The Demise of Wall E

If you recall, a few entries back, I wrote about taking my 3 grandsons on a "Date Night" which included: dinner out, the movie Wall E, and then ice cream.

Wall E came home from the theater with us that night and has occupied my youngest grandson's bedroom all summer. As the weeks got closer to the end of summer vacation, as week-end trips dwindled, and after relatives from Washington State came and went, it was time to "re-arrange" each of the boy's bedrooms before school started.

Thus, the reason, when I pulled into the driveway of my grandsons home, for Wall E lying out by the road - awaiting "trash pick-up" the next morning. Many cars stopped to look, perhaps thinking they wanted to claim Wall E, but, alas, when they saw he was made of heavy cardboard, they continued on their way.

Here are the last two pictures of Wall E.

(When I pulled into their driveway the next morning, he was GONE~!)

Good Bye, Wall E; you made 3 little boys; (especially 1; because you held his guitar every night), very happy for an entire summer!

Time Well Spent with "My Three (grand) Sons"

For the past few days, I have had each of my grandsons, one at a time, spend the night with me. They truly are little "treasures" from heaven. When you only have one for the night, you really get to know them and their unique personalities. I laughed at many of the things they said, and even cried a time or two because of the intensity of their love for ME!

Owie, as he has asked me to call him, (he remembers that my Mom always called him Owie rather than Owen) is the oldest of the 3. He got to spend Thursday night with me. He is SO a "first-born"!! Everything I asked him to make a choice about, he would say, "what do YOU want Nonnie?" (Very often, First-Born's are "pleasers" and therefore, it is hard for them to decide what they want to do, or what they want...) I had to remind him many times that HE was my guest, and therefore, I wanted him to make those choices; what movie to watch, what flavor pudding to make, etc.

Speaking of pudding; I heard an "echo" while we were getting some groceries for the days the boys would be with me. I asked him if he liked pudding. He said, "Nonnie, there are only 2 kinds of pudding I like: Hot and Cold". My father used to tell his congregation the SAME THING about pies!!! I told Owie about that and he said he remembered hearing it from one of my siblings.

I purchased a table and benches that I have needed to assemble for several weeks. Owie and I got the first bench done. There was only one thing that night that bothered me about Owie...he GRITS HIS TEETH all night long while he sleeps~~!!! (I told his Mama and she said she has talked to the Dentist about it, and evidently it is common for that to happen as they start losing baby teeth - which is when he started doing it. So, I guess Nonnie "worried" for no reason at all!

Friday night, the boys had an activity at Church, so no one stayed with me again until Saturday. I picked Gideon up on Saturday afternoon. He is the "middle child" and as different from Owie as night and day. "G", as we often call him, is an aspiring artist and a problem solver. He loves to figure out the technicality of putting something together but really isn't that interested in actually doing the assembly. The challenge for him is figuring out HOW it goes together. I had already put one bench together with Owie, so I knew exactly how to put the 2nd bench together. Gideon helped, but wasn't real thrilled about it all until it came time to glue the wooden "buttons" on top of the screw holes. He really enjoyed being able to pound them gently with the hammer.

Being the middle child, he is also LOVES to pull pranks, etc. I found MANY things in the house had been moved from one shelf to another or beads from the top of the lamp hanging "inside" the lamp rather than outside... it was like playing a game. I NEVER saw any of his "activities" in moving objects from their normal place, so he was very excited that he was able to trick me with so many things throughout the apartment.

Gideon is a "lover"; actually, all 3 boys are, but Gideon constantly tells you how much he loves you and he will hug and cuddle anytime! When he woke up on Sunday morning, he ate breakfast and got ready for Church and then watched TV for awhile while I finished getting everything done that I needed to do before leaving. I noticed he kept leaving the living room and coming into the kitchen where I was working and he constantly would hug me or say he loved me. I could tell he was being extra "attached" to me and it finally dawned on me what was wrong with him. I said, "Gideon, are you missing your brothers?" To which he replied, "Yes." I told him in another hour we would be at Church and he would be able to be with them again. That seemed to calm his spirit. Since he is very much the "social" one of the bunch, it is rather surprising that he told his Mama, "when he is away somewhere, he wants to be there, but always thinks about HOME!" He was more than ready to don his back -pack and get in the car so we could get to Church! **(Just a quick Note: Gideon has a head full of beautiful blond curls. BUT, he is at the age where he wants his hair to lie flat; therefore he wets it all down and combs it as straights as possible. If the day is Humid, the curls pop out everywhere, regardless of what he does to them~~!)

My son and his wife welcomed their 2nd child/2nd daughter into the world late Friday night. Therefore, The boys parents, Nichole and Jeremy and I decided to leave right after Church and head to Grand Rapids to see the new baby. It is an 1 1/2 hour drive. We didn't stay real long and then headed back home 1 1/2 hours away. After arriving in Shepherd, they dropped me off at my apartment and then a few minutes later, Nichole came back to drop Silas, the youngest of the 3, off for the night. Silas just turned 5, but looks to be about 3 1/2 in size. So, it is very, very funny when "wise" things come out of his mouth. Silas kept me laughing the whole evening. These are some of the things he said to me that night:

While he and I were assembling a wooden waste-basket for the kitchen (which, I might add, he literally did 85% or more of the work by himself), I had been holding 2 boards at a right angle. I kinda dropped them and they shifted a little bit. Silas was putting in some screws when that happened, and said to me, "Nonnie, you got me "off course" a little when you did that. I said, Silas, you are 5. What do you know about being "off course"? He replied, "5-year-olds now about the word "course"! I almost lost it all at that point~!!

When we had completed the waste-basket, he was eating supper at my desk and I sat in a chair near him and we talked. I said something about one of "my girlfriends". He said, "Nonnie, why do you have a girlfriend? That sounds like a boyfriend!" I-yi-yi...I explained to him that when girls have friends they usually refer to them as girlfriends. When guys have friends, they usually call them "buddies" or "friends". He said, "yes, or they say BEST FRIEND". Okay - got past that one but was laughing in my head the whole time.

Girls are females and boys are bucks. (I asked if he was talking about deer or people and he assured me that he was talking about people~!)

When looking at family pictures on the refrigerator, he said, "I know my dad is your son-in-law; that is why you can't marry him"~ Yikes!!! I asked him if his daddy told him that. He said, "No, I just know it."

And one of my favorites: He noticed I had put a large picture on the wall above the Wall Unit, since he had been to my apartment the last time. He wanted to know how I got it up there on the wall. I said, "I have a stool I stand on." I told him it wasn't exactly where I wanted it to hang and I was going to have to re-hang it. He looked over at me as serious as a heart-attack and said, "Nonnie, I don't want to hurt your feelings or anything, but you have short arms". I looked at him for a minute and then realized he was meaning that I would not be able to just stand in front of the wall unit and "reach" the picture! What a HOOT!!!

He was very ready to leave this morning because he was going to have a "play date" with his best friend from Pre-School. What a good time we had; he, spouting words of wisdom and I, hardly able to contain my laughter!

So, all in all, I have realized that Owie is the quiet one, Gideon is the playful one and Silas has a wise soul in the body of a 5-year old~~!!

Piper Marie Clark

Piper Marie is my newest granddaughter. (I now have 3 grandsons and 3 granddaughters.) Piper arrived on Friday, August 15, 2008 at 10:06 p.m. She weighed 6# 8 ozs. and was 19" long. Her big sister is Zoe Violet, age 14 1/2 months. Her proud parents are my son, Paul and his wife, Beki.

I, Nonnie Gail, am extremely happy and feel very blessed~~!

Maryln Shattuck Graduates to Heaven

Maryln Shattuck (see 2 blogs previous/A Tribute to Maryln Shattuck: The Wedding Dress) graduated from this earth to Heaven tonight at 7:15 pm. She went to join Jesus and a host of friends and relatives all waiting for her arrival.

She finally met her "Bridegroom" tonight as her family was gathered 'round her singing the old hymn, Amazing Grace. They had just gotten to the last verse when she breathed her last breath.

When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun;
There's no less days to sing God's praise
Then when we first began.

She is free from all earthly cares, the cancer, the chemo and everything involved with ALL her health issues.

P.S. There was also a big "bash" ready to start... an Anniversary Party for my parents 58th anniversary. She made it just in time for them to cut the cake~! Her diabetes will be a problem no more; she can have all the cake and "ice cream" (she LOVES ice cream) she wants without any of it affecting her health!

58 Years... Rev. and Mrs. Arthur Earl Fritz

After a whirlwind romance of 17 days, my mom and dad (Violet Mae Smith and Arthur Earl Fritz) eloped to Angola, Indiana and got married! Today is their 58th Anniversary - but they are on an "eternal honeymoon" in Heaven. Last year they passed away 101 days apart; dad passing last and just in time to get to Heaven to spend their 57th Anniversary together.

Happy Eternal Anniversary, Mom and Dad. We all love you and miss you, but are glad that you are "forever together"~!!!!


ALWAYS

I'll be loving you, Always.
With a love that's true, Always.
When the things you've planned
Need a helping hand;
I will understand, Always, Always...

Days may not be fair, Always.
That's when I'll be there, Always.
Not for just a year, not for just a week,
Not for just a day, but ALWAYS~!

My Tribute to Maryln Shattuck: "The Wedding Dress"

This is the wedding picture of Maryln and Leland Shattuck; dear, dear friends and parishioners of my parents for over 40 years. The Shattucks have 4 girls and 1 boy and my parents had 4 girls and 2 boys. Ironically, 2 sets of the Shattuck girls and 2 sets of the Fritz girls have been best of friends for years and each "set" of us sang together in Church since we were quite young.

While growing up, either the Fritz girls were at the Shattuck house or the Shattuck girls were at the Fritz house. Many Sunday's after church, my sister, Jodi and I would go home and eat Sunday dinner with Shirley and Darlene. The best part of the day was after the dishes were washed and Maryln and Leland retired to the bedroom for their Sunday nap. Then, the "playing" began.

Often, when we were around the ages of 10-12, weddings were on our minds all the time. Oh the glorious moment when the girls would pull the string hanging from the ceiling that let down a set of stairs leading to the attic. Up in the attic, was Maryln's BEAUTIFUL, REAL, Adult-sized Wedding Dress. And guess what? WE GOT TO PLAY WITH IT~~!!! It was truly a dream come true for 4 young girls. (Jodi and I didn't have a wedding dress to play with because our parents eloped to Indiana 17 DAYS after they met - and got married in "suits".)

What I found out just last night, was that it wasn't Maryln who gave the permission to the girls to play with her Wedding Dress; it was Leland. He said, "What good is it doing lying up in the attic?" We Fritz girls didn't know WHO gave the permission - just that is was okay, so play, we did! I cannot tell you how many times we "married each other" in the front yard of the Shattuck's house, with cars of people going by constantly, seeing us and possibly thinking, "look at those little girls having fun playing dress-up".

Now, I have to confess something here today, as I did last night to the younger Shattuck girls. I asked them, "When you played with the Wedding Dress, was there a piece of tulle at the bottom that was ripped and hanging?" "Yes", they said.... Well, I was the culprit. After one of our "mock ceremonies", we were running toward the house, (I, obviously was the "bride" that day) and my shoe caught on the bottom of the dress. (Shirley and Darlene laughed and said, "Yes, Gail was the ORIGINAL "Run-Away Bride".) I heard the ri-ii-ip and started crying. I was sure I was going to get beat or yelled at or whatever by Maryln (right~!)and that we would never again have the joy of playing with the dress. But that didn't happen. We still played with it many more times and then, according to MaryLee and Janiece, they also played with it until it was just worn out - ripped tulle and all.

Now, you ask, how in the world is this a tribute to Maryln?

Maryln became the Bride of Christ many years ago and has been waiting for the call from the Bridegroom that it is time for the Wedding to take place. At the present moment in her life, she is almost ready to walk down the aisle and be Welcomed by the Bridegroom of all times. She has fought cancer for many years; going into remission and then having it appear again, only metastasized to many other parts of her body. It appears that she only has a mere few days, at best, left here on this earth. But, as she has prepared for years to meet her Bridegroom (Jesus Christ), she has not been one to always be out-in-front or real verbal. But touch lives, she has. Go to the Website (lmshattuck.com) set up for her right now and you will read message after message to the family of how Maryln in her own quiet way, has touched hundreds of lives. That is all Christ asks us to do. We are not all the Head or the Eye or the Back of the "body", but it takes every single part; the fingers, the toes, the unseen organs - such as the liver, the gall bladder, etc. for us to be "ONE" body in Christ.

Maryln might not have thought of letting us play with her Wedding Dress, but Leland - looking at it from a different point of view, could see that "The Dress" could still bring joy and happiness to lots of little girls - and therefore, he urged her to let them play with it. Isn't that just like so many of us - we need nudges or urging from other Christian friends along the way, to use a "gift" that we don't even consider one of our Spiritual Gifts from God~~!

Today, Maryln, I don't know how many hours are left before you meet your Bridegroom face-to-face, but I want you and your family to know, that many, many generations older and younger than you, of family, relatives, friends and neighbors have watched you prepare to be that beautiful Bride getting ready to meet her Bridegroom. We are thankful for whatever you have taught us while you were in the that process, and for what your life did for us as we are in the same "preparation process".

It is with great JOY and ANTICIPATION, (although humanly speaking - we are sorry for OUR loss), that we hand you over to the Bridegroom who is "waiting with open arms to take you as HIS BRIDE~~!"

Revelations 21:2 (NLT) "And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband."