And in a snap

Four years have come and gone in a snap of the fingers. I wish I could tell you majorly exciting things happened during those years, but not so much. I changed jobs after 12 years and that’s opened up all kinds of new opportunities. And even more change is on the horizon as the office calls us to return from working at home beginning in 2023. I’ve made new friends, met new people, and traveled halfway across this country to see new places and beautiful views. I’ll do a stand alone on that one soon. 

The biggest change, in all of my 47 years thus far, is losing my Dad. September 11, 2022. 

I remember this episode of Grey’s Anatomy where Christina is talking to George about joining the Dead Dad’s Club. A few days before he passed, I couldn’t get that image out of my head. I bawled the whole way home from the hospital because I didn’t want to join this stupid club and I was very afraid I was going to.

It doesn’t seem real. Never seeing him again? Hearing his laugh? Getting his advice? Kissing the top of his head on my way out the door? Hearing his truck coming up the driveway or his tractor in the field? Sitting with him in one of his swings and hearing stories of his family? Eating way too many of his biscuits and taking more to go? How can all of this have ended with one final breath? It’s not real. It just can’t be. 

Mom told me one time she worried about me, that I was still single because I was trying to find a guy to live up to my dad, and that would be hard to do. She is so right. He wasn’t perfect, but he loved God, guided us back to Him, loved his wife of 52 years and respected her, loved his children and steered them on a solid, steady path, and doted on his grandchildren. He dealt fairly or to the other person’s advantage. He worked hard and took pride in doing a great job. And his knowledge was vast, spanning a million subjects and always learning more. 

Dad was salt of the earth, a country boy, with no presumptions and no airs. He didn’t try to be someone he wasn’t and he very much knew who he was. He respected people, no matter their color or standing. And loved to laugh! Always going on with junk and teasing folks. 

Needless to say, the man who meant more to me than any other man ever has in my entire life-he is gone. Will I be ok? Of course. He prepared us for him leaving us since we were kids. His parents died young and he never expected to live to 75. He was so shocked as more birthdays came and went. And he passed 15 minutes before he turned 76. We buried him one day before I turned 47. 

My very wise sweet niece, 10-years-old and lost her dad almost 4 years ago, wrote a letter to her Pawpaw for us to read to him. She said “I am really, really going to miss you and I know this is not goodbye but I will miss you until then.”  Yes sweet girl, we will all miss him until we join him in Heaven above with others who loved the Lord and passed before us. It is this that brings me the most joy, knowing he has met Jesus Himself! He is reunited with his parents, his siblings, and friends. He is fine! It’s we who are left here that selfishly want our beloved husband, father, pawpaw, brother, and friend back. But his Heaven Father has him in His loving care and a host of heavenly beings rejoiced to have him enter those gates. 

Sheesh I needed a place to dump so many emotions. If anyone is out there and still reading this defunct blog, I apologize. 1-for ditching you and 2-for coming back with a truckload of emotions. I’ll end with - go hug someone you love and let them know you care. Heck, it’s literally a handful of days before Christmas- perfect timing. ❤️ 

No More Tit-for-Tat

Gracious there are times when the Lotd, quite simply, grabs your attention. Not always through some magestical way, but sometimes in the quiet of the morning. I've been very slack in reading and praying through the chaos of my life lately. As I wrote to one friend - does it look like everything is going well in my Facebook posts? - yeah, that shows you how deceiving Facebook is! And for some reason, I shut down when the going gets tough, instead of reaching out to God. And that brings on anxiety. What a vicious circle.

So this morning, after several nights of no sleep, I'm awake in my dimly lit bedroom, reading the Girlfriends in God devotional that I've been ignoring forever. Today's message was good, about those God moments where the overwhelming desire to praise Him can occur in any life moment. And they said to read Psalm 63. 

I opened my Bible app and the verse of the day appeared. I usually glance at the first lines that show but rarely click on it To read the entire passage. Today I clicked. 

“To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously. (Luke 6:27-30 MSG)

Two things stand out - (1) To you who are  ready for the truth. (I am often not! And therefore the Lord's message will not be revealed until we are ready!) and (2) If someone takes unfair advantage of you, practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Wwwhhhoooaaa. That's definitely not what society teaches us!! Living the servant life - no society teaches we live to be served. It's ME driven. Not THEE driven. 

So this concept of a servant's life keeps popping up in various places for me. Enough that I am recognizing this message. I pray I can have a servant's attitude because it's definitely not what I currently have. But it is what the Lord wants. 

Actually, I am Irish!

Thanks to ancestery.com I do know that I am part Irish! So happy Saint Patty's day from an official Irish girl. I also found out I am very boring and very white. I honestly expected something more than European, Irish and English. Oh well, I am what I am. :)

I am also a fierce dinosaur! Sweet niece went to a birthday party were dinosaurs was the theme. She wore this mask for half the day- loved it! So we became dinosaurs together. <3

I'm studying a devotion with an online group on Facebook. It's called Broken and Redeemed a study on the God who redeems our stories. I ordered the journal off Amazon and I have so enjoyed this devotion!

Why I like having the group online is because it opens up others understandings of the scripture that we read. I learn so much from what other people got out of the Scriptures, it opens my eyes to complete new lessons.  I recommend it - find it on Amazon.

I rarely show photos of just myself, but here I am with one of the custom orders that has come in recently for Pressed Clovers. This year I asked that God would allow me to make things that people wanted. All the sudden my bib and burp cloth business took off like lightning. With it came some growing pains of trying to keep up three stores, two brick-and-mortar, one online, so at this point the online has been taken down. But I so love having people want what I make! To know that it is helpful to mommies and their babies because it's a good quality product. I've had some pains - I've had to learn some lessons and make adjustments, but it's so worth it and I'm learning so much as I go.

Then mom started making hair bows. Big beautiful fluffy poofy cute hair bows for all the little princesses out there. Beautiful work - it is amazing what she can do. So now that has also become a part of Pressed Clovers! And I couldn't be happier to have my mom working with me. 

We are headed to a tractor show in two weeks to set up and sell. Should be interesting! Hopefully, it will go really well and the brand will be more recognizable for future purchases! I donated two sets for a church fundraising event in this same community last week and hope that will be remembered. 

I know it's odd for someone with no children to get this excited over bibs and burp cloths. My prayer was very sincere, I wanted to make things that people wanted. I think I've done that, not on my own but thanks to the Lord. It truly seems like God was waiting for me to just ask for success and I finally did.  I sincerely hope that I'm on the right path.

OK since I've already held this in drafts for a few days, I think it's time to go ahead and publish. Hope you're having a wonderful week and a happy happy Tuesday.   :) 

Sleepless

Ugh. I accidentally fell asleep last night about 8:30 pm, woke up about 1:09 am and haven't been back to sleep since. That sucks. Finally, I've decided to just be done with the attempts (now that it's about 4:30 am) and be awake. Maybe I'll get moving and go have breakfast somewhere before work! Yum!

So I left off here with frustrations about my niece. Hopefully, this situation will never happen to another student. But today, I'd like to share good news! More of God's blessings - Macy had her annual cardiologist appointment and everything looks great!! What a huge relief! Why does the 4-year-old have annual cardiologist appointments?  The condition she has - Marfans - typically impacts the heart. Feel free to google it, it's interesting to read, I guess. President Lincoln is a famous Marfans person.  

Anyway, her good news is a huge relief. My dad, who we also suspect has Marfans, also received a good cardiologist check up. He has all the heart symptoms - leaky heart valve and aneurysm in the aorta - but so far they have held off on surgery and continue to do so. Hooray! 

Mom couldn't shake a sinus infection - some serious steroids finally helped out. I'm not talking about that first round you get- this was scary amounts - but it worked! And after allergy tests, she doesn't seem to be allergic to environmental things - another great blessing! Woo Hoo! 

Mom and my brother have allergies to food. Mom: peaches, carrots, almonds, shellfish. Clay: tomatoes, black pepper, beef, oranges, I can't remember what all. And he has a tin of other allergies, too. He has sneezefests of 20+ sneezes at one time. Craziness. 

Macy and ree family went to the circus to see the last year of performances! So glad they were able to do this. She lived it!! 

 Katie, Macy, and I headed to Columbia to celebrate a very special girl's first birthda (with a quick stop at Krispie Kreme). Paulene and I became friends through United Way. 

And look at her precious girl!!! What a great celebration! 

The older sweet niece made it home. Our weather has been crazy warm so both girls rode bikes at Macy's school parking lot. Happy to have her home! 

We had no idea Macy was getting sick, but when you see her coloring in this picture, it makes sense. Her curls are so stinkin' cute! 

This is for my mom!! She's making bows now, doing such a good job!!! But she talks about the HUGE bows some mamas put in their daughters' heads. I had to explain it's kinda like big hair... The bigger the bow, the closer to heaven, right? HAHAHAHAHAH! 

Ok let's see if I can get one more hour of rest. :) sweet dreams! 

Talk about Protection from Above!

ARRRGGGHHH.  Frustrations. Ok folks, how about some advice here.

My niece, she is 4.5.  In 4K at our local school and since Christmas has just been a royal handful. She's totally boy crazy, which is bizarre because that's not encouraged in her homelife. She's had these two boys as her best friends from day one, but suddenly they are boyfriends, and she blows kisses and follows them around. The school separates them, but it's not really helping. Any ideas?

Additionally to that, last week when her mama dropped her off at school, the teachers were walking towards the entrance door.  My sister told her daughter to run and catch up and she drove off.  The school uses a flag to indicate if you have to stop and sign your child in and the flag wasn't out.

Weeeeellllllll, the teachers didn't turn around to see a little girl behind them, the doors shut and my niece couldn't get the door open.  She was locked out of the school and had no idea what to do.  She sat on the grass outside and cried.  One of her classmate's mother was running behind and thankfully saw her crying in the grass, bringing her into the school with her son.

CAN. YOU. IMAGINE. My sister didn't find out until the parent got word to her 4 days later through a mutal aquaintance my sister works with - and the horror of what all COULD have happened... Oh my gosh, we were all just sick with the "what ifs."  God really took care of this situation, protected my niece and brought her classmate's mother there just at the perfect time. My sister has spoken to the school and there is a new policy where an administrator will make a "last lap" outside after the first bell rings and the teachers who slipped out of duty early (or so it seems) were all called into the admins office for a conversation.

I'm hoping my sister also realizes you can't drive off until you know she's in the school, but that's another issue outside of this particular one.  Heaven help, just thinking what could have happened...

Thank you, Lord.  You are so good to us.

The Right Thing?

I am so dang stressed and I'm trying not to be. Why? A few reasons but probably at the top of the list is my car. And the guy that hit it. Sigh. Older fella, had his grandson in the truck with him and was going through the Mickey D's drive thru. It's one of those split drive thru concepts where I was on the outer ring and he the inner. As I pull up and stop behind someone waiting to pay, he pulls forward and pulls forward and crruunncchh. Into my drivers side back door.

It wouldn't be so bad if 1- it didn't go down through all layers of paint and 2 - if I had a color easier to blend. Both repair companies said the same thing. Ugh. 

He freaked out and jumps out, wanting me to settle outside of insurance. Ugh. I don't do stuff like that. But after an hour of him pacing and begging while we waited on the cops (I'll be honest, he intimidated me!) I said I'd consider it and call over the weekend. 

This was Friday afternoon. I gathered as much into as I could for a Friday afternoon but wasn't quite finished. I didn't call over the weekend (bad me, I know) but wasn't ready to make a decision. Monday (today) I was able to see another company for a second estimate and talk to my insurance agent (adore her!).  

Holy smokes this man showed up at my workplace and for another 30-45 minutes went to talking nonstop. He'd borrow the money. He has a friend that could fix it cheaper. He and his wife were on limited incomes. They were raising his grandson. Listed allll the ailments if every person. Admitted they would probably take his license because of all the wrecks he had while on painkillers. But then he found the Lord. And I was invited to his church. They have a great preacher! I mean, I was tired of hearing him talk. 

So I gave him a month to get together the money and no-I'm not accepting $50 at a time for $800+ of damage. Then he tried the tactic of - well, you probably have a $500 deductible ... Sir, my insurance isn't paying. Yours would. ... Oh yeah, well, I heard even if you aren't at fault your insurance could go up... No sir, my insurance will not go up. 

Can you see why I have a headache? I really want to file with insurance because I'm lazy. But I am trying to do the right thing for the little damage that was done. But I seriously feel like he's going to run out on this and try to leave me with the bill. And I told him I'd call back tonight with an estimate on rental cars. Ugh. 

So I left work early, came home and enjoyed a three hour hot bath. Not that it solved my problems but I swear, it helped. 

Any thoughts on this situation? Because I can tell you, my dad thinks I'm nuts and that I should file with insurance to be done with it. Man it would be so much easier or to do it that way. I'm not sure I'd ever agree to something like this again. 

Sigh. 

Let's look at happier, more fun times! Like a few of my coworkers and I went to conference in Myrtle Beach (let's not discuss how cold it is in January!!!) but it was fun. Really enjoyed my villa-mate. We are Hot Tamales!! Hahaha!!! 

This lady will crack you up! Had some great convo with her, as well. Love good talks. 

Came home to this sweet thing, that I missed so much while I was gone. She is what makes me home sick when I'm away from home! ❤️

My happiness meter was overflowing when I took half a day from work (on my first day back from conference) to babysit these cuties!!! 

Can we say TEETHING?! Poor fellas. But oh they are soooo snuggly! Growing so fast! I love every moment I get with them. 

Holy smokes, as I'm typing this, I just made a sale on Etsy!! That's two for today(which is unheard of). Wow, I'm excited! I sewed like a madwoman this past week, trying to up my stock. Looks like that was a good thing :) 

Some of my bibs in the store I sell them. Spent part of Saturday working on inventorying all I had for sale there to better track everything. 

Totally missed the super bowl and its commercials. That's another story that we'll just skip for now. But look at all these great times!! These blessed moments!  Life is good and I needed to take a moment to realize that. Thank You, Lord, for all You have given me. ❤️ 

Repeat.

This message keeps coming to mind: I'm not familiar with anything in the Bible saying God won't give you more than you can handle. Who came up with that, anyway? God does give us more than we can handle to make us understand we need HIM. If we could handle it all on our own, why would we ever look to the Lord? That makes more sense to me. Something I'm still chewing on.

Already I've not followed my #nestingwithjesus like I wanted to his year. Time to hop back on the horse and open my Bible ... Or app, whichever one works for me. I love my Dr Charles Stanely study Bible (www.intouch.org) but the Bible app having many different versions at your fingertips also has merit. Sometimes it helps me understand a verse to read a few versions. She Reads Truth taught me that. 

Dolls my mom made for me when I was a child. Macy enjoys playing with them now :)

Last week at the end of a doctor visit, I mentioned a total medical miracle that happened in my family I thought she'd be interested in. The conversation moved along to her asking me to pray for a friend's salvation. I was very humbled she asked - so add this request to your prayers, if you feel so moved. Thanks. 

Anyone else addicted to PBS programming right now? Sunday night: Mercy Street, Victoria, and then a show about Henry 8th and his 6 wives. Loving it!! Trying so hard to be patient and not spoil Victoria but they realllly left us hanging. Mercy Street did, too. Now to get Poldark back up and running. Man I need to invest in some series on DVD! 

Have I shared this already? My sister and I took Macy to her school parking lot last Sunday so she could practice riding her bike. She was so cute! She loved it! Asked this weekend - Bethie, do you remember me riding my bicycle in the parking lot? Hahah! The storms this weekend kept us all indoors. 

She also entertained us with puppet shows in the puppet tent my friend, Donna, and her niece, Ellie, bought Macy for Christmas. She's loving it. Luckily my mom fits in the tent with her so they can both put on shows. Hahaha

Macy begged for a Panther Drink! Oh no!

Ok I'm headed for bed 2 hours after my self-appointed bedtime. Have a great week! 

Nesting in 2017

Once I was so excited about blogging and obviously that enthusiasm has waned. Makes me sad because I loved having this as a type of journal to see what happened when. Maybe I'll do better this year :)

2016 brought a new school year for the ninth grader and put Macy into full-time school as a 4-K student. She loves it (thank heavens)! We'll overlook that one incident early in the year where she bit a kid for stealing her toy. Bet he didn't make that mistake twice. (I really shouldn't laugh, but I'm the aunt and can get away with it.)  

So thankful for the blessing of my nephews and watching them grow up. Christmas was different - we had two sickies here and after one twin ended up in the hospital after catching a respitory thing, they couldn't risk being around the sickies. But I had a day of keeping them and snuggling them leading up to Christmas. Already took another day off from work in 2017 to do it again. :) Gosh they are sweet boys! 

I'm very excited that 2016 brought me courage to sew, to sell bibs & burb cloths  in a local store and online, make pillows, it's been a great adventure! Now I'm planning a few quilts, and trying larger projects. 

Baby quilt for my friend, Paulene's, baby girl. Such a cutie!!! 

2016 is gone now and 2017 already brought us snow, sleet and freezing rain. That's some fun stuff (please note my sarcasm). While my sister took Macy to our neighbor/cousins' house to sled, I enjoyed a hot bath. That's the way to enjoy snow. 

Sweet niece #2 and her mama (my sister)

Sweet niece #2 

My sister and me this morning. 

One thing I'm trying this year is Nesting with Jesus, a devotional onAnc Instagram with Nick Holden. In addition to his great explainations of the passages, his pictures are amazing. You can join too by searching #nestingwithJesus. Maybe it will touch your heart in a meaningful way. 

Another thing I've dove into is Ancestry.com and a DNA test. It's been interesting finding kin folk and figuring out how we are related. Thankfully my cousin Floyd has a lot of family researched already and that makes it much easier. Met some strange folks, too, that I'll be backing away from shortly (related or not!). It's almost creepy how DNA works and how strangers are walking around with your DNA, too. CrazzzY. And fascinating. :)

One last photo to wrap up 2016 and welcome 2017 - I did this for Mom's birthday on January 3. I'm missing Aliah and Roger but they are part of the love, too. This family has experienced trials, but the Lord is always there with us. I'm not saying we always remember that, but it doesn't change the fact that He is still there. 

Happy 2017, y'all!! 

Sorry folks, I totally fell asleep on you - but I'm awake and in a rush now. No winning!  I know I'm giving a photo dump-sorry about that but I like looking back and remembering what all was happening around the same time frame.

Daddy and Macy playing on the iPad. 

Macy saw her first movie in a theater (a local place called Sylvia, you should check it out) and she loved it!! The Secret Life of Pets. I wasn't that impressed but it was talking animals and a cartoon so she loved it. 

Clay turned 45 and he and Angela had us all over at their house. Her family and ours! So good to visit with the whole group. Look at Liam-Is he not a cutie! 💗💗 Love those boys, Heaven help!

Sweet Kellan had some surgery and I kept Liam. I was a little nervous but he was good as gold. We snuggled and rocked, ate up our food like a champ, cleaned up and played tummy time and supported sitting, back to snuggle and sleep. I sent pics to his parents all morning because I knew they were missing him fiercely. Kellan came through surgery well and Liam was a sweetie with me all day. God continues to bless those sweet boys 

 I hosted a Keep Collective jewelry party. I wasn't too excited until I played with the jewelry and fell in love. This is my set with four hearts, one for each niece and nephew. No one can have any more babies because I'm out of room. Hahah! 

Caught up to this week. Macy's mom had a conference in Columbia so mom and I took Macy on an adventure. We stayed in the same town so she could see her mama at dinner time but she stayed with us. The highlight of the trip was Edventure, the children's museum. She loves that place. 

One event just broke my heart and it was when two older girls started making fun of Macy. I wasn't paying them any attention so I had no idea until it was over. But sadly, she knew it and as they were getting ready to leave our area, Macy said those girls were making fun of her in the saddest, most pitiful voice. My mom said they weren't and made one of the girls tell her they weren't but the snide laugh at the end negated all that. 

The kids were with a daycare from the county beside ours and were wearing the daycare's shirts with scripture on the back. As much as I wanted to find those kids and point out what horrible examples they were of God's amazing love for us, I knew I was also a horrible example. 

I was mostly saddened by the fact at age four, Macy knew they were making fun of her. That innocence is gone already. A do know it will get worse before it gets better but it doesn't mean I can't wish for something better. 

While we were in Columbia this past week we were able to visit my friend, Paulene and her precious baby girl, Paige. What a sweetheart this adorable baby girl is! So outgoing and happy. It was so wonderful spending time with them both. 

I'm still sewing, lots of bibs and burp cloths. But a friend asked for a pillow for her to gift so there you go! Flannel front so it's really soft. It's getting mailed tomorrow. :) 

This Saturday and next I'm in a quilting class, learning so much!! Our project was to make a star block and we did that in class one. I enjoyed it so much, this is what I created at home. I want to bind in blues. And if I ever get motivated, I"d like to do one for every season for wall hangings :)  we'll see how it goes. 

So we've had some interesting days recently. I've already mentioned baby Kellan and his surgery. He goes back to the doctor Monday. 

Mom's knee "popped" this weekend and she's on crutches. She doesn't want to go to the doctor because they'll tell her she needs surgery and she's not interested in that right now. Hopefully the two days of rest will help her knee recover. 

Then my brother-in-law has his third back surgery the first week of August. Big time surgery. It's his only chance of getting this pain down to something bearable. Please pray. We are very concerned. There is a team of surgeons coming in for it. Will take all day. As the doc said - this is the big league. We appreciate all prayers, spirit fingers and good vibes. 

Well, that's my life right now. Thanks for tuning in after weeks of silence :) 

Pray to God!

Oh gracious - I'm in a hotel room, my mom and Macy is in the bed beside mine. Macy has tried every thing under the sun to keep from going to sleep. But just now she GASPED and said, "MawMaw! We forgot to pray to God!" It made me proud of her. A lot of what she's done has made me proud this week. She's a very kind, loving, smart, perceptive girl. I'm so thankful I have the chance to see her grow from the house next door.

Macy playing at the children's museum earlier today. Holy cow, keeping up with her was a workout!!

I haven't blogged since May. Life became hectic with the work life. Thankfully we are all taking time off to spend with our families before it really cuts loose. 

Two of the cuties I miss when work kicks into overdrive.

I work for elections. We had two days of primaries because we had a run off. That's in addition to two days of presidential primaries and a smaller election. Another tiny one in August and the Mac daddy election in November. Heaven help because my life gears up in September. Sigh. 

I've really gotten into sewing bibs and some quilting. The bibs... Well I went a little crazy and signed up for a shelf in a local store. I have 40 bib/burp cloth sets and Katie has 7 paintings so our shelf is a bit crowded. 

Then I finished my first pieces pillow for a friend's birthday. I really enjoyed making it and was tickled to give it to her when she came to visit. 

Thankfully, an online friend sent me a link to teach about the envelope back-love it!! Thanks Renee!!

Macy turned FOUR and Clay and I bought her a bike!! I think she loves it and is learning to peddle :)

We also had a family reunion where the twins were introduced to mom's family. Those boys loved all the attention and were soooo good. Love these boys!!! 

Angela and Kellan 💗

Fourth of July nieces!!

 

A friend gave me a ticket to see Wizard of Oz with her. Loved it! Great props. It was a really neat show. :)

I'm literally am falling asleep now. Let me post this and write again soon. Night friends!