Home at last!

I have the most wonderful children! They did great on the trip to Louisiana and on the way home yesterday and today. We left Louisiana late yesterday afternoon and traveled to Birmingham where we spent the night at a Hampton Inn...fabulous place to crash. Then we continued our journey today. We arrived home early and it was so wonderful to see Wes. We really missed him! The kids were wild!

I have more posts to update from our trip. Graeme got to meet his Aunt Jodi and Uncle Mike and lots more family for the first time. We got pictures of all eight of my Mom's grandchildren (even got one of everyone with eyes open looking at the camera...I love the sports feature on my camera).

Graeme pretty much potty trained himself on the trip. We encouraged and he did the rest. Did I say how brilliant we think he is? Well I think this proves it!

Lily authored and illustrated her second book. It is about her and Papa Jim and it is precious. A week to the day that Papa passed away, Lily "got" it for the lack of a better term. She kept praying that he would be safe and I told her that he was safe in heaven and that he didn't hurt anymore. We also talked about how he could breath easily again and to take a term from the preacher who said Jim's service "that Papa was breathing celestial air". She got really quiet and then asked in the smallest voice, "But when do we get to see him again?" I didn't even have time to answer as she burst into tears and I just held her as she cried. She understands so much more than I ever gave her credit for.

She reminded me of how much she understood when we were waving goodbye to my Mom yesterday afternoon. Lily said, "Poor Granny. She's alone." It was my turn to burst into tears. As I drove I thought about things from Lily's perspective and Jim has always been there. He was at our home to toast her referral with champagne, at the airport when she came home, shared her Baptism, her first Birthday and Christmas and so many memories since then. When we saw Granny, we saw Papa Jim. To her their lives were completely entertwined. It made me realize just how much Papa Jim blessed my mother's life and ours as well. We became a part of his family and his family became a part of ours. He touched all of our lives and we are forever changed for the better.

This started as a light post and became sentimental. I'm tired and happy to be home. I'm headed off to sleep in my bed tonight.