Celebrating Life and Family

I say it often, but I have been extremely blessed with marrying into such a loving and close family. I have been fortunate to find a family and a husband that share the values of God, family, friendship and love for each other. We have experienced so much as a family over the past twelve years that I've known Wesley and been apart of their lives. We've been married for only 7 but it feels like they were my family on before that! 

So, while I don't have a lifetime of memories with each of them, I have a lot, and my children, have their lifetime of memories. We lost Wesley's Mimaw last Saturday night after a long struggle with illness. She was so tired and confident that she would be united with the Lord and her loved ones on the other side. We lost, her husband, Big Daddy at the end of 2010 just less than a month before we got pregnant with Jonah. He never got the chance to know the boys but she did and oh how she loved them and all of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was such a strong woman with strict values and knew what she wanted out of life. 

That picture is from last Thanksgiving, Jonah had just turned three and Ezra was still immobile (ha!). She loved to hold him and I truly saw her light up when he was around. I think he was such a blessing and a bright spot in her life during her last year and his first. A perfect match. I know he won't remember her, but we will always talk about her and tell him how she loved him. When he started sitting up and crawling and being his mischievous little self was when she talked and smiled the most. She loved all of her babies!

Something that a funeral brings that doesn't happen as often as it should is family time together. Getting together with Wesley's cousins and siblings of course is so much fun. We get stories, old and new, to love on each other's babies, and laugh while our hearts are sad. These guys recreated a photo they found of themselves as children. So funny. 

My husbands beautiful family.

MeMe, Aunt Lacey, Uncle Lance, Wesley, and Poppie! 

This sweet boy got so much love. He loves being THE BABY! That's something he's getting to experience that's unique to him. All of the other babies have kind of had a partner, a cousin or sibling that is really close in age, but the cousins on both sides of our family are 3 1/2 at the youngest. So glad he gets to eat up his special role!