Goodbye November!

Goodbye November. You have been the best that I have seen in a couple of years. I will no longer remember you as a month of loss, but a month of remembering the good times that I had with those that have gone on to Heaven. I will see them again!

I did realize that I did not talk about my friend Miranda. She was the second person of the 3 that went on to Heaven 3 years ago. She was a friend from Church that also had a tough fight with Cancer - hers was Leukemia. I will always remember Miranda's smile, she smiled through her whole fight, even when she was in pain. She also loved kids, my kids. Ellyn started to walk just after she moved on, all I could do was think, if only she was here to see it. Then it clicked, she was seeing it from the best seat in the house! She is deeply missed and loved still to this day. I am honored to be able to call her my friend, Miranda- you are missed!

So, tomorrow starts a new month, full of celebrations! Bring it on!

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving!  My birthday is only 9 days away! Christmas is just over a month away! Wow the year is almost over!

This November was a good one. Nothing big happened. Wait! Yes something big happened, I had two new little people join my child care family. They are very cute too! One 5 year old girl and her brother who turns 3 in February. I am just glad that all the kids seem to get along, although Ellyn gets just a little irritable towards the end of the week.

I did not have such a hard time getting through November, like I thought that I might. I think that it helped that I was so busy with all the new stuff going on around here. I am thankful that it was busy, but I am looking forward to the little break we are taking at the end of December.

I have so much to be thankful for. I have a husband that takes care of us, I have 3 daughters that are always a challenge, I have friends that always keep me on my toes (you know who you are), I have family that love each other, I have a God who continues to bless us and those around us.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!

God and....

Tomatoes!!!!

Today, I finally got to the market to get my tomatoes to freeze, $8.00 for an office paper box full of tomatoes!

I am sure that you are wondering what God has to do with tomatoes, other than creating them when he created the Earth. Well, the tomatoes in this box are ones that are not really very pretty, honestly. But, to buy them to cook with is wonderful!

While I was preparing my bought bounty for the freezer, God was talking to me. I don't talk too much about God in my blogs, but today he was urging me too. He was telling me how imperfect, but perfect I am, like the tomatoes I was cleaning up for the freezer.  Now, some of these tomatoes were bruised just a little and some a lot; others were blotchy with the start of rot and mold. The neat thing was that once you cut off the yuck, the insides were almost perfect.

Imperfect Outside

Here is the message I got from this. On the outside we may be imperfect in some way (only really by our own standards), or bruised. But, on the inside we are ALL perfect because he made us! What a wonderful God that we have that created us and tomatoes!

Perfect Inside

Rebekah's Song

Rebakah came home with this song that she wrote today.

Poor Grandpa Jack

Poor Grandpa Jack you died for us, for freedom, you love me and God forever, forever you would love me and God so I love you and God forever, forever you will do it forever, forever you will do it.

I corrected the spelling and added a few punctuation marks. I thought that it was nice of her to write a song about her Great Grandpa, he was in the Army and served his country.

Thank you to all the Veterans that have protected, protect and will protect us in the future!

Snow and Kids

This morning with the first snow, Virginia was in her boots and snow pants before we even ate breakfast! She is such an eager girl when it comes to doing what she wants to do! So, after breakfast, we got all bundled up and went out to play!

Olivia and her Snowman creation.

 SNOW!!! "WOW, WOW!!"

 Everyone in the creating stages!

 Not sure if this is Olivia or Rebekah's.

 Making a snow angel.

 Virginia's finished snow angel.

 Virginia made a Snow Cone!

 Olivia with snow balls!

Virginia loves to make snowmen, on a small scale!

First Snow

Since I was little I always wished for the first real snow to come on my birthday, December 3rd, well not this year!! We got our first snow last night! So, before I even changed out of my Pj's this morning I was out with my camera to get some fresh snow shots.

Aunt Mary Bennett

So, tonight while I was driving home in the snow I was thinking about what to write about my Aunt Mary.
Aunt Mary was a wife, a mom, a grandma, a sister, an aunt, a nurse and many other things to many people I am sure.
I can remember trips to LaPorte for Easter. What I remember most is dessert from these gatherings. There was always a Lamb Cake. It was one of those cakes with the "funny" frosting. I am a butter cream kind of gal, and this was not butter cream. I think that it was some sort of meringue. But it sure was cute!
When she would come to our house to celebrate a holiday she would chase one of our dogs around the house. My parents house is kind of a circle. You can start in the kitchen, go through the front hallway to the dining room, to the sitting room and back into the kitchen. This was fun to watch, I am pretty sure that it was Bogart that she did this with.
I know that there are more memories that I have of her, but these are the ones that stick out the most in my memory.
Aunt Mary was married to my Uncle Jack (my Dad's brother). They retired and started traveling. I know that they made their way to Alaska- they drove it! They were campers, and had a 5th wheel.
Aunt Mary was a fighter. She was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. She fought with everything that she had. I know this about her, and I know that she fought to the end!
Aunt Mary, I love you and miss you!

Out there.

I have a blog title out on my drafts that I have yet to write anything on. It will be about my Aunt Mary Bennett who we also lost 2 years ago this month. Sometimes it just seems hard to write about someone that you loved and miss.

I would love it if you read this and know my Aunt and have some memories that I can include in my blog about her it would be great!

Grandpa Jack

This is something that I wrote the day I found out that my Grandpa Jack had passed away. Later that week I also read it at his funeral.

What an amazing person to have as a Grandfather! He got to travel the world at least 3 times over and saw places that i will more than likely never see. He was a caring Husband, Father, Grandpa and Great Grandpa. He loved to see us grow and loved to be the life of a party. He loved to dance- this is one thing that I will always remember about him, because I always thought that it was fun to watch him- he even danced with out the music. Of course music was always around him the form of his grand children.
He loved to garden...tomatoes were his favorite- this seems to run in the family! We would go to visit and there would be tomatoes on the counter from his garden. One thing that you need to know is that his last garden was on the bank of the channel by his condo...we started calling him a Mountain Goat...that is what you had to be to get on that bank- it was steep...I wouldn't want to go down it. I do have to say that he did fall one time...and one time only!
He loved his boat! Water was one thing that I realized that he always had to be near. When we were little he had a rather large boat up at the docks in New Buffalo. And then he downsized to a smaller one that we went up and had fun in. One year we even got stuck on the beach...my Mom gt stuck in the sand trying to push us out! He then moved into a condo on the St Joseph river, and had a boat there too. I did get to drive that boat...I even got it stuck on a sand bar! Grandpa was not happy with that...but what is a girl to do? I thank him for teaching me to drive a boat!
There are so many memories that I have. And I will have to write about them more later.
One thing that I do know is that he was a Man of God. One thing that surprised me the most in my life is that even though I did not become a full Catholic he was proud of me anyway, because I was following God in a walk that takes us all to Heaven no matter what religion you practiced. That is one gift that I will always take with me, I know that he was proud of me and all of his Family. He has a legacy that will go on and on and on- for many, many, many years to come.
Grandpa always said the same prayer at dinner when we ate together....at the end he would thank God for His Blessings (of which he had many) but the number of "many"s would vary, sometimes there were two and sometimes there were many, many, many more. Grandpa you gave us many, many, many blessings in our lives. THANK YOU!

 

Hello November

Hello November,

It is nice to see you, although I am not quite ready for you yet. You have so much to offer, Thanksgiving, and remembering those that I love. I am sorry that I gave you a bad rap for the last couple of years. This year I am going to try to see you a little differently. It is not your fault that a few of the people that left us left in your time, and I should not hold you accountable for that.

This year you are going to be great! You are bringing with you new children to watch, and I thank you.

I am thankful that you are bringing cooler weather, although you can try to get December to keep it's snow to itself, we are not quite ready for that. You have started to take away all the brilliant colors of October and place them on the ground for us to clean up. I don't mind, I like to hear the crunch of the dry leaves beneath my feet. You also will bring my Christmas Cactus back to bloom! This always makes me smile, as it helps me to remember Grandpa.

Welcome November, once again.