1st Christmas 2014

Friday night, was our first Christmas event for 2014.  My dad's family met at a Methodist church for our annual gathering.  It has been the tradition for as long as I can remember! 

When we were little, (I am the oldest of 16 grandchildren) we always went to Grandma (Grommie) and Grandpa (Ponk)'s house on Christmas Eve...A.L.W.A.Y.S.  We had pizza and opened gifts and played and had a super great time, oh and slid down the basement "banister"...it was like a built in slide!  A.L.W.A.Y.S. 

Then the grands "growed up", started getting married and having children of their own.  We started having the event at different Aunts and Uncles homes, but the family just keeps growing.  So this year, we had the event at my cousins church hall.  And we had to move it to the weekend before Christmas.  So far that seems to work pretty good.  Of course not everyone was there.  Not everyone can go every time, that happens.  But this year only 3 of the grands and I think 7 great grands were missing.  And one aunt...b/c she was with her daughter that just had a baby...hence one missing grand and great.  ;)

Grommie...the beginning of this crazy, fun chaos...;)

Cousins and Inlaws...(My handsome hubby on the left)

 

There are currently 26 Great Grands...Counting the FOUR pregnant there will soon be 30!  (Crazy Uncle had to hop in there...but he looks like he's due any day now...maybe yesterday! :P)

Greats, opening their presents from Granny

All the greats that were there...again...7 were missing.

My cousin opening one of the White Elephant gifts...This was great...so great, in fact, that I am going to do a separate post on this...maybe tomorrow.

My boys visiting with their uncle...

My dad with his White Elephant gift...a scarf that as he put it, "Feels and looks like it was made out of dryer lint."  BWAHAHAHAHAHA

 

Some of the greats anxiously waiting their gifts from Grandma.

Grommie's turn...

 

My Uncle's Girlfriend's daughter...was trying to take a family pic...I took a pic of her standing on the stool.  Firefighter said, "that's called job security."  (I will try to get a copy of the pic and edit it in when I get it.

1st cousins at foosball!  Love these kiddos!

 

All in all it was a great night.  We had a good time.  It's always nice to see family that we haven't seen in a while...sometimes since the last gathering.

 

Kegley's are always,



All My Babies

As I have been trying to encourage a friend, who just miscarried twins, it has caused me a lot of reflecting.  Yesterday I texted her that even though she is hurting right now, and we may never understand "why", this will mold her and her husband's character and make them better people in the long run.  It will bind them closer together as long as they honestly communicate their feelings to each other. 

I have since been thinking about what I said to her, and over my own experiences.  I'm going to share some of them with you today...

My first pregnancy was a fairly good one.  I was very very sick for the first 3-4 months, but otherwise pretty uneventful.  Second pregnancy, had a little bit of blood pressure issues, not too bad and slight gestational diabetes.  This labor was the bomb though!  2 hours and 40 min from first pain to born.  (Dr. was mean and impatient, but we made it.)  But I must add, he was 7 days overdue, and the dr. was pushing me to be induced.  She had set a date.  I called my mom, "I really don't want to be induced, I just want it to happen."  Her and my grandmother went to prayer, and that night, the day before the scheduled inducing, I went into labor!  God had answered prayer!

A couple years later we decided we wanted number 3.  I seemed to be having difficulty conceiving for some reason.  My monthly was being irregular which was not normal for me and I honestly didn't know what was going on.  I had finally made a Dr. apt to try to figure out what was going on.

In the meantime, one day at church I felt inspired to be anointed and prayed for.  I don't think I gave any details to the ministry, but while they were praying I literally felt what felt like an adult size hand rub across the INSIDE of my abdomen.  I knew then that God had touched whatever was wrong.  The next week was my dr.'s appointment.  First thing they done was a urine sample.  A few min later the Dr. came in and said, "Congratulations!  You are pregnant!"  Again God answered prayer.

This pregnancy was a little more difficult.  I had major blood pressure issues, severe migraines, and gestational diabetes.  About 4 weeks before due date, dr. put me in the hospital on bed rest.  She was trying to get me a few more days then wanted to induce me b/c I was toxemic.  Again, an inducing date was set.  Again...we went to prayer.  The middle of that night...(the day before set date...again...) my water broke.  They did end up having to start a very small amount of Pitocin b/c water had been broken for several hours and I wasn't doing much anything else.  But that was all it took, just the smallest amount of Pit and we were off.  4 hours later, a 5lb. 3oz...baby boy was here! 

Now don't be haters, but I never had an epidural with any of mine...there wouldn't have been time if I had wanted one...and I was told that if I had gotten one it probably would have slowed things down.  I also will say, I do not for the life of me understand the women that WANT to be induced.  My 3rd had the smallest amount of Pitocin and that was the WORST labor pains EVER...and I had back labor with them all!  The pains were definitely magnified!  That is true!

Since number 3, I have had 7 miscarriages, one of those we are 95% sure was a set of twins.  The last one I had, the Dr. was convinced was a tubal, b/c they could not find the baby in an ultrasound.  Of course they wanted me to take medicine to "dissolve" it, but I just couldn't do it.  They had me nervous...We went to prayer...called others for prayer...and the night before Mother's Day I completely miscarried.  I sent my Mother a Mother's Day gift that year.  She has plenty of babies to rock and cuddle in Heaven! 

But I'm telling you, all these events, not to mention other things in our lives that can be crucial, have made my husband and I who we are!  It has drawn us close...so very close.  These hard things either make you or break you. 

There are a couple key things I would offer as advice for these hard, tear jerking, heart breaking situations.

1.  Pray...pray together...
2.  Communicate...communicate to each other HONESTLY how you feel.  Don't be afraid to say how you feel b/c you don't want to upset the other.  It is so important that you understand how each other feels.  I know when I had the first miscarriage, I didn't realize for a few weeks, that my husband felt guilty.  Felt like it was his fault...that he had somehow hurt the baby during an intimate moment.  As soon as I understood that, I was able to help him understand how that was not his fault.
3.  Listen/Understand...Listen to the others feelings, and try to understand them.  If you can try to understand where they are coming from then you can learn to understand how to work through these situations.
4.  Always remember that everything happens for a reason and even though we may never understand the reason(s) here on earth, they will bind you and your spouse closer together if you will let it!

Don't do these things and they will drive you away from each other.  We have seen it over and over and over!  In the CF community we have watched marriages split up and fall apart time and time again...but that is another story for another day!

Sometimes it's not easy,

Dear Mom,

Dear Mom,
 
There are some things that happen that will ALWAYS make me think of you! One of those things is the first SNOW in October! I remember we always hoped/prayed (lol) that it would at least wait until the upper twenties at earliest, but we really hoped it would come the 31st! (For those who don't know why: Supposedly... Whatever date the first snow in October fell on...that's how many snows you are suppose to get that winter. Don't be hatin'!) Well, today is the... 31st and guess what!? There is suppose to be a wintery mix tonight! Now it is time for you to say, "maybe we will get our blizzard this year." And we all yell, "NO Don't say that! Everytime you say that and we don't get one! Don't say it so maybe we will get one!" Oh the memories! So precious! You instilled in (most) of your children love for the winter! I will enjoy some hot drink for you...Your favorite son-in-law (lol) will have to reheat his 3 times though!   

Love you and miss you LOTS!