Friday, March 19, 2010

Our Week With Granddaddy and Billy

Our week-long visit with Granddaddy and Billy has come to an end...they are back at home now. I've posted before (last year about this time) about how they stay with us for a week while my dh's sister and her family go away for spring break. Granddaddy is my dh's 83 year old father, and Billy is dh's 58 year old mentally and physically handicapped brother. Neither can live alone or even stay by themselves for very long. My sil remodeled her home last year so that they could move in with her after Granddaddy's hip replacement surgery.

They are definitely a blessing! And we really enoyed their visit. I wasn't sure how well Billy would do because he is so dependent on his routine, and sometimes he is easily annoyed to have anything out of his normal routine. He loves to watch several preschool programs on nick jr, so we upgraded our tv channel line-up to include this particular channel for him (lol). I think he enjoyed his visit. I think he has had to adapt to some changes since they had to leave his home (that he's lived in for all of his 58 years!) to move in with his sister and her family. So I think that had some impact on how well he handled being out of his comfort zone for the past week.

We really love being able to spend time with them, and we especially love listening to Granddaddy tell us stories. My, the wisdom he has to share with us from his 83 years on this earth! He regaled us with tales from his childhood, from his early days of marriage, stories from his military service during WWII (my children sit spell-bound during his stories!).

There are other benefits from their visit. We all learn to think of others more and ourselves less.  Having them here to take care of gets US out of OUR comfort zones, as well. The kids have to make sacrifices, such as giving up their rooms for the week, and giving up their tv time so that Billy can watch his shows on nick jr (lol). That's kind of funny in itself, because they started the week saying things like, "Man, we have to watch these baby shows on tv!" Then later on in the week I noticed that they were sometimes sitting with him watching those "baby shows." :)

While we were tired after having them here, I like to say that it is a good tired. I'm so glad that we have these opportunities to spend time with them, to grow and to learn. And it gives us a healthy appreciation for what my sil does on a daily basis. But I know that she would have it no other way. I hope that I can take care of my parents in the same way when the time comes!

Here are some snapshots of our week.

Kate and Granddaddy

Granddaddy and Will


Billy, sitting in Will's room, "reorganizing" some of Will's card collections (remember when I mentioned sacrifices earlier? I just had to tell Will, "It'll be alright. You can put them back exactly like you had them after he's gone. lol)


my dh and Granddaddy, planning our route to take them to meet my sil


Mike, Kate and Granddaddy


Kate, Granddaddy, Ryan, Will and Billy


Billy and Kate

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