A Merry Christmas

After all the difficulty of that surrounded this Christmas season, we found abundant joy in being surrounded by family and celebrating the glorious gift of Jesus Christ.

The Yearly Question

This is the first Christmas we will spend without our daddy at home. Our family has always been very close with lots of traditions that have maintained throughout our childhood and carried over to our adulthood. One tradition, that my dad started about the time me and my sisters were all able to think for ourselves (pretty young since we are all girls. haha), was the yearly questions. Dad was always good at asking questions at the dinner table or before bed, but the yearly questions were a bit tougher to answer. They always required thought and somehow a piece of yourself...questions about your future, your greatest victory, a time when you chose to forgive, a time when you should have, about making friends, or learning lessons. All questions that could transform your thought processes.

Every year I would spend time before Christmas Eve trying to figure out what the question was going to be that year. But inevitably, he would go a completely different direction than I was prepared to go. When 7pm on December 24th came around, after the nachos had been eaten and the Christmas story had been carefully read from Luke 2, the question was asked of each of us. We gave our answers, usually through teary eyes, and followed that time with sweet times of prayer for one another based on our answers. So, this year, dad will not be able to ask the questions, but I will sit beside him and share about the wonderful ways that he shaped our lives with the questions he did get to ask.

A Bit of Christmas Cheer

Settled

Dad is now settled into his new home. The director and nurses said that the first 24 to 48 hours are usually the most difficult. I'm not sure if they were meaning for dad or for us, but I think both were true. It is a lovely facility, but the anxiety of leaving him in a new place was very present.
We have visited him everyday and each day he shows signs of progress. Today, in fact, he was walking without assistance while eating ice cream from a bowl. This may seems small, but he was not walking or eating on his own 3 days ago...a major victory. It was also good to see dad smiling and making jokes with the nurses. More than anything, today was a chance to see dad being very well cared for.
I am so very thankful for my family through this process. The decisions were made quickly, without anyone's will being exerted above someone else's and with everyone's feelings being addressed and thought of. Everyone contributed to the process and no one took over. As difficult as this process was and continues to be, I could not have asked for a more supportive and loving family to do it with.

Tough Choices

This week, my family is forced to make some very tough choices about something we haven't talked a whole lot about. My dad has Parkinson's Disease. The Parkinson's that my dad was diagnosed with 5  years ago has now been further diagnosed as Lewy Body Dementia. While most people think of Parkinson's and think about the physical symptoms that accompany it, like the inability to walk and shaking hands, Lewy Body adds some additional symptoms. The symptoms of this progressive disease require our family to move him to an Alzheirmer Care Facility. 

Less than two years ago my dad was sitting on the bench as a district judge. This terrible disease has caused dad's body and memory to deteriorate at a rapid rate. He has good days and bad days, but unfortunately the bad days vastly outnumber the good ones. And the good ones are getting less good.

Some days he remembers who everyone is; alot of days he doesn't. Some days he can pick out what he is seeing as a hallucination, and some days he can't. 

So I'm in Texas a few days early, visiting some facilities, sorting through finances, and being a part of the decision-making process with my family. 

Here is one of those parts of life you never really expect and aren't really prepared for. 

Only 10...

...Days until Christmas.

Happy Birthday Mom

Ramona Casey grew up in the tiny farm town of Causey, New Mexico. At the age of 4, my mom met a sweet little boy named Joe Parker in her Sunday School class at the local First Baptist Church. During their high school years they began to date and both realized their desire to pursue higher education, something uncommon in this tiny town. Upon high school graduation, they were accepted at the University of Eastern New Mexico, where they both pursued degrees in education.

Shortly after starting college, at the age of 19, they were married with a borrowed dress, a wedding cake made by her sister, and yellow daisy adorning the church. Only a few years later, my mom experienced difficult loss through a tubal pregnancy that left doctors unsure of her ability to have more children. Thankfully, God blessed them with 3 daughters over the next 7 years. During that time, mom completed both her bachelor's and master's degrees in education and began a teaching career that would last nearly 20 years.

Mom was always a great support to my dad as he pursued his career as an attorney and eventually as a judge. Somehow my mom always managed to work while also keeping us fed with wholesome homemade meals. Not only that, but she also showed me and my sisters how to pursue Christ through a daily quiet time and by using her spiritual gift of hospitality. I can't remember a time without extra dinner guests, planning the next year's Labor Day breakfast, or hosting a weekly Bible study.

As my children begin to learn loving books and Bible stories, I am reminded of the many hours my mom spent reading to me every night. I also think of the night I became a follower of Christ. I was 10 years old and on the way home from the grocery store, my mom and I began to talk about Jesus' place in my life. After we pulled into the garage, we sat and prayed together. It is a vivid memory in my mind and a foundational moment in my walk with the Lord. 

Thank you mom. Have a very Happy Birthday. 

The Memphis Report

It was a great race for all of us. My 3 friends and I were able to complete the half marathon in just under two hours. We all had made this our goal, but I was unsure of my ability to keep up with everyone. Thankfully, the many posters along the way that reminded us of the many children we were running for combined with the encouragement of my friends, we were able to get it done. Check out their posts here and here.

Michael also did a great job in the full marathon, improving his time, once again, by 20 minutes from the last marathon he ran. I am so very proud of him. You can read a little more about his thoughts here. Just to give you a little more insight into my husband, Michael crossed the finish line looking deservedly tired and claiming this was his last marathon. Today, he using words like someday and maybe. Next week, he will start talking about when he will start his training for a marathon in the spring. Maybe he will snap out of it and be finished or maybe he will run 25 more. Either way, he has proven that he is not only an amazing athlete, but also a person of courage and determination.

If you have ever considered running a half marathon, this a great one to do. A great cause, a good (flat) course with a fun finish line. On the other hand, according to Michael, the second half of the marathon is a bit bleak with a few more hills at the very end than he expected. Still a great cause, but it takes a lot more heart to run when there is no one cheering. 

Thank you Jason for the pictures.

Memphis

Tomorrow we run. Michael will run the full and I will run the half. I am really looking forward to this race, but even more looking forward to the weekend as a whole. We have the privilege of hanging out with some really quality people:  the Seavers, the Smiths, and the Hayes.

I look forward to telling you all about it when we return. Have a great weekend.

Our Girl

Here's Andi using her spoon all by herself. Fruity Cheerios in a Dora bowl. What could be better?
Andi got her first Christmas present early while her Gram and Papaw were in town for Thanksgiving. Her first baby doll stroller. No hesitation here. She knew just what to do with it.
Doesn't she look so big here? I didn't think girls learned how to hold that sassy stance until they were at least 10. Boy, do we have our work cut out for us. But with that sweet grin, it is worth every moment.