Who Am I

If you haven't seen this yet please watch. This skit is done with just hands. The song Who Am I is by Casting Crowns.

Still here...

Yes, I'm still alive and kicking...well, alive anyway! I want to thank each of you dear friends who have lifted me up in prayer and thank you for each sweet comment left. It is so nice to hear that I have been missed. I really am doing a lot better this week. My body is slowly but surely adjusting to my blood sugar meds, thank the Lord! My count would be over 200 then drop suddenly after I took a pill, which caused me to get the shakes, sweats and nausea. No fun at all!! The time I've been spending on the computer has been research on diabetes and diet and I've learned a lot! The good news is, I have lost 6 pounds and still eating well!!

I especially want to thank Jo for all the emails and advice on diabetes. She has been so helpful to me and even did a post on her blog, Bits and Pieces, telling about her struggle with this disease. If you haven't already read this post, you can go here to read it. Thank you, Jo, for caring enough to help me and especially for letting me know that I'm not alone
in this. Also for letting me know that it's okay to obsess over it a little! :O)

Now on to happier things! We have had beautiful weather here this week with temps in the upper 70's. I think it might have even gone into the low 80's today! Dogwood winter is getting ready to set in so another cold snap is due. I've really been enjoying the warmth and sunshine while it's here. My flowers aren't blooming yet but my yard is blessed with wildflowers, dandelions and violets...







and even some weeds that look pretty to me!



Last year the grandkids got me a lilac bush for Mother's Day. Lilacs are my favorite! All during the drought we had last summer I watered the little bush faithfully but it kept looking so bad. Even before fall came it had lost all it's leaves and looked like a dried up twig. Dave suggested once that we just needed to pull it up...there was no hope for it...but "hope" is my middle name (pun intended! LOL), so it stayed put!! This spring we have had a lot of rain and plenty of sunshine and my little lilac bush is thriving and now getting ready to bloom! I will take pictures as soon as it does!

I'm going to try and get around to visit all of you and catch up. I know I have missed a lot so it will take me a while! Much love, Hope!

Catching up....

I know I haven't been a very good blogger lately so I'm going to try to catch up a bit starting with Easter. We actually had our Easter get together on Saturday since we have to work around everybody's schedules. Nothing about our Easter was very traditional. We had pork barbeque, baked beans, cole slaw and chocolate eclairs for dessert!! (I had a little of everything except dessert!) We usually do Easter dinner at my house but this year my daughter was our hostess. We all had a great time eating, hiding and hunting eggs and just enjoying our time together. And of course there were photo opportunities for me!

I took this picture of Claire explaining to Uncle Dave and Kian how to jump a big ditch, and trying to talk Kian into jumping!




When her powers of persuasion didn't work, she demonstrated...looks like she's flying!



Finally Kian got brave enough and jumped too. He looks like he's falling into the ditch but he actually made it across.



Then the adults hid the Easter eggs for the kids to hunt...



and the kids hid eggs for the adults to hunt:



While some of the adults were pushing and shoving trying to get to the same egg, Jenny was wandering off by herself finding one egg after another and won the egg hunt!



It was too windy for Josie to be outside so she napped while we played. She had her own purple and pink Easter basket and a personalized egg:



After her nap she posed for Granny to get some pictures:



She even smiled for me (actually she was smiling at Daddy):



Even Pamela posed for me with her new outfit, actually a hand-me-down that Josie outgrew!



Even if we weren't traditional, we had a great time making our own traditions and most importantly, making memories!

Goodbye, Ms. Fran

Most of you who follow Peggy's blog know by now that Ms. Fran passed away on Monday at 4:45 PM. Please go to Peggy's post here to read her account of Ms. Fran's gentle passing from death unto Life. I read a comment on Peggy's post left by S who referred to Ms. Fran's death as BITTERSWEET, which I find very fitting at this time.



Many months ago Peggy began to share Ms. Fran with us and we came to know and love her.
I looked forward to reading about her and seeing pictures of her sweet, smiling face. Peggy shared their good times together:



Even after she became ill and her body weakened, she still liked participating in the fun that Peggy could cook up:



Thank you, Peggy, for unselfishly letting us be there in Ms. Fran's last days.

As a tribute I would like to share one of my favorite poems with you. I hope you will take the
time to read and absorb what it says. We say "goodbye" to Ms. Fran for now but only for a while.

Gone From My Sight

By

Henry Van Dyke

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck

of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone"

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,hull and spar as she was when she left my side.And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.

And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"

there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices

ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

And that is dying...

He is Risen

"The stone was rolled away from the door, not to permit Christ to come out, but to enable the disciples to go in." - Peter Marshall

Wishing all my friends a blessed Easter.

O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. Psalms 34:3 KJV

Another Meme..

I have been tagged by Mary at Mary's Writing Nook to do a meme on 8 facts/habits of mine. Most of you already know most facts about me AND my habits so it took me a while to come up with 8 things. If I repeat myself from other memes just ignore what you've already learned! Here are the rules:

In the 8 facts about yourself, you share 8 things that your readers don’t know about you. Then at the end you tag at least 8 other bloggers to keep the fun going.

1. I am not a morning person!! I can't think well in the morning and sometimes can't remember things. My daughter says she never tells me anything important in the morning because by noon I won't remember it! Morning dementia??

2. When I was young I wanted to drive a car so much that I had recurring dreams about driving! Now I hate to drive.

3. I like to fall asleep with the tv on in our bedroom and it has to be on Nick at Nite! The reason is that I've seen all these shows so many times and don't get deeply involved in them like I would if I watched a movie or any show I've never seen.

4. It has always been hard for me to accept a compliment without undermining it in some way. For instance, if someone tells me my hair looks nice, I would say something like, "It's only because I finally washed it!" I'm trying to learn to just say, "Thank you!"

5. I am fascinated and at the same time repulsed by serial killers. I've always wondered what goes on in their minds when they commit these heinous crimes, but at the same time it would sicken me to know!

6. I love puzzles..crosswords, jigsaws...I'll work about any kind except Sudoku. I never liked math or working with numbers.

7. I like to eat green bean sandwiches! JD had confessed in a meme that he likes potato salad sandwiches. Well, I like those too! I also like buttermilk with cornbread crumbled in it! My kids never could watch me eat that because it made them sick!!

8. I am not a fanatical housekeeper and never have been. I do try to keep a "path" through the house and give it a thorough cleaning occasionally. I have always felt there are more important things to do. My theory is that all the dust bunnies will be here when I'm dead and gone!!

Here are the 8 people that I tag:

Brandy at Mommy's Quiet Spot

Jennifer at Dust Bunny Hostage

Sandra at Nora Lee's Nook

Rosie at Rosie's Whimsy

BJ at Sweet Nothings

Carolyn at Talk to Grams

Adrienne at With a Grateful Heart

Lisa at A Place to Land

I tried to pick 8 people that I though hadn't already been tagged so if you haven't then start confessing your habits!! :O)

My birthday boy...

Today my baby boy turns 35 years old. How can that be when just yesterday I was 35? :O) My how time does fly. Willie came into this world weighing 9 lbs. 11 1/2 oz. and was 22 1/2 inches long! I often tease him and say that if he had been born first he would have been an only child! It was rough carrying him especially since I'm so short and he had no room to move, but move he did!! He made up for all this discomfort by being a really good baby, so jolly and happy and always smiling...unless he was hungry, then I heard about it!

My son has grown into a fine young man and I'm very proud of him. He has been a soldier and is now a police officer. He's a good son and little brother to Jenny:




He's a good husband to Angie and father to Kian:



And as you all know, he just recently became a father again when Josie came into the world:



He has been playing drums since he was 4 years old and continues to play with a local band called Spank:



As you can see, the fruits of my "labor" have paid off!! Happy Birthday, Willie! I love you and I would do it all over again!!