Christmas 2007-Charlotte, NC

Christmas 2008-Madison, MS

Andrew, age 5 (6 in Feb 09), baking Christmas cookies with sis, mom and Nana

Katie, age 9, designing her own Christmas cookies.

Results of our Christmas fun.  The ugliest is Nana’s.

Brittany, age 12, helping mom make the Happy Birthday Jesus cake.

Hunter, age 13 and our entertainer, picked out the type of cake to celebrate Jesus’s birthday and Brittany baked it.

Happy Birthday Jesus Cake.

In case you can’t tell, Brittany has red and green braces just for Christmas.

Today Katie, our second granddaughter, is 9 years old.  She was born one year before we left Mississippi.  However, the Lord let me know she was coming before she was even conceived.  Kaitlyn is an Irish name and she certainly has the Irish characteristics down to the pale complexion and reddish hair.  She has a beautiful smile and a great laugh but it is hard for us to capture that smile on film.

I think Katie is destined to be a teacher and a leader.  When her brother would get upset about something she could quietly explain things to him and he would begin to come into peace.  She often practices her teaching skills on Andrew and he has learned well.  She is very intelligent and loves helping her teachers.

Katie also could be a fashion designer.  She, like her mom and dad, has artistic talents and loves to dress up.  Oh, I forgot about being a Veterinarian.  She loves animals and is now collecting all kinds of toy pets. Whatever she decides to do in life, I am sure she will be a huge success.

Katie had her birthday party starting Friday night with some girl friends sleeping over.  Then after a breakfast of monkey bread and eggs they all went skating yesterday.  They skated until they dropped and reported that they had a ball.  Andrew also learned to skate and loved it.

Katie is our Irish Princess who has been chosen by God to do great things.  PawPaw and Nana love you Katie and wish you a Happy Birthday.

Today our great niece is celebrating her 2nd birthday.  She is the 5th great grandchild with 5 meaning grace. I must say she is a real beauty and getting prettier with every day that goes by.  Her mom, our niece, is faithful to send us pictures so that we can share in her life from a distance.

I talked to my sister today and it seems Gracyn called her and said “Happy Birthday, HaHa”.  Hope wanted her to call her honey, but Gracyn decided on HaHa.  She must be a generous little girl since she wanted to share her birthday with her grandma.

I think she may have a career in drama, she sure has the looks.  Hope was also telling me that she and my niece,Amy, took Gracyn to Target and as they passed each aisle Gracyn would say “Gracyn needs that, Gracyn needs this skirt”…and so on. Finally Amy got in her face and told her that Gracyn did not need anything.  At that Gracyn crossed her arms and bent her head down and said “poor me”.

Well, my sweet Gracyn I hope you have a wonderful birthday and get all you “need”.

Don’t you think this would make a good album cover for His new album.  I can see girls swooning now.

Many moons ago before we left Mississippi Chuck grew some sunflowers in our back yard.  I don’t remember it very clearly, but our daughter-in-love does.   She told her children, our grandchildren, about it and they wanted to send PawPaw a picture of the sunflowers they grew in their back yard. Thanks to their Aunt Carrie who took and emailed us the pictures.

Here are Katie and Andrew with their sunflowers.

In case you have been wondering where I have been, Chuck and I left last Tuesday to visit a place called Joy Mountain which is located in the boonies of the upper NW corner of North Carolina. When I say the boonies, I am talking boonies. The closest town is Hot Springs, NC and we were told that there was not much there except the springs.

Where we stayed there was no phone, no internet and no TV. There was black bear, turkey, deer, bats, snakes etc. The most important thing that was present was peace, the presence of God, angels and a hard working christian couple that God sent to be “caretakers” of this property.

It was a very faith building trip and I will try to tell you more about it later this week. In the mean time I have chores here to do.

August 14, 1948 Lucy Hope Bickham was born to William Smith Bickham and Christelle Lewis Bickham. Hope is my sister and I was 4 years old when she was born. Hope was born in a WW II military barracks that was converted into a hospital in Gulfport, MS. I can remember that they would not let me visit my mom so my dad lifted me up on his shoulders to the window of my mom’s room for me to see that mom was really ok. You know 60 years ago new mothers stayed in the hospital a long time and had to remain on bed rest even after they got home.

My mom told me that she came home in an ambulance and once she got settled in the bed with my new sister she looked across the room to see me pushed up in a far corner with a look of total despair. Almost exactly a year prior we had survived a Cat 2 hurricane with a 12 ft storm surge and now my mom comes home in a strange vehicle with a kicking, screaming little person. Do you blame me for being leary?

Christmas of that year we drove up to Jackson, MS and joined all of my mom’s siblings and their families to celebrate at my my Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Elrene’s home. That year the song “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” was popular and I would sing it inserting Hope’s name. Christmas morning my grandmother discovered that Hope indeed had 2 front teeth. Merry Christmas!

Our parents were very hard workers and we were really economically challenged most of our growing up years, but I never realized that much. Most of the homes we lived in only had two bedrooms and one bath and there were 5 of us including my grandmother. Hope and I slept in the same bed together and in the same room as my grandmother until I was in Junior High School.

First grade was a real challenge for her and all of the family. Mom could not get her to stay there. She would drop her off at school and by the time mom got home Hope was already in the house. She hated it so much that it physically made her sick. But despite the horrid beginning she really is very smart and excelled in all she did. She started having problems with her eye sight at a very young age, but she always loved to read and is still an avid reader.

Hope now has two grown children, Amy & Matthew, and one cutie of a granddaughter, Gracyn. Hope has worked herself up into a good position with the MS College Law School. About three years ago she developed a torn retina in one eye and even after many surgeries she became totally blind in that eye. She experienced some real changes in her life because of this loss of sight and helped take care of our mom in her last years while she was dealing with it. She has continued to work and had a couple of serious falls resulting in fractures because of her lack of sight. This year God did a miracle and she started seeing through her blind eye. Thank you Lord.

Well, Hope, I don’t know where 60 years went since that day Mom brought you home to that little house a block from the beach in Gulfport, MS that has since been washed away by Katrina. I do pray you have many more years and that they be full of health, happiness and joy. I pray that the Lord bless you and your family with His presence and all spiritual blessings. Happy Birthday Sis!