Sing and Rejoice!

Sing and rejoice. A Child is born!

Last year, we had a very, very white Christmas.  This year.....brown.  It really does not matter.  Our family is together, we are healthy and well, we have food on the table, cars to drive, a good job, beautiful children and grandchildren.....and Jesus was born JUST FOR ME!!!  Wishing all of you the most wonderful Christmas and blessings in the new year!

Life in Vivid Color

 I found a wonderful visual picture of what my brain is doing-----somewhat looks like exploding in vivid color!!!

I want to paint on leaves......

 I want to spend time and enjoy my grandbabies!

 

I really want to stop and smell the flowers.

 I want to make this....oh, wait!! I did!

 I also made this "pear" book!!!!

 I want to make pictures out of tiny pictures!

 I want to paint on stones!

 I want to paint on old book pages!

 I want to make these keychains!

 I want to make a book like this!

 

I want to make a bowl like this-I tried but my fingers got tired!

  

I want to take pictures of everything.  I want to enjoy my daughter's senior year and hold on to each memory of her at home.  I want to scrapbook.  I want to exercise.  I want to do things for others.  I want to sing in the choir and sing in a musical.  I want to do a good job of teaching.  I want all the students to behave.  I want to be on time.  I want to give.  I want to help.  

I want to........the list never stops!

 

I really, really want to get my life organized, but as soon as I begin, I get distracted by all the color and the creation and stuff! I begin the day with a list, but sometimes the list gets longer as the day progresses....is that how it is supposed to go?  Other days, I simply lose my list in my piles!  

I guess I really just want to accept this, and I want others to read my sign and realize....

"I'm not messy, I'm creative"!

 I want more than anything to enjoy the Christmas season and remember the reason for it.  I was able to play Mary in a skit and it was wonderful!  What a joy!

At this busy time of year, I need to remember, "I can not do everything, but I can do something"!
Take it one day at a time, do what you can do and remember~The REASON FOR THE SEASON!  Amazing!!!

Happy Birthday Mom

As I was driving to school today, I heard it... THE song!! It was played as hundreds of friends, neighbors and family members stood in honor of our little bitty mama. She was tiny, but she held so much of the world in her hands. She was always there for me. She always loved me. She always supported me. She always lifted me up. "I Can Only Imagine" fills my car as images of that day surround me, well up inside me. All of these people standing in honor of one little lady who carried so much weight on her shoulders. 9 children at 30 years of age, without the support of her parents, without much money or food or supplies or time....but, oh, the love!!! It was her final celebration, our time to say not "goodbye", but "see you later", and we said it with words and songs and remembrances and honor.

Today would mark her birthday. I have been thinking "Happy Birthday Mom" all day. I have been telling my students about her. I have been remembering her. I have been honoring her. I have been wondering if birthdays are marked or remembered or celebrated in heaven. She had her 73rd birthday with us here. She was born in 1931, so today, she would have been 80. Today, we honor and celebrate her. There have been days I did not believe I could go on without her. There have been days I did not know how to trudge through this life without her love and her support, but here I am, still trudging, and now I am able to say, yes, I wish she were here, but how fortunate we were to have her as our mom and to have her for as long as we did. Cancer is so unfair. It takes the good ones. It takes the healthy ones. It takes the loved ones. It takes the needed ones.

Pastor Don had a message just for ME on Sunday. He talked about reading through his Dad's bible and his Mom's bible and reading the notes they left in the margins. He wondered if his Dad and his Mom knew that someday, their children would read these words and KNOW that they are true. After all, if his Dad and his Mom said it, it HAS to be true. He likened that to the words written in the Bible itself. If those words were written by our heavenly father....and we know that to be true, after all, if our heavenly father said it, it HAS to be true!

Our parents leave so much behind with their words and their actions, and they live on forever with us on this earth. I find snippets of information and words and things from my parents and I hold on to each of them. I have scrapbooked just about everything I can get my hands on. I believe it is my way of holding on to them....of keeping them close.

Today, parents, love your children, teach them, tell them things, keep them close. One day, they will call upon these words and these memories to keep you close forever!

Giving thanks for a wonderful mother and the promise of her eternal home in Glory. Psalm 16:9–11~ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence,with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Celebrating mama today. "I Can Only Imagine" what you are experiencing today! Save a place for me! Thank you for your words, your teaching, your love and your life. I love you forever!

Happy Birthday Ninja Boys

I am not quite sure exactly what a Ninja is, but my grandsons sure were cute in their Halloween costumes.  I spent quite a few hours in class this weekend, trying to learn a few things about Photoshop.  Saturday happened to be the boys' birthday, and I was in class so, naturally, my subject matter was them!!  I was able to crop out the tractor and the field and "place them" in a more Ninja like setting.   I had a great deal of fun in the process and I love the results.  The boys and their little sister Braylyn were overnight guests at Grandma's house Saturday night, and we had a wonderful time celebrating their lives!  I am so blessed to have them so near and to have them such an amazing part of my life! Amazing!!!

I

In Love with a Boy

Giving thanks and choosing joy is quite easy when everything goes exactly as planned.

Baby boy Childress was prayed for and planned for and due on October 8.

Bentley David Childress was born exactly on October 8!



His mama was so tiny, it was hard to imagine a full size baby could be hiding in there, but he was born, all 6 lbs. 15 oz. of him and he is perfect!

Giving thanks for our 4th grandchild.

Thank you Tyler and Christi for giving him the gift of life and for giving him for me to love!

You know I do love my grandbabies!

Bentley spent most of his first day here "praying"!



LOVE YOU FOREVER! Gramma Carol