Creating Memories on Memorial Day

Aunt Stacy is so much fun! They love playing in the "Happy Place"....but every place at MaJo's is a happy place!

My burnt Offering

The strangest thing has happened in my back yard....I have these black leaves everywhere...We have always been bombarded by leaves since we live in Sherwood Forest for heavens sakes.....but never by this burned variety....very strange indeed. But it made me think that it is a lot like us.....We hang on to what we know as long as we can...and then something, someone, comes along and we get burned....and we fall to the ground. Seemingly this is where most of us stay....burned, crushed from life's woes. I was just outside and noticed that in their place are beautiful GREEN leaves....a new fresh beginning...but the only way to see them are TO LOOK UP!...Isn't that always how it is?....LOOK UP PEOPLE....You will find if you bring your burnt offerings to the Lord, your bruised, sore souls.....that He will replace it with fresh, beautiful, new beginnings. And when you do fall to the ground, it is probably where God wants you....stay there on your knees and thank Him for being a God who knows your name and He will pick you up, dust off your clothes and send you on your way. The problem with some people is that God has given you a new start, yet you don't live like it....you live like you are still sizzling from the heat....so start livin'.....you are writing your own story with each day....what are people reading?.....It might be time to start a new chapter of your book......

May 14, 2011

Exactly a year ago today.....my life was changed.....Never again will I think of life so flippantly.....I have since taken each day as a true gift of God and treasured my family, my friends...with much more gratitude.

I held Hannah Abigail in my arms on this day....a child delivered way too early....not quite ready for this world....she was ushered into the arms of Jesus before my arms could barely hold her.

When a Mom watches her daughter go through such trauma, it is heartbreaking to say the least....we are suppose to “fix” things.....this was unfixable for this mama....don’t know if I will ever understand the “whys” or the “how comes”.....but I do know one thing for sure.....my God is just....He is good....and I will praise His name above all names.......As long as there is a breath in me I will praise Him.....Of course I stay on my knees for Stacy & Adam and for a house full of “little reds” running here and there...at least that is the desire of my heart....and His word says: “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Ps 37:4....and I certainly DO delight in Him...He is my strength and my daily portion.

So this day I will remember as the day Jesus got to hold my Hannah before me...and I guess that is how it should be....who better to hold that sweet baby girl? So Jesus...hold her tight until I get there.....

2011 Mother's Day May 8

Here we are on our favorite pew at church....don't get much better than that, for this mama! I must have done something right along the way....cause these three are the cream of the crop....love you guys!



Laura Jo loves getting in the pool with Aunt Amanda and Uncle Philip!

Happy Mother's Day

Well, this is my sweet Mama.....Ain't she somethin'? I am very blessed to have this woman, not only alive, but kicking and carrying on like she is in her late 70's....ha! She will actually turn 80 in June.....Wow....

I am pretty much crazy about her and the older I get, much to Joe's good fortune, I am sounding and acting like her more and more.

I was raised in Baytown, Texas....an oil refinery town...Mother stayed home.....had the cookies and milk waiting for us when we would get home from school...an ideal childhood....there was much love in the house and Mother was the heartbeat of the family...I was a bit of a pistol as a youngen(are you surprised?).....I would bite and spit (Lord only knows why I would do such a thing)...so Mother would go outside to the pepper bushes and get one and slice it open with her finger nail and give my tongue a good rub down....my tongue would catch on fire and after several episodes of that, I learned my lesson.....why didn't I learn it the first go around?
She is the best cook in town, and I learned everything from her....of course we fried most everything we ate, whether it needed it or not....and a dab of butter on everything that wasn't fried.....We would get a good spankin' when it was needed, went to church on Sundays and Wednesdays.....and learned it was better to give than to receive....We learned all about God and Jesus and I was baptised July 8, 1964 in the baptistry with the painted scene of the Jordan River as the backdrop...I learned how to sing alto in that little church....I went to church camp every summer....we swam in the creek....there was NO MIXED BATHING....at least that is what they would call it back then, when the boys and girls swam together....which we would have none of that nonsense....always separated....I learned how to get along with others....we didn't have a whole lot, but I thought we were rich as could be...always had clothes on my back and food in the belly.....gotta love that....

I went off to college in Abilene, TX....that was 8 hours away from home....which might as well have been on another planet.....didn't go home much...didn't have a car until my senior year...but that made me appreciate Mother's cookin' every time I got to come home. Got a degree in teachin'....Mother would always tell everyone I graduated "O LAUDY!".....cause I wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer....ha!

I got married soon after, but always held a special place in my heart for my upbringin'....So Mother ..... I salute you for loving on me, holding me tight, crying with me, and always being there, like a good mama should do....if I could only do half as well, then I have done good on this earth....I love you more than you know!!!!!

Jacksonville Zoo with my girls

What a great time in Jacksonville this past weekend....the weather was beautiful, the animals were out in full force, and the company was sweet as well.....LOVED IT!!!!