A Good Man Gone Home

(l to r) Kiereney, Grandma, Michael, Grandpa and Kelli at Michael's commissioning May 2008

Grandpa at home before his hip fracture.

Grandpa in the nursing home doing what he loved best...

being with a grandchild and drinking coffee


Lester Lee Dwyer with his Masonic apron on after Masonic rites were held Friday night. Grandpa led over 200 Masonic rites in his lifetime, all from memory and without use of the manual.

God bless you as you continue your journey. You were a man among men and the best grandfather in the universe.

The picture next to him is the rocking horse he made his first Dwyer granddaughter in 1973 with her son, his great grandson, sitting on it recently.

Happy Fourth of July!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July! Georgia should be really celebrating today!

Roger is not feeling well and neither am I so we will be watching patriotic programs on PBS(A Capitol 4th and Boston Pops 4th) and they are televising the St. Louis fireworks over the river live so I can do fireworks from my recliner.

Not even cooking today...getting take out ribs from Schatze's.

My parents would have been married 57 years today. They used to have the best 4th of July parties at our house...I'm so glad I have the memories from my childhood of some of the best days of my life.

Wordful Wednesday-Dedicated to Alice

When I started Wordful Wednesday it was because I had a lot of quotes and sayings I wanted to share.

Alice of Wandering Wonderland, soon-to-be mother of our Austin, always enjoyed reading the Wordful Wednesday posts and would always thank me for doing them, etc.

So today I'm going to dedicate this to Alice, who is in those final days of waiting for her Austin to come. Enjoy!

Ordinary Miracle

~~~~~~~

Let Them Be Little

~~~~~~~

Sleep, Little One

Don Besig and Nancy Price

Sleep, little one, may you dream of rainbows,
May you dreams of sunshine and skies of blue.
Sleep, little one, just beyond the shadows
There’s a world of wonder that waits for you.

As you face tomorrow, may God watch you from above,
May He guide you as you grow, and fill your world with love.

Sleep, little one, may you find your rainbow.
May you find the joy of dreams come true,
And on your way, may life be good to you.

(This was the song sung at Michael's christening)

~~~~~~~
Cleaning and scrubbing can wait until tomorrow
For babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs, Dust go to sleep,
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep!

Introducing...

My grandson, Jacob Octwo Dwyer, son of Michael.

To be called Jake.

Jacob was a name that Michael just liked and Octwo has a story behind it...my best friend, Kathy, has a cat that looks almost identical to Jake named Gabriel Angel(Gabe for short). When Michael lived with Kathy when he first started SIU, he and Gabe became buddies. Michael started calling him Orange Cat. Michael kept saying that when he was ready to move into his own apartment in Virginia, he wanted a cat like Orange Cat and Kathy was fortunate to find one on Craigs List(God bless Craigs List as that is where we found Colin). So Octwo means Orange Cat Two(Gabe is Orange Cat One). Octwo is pronounced Oc'-two.

I have only received a picture but we will be keeping him while Michael goes on a recon mission to Virginia to get a job and an apartment and then Jake will join Michael. In the meantime, I'm sure it will be a flying circus around here with a baby chihuahua, a baby kitty and a 13 year old dachshund who really doesn't want to be bothered although she is getting to the tolerating stage with Colin if you can call stealing Colin's beanbag and then going back to her own when Colin doesn't pay any attention to her...she growls at Colin and Colin nearly flies backward getting away from her.

Yep, the next few weeks are gonna be fun!

I'm so glad, though, that Michael will have Jake to come home to at night. It makes all the difference in the world if someone who loves you is waiting for you on the other side of the door when you come home...

Welcome Jake!

Love,

Grandma

Introducing

Colin Berkeley Mac Campbell, our 9 wk old, 2 lbs Chihuahua.

Macon chose him for us on Craigs List. this morning. He was located less than 5 miles from us, was born on April 19 and is simply adorable!

His ears are HUGE and I swear he could draw in satellite with those ears!

Shania sniffed him and wagged her tail so guess she is going to let him stay. We also engaged a dog sitter for Colin and Shania while we are gone in Buffalo so all is settled.

Off to cuddle with Colin! We are blessed.

Wordful Wednesday

Simple Gifts

Quaker Song

'Tis the gift to be simple,

'tis the gift to be free,

'tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

It will be in the valley of love and delight.

Refrain:
When true simplicity is gained,

To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed.

To turn, turn will be our delight,

'Til by turning, turning we come round right

'Tis the gift to be loved and that love to return,

'Tis the gift to be taught and a richer gift to learn,

And when we expect of others what we try to live each day,

Then we'll all live together and we'll all learn to say,

Refrain:

'Tis the gift to have friends and a true friend to be,

'Tis the gift to think of others not to only think of "me",

And when we hear what others really think and really feel,

Then we'll all live together with a love that is real.

Refrain:

The Mouse Got Me!

For those not familiar with Chuck E. Cheese's, it's a franchise that was designed with kids in mind. You eat pizza there, there are A LOT of game machines you can play for tokens you purchase and depending on how well you do at the machines determines how many tickets you win. At the end of your stay, you trade your tickets in for some coveted toy you think you need.

We celebrated Cade's 3rd birthday there yesterday because HE wanted to go. And 3 year olds aren't too skilled at winning game machines so their Aunt Nessa pitched in and helped spend 140 tokens(1 token to play each game machine so YOU do the math how many I played while Uncle Roger was taking pictures and Cade was running around like a blithering steroid-hyped-up(God BLESS the pediatrician who put him on steroids for his allergies!) to play games involving throwing basketballs, skeet balls, etc. to get Cade enough tickets to get the coveted Chuck E. Cheese ball he wanted.

You see where I'm going with this...right?

Aunt Nessa can't MOVE today. The Fibro Monster said it wasn't in the contract to play with balls for nearly 3 hours to get tickets. I got MY ticket this morning when I awoke...to an all day session with the recliner and meds.

But, hey, who can put a price on that little boy's sweet smile when he carried his Chuck E. Cheese ball to the car...

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

And I got even with Mr. Cheese, by the way...

One of his relatives had the audacity to climb into my 3rd story apartment kitchen and terrorize me for nearly a week.

Well, Mr. Cheese is short one relative as of this morning. I don't usually get into seeing dead mice but the way I felt this morning as a result of some opportunistic mouse who hoards money from kids by enticing them with toys that I could have probably bought 20 of through the Oriental Trade catalog, I wanted to point and laugh at the very dead mouse in the trap who met his fate in my humble abode...

Back to the recliner and meds.

Tuesday will be better.