Grace's Heaven Perspective

My beloved Nana passed away last Saturday at the age of 85. She was such an amazing woman, but she had a tough road in life. In her final days, Grace and I had a conversation during her evening prayers that I will never forget.

Heaven from the Heart of Grace

Me: We need to say an extra special prayer for my Nana. She's very sick and will be going to Heaven soon.

Grace: (quietly thinks about this for a moment) Did you know that she'll be young again when she gets to Heaven?

Me: Yes, sweetie. That makes me feel better. My Nana has been sick for a long time.

Grace: She'll be in Heaven with God, right?

Me: Yes, she'll be in Heaven with God...and Jesus and all of our family and friends who have died.

Grace: Everyone in Heaven becomes an angel. They have wings and everything.

Me: Really? What else do you know about Heaven?

Grace: People are happy there.

Me: Yes, they are. It's a wonderful place.

Grace: Does your Nana go with your Pop-Pop who died?

Me: Yes, she does, hon. My Pop-Pop died a year and a half ago, and he's in Heaven too.

Grace: (sweetly and excitedly) I bet they'll be so happy to see each other.

Me: Yes, they will.

I've replayed that conversation in my head many times over the last week and a half. Grace's innocent words brought comfort not only to me, but to many members of our family as we came together to celebrate Nana's life.

Isn't it amazing what we can learn from our kids? They teach me lessons everyday. This one was particularly powerful.

I love my Amazing Grace!

During my Nana's funeral, Amazing Grace was played as the opening hymn. I smiled as I thought of my sweet girl and what a blessing she is to me, in the same way my Nana's 7 kids were incredible blessings to her throughout her life, especially in her final days as they lovingly cared for her, as she had cared for them.

Quote of the Day: Colin

"I'm obsessed with dangerous things."

And it's true. He asks us all the time if things are dangerous. He absolutely wants to play with things that are dangerous whenever possible.

His next quote may be straight from The Lion King, "Danger? I laugh in the face of danger. Hahaha!"

Tales of the Race Car Bed

Colin's first few nights in his race car bed have been a success! He absolutely loves his big boy bed :) Each night when we tuck him in, he reminds us that he's "not opposed to climb out," and so far, he hasn't. Let's see how long that lasts! We love watching him sleep all snuggled up in that bed...he looks so grown up!

Happy New Year from Team Fogarty!

Let the New Year's Eve fun begin...

Grace and Colin's beautiful train

Cracking themselves up...

Happy New Year, one and all!!!

We rang in 2013 at home and had such a fun night with the kiddos! We made a Rice Krispie treat train and decorated it, which was a blast! Both kids were so into it, as you can see from the pictures :)

After decorating the train and tasting it, we had a living room dance party, featuring some of our all-time favorites: Don't Stop Believin', Rhythm of Love, Galway Girl, and Party in the USA. Grace and I also ambushed Martin with silly string, which he didn't enjoy very much! He said "karma" got me when Grace squirted me directly in the eye with it a few minutes later ;-) Never a dull moment around here, I tell ya!

The kids ran out of gas and started melting down around 10pm, so we put them to bed, and Martin and I stayed up until 2am listening to music, dancing, and reminiscing. Our final song of the evening was "The Parting Glass," one of the best Irish songs ever written (in my opinion). It was the perfect way to welcome a new year...I'm so excited to see what God has in store for Team Fogarty in 2013. We're ready for a wonderful year together! Happy New Year, friends!!! 

"I gently rise and softly call...
Good Night and Joy Be To You All!" 

~ The Parting Glass