Dear Fiona Quinn:
Even though our tradition is to celebrate Christmas Day at your house, Santa Claus was kind enough to drop off gifts for you at our house and to fill a stocking for you. You will come over in the next few days to open your gifts.
Your Minion stocking was handmade for you last Christmas by a friend of ours, Anita Fisher.
All of my love,
Pabbie
Dear Fiona Quinn:
Mimzi and I are so thrilled that you are visiting us this evening. You came over at 5:30 and will be staying until 10:00. Today, your mother was off from work and she went to Somerset Community College to purchase her textbooks for her very first semester in college. I am so proud of her for taking this step. You will also be spending the night on Friday and spending most of Saturday with us. I plan to make you one of my big breakfasts that you love so much.
Tonight you wanted to watch Despicable Me and The Lorax, two of your most favorite movies. You also love Frozen and Hotel Transylvania.
I did have to have a little talk with you this evening. You dropped the refrigerator magnets that you were playing with and you said, “Shit,” not once, but three times and I had to tell you that it was not a nice word and not to say it. I have told your parents that you are like a little sponge absorbing everything you see and hear.
You brought such joy into Mimzi and my evening! We love you so very, very much!
All of my love,
Pabbie
Dear Sweet Fiona Quinn:
At 1:15 AM you returned home from your very first vacation. On Tuesday, 7 June , you and your Mommy and Daddy packed up the car and headed south down I-75 to Ocala, Florida. You stopped around 4:00 AM to sleep for a little while on the south side of Atlanta. When you awoke you had four more driving hours until your reached your destination of Ocala. This is the hometown of your Great Aunt Janice. You really enjoyed your time there because Aunt Janice has an unground pool which you thoroughly enjoyed. After your visit to Ocala, your little family went farther south and spent two days in Daytona Beach.
Mimi and I missed you a great deal but your Mommy was faithful in her promise to send us a picture each day you were away.
There is a beautiful picture of you just staring out into the ocean and I cannot keep from wondering what thoughts were running through your mind. I can remember the first time that your Mimzi and I saw the ocean for the very first time. In 2001, I attended an adult education conference in Charleston, South Carolina, and your Mimzi was able to go with me. After we checked in to our hotel, we went to the beach at Isle of Palms, and it was at that moment that I realized the grandeur of God and His creation. Mimi and I just stood there, for what felt like hours, and stared into the beautiful ocean Unlike you, we experienced the ocean very late in our lives.
All my love,
Grand Pabbie
Dear Fiona Quinn,
This evening we read our very first book in our 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Challenge: Sweet Dreams, Pooh by Kathleen W. Zoehfeld ad illustrated by Robbin Cuddy. The book was very colorful and you kept reaching toward the book when you saw the red and blue heffalump. Mom Shelton made a comment to Mimzi this evening that I will have you reading before you start speaking! I have certainly loved reading all of my life and I so want you to enjoy reading and books as much as I do!
You are the apple of my eye,
Papaw
Dear Fiona Quinn,
Papaw dearly loves you and always will!
You are the apple of my eye,
Papaw
Somerset Community College North, Meece Hall
Dear Fiona Quinn:
My precious love, when I took Mimzi to work this morning the temperature was seventeen degrees below zero. Because I am unable to walk unaided, I was not able to report to work, myself. After I dropped Mimzi off at work, I returned home and did some reading in our nice comfy reading chair in the den. Currently, I am reading John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father by Peggy Noonan. It is a wonderful book and I should finish it on Saturday evening. It is packed with such wonderful reflections on God that I am reading it very slowly so that I will not miss anything in this wonderful gem of a book.
Nap time always follows bottle time.
At 1:00 PM, I picked up Mimzi and her friend Mary Ann Ryan and we all went to Mill Springs Pizza for lunch. We got our Friday usual fare and it was delicious, as always. Following our lunch hour, I took Mimzi to look for a Fred Thrasher print to be given to her boss, Superintendent Boyd Randolph, who lost his father to a heart attack. She is looking for a winter farm scene because Mr. Randolph’s father was a farmer. I then returned Mimzi to work and I drove Mary Ann to the Dollar General Store for some items she needed. She has been stuck in the house since Sunday because of the snow.
We did not get home until 6:30 because Mimzi had some work that still needed doing, but just as soon as we got home I had you in my arms feeding you a bottle of formula. You were a little squirmy but it was because you were sleepy in addition to being hungry. Wonderfully, you played with Papaw until your mother got in from work at 12:45 AM. I so enjoyed our evening together!
You are the apple of my eye,
Papaw
Dear Fiona Quinn,
This is a picture that your Gran Gran wanted to to post on your blog.
You are the apple of my eye,
Papaw
Dear Fiona Quinn,
Papaw just received a message from your great-grandmother and she said that she is subscribing to your blog feed!
Your Great-Grandparents at the Shelton Family Reunion in 2013.
Your great-grandparents are both strong Christians who live a Spirit-filled life. Even though they are life-long believers, a few years ago they fell deeper into the Word and it has richly enhanced their walk with God and their daily dependence upon HIm. Papaw and Mimzi love a preacher who we watch on television. His name is Creflo Dollar and he always says that we are to renew our minds daily with the Word of God. This is something your great-grandparents practice each and everyday whether it is through reading the Word, watching religious programming on television, listening to Christian radio, or listening to Southern Gospel music. Some of their most favorite preachers are Adrian Rogers, Charles Stanley, and David Rogers.
Your cousin, Caleb, and your Great-Grandparents
Not only are your great-grandparents strong Christians, but strong supporters of Israel and the Jewish people, as well. Isaiah 62:6 and 7 reminds me of the love your great-grandparents have for the Chosen Ones of the Lord.
“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”
My precious granddaughter, you are born into a family with a strong Christian legacy and it is my fervent prayer for you that you live a life of faith, consecrated to God, and guided by the Holy Spirit.
Fiona Quinn, beloved of my heart. may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you His everlasting peace. May the Lord’s hand of health, healing, prosperity, happiness, and intense joy ever be upon you.
You are the apple of my eye,
Papaw
Dear Fiona Quinn,
Today was the third day that we have been snowed in. It is being called Winter Storm 2015 and we had twelve inches of snow on Monday and 2 more inches of snow which fell last night. Today, the winds were blowing around 35 miles per hour and the wind chill was in the single digits. Even though it was freezing outside, you were comfy and warm inside. Mimzi insured your daddy put your socks on. You have developed a distaste for socks and try to pull them off all of the time. Because I am not able to make it to work, I have been able to feed you twice today. I feed you at 3:00 PM when your Daddy took your Mommy to work at Texas Roadhouse. I also attempted to feed you at 7:00 PM but you were very squirmy and I had to give you to your Daddy to finish the job.
Today, I created you a GoodReads’ account so we can keep track of the books that we have read and the books that we would like to read. When you get a little older and can work a computer, I will give you your log in credentials for your account.
This evening you really enjoyed playing with my iPhone. Mimzi and I have decided we will soon have to add you to our plan and get you an iPhone of your own; in pink, of course.
Here is a picture of E. Mt. Vernon Street looking toward the fountain square. As you can see, we are really snowed in.
You’re the apple of my eye,
Papaw
Dear Fiona Quinn, 