hallelujah!

He is

not here,

He has

RISEN.

Mark 16:6

 

 

God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’

                                                --Billy Graham

 

On this Good Friday, TLC and I wish each of you a blessed Easter Sunday, weekend, holiday.

posterity...

When TLC and I started this blog in January of 2011, I don’t think we ever thought we’d still be posting—six years later. And we certainly never thought about having it printed. In book form. Somewhere along the way that year, I learned of a company that does this and knew it would be a great idea—for posterity. For Little Leighton (LL) and Baby Elle (Belle).

I just received our sixth copy! Here it is (It’s yellow with a picture of LL and Belle on the cover.)…together with the other five that came before it.

Yes. These “books” look like annuals. But let’s face it—that’s what probably 75% of the blogs out there are, right? Memories. Stories. Pictures. In some sort of chronological order.

I keep these in our Safe Room. (A room that was built to—hopefully—protect us from tornadoes.) Sadly, for me, they won’t fit in our actual safe that’s housed inside our Safe Room. We have shelves all around the room where we store important photos, books, etc. Objects we pray won’t ever blow away! These live on one of those shelves. There's only one copy for each year. Making them priceless to us.

I’m going to believe these “annuals” will be important to LL and Belle at some point in the future.

In the meantime, I’ll take good care of them. I’m not certain how much longer TLC and I will do our blog. For now, we still look forward to finding a few minutes of time—two to three days a week—to put in writing our experiences, thoughts, discoveries. Prayers. And to commemorate milestones in Our Precious Little Girls’ Lives.

We thank each of you who have been with us from the beginning! It means everything that you’d hang in there and share our (often silly and ridiculous) journeys. Thank you, also, to new readers who have found us. We’re truly grateful for your time and interest!

Here’s to a Weekend Full of (Safe) Shenanigans!

Love and BIG HUGS…

ELC

p.s.: My Sweet Hubby and I are going to have Little Leighton spend two nights with us this weekend! It’s been too long and we’re all three (five—counting Buddy Boo Bear and Hunter the Cat) looking forward to every second...You might be forced to hear all about it at a later date...winky wink.

wrinkles...crushed violets...BIG adventures...

I wanted to tell y’all about my birthday celebration! Humour me, okay? I'm old. Ish.

63. I cannot believe that. But apparently it’s correct. Honestly? I don’t really care how old I am. I care not one teeny tidbit that I have wrinkles. Grey hair. Some extra poundage in many places on my body. I only want to be able to walk! Move! Grammy Nanny my Grands! So far—so good.

I don’t need gifts—not at this point in my life. What I’d rather have are experiences! Lunch. Dinner. A card. A text. A phone call. A movie. Time with family and friends. (PLEASE DON’T GET ME WRONG: I’m deeply and truly grateful for every thoughtful gift I receive! They’re just never necessary. I’m fairly certain most women my age would say the same thing. And yet I also buy gifts for family and friends. You hate not to. I realize this.) But let me try to tell TLC not to get me a gift. That does not go over well. She is, IMHO, Queen of Etsy/Nordstrom/IG. She deals in “DEALS!” She is, without one doubt, a Shopper Extraordinaire. (She needs to make a living with this talent…I’ve never been more serious. She also wraps gifts beautifully!) She’s ALWAYS going to buy me a gift whether I want one or not. Same goes for My Sweet Hubby. Therefore, I’ve learned to be proactive and, well, frankly, instructive. One might say BOSSY. Oh, well. I am who I am.

In February-ish, I told TLC I would love a Mark Twain saying I cherish to be printed and/or framed.

Here it is: (It’s placed, in our bedroom, near my great-grandmother’s rocker—which was brought to Texas from England in the early 1900s. Her daughter, my grandmother, Nana? If y’all have been reading our blog very long, you might remember how important she was to me.)

And…up close:

My Nana loved African violets, violets and pansies. This beautiful saying is especially significant to me because of the violet reference. But also because I’ve had problems with forgiveness in my past. Well, maybe still. Up to this moment. As I type.  I feel I can, and do, forgive. Eventually. I struggle with forgetting what someone has done—or not done—to or for me. Basically, I suppose, to sum this up: I hold grudges. I’m not proud of this. I’m only wanting to be completely honest. And to change.

To forgive someone the very SECOND they hurt me? (The moment the violet is crushed it forgives the person that crushed it…the MOMENT.) Like Jesus Christ, Our Savior. Right? Hmmm…I’m not good at that whatsoever. I must start to improve. Soon.

Now I look at this beautiful "art" every day—morning, noon and night. And I think about it. I let it challenge me. I treasure it and could not love TLC more for finding the perfect person to make it for me! Thank you, Daughter. You ROCK.

MSH did two WONDERFUL things for my birthday:

First, he (through TLC, His Personal Shopper) bought me a pair of Kendra Scott earrings I’ve coveted. I’m not obsessed with Kendra—not as much as TLC. I’m more of a Brighton Kind-O-Gal. These are positively LOVELY. Turquiose. Not too big—not too little. (Yes. He gave me some small Kendra turquoise earrings Christmas before last. I determined I needed these, too. Winky. Wink.)

THEN—sort of last minute-ish: He took me to Fredericksburg, Texas! Y’all know how much all three of us—me, TLC and MSH—ADORE Fredericksburg. None of us had ever been there—in all of the many, many trips we’ve made over the years—during “Bluebonnet/Indian Paint” season!

We left our casa a week ago this past Monday. Dropped Buddy Boo Bear off at our Vet’s clinic for boarding. Arrived in Fredericksburg by noon and loved every single second of our adventure for the next 48 hours! I got to see Sunny’s Sweet Sister, Gunny, at a store on Main Street called “All Gussied Up!” Is that the most precious name EVER? It’s got GREAT clothes, jewelry, etc. A must if you’re in Fredericksburg! Lucky TLC received two beautiful tops from there. Because I am the BEST Mom. It’s early Mother’s Day, TLC. Remember that, please. Gunny and Sunny could be twins. I kid you not. It was MAJOR fun visiting with her and one of her co-workers. Sweet, SWEET, funny, charming women!

Here’s the best part: I gained no weight! Not even an ounce! In fact, I actually lost a couple of ounces. Woo Hoo and Yippee! I haven’t been able to go to a Weight Watchers meeting in three weeks. Tomorrow morning I’ll find out how much I’ve officially lost in that amount of time. I have high hopes it’ll be at least three pounds. Pretty much devastated if it's less. I shall, however, trudge through the trauma and move on.

I’ll pray each of you gets to have A Magical Adventure soon! We all need them. No matter how old we are, right?

Smooches and BIG HUGS,

ELC

one more shot...

I went East Thursday morn to see My Three Girls. Always fun, memorable times for this Grammy Nanny.

Little Leighton (aka LL aka Biscuit) never ceases to amaze me. This trip she was perfect—in every single way. (And this just ain’t a proud Grammy braggin’…it’s the TRUTH. Winky. Wink.) Baby Elle (aka Belle) started pushing a little toy around their playroom that helps babies/toddlers learn to walk! I was trying to show her on Thursday afternoon how to do it. Yesterday afternoon, as the three of us played, LL, Belle and moi, Belle crawled over to it, pulled herself up on it and AWAY SHE WENT! She couldn’t steer it. She’d run into something that would stop her—a wall, the couch, another toy. I’d get her going again and off she’d go! She would have done it forever if we hadn’t had to stop for her early dinner. I feel like she’s very, VERY close to walking on her own. Get ready, TLC!

Got home at 8:40ish last night. Pooped. In a great way. (My Sweet Hubby had finished many little projects while I was gone, including vacuuming our entire casa. I'm beyond lucky.) This morning, I had to go to town for a few errands. On my way home, the Alabama song “Give Me One More Shot” came on my radio.

I love country music. Y’all have learned this over the years. The fiddles. Steel guitars. Pianos. Drums. Lyrics. Emotions. Background voices. It all speaks to my heart and soul or makes me joyful. I love Alabama! And I TRULY LOVE this song! In my humble opinion, it could almost be considered a prayer. A poetic, sweet, down home prayer to Our Lord God, Almighty.

Here are the words (This was written by Ronnie Rogers, Teddy Gentry and Randy Owen.):

GIVE ME ONE MORE SHOT

(Sorry about the spacing on this. I can't figure out how to fix it. Dagnabbit.)

Life ain’t all that easy I can testify to that

It’s been up and down and round and round to get to where I’m at

If you could see how I’m living in this old car I drive

Well you’d probably wonder and even ponder why I even want to stay alive

So give me one more shot I’ll give it all I’ve got

Let me open my eyes to a new sunrise I pray

Give me one more chance I’ll learn to dance the dance

Well I’m satisfied just being alive give me one more day

Well I could complain about taxes or the weather we’re having today

Go on and on about things that are wrong from New York to L.A.

Well that’s just not my nature to sit around feeling sad

We’re only here for awhile so why not smile hey living ain’t all that bad

So give me one more shot I’ll give it all I’ve got

Let me open my eyes to a new sunrise I pray

Give me one more chance I’ll learn to dance the dance

Well I’m satisfied just being alive give me one more day

When I look around there’s lots of folks worse off than me

So I just thank the good Lord and ask him please

So give me one more shot I’ll give it all I’ve got

Let me open my eyes to a new sunrise I pray

Give me one more chance I’ll learn to dance the dance

Well I’m satisfied just being alive give me one more day

Well I’m satisfied just being alive give me one more day

Give me one more shot I’ll give it all I’ve got

Give me one more day

Show me the way and give me one more day

Give me one more shot

As we begin a new month in 2017, I pray each of you will keep your eyes open to the magic of life. The beauty of our world. The hope we can all have in Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior.

smooches and hugs…