THANKSGIVING: done!

Set the table and was ready for the food...then, forgot to get a pic with all the food.  Dangit! 

Turkey, dressing, giblet, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, steeped apples and cranberries all followed by black forest cake...yummm to the OH!

But, the best part was getting to share it with my mother  (Nana is her real name now, you know) and Pops...they drove in from Alabama and enjoyed talking, eating, and watching some football, of course. 

Soon they were off because they were going to the hospital to sit with my aunt until she has hip replacement surgery on Friday.  Aunt Jackie, I'm sending up many prayers for your doctors, nurses, you, and your healing.  God bless you during this valley that I pray becomes a mountain top.  Amen

Jer. 33:3 "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

Blessings,



WEDNESDAY HODGEPODGE

JOINING JOYCE @ FROM THIS SIDE OF THE POND...

1. The most amazing weather you've ever seen: Being from Atlanta, snow is a BIG deal to us.  In 1993, when my daughter was a year old, we had a blizzard...I had 3-foot drifts in our yard.  Things closed for days while we learned how to maneuver through it...I know there are many who get multiple feet a year but for us, this was scary and fun all at the same time.

2. A sound or noise you love:  Babies giggling always tickle me

3. Your favorite seafood dish:  Fried soft-shell crab...and escargot cooked in wine and rosemary

4. The part of your day requiring the most patience:  I don't have a lot of issues with this...I get impatient waiting for my flash drive to start back up on my computer sometimes...I'm in need of an overhaul.

5. Your favorite shade of blue:  teal blue, reminds me of the Caribbean (and it looks the best on me ;)

6. People underestimate you when: I talk about how BAD my hot flashes really are...I grow soooo tired of them.  I surely wish the medical community had a better handle on this for women who suffer daily, hourly, minute-by-minute, second-by-second.

7. The last butterflies in your stomach:  Leaving baby girl at college the first day...knowing she'd be all on her own and not under my roof...moths, butterflies, buzzards, I had 'em all!

8. Insert your own random thought here:  Eight is a much more reasonable number for Hodge Podge...even four would be fine.  Sometimes when memes are soooo large, they are too cumbersome to ponder over with your answers...(guess that could have been my answer to the patience question, hahaha)


JOIN US FOR HODGE PODGE, IT'S FUN!

"Call to me and I will answer you

and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."
Blessings,

MAMA LLAMA? No, BETTY MAMA ! ;)

One of my daughter’s favorite books at night for bed for me to read to her was “IS YOUR MAMA A LLAMA?”.  It points to all the different little animals and the differences in their mommies.

Differences are many when you talk about what and how mothers raise their children.  Mothers always wear so many hats while they’re learning to be a “Mom.” 

My mother loved to wear hats…figuratively and literally.  Pill boxes were the first type hat I remember seeing my Mother wear…it was black and had a small black netting that draped across the front of her forehead.  She wore it to church with her pretty, black Audrey-Hepburn-looking suit, along with her gloves, pumps and nylons (yea, the real kind with the garter belt). 

As my sister and I grew her hats shifted daily as she wore a chauffeur’s cap, a maid’s crown, a chef’s hat, a seamstress bandana, a teacher’s ruler in her pocket, a gardener’s apron, a room mother’s tag, many cheerleader’s pompoms, many band-aid sun visors and her healing nurse’s cap.  All these services she provided to us, my Daddy, my classmates, our neighbors, a volume of church family, our grandparents and anyone else she came in contact with in our community.  She has always been a server, never complaining about how much to help…she just jumped right in where ever she saw a need.

Her hat rack remains full even to this day even at the age of  79…after we’ve grown up, my father passed along with all the grandparents…she’s still giving where she sees need in her church and community.  She cooks more throughout the week than I do, plays piano for their choir and church services, hand sews quilts for family members, feeds anyone helping on their farm, decorates the house with a Christmas tree in every room and still cuts the grass while tending the flowers.

I hope my hat rack is still full when I get to be her    age…TODAY’s her birthday and I just wanted to share her with you, too.  Happy Birthday, Mother

THEY BEAR OUR COLORS...

ENCHANTED LEARNING THUMBNAILS FOR COLORING

THANK YOU, USA VETERANS!

Jer. 33:3 "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

Blessings,

MissMolly and Me

Jewelry sometimes brings me peace...the ability of someone to pull together colors and materials with their God-given talent and melding it all into a wearable piece of art.  Yes, Miss Molly captured my eye with her piece of peace...Imagining late summer in Europe overlooking the countryside:  seeing lavender...sunflowers...vines.   mmmmmmm, sounds wonderful, doesn't it?   God's beauty captured in a new way in this beautiful necklace, bracelet and earring set by MissMollyDesigns.

Antiqued copper,, three olivine glass briolettes, hand-enameled cone-shaped bead caps, and lavender, topaz and olive Czech crystal beads...they all sound majestic yet comforting to me.  Luckily I captured it before anyone else and will be waiting for it to arrive so it can be wrapped and placed under the soon-to-be Christmas tree.  

aaaaaahhhhhh, this is helping me get in the Spirit, for sure.  If you'd like to do some early shopping, I highly recommend you go take in Miss Molly's talent.

2010 GIVING THANKS CHALLENGE...

FOLLOWING A SIMPLE MEME (SOUTH BREEZE FARM) FOR NOVEMBER...

we'll be using a running sidebar list, all through the month...going a little deeper OR explaining more on certain things, sometimes writing a post  to accompany my subject. 

For sure, this will be a good method lessening pressure yet leaving the door ajar for dispensation when wanting to share more.

November 1:  Visiting family

Our nephew enhanced our weekend for a couple of days, while DD was home from college, and we all enjoyed dinner at Oyster Bay Seafood one night.  (Their blackened grouper with mango salsa was luscious yet punchy!)  
He shared insight about his past year of deployment and she touched on the first semester of college...each had funny remembrances involving their close friends...yet his was peppered with heart-wrenching realities endured by all his comrades serving their country.
  

We enjoyed lots of conversation over an egg breakfast casserole the next morning with our coffee and juice.  I personally was in a very happy place...words cannot express the emotions while talking to a grown man now in uniform that years ago completed his Eagle Scout mission, played bass drum in the high school band...he and his twin brother were only 6 years old in matching blue blazers at our wedding.  My, how time flies!  


Flashes of her bright, pink-striped hair from underneath the nape of her neck caught my attention while reminding me that she had helped CATCH SOME AWARENESS for breast cancer's cure by going with friends to the salon to 'contribute' together.  Their youthful enthusiasm is contagious and I love their wanting to participate in such a fun way.
How thankful was this mother's heart for the two young people of hope sitting across the table from me that night?    EXTREMELY, there ARE many moral, loving, courageous young men and women building their own legacies.  Thank you, Lord, for giving us that precious time together.

Jer. 33:3

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." 

Blessings,