Chances Are?

I wonder what the chances are for a Grandmother to have her last three grandchildren all born on the same day for the last three years in a row? Because yes, for the last three years I have had a grandchild born on July 10.

Starting with our little Rosie Posie being born 4 months early on July 10th 2009.

The next year Rosies little brother Gavin was born a month early but on the 10th. 

So when my oldest daughter got a due date of July 10th, I knew all along that would be the day Ellen was born. I was right, that was in fact the day that Ellen chose to come into the world.

 If you have been counting or even if you have not been keeping track that is 12 grandchildren I now have. One of them is a step grandchild, but the rest all belong to my children. 

Rosie had her 2 year checkup at the NICU. Shes not ofically corrected to the age of two yet but she is almost there.

She saw her favorite nurse Donia who was the flight nurse on the helicopter ride to Des Moines and the nurse that took care of her while she was very tiny and sick. As Rosie started getting stronger she had many nurses she liked.

After NICU check-ups we had the fourth of July and the birthday parties all together this year.

Birthday cake face

 Gavin has his cake too

Rosie and her new bike

as you can see she loves it!

Fireworks

And I will sign off with a picture of my newest sweet pea.

Pain

I never knew you could feel physical pain in your heart until my precious granddaughter was born still. It felt like a hand squeezing my heart, I could not breathe. The pain that crushed my heart was very real, very raw. I was going through the motions of life wishing it was all a dream. I went to sleep crying and I woke up crying. I would wake up in the middle of the night crying, remembering it was all real. The grief washed over us all like a fog rolling in. It was crushing. It was brutal. It was a pain I had never felt before. I cried for three months straight. I didn't know a person had so many tears. Three years later the crushing pain seems to have subsided replaced by a need to remember and honor Alessa, a need to still buy her a gift every holiday so shes not forgotten, a need to buy new angels for her corner of the room, and a need to hold and kiss a beautiful baby girl who will not get a chance to grow up. We love you sweet baby girl.

Alessa Rose 7-25-2008

A rose bloomed in our hearts today,

and in our hearts it will forever stay.

A new day

Rosie is almost 2. We have her last NICU visit this month. WOW how time flies. Shes doing great and has almost reach her corrected age to where she is caught up to all the other kids. She is still a tiny girl at 21 pounds.

Im going to change the blog a little and blog about all the grand kids. The ones we see the ones we dont see and the ones we know are out there somewhere. Im setting up my craft corner now so I can get started on some projects I wanted to do this summer. I need to get to my name pictures done and am also thinking of adding some items to that blog. I want to set up my studio for taking portraits, and Im going to re organize my family history stuff. I will probably talk about all those things on here.

More on Ola Nagele

A new post about the adventures of MckMama as she travels through parts of Kenya, helping out others in need. What a wonderful thing she is doing! I dont know if I could do the same. She is so brave!!

JustAnotherThursday from Jennifer McKinney on Vimeo.

Meet Ola Nagele

I would like to introduce you to the village of Ola Nagele that myself and 99 other people have committed to helping out. We will follow this village and even be invited to view live streaming video and even to visit and see the fruit of their labors. This is the first time for the village to have running water. This is an effort brought to them by this organization GHNI.

Here is the story of Ola Nagele as told on their blog page.





Driving north out of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, you might think you’re in a tropical paradise as you go around lush Mt. Kenya. But then you drop down to the dry, barren plains of the northern bush. And that’s where you find Ola Nagele and a sea of other villages struggling for survival.

Ola Nagele is due east of the town of Isiolo on the dry, dusty road toward Somlia. It’s a larger village with almost 4,000 people. The average family, since polygamy is practiced, can easily be 15 people. And it’s hard to feed that many mouths with only maize and beans that might be available once a day.

The nearest clean water source? It’s currently a pipe that’s 4 kilometers away, where people often wait 3-4 hours in line to fill their water cans. And only slightly more than half of Ola Nagele’s children are in a school, since poverty prevents the parents from affording the small fees for uniforms, books and supplies.

But the leaders of Ola Nagele have urged GHNI to come help them with our method of Transformational Community Development (TCD). They are eager to learn how to organize themselves for development, and they understand that we only work with villages who will devote themselves to their own transformation. As we begin with Ola Nagele, we have high hopes for their future, and we’re eager to invite worldwide partners to join their Extended Village!

Thanks to MckMama, who is over there right now helping out, for giving us this opportunity!

pictures and story of Ola Nagele are the copyright of: http://olanagele.ghni.org/

quote # 4

We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes.- John F. Kennedy

quote # 3

A wife who loses a husband is called a widow.A husband who loses a wife is called a widower.A child who loses his parents is called an orphan.There is no word for a parent who loses a child.That's how awful the loss is.
- Ronald Reagan