Day 3,569

The Garden for Grama

Saturday was the most perfectly beautiful day to remember my dearly missed Grandmother. Those closest to her gathered at a local rose garden to celebrate a selfless woman who loved fiercely and gave in abundance. She was the proverbial glue to our family—the one who managed to hold all the moving parts together with dignity, compassion, grace, and care. We miss her more than words can communicate, but through tears and smiles alike, our family honored her life and memory with stories shared and truths told.

Our Nana passed away in November, and though the wounds of her departure from this earth have begun the process of healing, coming together in support of each other, Mom, and Papa was such a uplifting moment for my heart. Sitting next to him, watching her, and sharing sweet smiles, fun songs, and old memories while sitting among Nan’s people and plants was a joy. The shoes pictured above are the ones he wore to his wedding 44 years ago and the song we played for him was the one that still causes his face to light up. 

We miss you, Grandma Colleen. 

And forevermore, every time I plant a plant, see a slug, shop antiques, or smell that candle, you’ll be close to my heart and the smile on my lips. 

Following her memorial, we gathered at Mom’s to share more laughs, a bbq supper, birthday cake, and board games. 



She would’ve loved to be here for all the festivities. Ah, my heart. I love you so much, Gram. 

Day 3,363

The Grama

Ever since I can remember, I always loved the lace tablecloths my grandmother draped over her dining table. They made those special supper nights “across the mountains” even more special. Grama used to live about 4 hours away from us—across the state of Washington—and when we were kids, visiting her home on their little 

 farm was one of our most favorite adventures. The smell of her home is familiar still. Those creaky floors and her big waterbed. The trolls in the box, the goats beyond the fence, the swing in the tree, her dogs Doc and Woody, the tractor rides and slug hunts. The memories are nearly alive as I sit now, playing them over in my mind. I can watch her pulling weeds in her gardens as I hammer nails into a log beside her. I can see her opening the duck gate and letting us inside with our bin full of slugs. I can picture her next to me, sifting through treasures at antique stores and licking the ice cream cone when we were finished shopping. Fast forward a few years, I remember her at my gymnastics meets. At my side before my date picked me up for Prom. At my high school and college graduations. I remember her specifically walking toward me at the indoor track at the University of Washington just before my pole vault competition and my jaw dropping to the floor at how incredible she looked. I remember her voice and her hands and the delicate, smooth, and irresistibly softness of her skin. The way she smelled. The candle she lit. The lotion she used. I can watch her sift through her makeup bag, showing me the latest Bobbi Brown or Mac addition while “putting on” her eyebrows. I can see her tiny little frame setting the too-high-to-reach start button on her dryer with a long back scratcher. I see those hidden chocolates in your drawer too, Grama—you always let me have one. I can remember the smile stretched across her face as she showed me her newly decorated computer room complete with the artwork of her and Papa’s adventures. Her sitting under the giant umbrella sweating after harvesting the planters in her backyard. I remember picking her up when she fell in that hole at the house on the South Hill. I can watch her open her sheer window curtain, sit on her couch, and watch the light of day fill her home. Her stirring the soup in her Dutch oven. Her weekly phone calls. The excitement of her voice on every birthday. The joy as she opened her Kitchen Aid. I remember her trying to hold Amelia for the first time and Amelia absolutely wanting nothing to do with it ha! I can see her meeting Adam, at my wedding, holding each of my four babies, teaching me to cook, watching Adam play baseball. 

She’s all over my life. 

Because she’s one of my best friends. 

That little lady right there ah. My heart aches as my eyes blur with tears. That lump in my throat burns. Last night, my fiery, lovely, hilarious and stubborn, tender, gentle, dear and loyal friend passed away. With her husband and three children at her side, she was surrounded by intimate familiarity even in such a sterile setting—a blessing I’m most thankful for. 

I love you, Grama. 

I miss you already and would love nothing more than one more kiss on your dainty freckled face. One more hello and one more goodbye. One more dinner together on your beautiful lace tablecloth. I’ve learned more from you than I could even attempt thanking you for and I will never stop smiling at your memory. You are beautiful, my Nana. A treasure. A turquoise gem. My dear, sweet, best friend. 

_____________  

My children woke up to the news of their Nana getting sicker in the hospital, realizing their grandparents had left in the middle of the night, and a 9AM appointment at the passport office. It was later that night while making pumpkin pie that we were all given the news of her passing. Hugging and kissing their tear stained faces throughout the day was gut wrenching. They’re resilient though, these babes. And they have such a sweet, honest, and true perspective on life that makes facing death so much clearer. They know well that each of us will die someday and that for those who love the Lord, who have been redeemed by His blood and been made new by faith in the gospel of Christ, they have nothing to fear and Heaven to gain. We clung to that truth yesterday and prayed with them that they’d be those who would receive Christ in faith and spend the rest of their lives serving and glorifying Him in obedience and love, as that is the very purpose of life. 

Day 3,362

The Highs and Lows

Grocery stacking



and surprise donuts were yesterday’s best highlights.

Grandma and Papa unexpectedly leaving three days early to go see my Grama in the hospital made up the rest of it. We are heartbroken.  

Day 3,268

The (Social Distanced) FUN Collides with The Gospel

A 19,000 square foot gym for a Mommy and Me class, with maybe 15 people in it?

Oh yeah baby!

Count us in!!

We’re breaking out of this joint and having some good old fashioned girl FUN!

We got a solid hour and a half of running and playing and smiling and laughing. Just as it should be—our regular normal—especially for the babes. 

And since Bub’s too old for Mommy and Me, he did dude stuff with his friends—and gracious, what a blessing for our boy. To finally have some immature testosterone present in his life, thank goodness for him!



On another note, this is the beautiful and most lovely hand of my Grandma. She suffered a stroke the other day, but thankfully,  our Papa was there to seek immediate help for her—ultimately aiding incredibly in her recovery. Yesterday, she was transferred to a rehabilitation facility, where my grandfather met her with a grand surprise. The two of them have been married over 40 years, and for some time now, they’ve been talking about getting new rings for each other. And so, while she remained in the ICU and because he wasn’t able to come to her side due to Covid restrictions (don’t get me started...I’ve held my tongue kindly this long already), he took my sister to shop for her hand. This is the ring he chose; the prettiest, most perfect treasure for his bride. My heart could explode as he surprised her with both his presence and his present. 

WE LOVE YOU, NANA!!!!!!!!!!!!. 

You’re doing SO great and we can’t wait to bring you home to Papa, new sheets, Crazy Cat Tiger, Charley, Marlins baseball, and a huge, fat piece of chocolate!! 

I know you know: we’re praying for you—for your heart and for your recovery. What a blessing it is for me to wake up each day with the knowledge that today exists because God is graciously bringing salvation—through Christ’s shed blood on the cross—unto His people. 

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.  (2 Corinthians 5:21)

———————

6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 

7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

———————-

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:23)

———————

9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 

10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.  (Romans 10:9-10)

God created you. He created me. Each one of us, though we may suppress it, know in the most intimate chambers of our being, that we are in fact, not some random-chanced, evolved-something-from-nothing, unspecified blob of tiny particles, without actual purpose or reason. The precision and intricacy and intimacy and morality of life demands a Creator. And that Creator God created it all, culminating in His most prized creation: man. For His own glory and delight, He made us, each totally specific and unique. His creation was perfect. Until it wasn’t. The Bible says that wanting to become like God, man (human) rebelled against his Creator and into His perfect creation, sin entered. We are ALL sinners. Each one of us. From Adam and Eve all the way up until now, every single one of us has rebelled against God in sin. The Bible says that because of our sin, we are separated from God—God, in His holiness, cannot be in the presence of sin—and deserving of an eternity apart from Him in a literal place of torment called Hell. This is the justifiable payment for our sins. BUT, because of His great love for us, He offered us a way of reconciliation to Himself through His Son. Jesus wasn’t just some good man who lived a great life, was kind, loved people and died. No. Jesus was the necessary and perfect, spotless, sinless sacrifice, who undeservedly bore our own sins upon Himself, taking on the wrath of the Father that we deserved and transferring to those who submit to him as Lord, His own righteousness. When God looks at a person who has believed in the finished work of Christ on the cross, He sees the spotless righteousness of Jesus and to those, He offers eternal life in Heaven. This is only made possible because on the cross, God saw the sin of those who would believe laid upon Jesus. However, to those who are still in their sin, not having trusted in Christ nor turned their life to Him, the Bible says that there is none good—not even one—and that apart from Jesus, their sin separates them eternally from God in Hell. 

To prove His deity, to prove the validity of all He claimed, on the third day after He died as a totally innocent and perfect man in the place of unrighteous sinners, that same DEAD MAN Jesus, was raised literally back to life. This, to the Believer, gives us ultimate hope and trust in the promises of God. 

The call to repentance and faith in Jesus is urgent because each of us are keenly aware of the brevity of this life. Our years here on this Earth matter. Ultimately, they have implications on an eternal scale. And so, two choices remain for those apart from faith in Christ. You can either remain defiant in your sin OR you can repent and believe in the saving power of the Gospel, submitting your life to Him and the commands He’s given us in the Bible, of which are not burdensome to those who believe. And I would submit to you: the Bible says that since nobody is good (we are all sinful) that good works or being a “good person” does not make you right with God. Being a good person does not get you into Heaven nor does it right your wrongs; that is not what the Bible says, though it is a very common and often-practiced belief.  Only by faith in Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross and resurrection can someone be made right with God, be saved, be a Christian, be made new, and go to Heaven. You cannot do enough good to repay all the bad. One sin separates us from God. And one Savior reunites us. This is not my truth. This is God’s truth. And I would like to make the distinction because this was the false belief that I had nearly all my life before understanding what the Bible actually says about Heaven and Hell. 

And so, if nothing else, I would urge you, my friends, my family—anyone reading this—to at least consider what you know about life, to consider the hopelessness and the fear and the dissatisfaction and the yearning that constantly grip you, and to consider that there isn’t something far greater for you in this life...and the next. 

I love you.

I care for you. 

I’m praying for you. 

Please know at any time, you may text, call, or email Adam or I. We’re here and available and would love nothing more than to talk to you about what the Bible says about God and what the Bible says about you and I. 

All my love,

Kendall 

—————-

conleyadam61@gmail.com

kconley72@live.com

You can visit this link to pursue more of the things I’ve written, if it would at all help in further understanding :)

https://www.cbcstuart.com/what-we-believe

Day Eighteen Hundred and Seventy-Eight

The Wild Crazy

Wild

and

crazy!

Just how we like it around here!

We're having fun loving on our family and can't believe how much time has already gone since arriving on Monday. We miss them all so much and do our very best to spend every possible moment alongside these crazy redheads. So pardon the short posts, but we've got family to hang with!

Day Fifteen Hundred and Fifty-Four

The Farm Fun

Amelia and her cousins spent all day yesterday at a petting zoo farm!

It was one of the sweetest, most fun and exciting place we've ever been - and that's saying a lot!

The whole entire day was filled with so many firsts. Amelia spent her afternoon petting zoo animals, climbing hills, jumping on a gigantic oversized pillow, holding birds, eating lunch, hanging with Nana and Papa, riding tractors, sliding down tubes, playing duck races, and on and on and on. We loved our time with our cousins, auntie, and grandparents. And after all was said and done, I texted Adam to let him know that one day, I'll own a piece of land just like this and open it to the public. Seriously, I'm maybe more obsessed with the place than Amelia was! Thanks for the perfect time, my family! What a treasure it was to spend the past few days together! Enjoy our day from the iPhone pics below! And notice Henry's shirt we made him!!!

Day Seventeen Hundred and Fifty-Three

The Lake Michigan

YIPPEEEEEE! THE LAKE!! RUUUUUUUUUUN!

We spent all day at Ocean Lake Michigan yesterday and it was the most perfect time!! Amelia was in her element and apparently, so was everyone else! We felt right at home, and with a beach that could've tricked any normal person into thinking they were actually at the ocean, it was absolutely the place to be. 

And in case you were wondering, attempting to get four children to smile at you for a picture is nearly impossible.

So much squish it makes my smile hurt!!!

While she was loving the beach, a set of stairs caught her eye and before I knew it, she was 50 feet in front of me, sprinting to her favorite spot. It never fails. This kid is obsessed.

Uh, Mimi?! I think you forgot something!? 

You're forgetting Mama, Mimi!! Come back! You didn't say bye to the beach!

We corralled her back to the water's edge, but not before getting in some much-needed Nana kisses. Amelia has taken quite a liking to her Nana, which has surprised us all. She's always been a grump when it came to Nana-time when she was younger, but now she's warmed up and I think - just like her Mama - she found a new best friend.

Love you so so so much, Nana! And we're so thankful we got a chance to visit you during your vacation in Michigan! What a blessing it is that we're all here at the exact same time!

You're the best, Nana. Thanks for helping my mom grocery shop after our trip to the beach. Cuz I was really hungry by dinner time.