Trip Down Memory Lane

Grandpa could ALWAYS make me laugh!

Showing off my pride & joy!

This picture brings tears to my eyes many times because I think of all the people that her precious hands have caressed, loved & cared for and seeing her wrap her arms of love around my little one is a priceless treasure. No one loves children like grandma does!

Kenneth & Jewel Bolinger

Isn't She Lovely??!!

He's got style!

My precious "Jewel"

One of my faves

Well, today I've had a lot of time to think and reminisce. Dale & Gentry left last night going to Mississippi for the week. I miss them like crazy and it's SO quiet in the house. It's amazing how much noise one 3 year old can make! So, it's been "loudly" silent except for the crowing of the roosters & the gobbling of the turkeys running around outside.

I've always kind of been a loner at heart, so solitude doesn't bother me. I miss my guys, but am thankful that I'm comfortable enough in my own skin to be able to enjoy my times of solitude as well.

With solitude comes A LOT of thinking...for me anyway...and today I've been thinking about my grandparents. I'm so blessed to still have all four of my grandparents still alive. My dad's parents are in their mid-70's and my mom's parents are both 90!!! And still living in their own home! I can't imagine what it will be like to have to say good-bye one day to them, but I know that time is inevitable.

My thoughts especially turned to my maternal grandparents today. From meeting for the first time around the age of 13 or 14 until they got married in 1937...to still being madly in love some 70+ years later, well, it's just the thing that fairy-tales are made of.

Grandpa & Grandma Bolinger had 12 children together...my mom being #10. Grandpa fought in World War II for 1 1/2 years if I remember correctly. Grandpa was the first one in his family to attend a old "brush arbor" church meeting and was saved when he was 13. He felt a call to preach at a young age, and eventually moved to Lansing, Michigan to start a church. He pastored there until 1986 and resigned to enjoy retirement. However, God had other plans for him and he ended up pastoring my home church for five years...after his "retirement". Seems that God wasn't through with him.

When they came to Belleville to pastor I was around 14 years old. I wasn't really close to them growing up because we lived so far away from them with dad being in the military and us living in several different places. But, when they moved back to Illinois and became our pastor, I got REALLY close with them. They lived in the church parsonage for a time and I used to go over there on Sunday mornings and have coffee and breakfast with them. I would sit and listen to all of their stories and tried to soak up every bit of history from them that I could. Since I was home-schooled during my high school years, on many occasions I would go home with them on Sunday nights and spend two or three days with them at their home in Salem. I felt SO blessed to be able to get to know these extraordinary people.

Of all the things I could write about them, I think the one thing that sticks out the most to me is their unshakable faith in God. They have certainly had more than their share of heartache in their life, but their faith and trust in God has been inspiring and rock solid. They have passed a legacy and heritage down to future generations that beckons us to march forward with faith & trust in a God who never changes.

Dale & I were so grateful to be able to have him pray a blessing over Gentry at his baby dedication. I have posted some pictures on here of "The Early Years" and also some of Gentry's dedication. My prayer is that the road of truth Grandpa & Grandma Bolinger paved for their family can be a road that I can continue to walk down and teach my son the importance of enjoying the journey as well.

Well, I hope this doesn't come out as fragmented as it seems in my head at the moment. There is just SO much I could say about them, but don't want to take up too much "cyber-space" to say it. Enjoy the pictures and thanks for strolling down memory lane with me today!

Blessings - Melanie

Some of my battlescars!!

This is Gentry & me in the hospital bed. I still had my triple line catheter in my neck at this point. Gentry always liked to take the balloons that people had brought up home with him!

This is GROSS I know, but it's so much easier to explain sometimes with pictures. For those of you who tend to have a sick stomach at stuff like this...well, consider this your warning!! This is a picture of my neck after they had discovered I had blood clots in my neck. Bruising I knew would go away, but my concern was the blood clots and AWFUL pain!

The other huge bruise was from the port-a-cath that infiltrated and the UGLY bruising that went along with that. I makes me "shudder" to even think about reliving those days!!

Then finally this is the top of the inside of my right arm where all of the TPN (IV Nutrition) filtered out into my body instead of my veins. I am SO THANKFUL for the body's own ability to heal itself if we can just be patient! I hardly have any scars or bruises from my arm or neck.

THANKSGIVING DAY IN THE HOSPITAL!! But we tried to make the best of it. Dale brought in Cracker Barrel's Thanksgiving Dinner and pumpkin pie, and we were so pleased with that, but we couldn't help but wondering what our families were doing and wishing we could be there with them. But we made the most of it. We played games, watched football, walked the halls & played with Gentry. Gentry even curled up in the bed beside me and took a nap with me. Now that is the "sugar & spice" part of parenting I wouldn't trade for the world.

Christmas Evening! We all took family pictures and I didn't want anyone to see my face with it being SOOOOO HUGE from the steroids, but mom finally convinced me in her gentle non-pushy way, that "this is life" and Gentry will want to remember years to come. So, I set my foot down about getting dressed, but fixed my hair and put on my best new pair of pajamas and posed...for what it was worth.

I'm getting sleepy, so I need to head to bed.

Enjoy life and get to living it!!

Melanie

P.S. There will probably be a "Gent-stories-time" soon. He's been saying AND doing so many cute things lately that I want to capture them in prose and film so I won't forget in years to come. Thanks for spending a few minutes of your time reading about The Rutland Household. We've had rocky roads, lots of ups and downs, a lot of dreams come true, a life and laughs and adventure and tears and shoulders to cry on, but all in all, I can say that I am truly blessed among women for what God has so graciously given to me in my life.

Love always - Mel

My Family...My treasure

Well, we've been having trouble with our "ya-ya" blog so I thought I would update on this one and keep trying to copy and paste on the old blog until we can get the kinks worked out of it.

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to my family for having Sunday dinner with us this past Sunday. It's always such an honor, privilege and labor of love to cook dinner for you all. I guess "acts of service" is my love language and I feel fulfilled when I'm "doing" for other people...especially my family.

The food was good...so you said anyway! :) I made a chicken and rice casserole, homemade squash casserole straight from OUR OWN garden, baked corn OFF the cob that Dale made...he got the recipe from his mother, and oh my goodness was it ever good! Southern ladies just know how to cook! Then we had English peas & spoon rolls laden with butter, honey, or homemade fig preserves!!

For dessert I made turtle brownies, homemade cinnamon rolls, & banana pudding. YUM-O!

The food was fabulous, but the company was even better. The conversation was light and encouraging and of course lots of laughs sprinkled in.

We've only got less than two weeks now before we hit the road for vacation to Florida. We are going to be traveling buddies with Mom & Dad. They have leased a "condo" down in Orlando for a year and so we're going down there to help "pretty it up" so we all will have access to it throughout the year. Mom and dad have already been down there once and plan on taking full advantage of their getaway place during the cold winter months.

We plan to mix the right amount of relaxation with fun and attractions. Our plans at this point are to go to Medieval Times dinner theatre, Sea World, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and possibly Magic Kingdom if we don't wear ourselves out!

I'll be sure to post pictures of our trip when we get back.

Well, I'm going to wrap this up for now. I've got a doctor's appointment this afternoon and piano lessons this evening. Yes...I've started taking lessons again...and I'm LOVING it!

So, I better get to practicing for a bit and then make sure I have the stuff ready to go for dinner tonight.

Looks like my menu is going to be:

Fried Ocean Perch

Crab Fried Rice

Fresh Green Beans (from the garden! )

Asiago Cheese Toast

&.........Banana Pudding or Rice Krispy Treats for dinner!!

Mmmm....can't wait!

Blessings to you all -

Mel