{Finally! Sorry. . .}

. . . for the delay with posting. If Grandma's Diary isn't out where I can see it, I absolutely totally forget to post. And then it's just been so so so busy. Just trying to get settled here in a new town while re-establishing my business, starting Noah in school and being a stay-at-home-mommy all at the same time has been pretty difficult and very time-consuming. We also just had 3 birthdays (Noah turnd 4, Maia turned 2 and Neil turned 31 - gasp!) all last week (within 7 days). On top of that we threw a housewarming/Halloween/birthday party. Even though the parties have been fun and memorable, I am so so so thankful October is almost over. Not to mention that it's been difficult remembering 1 year ago. I miss grandpa so much, as I know we all do. 2 years ago he held Maia for the firs time. Last year we told him goodbye. I can't believe it was just last year that I held his hand as he left us. Life goes by so fast and we need to remember to really savour every single second. Our life here on Earth is just a tiny fraction of eternity.

I really really hope I haven't lost too many loyal readers.

Love,
Valerie
(Duane and Shirley's granddaughter)

July 5th update from Val

{I apologize for not being on top of the diary like I had hoped to have been. You know how hectic summers can be. We were on vacation for one week, then I lost my hard drive on my desktop and now we close on our new house tomorrow and spend all weekend painting. Despite the frustrations with packing up what seems to be hundreds of never ending boxes, we are absolutely thrilled to be moving! It just makes everything else have to be put on "pause". Once we're settled I hope to be more diligent like I once was. Anyway, so here's a few entries to keep ya going. Don't give up on me!

And for those of you who haven't seen my kiddos in a while, here are some pictures of them over vacation. The other little girl in the pictures are my niece, Ella, who went on vacation with us, along with my in-laws, b-i-l, and two s-i-l's. We had the best time ever.






Thanks for looking! Grandpa sure was proud of these great-grandkids of his!}

Update from Grand-daughter land!

{Sorry I have not updated in such a long time. We put our house on the market and thankfully it sold in 9 days, but that's much faster than we ever dreamed it would! Now my family and I are off on vacation tomorrow out east (Sea Island, GA, anyone been there?! I absolutely cannot wait!) but first today I shoot an all-day wedding. I seriously don't know how I will be ready for tomorrow, but hopefully if I put my mind to it, I can do it. Anyhow, I just wanted to let everyone know where I've been and where I'm off to so that you don't give up on me and Grandma's Diary! Hopefully I can get some time once we're back and before we start packing boxes, painting rooms and moving to the new house. All that happens the middle of July. But I know how everyone is so busy this time of year, so hopefully you're all not sitting around wondering where I've been. Just wanted to tell you not to give up on this site because I'll be back strong in a few weeks. Take care and happy summer! In the meantime, here are a few new (well, old!) amazing pictures . . .

~ Valerie}

Here's another one of Grandma's mother . . .
These bottom two pictures came from a collage of pictures that had been scanned and put together, I think, for all grandpa's siblings and himself. So the quality isn't the best, but hopefully you can still enjoy. If you click on these picture, they will be blown up really large in your browser and then you can see faces and details much better.

This one here is a "Sears House", built by William E. Wallace - finished May 23, 1919. Sitting the picture is: Wm E. Wallace, Flossie Wallace, Sinah (?) Hester (Dawson) Wallace - Wm Wallace's mother, Ella (Evey) Wallace and Lewetta Wallace.

This one is titled "4 Generations". Sitting here is: George Washington McMillen (born on Pres Washington's b-day, hence the name), Charles David McMillen, Grace Ellen (McMillen) Wallace, and Russell Dale Wallace (grandpa's oldest brother). What truly amazing pictures, huh?!

Grandma, Nean & Barb

This is a neat picture because of the cars you see in the background, but mostly because it's grandma (on the left) with grandpa's sisters, Norma Jean ("Nean") & Barb.

Barb is in the hospital right now in Chicago as she suffered a brain aneurysm April 6th. She had surgery the following day (survived!) and is now in the ICU at Northwestern hospital. Cousin, Lori, has been posting updates on her condition at the blog she developed for Barb here.

I have a feeling Barb will come through this. I know these days right now are the most critical for her, and that the biggest fear is a stroke, but she is strong . . . she is a Wallace.

I mentioned in Barb's blog, in the comments section, that my dad (also a Wallace) suffered a brain aneurysm when I was in 7th grade. Reading it made a lot of memories come back for myself and for mom and I know even more so for dad. I am sure he can relate to what Barb is going through and I hope one day they can share their experiences. Dad was in ICU for 2 weeks and in the hospital total for 31 days. It's difficult to go back and remember this time, but at the same time I see it as encouraging because, as I said, Dad is a Wallace and he pulled through like most Wallaces seem to do! He has that diligence that Barb has along with a strong relationship with God, which I think (no, I know) is proof that she will get through this also.

Sun Mar 11, 1945

Warm out. Got to see daddy. Duane came out at 5:40. Saw "Hollywood Canteen". Very good! Saw Dale, Edythe, & Gene T. there. Gene really looked good! Had quite a time tonight. Duane thinks he doesn't treat me right & that he's not the one for me . . . & that just won't work. I cried - said he couldn't stand it - said that his mother & I were 2 women he loved most in the world. Said lots of sweet things. But, golly, I don't know what to do.

{Dale is grandpa Duane's brother and Edythe is his girlfriend. Edythe and Dale will one day be married.}

{It's Just Me}

I just wanted to stop by really quick and tell you all that I am here, but incredibly busy, so I'm having a hard time trying to post entries each day like I wish to. A little update here with me . . .

We are selling our house ourselves - a huge chore, but hopefully we can do it and save us some realtor fees - sorry to my great-aunt, great-uncle and cousins who work in the realty biz, but we need that extra 6% to go towards our house that we are building (or 2nd big chore at the time being)! On top of that, my business (VWC Photography) is booming (a blessing!) because it's that time of year again - people antsy to have spring portraits and couples getting married. So, needless to say, my spare time is getting away from me. Of course I can't forget my kiddos who keep me the busiest as a full-time stay-at-home mommy - they are ages 3-1/2 and 17-1/2 months - they are probably the ones keeping me from posting entries on most days!

Anyhow, tonight I hope to post a few entries and then I will try my best to come back next week and post more often. Sorry to those of you who are my loyal readers. Some of you come back and come back more than once a day and I just love that about you! Don't give up on me!!

Happy Easter! :c)

Growing!

We've been linked over and over! How exciting that Grandma's Diary is growing so. I'm thrilled!

How neat.

Really quick. . .

I have been featured at a site called 5 Minutes for Mom, which is a big site in the motherhood world, "bringing moms the best in blogging, shopping, parenting and entertainment". What I really love about it is that it's a Christian site, and the two girls that run it are not only moms, but stay-at-home moms with small businesses (and blogs) like me! Anyway, please take time to look at the article and then roam the site. (I love it there. I even got Anissa to be a part of a the group!) I'm just really flattered and I think grandma and grandpa both would be as well knowing that even more of the world is getting to know a little more about them . . . and more about all of us. They both would be tickled to death.

By the way, if you go to the sidebar column here at Grandma's Diary, near the bottom of it you will find a world map. The red dots on it show where all the visitors who read the blog are from. I didn't start the map until this past week, so we're missing a thousand or so visitors, but for now on it should keep good track. I find it pretty interesting so I wanted to point that out and share it with you.

Monday Memo

[I am really slacking at posting grandma's entries. Forgive me. It's been hectic beyond words at home right now. Check out Purple Valley and you will see why. I am going to try and be better this week.]

Valerie's Comments

So while helping mom and dad finish clean out grandpa's house, I found some more amazing pieces of Grandma & Grandpa's history. I found boxes of love letters between the two, cards to one another, etc. Also found some pieces of Grandma's mother's - like a log book of special events, other lists and notes, etc. Also found some things of Grandpa Pope's, including some astonishing pictures of when he was a baby and a toddler. I hope to post some of these pictures, love letters, log entries, etc., in the coming days, months, however long it takes me.

At the family gathering on the 30th, I was talking to my cousin, Joe, and his wife, Josie, and my cousin, Clint. We talked a lot about grandma's journal. I actually didn't realize they read regularly, which is very exciting to me. Something was mentioned about the entries and my taking the time to post them. To their surprise, and probably yours, I don't read the entries until I post them. I type as I read them. So it doesn't take much time at all and it makes my doing this that much more exciting and special. Just thought I would share that.

Well, I hope you all continue to read and enjoy the diary as much as I have been. We are learning so much about grandma and grandpa. I just love it. How lucky we are for grandma and her mother to have loved keeping journals and logs so that one day their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren would be able to learn about their extraordinary past.

A fabulous picture of grandma and her Mother ~ not sure of the date