Saturday, December 11, 2004

What a quote!!

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson


Sometimes in life....


Sometimes in life, things that make us the happiest, are the little things... that we don't even realize are occurring at the time! What a special moment this was, and you can see how special in Andrew's eyes! This photo was not staged, not set up! His face says it all! He is holding Hannah Elizabeth Blankinship, daughter of Chris and Jenniffer Blankinship, Cushing. Chis is Paul's brother, so Hannah is Andrew's cousin! Enjoy, the rest of the pics will be up later on!

I wanted to share this with family, as it is very special ..... about Fred O Shaklee, Harold O Shaklee's father!

From: Jerry and Connie LaGrow
To: Stan and Ann Shaklee

Got your email and will forward what I know later this weekend. Grandma's father's (Isaac J. Ward) barn is still standing east of North Enid. When I was a child he had this huge draft horses. His house was built back into a hill. You went in on the ground level and went out the back upstairs. There was a large wooden slat hammock swing between two trees in the front on the west of the house. I don't remember how old I was when he died but I do remember him and going to his house. Grandmother Shaklee (Ida Edith Ward Shaklee, Fred O's Wife, and Harold, Don, Mervyn, and Thelma's Mom) was the oldest of 4 or 5 girls and one brother. Grandma Edith was Grandpa's second wife. His first (Jessie L.Stebbins) died in child birth and her baby is buried in her arms in the cemetery in Enid. I have found the grave! Gm. had one sister that looked like her, Alma, she lived in Yukon and was probably closer to her than the others. There was Aunt Ethel, Aunt Maud Johnson, Aunt Mae, and Uncle Fred. Gm. loved to quilt and always had a quilt in her living room. She was the janitor of the Methodist church for years after Grandpa died and she lived in a house in Jet. She was a member of the Saline Lakeside Home Demonstration club. She was known in the church for her hot rolls and in the family for her macaroni and cheese. Gm. was a supporter of Oral Roberts and I took her over to the prayer tower once and she was awed by the sight of it and put her hand on the wall and said, "And to think that I helped build this with my offerings." She took a lot of flack from the family for her belief in his miracles.
Gm. also bought a lot of the small hymnals in the church with her tithe money. I saved one back for each of my kids with her hand writing in it. Gm.'s faith in her Savior made quite an impression on me! I can remember staying all night with she and Gp. and they always had their evening devotions before retiring to bed together and knelt on their knees beside their chairs for prayer.
She had one other child just slightly older than me but died when she was 5 years old. Her name was Mildred and is buried beside Gp. and her.
I will try and get some more information and mail it later. I hope this is what you kinda of wanted. I'll get her birth and death date later. If you have any information you could share with me I would appreciate it also about her or Gp. *Connie

*(LaGrow, Harold Shaklee's brother Don's oldest daughter, and Granddaughter of Fred O. Shaklee. Rec'd on 12/10/2004.)

Kaitlyn withdrawal time... yucky feeling... no Kaitlyn!!

Knew it was too good to be true, however, we will make it through this tough time. I know many of you are concerned about our condition, may have written in about it, talked with your family physician about our condition for us, studied hours on line looking for an answer, yet... we are starting to feel the pain really well! Yes, there will be no Kaitlyn this weekend. We will not get to see her for the first time on the weekend in 3 weeks!!! We will survive. We will endure!! We will pull through!! At least, we think we will!! What a day yesterday was... too. Jake off to help Uncle Mike. Ann kept Andrew, and he was a trooper! He really plays well by himself, and loves to watch the "good" cartoons on tv. He missed his Jake; however, he said "I can find those computer games, Grandpa", and I answered....... RIGHTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!! Later on, we had one of Grandma Moffat's Awesome HOMECOOKED meals... the kind that sticks to your ribs... haha like I needed it!! He cleaned up his plate, and then reported "I have long legs Grandpa", to which I replied, they only match the length of your tongue! Andrew's tongue was touching his nose the day he was born, I could not believe it.
Been working on some special Christmas projects. Not sure how special to others, but very special to me. I try to get up about 4 or so each am 7 days a week and have been doing this for about two months. It has taken me much longer than I thought, and been much more a labor of love and very rewarding for me. I have learned many things from this adventure, things I did not know throughout my 57+ years of life on this earth. Will write about this after Christmas.
Sorry, side stepped Andrew... haha.. Later in the evening Andrew's Grandma Joan and his mom Heather dropped in to pick him up, and, yes, my arm was twisted.. by Andrew's smile, as his cousin Hannah was with them, and I snapped a pic or two..haha, or three!! Will put those up later on today.
With Jake gone, our home is very quite!! And ole Marvin, our new yellow kitten that I named (sigh, can you tell...haha) is also spending the night at the Perkins Vet Clinic. Jake and Ann decided he needed to become a "nice" little boy kitten, so they took him to be ...... fixed!..... and also get his shots and his front nails removed. Glad my Great Grandma Moffat loved me enough not to "fix" me...hahaha... shu........ Goodness, don't tell her I said that! Anywho... Ann picks up ole Marvin this morning, and I bet he is ready to come home. Jake will be coming back tonight or in the am. One never knows with that boy when or what! He informed Ann and I he is never going to leave home, will stay and take care of us till we need help, then leave!! Little does he know how fast time will fly!
Now back to the original statement.. Kaitlyn is not coming up today.. darn... That pain is starting up again!! Jon, Randi, .... Kaitlyn.... haha... It really is awesome to have kids so close... all of them!!
Will try to update family birthday calendar with all the additions as I get them in. Sorry I missed Ky's, but did remember David and Kent Siegrist, and Austyn and Randi's this past week.
Have a great day everyone! We have a lot to be thankful for, but especially for this fact... God loves us, each and everyone! And in this season, we celebrate the love and birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, let's keep that in the front of what we are doing! Because he came, we are...! The celebration of the birth of the Saviour who gives us Eternal Life is awesome considering what HE gave us in return... Eternal Life everlasting, and forever!
Ok...off of soapbox, and no more sermons.. or rantings!!! Enjoy the day... it's gonna be awesome!!