A Letter to My Children

I wrote this several months before my daughter gave birth to my granddaughter Arileise on May 2, 2012. I ran across it today and thought I would share.


A Letter to My Children,

My oldest Daughter Brittany and her husband Richard are having a baby due April 19th. We went to the ultrasound last Thursday and it was amazing to see. My youngest is 15 it has been many years since I have see one and the technology advancement makes everything more clear. We could see the baby yarning, hiccupping, putting her hand by her mouth, along with the fact that yes IT IS A GIRL.

I have to say that I am very excited to have a baby come into my life since this will be my first grandchild I am really nerves’. Not only for my child my first baby having a baby but being a grandparent is a big responsibility. I want to be a good grandparent and I am sure I will be but that doesn’t stop the worry. My children have not had active grandparents in their lives; they have had occasional visits over the years but not much of a relationship. I don’t want that for my grandchildren just as I never wanted that for my children with their grandparents but that wasn’t my choice.

I am taking this responsibility seriously and will make time to spend with my children and their families. I want to be there for them when they call to say the baby is crying and I don’t know what else to do. Or the kids are making messes all over the house and they can’t keep up with them. I want to be there in the happy time and the stressful times. To be honest I want to continue to be the mother my children need in their lives as their lives move forward into adulthood. I want to offer my support and encourage them and to lend a hand when needed. I hope to carry on some of our traditions that we have done over the years as a family to include the new people that will be added to our live as my children marry and bring children into the world. I know at time we will have troubles making our lives fit together but it is worth the effort with lots of grace and forgiveness we can travel this road into the next season.

Love Yours Always,
Mom

My granddaughter and I

Holding my granddaughter for the first time when she was only minutes old and yes I look bad because I was crying.

When I held her that day so many emotions all at once flooded my heart. The day that I had my daughter and our lives together and now the future in my granddaughter face. I immediately felt a since of protection, love, and pride just as I did when I birthed and held each of my 4 babies.

Arileise and I at 2 1/2 months old.

Banana Blueberry Bread

1 1/4 cups sugar 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium)
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen (thawed and drained) blueberries

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of one 9x5-inch or two 8x4-inch loaf pans with shortening.

In large bowl, stir sugar, butter, eggs, bananas and buttermilk until mixed. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened. Stir in blueberries. Pour into pan.

Bake 9-inch pan about 1 hour 15 minutes, 8-inch pans 55 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Loosen sides of loaf from pan; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

I want to LIVE LIKE THAT

I can’t even name all the service projects my family has done together through the years but if I have failed to teach my children to love and serve each other I have failed with MY LIFE’S WORK. If you can walk up to a stranger with respect, grace and love not knowing their sins and spend a day showing Christ’s love can you not do the same for those YOU LOVE? It’s hard I know this sinful world causes hurt but I want to live my life sold out for Christ and that means I chose forgiveness and love. I will give all I have cause I want to LIVE LIKE THAT.

I love the lyrics to "Live Like That" – by Sidewalk Prophets

Was I love
When no one else would show up
Was I Jesus to the least of those
Was my worship more than just a song

Am I proof
That You are who you say You are
That grace can really change a heart
Do I live like Your love is true

Salsa for a Year

15 lbs. roma tomatoes, cored, peeled and chopped
2-1/4 lbs. jalapeños, chopped
3 lbs. onions, chopped
2 c. cider vinegar
3 T. plus 1 t. canning salt
25 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2 c. sweet paprika
15 1-pint canning jars and lids, sterilized


Combine all ingredients in a 5-gallon stockpot. Stir well. Heat to a boil, stirring often; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Spoon salsa into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe rims; secure lids and rings. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Set jars on a towel to cool for 24 hours; check for seals. Makes 15 jars.

Gooseberry Patch Mom's Favorite Recipes

My Granddaughter

My daughter Britttany dresses my granddaughter Arileise in dresses most days. When I visit it is fun to pick what dress she wears for the day. We get lots of pictures text to us and these two are within the last 2 week. Arileise is 9 weeks old today.

"Pinkies up! We must be proper".

I think she is waving at me saying: "Thank you for the cute hat Nana".

Do you think she might like to have a Tea Party at Nana's some day?

Barn and Shed Painted

My husband and I worked on painting the Barn and Shed this May and I am finally posting about it. This was a project we had wanted to do for several years and never got around to it. It started last May when we scraped the old paint and done some painting until we ran out of paint and didn't finish it. This year we decided to tackle this job until it was done and with so much time passing we had to start over.  The project took us about 2 weeks to complete. The before pictures are old but they were the best I could find.

The Before:


The Shed picture is from 2009 I am not sure why it says 2006 on the photo.

The Barn picture was taken in 2010 its not very good but its the best I could find.

During:

This is my Honey painting the shed.

After:

I wanted to take down the wreath on the front and remove the old flowers and nest but I had to put it back up because it had eggs in the nest but in the fall I will remove it.

On the right side I took down some of the old decorations added a few new ones. I think I spent about $3.00 at the thrift store for both.

The front of the Barn. The left and back of the barn is metal so no paint needed there.

 

But the right side got a new coat of paint.

We need to get some metal paint to do the basketball hoop soon. This was not a professional job but a DIY but we love the new updated look. We got the paint for free so this was a no cost project. It was very hot out when we did this so we were sweating and had to take several breaks but it was worth it. I enjoyed the time with My Honey.