Abigail Leaves The Hospital

I made it back to Louisiana on Thursday night to spend a little time with Abigail and Ashley in the hospital. I think that I forgot just how small a new born baby is. She is so adorable. I just sat there holding and admiring her. Gina spent the Thursday night at the hospital with Ashley and Abigail. My job for Friday morning was to get the car seat installed in the car and drive back to the hospital to pick both of them up. Richard, Ashley’s father and I were driving them home while Cathy, Ashley’s mom and Gina followed us. We made it safely to the house and I got a lot more time holding my first grandchild. Enjoy the pictures of Abigail.

Me holding Abigail for the first time

A very proud GiGi and Pop's holding Abigail

All dressed and ready to leave the hospital

Abigail's first picture with her eyes open

Gina had this gown made special

Abigail received a very special gift from Mike and Janna on Saturday. Janna is extremely talented in creating quilting masterpieces. She stated in her blog that this quilt was from a pattern that her grandmother used to quilt. Gina and I were so amazed at how beautiful it came out. For Abigail we thank you very much Janna.

A very beautiful handmade baby quilt

 

Abigail will always know who gave this to her

Also, this past week Shane and Nicole, our oldest daughter and SIL received word that their purchase agreement on their new house was accepted. The house is beautiful. Congratulations to both of you!!

Ashley, our doctor in the family received word this week that she is moving to Hackensack, New Jersey to continue her work in becoming a medical doctor. Congratulations to her too!!

We heard from Thomas and he might be flying home sometime at the end of this month for a few days. He still doesn’t know for sure but he really wants to see his daughter.

Most of you are aware that last year Gina and I started a cabin for Mike & Pat (Mom & Pop’s) in their pole barn in South Dakota last year. Last week they had the cabinets and flooring installed and it looks great!! It’s hard to believe how far their pole barn has come.  Mom you did a great job selecting the cabinets and flooring.

Living room and kitchen, It looks beautiful!!

I left our house Sunday morning in our truck pulling our home making my way to Brookshire, Texas.  I arrived a little after three o'clock at West Houston Campground. It will be parked there while I continue working in Houston. I haven’t moved our home since I parked it at our house in March. It felt great driving the truck again. It felt even better sleeping in my own bed instead of a hotel’s bed.

These past five days have been busy.  But we knew our time in Louisiana this year would be fast paced. It’s hard to believe that it’s already August. Time is moving fast and before we know it, it will be Thanksgiving. It has been a very blessed year for our family and we’ll have a lot to give thanks for.

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Abigail Faith Thurston, Our First Grandchild

Yesterday was a wonderful day. We received our first grandchild. Abigail Faith Thurston was born at 1:16 p.m. weighing in at 7 lbs 14 oz and 20 inches long with a full head of black hair. Both she and Ashley are doing great. Thomas, a Marine is deployed in the Middle East called just as Ashley was being taken into the delivery room. He didn’t get to see his child being born. However, he got to hear play by play and he was able to hear her first sounds. I think he might have even cried just a little with joy. He’ll be home soon and will get to see her. Thomas and Ashley could not have planned it any better. Gina and I are extremely happy now that we are officially GiGi and Pop’s.

Here are a few pictures of Ms. Abigail Faith

What a beautiful face

Thomas watching over his little princess

Mom and Daughter

GiGi looking all proud holding Abigail

Just love all that hair
If you would like to see more pictures of Abigail just click this link Abigail Faith Thurston

Last weekend if you read Mike & Janna’s blog then you know I flew up to Montana and purchased their jeep. I will tell you that it was a long drive in a soft top jeep. However, I left Montana at one o’clock in the afternoon and arrived at our house in Louisiana a little after two a.m. Saturday morning. As I stated in our previous entry we have decided to keep our truck and trailer. We bought the jeep to tow behind the trailer which we believe will enhance our travel experience tremendously.

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Yes, We Are Still Alive

I know it has been a long time since I last posted a blog entry. All I can say is WOW, how time flies. I keep getting emails and comments inquiring about how Gina and I are doing. We are both doing great. I figured I really needed to post an update to our blog. We or really I have been considering whether or not to keep writing our blog since I have went back to work. Writing the blog was so much easier to keep up when we were traveling but now that I am back working and living out of a hotel four days a week and traveling back and forth between Houston, Texas and our house in Louisiana there just doesn’t seem to be any time left to write. I apologize to everyone that has been so faithful in reading our blog the past two years. I will try to do my best in the future to continue posting.

Our last blog title was “Gina is recovering and Friends Visit”. That seems like so long ago but Gina has recovered from her surgery and is doing GREAT!!! All Praise goes to Our Father .
Okay, besides going back to work a big part of my time has been consumed with searching for a motorhome. As I had posted before we decided to sell our truck and trailer and switch to a motorhome. Well, after some very lengthy discussions we finally agreed that I was the one that wanted the motorhome and Gina was just going along with that decision. However, she loves me and knew how much stress I put on myself while carrying a four wheeler on the back of the trailer. So with that I say thank you sweetheart for giving me all of your support and willing to sell your dream trailer. I had also said that I would not tow a car behind the trailer either but, I’m going to try that too once I have everything setup to do it safely. (I didn’t say legally). My only desire is that I will not let it stress me out.

Our truck and trailer has set at our house for the past four months and every time I see it I miss it and the constant change of hotel beds gets me to missing it even more. So with that said we are moving our truck and trailer to Katy, Texas on July 31st. Of course, Gina had just about emptied out the trailer so now we have to put everything back in it which will take her a few days.

Gina with her Daughters in Grenada

Now that you know our current status I’ll try to give a broad overview of the past two and a half months. Gina enjoyed her recovery down in Grenada and spending time with her daughters.

She arrived back home in Louisiana on May 14th feeling better than ever. She got a clean bill of health from her doctor at the end of May which was welcome news for both her and me. I only thought she had energy before. She now could give the energizer bunny a run for his money. LOL

We have really been missing traveling and since I had a business trip planned the week before Memorial Day I decided to fly Gina with me to Cincinnati. Not that Cincinnati is the greatest places to take a vacation we still enjoyed a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We had a great time together just enjoying each other. Upon our return back to Louisiana Gina spent a couple weeks in Louisiana and then spent a couple of weeks in Houston with me. We had planned a weeklong trip to fly up and spend time with our wonderful friends Mike & Janna in Montana and had thought Mike & Pat (Mom & Pop’s) were going to meet us there but they had other commitments. I’m not going to rewrite our happenings there since I know a lot of you read their blog too. So check out their blog if you want to see all the fun we were having. The intent of this trip was for me to have a little down time while Gina wanted to learn how to quilt from Janna. Gina had planned on learning back in February while we were in the desert. However, our travels were cut short due to our Uncle’s death and me getting a job offer too good to turn down. We were there June 26 to July 4.

I don’t like to end on a sad note. However, while we were in Montana we received some very sad news that the brother of our good friend John (JB & Brenda from Alberta) had died. Our hearts and prayers go out to him and Brenda during this very difficult time.

We are now looking forward to the birth of our first Grandchild due any day. Stay tuned and I’ll post pictures just as soon as she arrives. Gina and I feel so blessed and loved by so many of y’all for caring about us. Thank you all for all the comments and emails inquiring about us. We love you all!!!

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.