BOY!!!

Exhibit A
So one day back in July, I went to Wal-Mart to buy my mom a birthday card. Her birthday is July 17, so it was probably a week before that. I took the card to the counter to check-out and when the lady scanned it, she accidentally dropped it through the crack between the scanner and the counter. So she reached down and got it and put it in my bag and I went home. Well, when I got home, I got the card out to sign it and this is the card I found in my bag:

Apparently this card was already down in that crack, so when she reached down there to get my mom's birthday card, she accidentally pulled this one out and put it in my bag without either of us noticing. This was the exact time we were suspicious that I might be pregnant, but weren't sure yet. Sure enough, we found out shortly afterwards that I was pregnant. I put this card in my drawer, thinking how funny it would be if someday we did have a son and I could give it to him.

Well, last Friday, Brian, Avery, Tatum and I went in for our sonogram, and we heard the technician say, "You have a son... 100%" After all the screaming, laughing and crying, it is finally starting to sink in that we are going to get to have the wonderful experience of raising a little boy and our girls will have the awesome experience of having a brother!

Exhibit B
When Brian's Grandma Kratky passed away last summer, he went up to New York to spend some time with his grandpa and family up north and came home with a lot of Grandma's things that she had saved from his childhood. One of the things he brought home to the girls is this BOY Cabbage Patch Kid that he had played with at Grandma Kratky's house back a long time ago.

Over the past year, our girls have loved this doll to pieces, literally. My mom had to sew his arm back on a few weeks ago when she was in town. And he is such a cute little doll. He has been our "little brother" up until now. I often find Laney cuddling with this doll at night when I go in her room to check on her. I hope that's how she feels about her real little brother when he gets here!

Exhibit C
If you would've asked me what I thought the baby was before we had the sonogram, I would've told you I really thought it was another girl, since I have felt almost exactly the same as I did with my three girls. But deep inside I really thought it was a little boy. I have prayed for a little boy and even though God doesn't always say "yes" to all our prayers, He does delight to give His children the desires of our hearts. As I have "pondered these things in my heart", I have felt like that card that's been sitting in my drawer for the past few months was more just a little "accident"... it was all part of God's amazing and gentle love and leadership in our lives. He is the One the wind and waves obey, and yet He still cares so much about my little wants and needs. I can't wait to give that card to our son someday and tell him the funny story behind it.

MeMe

Lezette McReynolds

1923-2010

My sweet MeMe met Jesus early this morning. I know it was a grand celebration in Heaven as all her friends and family were there to greet her. While I am so happy she is Home, it is hard to wrap my mind around it, it happened so quickly.


She turned 87 on Sept. 6, so I called her to wish her a happy birthday. I was about a week late, but I knew she wouldn't mind. We talked about the girls. She asked about our new baby. She was very hopeful we would have a son, but assured me that another little girl would be a great blessing too. She raised three boys... my dad is her oldest son, so she knows about raising boys. She reminded me that she was born in 1923 and PawPaw was born in 1922. I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget. She's been telling me for 10 years that her cedar chest is mine when she dies. She reminded me of that again while we talked on the phone. She asked me if I wanted the photo albums she keeps inside of it. I said sure, I want anything and everything inside of it if it's from you. We joked about how I don't want it anytime soon and she said she hoped not either.

So the past couple weeks have come as a complete shock. She fell a couple times due to dizziness, and hit her head. I talked to her on the phone after her falls and she said she felt fine, she just couldn't stand up or walk because she felt so dizzy. She got a CT scan and it was normal. Then Sunday she started feeling really bad, so my parents took her to the hospital. There they discovered her heart was beating way too slow. So Monday they gave her a pacemaker. She was doing fine for about day. Then Tuesday morning her kidneys and lungs were showing signs of distress and failure. So I drove to SA on Tuesday after work. PawPaw was bringing MeMe home so she could pass on at home. She was fighting sleep, but she did wake up to ask me about the baby. Then I said, "I love you MeMe" and she clearly said "I love you too" and I said "I know you do." I sat beside her bed and held her hand and stroked her beautiful hair and hummed her some songs I knew she liked. She fell asleep very peacefully and slept on for the next day and half. By last night, all my uncles and cousins had come to visit her and spend time next to her. I know she heard everyone around her even though she couldn't respond to anyone anymore. So early this morning, a little after midnight, she went Home to her mama and daddy and Jesus.



Here's a short list of things I loved about MeMe:

• She adored my PawPaw and thought he was the funniest, smartest, bravest and most clever man in the entire world. We all agree, by the way. And he was crazy about her too. I've never seen a cuter couple in my entire life. They each thought the other hung the moon. And the thing I loved best is how they cracked each other up. It was true love at it's finest.
• She's been legally blind for years, but she never gave up on learning new things, even though she couldn't read. She always wanted to have things read to her aloud so she could learn them or remember them.
• She could tell you the name and birthday of anyone in our family at any time. Whether it was an ancestor who's been dead for 50 years, or each of my own three daughters, she knew their entire names and birthdays - month, day and year of birth.
• Memorizing Scripture and teaching her kids and grandkids to memorize Scripture was her passion.
• She even offered us money if we would memorize a certain amount of Scripture. I guess she knew the end justified the means.
• When I was a little girl, I remember sitting in between PawPaw and MeMe in their truck. I would sing them all my camp songs and MeMe would always tell me how amazed she was that I could memorize all those words to all those songs. She made me feel like a superstar.
• When I was in elementary school, she would have me over to spend the night at her house once or twice a month. We would play UNO and just hang out together. She would let me sleep on the little fold-out couch in she and PawPaw's bedroom. She also had a schedule set up where she kept my brothers and each of my cousins once a month or as often as possible. She poured her life into her grandkids.
• When I was in junior high, I remember going out to "the place" one weekend and MeMe taught me how to drive PawPaw's big truck. I couldn't believe she actually let me drive it all by myself. Although it rarely came out, she did have a bit of a wild streak in her.
• When I was in highschool, I went to her house after school once a week and she gave me cooking lessons. Her recipes were not low-cal, but they always tasted great and made you feel warm and comfortable.
• You couldn't go into MeMe and PawPaw's house without her making you something yummy to eat, even if you swore you weren't hungry. She would get up and start cooking you something, and it was usually lots of something.
• Shortly after Brian and I got married, PawPaw and MeMe decided that they owed us a trip to Big Bend. So all four us loaded up in their van and spent a week in Big Bend together. They didn't even ask us if we wanted to camp... even though they both, in their late 70's, would've been fine camping out, they knew their 22 year old granddaughter was a little too much of a city girl so they just told us they were getting two rooms in the little campsite motel. We thouroughly enjoyed that week with them.
• MeMe loved nature and she loved history. Besides the Scriptures, I'm pretty sure those were her two favorite subjects. I always learned something new about those two things when I was with her.

When our little Laney was born, for the longest time we couldn't figure out who she looked like. Finally, we discovered who she looked like... When God created Laney, I'm so glad He decided to make her from the same mold as MeMe, especially her eyes and her hair.

These two photos are from our family reunion this past July. PawPaw is 88 and MeMe is 86 and Laney is one and a half. Laney had been wandering around the patio at my Uncle Don's house, when she came upon MeMe's lap. She decided that was the lap she wanted so she crawled right up into her lap. She stayed content there for a long time. I'm so thankful my cousin Sara got these two photos of those moments.

So goodbye for now, MeMe. I can't believe you're really gone. You made a lasting impression on everyone who knew you. So as you go, I want to say this Scripture over you... Your children (and grandchildren and great-grandchildren) rise up and call you blessed; Your husband also, and he praises you: “ Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.” Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates. Prov. 31:28-31