Tying Heartstrings

A word of warning about me- I am THAT grandma! You know the type. The grandma who is always pulling out pictures of her grandkids to show to anyone who will even pass a glance her way. The grandma who has photos of her grandchildren, and their artwork (yes, even the scribbles), covering her walls, fridge, bulletin board, anywhere she can cram more in. Yep, I am proudly THAT grandma!

But first, let me correct myself- I am that GAMMAW! Gammaw is my “official” grandmother name, given to me by my first grandchild, Lexi, several years ago as she learned to talk. By the way, It’s A Southern Thing has a fun video about the importance of Choosing your Grandma Name 🙂

Now that you have been warned-

For Mother’s Day this year, my two oldest daughters, Stephanie and Savannah, planned out the most wonderful surprise gift EVER- a spring photo shoot with the grandbabies. . . all five of them!

L to R: Darcy, Jensen, Lexi, Paisley, & Nolan

There were too many pictures from the photoshoot to share them all, but since I am THAT Gammaw, I thought I would share a few of my faves with you and introduce you to the little people who have stolen my heart ❤️

Lexi is my oldest granddaughter, age 11, whom I have been homeschooling long distance this past year. Jensen and Paisley are our miracle twins who were born prematurely just before the covid lockdowns began. It’s a long story for another blog post, but the Lord in His goodness knew that I desperately needed to be with my oldest daughter, Stephanie, with the birth of Jensen and Paisley after suffering three stillbirths, including twins, a decade ago. Out of such terrible tragedy, our sweet Lexi was adopted into our family, and in early 2020 we joyfully welcomed healthy, though very preemie, twins, Jensen and Paisley.

Darcy, 2, and Nolan, 4, are my second daughter, Savannah’s, little ones. I was so blessed to be able to attend Nolan’s birth and when they placed him on my daughter’s chest, Nolan grabbed my finger that was stroking his cheek and held on for the longest time. When he grabbed my finger, he took hold of my heart. He was born trying to talk and hasn’t stopped since! He loves to talk about Jesus.

Darcy, our little clown, keeps us all in stitches and also loves to sing . . .and by sing I mean she sings loud for all to hear! 😂

And, here are two bonus pics to end my post.

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Be blessed!

Welcome to my little corner of the web! We are a homeschooling Army chaplain’s family currently serving at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois. Well, actually, we are in transition from Ft. Jackson, South Carolina to Rock Island. My two youngest, Aricka and Seth, and I are already at our new home on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River while my husband out processes in South Carolina. Thankfully, he joins us in about a week after a month of being separated (distance only). For a military family, being apart for only a month is no sweat 🙂

We have five amazing children, ranging in age from 29 to 16, two awesome sons-in-law, and five incredibly adorable grandchildren. I am the General Manager of Marketing for The Old Schoolhouse®, a certified birth and bereavement doula/chaplain, previous child welfare worker, and former owner and CEO of Army Wife Network.

The name I chose for this blog is Tying Heartstrings which stems from my belief that parenting is more about discipleship than discipline. When we work to build strong, loving, grace-filled relationships with our children, and disciple our children in the Word of God, and in living our faith out in daily life, discipline becomes something that is necessary once-in-awhile, but not every-single-day as they grow beyond their toddler and preschool years.

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” -Proverbs 22:6 KJV

Some bullet points about me/our family that I will expand upon and share more about (Lord willing) in the days, weeks, and months ahead on this blog:

I am a Christ-follower first and foremost. He is my Rock, my Redeemer, and my Everything. Without Jesus, I am completely lost but with Jesus hope and peace overflows.
My “life verse” is Jeremiah 29:11 and the Lord will bring that verse to my attention in some of the most amazing ways at the times I need it the most.
I love to talk in bullet points because that’s how I think.
Adoption has touched my family in a very special way.
My oldest daughter experienced 3 stillbirths, which is what lead me into becoming a credentialed birth and bereavement doula and chaplain. I also used to be a photographer for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.
My father passed away when I was 6.
I love to share quotes.
I have comma issues and tend to either over-use them or under-use them . . . there’s no in-between.
I have met and mingled with many famous/ high-profile people over the years, but prefer everyday people…like me 🙂
As I result of the previous bullet point, I don’t get “star struck.” I say this because people often ask me, “Were you nervous” or “were you excited to meet” so and so. My answer is yes and no. I get nervous meeting anyone new and during my days on Army Wife Talk Radio, I was always excited for every interview I conducted because I loved talking to people and learning about them. Whether they were well-known or little known, I took great joy in giving them a platform to share their story 🙂
Despite my often extroverted exterior, I am actually very introverted and so are my husband and all but one of our children.
I love coffee and coffee memes. I even have a Facebook page dedicated to it.

I could go on and on but will end it there for now. I have three grandbabies whom I hear playing downstairs, waiting on me to take them to the zoo on this beautiful sunny day.

Be blessed!

I am THAT Grandma!

Welcome!