Resurrection Day 2010

What a blessing. Great Church service early on Sunday and then off to visit the family in Port Angeles for dinner! :)

I don't think it shows at all that these are the happiest moments of my life, being with my family. God has RICHLY and abundantly blessed us with a wonderful family. It is not my doing, but His. He has been merciful and full of grace to me... DESPITE ME!!!! I am so thankful! And thankful of His gift upon the cross paid with the ULTIMATE price.... yet He did it - for ME and for YOU!My lovely granddaughter with her brother. :) Love those curls on his head!








I don't think we can see who the camera ham is here!




This was cute because, I actually had Matthew on my lap and his big sister was in front of him and Matthew was watching thru the camera when I took this pic. :)



Daddy and his princess. This is my youngest son with his only daughter.



Papa Doug and Matthew! He likes that beard!




Ben and Mary prepping in the kitchen.



Like I said.. no ham here!



Keizer arrives!




Ben and Matthew in the back yard getting ready for a family picture!




The sun was pretty bright. It is cute because see who the kids are looking at? Little brother... he is very loved!!!!




The twins modeling their new dresses and hairbows!







Notice the smirk on her face!!! She thinks that she gets to keep my baby!!!!!!!! She has a thing or two coming!!!





Spot always loves to be around the grandkids. He just loves them!



My oldest son and his youngest son arriving!




Hey! Wait!!! Don't I get to come into the party?? Anyone want to play ball with me??????




"What are they doing out there?" "Don't you think you should tell them to stop?" "They are going to get hurt!" "Oh, Casandra is hurt!!" "Oh well, they will live!" :) lol


D with her cousin.




Let's get the food train moving!




The look on Maddie's face! I KNOW it was YOU, Uncle Ben!!!!!












Now time for the Easter/Resurrection Egg hunt! Getting the instructions. Only LITTLE kids get the eggs off the ground. The rest of you have to work for them!! lol



Spot wanted in on the action!














Once he found out there was candy in the eggs, the eggs got dumped and he put the little bit of candy he had in there and protected it with his life, until he ate it! He was SOOOO stinking cute!!!!!!! Love that boy!


Ben and Mary have the best area for an egg hunt!!! Even the dog finally got into the action!!!









Vienna found the prettiest egg in Daddy's pocket!!

















It was a wonderful day and this mother's/grandmother's/aunt's heart was blessed beyond what she deserves . I am so thankful. :) My family is NOT without faults. We certainly have our share of ups and downs... but we love the Lord and we share that! And we share a tremendous amount of love!

The Cage Dance

LOL Our Grandchildren, they bring such sunshine in our lives! Truly a blessing from the Lord!

O Be Careful Little Eyes what you See......

The past few days, my devotions have been from Proverbs 4:20-27

My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
²¹ Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart;
²² For they are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh.
²³ Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.
²⁴ Put away from you a deceitful mouth,
And put perverse lips far from you.
²⁵ Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.
²⁶ Ponder the path of your feet,
And let all your ways be established.
²⁷ Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil.

Guarding our eyes, our feet, our hearts, our tongues.....Today's devotion was on guarding our feet... How important it is to take the path that God has chosen for us. The path may look level and safe to us, but God sees things differently. His ways are higher than ours, His thoughts are higher than ours... What may appear to our eyes to be the level, safe path, may be riddled with pit falls and quick sand that the enemy has put in front of us. Following God's path does not mean taking the "safe" road or the comfortable path but means to follow God and heed His wisdom and trust HIS guidance no matter how "crazy" or "silly" it may seem to the outside world..... Betsie ten Boom said "The center of God's will is our only safety." My gleaning, especially from today's devotion is this: "When you seek a direction for your life, give no attention to whether your path is safe or risky, conventional or unconventional. Consider only whether it is based in God's truth, sensitive to His voice and reflecting HIS purposes as revealed in His Word. This is ultimately the only safe, level, firm way there is."

And meditating on all of this reminded me of my dear friends testimony. K is the sweetest person that anyone could know. Truly a sweetheart all of her life. When she got saved many of her friends asked What sin?? K, you are always so kind and good! And this bothered her because yes, it was true, she was a good person, but that goodness could not get her into heaven and she struggled for a testimony! So many of her saved friends had powerful testimonies and hers didn't seem to have much "oomph." One day it came to her. K's house sat on a beautiful island in the Puget Sound and her front windows looked on the water. How she loved to watch the water. Looking straight thru K's windows everything appeared beautiful and perfect. But when you moved and looked at an angle thru the glass, the view was distorted and corrupted. Suddenly it hit her! That was HER life. To the world, she appeared a good and perfect person, but our Holy God saw her through PERFECT eyes. When he saw her without Jesus, He saw the distorted, corrupted, sinful person that she was. But behold the salvation thru Christ and she was made new!

Our lives can be like that. The choices we make in our everyday life may appear to be good. But what does God say? What does He see there? When we have salvation, we have the mind of Christ... He thru prayer, the reading of His Word and the meditation of our communion with God will help us to make the right decisions as to what we allow our eyes to see, what we allow our hands to do, where we allow our feet to go and what factors we allow into our hearts. Oh and what we SAY! That is tomorrows devotion! :) But an important one also.

I just love the Lord. I am far from perfect, far from where I want to be in my relationship with Him. But I want, DESIRE to follow Him. So how do I pull this all together? How do I guard all these things? I believe it starts with prayer. Prayer is not the LEAST I can do, it is the FIRST thing I SHOULD do!

Little Miss Goofy

Craftzine.com blog : How-To: Fold Towel Pockets

Craftzine.com blog : How-To: Fold Towel Pockets

The Bible

I was noticing my Pastor's Bible in church the other morning. I noticed that it was getting well worn. I remember when he got it just about 4 years ago and he commented on it because the pages were difficult to turn, etc. :) And now just a few short years later, it has become used, a familiar friend to him. I look at my Bibles over the years. The worn covers, the notes in the margins, the inspirational poems taped to the inside covers, missionary cards glued in as prayer reminders. There are ripped pages, where I carelessly left it out and my dear handicapped daughter picked it up and tore it (not meaning to!) The comfort of the old Bible, picking it up and easily finding a familiar passage... and I look at my newest Bible. I am in the process of making a cover for it...The pages are "sticky", I struggle to find passages..... And I wonder... What will my Bible look like in 4 years? I don't want torn pages but I want it to be well worn! Not neglectfully worn but worn with familiar use. Worn because I have treasured hearing what my Savior has to say to me. Oh I fall so short!! But this is the desire of my heart - to have a closer walk with my Lord... and we know that He grants the desires of our heart. As a child, I was taught that the Bible was important. That no book should be placed on top of it. As a Believer, I have never heard that being taught in our churches, although today, if I see a book on top of a Bible, I will without fuss, quietly readjust so the Bible is on top. I don't think God cares about that. I think what God cares about is that it doesn't stay at the bottom of the pile neglected... because that Book represents our relationship with Him. We seek wisdom in the Words there. We seek guidance in our everyday life as well as the crisis that come into our lives. It is how God communes with us. It is where our mind is stimulated to ask questions that only He can answer. Yes, I don't want my new Bible to look as good in 4 years from now as it does for now. I want it to be well worn from love and respect and friendship with my Savior. I want it to fit comfortably in my hands and for the pages to move freely and with familiarity!

Indoor Hopscotch Mat Tutorial - CLEVER!!!

Photo by Happy to Craft

Happy to Craft blog has this adorable and clever hopscotch mat tutorial on her blog. Please check it out and check out the rest of her blog while you are there. I think you will come away a happy crafter!

My Dancer with the Stars!

Today's helper around the house.

I miss you, Mommie!

6 years ago today, I witnessed my mom take her last breaths on this earth. I still miss her so very much. There are so many times when I reach for the phone and want to call her and share something with her, the good things, the bad things, the inbetween things! Thank you, Mom for all that you did for me all that you gave me and I don't mean material things. I love/loved my family. I thought we were perfect. lol I don't know when I realized that we had our dysfunctions as did ALL and EVERY family, but it didn't matter! That is family! We wouldn't be this side of heaven if we were perfect! But you were the best mommie. You were the mom that God gave me and designed JUST for me. And who knows better than He!!!!??? I will always think of you and miss you, mom. I will always have a special place in my heart for you. But as much as I love you, I couldn't wish you back here. I know that you are happy in Heaven. I so clearly remember that Saturday morning in the hospital and you taking my hand and saying "I want to go Home." I said I know mom to your apartment and you said, "NO! I want to go HOME." I knew what you meant. I didn't want to let go but I knew i had to. I remember asking you to give my daddy and my son, whom I never held a hug for me. But what I forgot is that you had 3 babies in heaven before us that you would be united with. Thank you, mom. And thank you for that special moment that will forever be etched in our minds as Mike, Mark, Ben and I sat by your bed, praising you in words and loving you as you left us to be in your Forever Home. You have left a legacy of love and we are so blessed!

I love it when the grandkids sing!

Visitors

We had fun visitors last weekend. My oldest son and his family came over to visit for the weekend. We started our visit out with a trip to the Seafood buffet at the Casino. LOVE cracked crab!! Every one had a great time.

Sterling was happy to see Papa Doug!

Keizer must have had a very important business phone call! (not his phone, he was playing with dad's)

My beautiful daughter in law. Shelley is such a blessing to me. Although it was a little hectic with young kids, everyone enjoyed the time at dinner. We had been there 2 weeks before with my youngest son. :)

Wow, Gramma! This is a huge cookie!!!!!

I ask you very confidentially, Ain't she sweet? :)

Daddy and Sterling. Sterling was a little sweetie at dinner. He sat by me and he continuously took my hands off of him or grabbed them and made me put my arms around him. He was just funny!

All the little ones seem to like to play in Spot's "room".



Vienna was delighted when Spot decided to keep her company at bedtime. :) He loves it when the kids come over!

What does 15 look like?

It looks like my oldest and beautiful granddaughter! I love you oh so very much! I can remember loving you the moment that I found out you were coming into our lives. I remember our Dandy Dandy Dandy Dandelion days.... spending time with grammie and all the craft times we have shared together. I have prayed for you and will continue to pray for you. Knowing that God loves you and will keep you in His care. I pray your heart will always be tender to His leading and your life will belong to Him. You have grown from my curly haired blonde "orphan annie" to such a beautiful young lady! I love you dearly, my oldest granddaughter!

May I ask for prayer for a dear blogger friend?

I am not going to share her blog, because she is a very private person. I have a blogger friend with a disabled child. Things are getting very challenging for her and her child right now. Would you just lift her in prayer asking God to guide, direct, comfort and just wrap His love around her and her family....... Thank you for caring!!!!!

Weekend with Grands.

My youngest son and his family came to visit last weekend. They went off for a nice weekend away and we got the kids! :) It was a good time. Even the dog got in on the loving!


We worked on crafts. My oldest granddaughter came and spent the weekend with us also. ;)
Carson displaying his art work.
Isaac showing off his.
The dog was NOT suppose to be in there and he knew it. But how could I be mad?


Working away!

Having some petting time with the dog before watching "Santa Buddies" at the request of my grandson.
Before they left, Ben and Mary took us out to a wonderful seafood dinner at Snoqualmie Casino. We all enjoyed it! :)
Chocolate face.
Matthew just wishes he could have some!
Papa Doug and Matthew having a man talk!
Boys will be boys!
Cousins!

The kids had a good time getting a break and Grammie and Papa had a fun time with their loved ones. I have to admit, though, I was plummed tuckered out by the end of the weekend. How in the world, did I raise all of mine???? lol Thank you Lord for family! They mean the world to us.

Mini Valentine Chocolate Boxes

Mini Valentine Chocolate Boxes
Photo by Zakka Life

Valentine Craft ideas

Valentine

Upcycle: Heart Clips

Upcycle: Heart Clips
Photos by Zakka life.

Craft Project: Doily Bookmarks

Craft Project: Doily Bookmarks