmas gifts:

Our first family board game: Candy Land.

We Interrupt this Holiday Recap to Bring You...

... Artwork by Max.

Yes, I realize that I am probably the only human on the planet who loves looking at these drawings that Max has been doing over the last couple of days. Perhaps a grandparent or an aunt or uncle might have a mild level of interest. :-)

I have been so proud of how Max's drawings are starting to take shape. I have no idea how he compares to other 4 year olds in this arena- all of you moms of other preschoolers: please just smile and nod and humor me since your kids have probably been drawing like this for the past two years!

But for Max, this is the first time I have been able to really recognize the things he is drawing. It's so fun to see physical representations of what is going on in that active little imagination of his!

Here are some drawings he did yesterday and today, and his description of each:

"Pirate on a pirate ship with two swords."

(I particularly loved his hat and the three masts on the top of the ship)

"A Veggie Tale pirate"

"A treasure box with pieces of gold treasure inside, and (on the right) right there I wrote the pirate's name: Dark Validi"

"This is IronMan. I drew him for Addison and Preston because they love Superheros."

Holiday Recap #4: Dees Family Christmas

One of the highlights of this holiday season was something we never imagined we'd be able to do: celebrate a Dees family Christmas in 2009 with all of us alive and well and together. It's hard to even put into words what this gift meant to me. I'll just say that I was treasuring every single minute and storing it up in my heart. God has been so good to us.

Here are just a few pictures of our overflowing joy!

All the cousins in front of the tree...

... And Aunt Meagy helped us get baby Roman in there, too!

It is amazing how much energy this Grandmama and Grandpapa have for their grandkids!

Love of my life. Isn't he handsome?

Maggie tells Uncle T and Aunt Meagy all about her presents. :-)

Serious business. Checking out the Transformers.

Mitch and Steph are such a cute couple. Never before have I seen God so tailor-make two people for each other. Perfect.

Russ! He loves to play Santa Claus, and brought everyone such special gifts!

Tyler and Meagan and their little family of two: but not for long! Baby Roman will be making his appearance in just a few weeks. I can't wait to snuggle him!

Mom and Dad are the most adorable love birds. Dad bought her a diamond necklace for Christmas. So sweet.

And... what Dees family holiday would be complete without some serious Acquire? Even the little guys are learning the ropes.

Holiday Recap #3: Susan's Party

In the midst of all the holiday celebrations, we got to celebrate my niece Susan's 9th birthday! Erick and Brandy hosted a tea party at the English Tea Room- SUCH a great idea to make a little girl's birthday extra special!

Maggie, of course, was thrilled to be a part of the tea party:

Maggie with the birthday girl. You can't tell that she enjoyed the treats, can you? :-)

My mom was able to come to Susan's party as well- Maggie loved sharing the tea party experience with her Grandmama.

Susan blows out her candle...

... and opens her gifts!

I love living close enough to Susan and Jackson to be a part of everyday life instead of just getting to see them a couple times a year. Susan was the sweetest little birthday lady, and Maggie and I were glad to get to be at her party!