Turtle Tales: North Carolina & the Pea Pod Project

It has been a few days since we blogged, but there is a good reason for not posting! We had set a goal of getting to New Jersey by Saturday, May 10th, so that we could surprise Jim's brother Rob for his Birthday. He follows our blog regularly, and if he knew we were in NC and heading north he would want to know if we were going to swing by and visit with them. We didn't want to give him that opportunity - it would ruin the surprise- so we chose not to post.

Our visit with our son Jason and his family in North Carolina was so much fun! The grandkids are growing in leaps and bounds and are involved in numerous activities. It was fun to be able to watch them interact with one another and to help them with their homework and various projects. The weather was delightful and it was so nice to feel the warmth of the sun and enjoy the mild temperatures.

We took the time the children were in school or napping to catch up on cleaning the Turtle, washing clothes and taking care of correspondences as well as planning the next leg of the trip.

Jason's family recently acquired a golden retriever puppy whom they named "Abby", and Lacy and Abby had a great time playing and just hanging out with one another. I think Lacy was sad to leave her new friend and playmate.

One of the highlights of the trip was to be able to deliver 50 preemie kits to the neonatal department of the hospital where our Granddaughter Elliana (Jason and Shannon's daughter) was born and died in October of 2012. She was a preemie that had a fatal genetic disorder called Trisomy9. I started a ministry I call "Ellianas' Angels". The ministry involves crocheting preemie kits for other preemies or newborns that, for whatever reason, end up in the neonatal care unit of the hospital. The kits consist of a blanket, a hat, hand mitts and booties. To date there have been over 500 kits made and distributed to neonatal units in Texas, Washington State, Tennessee, North Carolina and New Jersey. Delivering the kits to the hospital where Elliana was born, held special meaning, and I am glad I was able to finally have the opportunity to do that in her honor. The nurses were most receptive and appreciative of the gift. A special shout out to all the "Angels" that assist in this ministry, especially my sister June, who taught me how to crochet and has spent countless hours crocheting kits for the ministry and to my Emmaus prayer Sisters who have supported the ministry through prayer and contributions of money and yarn!

One of Jason's sons' Levi, was reading a book on planting pea pods as part of his homework assignment one night, and the next day "Gramps" surprised him by purchasing the items needed to plant his own pea pods! Levi was so excited to be able to share that experience with Gramps, and was looking forward to telling his classmates about it. Hopefully we will get an update and a picture as the peapods begin to grow! Memories in the making......

Thanks to Jason, Shannon, Elijah, Levi, Missy and Seth for a fun visit!