Texas is Burning

Since March I've been missing in action.  I've been on 2 - 2 week stints on fire assignment in W. Texas  tracking cost.  It has been unbelieveable the amount fires Texas is having.  All over the state.  Many many homes have been destroyed, families have had to evacuate, cattle has been destroyed or lost.  The wind behavior has been so unpredictable.  We've had several firefighters injured and one lost his life due to getting hit by a vehicle due to lack of visibility due to smoke on the highway.  Thankfully so far no civilians have lost their life.  This is really really serious stuff this year.  I know friends personally that lost their home in Ft. Davis, their door steps actually burned, they were out of town and the only thing they have left was what they had on and what was in an overnight bag.

Texas has had a long dry spell it seems and the humidity is very low and the winds haven't helped.  Most counties have a burn ban now.  Please do what you can to prevent fires!  We do have the low life arsonists that poke their heads up when they want to.   We have alot of out of state resources that have come to help our state and we will be forever grateful.  Please pray for these firefighters and their families.  They are spending more time on fires than with families and their life is on the line.  Usually it's West Texas that has the big fire season but now it's East and West.

Better Decisions

Daily Keys to Making Better Decisions

Live out your faith daily
Be a friend of God
Do something good for your health
Embrace a good positive attitude every morning
Do something positive concerning your relationships
Do something for your Personal Growth & Developing good character
Make good efforts to save money and be generous

Missing in Action!

I have not blogged in awhile.  Things got busy around then I was gone almost 2 weeks on fire assignment.  Then I got some unexpected bad news, my oldest sister had passed away.  She lived in AR but was buried in my home town yesterday..  Her husband and daughter, son in law and 2 kids have been with us for several days, going home today.  I was born the first day of my sisters senior year.  There were six of us kids, 5 girls and 1 boy, I am the youngest.  We lost our brother 3 yrs ago to pancreatic cancer.  I do not like this part of my life.  My family circle is getting smaller and I do not like it.  Bonnie was buried yesterday, the same day that 21 yrs ago my mother passed away.  Bonnie was so much fun and sooo bossy, I say that lovingly and jokingly, she knew it!  All the neices and nephews called her "Weezer" from Steal Magnolia so now you can imagine her personality.  Nothing was more important to her than her family.  They were her priority, including her sisters.  I'm so sad and it hurts.  I am thankful I have 3 sisters left and our times together are really precious.

No fun being sick!

I've been pretty sick with bronchitus.  Both of my grandaughters have been sick with stomach virus and Riley had a trip to the ER with strep throat.  I've seen them once in a week.  After 2 trips to the Dr. I am beginning to feel better,  not well, but better.  The doctors office was full of sick people and I mean people that looked very very sick!  Made me wonder what they thought about how I looked...ha!  I have to say I am thankful this is all it is.  I know their are families going through some very serious illnesses and life changing and life altering circumstances.  Always always give thanks! 

52 letters in 2011

I found this challenge online.  I thought it sounded pretty neat and something I definitely need to do more often.   When my in-laws passed away we found a treasure of letters.  Some they wrote to each other when my f-i-l was in the service.  They were sooo in love.  Some of the letters were from my f-i-l's mother while he was in the service.  The most treasured letter was the one my f-i-l's mother wrote to her other son in Germany.  She had written him a letter in Nov. (it was post marked Nov.)  The letter was returned in Jan. with a Jan postmarked also on it, he was killed the end of Nov. and it took the letter that long to be returned.  The war had already ended and he was to be home soon but a tank he was on went over a bridge and the bridge collapsed killing him.  I love reading the letters, they are priceless.   Read below what I copied/pasted and join the challenge!!

“One piece of “real” mail sent out each week. It can be a letter, a postcard, a care package, a thank you note, handmade art, etc. I’m searching for all of the cards and stationary I have collected over the years and gathering them into one place with pens, envelopes (regular & padded), lots of stamps (.28 & .44), a glue stick, unlined index cards (great for making postcards), and a few USPS Small Flat Rate boxes. Oh, and I’m updating my address book.”

I love this. There’s just something about writing an honest pen on paper letter that’s very centering. It forces you to be in the moment. Present. Focused. No multitasking, just writing.
I am going to write 52 letters in 2011. Not necessarily to 52 different people, and I imagine that many of them will actually live in the same city as I do. I invite you to join this challenge. Write to those you’ve lost contact with and write to those you chat with on a daily basis. Write to your spouse, maybe even your own children.

Happy New Year!

We started off our New Year celebrating by having my sisters and families at our home for the day.  We had GREAT food and loads of fun.  It's always exciting to see the younger generation coming along.  Lots of laughs about days gone by.  Things sure have changed.

Speaking of change...I'm not going to make any new year resolutions this year.  I've been praying about this and I do have a goal.  It's to be all that GOD has wanted me to be.  AND if I strive for that surely I would be a better wife, mother, grami, sister, friend.  And if I begin to accomplish that surely I will feel better about myself and maybe lose weight??  Oh well, the important thing for me is to continually pray that God will strengthen me and my faith will become stronger and stronger every day.  I will decrease and God will increase.  Happy New Year everyone and may you be BLESSED!

Precious Grandaughters

Just wanted to post pictures of our darling grandaughters.  They are the sweetest, I am sooo BLESSED!

Jayda is 6 and Riley is 3

Merry Christmas! Better late than never!

I haven't posted since Thanksgiving.  I'm actually not late getting it together for Christmas I am just late posting it.  I know it's alot of pictures but I've missed all the blog postings on showing your Christmas decorations so bear with me.  We have celebrated my grandaughters 6th birthday, made gingerbread cookies and a gingerbread house.  Attended light parades, saw the movie Tangle, shopped til we dropped, attended my grandaughters choir program and then our adult choir program.  I hosted my Sunday school class party here at my home and we had such a fun time.  Tomorrow night we will attend the candlelight service at our church, my daughter in law will be singing.  Then Christmas day I will have my kids and grandkids here for lunch.  So enjoy my pics, if you get bored just click the X button.....I wish for all of you a Blessed Merry Christmas.

Jayda celebrated her birthday at Chucky Cheese with friends and family.  We had a cake for her here on the actual night of her birthday.

The girls made gingerbread cookies and Riley really got carried away with the flour!  I had to roll their shirts up and take them outside and remove their shirts and shake all the flour out!

Finished product and clean girls!

The next week we made the gingerbread house!  What a chore but great fun!

This is our dining room.  We have many great meals and love to linger there!

The mantle in the dining room

The tree in the dining room

Our mantel in the den with all the stockings hung with care!

This is the mantel in the playroom.

My snowmen.

The musical toys that Riley cannot keep her hand off of.  I had to put the snowglobes in another spot.

Prescious moments nativity my boys bought for me when they were little boys.

My angels on the tree.

My pillows on the pew we bought when our church was being remodeled.

Pictures from Christmas past.

I put a few pieces of my village out.  Jayda placed the manger scene in this spot and said we would not put anything in front it.  So precious.

This is the girls tree in the playroom.  They decorate it themselves.

My beautiful nativity.  The back is as ornate as the front. 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Be Thankful!

I have so much to be thankful for.  A God who loves me, a wonderful, supporting and loving husband, two sons that I have this great love and respect for, a daughter in law I love as if she was my daughter and 2 grandaughters that have filled my life with more than I could ever dream of.  I'm thankful for good health, a good job, sisters I love so much and friends that have meant so much by just being in my life.  I could go on and on and I try to be thankful everyday and not just on Thanksgiving.  But I do ponder on it more around the holidays! 

I get to cook the entire dinner Thanksgiving. This is only my 3rd year to make dressing.  My mother in law always made the best and I never had to make it.  A few years ago I told her she needed to make me a recipe  because I would be making it for her one day (she didn't have a recipe) .  So that year my father in law measured everything as she made it and I got a recipe.  Sad to say I never got to make it for her, she passed away 3 years ago last Sept.  So that fall I made it and of course it was not near as good as hers but it gets better with practice.  I made it for my father in law that one Thanksgiving and Christmas and he passed away a few days after Christmas the same year.  He said it tasted as good as hers, I know he was just being kind.  Now everytime I make it I think of them, I still miss them so much. I pray all of you have a BLESSED day!


 My son is having a 23 lb. turkey smoked.  I was like " Oh my isn't that huge"???  I need turkey recipes!!  My menu is chicken/dressing/ smoked turkey (lots), green bean casserole, broccoli casserole, mash potatoes, brown gravy, sweet potato casserole, strawberry salad, deviled eggs, ham with ham sauce, pumpkin pie, red velvet cake, pumpkin roll (DIL request) and my DIL is going to bring a desert!  Have I left anything out?? What is on your menu?

Busy days and a prayer request

I haven't posted in awhile, seems things are getting very busy.  October is very busy for our family.  A couple of weeks ago my sisters church invited my daughter in law to come sing for their dinner on the ground Sunday.  It was awesome and their church is the sweetest.  Jayda, my 5 yr. old grandaughter went to cheerleading day camp a few Saturdays ago so they got to cheer at the game Friday night.  That was a big event for her.  They were all soo cute!  Alot going on at my own church.  This coming weekend is our Poultry Festival in our town which is always fun for our entire family.  I tried to embellish shirts for my grandaughters for Halloween and it didn't turn out like I wanted...I hate it when that happens. 

I hope all of you will say a prayer for a friend of ours.  This family lived in our town many years ago (neighbors) and our boys started first grade together and were best friends for many many years.  Jack, the father,  has had a stroke and in serious condition in Dallas.  Jack was a football coach at our school.  Our son visited with them Sunday in the hospital and things were beginning to look better, not much, after 2 very bad days.  Jack is still in critical conditon.  If you have not visited Teresa's blog you can at http://teresa-grammygirlfriend.blogspot.com/
They are the nicest family.  Please pray that God will heal Jack and this family will be comforted and have peace.