Happy Birthday Amy!

So glad we got to see her yesterday for a bit!  A big Happy Birthday to my step-mother-in-law (that doesn't sound scary a bit, does it!?), Amy Parr-Wigton.  She's really very nice and a very good principal too.  She and Dad have resumed their dance classes, and when the weather is better, enjoy boating on Lake Erie.  They are a fun fun couple.  We're so glad to have you as part of the family, you are very special to us.  Much much love to you on your special day!

Our only nephew...so far!

Our nephew, Owen, turns 4 today!!

We are especially thankful for his lifelong friendship with Z.

Whether working hard together...

...or playing hard together...

...these two will be friends forever. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OWIE!!

It's somebody's birthday!

I am very blessed to have FOUR beautiful sisters-in-law.  Wednesday, February 9th, yet another one of them celebrates a birthday.  Missy is married to Ben's brother, Andy.  She's the gorgeous blond in the front on the right.  When she and her hubby got married, we all loved seeing the stark contrast between her petite stature and Andy's towering 6'7" self as they exchanged vows.  I wish I had a picture of that!! Oh well, here's Missy with a cute baby Ally: 

She is a leader and is awfully powerful for being such a tiny person.  Currently, she is a middle school English teacher.  She has stories of other teachers mistaking her for a student as she blends right in.  She is on the fast-track to becoming a principal now, following in the footsteps of Ben's Dad and step-mom. 

She also scrapbooks and gives good gifts.  She and her husband have the gift of hospitality and are always ready to host get-togethers, including our family Christmas every year. My favorite thing about Missy is her laugh.  She laughs easily, and always at herself if given the chance. She is first and foremost an excellent mom to my children's three favorite people in the world*, their cousins: 

Jenna

Ally

 and Owen

You can tell they're a bundle of fun!  They take after their mother, an ex-cheerleader, who waterskis like a pro and is always up for exciting adventures and trips to the amusement park.  Z and Juju are pretty sure their house is Disney World as it's so much more fun than ours!  

Missy, Happy Birthday!  We love you!

*Ben and I think they're pretty special too.

My Fraternal Name Twin

Siblings: (L-R) Biz, Ben, Debbi, Andy, Bekah

This year, readers of WigLife will get to know my husband's family as I acknowledge them on their birthdays.  The first celebrant happens to have the same name I do! Meet Bekah Wigton, my sister-in-law!  Since our spellings are different, we are not identical name twins, but spoken aloud, no one knows!   This is how I became "Big Becca" at family gatherings, and she, "little Bekah".   I first met Bekah when she was seven years old.   

Bekah is a beautiful person, inside and out.  I am so honored to know her.  She is strong, funny, loving and extremely intelligent.  She never minces words and is unafraid of people.  She is a natural arbitrator/mediator and would do well at any peace keeping job in the world.  She has deep thoughts on politics and reads thought provoking books.  She is naturally athletic and can whirl around on the ice like Katarina Witt! She is a certified sign language translator and is studying speech pathology and audiology at Kent State.  She is a determined spirit and will excel at anything she puts her mind to.  

we are so very proud of her! 

Happy Happy Birthday, Bekah-boo!  

We love you more than you'll ever know.

E-Card for my Grandma in Iowa

This is my Grandma.

We have the same middle name. (Irene).

She graduated Valedictorian of her high school class.

With her sweetheart on their wedding day.

Here she is with my mom, pregnant with my uncle Danny

I love this picture of her with her foot up on her leg. 

This says January 1973 along the side, so my mom is 15 here. :-)

Grandma raised five children, then four more who are her grandchildren, now she cares for her mother. She  can best be described as nurturing.  She's very good at what she does, and boy does she know babies...

My Grandma used to collect owls, now she collects roosters.  I respect her a lot for changing her mind.  Sometimes you just want something different.  My Grandma likes to laugh a lot and my Grandpa likes to make her laugh.  She's a pro at entertaining, and can whip up a giant spread of food in no time.  I didn't know it, but it turns out she's the world's best cookie maker.  If you've been wondering who that is, you've found her!  {By the way, Grandma, I tried to make the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies like you said, and they did not turn out anywhere near as good as yours.}  Sometimes people just know what they're doing.  

She loves cards.  Specifically, she loves to pick out the perfect card just for the perfect occasion for someone. She sends between 10 and 15 cards a month out.  She always writes a letter to go inside or at least a nice note at the bottom of the card.  I have several cards from her hanging on a string above my window right now.  Yes, I did send her a real card. 

Like her hubby, she devours the Word of God.  She likes to wake up, drink a big glass of ice water and read her Bible.  Then you'll catch her reading it again a couple more times in the day.  Below are some memory verses she has above her sink.  She devoutly attends church and shares God's Love with others in everything she does.  

Happy Birthday, Grandma!!  We love you, love you, love you.

Hope your day is as delightful as you are!

My Great Grandma G

Here's a couple of Five Generation pictures taken with each of my little ones.  I have only taken the kids to Iowa one at a time as lap children, so they each have their own picture.

I don't mean to brag, but I have a VERY cool Great Grandma.  She's feisty and witty, she's tough as nails and she loves all of her family unconditionally.  She is so much fun to be around.  She's also very talented.  She worked well into her eighties on gorgeous quilts for each of her grandchildren.  You see the sewing kit beside her chair in the above picture?  Well, she taught me how to sew a button hole (with a tiny needle and thread) while I was there visiting last month.  I messed up and she finished the whole thing for me, because she can.  She broke her neck last year (she's all better now), and the first time my grandparents had to leave her alone after the accident they left all their numbers of where they'd be and how to contact them and Great Grandma said, "What do you think I'm gonna do?  Burn the house down?"  You can't spend too long around my Great Grandma without laughing, she really brings out the fun in life. I love that she wears Sketchers!    

I'm sorry, I'm boasting, I just think she's great (to Juju and Z she's great great!!). 

While I was there, I took lots of pictures and videos, trying to soak up every minute and make it last for forever. Here's one of the videos I took:

I also have a video of her telling the story of how her great great great grandma killed four Indians who tried to break into her house through the doggie door (turns out early settlers had doggie doors!), unfortunately it doesn't want to upload right now.  I've mentioned before about her Grandma who was royalty from Sweden who smoked a pipe and her Grandpa from Sweden who owned a fleet of ships.  She has wonderful stories I could listen to all day every day.

What I haven't told you is that today my Great Grandma turns 98 years old.  I don't think she minds me sharing...  

Here are some fun links to look at: 

What happened in history on October 20th

What happened in the year 1912

A couple of my favorites: In 1912 the Republic of China was established, New Mexico became the 47th state and the Titanic set sail.  Oh, and Woodrow Wilson beat President Taft and Theodore Roosevelt in the general Presidential Election.  

 I hope you have a Happy Birthday Grandma!  

I know I speak for the whole family when I say, 

"We love you the mostest!" 

My Grandma J

Well, things are back to working again so I can finally give a proper birthday wish to my Grandma in Tennessee.  She thanked me for not posting any pictures of her, saying, "Perfect! You know me so well!".  So, out of respect for her wishes, I won't post any photos like the ones of her on this post or this one.

However, I will post some pictures she drew.  You see, my Grandma is an artist.  She can paint or draw just about anything.  She likes to look at a picture for inspiration, but the skills are all hers.  Her Daddy (my Great Grandpa Miles, who Z was middle named after) was an artist as well, just like my Daddy is.  

When I was a little girl, she'd send me large envelopes filled with pretty leaves, stickers and silly face drawings.  Now she sends recipes for me, stickers for the kids and drawings for them to color.  What she doesn't know is I keep them in a file with plans to take them all to the printers to make copies of them for coloring books for the kids (hence sparing the originals).  I love getting her drawings.  

(Sorry this one is a pencil sketch and hard to see.)

Aren't they precious?  I am so thankful for my Grandma who always gets excited and squeals when I call her. I used to spend a few weeks every Summer in Tennessee for the six years I lived in Maryland.  While there, she taught me how to make amazing pie crust, set the table (thumb joint from the edge of the table), label an envelope properly (you slide lined paper inside to get your lines straight) and iron clothes among other things.  She's the genetic root of my children's (and my) cute little snort when laughing.  She makes the world's best fudge and chicken madras.   She can sing harmony to any hymn in church, which I try to copy, but I don't read music and so just make it up.  She keeps her house immaculate, which I can't even begin to aspire to with two little ones right now, but she gives me inspiration and tells me, "Bless your home every day."  

She's told me a million times that she prayed for a good husband for me since before I was born and another million times told me how God answered that prayer through Ben...and she's right.  She's the first person I call when I need prayed for and the person I thank for teaching me to believe in the power of prayer.  

Thank you for loving me,  praying for my husband and soaking up our children as much as you can from far away.  We're looking forward to visiting you this Winter!  Happy Birthday again, we love you!

May the festivities begin...and go on and on and on

This year, you might have noticed that I've featured a few family members on their birthdays, like my my Grandpa in Iowa, Grandpa in Tennessee, my mom (who I did not do justice to), and my Dad.  I only have three more biological relatives left that aren't cousins, aunts or uncles*.  All three are Grandmas and all three have a birthday in the next three weeks!  How fun is that!?

Well, our first celebrant is.......Grandma J in Tennessee!!!  Happy Birthday Grandma!  
I'm so sorry, I am having some technical problems and I can't access any of my pictures right now.  I've been trying all day.  Sorry, Grandma!!


I'm very thankful for you and hope your day was super special!  love you...




*My in-laws have adopted me and made me family in so many ways that I hesitate to say this sentence.  I do hope to acknowledge them next year as their many birthdays roll around so watch out family!!!!

My Daddy

Yup! It's my Dad's birthday! Time to get out the old pictures and brag on him a bit. Truly, he is an international man of mystery. I don't know really what he does for a living, I never have. He always said, "I could tell you, but then I'd have to shoot you." Did I mention he was the one who taught me the Willie poems? He's got a very dry sense of humor, living in England for 16 years only encouraged this.

Here he is with my mom in 1974.

They got married a year later and celebrated 35 years this year.

We went on lots of adventures together. Here we are on a hike. He would later take mom and me to 27 countries and just as many states (not by piggyback). We loved to travel as a family, although he's been to countless countries without us now, how many passports have you filled, Dad?

All our earthly possessions were packed and we were on our way to California from Tennessee for Dad's linguistics school, it took a week to get there, and we broke down in the desert. That was the first of many moves for me. My Dad would forevermore write out his Christmas list in Persian, Farsi.

My Dad is an artist. He's one of those very complex people that can program a computer and paint a masterpiece too. He can also sing. Our special song we always sing together is, "Get a Job" by the Sha Na Nas. I loved when he sang in a barbershop quartet while we lived in Maryland. He can sing the really really low notes.

My family in 1983

I may have won a mother-daughter look-alike contest with my mom when I was sixteen...

...but there's no room for milkman jokes, he is clearly my Dad.

In 1997 he gave me away. Can you tell we love each other? We do, to pieces actually. He also shared with me a love for God. Growing up I'd jump onto Mom and Dad's bed for family Bible time and I recall great discussions on theology as a teenager. Remember the lemmings, Dad? He always has great analogies and maybe should have been a preacher.

Nine long years later, he became a Grandpa, and then I learned something about my Dad.

He loves our kids as much as he loves me and Ben. It's so fun to watch him with Z and Juju as he just comes alive. He can hardly say no to them and Z has caused serious (and irreversible) damage to my Dad's ipad in the past...twice. His interest in photography was reborn with the birth of our children and can be thanked for the wonderful catalog of pictures we have of them. He loves being a Grandpa, which is a very good thing indeed.

I hope you have a very happy birthday on Friday, the 13th, Dad! Such a fitting day for you, my funny, creative Dad, who loves Alfred Hitchcock (and shares a birthday with him) and who always has a Groucho Marx quote at the ready. I wish Germany wasn't so far away. I'm giving you hugs in my heart right now, wishing they were big bear hugs in person. I love you to pieces and always will.

Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

Dear Buddy,

Thirteen years ago today your Daddy and I got married. I wanted a baby very very much. It wasn't practical though as we were in college, then when I realized that I had a degree I could do nothing with until I got a Master's degree and a license, I kept going, and kept waiting. It was a difficult time for me, as my heart wanted children, but my mind knew we needed to wait a while longer. When I graduated we were in debt* and I needed to work so I did for five years. During that time we began doing foster care and got dogs, in part, because I ached to have children. Finally, on June 27th, 2006, we welcomed you into the world, we celebrated our ninth anniversary in the hospital with one cute baby Z.

I share this with you because just as I longed for you, you have been very eager for your birthday. A week after your last birthday you began to ask when your next birthday is. You have talked about it on a weekly basis, if not daily for the entire year. Every time we went to a birthday party or ate out and heard that familiar tune, "Happy Birthday to you..." you cried. We were unable to read books to you that referenced birthdays birthdays for fear that it might stir up that eagerness in you for something that was months away. Finally, it was upon us.

Saturday was your last day as a three year old. I savored every moment with you. I got to hold you after you hit your mouth on the desk while you were being silly walking around with a towel over your head. I was so glad your teeth were ok and you only got a bloody lip. I thought a loss of teeth would be the icing on the cake after you cut your own hair the day before, leaving a giant gap in the middle of your bangs. Just in time for your party. You danced, jumped on the bed, we played library and played outside. At lunch as we sat at the table, I decided to ask my soon to be four year old boy a big boy question, just to make conversation.

M- "Who is God?"

Z - "I don't know."

M - "What do you know about God?"

Z - "God is dead." [I'm in shock, have you been reading Nietzche?]

M - "What did you say?"

Z - "God is dead." [now I'm feeling like a bad mom]

M - "What makes you say that?"

Z - "He died on a cross." [huge relief right about now]

I proceeded to talk to you about how Jesus, who is God, did, in fact, die to pay for the sins of Mommy, Daddy, Buddy, and Juju. He died so we don't have to, then He rose again and still lives today. You listened, then asked to play thumb war with me. I obliged and you beat me...again...with the help of your other hand.

After your nap, Daddy took you to the community farm with your sister so I could work on your cake and wrap presents for the big party we had on Sunday. You shared a party with your cousin, Jenna, Aunt Biz and Uncle Andy as you do every year. You got horrible sunburn on your back from playing in the pool and too few sun lotion applications but you had so much fun and slept all the way home.

We hid some of your presents to pull out later, as you got so many toys. They'll be fun on a rainy day. We'll be going through old toys today and giving some away. Today your Daddy is off work and he made you a fort out of giant appliance boxes from our friends at Weaver Appliance. You put on a puppet show for us today out of one of them. The four of us played hide and seek together upstairs, played checkers with Fruit Loops and played with your new toys. You're a four year old now and I'm very proud of the big boy you are. I hope your birthday was all that you had hoped for it to be, I know meeting you has been a dream come true for me.

All my love,

Mom

*We still have that stinky loan of mine to pay off, but thankfully it's the last one we have. Hopefully when you're old enough to read this and understand it, we'll be completely out of debt!

P.S. Here's one more video of you and your sister on your last day as a three year old:

Smiles for you

Juju talking to her Grandma J in Germany

Two sick kids cuddling a couple weeks ago.

Some pictures for you to enjoy on your birthday, Mom! We love that our little Juju favors you more than anyone, and hope she keeps those curls as long as you have.

My mom

Juju

Here's three new AMAZING recipes for y'all to try:

Baked Oatmeal

Bread

Granola

I have made each of these 2-3 times in the past 2 weeks! I get a little excited when I find a good new recipe. The baked oatmeal is a local Amish thing I guess, it seems everyone around here knows what it is, and I have missed out my whole life...until now. I can eat the the whole pan by myself, but Ben likes it with crunchy raw sugar on top and heavy whipping cream all over it.

Our friends from Washington gave us the bread recipe and wowed us with it when they came. It's now my best bread recipe (not best for you, but you'll forgive it once you taste it).

I've been wanting to try and make granola again since I burned three batches in a row about ten years ago. I finally got brave enough this past weekend and made a batch...then another the next day...it's that good.

I've got lots to share, we're busy tilling the garden today, but come back soon!

Robert Wesley

Once upon a time, there was a little boy......who met a little girl...

...they got married...
...two days later the boy left for Korea,
but they would write every day...
...for a year......he returned safely from war and they started a family......then his children started their families and the little boy became a Grandpa...

...then the boy blinked and suddenly he was a Great Grandpa!
That little boy who is all grown up now, is my Grandpa. All of my grandparents are extra special for their own reasons, but January 4th is my Grandpa J's 80th birthday, so he gets the attention. He's very humble and probably won't like all this attention. However, he's very witty and would probably say he's proud to be so humble.

He's a retired cabinet maker. An expert at precision and detail. He works now at Wal-Mart in the paint and hardware department, NOT as a greeter (he likes to add). He has two sons, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren to date. Up till a couple of years ago he taught math to adults at a local R.E.A.D. program. He still sings in the choir at church. He is an avid reader, a big fan of author, Martin Lloyd-Jones and the local newspaper. He can beat you at chess and happily sorted through hundreds of coins to find brand new state quarters so each of his family members could have their own set.

He and Grandma still honor their engagement date and he reserves kisses on the lips only for his "sweetie". Above all these things he has been my role model for his soft heart and patient spirit. He loves God above all else and that is evident to all who meet him. He is also the genetic root of our son's chocolate brown eyes.

He taught me to whistle, wink, blow bubbles with gum, tie my shoes, he was instrumental in my early math education and learning to drive. When he and his best friends sit around the dinner table they top each other's clever puns and discuss politics and theology. He is an expert home made ice cream maker and loves to estimate the mileage to come visit us in Ohio when they drive up from Tennessee. He taught me how to change the oil in my car and the proper way to use a chamois.
He has created a legacy of Christlike love, patience and perseverance to all of his family and we love him more than he'll ever know. I wish I could help you blow out the candles again, I'd wish with you that we didn't all live so far apart.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!
With love from your Punkin'