Update #1....We love (& miss you!) Grandad!

Unfortunately, we had a very sad start to our year. Trey's Grandad passed away on January 15th. It sounds so crazy to say that it was 'unexpected' when he was 84 years old, but it was definitely 'unexpected' to all of us! It is hard to believe that almost 8 months has gone by without us getting to see his smiling face here on this earth. We still miss him dearly! I know that if Trey were to write this 'post', he would probably have completely different memories and thoughts about his Grandad than I would; but since I write this blog as a 'scrapbook' for the kids, I wanted to post some things that I remember about him and will always remember about him especially related to the boys. Since Trey and I started dating so young, I was blessed to know his Grandad for an entire decade. He was not a man of many words, but he always had a huge smile on his face. He truly welcomed me into their family as an 'adopted' grandchild and gave the greatest hugs! Here are just a few pictures and precious memories I have of Grandad...
Jay is actually named after Grandad (as well as Trey and his Dad) so there are 4 generations with the same name. The day after the birth of both of our boys, we would hear a knock on the hospital door and there would be Trey's grandparents bearing gifts and just dying to get their hands on their great grandsons. This (above) is a picture of Trey's Grandmother holding Jay and Grandad with that huge smile on his face as they saw Jay for the first time. It always meant so much to me that they would actually take the time and effort to drive over 2 hours to come and see us and our boys.
I will never forget Trey's grandparents walking out of our hospital room that day and Trey turned to give me a hug. As I stepped back, I realized he was sobbing! (I'm sure he loves me writing that on here!) Being the good postpartum patient that I was, I just started sobbing right along with him! :) In all seriousness, it was a moment that neither of us will ever forget as we were both humbled by the Godly heritage that Trey has and the amazing men (and women!) in his family. I'll never forget him trying to explain to me how amazing it was to see his Grandad standing there holding his child.
The four 'Johns' on Jay's first Christmas...Jay was about 3 weeks old here. I will never forget laughing so hard as we were trying to get this picture. We could not get Grandad to take his eyes off of Jay and look at the camera. I think he was so afraid that he might drop him or 'break' him if he took his eyes off him for one second. :)

Trey's Grandad, Dad, brothers, Trey, and Jay....5 amazing men and a baby! :)

Another special memory I have of Trey's Grandad are these wooden boat paddles (above). I cannot even begin to tell you all the 'things' that Trey's Grandad was interested in from gardening to canning to fruit trees to wood working... I have always said that Trey is a 'piddler'. He will go out in the garage and 'piddle' around for hours. I have no clue what he can work on for that long, but he definitely comes by it honestly. His Grandad (and his Dad!) are the exact same way. All that to say, I think these paddles ended up being a result (and a nice result!) of all that 'piddling'. (Maybe we should name them the 'piddle paddles'. :) His Grandad made one of these paddles for both of the boys and signed his name on them. They are a keepsake that we will cherish forever!

We were blessed for Logan to be able to 'meet' his Great Grandad as well....and here are Grandad and Grandmother with Logan when he was 1 day old! I just love in all these pictures how they cannot take their eyes off of the boys...it was love at first sight!

And here is Logan with his wooden paddle from Grandad as well. Sadly, I don't know that Jay or Logan will actually remember Grandad, but I feel truly blessed that they actually did get to 'meet' him and be around him. As blessed as we are to have 2 children that were born when he was still with us, there is something so bittersweet about knowing that there will not be a knock on our hospital door this year and that our sweet Noah will not get to meet his Great-Grandad this side of heaven. As Carrie Underwood so appropriately says it, 'Babies are born and at the same time, someone's taking their last breath....it's the wheel of the world turning around.' Obviously, I know this is just a 'fact of life' but it certainly does not make it any easier. Thank you, Grandad, for being there for us, for caring for us, and for loving all of us in your quiet, yet strong, way. We feel blessed to carry on your name, and miss you more than words can describe!! We love you!

"A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold."
Proverbs 22:1