Tag: grandchildren

A Full Stocking

  
Our Christmas tree is lovely. As I sit here meditating on its beauty I can’t help but think of all of the wonderful events my family celebrates in December, all the reasons my Christmas stocking is full.
Our oldest grandson, Garrett, celebrated his 13th birthday on December 6. He’s still Nana’s little boy, though.

Then
Now

My mother’s birthday would have been the 7th. She was the undisputed Queen of Christmas and I miss her every day even though we seldom saw eye to eye. She’s probably busy filling stockings for all the angels in heaven. Stockings were her thing, now they’re my thing.

 

December 19 would have been Mom and Dad’s anniversary. This is my favorite photo of the two of them. They never had much in the way of material wealth; although, they enjoyed some comfortable years. 

 

Another happy day, December 20, 2010, the date Stephen Houzenga adopted our grandchildren. He took on a ready-made family and changed all of our lives for the better.  

 

Of course December 25 is a day of celebration. Last year Studly and I were able to enjoy it with our kids in Nashville. We rented a home there for the holiday and had one of the best Christmases in memory.

Here we are at The Escape Game. What an adventure! We almost escaped. All we needed was another hour or so….

  

Finally, our middle grandchild, McKayla, celebrates her birthday on the 26th. She’ll be 11 this year. Here she is about to perform in her first band concert. Gorgeous, smart, and talented.

  

I hope your Christmas stockings are filled with great memories and reasons to celebrate.

Peace, people!

John Scalzi Presents Day Four

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/12/03/whatever-holiday-shopping-guide-2015-day-four-fan-favorites/
Day Four of John Scalzi’s Holiday Shopping Guide gives fans an opportunity to provide input.

Do you have a favorite author, artist, or musician whose work you want to promote? Go to the link above and check out the criteria. Then make your pitch. 

Almost an irrelevant photo; alrhough, I am a big fan of this guy who’ll be 13 on Dec. 6.

Janie’s Gift

In the real world I have a lovely friend who has a gift. Janie Christie Heniford writes the most beautiful, inspirational, heart warming posts and shares them on Facebook during the month of November. 

I look forward to these posts. They make me laugh, cry, think, and nod my head in ardent agreement. Today I asked if she’d be okay with me sharing her post on Praying for Eyebrowz. Of course then I wondered if I was savvy enough to do that. 

To my delight, Janie consented. Now let’s see if I can get this done. I’ll be sure to share any comments with Janie. It’s a real pleasure to share Janie’s gift with my readers. Enjoy. And as always, peace, people.

 

Janie’s photo
 
Janie Christie Heniford at Sooner Lake

I am thankful today, for changes. Changes of all kinds, actually. Circumstances. location, mind, weather, leadership, looks, understanding, time, hairstyles, position, jobs, almost everything.  

One of the first times that i can remember thinking about how things change is when i was a young girl. To join the Christian church, one of the things asked of me by our pastor, is, “are you willing to give as much of yourself as you know and understand, to as much of God as you know and understand?”. I was smart enough to realize that i might not know every SINGLE thing in the world, but I thought that I knew God. I did. I knew all that my sweet and untried young self could really know. I grew to realize, of course, that one’s walk with God is dynamic, in as much as our experiences and understanding of life are dynamic.

When Rick and I decided to retire to Oklahoma, we chose it mostly to be near our family, but also because of the seasons here. We found that we missed the definite four seasons. Our circumstances will change some with retirement, a fixed income, a lower income, and hopefully (this is the plan anyway) lower expenses. 

Over the years our health will change, our abilities will change, absolutely our looks will change. It’s all a good thing. It is likely that I will never love the storms here, but as we have weathered the storms in our lives, we will stand fast in the storms here. We will be prepared. We will take precautions. I will learn to accept them as part of my life.  Today as I was out driving, I noticed that I was following right beside the back end of a front. The clouds further out were ominous, but the ones up close were breaking up, beginning to let light through, and a much different pattern than the clouds further out.  Closer they held the promise of sunshine, and beauty. Further out they threatened storms. 

Our lives surely don’t follow a line that is clearcut like a front line. The clouds of life are different day to day, and minute to minute, and the shapes that change are our own. I imagined today, as i watched the clouds, even took pictures of them as they spoke so deeply to me, that maybe that is part of what I have learned about God. There are storms, and there are fresh new beginnings. There must be changes wrought within as we battle the storms, to allow the fresh new starts to come through.  

Yep. Sometimes i figure things out when i travel alone. I’m a lucky, lucky girl to have that opportunity.

The Finer Things in Life

Potato soup and

Warm cornbread 

An ice cold glass

Of Borden’s milk.

Fuzzy kittens in

Cradled arms

With fur as soft

As the finest silk.

A child’s warm

Heartfelt embrace

I love you Nana

The sweetest grace.

The finer things

Aren’t steeply priced

When simple love

Will always suffice.

 

great nephew Michael and our youngest granddaughter Harper.
 
 

Feeling a little sentimental today, and oh so very lucky. (I borrowed that from my friend Janie, a lucky, lucky girl.)

Peace, people!

Harper’s Day to Ride the Bus

I wrote this piece awhile back for my youngest granddaughter who was two at the time and couldn’t understand why her older siblings got to ride the big yellow school bus and she didn’t.  

Harper D is now three, and today was officially her first day of Pre-K, but I thought it would be fun to revisit this mostly true poem.

  

“D Wants to Ride”

The big yellow bus came to D’s house today.

Garrett got on the big yellow bus.

McKayla got on the big yellow bus.

D could not get on the big yellow bus.

“You must be three, and you are only two,” said Garrett.
“You are way too little,” said McKayla.

“I am big,” said D.

“I can count,

I can sing,

I can climb,

I can swing.”

“Just one more year,” said Garrett.

“You will be a big girl next year,” said McKayla.

“But I AM a big girl!” Insisted D.

“I can play,

I can dance,

I can run

Really fast!”

“D,” said Garrett, “Be our baby for awhile.”

“D,” said McKayla, “Stay little for awhile.”

D thought and thought. “OK,” she said.
“I will be your baby for one more year.

I will still count and sing, climb and swing.

I will still play and dance and run very fast.

But next year I will get on the big yellow bus!”

“Bye, D,” said Garrett.

“Bye, D,” said McKayla.

“Bye big yellow bus!” said D. “I’ll see you next year.”

  
Peace, people!

What Keeps Us Going?

  

Caveat: This is a narcissistic post from a narcissistic person (me). Read at your own risk.

My life lately has felt like a bad roller coaster. No highs, just a series of gut clenching drops. It’s as if someone out there is wondering just how low I can fall.
I won’t go into details, those would be boring, but I’ve accepted the idea that many of the lows can be attributed directly to my own behaviors. Sometimes I’m not a very nice person. 

There is a big hole in my character. I’m needy and self-centered, and I crave reassurance. When I’m happy, the whole world could be going down the toilet, and it just wouldn’t matter. When I’m not happy, ain’t nobody gonna be happy. (Forgive the grammar; I was making a point.)

  
What makes me happiest is having an event or activity I can look forward to–say, going to see my kids who live many miles away, or planning a trip to Guatemala, or to an impending class reunion. But we all know those kinds of things can’t happen on a regular basis. 

So how do I keep going and stay happy, on a day to day basis? This blog is one way. I love the feedback and the “likes” and the clicks. They satisfy my need for attention.

Phone calls with my favorite people are another boost to my attitude. FaceTiming with a grandchild can lift my spirits for days. Oddly enough I seldom initiate those calls for fear they’ll be busy and I’ll be intruding.

My relationship with my mother-in-law, Saint Helen, makes me happy, and news that she might be coming for a visit soon has done wonders for my frame of mind. Yay!

I’m not sure what my original point was in writing this except that I began wondering what keeps others going when they sink, or if they sink, into the pit of self-pity. How do you pull yourself up and ignore the greedy little needs that keep you from being happy and productive? 

I’m curious. 

  
Peace, people!

Call Me Maybe?

https://www.facebook.com/leslie.h.noyes/posts/10206407681125191
I’m not even sure if this will work, but I’ve been giggling over my grandaughter’s video and hoped that you’d giggle along with me.

Her name is Harper, and she is three. She also happens to be a certified nutty kid. I miss her and her family like crazy. It’s a long way from our home in Tallahassee, Florida to their home in eastern Illinois. Videos like this help, though. 

The Girl and The Butterfly

I wrote this several years ago for our oldest granddaughter, Dominique, and published it last year on WordPress in honor of her birthday. Dominique was three, I believe when the butterfly landed on her outstretched palm, and today she will be 13. Yes, Studly and I are grandparents to a teenager! Happy birthday, Dominique!

The Girl and the Butterfly

One little butterfly, orange and black circled the flowers in the summer garden.


One little girl, in red, white, and blue, danced around the flowers in the summer garden.


“Here, little butterfly!” called the girl.


But the butterfly flew higher than the girl could jump, and faster than the girl could run.


“Please!” said the girl.


No matter how hard she tried, the girl could not catch the butterfly.


“You must let the butterfly come to you when he is ready,” said Mama.


“I don’t think he will ever be ready,” sighed the little girl.


“Here, sweetheart, I have an idea,” said Mama. “Hold out your hand.”


Mama poured a drop of orange juice into the girl’s hand.


“Now hold out your hand and stay very still.”


The girl did just that.


She waited.
And waited.
And waited.


And would you believe it? The butterfly landed ever so lightly onto the girl’s hand.

The girl smiled at the butterfly, and after sipping the juice, the butterfly smiled back.

Peace, people!

Marketing Might be Her Middle Name

My ten-year-old granddaughter just posted her first video to YouTube. If you watch it, be sure and note her natural marketing ability at the end.  Maybe I should hire her.

I have no idea how to post something to YouTube, but I’m fairly good at pleading. Must be genetic.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b3jxFn6n7Fc
Peace, people!

Paper Pictures

Great artists
work in
a variety of
media:
construction
paper and glue,
glitter and
fingerpaints,
thumbprints in
tempera.
They do not
concern themselves
with brush stroke
techniques or
fickle critics,
their only goal
a smile from a
proud recipient,
a place reserved
on the fridge.

 

two works of art by our youngest grandchild.

Peace, people!