Well, I did it! That 10 pounds of smoked ham that I brought back from Chicago in my suitcase from Thanksgiving it finally went into a pot of beans, and they were the best I’ve ever cooked – at least in my opinion.

After eating on them for about four days, I pawned the leftovers off on a friend because I didn’t want them to go to waste. I was satisfied once again that the ham had made the trip, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

As I’ve mentioned before, my son-in-law is my favorite child. My daughter and her family came to Oklahoma for a visit a few weeks ago and I was so proud of my son-in-law when he announced that he’d brought me the leftovers back in his suitcase from their last shindig.

I laughed and was happy to see a large ziplock baggie full of frozen homemade mac and cheese that had been cooked on the smoker, along with a huge bag of pulled pork. I’ve taught and trained him well, now if I can just get my daughter on board I might not ever have to cook or buy groceries again.

I visited them a little over a week ago and was reminded that they’d be moving into their new house at the end of March in Wisconsin, and needed to clean out both of their deep freezers. Unfortunately, I’d made a shopping trip to Goodwill and my suitcase was already pretty hefty, in fact it ended up weighing over 50 pounds when I got to the airport to leave. I knew I wouldn’t have room for anything that was in the freezers, so I had to leave it all behind. Talk about devastation.

Thankfully, they are flying me back out at the end of March to help them move because the Lord decided to bless us with another surprise this year – my daughter is pregnant with her second child, and it’s another boy. I am elated (to say the least)!

My grandson Cooper, who will be 2 years old in June, is excited about his new baby brother, who will arrive between the end of August and early September. He has started pointing to his mom’s belly, raising her shirt and saying “Bubba”. I thought it was cute until he did the same thing to me and then I had to explain that Lala (grandma) does not have a baby in her belly, it just looks likes she does because I am also a little hefty…