Look At This Little Bundle of Sweetness!!!

Keith and Albina had a sweet baby boy this morning! She is doing great and they can't wait to introduce him to big brother Bash!

He looks just like his big brother except he has darker hair. What a blessing from the Lord our children are! Thank you Lord for our sweet grand son! We pray that He will grow to know you and love you and that he will do and accomplish wonderful things in his life. And as Sweet Auntie Em prayed this morning, may he never know a time of not knowing Jesus.

Baskets

I have always loved baskets. I have a very special family that I do counseling with at my home on Tuesdays. A couple of weeks ago, the children were walking around the house counting my baskets. They were asking, "Where did you get all these?" "Why do you have them?" etc. I have them because I like them. And nearly ALL of them came from a thrift store or second hand shoppe, a garage sale or some sort of sale! And then there are the two that were gifted to me from a friend. I love how curious children can be. These aren't all of them as photos can be redundant. :) But here are a bunch throughout the house.

Today Is National Son Day!

They are so adorable! I am so thankful for these blessings in my life!

If I had blogged back when they were little, such stories I could tell! haha...

I have to include Tim's Newborn Photo. This was 45 1/2 years ago. We didn't know if he would live, but here he is! God did a miracle in our lives!

A GREAT FIND

I love thrifting and the art of a great deal! Searching for one thing and then finding a treasure to bring home is just plain ole fun!

I found this baby at a Good Will thrift store in our area.

It is designed to look super old, but it is really just kind of old. The great thing about it, is that it has a slot for old cassette tapes. Cassettes were a big thing before CD's came on the market and we had a huge set of them because I used to work at a Christian book store that sold a lot of music! We were just talking about not keeping our cassettes as they have gone the way of VHS tapes, which we STILL have also!

So, I knew the radio part worked as I tested it in the store. When we got home, Mike said, I doubt the cassette part will work and I doubt the cassettes will be any good because they have been stored so long! We tried it and Horray! I listened to long lost music of the 1980s. :) Now I have a large collection of old music to go through including some of my favorite Christmas Music! And that season is just around the corner!!!
NEXT is to find a VHS player that actually works and doesn't cost an arm and a leg! Though, if you've been reading this blog for long you'll know I do have a few spare legs in the attic to bargain with! HA

BACKGAMMON ON THE PORCH! AND HER VERY OWN MUM.

It is finally cool enough for this!!!!

In the fall in Texas High Schools, Mums are a big deal for homecoming! Our sweet grand daughter Ilse, who is now 15 was given her very own MUM! She looks lovely!

Bundling Sheets

I've been bundling my sheets for a long time following THIS method! It works wonders and all your pieces are together and you just take out a bundle and change your sheets.

I replaced the sheets yesterday and washed the old ones. Today when I got them out of the dryer they were naturally bundled together! Not perfectly but I thought, "Hmmmm, I could leave them just this way!" And then I remembered! I threw a table cloth in there and a set of socks.... so no. I had to take it all apart and start over. Boo!

Problem Solving

Have you ever thought about problem solving in life, similar to problem solving in mathematics? I used to tell my children, "If you don't have the tools for math, which are memorizing math facts, knowing times tables, memorizing Prime numbers; then it is very difficult to problem solve and you won't love math!" But if you learn the building blocks, everything will come easy and you just have to learn the proper method for solving more complex problems in algebra. Easy formulas such as parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition and subtraction, (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally) are prerequisites for more advanced mathematics.

The same thing is true for emotions and relationships. You need the building blocks to solve relationship problems, or to learn how to discuss things properly so they don't turn into problems. Understanding your emotions and being able to identify them is important in communication. Expressing big feelings isn't enough of a definition for how another person is feeling. To identify the difference between sad, angry, disappointed, frustrated, confused, joyful, happy and satisfied, will help in developing commuication skills that are good problem solvers.


For a person to express tears of emotion and be able to say "I feel so disappointed that I did that", it can lead a parent to take that conversation to the next level and talk about the disappointment as well as how to express it without causing harm to ones self or another. A parent can come alongside in that moment and be encouraging to try again and offer solutions for what to do next. If a child is joyful, a parent can name the emotion to teach the child what it is they may be feeling.

Teaching our children what each word means and how to identify each emotion gives our children the tools they need to solve problems. We can be active in helping them identify the words and their meanings. Without the vocabulary and understanding of emotions, we may just get a lot of unwanted, misunderstood behaviors.

This isn't just for children, but for adults also and it works across the board in all situations. So be a problem solver, solution finder, encourager, and good communicator! If you do your homework in memorizing the building blocks, it will be rewarding in improving relationships!

Looking Back at 2020-2021

So much happened during the lock downs and then the following year. I came down with Covid in December of 2020. I blogged about that; something I don't even remember! I did wind up being diagnosed with long covid. I did not feel well for a long, long time and the severe brain fog continued. I remember getting into the shower to clean it in around 2022, and suddenly I felt faint. Then I remembered that I could not smell yet and I was using bleach to clean. I couldn't smell it, so I got out quickly with my nose burning, drank water and went outside for fresh air. Yikes!
Our son, Tim, worked as a special Ed teacher at a High School in Dallas, and when the covid shots came out, he was required to get a shot. It was the kind of, "you can get the shot or lose your job" volutary program. :(
The first shot made him very sick. Then came the booster. He was placed in ICU with large blood clots all over his body. One was 10 INCHES saddling between both lungs and pressing on his heart. He was sent home. They said he could die in the hospital or at home. It was a very solomn time for our family. I could not believe that the son who fought so hard to live as a baby, was now going to be taken out by an untested vaccine MRNA shot.

Everybody flew in to visit, and knowing Tim and his HUGE LAUGH, every time he would laugh people would say "BE CAREFUL". Nobody wanted to see him go.

Praise be to the Lord that our precious Tim is still with us, with his big laugh and joyful heart! He now works for an insurance company and is finally off of blood thinners.

A Celebration!

First things first! One my dearest friends came by to help us celebrate! Everybody was so excited to see her. She has known our famiily for over 37 years!

Keith,Albina, Sebastian and soon to be Jacoby came to help us celebrate also! It was so good to see them!!

Our son Joseph and his new bride Eden came to visit from Florida. We were so happy to see them and have a fun get together with 6 out of 8 of the kids, and grandkids were here (not pictured) also! I'm sad to see them go back home tomorrow but I know they will be back! Apparently there is this great deal with Frontier. Pay a certain amount then fly as much as you want for 6 months for around 16.00 a ticket. Sounds like a great deal for us to look into. I'm thrilled for Joseph and Eden and pray that the Lord blesses this marraige. I was so impressed with how much Joseph and Eden are alike. :) I'm blessed with a new daughter in law.

The Books Continue

I wrote about MOM, DAD and ME books in this post, and a few others. :)


Do you know that we STILL write in them? Our girls are married and on thier own, but every now and then a book will show up with a very sweet note. :)
I love it! What a keepsake they can pass down to the next generation after them!

Donato and Erika's Wedding!

My blog had shut down just after Sarah's wedding. Erika and Donato got married 6 months later! sooo 4 years later.....

She had a beautiful wedding with many special guests. Her wedding was a definite tip to Ukraine as it was surrounded by Sunflowers. Big Sunflowers! Donato's aunt decorated the reception hall with sunflowers cascading down the stair bannister and everything was just beautiful!

Every wedding has something funny happen. This time, was no different. I noticed during the early morning before the wedding we had run out of coffee cups. Then I noticed there were no cups, napkins silverware or plates for cake. The caterer's brought larger plates for the food. So as she was getting ready I went in and asked, "Did you plan for drink cups and cake plates, napkins etc? I got this hilarious stare. "Don't worry! I've got it!" Of course Uncle Bob was on his way down from Oklahoma and about 1/2 an hour away. And my sweet friend Lori was on her way. They stopped at every walmart between where they were at the time and the wedding location and bought all the cups and plates and napkins and silverware possible.

SAVED just in time! All was well, I let the bride know it was all taken care of and nobody knew, except you who are now reading this and a few sweet volunteers. :)

You can follow Erika and Donato's adventures in Europe on a 4 month honeymoon by clicking the hightlight.