Happy Birthday Matthew !

Happy Birthday to my baby boy !


~ 15 years ago you brought even more love to our home and hearts and you do each day !

Things I love about Matthew :

He is a Christian and loves Jesus !
He loves his family.
He is such a quiet, gentle soul.
He can carry a conversation on with a child or adult and has always been able to do so.
He is very intelligent.
He loves history and his father and I learn so much from him.
He loves to fish and we enjoy fishing together, he caught more than I did yesterday ! ( this seems to always happens :)
He enjoys video games, being outside, hunting, fishing, he is such a well rounded kid.
He loves nature and outside and is an awesome boyscout, working to become an Eagle scout one day.
He loves his big brother and looks up to him.
He is a great uncle to his new sweet baby niece.
He exercises everyday, wish I had his will power to do the same.
He loves to watch movies and we love to watch them with him.
He is a hard worker, helps with household tasks and keeps his room spotless.
He is always organized, neat and details must be perfect ( he did not get this from him mom :)
He loves to read, he reads novels that would take months, and he finishes them in weeks.
He loves his dogs and takes great care of them, Rocky his pug is his best friend !
He does anything we ask him to do without hesitation and does it right !
He is a teenager that I couldn't ask more from !


Wow, I could go on and on, because Matthew you are the best :)

Happy Birthday, we love you sooo much !

"Childhood goes like paper in a fire.
You cannot get those years back,
even if you search for them with tears."
~Renee Ellison

Time is going by too quickly and soon you will look back and say where did my childhood go ?
It is a blessing, a privilege, and a joy to be your mom !

Have a blessed Mothers day !

~ On this special weekend when people are honoring and remembering their mothers, I want to wish all you women a very Happy Mother's Day.
So very blessed to be the mother of two AWESOME sons !
So very blessed to have had such a WONDERFUL mother, miss her so much !
So very blessed to have such a GREAT mother in law !

So very blessed to be a CHILD of God !

Happy Mothers Day !

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy,

they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. ~Marcel Proust

"And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living."
~ Genesis 3:20 (NKJV)

Good Friday and Happy 1st Easter Mady Rose !

The apostle Peter said we are redeemed by" the precious blood of Christ’ (1 Peter 1:19.).
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble,
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Being a mother, you have to think of Mary as she watched her precious son give his life. Her baby being nailed to the cross. No words can convey how she must have felt that day.

Thank you dear Jesus, I am so undeserving but I praise you today and everyday and thank you for my many wonderful blessings you have so graciously given me.

Humble, EVERLASTING, unconditional pure love!

Madelyn Rose Howell , Happy First Easter, I love you so very much !

Thank you for the joy you bring to our family.

Thank you my son Josh and dear sweet Chambliss for being the parents you are to dear Mady.
When children see their parents are truly in love, they gain a sense of security and well being. Thank you dear Lord for this sweet family and extension of mine and Timmys love and most of all the love from God.

The first moment I learned you were on your way, I loved you. The entire time I waited for your arrival, I loved you. The first time I saw you, I loved you. The first time I held you, I loved you. Grammy loves you more and more with each passing day.

Yes, grandchildren are truly “GRAND”!!!!


Easter Blessings to you my family and friends !

I'm so excited !

I'm So Excited
I'm so excited and I just can't hide it
I'm about to lose control and I think I like it
I'm so excited and I just can't hide it !!!

Excited ?? Why ??

Because tomorrow is my birthday and I am praising God for another blessed year !

Yes, I will be 44, wow, cant believe that, sometimes I still feel like the little girl in this picture of me celebrating at " 6 " years old, where does time go ?

"One today is worth two tomorrows.
Lost time is never found again.
Time is money.
Dost thou love life?

Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff that life is made of.
You may delay, but time will not."
- Benjamin Franklin

This is my first birthday as a " GRAMMY "

Being a Grammy was something I looked forward to but

never dreamed it would be so

AWESOME !

My sweet little Madelyn Rose

is so precious beyond words and a pure delight to my heart !

Looking back on the years, there's been a lot of hard and difficult times in my life and I know there will be days ahead that will be just as hard and challenging. There are many things in life that still break my heart every day. But through it all, God has woven something so beautiful in my life and that beauty is simply HIM! Without him, I am nothing.

So with him, I am filled with JOY today for yet another birthday !

"the Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy!" psalm 126:3

Birthday Blessings

Instead of counting candles,
Or tallying the years,
Contemplate your blessings now,
As your birthday nears.

Consider special people
Who love you, and who care,
And others who’ve enriched your life
Just by being there.

Think about the memories
Passing years can never mar,
Experiences great and small
That have made you who you are.

Another year is a happy gift,
So cut your cake, and say,
"Instead of counting birthdays,
I count blessings every day!"
By Joanna Fuchs

So for yet another I thank you my dear sweet Lord for blessing me in so many ways.

So many blessings to share ~

Love, Salvation, Grace, Faith, Hope, Timmy, Matthew, Josh, Chambliss,Mady Rose, Sisters, Brothers,Cousins, Nieces, Nephews, Aunts, Uncles, ALL my huge family through blood and marriage, Health, Home, Education,Church, Friends, My dog babies....soooo many more.

He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Psalm 24 : 5

Thank you my dear sweet friends for stopping by today.

I pray that you have been blessed and will be a blessing to someone today :)

Sharing Saturdays

Today I am sharing one of my many favorite nursery rhymes

always loved this one !

Thanks Barbara for sharing yours and reminding me of my favorites.

Hey diddle diddle,
The cat played the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon,
The little dog laughed to see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the Spoon .

Love that cow jumping over the moon and the little dog laughing !

Cant wait to share favorite nursery rhymes with my

sweet new grandbaby girl Mady Rose !

Have a very blessed Saturday dear friends.

Draw near to God

Today is Word Filled Wednesday, I am joining in at http://internetcafedevotions.com/ .

~ Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. James 4:8 (KJV )


This is a verse I needed to read and share today. When I drawer nearer to God, he draws nearer to me. Praising God today for always being there for me in the best of times and the worst of times. Praising God for eternal salvation and my many, many blessings. Praising God for being near to me.

I pray that you are blessed today and that you be a blessing to someone today !

Tempt my Tummy Tuesday with salsa !

Today I am linking with http://www.blessedwithgrace.net/

to share a favorite salsa recipe.

~ Tempt my Tummy Tuesday !

Southwest Super Salsa

Ingredients
1 (14 1/2-oz.) can diced tomatoes and zesty green chiles
5 pickled jalapeño pepper slices
1/4 cup firmly packed fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation )
Drain liquid from tomatoes, reserving 1 Tbsp. liquid; discard remaining liquid. Place reserved liquid, tomatoes, and next 8 ingredients in a food processor or blender. Pulse 5 to 6 times or until finely chopped.

Cover and chill 1 to 24 hours before serving.

Garnish, if desired.

Serve with tortilla chips.

Makes about 2 cups, enjoy !!

Spiritual Sundays

http://bloggerspirit.blogspot.com

Today I am joining in Spiritual Sundays to be blessed and be a blessing to others !

Somebody Special calls me Grammy !

It has been sooooo very long since I have been on my blog, " time to fly back " !! I come back to my blog as a new " GRAMMY " as the shirt says, someone very special now calls me " Grammy " and I couldn't be more proud !

My beautiful grand baby girl " MADELYN ROSE " born 12-21-10 in Oxford MS

As you can tell, I have fallen in LOVE again !! Mady Rose, I love you so very much !

Dear Lord you are so incredible and awesome, I stand in awe at the works of your hands.

Dear Lord, thank you so much for this precious, tiny dark-haired beautiful blessing ! Thank you for her soft chubby cheeks, her lovely dark eyes, her little ten fingers and little ten toes for her precious heavenly baby scent, she is so perfect... thank you so much.

Josh and Chambliss are such wonderful new parents. This is the beginning of the greatest adventure they will ever undertake. They have received the most valuable gift, the gift of a new life. They have been entrusted by you to take care of this tiny child. There will be challenges and frustrations ahead but most of all their will be love, joy, and cherished memories.

" Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. " Psalm 127:3

As Mady grows, sweet memories of home will be her strength and comfort in her storms of life.I pray that this precious child will grow to love her creator with all her heart, mind and soul .

Her creator loves her so !

I thank you precious Lord again and again for this Special Gift you have blessed us with !

One of my favorite quotes :

" Children will not remember you fot the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them " ~ R.L. Evans

Happy Anniversary, my love.

US NOW..... US THEN....Today we have been married for 26 years over half of our life. Timmy and I married so very young, we actually grew up together.
I know the boy my husband was and I was there, holding his hand, as he became a man and he held mine as I became a woman.

Timmy and I have worked on our relationship over the years, we both had to do a lot of dying, crying, and have weathered many storms together.We have also done a lot of caring, loving, celebrating and enjoying each other.

~ Our wedding was many years ago. The celebration continues to this day ~
We have two amazing sons, that we love so much and are so very proud of. We also have a beautiful DIL and a precious grandbaby on the way, due Christmas.
It seems like only yesterday and it seems like so many years ago that we had our babies !

We have been truly blessed , thank you dear God.

1 Corinthians. 13:4-13
Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

And now faith, hope, and love abide, but the greatest of these is love.

~ I LOVE YOU, Timmy ! ~~~~~Happy ANNIVERSARY !

I Love You
I Love You,Not only for what you are,but for what I am when I am with you,not only for what you have made of yourself,but for what you are making of me.

I love you for the part of me that you bring out.

I love you for putting your hand into my overflowing heartand passing over all the foolish,weak things that can't help,dimly seeing there, and for drawing out into the light all thebeautiful belongings that no one else had looked quite far enough to find.

I love you because you are helping me to make of the dreams of my life

not a thought but a reality,Out of the works of my every day not a reproach but a song...Yes, a Love song.

~ Roy Croft

"The great blessing of a happy marriage I think,is that a man and woman have time to discover each other and cherish each other more as time goes on."

TAKING A SHORT BLOGGING BREAK,
WILL BE BACK SOON TO VISIT ALL OF YOU !!

Today I am linking with http://blessedwithgrace.blogspot.com/
for Tempt my Tummy Tuesday

and also with my friend Connie @ http://mealplanningwithconnie.blogspot.com/
for Finger Lickin Recipe Fridays !

~ Crock Pot Cheesy Potato Soup
8- white potatoes

3 cups chicken stock

1 onion, minced

1 c. heavy cream or half and half

6 c. of shredded cheddar cheese
Cube all potatoes. Add stock and onion. Cook on low for 8 hours.
An hour before serving, add cream and cheese.

Continue cooking on low until time to serve. Serve hot.
*You can add more cheese on top, bacon, chives, sour cream, whatever you like.

Serve with crackers, bread, cornbread, whatever sounds good !

~Enjoy !!

This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.—Psalm 118:24

O GOD of peace, By the might of your Spirit lift me, I pray, to your presence, where I may be still and know that you are God; Help me to be more humble, kind and show your love to someone today.
Amen.

Happy Birthday to my baby boy !

Today is a day of celebration, why? because,14 years ago today, God sent me another beautiful baby boy that we all fell in love with the moment we saw him !
~Happy Birthday Matthew !

You give the gift of peace
and tranquility to every life you touch.
You are precious to me.
You are blessedly reliable, dependably good,
pleasant, loved
and treasured by all who knows you.
You are sweet, responsible and a great teenager !
You are a gift of peace and tranquility in my life.
Happy Birthday!

Today I am linking with http://blessedwithgrace.blogspot.com/

for Tempt my Tummy Tuesday

and also with my friend Connie @ http://mealplanningwithconnie.blogspot.com/

for Finger Lickin Recipe Fridays !

This is one of my favorite banana pudding recipes a friend shared with me and I also made it for my sons 14th birthday tomorrow. He wanted pudding instead of cake !

Banana Pudding ~ no cook
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups cold milk
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (16 ounce) package vanilla wafers
14 bananas, sliced

In a large mixing bowl, beat pudding mix and milk 2 minutes. Blend in condensed milk until smooth. Stir in vanilla and fold in whipped topping. Layer wafers, bananas and pudding mixture in a glass serving bowl. Chill until serving.

My mother, Rose. I miss you so very much.


If Roses grow in Heaven, Lord please pick a bunch for me, Place them in my Mother's arms and tell her they're from me. Tell her I love her and miss her, and when she turns to smile, place a kiss upon her cheek and hold her for awhile.
Because remembering her is easy, I do it every day, but there's an ache within my heart that will never go away.


~Happy Mothers Day to all of my blogging friends and family !

This and That...

~Praising God that we are safe after this past weekend

that we had here in West TN.

These pictures are from some of the tornado destruction in the next nearby town.

We had tornadoes touching down all around us,

one only a few miles from our home.

Friends that had really bad damage to homes but thankfully none hurt.

We also had so much flash flooding across West TN, so much water everywhere.

~Praise God we did not have any major flooding in our hometown.

I do enjoy spring but not the terrible storms it always bring with it her in Tn.

Wow was I excited yesterday when fed-ex left a package at my door. I won this Ecosmart bundle of great nontoxic items. Haven't had a chance to use all of them but really like the family insect repellent.

A BIG THANK YOU TO my friend Pam @ http://momsmutterings.blogspot.com/ .

I love her blog, she blogs about family, her pets, nature, book and item reviews, its awesome !!

PLEASE join me in NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER

today Thursday May 6, 2010.

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

2 Chronicles 7:14

~ Today I am asking all of my blogging friends and their friends to join me in prayer to lift up this sweet child and her family during such a difficult time battling childhood cancer.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/elliepotvin

I have been a long time donater to St. Jude in Memphis and follow many of their patients and pray for them and their families. I happened upon Ellies blog through another I was following and was so touched by her mothers faith, courage and love.

I saw how awful this disease is and what a terrible toll it takes on the body and spirit when my mother fought the battle of breast cancer. Seeing what she went through as an adult, I couldn't imagine a child having to face this ugly disease, the treatments and long difficult days you endure. So I try to always give and pray for children fighting cancer.

Ellie Potvin, a 8 year old twin, was diagnosed with Stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma. I have been following her blog for over a year and now we must storm the heavens for a miracle for this little girl !

http://www.liftupellie.com/

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/elliepotvin

I also have a link on my sidebar to her website and they are also on facebook. Please visit and please Pray !

Love and blessings to you all !

YOUR FATHER KNOWETH

He knoweth the need of my life
For shelter and raiment and food;
In each trifling care of the day
The word of His promise is good;
He knoweth my thought from afar,
The wish that I never have told,
And every unspoken desire
His wisdom doth grant or withhold.

He knoweth the way that I take;
Each step of that way He hath planned;
And, walking through sunshine or storm,
I walk in the shade of His hand.
In deserts untrodden and drear,
Where foes in the darkness may hide,
He leaveth me never alone;
He sendeth me light and a guide.

He knoweth the need of my soul ---
The trial that calls for His grace,
The weakness that leans on His strength,
The fear that looks up to His face.
He knoweth what sifting is best
To scatter the chaff from the wheat
And lay all my self-righteous pride
Low down in the dust at His feet.

~ Annie Johnson Flint ~