Granddaddy

Losing Granddaddy was really hard on our family.  We know that he is no longer suffering and is definitely in a better place but we still just miss him.

One of the hardest things for me and Rob is that we want our kids to remember how special he was and how much he adored all of his great grandchildren. So this blog is written to you.  My precious little ones...
Granddaddy was not an old man that you were forced to hang out with at holidays.  He was a huge part of your everyday activities. He taught you so much about the importance of family, giving your best, honesty, and respect. He was your teacher, your cheerleader, your buddy, your favorite neighbor, and your biggest fan. I think the best way to keep his memory alive is to continue to hold tight to the memories made with him.  Here are a few.... 

Maddie

Granddaddy liked to call you Maddie Bug and you loved that nickname.

You liked to sit and watch TV with him.  He would change the channel from the news, to sit and watch cartoons on your behalf.

You were always running next door to show him a project you made in school or reciting him a poem or scripture you had memorized.  He thought you were brilliant and always complimented you on your maturity and knowledge.

He loved your dimples.

He thought you were beautiful and that you looked like a true Billingsley.

You like to share saltine crackers with him out of the big glass jar.

He was there when you were born in The Woodlands. He was at all seven of your birthday parties.  He came to Montgomery to visit you several times and was there for your baby dedication. 

As soon as we found out that Granddaddy was gone.  You went to your room to retrieve your prayer journal. This is what you wrote." Dear God, I know Granddaddy is having a blast. I miss him already. Tell Him that I love him. Tell him that I love his laugh. I love it when he called me Maddie Bug, Tell him that Kinley is really sad and misses him a lot. I miss him a lot. I love him. I love you God. Amen" When I pulled out your journal to copy this, I could not help but look back at your previous entries. For the past two months, there were several entries praying for Granddaddy and Mimi. You did this all on your own.  As we are working on your flower project for spring you have decided  that Granddaddy was like a seed that couldn't wait to get out of his shell. He is blooming in heaven.  I think Granddaddy was right about your wisdom and insight.

Kinley

He loved your bear hugs.  Every time you went over to see him, you made sure to give him one.

He loved your spunk and spirit and was always talking about your great sense of humor.

He would always say...that Kinley when talking about you, even the way he said your name, you could hear the love in his voice.

He thought you were gorgeous and was always talking about the way you would steal the hearts of all the boys in town.

He loved your thoughtfulness and said you had a huge heart like your Granna. 

You liked to take care of Granddaddy and would always use his back scratcher to reach the itchy pots that he couldn't reach.

He gave you a hard time for always being barefoot and changing clothes a thousand times a day.

He liked the way you liked to dress up.  Grandaddy liked to dress up too.

He was also there when you were born.  He was there for your first four birthday parties and was right next door, too ill to visit for your fifth birthday.  He was proud to be at your baby dedication at Highpoint, the church he built. 

You probably had the hardest time with his death.  You keep saying he was the best Granddaddy in the world. You have decided that God must love Granddaddy a bunch, to take him him to heaven on God's favorite day of the week, Sunday.

Caden James

You were named after this great man.  He thought you were so special.  He was thrilled to finally have a boy to carry on the great name Billingsley.

He loved holding you on his lap.
He liked to share his peanuts with you.
You loved going over to share a glass of juice with him each day.
You both liked to eat popcorn.
You liked to sneak over to his house after the girls were in bed to have a little "TV time" with Granddaddy.
He loved to watch you "waller" on the floor in the transformer pillowcase each day.
He anticipated your visits and liked to see which costume you would wear each day.
He always laughed about the fact that you ran around half-dressed or naked everywhere.
Your bedroom is decorated with pictures of him and his football relics.
He once told me that you were an "unexpected gift to the whole family".
You both shared a love for building and that thrilled him to no end.
He was there at your birth, your baby dedication and your first two birthday parties.
On the day he died, we were sitting on the couch and you looked over and said out of the blue, "Granddaddy is with God" and then you added " and "he is happy." An hour later, we found out that you were right and that you said that to me right at the time he went to be with Jesus. You  mention on occasion that Granddaddy is with God and that you want to be with God too.

A Happy family is but an earlier heaven.~ Chinese Proverb

Thank you Granddaddy for giving us just a taste of what you are enjoying now.
We miss you dearly.

Tribute to Granddady

Rob wrote a special tribute to Granddaddy last week before he passed away on Sunday. I thought I would share these precious words with you all.

Granddaddy-


Although most of my good traits come from you, one that I did not inherit was the ability to express myself on paper as eloquently as you. It pains me to see you hurt. I wish I could help you, but I am powerless. My thoughts are random and scattered...Here is a short list of the things that I have inherited from you..love of family, work ethic, the power of story telling and family history, compassion, integrity, the understanding that our wealth is in who we love and not what is in our pocket, our homes are not ours but God's, and are a place of shelter and peace for our families, it is ok to help folks out and not expect any reciprocity, how to be a father, how to be a friend, to do what is right even if it hurts, commitment, faithfulness, forgiveness, it's worth taking extra time to complete a task correctly, love for a relative does not die ever, tenderness, jokes are powerful and healing, how to get up after you have been knocked down. To be honest, the list goes on and on, and will continue to...

My new favorite song is "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promises" It talks of a place where nothing is owed, deserved or expected, and your life doesn't change by the man that's elected and your loved by someone and never rejected.. It talks about a dream that, like a bird is locked in a cage and he longs to free it. I want you here but I want you to be free. I want our doubts to vanish and be replaced by the fullfillment of a promise that was made on a cross 2000 years ago. I'm not in a hurry to see you leave this world, believe me, I can't imagine it without you, but I have been granted peace by our Heavenly Father about what you are facing. I know none of us are guaranteed tomorrow and I'm not at all trying to be dark. This type of thinking gives me peace.

I know we will all recongnize each other in heaven. We have to be able to or it won't be right. In heaven I look foward to seeing you in your youthful state, meeting your Dad, building with the Billingsleys, gardening with the Tabors, getting beat by you in the 100yd, dash. That's what heaven is like I'm sure. I love and respect you deeply. Your worth to me is immeasurable. You stood in the gap when I needed it and showed me a father's love.

Rob

The Unexpected

I love that our God is a God of Unexpected Surprises!  We got to experience that first hand this week.  On Sunday, we were wearing flip flops and enjoying the 70 degree weather. I was thinking about pulling out some of our summer clothes. By Tuesday, we had four inches of snow on our ground. 

  I love that everyone in Austin was forced to stop and stay at home with our families.  All of our big plans for the day, all the things that seemed so pressing and important were cancelled.  I love a "forced" day of rest or in this case a forced day of fun.  

We enjoyed a good day of making snow angels,

building a snowman for the first time,

                      watching Annie chase snowflakes,

  drinking lots of hot chocolate and reading The Snowy Day for the 50th time. 

In the words of my sweet Kinley," This was a good day."

Thank you God for yet another unexpected gift.

Halloween 2009

This year for Halloween, the girls decided to be princesses. We thought about making Caden a knight but decided the court jester was more appropriate. The kids really got into character for the night of festivities.

Queen Madison

Queen Kinley

Our Royal Jester Caden

Aren't they lovely?

Isn't he amusing?

Entertaining the ladies with his silly antics

His reward

Granna, Grandaddy, Mimi, Big Daddy, Mike, and Allison joined us for a pot of stew. Then Granna, Grandaddy, Mimi, Rob, and I took the kids trick or treating. We know this was a real sacrifice with the UT game taking place at the same time. We had a great night. The kids love to visit Aunt Lisa and Penny's house along with Cari and Joel's place. Aunt Penny was dressed as a clown which made the kids' night. She also had her house decorated with cobwebs and caution tape. We went around Cari's neighborhood trick or treating. The kids had a blast. Then we game home for the ballgame and pumpkin carving and baked pumpkin seeds. Kinley and Cade both fell alseep on the couch.  Madison made sure to count all of her candy before bed.  I think she may be afraid someone might sneak a piece or two.  Hmmm.. does she know her mother well?

Local Superheroes

We all feel especially safe these days. Two local heroes have taken residence with us here at the Billingsley's.

They can leap over dollhouses, rescue barbies in distress, fly down our staircase and free you from having a boring day.

I introduce to you:

Captain Cade Man and Kin Kin Possible.

The Perfect Pumpkin

When I had just Maddie we used to plan a big outing to the pumpkin patch. I'd pick the perfect outfit and we took tons of great shots.

With Kinley, it was the same. I have a ton of great photos from this day although this scanned picture does not do it justice.

Now that we have three little ones, our pictures look more like this......

The pictures are not quite the same but we do have a lot of fun and still search for the perfect pumpkin.

Cade chose a cute little pumpkin.

He wanted to make sure he chose the smallest one in the patch.

Maddie wanted a symmetrical one with no lumps or deformities. She thought it was funny to give her little jack a lantern smile in the pumpkins.

Kinley wanted a pumpkin that was almost as big as her.

We talked her out of this one.

Regardless the size or the bumps, the end result is always the same, a fun night of pumpkin carving and salty fried pumpkin seeds. We wouldn't trade that for anything.

One Hip Great Grandma

Mimi turned 76 years old this week. This is really hard for me to believe since I caught her chasing a cow that escaped from our pasture this week. She is truly an amazing woman. Living next door to Mimi and Granddaddy has been a tremendous blessing for our family in ways too numerous to count.

We had the pleasure of spending the day with Mimi on her actual birthday. We enjoyed a burger and fries at Mighty Fine and then enjoyed cupcakes from Hey Cupcake at our house. It was a treat for us all.

I can only pray that one day I will have half the energy, wisdom and influence that Mimi does as 76. She is truly an example for us all.


In Maddie's words "I forget Mimi is my great grandma because she is so great!"
Couldn't say it better myself.

Camp-out Party

For Maddie's Seventh birthday party, she decided on a camp-out theme. We invited her first grade class along with the family. We built a campfire in our backyard. We started the party with a nature scavenger hunt. This was Maddie's group.Pappy brought a tent and set it up. Caden enjoyed playing here most of the night.He also spent a lot of time getting the fire ready. He is quite the helper these days. The menu was easy!! Hot Dogs taste best roasted over a fire.

I had so much fun with the cake. The grass is dyed coconut, the tent is a chocolate pop tart, the sleeping bag is an iced graham cracker, the trees are iced sugar cones, the camp fire logs are pretzels, and for the fire, we used the actual candles.

I think the kids got a kick out of it.

April and Adelyn joined us for chocolate cake.

Nothing like sticky fingers from s'mores.

The glow sticks were our party favors and a huge hit.

One of Maddie's friends told me it was the "best night of her life" . What a great way to celebrate one of the best days of my life, the day God gave us my sweet Madison.