Family!

When the kids were little, it was so fun to see their excitement for Christmas! Hard to believe that was sooo many years ago.

Now here we are years later, and watching the next generation get excited about Christmas!
We were blessed to have 3 out of 4 of our kids and families with us this year. We missed Brad and Krystal and kid...s but tried to Face Time with them. I realize that each year, we should be grateful to have any of the family that we get to have at Christmas. Once they are married, we realize that we have to share time ... and so we are very grateful for the time we got!

It was great having the house full and crazy again. I forgot how loud and messy everything gets when they are all home. I forgot how one moment everyone is happy and laughing, and then a few minutes later... we they could all be upset about trying to choose where everyone wanted to have dinner! Yes that is what we call Family!
Then I had to laugh on how hard I worked to have the house look, feel and smell like home when they all walked in the door, then just a half hour later with everyone's stuff and everyone there...you couldn't even see the floor :). Wonder why we Mom's do that EVERY TIME? No, I know why we do, because we want our home to feel like Home, smell like home and look like home...if only for a moment! I do think that is a very important MOMENT though!

Today is Brad and Krystal's anniversary, can't belive it has been 7 years ago that these guys have been together... and now we have these three sweethearts in our family! LOVE THEM!!!! We feel soooo blessed!

Lauren and Nik left early this morning, so hard to see them go but grateful they were able to come this year for Christmas!
House is a bit quite, of course... I need to clean it again but oh ... it was soooo worth it!
Family, yes what a simple word but it has sooooooooooo much value and meaning!
Feeling very grateful tonight for this sweet Family of mine!
Good Night dear friends!

It's not just stuff!

Today was a heart tugging day. A friend and I, helped another friend cleaned out their family home. I am always amazed at the things we all collect throughout out lives. And it always is tough to see that something that meant so much to someone, might now.., really not mean anything to someone else. Guess that is where the old saying  " One's man junk is another man's treasure " comes from probably. Still it is hard to imagine that all these things have a meaning and a story and it may be now...that no one will ever know what it is.
I guess that is why I have always loved antiques and felt grateful if I knew where they came from and whose they belong to in the past. I am glad that I have so many things of my grandmothers and she did tell me the stories about them, which make that even more valuable to me.
It made me want to come home and go through my things, closets and drawers to organize them more. I made my kids promise that when I pass away, that they will share the things I have to someone who would appreciate them, and especially to those who might need them.
 Still I am sure that there will be more than one chuckle about something I have, as they ask themselves " What in the world did Mom plan to do with this? " Or something even worse like
" What in the world is this?"
Maybe I should make a list of things and write down the stories about each one of them. That might take some time, wonder if there is a faster way to do that?
I have tried to share a lot of my stories to my Grandchildren, they have sharp and young minds, maybe they will remember them ?  Let's hope so! I hope at least they will defend my things and say
 " It's not just stuff! ", because it meant a whole lot more to me!

I think I should have a plaque on my sewing room that says...

Birth Certificates...
Show that we were born.

Death Certificates ...
Show that we died.

But Quilts and crafts...
Show that we really LIVED!!!

That quote just made me smile!
Good Night dear friends!

story of hope and inspiration!

Last night we watched a movie called Letters to God. It was a good movie but not quite the quality in acting and in the movie itself but...it was truly a story of hope and inspiration. On the back of the movie is says this... It was inspired by a true story. Letters to God delivers a message of hope, faith, and courage that others can apply to their own personal struggles regardless of what they may face in their lives. 
I think what I loved the most about this movie i,s that it was once again a child who showed everyone the way. It was his faith, hope and courage, that ended up changing so many other lives. Isn't that true? Have you ever listened to a child's prayer? It is simple, direct and heartfelt. I feel like sometimes I forget some of those basic steps, and I shouldn't. So it was a good movie!

 Well, I am here at my sister-in-law's home, which was just built and they have only been here less than a week. It is simply beautiful!
We are so excited, we leave tomorrow to head back East, and then after we get her daughter packed up from college and then put her on the plane, we are headed on a big road trip. It probably could be done in 3-4 days, but not with my back. So we decided to just take our time and enjoy being together, doing whatever we want. I just have to be home by the 10th of June for my flight home! I can't believe I get to go on a road trip with one of my best friends ( sister-in-law ), and no time schedule or appointments!!!!! This is going to be fun!
I will try to document the whole thing, just for fun!
Good night dear friends.

 “Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.” Jamie Paolinetti

 “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Swap Meet

I am always amazed at how resourceful my kids are. When they were little and we would Spring house clean, Jeff and I would always laugh as soon as one would put something in the give-away-box in the hallway, someone else would come and ask or just claim it. I felt like we never really ...got a whole lot of de-cluttering done, it just seem to transfer from one room to the other. New owner of course, but still in the same house.

As the kids got older and started leaving home, one kid would be trying to claim the leaving child's room, before they had even left. Another trend seemed to be happening again last night. When Brad and Krystal were going through their stuff and packing up, there was Lauren and Lee claiming whatever they didn't want. It sounded like a big swap meet in there. I would laugh when I occasionally heard Brad say "hey, not that...I still want that?" Or to hear Lee say "All I came away with was 2 mechanical pencils with no erasers"  I guess you could compare it to vultures coming in for kill, but since they are my kids, I would rather compare it to a big Swap Meet:)

"Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts."  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

So as you guessed it, I cried and cried when I had to say good-bye today to two more kids. I pulled myself together just in time for Physical Therapy and that traded my sadness for soreness and pain, but it worked. Then I came home and just wandered around for awhile, still had that sorta lost feeling. Lauren was out visiting friends and Lee was at school. It is true what they say about a HOME... "The most important work you and I will ever do will be within the walls of our own homes." ~ Harold B. Lee  I have known this to be true my whole life, now I just have to find important things to do when my kids are away from home.

"Home is the most popular, and will be the most enduring of all earthly establishments. ~ Channing Pollock 

"The most important work you and I will ever do will be within the walls of our own homes."  ~Harold B. Lee