The Best Christmas Present!

The Staton Family - Christmas 2007 - Not all of us though.
We'll try to include Papaw and Ric...and The Depps this year,
because all of us will be here!

We all know that Halloween is only a few days away. Then at the end of November, we will celebrate Thanksgiving! Then within a month after that, we will celebrate Christmas. Family Time! This year will be a terrific year of celebration in that all of our children will be home for Christmas!!! Jenny and Matt have booked their flights for arriving home at RDU on the afternoon of December 23rd! Addi and Maddox will be home for Christmas!!! It will be Turner's first Christmas!!! We are so blessed to have a wonderful family, immediate and extended. As we get older, time seems to pass much more quickly and time with family just seems so short. This year, we will celebrate time with Mamaw and Papaw! We will celebrate time with the Statons and the Boones. All together! We are grateful that Jenny and Matt could use their vacation time to come home to the States to see family. They will be with us for a few days, through Christmas Day. Then travel to Maryland to visit with Matt's family members. Once they return to NC for more time with us, they will travel and have more time with Matt's immediate family in South Carolina. All members of all the families are so happy that they could make arrangements to come home. Hopefully by that time, Jenny will be over her pregnancy sickness too and can enjoy the time here with family and friends.

Turner Comes to Trinity to See Gran...and Others!

Thank you Matt and Kristen for stopping by Trinity on your way home from Boone this weekend. I was so excited all day Saturday knowing that I would get to see and hold my latest little pumpkin! I've missed him so much. I hadn't seen him since the week he was born. What a precious little blessing we have! Gran and Grandad love you Turner! So does Aunt Jenny! She cannot wait until she can see you and hold you in December when they come home. Addi and Maddox will get to meet you also, your Russian cousins! I know that Uncle Adam enjoyed getting to see you this past weekend too.

Turner didn't care who held him. He snoozed the whole time of his visit!

Aunt Sandy had her turn admiring this handsome little boy!

Uncle Sherman tried to wake Turner up!

Cousin Gladys Ann kept saying that Turner is such a pretty baby!

Gran was the first to get to hold Turner. I couldn't wait to lift him out of the carseat! And I didn't want to share him either. But Grandad demanded his turn. I took numerous pictures, but not a one was of me holding Turner. That's okay, I'd rather hold and love Turner than take pictures!

Dressed in his corduroys! He's grown so much and now weighs almost 8 lbs.!

Of course, Mamaw had to hold Turner a bit too. She managed just fine with only one arm!

Sporting his running shoes or are they basketball shoes?

No ballgames for this little guy right now, except in his dreams.

Papaw had to have his turn to hold Turner too!

Feeling of his little shoes!

Are they both sleeping? :-)

Look at me! Look at me! I'm more important than any ballgame!!!! Grandad held Turner while the rest of us ate. Then Gran had another chance to hold Turner while Grandad ate. By then, Turner was waking up...a little! And it was time for him to have dinner!

Papaw and His Harmonica

Papaw has many talents that he used to enjoy in his younger life. He loves to tell his stories about when he played industrial league baseball as a pitcher, first baseman and sometimes as center fielder. I remember growing up and watching baseball on TV with Dad. I think that is why I love the game today. I learned so much from Dad about the game. He didn't really have a favorite team back then. He just enjoyed watching the game that he no longer could play. The Braves became his favorite team once he could watch them on cable television. America's Team! Unfortunately, Dad lost his vision and for many years now, he has not been able to see a baseball game on TV. He tried to listen to the announcers, but they didn't share every detail of the game. It was hard for him to know what had happened. We got him a radio and tuned it to a station that usually announced the Braves games in the afternoon or at night. But it just wasn't the same for Dad. While staying with Mom and Dad the past three weeks, he has gotten interested in the World Series play-off games as I have watched them. As we watched, I tried to share with him who was playing and other things happening during the game. Dad hasn't lasted through a whole game yet, which means that my ability for announcing is really lacking! Actually, he just gets so tired and has to retire for the night.

Dad has always loved music. When younger, he would play a guitar with other guys in a group. He also loved playing a 'mouth harp' as he calls it. Today, we call it a harmonica. Several years ago, I bought Dad a harmonica for Christmas. It made all of us so happy to see how much enjoyment he got from playing. We were also so surprised at how well he could play and how many songs he knew. A few years later, I bought him a better quality harmonica that he still plays today. Below, I have videoed Dad playing a few songs. I don't know how he has the wind for it due to his COPD and lung cancer. At times you will see that he struggles with breathing a little. But for a 90 year old man who has health issues, I'm so proud of how well he does play. Most of all, I'm thankful for the pleasure that it gives him to play.

Papaw loves his harmonica and loves to entertain with it...along with his many jokes that some of us have heard more than one time! :-) During the video, note that I have a shot of his foot pumping the beat!

Grandad Kit Visits Turner!

Due to taking care of Mom and Dad, I couldn't go to Apex to see Turner. But Kit traveled down there last Sunday afternoon to enjoy some Turner Time! Here are some of the pictures and videos that he took for me. Thank you Grandad!

A sleeping little baby boy.





A sweet little Turner smile!


Fathers and Sons...

Chloe...Will someone play with me?

Grandad and Turner

Turner is growing! Look at those cheeks!




Turner, Matt and Kit went for a stroll.

You Never Know About Your Tomorrow

On Monday, September 29 Kit called to let me know that my sweet mother had fallen down a couple of basement steps. I rushed from my Bible Study to Trinity. Mom was in great pain and I knew that we had to go to the High Point Regional Hospital ER. We didn't have to wait in ER too long in that Mom's situation was an Urgent Care one. X-rays were taken and we were told that Mom's shoulder bone, the humerus, was broken. I felt terrible for Mom in that she was hurting so badly. They finally gave her some pain medication. But we couldn't go home right away in that her blood pressure was too high. Medicine was given to get it down. Her arm was put into a sling, held tight next to her body. We got home around 1:00 in the morning. I spent the night and I've stayed here since. Mom is the primary caregiver for Dad, who is blind. So now, it is my turn to take care of both of them. Cooking, cleaning and meeting their needs is my task and I'm so happy that I can be here for them. Although, I do not like seeing Mom suffer in pain. We are all striving to stay positive and I'm thankful that both Mom and Dad still have their wonderful sense of humor. We have more doctor visits, CT scans and x-rays, but hopefully, they will be on the mend in the weeks to come.