I played hooky from work today so we could all go to the mountains. All means all. That's Jill and me, our eight kids, daughter in law and grandson. We all loaded up in Heapy for a drive to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for a picnic. We had a great day. Here are some pics for you.
Asher sitting on the bridge. You thought it was a log?
He "fell" off.
Notice everybody in this pic is doing something different.
Have you met Kelli, our sweet daughter in law?
Kk loves to hold Drake.
See. I told you it was a bridge.
Levi looking for minnows.
Can you see who is on his shirt?
Mellow Asher.
Mellow Levi.
Mumzie got skills.
Picking.
When a boy has mustard on his face, his daddy will take his picture.
This is our friend Tanner.
Looking for minnows.
Tanner Kiss.
Shameless plug for my buddy Wayne at United Plumbing.
It's official. I'm a grandpa. Or is it Grandpa, with a capital G? Drake was born today. Actually yesterday since it's after midnight now. A perfect baby boy. And so begins the next generation of Brasfields.
Our four "older" kids were gone to a concert with the church. Jill was at the hospital, waiting for Drake to arrive. So I took the three younger kids out. We went to Shono's in the City for dinner. I had sushi (French Kiss Roll and Ruby Roll). And they had either chicken or shrimp with rice. They all wanted lessons on holding the chop sticks, even though I am not good at it myself. The closest any of them came to tasting the sushi was when Asher held some in his hand. He gave it back to me. The food was delicious. And the kids were good. We had a good time there.
As we were walking back to the parking lot, Jill called to say that Drake had been born. Oh how excited she was! Crying and everything. She immediately started sending pictures to my phone. It was awesome.
The four of us continued with our plans to attend the Knoxville Ice Bears hockey game. During the first period of the game, I was studying all the pictures Jill was posting on Facebook. No idea what happened in the game. I was really excited and overflowing with happiness. We saw and spoke with three different groups or individuals that we knew, a customer, the Williams family, and Jazz and Alisa. I showed them all Drake's picture. Jazz asked how old Drake was. "About half an hour", I said. After the second period ended, we left to go see Drake at the hospital nursery.
When we got there, we passed the nursery first. We didn't know if Drake was there or with Kelli. But there was a baby that I thought looked like Drake. After we found Jill and Daniel, they took us back to the nursery. Sure enough the baby I had seen was ours. He's a perfect little gift from God. I don't think there is anything more precious than a newborn baby - except a newborn grandbaby.
Jill took the kids with her and headed home so I could stay and hold the baby. After the nurse brought him to Kelli's room, I got to hold him. I haven't lost my touch with a baby. He listened to me and watched like he knew what I was saying was very important.
This is one of those milestones that we hope for. Now it's here. I pray that Drake and all the future Brasfield grandkids will grow up with parents and grandparents that show them how awesome the love of God and family are. I pray that we teach them to follow Christ and to love their neighbors.
It was another good day with The Brasfield Nation.
God bless,
Dadofmykids
(Grandadofmykids too? Well I don't know if that came out right.)
