Extended Stay at "Home"

I have not posted a lengthy update since my extended stay back in Indiana. I traveled back to Washington by myself on the weekend of July 6-8. Jess stayed in St. Louis to attend his only Dave Matthews concert of the summer. It was held at Busch Stadium and it was too good to pass up. I had two baby showers - 1 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday and a wedding. All of this made more difficult by the flooding between Daviess and Knox County!

On Saturday, June 7th, Jess's mom, aunts, and friends hosted a baby shower for Jackson, Jess and I at the Odon Essen Haus. It was wonderful! I really don't get to see that side of the family enough. Many of Debbie's friends and coworkers (Jess's former coworkers:) came as well. It was a hot day, but cool inside. The food, company and gifts were all humbling and wonderful. Baby Jack is so blessed already. Pictures below. The first one is of the decorations (baby pictures of Jess and I side by side - some people thought we looked alike as babies). The second one is our crib bedding that "Grandma" Debbie bought for Jack.

Then Saturday afternoon, we headed over to Freelandville for my cousin Jamie's (and cousin -in-law, Jessie's) wedding. The ceremony and reception were gorgeous and I got the chance to visit with friends and family from both my mom and dad's sides. It's nice to see them so often lately, especially with the baby coming!

On Sunday, many of my girlfriend's through a shower for me at Country Oaks golf course in Washington. It was a beautiful day and the shower was beautiful too. Of course I expect nothing less from those gals. Mandy (and Patty), Abby, BA, and Shaya (I may be missing someone) all helped out w/ decorations and food. As you can tell by Mandy's pictures, they did such a nice job. It was a mixture of people at the shower, some friends from church, some of my mom's close friends, my girlfriends, and some family friends.

During the shower, however, we received some very sad (but expected) news. My step-grandpa, Dick Nomady, passed away. Dick and Grandma had been married almost 10 years. As sad as this was, we had many things to be thankful for. Dick had been suffering many years from all kinds of cancer. You name it, he had it. He was tough through it all, but in the end, the cancer had spread to his brain, spinal cord and bones. I was also thankful that I was already in Indiana when we received the call. This allowed me to stay around a few extra days to help out and attend the viewing. Dick (or "Grump") as I always called him, really grew to be a part of our family, he took the 4 Singleton boys, 1 Singleton girl, 13 grandkids, 2 great-grandkids, and 1 on the way, and accepted them as his family. His is a picture of Dick at his finest - golf club in hand!

While it is a blessing that he is not suffering any longer, please continue to pray for my Grandma Jo. She lost my Grandpa Russ to ALS in 1990 and now Dick to cancer in 2008. I know that it will be very rough for her to not have a companion and someone to take care of. She's been doing it all her life.