Time Out

I'll be gone for a few days to Southern California for my mother-in-law's memorial service.

When I get back i will touch base and we'll start off the new year together.

Until then, I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas.
Give lots of hugs to family and friends and tell them how much you love and appreciate them.
Give a smile to a stranger, do a good deed, talk to the Lord.
It's His birthday you know. =0)

smiles and blessings coming your way.

Barbara Jean

Being Thankful

I just read a blog on Contentment, and how the key to that is being thankful.
I totally agree with that.

It's easy to be thankful when wonderful things happen in your life, like having a new grand baby, and that your family lives close and you get to see them all the time.

But what about when you have lost someone? Can you be thankful?

My husband's Mom, and my Mom for 40 years, went to be with the Lord earlier this month.
This is a very sad and hard time for us, and, mixed with the joy of a new grand daughter, very confusing too. We are happy one minute, and sad the next. Under the joy is always the feeling of sorrow, and the loss sometimes lessened a bit with the joy of new life.

So, what can we be thankful for?

We can thank the Lord she lived to be 91, and for most of those years was in good health.
We are thankful for Scott's brother and his wife who have had Mom live in their home for 15 years, and have cared for her so lovingly the past couple of years since she began to decline.
We are grateful she was able to have her last days in her own room, her own surroundings, with family near, even though it did not seem she knew who they were or where she was at times.
We are thankful that she did not suffer long with the fear, anxiety, and paranoia that the dementia caused in her, and that her passing was peaceful and in her sleep.

I'm glad my husband saw her at Thanksgiving. He walked with her, sat with her, fed her, and was able to give Ron and Kathy a break they really needed.

I am grateful that I have grown to understand Scott enough to know how to support him through this period of grieving. To give him space to process, but be available when he needs me.
That he needs time to be alone, and time to be together. That sometimes he needs to fill his mind with busyness to get through that moment. And that those moments may come and go for a long time.
I'm grateful that he is including me in his grief, and not shutting me out, which he might have done a few years ago, and that he holds me and lets me cry when i feel overwhelmed by it all.

Most of all I'm grateful for a God who knows us and understands us, better than we know ourselves. A God who hears us when we cry out to Him, and even hears us when we don't.
A God who sustains us through our grief, and promises to turn our sadness into dancing again.
And a God who has welcomed Mom into His loving arms, and has given her peace.

Thank you for letting me share with you, my friends and family, and for all your prayers and support through this time.

We leave Christmas Day for the drive to San Diego for the Memorial planned for Mom.
Please pray for safety, and that the Lord will use us to share His love and message with others.

Blessings on your day.

Family Photos

Here is the whole happy family.
Three girls and little Remy.
Boy are those guys outnumbered now!!

Ben and Angie, the proud parents, and little baby Rowan.

Mama and baby doing great!

Dad's holding up well too.

Here's Grandpa and his girls.

Grandma and her girls.

Baby Rowan.

Isn't she a cutie!!!

We are surely blessed with a wonderful family.

PS Thanks for your prayers for brother Remy. He was much better today, but not quite sure what to think of little baby sister. He saw her and said "baby!" with a big smile, but then wouldn't go over to see her for a minute. He soon warmed up to her, and was taking turns holding her and kissing her like everyone else.

Blessing to you all.

It's a Girl!!!

It's a girl!!
Arrived this morning.

Rowan Zeve. 6 lbs. 13 oz 19 1/2" long.

beautiful little girl, and we all love her already.
You should have seen her sisters with her.

Mama and baby doing great!

I'll post photos tomorrow.

Thank you all for praying.

Have a wonderful weekend!

It's Snowing! Prayer Please!

I love the snow, but this morning our 5th grandchild is being delivered, and the roads are slick.

We all live in Eugene, but some further out than others.

Please pray for safety for those traveling to be there, especially the other grandparents.

They come from further out, and over hills, and they have the other Gkids with them.

Thank you.

Blessings on your day!!

Stocking done, and oranments too.

Well, it's done! And I can't believe how many things can go wrong on one project. Good thing it was a labor of love!

If you missed the blog before this one, it was a photo of a wool stocking i was making for our new grandchild (to be tomorrow morning!)

Each time a new GC came along, I made them a wool stocking. That is the more simple style my kids like, as opposed to the Victorian I made for the store.

I had a call out for help, because i was stumped with what to do with it.

My friend Lynn made a couple of suggestions. Just couldn't quite get it all together.

So today, I just had to jump in and do it. I was running out of time. (Angie, my daughter, wanted to have it at the hospital to decorate the room while she was there). Cute idea I thought.

Anyway, long story shorter, I ended up changing it several time, smeared black paint across the face, and then smeared the bright red paint where it shouldn't have been. I did manage to get all that cleaned off quickly and saved it. Then I sprayed it with the wrong finishing spray. =0/

All that said, it is done, and OK. They will probably all love it, and I will try not to tell them all the mistakes I made.

Then the ornaments. I needed to paint one for our 14 year old granddaughter. She is so sweet, and loves the tradition of me painting them all an ornament every year. It does get harder as they get older though. I settled on what I wanted to do for her, and it turned out fine.

Then the new babies ornament. You know, baby's first Christmas, even though the little one will never even know it is on the tree, and will only care about being full and dry for awhile. It all went exceptionally well, until.... I sprayed it with the same wrong spray as the stocking.

Then I noted i had "baby's 1st Chistmas". See anything wrong with that?

Fixable, but not before tomorrow. Maybe everyone will just think it's cute and I'll leave it. =0)

All are done and all will love them. They were a a labor of love for me, and that's what it's all about.

Blessings

Oh, I just posted new photos of the store on the other blog.

How many shopping days till Chistmas? (I did that on purpose) =0)

Stocking Help!!

OK my creative friends, I need help.
This is the stocking I am making for our new grand child due to arrive on Friday. I have made each one of the kids a wool stocking out of the same fabric, (wool coats from Goodwill).
I am having trouble with this one, and thought maybe some new eyes would help.
It is obvious at this point that the problem is the gingerbread person is too small for the stocking.
(the lesson there is get away from your work before you go on, and not go by what it looks like when you are sitting a foot from it).
I do not want to start all over, and don't have enough of the deep red trim fabric anyway.
So, what do I fill in all that space with?
I've thought of hearts (wood or stenciled), buttons, more very small ginger people, but nothing seems quite right.
The ginger person still needs eyes, nose, and mouth, but that will not effect that huge blank space. After the baby is born, I will add a bow to the top for a girl, or a bow tie for a boy.

So put on your creative thinking caps and get back to me.

thanks friends. =0)

Blessings on your day.