Over the River and Through the Woods

I love this picture of Whitney and his grandmother, I managed to snap it at his cousin's wedding this past summer.  This weekend we traveled to Douglasville because Whitney's grandmother passed away.  I did not have the privilege of knowing her longer than the few years we've been dating, and she has not been in good health since we've been dating.  However, from what I hear and the few conversations I've been able to have with her, she was one spunky woman.  She was independent, adventurous, generous, and caring all wrapped in one package.  Her family, friends, and church clearly meant the world to her, as evidenced of the outpouring of love at her funeral.

I know that Whitney loved his Grannie, and over the course of the weekend we shared many special memories with his family about her life and it gave me even more insight into his family and the people that she made them.  I told Whitney on the way home last night how lucky he was to have had his grandmother in his life as long as he did, and how blessed he is that his father's parents are both still alive.  Of course, this turned into a tale of my own crazy grandmother.

The Farmer's Daughter

For those who don't know, my husband has been on the job hunt for 10+ months.  Since he has a college degree, and has applied for at least 100 jobs, there's obviously a lot of people interested in jobs right now.  So the last few days he's taken up farming, with none other than my dear dad.

Dear gussie.

Right now is peak farming time.  Cotton needs to be picked, peanuts have to be dug then picked, and at some point soybeans will have to be harvested too.  Picking cotton is the first priority right now, and it isn't an easy process.  There's no less than 3 pieces of equipment used to just get those square things called modules you see on the side of the road made.


Someone has to operate each piece of equipment, and the more people participating, the easier (and faster) it goes.  That would be how hubby got recruited.  While my husband grew up in the Mecca of all things agricultural--Tifton, GA--he would be considered, at most, a novice for operating equipment.  However, after day one, dear dad has claimed he's learned faster anyone he's taught.  Considering that one guy who works for dear dad has attended school a total of two weeks in his life, and the other guy has worked in a dairy milking cows since he was 14, the odds were in hubby's favor. 

Of course, there's also a certain song that was popular this summer that the two of us can't quit singing right now either.

I'll get some pictures of him operating all that large equipment as soon as I can find him in a field.

The Big C

When I started this blog, one of the primary reasons I wanted to do it was to try and condense my thoughts and all the happenings in my crazy newlywed life. I will say that in our first year of marriage, my husband and I have dealt with a great deal--a new job for me, a lack of a job for him, relocating, and extensively renovating our house have been difficult to deal with, especially when they are combined together. However, nothing was as difficult as what I know we'll soon be facing (because we need to learn how to handle one more thing, right?). My mother-in-law was diagnosed with Colorectal cancer last week, and will have surgery Monday, followed by some type of treatment after the doctors determine what stage her cancer is in. For my husband and most of his family, starting this whole experience is very intimidating and scary. For me, it largely feels like old hat, not because I've had to battle my own personal "Big C" experience of course, but because my family has had it's fair share of Big C's; from my grandfather to many uncles, I've learned the ins and outs of dealing with it.

I know that out of this will come many blessings for my husband's family, as difficult as that is to think about right now. I also know that this will be a journey of faith for all of us. Today we were talking about how many blessings we've already seen as a result of our faith--his mother found a doctor and scheduled an appointment within 3 days of her initial test results, I made plans to be on vacation from work the week of her surgery well before we knew about any of this, or the fact that while hubby doesn't have a job, it will probably allow him to spend as much time with his mom as necessary. Ultimately though, we know it will be a true journey of our family's faith, and just another test of our young marriage.