INK

We had a fabulous family day at the INK (Interactive Neighborhood for Kids) in Gainesville. The girls completely loved every moment. I wish we had something like this closer to us, because I would be frequenting this place quite often with the girls.

The interactive neighborhood has numerous pretend play centers for children to role play and learn as they play.
The girls started out in the grocery center.
The veterinarian center was - by far - Sarah's FAVORITE center. The girls played "vet" for probably about 30 minutes, and they stopped by this center again as we were leaving. LOVED IT!!!



Then, we went across the "street" to the hair salon. Mark needed a trim.
I got a beautiful manicure, as well!
We needed some more money, so we visited the "bank" next. Hannah "read" some books while she waited on the "teller".
Uncle Matt would be proud of Sarah being a little "loan officer's assistant."
Hannah had to take a turn as well.
The girls took a whirl in the "dentist" chair for a short time.
We visited the local cafe for lunch. The girls made a fabulous meal for Mark and me.
Hannah took go at being a "pediatrician." Good thing it was an artificial baby or it would be hurting!!
Sarah is playing "Little Mrs. Farley" in the classroom here - good job Sarah!


I taught the class for a while until they became bored with the lesson.There was even a courtroom set up for the kids to role-play being a judge and a lawyer.
Here is Mark's favorite!!! Let's build something!!!!
There's Hannah and Mark on the "News" station!!!
Hannah is "gardening" some veggies and fruits!
Mark was enjoying the pilot center, as well. The little boy came out!!!!

At this point, Mark was "flying" around a aircraft full of little girls - he picked up a few extras who are sitting the back of the aircraft!!!
Towards the end we visited the music center. The girls enjoyed making -LOUD- music!

Here we are at the "post office" center.



Finally, we ended at the "dress-up" center. Sarah dressed Hannah up in a "lovely" black number!
We had FABULOUS day as a family being together and having fun with the girls. Hopefully, we'll get back up this way one day soon.

Happy 100th Birthday Grandmama!

Annie Louise Dixon McGregor was my Grandmama (Dad's mother). She was everything that a Grandmama could possibly be all balled into one gentle, kind-hearted, generous, and loving woman. She lived a wonderful, long, happy 81 years on earth. On January 19, she would be 100, if she were still here with us. Ever since, my MamaCain (Mom's mother) passed away, the Lord has been pressing upon my heart the importance of family and remembering extraordinary people in my life. Oh, how I wish Grandmama could have met my sweet husband and two amazing daughters. She would have loved them completely and called each one, "Sugarfoot," just as she called me.


I remember spending many weekends as a preteen and teenager with my grandparents in the country on their farm in Girard where my Dad grew up. My Grandmama rarely ever missed her Friday hair appointment in Augusta. She and Granddaddy would drive the hour to Augusta every Friday for Grandmama's "beautifying," then do their grocery shopping at Kroger, then drive out to my childhood home to see us as Matt and I arrived home from school. Then, later on we would go out to dinner, usually to Calabash Seafood or Shoney's or Ryan's. My Aunt's family would join us for dinner as well. I always looked forward to Fridays and spending time with Grandmama and Granddaddy.

I remember my time at their home as always having fun and enjoying life. We would play cards, watch "The Price Is Right," cook fabulous meals, eat and eat some more, play school, fish in one of their ponds, drive to eat some more, drive around visiting family, and just enjoy being with each other. I spent hours in the living room listening to Grandmama prepare her music before church. She loved playing the piano and singing. I always enjoyed visiting their church with them. Granddaddy was still a member of his childhood church where he used to attend school (Little House on the Prairie style), and Grandmama was still a member at her childhood church just a few miles away. The churches were on the same "charge" so the preacher hopped from church to church preaching at a different church each Sunday. Both of their churches are beautiful little country churches.

I have fond memories of my trip to Canada with my Grandparents, when I was 13. I also remember many beach trips to Myrtle Beach, Jekyll Island, and numerous mountain trips. I have carried on the tradition of buying apples in the mountains on our way home from a fall vacation trip. Grandmama used to bring back bushels of baskets overflowing with apples after our fall mountain trips. I convinced Mark to stop this past fall for apples. Even if the apples are bought at a local Publix as opposed to fresh orchard apples, I don't care; it's the tradition of it that makes it fun.

Grandmama was a southern lady of class, style, and a heart that was loving and compassionate. She loved her husband deeply and her children and her grandchildren deeply, as well. Her heart was always to give and share of herself in any way possible. I believe what I remember most about Grandmama was her heart to share her TIME with me. She passed away when I was 16 years old, after she fell while tending to her rose garden. She loved beautiful flowers, especially roses. The love between she and Granddaddy was priceless. He loved her deeply and with a love that was real and forever. He looked at her as he kissed her one last time, and said to her, "You are just as beautiful today as the day we married." His heart was broken when she died, and when she died a piece of him died. He literally lost the will to live and passed away 6 weeks later.

All of this to say, I just wanted to honor the memory of my Grandmama with a post today for what would have been her 100th birthday. I miss you Grandmama. I just wish I knew her in my adult-life, because I would call and ask her so many questions. I would love to hear her opinion, to find out about a recipe, to learn how to make her delicious caramel cake, to learn how to play the piano, and to ask her favorites in life. So, as I am typing this, I am realizing that I need to act in the now - the present - and ask questions to my mother or my mother-n-law as they come to me, because time is only fleeting! Happy Birthday Grandmama!

MamaCain's Homegoing Celebration

We said good-bye to MamaCain on Tuesday, January 3 at her "homegoing" celebration. She left this place on earth on New Year's Day to be called home to her eternal residence with our Lord and Savior.
I wanted to dedicate a post to MamaCain on my blog page. So I gathered up some old photos to share. Some of the photos are pictures taken of pictures, so they didn't turn out 100%. I hope you enjoy reminiscing with me and meeting my MamaCain!

This photo was taken in October of 2009 in Sylvania on our way back home from Hilton Head Island. I desperately wanted MC to meet her new great granddaughter so we made a detour on our way back home.
This photo was of Sarah with MC and Baba, which was taken before MC resided at the nursing home.
This photo is extremely special to me! I think this is the last wedding that MC attended in her lifetime. I was determined to have her celebrate this special day with me. She looked so pretty in her silk periwinkle dress suit, pearls, and corsage. She always wore necklaces to cover up her "smiles"- aka wrinkles. But, we called them "smiles". She was a southern lady with style and enjoyed beautiful flowers and especially corsages on special occasions. I am honored to have shared my special day with my special MamaCain. It was even more sentimental to me that I married in the same church as my parents and the same church where my grandparents attended church during their lifetime!
This photo was taken on Mother's Day/My Birthday with MC a year or two after I married - not sure of the exact year. She was living in an assisted living home in Augusta at this time and came to visit at Baba and Papa's for the day. She would always say to me, "Love you sugar!"
I believe I remember wearing this dress in high school. Matt (my brother) and I were standing with MC in front of a cotton field in Girard by my paternal Granddaddy's church.
I love this photo of MC and me in front my parents' house. I believe I was in first grade; I can tell by my hair style. My mother used to fix my hair like Laura Ingalls in first grade.
This is one my special memories with MC as well at my parents house playing in the snow, which we didn't get too often.
Look at MC in this photo - looking so young and pretty. She is holding me during a Christmas celebration at her home in the country. MC and Papa moved to town when Papa's health began to worsen. They had lived out in the country on a farm with "Cain's General Store" (like "Little House on the Prairie" General Store) since they married. It was a big deal for them to pack up everything they knew as normal and move to the "big city" of Sylvania. Most of my memories are of MC living in town. However, it was great fun driving back to the country to visit her friends and relatives with her.
When I received the phone call that MC had passed away, I was in the middle of writing a eulogy about her that Mama had asked me to write just several hours earlier. I felt deeply touched that my heart was with MC when she passed even though I was not able to physically be with her. Knowing that she was meeting our Lord and Savior and Papa while I was writing her life story, made it much more important to me to finish it eloquently. So here it is:

Who was Regis Scott Cain to you? She was a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a wife, a mother, a grandma, a MamaCain, a great-grandmother, and a friend. She was the hardest working woman I have ever known.

She grew up an era when laundry day meant wash tubs, wash boards, and clotheslines. When doing the dishes literally meant washing the dishes by hand, when going to the grocery store meant going out back, pulling and washing vegetables, fruits, chickens, eggs, and so on. She worked hard for everything she had from clothes she made for herself to the beautiful outfits she made her two daughters, Linda and Carol. She was even a professional seamstress at Belks department store in Augusta. Regis Cain was blessed with an array of strengths and talents. There was not much she could not do.

I personally have so many fond memories of Regis Cain, as I am sure you do as well. Everything from a family trip to Disney World, to hours by a pond fishing, to playing dominoes, to lessons on how to make her scrumptious brown sugar chews (which I still have not perfected), to attempting to have her green thumb rub off on me (which sadly, it did not), to watching her spend hours on her sewing machine making me a beautiful social dress, to being amazed that MamaCain (a senior citizen) could put her feet behind her head, to playing in the snow with her as a child, and I could go on. I am sure you have special memories with Regis Cain filed away just as I do.

I know she is in heaven right now praising our Lord and Savior. She is free of pain, in her new agile body, and reunited with her husband EC. They have a lot of catching up to do! As I got older through high school and college, I would return home to visit with her, and her words were always, “This - Is - Your - Time.” I now know why she would tell me that because she didn’t want me to feel guilty for leaving her. Well, MamaCain – This - Is - Your - Time! You are with our Maker, our Creator, and our Healer. I am sure she would not want us to be sad right now, she would say to all of us, “This - Is - Your - Time.”

We gathered at the First Baptist Church in Sylvania to celebrate MC's life, which was a beautiful ceremony with many personal stories told about her. She would have loved hearing all of them and seeing the gorgeous flowers. One particular wreath was displayed with an open bible, and intertwined throughout the wreath was a needle, some thread, and other sewing items. This was the most perfect arrangement for MamaCain. There were several delicate crosses and lots of hydrangeas and roses.
After the service, the pallbearers carried her out of the church down some steep long steps and the procession line carried MC 14 miles from in town to the country. It was deeply meaningful to me at the fact that we all (family and friends) drove MC back home to her roots, to her husband, and to her final resting place.
Once we laid her to rest next to Papa, it was complete!
The girls handled all of the emotions and demands of the day quite well. I was elated about showing the girls the church where mine and Mark's family story began. They adored the fact that they were in the same place where Daddy and Mommy became husband and wife.


Here we are - the four of us - at the altar where our family story started. Love this photo! I look forward to bringing them back again some day!
Uncle Matt, Aunt Heather, Trey, and Morgan
Baba and Papa at the same altar where they became husband and wife more than 45 years ago. Where MamaCain and Papa attended church during their married years.
Baba and Papa with their grands! The stain glass window in the background is the Cain window, which was given to the church by the Cain family. Each window in the little brick church was given by a different family.
This is the front of the little Brick Church where we married. I would not have changed anything about our wedding day; especially the location. There are so many wonderful family memories in this little brick church. I am thankful we were able to visit here again and know that MamaCain is at HOME and at peace.
On our way home to Bethlehem, I desperately wanted to stop by my paternal grandparents' home where my Dad grew up. The home is only about 5 miles down the road from where my Mom grew up. The home is longing for someone to love it and call it their residence. If I had the money, I would purchase the home as a weekend/vacation home. It has so much character and so many family memories were made here. If the walls could talk, wow - would there be some stories told. It is almost 200 years old, built in 1854, with 2 chimneys, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, huge living room, large dining room, large kitchen, 2 family rooms, a sitting room, and a beautiful sun-room. It's nestled on a large farm with 2 ponds. I am dreaming of one day taking the family down for a weekend just for the fun of it!

After our short visit to my grandparent's home, we traveled several more miles down the road to stop and visit my dear sweet "Emma." She used to work for my grandparents as their housekeeper, cook, friend, confident, and, well, she was more like a family member. She and I have had some special times and made lots of memories together. I remember in high school taking "Emma" to her first movie at a real movie theater to see the movie "Mrs. Doubtfire" and then she spent the night with us in Evans. She had a stroke about 9 years ago, and she is still doing great living with her family in Girard. It was wonderful seeing her again. She keeps our family's photo right next to her bed.

It's hard to say when I will be back in this part of the world, so it was really meaningful to me to be able to stop and just take in these special places and special people!
I have such a perfect peace about MamaCain's death, and I truly am thankful for the years I was able to share with her. Now she is home - where she is supposed to be. I'll see her again - one day.