(I will share about our side trip to St. Augustine in a future post.)
Last Thursday night, her friend, Will, from Regent University joined us for dinner. (He lives in Virginia Beach, about 90 minutes away.)
Will is a classically trained baritone singer, plays several instruments, has been in 21 countries (his dad is retired from the Navy), does fencing, loves books and is pursuing a double major in Criminal Justice and Theater. During dinner, he actually used a word that I didn’t know, which put him very high on the Impressive Young Man List.
After dinner, he and Sarah took off to see the Lost Colony. Sarah posted the following on Facebook:
The Lost Colony outdoor drama was amazing as always. And seeing it with my theatre-nut friend, Will, made it all the more enjoyable!
This Saturday, Sarah will fly to Charlotte to visit Steve’s parents for a few days. She has never flown by herself before and she will also be dealing with an airport shuttle, from the hotel where she is parking her car, a change of planes in Washington and an Uber from the Charlotte airport to her grandparent’s house. There will be a lot of new learning adventures topped by the joy of getting to spend some time with her grandparents.
Sarah will get back home next Tuesday, we will celebrate her 23rd birthday on August 23, and two days after that, we will go with her to Regent to help her move in for her final year.
If you’re wondering why there are no pictures of her from the Florida trip, it’s because she didn’t go. (Pretty good reason, right?) She wanted to keep working so that she could keep stashing money away for the school year. She also enjoyed being on her own, doing the grocery shopping, cooking, keeping up the house and getting a glimpse into what life will be like when she is living on her own for real.
After eight days of being gone, Steve and I got home last Tuesday night’ we spent SIXTEEN hours on the road. I can’t describe to you how good it felt to pull into the driveway of our house. Utter. Total. Bliss.
One of my favorite things when we go to Florida is watching Nathan and Steve together, enjoying not just being dad and son, but also friends.
Here are a few of my favorite pictures of them. (Comments under pictures.)
As always, they enjoyed playing in the worship team together at Meagan’s parents’ church.
The piano player is our grandchildren’s uncle and the two women singing on the left are their aunts. Lots of music flowin’ through the family!
Meagan’s mom, Sheri, and I got to go out to lunch while I was in town. How great is it that my co-grandma is also my dear friend?
As soon as I saw these huge flowers, I fell in love. Sheri said, “Just take a picture in front of them and that way, you won’t have to buy them.”
Good advice–although a part of me still wants a place in my life where I can hang these dramatic and cheery blooms.
We bought the kids a glider that they could paint. Grandpa Smith was a very enthusiastic Painting of the Plane facilitator.
Meagan got this shot of Madison, Grayson and me, enjoying being together. (I flung my necklace over my shoulder so it wouldn’t whack Grayson in the face. Nothing worse than a face-thwacking grandma. )
I have to say this scene warmed my heart. I happened to be sitting in the living room when Nathan walked in after a day at work and received his welcome home.
One of my sweet blog friends sent a gift not just for Grayson, but also for Noah and Madison, too. When a new baby comes, a lot of times the older siblings get a little forgotten so it was so sweet of this woman to remember them.
Meagan made up this collage and said, “It’s fun to see the full circle of this shirt. When we gave the shirts to you, we didn’t even know if it was a boy or a girl.” (They are reading the book given to them by our blog friend.)
I was on hand to take a picture when Meagan came out the door on her first Sunday ever getting three children ready for church. (Nathan had left earlier for music practice.) She did an amazing job with it all, juggling getting herself ready along with all of them. Of course, I helped where I could, but she handled the majority of it.
All young mothers can relate to the fact that she would curl one strand of hair, run off to do something for a kid, and then run back to curl another strand. Moms are the masters of multi-tasking and Meagan is a Magnificently Multi-Tasking Super Mom!
She is a great mom in every way–patient and funny and loving and of course, Nathan is a pretty fabulous guy himself.
I am so thankful to know that my grandchildren are being raised by love.
Photo by Meagan
What about you? Do you remember any particular gifts you got as a child? A favorite toy or book?
I know Noah and Madison will enjoy the books they got for a very long time.
This blog is so heartwarming! Thanks for including so many wonderful photos! Love y’all.
Fred,
I am just happy to have such wonderful people to share my photos with! Thanks for being a Smithellaneous friend–AND a Smith Chauffeur! 🙂
What an adorable, sweet family! Great job Meagan and Nathan! Grandparents reading to their grandchildren just warms my heart. Have you heard of a story called “The Book With No Pictures”? I think Steve would highly enjoy reading that book to Noah and Maddie, my three-year old niece loved her grandpa hamming it up when he read it to her!
Linnae
Thanks so much for the book recommendation; we are always looking for new ideas!
Reading to a kid is one of the best experiences in life. Books are one of the strings that tie generations together.
Love this post. All the importants in it. So wonderful that you were able to both make the trip. Sarah will have a wonderful adventure getting to and home from her grandparents. Brave girl! The gifts I mostly remember as a very young child were books: The Edith and Mr. Bear series. Loved those interesting books. Also, a doll that was as tall as I was and a Baby Dear doll. Life seemed to be so uncomplicated back in the day lol.
Lesley,
I have never heard of the Edith and Mr. Bear series. I did look it up to see what it looked like; it looks very dear. If you remember the series all these years later, it must have been something extra special.
And a doll as tall as you? That would definitely be a toy to remember!
Looks like Madison has warmed up to Grayson.
Gee, I don’t remember any gifts I got as a child although I know I got gifts. I do remember two things I didn’t get – a doll buggy and a lunch box. I remind my parents of that occasionally.
I assumed Sarah hadn’t gone to Florida when there were no pictures yet. Happy early birthday to her. This is her golden birthday – 23 on the 23rd. My nephew’s was last year – 22 on the 22nd.
Best wishes to Sarah on her last year of college!
Phyllis,
It’s funny how we remember those toys from childhood that we didn’t get. It’s nice that you and your parents can kid about it all these years later.
We were just discussing recently that this is Sarah’s golden birthday. Don’t know that we will do anything differently but it’s fun to think about it being a little extra special
The pictures are all so good! What a sweet, adorable bunch of grand kids you have. 🙂
Sarah is really going on quite an adventure….I will be so anxious to hear how it all goes!
When I was very young (4-ish) we had a book of nursery rhymes that my parents read to me. I believe that I had practically every one memorized.I still have the book in my cedar chest. It’s sort of falling apart because it was read so much but it’s also old! Ha! A few years later, I received a jewelry box as a gift and it had one of those dancing ballerinas that would go around and around to the music when you opened the lid. I was in love with that thing but I bet my folks got pretty sick of hearing that same song. . . .LOL!
LeeAnne,
How fabulous that you still have a book from when you were 4 years old. What a treasure!
When we were visiting Nathan and Meagan, Madi had a doll that a button you could push and she would sing a snippet of a song. She did that over and over and again and after awhile I thought, “Enough already!” 🙂 I had forgotten that there were repetitive song toys backs in the day, too!
Thanks for sharing more of your trip. That little guy is just plain adorable. I love his hair and those cheeks are just so kissable 🙂 Love the love they have in their family.
Wendy,
Kissable cheeks. So very, very true. He is the most huggable child . . .
Oh my – I absolutely LOVE the pictures of Nathan’s welcome home from work! And also the ones of Madison watching over Grayson. How exciting for Sarah to embark on her adventure to Charlotte – can’t wait to hear about it. Have a wonderful week!
Sue Ellen,
Yes, I loved those homecoming pictures, too. Glad I just happened to be sitting there when he walked in the door.
Thanks for following our adventures with such enthusiasm!
Loved the post and all the dear people therein! ? Love, Deb
Deb,
Nice to be able to write a post that therein contains dear people I love. It’s a shame you weren’t part of it!
Enjoyed the pictures. Precious grandchildren. I received a stuffed small Panda Bear one Christmas and I kept that until the stuffing dried and crumbled even taking it to college with me. I slept with it. Glad you had a great trip and prayers for Sarah as she travels.
Missed Friday’s post. Figured you were just too busy.
Ann,
Actually, I have started backing off from writing Friday posts since I started working more hours between the church and the daycare. However, if something in particular was to happen that needed immediate telling, I would reinstate the second weekly post post-haste!
Ann,
I love the image of you taking a stuffed Panda Bear with you to college. It must have been so comforting to have had the memories from home with you in your new environment.
It’s amazing how much comfort a creature made of stuffing can provide.