My Mother's Daughter

Today is my mom's birthday and my sisters' birthday.  My mom would have turned 55 today, but instead of celebrating life with her loved ones on Earth, she is celebrating eternal life with her Maker in Heaven.

This morning when Jillian saw this photo of my mom on my sister's FB page, she said to me, "Mom, I thought that was you for a minute!"   :-)

And Brad sweetly added to that sentiment in his e-mail to me! He made the mention of my nose, because I can sometimes be a little self-conscious of it.  There are times that I think it is a little too big for the other features on my face.  But the happy news is I think that my nose shares a lot of resemblance to my mom's nose.  (And I never would have said her nose was too big, I think she had a beautiful nose.  :-))

 So, when I look into the mirror and even begin to become critical of my over-sized nose, I remember the woman who gave it to me!  I see my mom in me and that is very special. Because of that, I wouldn't trade my nose for the most beautiful nose in the world! :-)

Brad's E-mail:

On Jul 31, 2013, at 9:07 AM, Holmes, Brad wrote:

WOW!  You look just like your Mom.  That is uncanny.

And I happen to like both of your noses. J

Love you,

Brad

From: Brad & Lauren Holmes
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2013 9:14 AM
To: Holmes, Brad
Subject: Re: My mom & sister

You better like my nose, because you're stuck with it! LOL! ;-)

But really thank you sweetheart!  

I don't think I look just like my mom, but I definitely can see that I am my mom's daughter and that is special to me.  :-)

On Jul 31, 2013, at 9:16 AM, Holmes, Brad (NIH/NLM/NCBI) [E] wrote:

Exactly!!  That is really special.

But in more ways than just my nose, I strive to be like my mom.  I recognize that time is fleeting and that tomorrow is not promised to us.  I enjoy the small moments with my girls.  

Just last week, Jillian created a salon experience for Faith and me.

As Jillian styled my hair with several clips, a head band, and lots of bands for my hair. I was taken back to the time when I would play with my mom's hair. I can still remember putting my mom's hair in several pig tails and thinking it looked awesome. I even offered do her hair on Sunday, so she could wear it like that for church! :-)  

(I was in my pajama Aggie shirt earlier but I changed my shirt for the "fancy picture" of my hair with my girls!)

There isn't a day that passes that I don't think of and miss my mom. People always say "time heals all wounds".  But in my experience, the pain hasn't really dulled, I have just become accustomed to it.  The loss of my mom at a young age has become a part of me, a part of my life's story.

But on the other side of my pain, I have a beautiful hope that most people don't develop or think about until much later in life.  When I sing songs or reflect on Heaven, it bring tears to my eyes!  I long for the day when my mom will wrap her arms around me again. She was a beautiful reflection of Jesus in my life.  She had unconditional love for me and had an incredible faith that gave me courage and strength.  I miss her hugs, her gentle touch, and the comfort that she always brought me.  She was an amazing mom and I miss her.  

 Thank you mom for teaching me to cherish life and to love my children deeply.  I am thankful to be my mother's daughter.

Old Friends

The week after we came home from Lake Junaluska, we had a much anticipated visit from our friends Chris, Rebekah, Lydia, and little Naomi.  

We have been friends since our college years and they are only friends that have visited us in EVERY single home we have ever lived in as husband and wife: 1) College Station, TX; 2) Our apartment in Rockville; 3) Cambridge, England; 4) Our townhome in Rockville, MD- they have actually had multiple visits here, because we have lived here so long!  :-)

They live in San Antonio, Texas now, so it definitely was a big trip for them to come see us! And they weren't interested in anything touristy, they just wanted to hang out together.

 They have seen our family grow from it being just the two of us to us it being the five of us and we have seen their family multiply from two to four! I think that is a pretty special friendship.

It's always a little more complicated when you have 9 people in a three bedroom place, but it always seems to work out.  Our girls slept in the nursery on a full blow up bed, while the G family slept in the girls' room with two twin beds, the toddler bed, and a pack-n-play.  It was the perfect set-up.

Mr. G is so much fun, no matter how much time has passed, my girls always warm up to him immediately! 

The next morning, we enjoyed a hearty breakfast and then we played with magnetic dolls and the peek-a-boo blanket! 

Faith was adding to the fun by saying "peek-a-boo" too! 

But then she decided to join in on the fun too! 

Our two families have been blessed with five beautiful, little girls! 

Faith was more enamored by little Naomi then she was by the blanket peek-a-boo game! 

Happy Naomi

And in complete bliss, little momma Faith

Especially since our friends' visit, I have had several requests by both Jillian and Faith that we have just one more baby sister in our family! :-)

"Wouldn't that be so much fun?"

I have to admit I think rolling babies are super adorable! 

And I know I would have plenty of help! :-)

After our blanket fun and Naomi went down for a nap, the "big girls" played with our Math-U-See manipulatives.

Lydia made a yummy cake! :-)  It was a great beginning to our visit together.

Money Saving Faith

While we were driving and doing some errands, Faith perked up and said, "Momma when I grow up I am going to have my kids wear my kid clothes. That way I can save a lot of money."

I responded, "That's smart, Faith!  And it will be special for your girls to wear some of their mommy clothes.  But I am not sure I am going to keep enough of your clothes to completely outfit them.  Also, don't you think you will want to pick out some of your own clothes for your babies?"

"I will! I'll just go shopping at your house!"  :-)

Lessons with Anna

This morning, Anna came up to me with the Harold Treasury. She pointed to the words and asked, "What does that say?" We did that for a few pictures.  Then she walked away, took the book, put it on the ground, and with a little bit of exhaustion in her voice, exclaimed to everyone, "And that was my lesson."  :-)

Lake Junaluska- Part 4

Our four to five days at Lake Junaluska flew by really quickly.

On Friday, our last full day at Lake Junaluska we went out to eat for breakfast.

We enjoyed Joey's Pancake House and Restaurant.

It is a very popular place, so there was a short wait, but it was well worth it!! Everything I ate (and sampled) was delicious.  

After breakfast, we went to the Susanna Wesley Garden at Lake Junaluska.

We took a photo of the three generations of first-borns- Grandad, me, and Jillian

A very proud Aggie dad with Leigha. Two of my dad's kids (and a son-in-law to boot) followed in his footsteps and went to his alma mater, Texas A&M!   Whoop! 

A photo of the group of us in the beautiful gardens.  They were very well maintained, and we were even able to talk to the gardener while we were there! 

Grandad outside the museum with his three grand-daughters.

Beautiful view of the Smokies!

My dad had a lot of favorite places he wanted to get pictures of the girls on our last day! 

:-) It was a sweet time.

Then, we went home and started a game of Monopoly! 

That evening, we enjoyed s'mores.

Anna had a little help from Aunt Leigha in toasting her marshmallow!

Jillian was the first to be done and she devoured her yummy s'more! 

Auntie Kristin helped Faith toast her marshmallow! 

We all enjoyed sitting on the porch eating our special treat.

Then, it was bath time with Grammie! :-)

And a little playing time with Auntie Kristin before going to bed.  

The next morning, we enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast, packed up, and gave big hugs...

kisses....

and said our good-byes! 

Thank you Grammie and Grandad for a wonderful trip!  Goodbye Lake Junaluska!!

(This is Grandad, Kristin, Leigha, and Grammie waving good-bye to us from their 2nd floor porch.) 

Lake Junaluska- Part 3

The next day, the girls started out their day doing some more fishing.

Then they came home and did some coloring.  This photo was actually taken in the downstairs apartment that my parents rent out during the summer.  They very generously gave it to us to use for the week.  We had two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a family room all to ourselves!

In the afternoon, we ventured out to the Mast General Store in Waynesville.

This shop is "at the Gateway to the Smokies. It is a 1930's mountain mercantile, with antique cabinetry, well-oiled floors, and original mezzanine, and is packed with provisions for the entire family.  Look downstairs for old-fashioned candy and timeless toys."

Each of the girls had so much fun picking out their favorite candy.

I am not sure the girls have ever seen so much candy in one place before.

Then, they got out their money that they earned from selling strawberries and cokes at their store! 

My dad rightly thought there was some sort of conspiracy going on...
He observed, "Didn't I buy these cokes in the first place and now I am paying for them again?"  

But I know he thought the excitement of each of this grand-daughters faces was well worth the expense! 

It looks like we were left out of the candy fun, but Grammie and Grandad treated Brad and I to something from the candy shop too!  I got chocolate cashews and Brad had dark chocolate cherries!  Yummy!

It was a fun trip to town with our family.

Then, we went home and got ready to celebrate birthdays/ Father's Day with the family!  The girls had a blast decorating the yellow cake and chocolate icing with plenty of sprinkles.

Jillian made a custom Grammie heart picture.  Grammie found the perfect place to hang it up on the wall! Jillian was super excited to see how much Grammie appreciated her gift.  :-) 

Jillian meticulously colored a picture of Winnie the Pooh for Grandad! 

She also drew a beautiful self-portrait of herself fishing. She made the card & drawing before we left on our trip. She had been greatly anticipating fishing with her grandad. :-)

Faith drew a picture of herself in a canoe fishing! Do you see a recurring theme? Little Anna gave Grandad a ladybug craft she had made!


It was a sweet, sweet family celebration! Later that night, after the girls went to bed, all the grown-ups played electronic Catch Phrase.  There was a lot of laughter and tears (from laughing so hard) as we tried to figure out what phrases our team-mates were trying to get us to say! Who would have known that Captain Crunch or a phrase about a horse magazine could be so challenging?