Family

‘Twas the night before New Years and all through the house were . . . five dogs (one of them was a puppy!) . . . two six year olds . . . one four year old . . . one nine month old . . . four tired parents . . . one Grammy and one Papa.

Needless to say, we had a packed house! This frazzled Grammy couldn’t find the matching Christmas jammies that were purchased specifically for this weekend. I wasn’t able to sleep well with my mind trying to go through every place in the house that I may have stashed these jammies.

With all of our family here my mind begins to think of memories and expectations. Since I wasn’t able to sleep I decided to get up and do some journaling to process my thoughts. The house was quiet with all the kiddos, dogs and parents still slumbering. All I wanted was a cup of coffee, journal & pen then I was ready to go!

It was 4:30 am when I quietly got out of bed. I thought this was going to be a great way to start my day! We live in an older home and have a few squeaky places in our floors. I was trying to avoid them and preserve this special quiet time that I had began to anticipate with excitement.

As soon as I nestled into my cozy spot I realized that I had woke up a couple of dogs. Ugh! I quietly got up to put them outside and was hoping they would just stay outside and play while I went back to my plan for the morning.

So again, I nestled into my cozy spot with anticipation to have this quiet time that I had longed for. All of a sudden the doorbell rings. Remember this is between 4:30 and 5:00 am!! I thought who in the world would be ringing our doorbell at this hour!! I was alarmed and a little scared when it hit me – the dogs!! Our new puppy Luna had jumped up and was able to ring the doorbell!

My nice little quiet time was over – it never really began. Some of our guest were awake too, but thankfully most of them slept through this crazy early morning. Lon & I decided we had the smartest puppy since she could just ring the doorbell when she was ready to come back inside!

We may have had a packed house full of family and canines but we were all together and that makes me happy!

By the way – I’m writing this two weeks since that weekend and I have yet to find those Christmas jammies!

“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.” Matt 7:12

I tried to be quiet and not disturb everyone’s sleep ~ I really did!!

Author: 2faithfulsisters

My name is Barb Ninemire. I live in Hill City, Kansas, it’s a small town in the NW part of the state. I’ve been married to my husband Lon for 40 years. We have two children. Our daughter Krysten is married to Braden and she has a beautiful daughter, Klara and a rambunctious 2 year old Elliot. Our son, Lewen and his wife Ashley have two sweet little girls Isabelle and Lillian. Being grandparents has brought so much joy to our lives! I grew up in Indiana and am the youngest from a family of two children. My sister Janet was 14 months older than me. I never new life without her. We were the best of friends! You may have noticed that I am referencing her in the past tense. Six years ago we were right in the middle of preparing her for a bone marrow transplant. I was blessed to be a 100% match for her so I was able to be her donor. She lived in Virginia and I live in Kansas. That meant a lot of flying back and forth for me. I didn’t care at all, it was actually fun because I was able to spend so much extra time with my favorite person! The transplant was in June. She did amazing, and all of her numbers were looking great. I flew back to Kansas a week after the transplant. Soon after I was home things weren’t going as well as they had been. She had graft vs host which is basically her body rejecting the donors bone marrow. She lived just a few short weeks after that. I had never watched someone die before. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced. I wasn’t emotionally ready for anything this devastating. I began to journal my experiences through my grief. My hope is that I can share some of what I went through and how I dealt with this great loss in my life. Life is good - but sometimes its hard. I depend on the Lord and His word for my strength during those times.

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