Category: Family

Spring Brings Hope

“Wait. Be Patient.

The storm will pass.

The spring will come.”

-Robert Shuller

It has been a tough five months, but we have made it through all the tests and doctor appointments, CT scans, and my husband’s three surgeries.

The outcome is positive and we are very hopeful.

Taking one day at a time, we survived the dark winter days.

Today, I know spring is on the way.

Just as the crocus come through the snow, our lives are showing signs of spring.

Yes, spring is coming.

Saturday we sat outside together on our crooked back porch.

The weather was 73 and beautiful.

Hopefully, just the beginning of warm days.

I also spent some time working on bringing a bit of spring into my home.

Using frames I already had, I simply printed out copies of spring flowers I found on Pinterest, beautiful cherry blossoms.

My sweet brother was the inspiration for this project.

When he texts me he attaches photos of flowers, all kinds, all colors.

It took very little time to finish this project, and now I have added spring colors and brightness to my living room.

Artwork is pricey, this is an inexpensive way to change art in your home.

Folks, we made it through five months of living in fear, but it is over.

Spring is coming and bringing with it hope.

Love to all for your prayers.

Until next time.

Our Thankful Day

Hoping you all had a blessed Thanksgiving with your family and friends.

Ours was quiet, simple, loving, and filled with thanks that the three of us were together once again this year.

The past two months have been filled with worry since my husband’s cancer diagnosis.

Worries from one test to another, from one hospital visit to the next, with faith getting us through each day.

I am so thankful for family support, my sister and brother have been amazing.

Our Thanksgiving meal was a traditional one, turkey, dressing, my husband’s gravy, but with one new recipe, “La Comedia Sweet Potato Souffle”.

La Comedia is a dinner theater in our area that we try to visit once a year with our good family friends. It’s our yearly “triple date”.

They have a wonderful buffet and Sweet Potato Souffle is their most famous entree.

The recipe was so easy and turned out wonderful.

I have the recipe at the end of my post.

You might want to try it for your Christmas dinner.

More scans ahead and then surgery in December, so for now we are taking each day as it comes.

We are so thankful that we have our faith to get us through this terrible time our family must go through, but with God’s help we will.

We do not know the outcome, but with support and love, we move ahead.

Love and prayers to all of you, and your families, take nothing for granted.

La Comedia Sweet Potato Souffle

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked sweet potatoes (mashed)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1/2 Tsp salt

1/3 stick butter (melted)

1 Tsp vanilla

Mix well , pour into a buttered pan

Topping:

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup butter {melted}

1 cup pecans

Crumble topping evenly over potato mixture.

Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes uncovered

Enjoy!

A Blessed Easter

Wishing all a blessed Easter on this holy day.

Maybe some of you are blessed to be together with family and friends today.

Ours will be small. just me, my son, and husband.

So very blessed and thankful to be together again this year.

It has been a tough year for all of us.

We will certainly enjoy our food, and I am sure my son will still, as old as he is, enjoy the Easter basket I made for him.

Just something Mom’s will always do for their children, no matter their age.

We will use this day to reflect on our risen Savior, pray, know Him, believe, and love Him, “He is not here, He has risen”.

Blessings.

A Special Christmas Gift

Quietly sitting in my living room, just me, in front of my beautiful Christmas tree, looking at photos of a niece I did not know for 21 years.

For Christmas she sent me an album filled with photos of her 22 years of life. Oh my goodness, it is wonderful, so wonderful.

On the back of each photo she wrote of her life, her family, and so much more.

How beautiful she is, inside and out.

I now know that fall is her favorite season, that sunflowers and roses are her favorite flowers. She loves flowers.

She hates birthday cake, birthday cookies, her choice.

She has a horse named J.N. and is accomplished in riding and competing.

That her grandfather somewhat taught her to play “Amazing Grace” on the mandolin.

There is so much more she shared on the back of each photo in this album.

Tears come when looking at her photos, how I wish I had been part of her life growing up. To take her shopping, to spoil her, to love her.

Tears of joy and sadness.

A perfect gift, one she took much time to put together.

How thankful I am for this gift, and for my beautiful niece.

Thank you for this special Christmas gift, I will cherish it always.

Thank you with all my love.

Christmas Memories

Yesterday was a cold, windy, and snowy day.

Brrrrr…..

Our first snow of this year.

It was a perfect day to stay in and work on a Christmas project.

I put together a sweet box of cards, let us call them Christmas memory cards.

One card for each day from today until Christmas Day.

I printed the cute, colorful cards out on my home printer, found them on Pinterest.

Love the whimsy winter pattern.

On the back of each card I typed a Christmas season related question.

Questions about remembering.

Remembering childhood at Christmas.

I have so many regrets that I didn’t ask my Momma questions about her Christmas days growing up poor in Kentucky.

Poor or not, knowing my Grandmother, I am sure she made Christmas for her children as best she could.

So each night at supper, I am going to read a card.

Allowing me, my husband, and son to recall old Christmas memories.

I placed them all in a bright box I found at Hobby Lobby for $2.00 with the 50% off sale.

Can’t wait for supper tonight so that my little family can talk about their Christmas memories.

I sure hope my son’s are special.

Hope you all loved my snowy day project as much as I did putting it together.

Stay warm, enjoy every single day of this season.

Love and blessings.

DIY Cupcake Stand

Before the Covid 19 shutdown, we were planning a baby shower for my niece Carrie, on March 21st.

Needless to say, it was postponed.

Her sweet baby boy was born on Easter Sunday, and is now 4 months old.

He is beautiful, like his Momma.

So now, me and my sister are planning a gathering in the park for Carrie and Baby Josh.

Having the shower in the park gives us lots of room for social distancing.

We are also busy planning a bridal shower in late September for sister’s granddaughter, my niece Amber.

We are having cupcakes instead of a cake. and I wanted a two tiered stand to hold them.

Could not find one I could afford, so I made one with some wood plaques, and other wood pieces left over from other projects.

I used two different round wood pieces, a chunky leg piece, and some small candle holders for legs.

Painted everything white, and using E6000 glue, assembled the stand.

It’s perfect, and will look so nice on the table.

Another idea is to serve a small cake on the top tier, and cupcakes on the bottom. Giving guests a choice of flavors, white cake, chocolate cupcakes. I like that!

Amber’s bridal shower will have a fall theme and my cupcake stand will look so lovely surrounded by fall colors.

Folks, I never thought at my age I would be having such fun planning showers.

God has truly blessed me, allowing me to be part of the lives of all my nieces.

So thankful.

I will post some photos of each shower.

What fun!

Love to all of you, every single day!

A Box for Christy

I am so blessed.

Blessed to have a niece, I did not know, come into my life.

Her name is Christy.

Oh how very lovely she is!

Our entire family is overjoyed that she has reached out to us, to get to know us.

Christy lives far from us, as of right now, we have not met, but my prayer is that God lets me live long enough to meet her, to put my arms around her.

Recently it was her birthday, and I wanted to send her something special.

I bought a wood box, painted it with several coats of white chalk paint, and finished with a vintage look knob.

Not perfect, but still beautiful, made with love.

I started gathering old photos to fill the box. Starting back to her Great-great-grandparents, the earliest photos we have.

On the back of each photo I added notes.

Who was in each photo, dates, things about her family she did not know.

My sweet sister helped me, sharing some of her photos, and also writing a special note on the back of our Momma’s photo, Christy’s, Great-grandmother.

As I gathered photos each day, just one more photo, don’t forget anyone, the box filled with well over one hundred photos.

I placed the photos, generation by generation, in the box, along with a ribbon tied note on top.

The box was delivered this week, and as I have written often, I love when a gift returns.

This is my gift back from Christy, she wrote,

“OH MY GOODNESS AUNT MARLENE. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. You have no idea how much your gift means to me. It is beautiful !!!! I am speechless. I’m sure this took so much time and effort, and that alone means a ton. I can’t get over how beautiful it ALL is. And my family is beautiful. I cried when I saw the box and you can imagine the tears that came after opening the box ! I am so in love. Thank you so so much.”

❤️

How blessed our family is to have Christy now in our lives.

Thanks to God.

Blessings and love to all.