Needing & Loving God's Amazing Grace! : )

We've had so much going on that I don't even know where to start! Randal, our girlies & I are doing well & even though we've been busy God continues to give us His amazing grace!

My pregnancy is going well & I'll already be 8 weeks tomorrow! I have been feeling great besides a little queasiness in the early morning, late afternoon & before bed. It is not bad at all & I am SO grateful! Our girlies & I have enjoyed our weekly updates from "babycenter.com" about our new baby. Let's see......so far our baby went from the size of a poppy seed to a sesame seed to a lentil bean & last week he/she was the size of a blueberry! We look forward to our updates every Thursday & our girls can't wait to hear how big our baby is in terms of something they can see & understand! I still laugh when I think of our girls going around Walmart telling people, "my baby is the size of a jumbo shrimp" when I was pregnant with Ava! It totally cracked me up! : ) They are such cute little girlies & they always make Mommy laugh!

On March 1st it SNOWED!!!!!!! Our girlies had SO much fun playing in the snow, "sledding" on a toy box lid (you gotta make do when you don't get much snow & you aren't prepared : ) !), building their own & quite amazing igloo (all by their cute little selves!) & building adorable little "snow people"! Since we don't own snow bibs we had to stop playing 4 different times to come in, warm up with some yummy hot chocolate & change clothes! I was thoroughly surprised & impressed that my girls could play out in the snow for hours on end & never complain about being cold or wet! They have WAY more stamina than Mommy and YES, they had THAT much fun! : ) Mommy had to MAKE them come in to warm up! I have lots of fun pictures of our girls' fun in the snow that I can't wait to share! : )

Randal's parents, our girlies' very loved Poppy & Gram came for a visit the 2nd week of March. We had so much fun with them! Randal was only able to take 3 days off while they were here but we totally loved having him at home with us!!!!! While Daddy was at work, Poppy did a lot of things around the house to help Randal! What a huge blessing that was! One of our girlies most special treats was that Gram took each of them on their own special date with her! They had SO much fun & they are still talking about their dates! Randal & I got to go out for an awesomely fun date night with Dad & Mom while our girlies stayed with some of our favorite babysitters (we love you Alexander Girls : ) !) ! We went to a really cool Carribean restaurant in downtown Greenville called "Chicora Alley" & then we had ice cream too! Our week with them came to an end way too quickly! Once again, after they left, I found myself with 4 very sad, very emotional, very teary eyed little girlies who miss their Poppy & Gram!

On Sunday, March 15th, my very loved Grandma passed away. She had a major stroke the Wednesday before which left her in a coma. She died very peacefully on Sunday night & went to be with Jesus. I got to drive up to Franklin, NC to spend some time with my Grandma in the hospital on Friday night/early Saturday morning. I got to hold her hand, love on her & tell her how special she was to Randal, our girls & I! It was a very sweet but sad time for my Grandma & I alone in the quiet night of the ICU. I couldn't control my tears as I said goodbye. Since my Mom died 15 years ago, my Grandma has been like a mom to me. She stood in my Mom's place at our wedding as my Grandpa gave me away & she was there to celebrate when each of our babies were born. It is hard to put into words what my sweet Grandma means to me. My heart aches that she is gone! My girlies were very close to my Grandma too, she was more of a Grandma to them than a Great Grandma. They have greived for her too & I am sad to think of how they will miss her being a part of their lives! One of my very favorite memories is that my Grandma used to call our girls her "doll babies" ~ I used to love hearing her call them that! She was an absolutely amazing wife, mom, grandma, great grandma & woman of God! She loved & served the Lord & her family with all of her heart! I am so blessed that I was able to have such an amazing woman in my life! I am so sad to think about my sweet Grandpa trying to live every day life without his love! They were married for 65 years! He fell in love with my Grandma when he was 15 & a soda jerk at a drug store where he would make her favorite drinks. He has loved my Grandma unendingly for the past 72 years! I am comforted knowing my Grammy is with Jesus but she is deeply loved & terribly missed!

I have LOTS & I DO mean LOTS of pictures to share but I will be busy for the rest of the week with my Grandma's memorial service. I can't wait to share them with y'all as soon as I can! My sweet girlies are such an amazing gift to Mommy (& Daddy!)! They make my heart happy, keep me laughing & they make me need Jesus to be a better & more godly Mommy every day! : )

Unfortunately our sweet, amazing & extremely hard working Daddy has been missing a lot of fun lately! He works SO hard at work & he is taking a very intense & difficult school load this semester! He got straight A's last semester & all of his girlies are so proud of him! Randal just started his last semester & will graduate in May! We are SO excited!!!!!!!! Our girls & I are sad when he has to miss special family times but I am so grateful to God that he is working so hard to provide for our girls & I! : )

That's what's been going on at the Palmer Home! I know it's long & I'm working on being more concise! Sorry y'all!!!!!!!! I tried, I really did! Hope you still love me anyway! : )