Family stories and history

My mom and dad and grandparents have all passed away.  Their stories of growing up and meeting and living their lives are only left in my memory.  I wish I would've written down their stories.  I wish I would've paid more attention.  Now, how exactly did yall meet?  And why did you move down here?  And what made you quit college?

My dad was an amazing story teller.  He did write down some of his anecdotes, thankfully. But I still have questions that I wish I would have asked.  I still wish I would have listened a little closer.  But as a kid, it's just the same old stories that mom and dad tell, blah blah blah.

But as I get older, I am curious.  I don't remember my great grandparents at all.  But I'd love to know their stories.  My mom documented all the family genealogy. For that, I am grateful.  But they are just names.  Dates of birth, dates of death, counties of marriage etc.  Who were they?  Why did they fall in love? What were their triumphs? their defeats?  their life changing moments?

I'd love to pass some stories down to my kids and grandkids.  But I'm sure they are about as interested as I was at their age.

That's part of the reason for this blog.  My social media posts will be lost to history someday.  FB and Instagram will be as obsolete as Myspace.  But hopefully, the stories I've written in this blog can survive.  And hopefully, someday my descendants will stumble upon them and know a little bit about who I was.  I wasn't just a date of birth and date of death.   Maybe it will shed some insight onto their own journeys and personalities.  Who knows?  

So ask your living relatives now their stories!  Video them!  Write them down.  Save for your posterity. You might not be interested in it now.  But someday you will and you don't want that moment to be lost forever.

The Slim Christmas

 Another Christmas story....

Larry works contract a lot and it seems like in the past, right around Christmas, he'd get laid off.  So one Christmas, he lost his job and money was kinda tight.  I didn't know how I was going to get Christmas gifts for the kids.  They were big enough that they'd realize if I chinzed on Christmas... so what to do, what to do??

Well, I scoured the house for anything I could sell and had a huge garage sale!  I thought, whatever I made, I would use that for the kids' presents.

So after all the smoke cleared from the garage sale, I had a whopping $150.  

That was going to be tough to spread between 3 kids!

Somehow, I managed to find sales, bargains, and other such treasures and got things wrapped.

It seemed like a skimpy Christmas and I needed something to make it more fun.

So I made a Scavenger Hunt for Christmas Day!  

I hid the presents all around the house and made clues for each and every gift.

Christmas morning came and we had the most fun!  The kids loved finding all their presents (almost more than the actual presents!)

It was a wonderful Christmas after all!

Reminds me of one of my favorite Christmas movies:

"He puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more!"

Christmas time is here

Christmas is one of my all time favorite holidays.  I have so many wonderful memories as a kid with my grandparents at Christmas.  

I'm going to share a few stories the next few blog posts about some of my favorite times.

We used to go to my grandparents for our Christmas break.  They lived about 2 hours away.  We would drive an hour and they would drive an hour.  We'd meet halfway at the Dairy Queen, grab some burgers and a dilly bar and load up in Mamaw and Pop's car and head to their house.

When we got there, the Christmas spirit would begin!  My mamaw would have several small wrapped presents for us to open each day heading towards Christmas.  Now, they weren't wealthy by any means.  But she would find the simplest little things and wrap them up.  I remember we'd always get a tiny Hallmark calendar (that you'd get for free at the store), and some pens, and just little trinkets that we thought were just divine.  My love language is gifts so it was especially nice for me!

Then Pop would say, let's go get a tree!  🎄We'd go in his back woods and us girls would want the biggest tree.  Pop would say, "How about this one (kind of a small sgraggly thing that he could actually drag back to the house)."  We'd get excited and bring it in.  Mamaw would put it in a nice pot and put it up on a table.

When we'd get to decorating!  We didn't have store bought decorations.  So we'd pop corn and string cranberries, make paper chains, and cut pictures out of magazines! It was the most beautiful tree!!

Christmas morning we'd wake up before the sun was even thinking of coming up! We wanted to  go open our presents so bad!  After several, "Go back to bed girls-it's too early!!", they'd finally relent and let us get up!

                                        

Paper and boxes would be flying as we opened all kinds of goodies!  My pop would put on a roaring fire in the fireplace (no matter if it was 80 degrees!) to burn all the paper and boxes.  We would always lose our instructions to the new games or pieces to stuff because Pop was cleaning up and throwing stuff in the fire just as fast as we could open it!  (hmmm, wonder where I get that cleaning bug from!)

Meanwhile, Mamaw was in the kitchen making everything yummy!  Little mini pecan pies, ham, fresh veggies, those rolls! Yummmy!!  

We'd all enjoy a nice meal, and play with our new stuff and enjoy each other's company. 

Lots of laughter and good times.

The Holidays are here!!!

The Holidays are upon us already!!!  I haven't even thought about what to get everyone for Christmas or what to fix for Thanksgiving.  

Some of my most favorite memories from childhood are of the holidays.  

Thanksgiving was always at my grandparents house.  She would go overboard cooking and baking for days.  We'd pick the remaining stuff from the garden, start mixing, stirring, cooking and in a few days there would be a FEAST!  My grandma had this giant bar in her kitchen and we'd get it all cleaned off and just start piling the food on! So many yummy memories of her homemade cornbread dressing, gravy, turkey, sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes. And she'd make these tiny little individual pecan pies! My favorite!

If it was nice outside, we'd go eat out on the porch or if it was cold, we'd gather around the wood stove or fireplace.

Christmas was much the same.  Lots of family and food.  My mom was an only child and we were the only girls.  Seemed like we were the youngest in the crowd too.

Now, we are all grown up and everyone's gone pretty much.  It's sad, you don't really know how much time you have with someone.  

So many things I wish I would've learned from my grandma.  She was a quilter, gardner, painter, canner, beautician and so much more.  I was only 23 when I lost my grandparents.  They never got to know my kids.

Holidays are for family and friends and food. It's a time to put aside differences and enjoy each other's company.  Play games, take walks, sit by the fire.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Praying you all have a wonderful, thankful time and ENJOY!!

The year was 1989!

The year was 1989!

The Berlin Wall came down,  the USSR got its freedom, Tiananmen Square protests were happening.

But the biggest news of all was Larry met Valerie. 💓💓💓

We dated and got engaged in a  whirlwind.  Our first date was in April, we got engaged in August, and married in November!

Our first date!

Thirty years ago!  THIRTY!!

What a huge milestone in today's world of broken relationships.

It hasn't always been easy.  We've had a lot of ups and downs. Mostly ups- thankfully.

We've moved 15 times, lived in everything from a small house behind a  house to a 3500 square foot 5 bedroom house, and we even lived in a hotel for a few months!

Lived in 4 states.

Can't even count how many cars, jobs we've had. Or houses we've bought and sold.

We raised 3 kids, and now have 3 grandkids!

We've been to almost every state in the US and lots of places around the world.

I can't imagine my life without you.  You've pushed me to be more than I ever thought I could be.  Challenged my comfort zones. Helped me grow in the Lord.  Shown me how to love the downtrodden.  Helped me come out of my introvert shell. Helped me to chill and see the positive side of things.

Marriage is a crazy adventure.  We've grown.  Even flipped personalities at times.  It's the learning to give and take.  When to give, when to take.

Thirty years ago, I was a young, naive girl who had to read the directions on the washing machine in order to know how to wash the clothes!  My how things have changed.

We've learned from each other so many things.  And now we are learning the art of the empty nest.  And the fun times of grandparenthood!

Who knows what the next 30 years will hold, or where we will be.

But I'm glad I'm with you on this crazy adventure.

Love ya.

Toughest job out there

I've only had a few jobs in my lifetime.  Waitress, admin assistant, retail, and at a cookie store at the mall.  But by far the toughest job I've ever had- being a mom.

It's the job that never ends.

When they are little, you are on 24/7.  It's physically exhausting.  There's the sleep deprivation and a fog of diapers, poop and feeding.  That fog does eventually lift onto a rush of toddlerhood with all it's flurry of activity and learning and talking!  The talking!

We homeschooled, so there was so much laughter, learning, and endless conversations during the school years.

Learning to gradually let go and give them freedom as they get older, is probably the hardest thing of parenting.  Letting them fail, giving them the tools to be responsible, knowing when to step in and when to step back.  It's all very daunting.  But equally rewarding. 

Seeing your kids go from this teeny tiny little one that fits in one arm- to becoming parents themselves is completely awe-inspiring.

You'd think that now that they are all grown and have left the house and have families and careers all their own, that my mom job would be over.  And the physical part of it is. 

Now I'm navigating the road of seeing my kids becoming parents.  How much to say, to help, what not to say, when not to help.  How to encourage, how to support.  How to be the grandparent and not the parent.

It's a whole other level of greatness.

When you're a mom, you're a mom for life.  The job doesn't end.  There's no 8-5, no sick time, hardly any breaks,  even when you are on vacation-you are thinking about them.

A mom to adult kids is a weird stage of life.  It's rewarding, challenging, and sometimes very raw.  I still cry over them.  Still pray over them.  I love them.  And now my heart expands as they marry and have kids.  It keeps expanding..which is a blessing.

I trust God will guide and direct them.  I pray they will trust God to do that.  I pray the things we've taught them will help them.  I pray they will learn from our mistakes as parents.  I pray they will teach me how to love them and their kids.

It's a job that never ends.  And I love it.

A Life of Joy

A week ago, my mother in law went to be with Jesus.  She was 80 years old.  Mother "in law" is a strange term.  Yes, she was "in the law".  But it was deeper than that.

She was the hub of the family.  She was diligent about calling not only her kids and grand kids, but her extended family as well.  She would call cousins, friends she'd known for years, even some ex-family members.  She truly cared about people.  When she called, it wasn't about what was going on in her life.  It was about what was happening in yours.  Then she would likely call others in the family and make sure they knew what was happening in your life too!  HA!  It held people together.  It connected us all.

Three words that completely described her.

Joy, Prayer, and Thanks.

Her first response in almost every situation was Joy!  No matter the news you told her - whether good or bad- she could find the joy in it somehow. "We are moving to Pittsburgh Grandma!" she would respond "I'm so happy for you!"  "Grandma, I just lost my job"  Her response-Well, I'm glad we will have time to visit!".  Her life took many turns and twists and I'm not sure how she survived a lot of it--but she was always joyful. 

Prayer consumed her.  She would pray about everything.  Automatically.  First thing.  I have to admit, I got a little cozy knowing I had a powerful warrior standing before the Throne!  I will miss all her powerful interventions on my behalf, on my kid's behalf.  I need to step it up and get busy praying!

Thankfulness was her mantra.  She exuded "In Everything Give Thanks!"  She literally did.  Everything.  Whereas my initial thought is usually negative. Hers was always positive.  She was thankful.  She could find a reason to be thankful.   She could pray and give thanks regardless.  I have much work to do in this area.

She was one of the quirkiest people I've ever known.  She was downright odd to most.  But those three little words - JOY, PRAYER, THANKS- were her trademark.  It's who she was inside and out.

I have much to work on in these categories.  I will strife to be the grandma that she was to my kids.

Colossians 3:14-17 "But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

When it rains, it pours

My oh my! We are only 8 weeks into 2018 and already there's just been so much.  When it rains it pours, for sure. And it's literally been raining in the Dallas area for weeks now with no end in sight.

Maybe it's because I tend to be an Eeyore, but this year has just been a lot to handle thus far.
It started off with Larry and I both getting very sick.  It really put us under for almost a month!  In the midst of that my mom passed away.

Then I got a mysterious rash on my elbow that grew suddenly!  I had to go to urgent care for that one.

Oh, and there was a flat tire on the entrance ramp to the highway one morning on my way to work! Fun times for sure.

So then, Larry will probably have to have surgery on a torn muscle in his arm.  He hurt it last year and even through months of physical therapy and lots of tlc, it is still causing him a lot of pain.

And then we almost lost Larry's mom.  She was (and still is) pretty sick, was hospitalized and is now in need of getting some full time care.

We are navigating these new waters as we look at our options and see what's available.
Meanwhile, family members are all pitching in and helping take care of this Godly woman who has poured her life into so many people.
It's new territory.
It's a lot to take in.
Praying that the Lord will guide us with each new step.
And I pray that this year gets a lot lighter.
Maybe I should learn to dance in the rain.

2018 A New Year

Well it's 2018!  How is that even possible??  Time speeds up faster and faster as we get older.  That's gotta be some sort of scientific rule or something.

Anyway,  2017 has come and gone.  I usually do a year in review.  So just a quick recap:

It was a fabulous year!  

We got to go on a marvelous trip to the Baltics!  

My sweet daughter had my first granddaughter!  

My sweet son got married to a sweetie pie!
Got to see my handsome Marine son twice! He came home for Thanksgiving & Christmas!

We moved into our new condo on the canal!  It is beautiful!
We got to see the most amazing thing--the total Eclipse!! 

So many positives, so much good that happened.

Then the calendar turns and it seems like everything changes so quickly.  The new year started off with a bunch of yuck.  Larry and I both got sick.  We are actually still battling it 2 weeks later!  Then my mom passed away.  It's bittersweet really as we had a rocky relationship-especially the last 10 years. Trying to just come to grips with my feelings in all of this.  In a way it's a sense of relief.  We don't have to be at odds anymore.  I'm sad for my sister because they were very close.  I'm happy that I feel like I can see my dad more.  A lot of mixed feelings.  Still trying to sort through them.

My daughter came up for the funeral and wrote me the most heartfelt note.  She described perfectly the things I was feeling.  She has such a sweet spirit.  In my contemplation of mother-daughter relationships, I am thankful for my relationship with my daughter.  I have made a conscious effort to do things differently than my mom did with me.  We have had our ups and downs for sure over the years but I think we are on the upswing now.  I still have to work on old habits and old ways.  I have to make an effort to not fall into the ways I learned from my mom.

She wasn't a bad person.  She was kind to most.  But somehow we always seemed to butt heads.  We had our differences and couldn't ever seem to reconcile them.  I got to see her in the hospital and I am grateful for that.

So as we start this new year with all kinds of changes, I pray our relationships grow deeper, our relationship with the Lord grows deeper too, and we continue to grow and change in whatever ways we need to (it's never too late to change!) and that we would be humble enough to know and accept how we need to change.

 Have a wonderful 2018!

27 Years!!

It's our 27 year anniversary on Friday!  Here's a little tribute to being married to this guy!

27 things I love about being married to Larry:

1. My life is a constant adventure.
2. I have grown out of my comfortable box in many ways.
3. I get to laugh and laugh and laugh.
4. He gets my puns.
5. He melts when I put on perfume.
6. He cooks me the most amazing gourmet meals from leftovers.
7. I've learned what really matters.
8. He tempers my temper.
9. I've learned about the stars and the moon rise/set.
10. I get to really know the words to those Journey songs.
11. He plays Word feud with me.
12. He can usually cheer me up from a bad mood.
13. He will take on my hobbies as his and enjoy them! Hooping!
14. He loves to go with me geocaching in cemeteries.
15. I never need to worry what I'm going to do on the weekends.
16. He's taught me to march to the beat of a different drum.
17. He shows me the importance of evangelism.
18. He's my biggest cheerleader.
19. He fully trusts me.
20. I know what 100% commitment is like.
21. He gets on board with my crazy ideas when I get them!
22. He doesn't mind me shopping on Amazon every day 😊
23. He's my fun multiplier.
24. I get a best friend.
25. He rounds out my rough edges.
26. He's the Tigger to my Eeyore-ness.
27. He challenges me to grow closer to the Lord.

Thank you for the last 27 years Larry!  It's been great (and sometimes not!) but that is life! I pray we have many more to come! Love ya! 💗💗

Grandma Status!

So the big news of the year.... I'm going to be a grandma!!! A friend told me don't say "I'm going to be" because I already am! Yes, that is true! There's a new life growing right at this moment.

I can't believe my daughter and her hubby are going to have their own little sweetie pie.  It's a surreal feeling.  Your kids having their own kids.  I'm really happy and excited for them!

I just want to spill out everything I think and know and have learned.  But that wouldn't really be helpful.  They will learn and grow into their own.  I'm sure they will do things differently than we did.  (Thankfully!) I'm sure I'll disagree with things and wish things were done differently.  But they will probably do some things similar too.  Either way, I need to be OK with it.

I'm looking forward to this new role.  I'm excited to be a grandma!  I'm wondering how do I be an influence, show love, and be involved without being "the mom".  I guess it's probably a lot like I'm doing now with my adult children.  I stay involved, text, send presents, ask questions, show them I'm there if they need anything, keep the lines of communication open.

It's an exciting new chapter!

Grandkids!

I really feel too young for this to be happening!

But I'm just thrilled to see my kids raising their own kids.

Doing the happy dance!!

Any advice for this new grandma?  Comment below!

Take a Look, it's in a book!

I absolutely love to read.

When I'm in the reading groove, I can read about a book a week.  I love how reading transports you to new places.  I love getting all wrapped up in a story.  I love cuddling up under the covers and losing myself in a good book.

I have always wanted to share my love of reading with my kids.  When they were little, I would read to them all the time.  We would listen to audio books and audio stories together.  We went to the library once a week and came home with stacks and stacks of books.  I made sure my kids always saw me reading too.  My love for reading is something I really wanted to pass on to my kids.

For a while, it didn't seem like they valued reading as much as I did.  Technology, computers, and Xbox all vied for their attention.  And as they grew, books got pushed to the side.

Well, the other day, my grown son came over and we were having a conversation.  He was telling me about this new book he was reading!  He was all excited about it! He got me wanting to read it too!  He was telling me how hard it was at first for him to get into reading.  So he started listening to audio books.  The more he listened to the easier it was for him to pick up a book to read.  My heart soared!  He's caught it!  The reading bug!

My daughter also reads.  She's a researcher.  She is a sponge for information and I love it!

Now my grown kids are growing and sharing the info they've read with me!

Now my hubby is not a reader.  So to remedy that situation - I've always read books to him!  One of our favorite things is to go to the park, pull out the sleeping bags, pick a quiet corner and read. It's a great bonding time.  And he also gets to experience the power of a book.

Books can be powerful. Reading transforms us, stretches us, makes us think, enlarges our vocabulary,

Reading does that.  It is a door to other places, other times,  other worlds.

If you're not a reader, I highly encourage you to try.  Start with audio books!  If your kids are young, try Adventures in Odyssey!  Focus on the Family radio theatre is also wonderful for the classics!

So, have fun reading to your kids!  and pick up a book yourself!  Summer time's a great time to start!

Free and super cheap date night ideas!

Going on dates with your spouse is so important!  We can get caught up in the daily monotony of life. Day in and day out the same things.  Especially when the kids are little, it's easy to slip into "crisis" mode and completely forget who you are married to!

I highly encourage you to make your marriage a priority!  Marriage is a constant act of work.  It takes a lot of effort to maintain closeness.  You must be intentional in your efforts to connect with each other.

That's why we have always tried to fit in date nights!  Even when all our kids were little we would trade babysitting with another couple so that we could have some alone time together.

Date nights don't have to cost a lot of money either!  In fact, a lot of the times it can be free!

Just a few ideas for date nights (We've done all these!!)

Go for a walk

Play a board game together

Read a book out loud to each other

Go to the book store and look through books together

Geocaching!

Take a Sunday drive though country roads

Make up a scavenger hunt and have your spouse look for stuff!

Go to a coffee shop and people watch

Work a puzzle together

Find out the free days at your local museum

Have a picnic at the park

Turn up the music and have a dance party in the living room

Memorize Scripture together

Plan a trip somewhere

Find out when the moon rise will be and pick a place to go see it

Lay out sleeping bags in an open field and watch for shooting stars
Go fly kites in the park

Go share one dessert and coffee at a fancy restaurant

These are just a few of the things we've done for dates.  I'm so glad we have cultivated our love toward each other over these last 26 years!  Especially as our kids were young.  Not only did it show our kids how to build a marriage but it's also helped us not to be strangers now as we have an empty nest!

What date nights have you all enjoyed? Would love to hear new ideas!

Year in review 2015

So another year has come and gone.  Time just keeps speeding up faster and faster as I get older.  I'm not sure how that works but so it does.

A few highlights from the year in no particular order.

Trips galore this past year!

Larry and I went to Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Colorado, San Diego, several trips to Austin & a cruise to the Western Caribbean!  Larry went to Virginia with one son  and and Zion National Park with the other son!

We moved apartments (again!)  Downsized a bit more but got a larger living room--became true empty nesters!

Youngest son joined the Marines!

I've been working on memorizing the book of Phillipians.  I'm midway through chapter 2 now.

We got electric bicycles that are so much fun! Larry also got a new (to us) truck! Finally!

Lots of 

book reading 

game playing

geocaching

hula hooping 

walking

bike riding

domino playing

Bible memorizing

laughing

Enjoying our grown kids

Life is good.  It's been a good year for us and we thank the Lord for all His many blessings.  

Praying you all have a wonderful 2016!

Summer Goings On

So summer is over..fall is just around the corner, which is hard to believe since it's in the 90s still!

So what have we done all summer? Here's some of what we've be up to .. in no particular order....

Took a weekend vacation to Phoenix on a whim!  So much fun with my hubby!

Went to Denver and Pittsburgh (on 2 separate trips)  to see some life long friends.

Larry got to take some one on one time with each son.  One in Utah, exploring Zion National Park and the surrounding lands of amazingness!  And the other in Virginia, where he got to spend a weekend with our son who took some leave time off base!

On the not-so-fun-note but extremely-interesting note, I got to serve on a jury for a week.  Very interesting how our justice system works.  I'm not saying I agree, but very interesting.  Learned alot about the world that I really didn't care to know.  Maybe another blog post later...

Larry and I got electric bikes that we are loving (when it's not too hot outside!)

I'm getting back to eating a high fat, low carb diet and working really hard on meeting my step goal each day! Losing weight and getting back in shape!

Finished memorized Philippians 1.  Working on Chapter 2. It's quite the brain building feat..but it's good not only for mind but for my soul.

Larry and I are enjoying our little empty nest and our new and growing relationship with our grown kids.

We got to take a wonderful trip to San Diego to attend our son's graduation from Marine Bootcamp!  So happy for him!

We are about to take a cruise out of Puerto Rico!  So excited to spend time with friends and enjoy some relaxation in the sun!

I guess you can say it's like this:  traveling, enjoying, visiting,  memorizing, cruising, growing, walking, graduating, loving!