Last weekend I got to visit my Grandmother while she was on a rare visit with my Aunt in Virginia, about an hour away. This was huge because it's the first time she's left her hometown since her house fire a year ago. I just pray that I am as spry and fly as she is at 90. Here she is with her great-great grandson.
I'm relaxing my "get your homework done" stance in favor of 60 minutes of play. You know summer is on the way when hoards of sibliings come on bikes and shoot hoops in the driveway. Unfortunately, I had to "make" them take Joseph, the six year old with them when they went to the park.
Personally, I think everyday should be Mother's Day. As usual, this past Mother's Day, Mom didn't get to do what she wanted to do...I actually had client work that needed to be finished by Monday so I was glued to my computer most of the day. I spent a few hours on the soccer field (again) and my son's team lost a gut wrenching game, so that wasn't so great, but here I am celebrating Mother's Day for the 24th year.
I'm all decked out in my flower, made by my beautiful kindergartener, I love that little boy!
Now some mothers would try to hang onto this very fragile tissue paper pipecleaner flower, but to be honest, I don't even know where it is now six days later!
Instead of it being clutter in my house, I'll print out this blog post and slap it in a scrapbook with the following story.
My sweet six year old Joseph just couldn't wait to give me his gift. He tried to give it to me Friday when he came home from school and then again early on Saturday morning. I told him that I love surprises and that I wanted to wait until Sunday. He did wait and he was the first one to present me with a gift, not one but two. The other flower was a handpainted clay flower pin that is blocked by this BIG colorful flower, one that's small enough to be stored forever in my jewelry box. I love being a mother, I love the joy and sometimes pain they give to me. I never thought I'd have more than two children, but I'm EXTREMELY grateful that GOD gave me what he thought I needed. They have taught me so much and continue to be the greatest joy in my life. Knowing so many people that don't have kids and want them, I'm blessed that my quiver is full, even though I went through what I thought were six dreadful pregnancies, I'd do it all over again, being a mother just adds another whole dimension to my life and I love everyminute of it...even when I have to exert tough love and take away privileges or cancel birthday parties. It's a tough job being a mom, but somebody's gotta do it, why not be me.
I love you, Talisa, Jeremiah (in heaven), Jerin, Leah, Jonathan, Joseph, and Tavien (Grandson)...and to my husband Jerry, thanks for having the most beautiful children in the world with me.
My heart sank today when I heard about Lena Horne's passing. She is just a year older than my Grandmother and was one of my Grandmother's favorite stars. I called my Grandmother to see how she was dealing with Ms. Horne's passing and she shared a nice story with me about the first movie she ever saw was the Lena Horne's movie, Panama Hattie. She saw it with her best friend Aunt Lucy and they both had fun watching the movie in the segregated State Theater in downtown Uniontown, PA. I asked her how she felt about being segregated and she said it didn't bother her at the time because she was sitting in the section with all of her friends, everyone she knew. (Funny that her school wasn't segregated, but the theater was.)
Here's my Grandmother around 1942 (the baby is my mom, a whopping 10 pounder delivered by my 5 foot, barely 100 lb grandmother)...when Lena Horne starred in her first film.
Notice the similar hairdo. My Grandmother never shhhh'd me unless Lena Horne was on t.v. Everytime she appeared on television, my Grandmother would wipe her hands on her apron, stop what she was doing and sit right down in front of the t.v. to watch her. I probably would not know who Lena Horne is if it wasn't for my Grandmother being and avid follower of this great singer and actress.
I thank the Lord today for giving me the opportunity to speak to my Grandmother and learn of this memory, I am especially thankful for my Grandmother's health and that she is making plans to vacation with us for 4 weeks this summer...can't wait!
With April coming to a close, I sure hope everyone has returned their Census document back into the government. It was a special day here in the Sanford household when we filled our out. The kids see how we travel to Virginia and research census documents on line and they understand the importance of the information. So I actually had the kids fill out the portion with their information and read through all the questions. Hopefully, one day their grand children will be excited over seing their handwriting on the electronic version of the 2010 census in year 2085.
SOCCER SEASON that is!
My camera is amazing, it was dark outside when I took this photo, not sure what the settings were, but the boys were kicking the ball around 7:15 pm and I told them 15 minutes...an hour later they were still out there, so I snapped a few photos...lucky me...they had on the same outfits (IT WAS NOT PLANNED) believe me, Jonathan hates when his little brother dresses like him.
Spring soccer season is in full bloom, but it's not that bad this year, practices for everyone's activities are on the same nights and the boys cames are on opposite weekend days so it's busy, busy, busy, but not 7 days a week like it was in the fall.
A few things we will be doing to celebrate God's beautiful creation and bring awareness to this beautiful earth we have been entrusted with.
What a beautiful day we had this Easter. Jerin fixed a fabulous brunch, church services were great, weather was beautiful, it was just a wonderful family filled day.
Our first Easter with no hard boiled eggs, my Dad really missed that tradition. Jerin created a bunny cake from cupcakes, that was really cool, reminded me of the one my Aunt Peggy made in 1974. We even had fun setting the table with Grandma Bryant's garden club china. What a blessed day!
Yesterday we removed some shrubs damaged by the heavy snowfall this past winter. As we raked the leaves I noticed what looked like dryer lint and I thought the birds had used it for nesting, then we realized that it was rabbitt hair and low and behold we uncovered a nest of four newborn bunnies. What a treat, we pray that the local fox or owl won't get to them since we cut away their coverage, but we got some face time with a rite of Spring...new birth.
Good Friday is always a special day to me, this year it was even more special. At the age of 6, at a Good Friday Service, where the church was set uplike a scene in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jonathan went forward during the altar call to accept Christ as his saviour. Over the last few years we've had conversations about accepting Christ and what eternal life means. This past October he had more questions so I directed this scene to explain things again. After repeated times of missing the baptism class, I just went ahead and called the church and they were glad to add Jonathan to the Good Friday Water Baptism list. What a special milestone in his life and mine...my Dad quickly drove four hours to be here for this occassion as well as his other Granparents and all of his siblings. I have no doubt that Jonathan will live up to and honor his name and his Lord.
Praise God!
