Jessica's Turn

  Yesterday was an exciting day for my Jessica. Actually this past week has been good for her. She was asked by some friends, to go to a concert at Calvin's Cafe and take some pictures of a band. She was so excited to get the experience. She got some really good shots. Thought I'd post my favorite one here. The name of the band is "Joanie Hears Voices".

Then later in the week I decided to model for her. She again got some really good shots.

Did I mention what a proud Mama I am? 

Yesterday, she was babysitting at the neighbors and while outside with the girls they found a little baby ringneck snake. They all got so excited! They got it caught in a bucket and observed it, while they googled it to find out what it was. Once they learned that it was a non-poisonous snake they released it back out in the woods. 

 The pictures make it look kind of big, but it really was a tiny thing. I love that they get so excited over researching one of God's little creations.  God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. Gen. 1:25

 How wonderful to see the world and the works of God through the eyes of children. Thank you Father for your precious blessings.

Blessings to All ~S~

Questions?

  Lately we've been listening to a Chris Rice cd that Kelly bought for me. There are a lot of great songs on it, but the one that we've been listening to the most is call "Questions for Heaven".

  It's made me think about when Aimee was little. She would come up to me and say "When I get to Heaven I'm gonna ask God when his real birthday is."  She had a sort of list that she would ask. I wish now that I had written them all down, or recorded them in some way. I still remember a few of them, but there were so many that I can't remember. Makes me sort of sad. How I wish that I had documented so many more things from when my kids were little. So now I will have to sit down and write down all of the things that I remember that my children did when they were little. Perhaps one day I will post them here or maybe just keep them close to my heart in a journal.
   Blessings to all, ~S~
 
 

His Flock

He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. Isa. 40:11


   A promise from God.  
   I sit here in the cool morning air of the changing season, summer to autumn. I love the cool mornings and the warm afternoons. It is a time of reflection. 
    This morning I'm thinking of all of the years that I have home schooled my children. This is our twenty-first year. When I started I was so scared. Then God brought this verse to my attention. 
    We are his flock, and He is our shepherd. Such a comfort to know that we are in His arms and close to His heart. He is leading us and has lead us through so much these past years.  He has filled in where my shortcomings were. He has placed wonderful friends in my life for encouragement, for math/algebra, grammar, literature and science. All weak points for me. But not for the creator.
    I see His hand in all the memories that I have with my family.
    Yesterday, my sweet husband's Dad and Mom came for a short visit. I shared with them the salsa that I had canned. They liked it. I had made a green smoothie for our lunch and saved a little for my Father in Law. He liked it! 
     My Mother in Law even told me that she was impressed with the way I had changed over the years. ( I don't think that I've really changed that much, but three years after R and I were married, I gave my life to Christ and that did make a difference. ) I think that she has changed and mellowed over the years too. She told me that I was a very good daughter, wife and mother. (don't mean to sound like I'm bragging here) It brought tears to my eyes, we've been married 25 years. 
    Bit of history. I met my husband through a mutual friend. We didn't date, just talked on the phone a lot and became friends. After about 1 1/2 years he drove almost 700 miles and asked me to marry him. I said yes, how can you refuse your best friend? Four months later I moved south and we were married. Most of his family and friends didn't gives us six months, some didn't even give us six weeks. But God had his hand in our lives. Through a series of events and introductions to people that were very strong Christians, I came to know that it wasn't just knowing that Christ existed, but having a relationship with Him.  Twenty-two years ago I put my hand in His and I haven't looked back. I rest in the knowledge that He is with me everyday and holding my hand. Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall. Ps. 55:22
    Thank You Lord for your strength, your peace, your guidance.  I am grateful that you are bigger than the problems of this world and that my family fits in your hand and that we each have a place in your heart. I pray that each day you will hold us tightly in your arms and that where I fail as a parent, wife, daughter, teacher, that you will quicken my spirit and guide me back onto the path that is your will. 
     Blessings to All ~ S~ The Quilted YaYa

Family, Heritage & the dreaded GPS

    I know it's been awhile since I posted. But I've been really thinking a lot about how to write this. So many things happened on our trip and I have had a hard time putting my thoughts down into words.
  But here goes...
   Cleaned a house on Wednesday.
  Day 1 of our Adventure:  On Thursday the girls and I got up bright and early, 4:00 a.m. and started loading up the truck. We pulled out around 5:30 and headed for Greensboro, NC. It's about a nine hour trip that took us ten (10) hours to complete. Everything went well until we got to Atlanta, where we sat in traffic for about 20 minutes. Over all not to bad for down town Atlanta. Although I will say at that point the GPS was not my friend! When we finally got passed the traffic the GPS got us back on track and we were headed for South Carolina. So far so good. I liked my GPS again. :)
    As we were driving out of SC, I asked the girls what they wanted to eat. Sonic was the unanimous choice. So we consulted our wonderful GPS and it told us that there was one two exits up from where we were. I drove to the exit, pulled off of the interstate and began following the voice commands of the woman in the GPS. DON'T TRUST HER! Ten miles down the road I still didn't see a Sonic. We turned around only to discover that the exit we got off of the Interstate at didn't have a re-entry! So now I had to travel through the other half of the town we were in to find the entrance. Guess what! The GPS was not my friend again!
    We finally got back on the Interstate and traveled a little further down the road. I saw food signs on the road and I told the girls that if we couldn't see it from the exit we were getting right back on. Fortunately for all our tummies we found an Arby's within two tenths of a mile. It was good, but later that night Jessica didn't feel so well and her roast beef came back up.
    So four hours later we finally arrived at my Sister's home and she had a wonderful home made pizza for us. I love my Veronica!
   Day 2: We woke up early again and loaded our luggage into my sisters truck. Programmed the sometimes dreaded GPS with our next destination. We stopped at Tamarack at Beckley, WV. and spent about two hours there. We could have spent more time exploring but we had to get back on the road and head to Fairmont. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful since we really knew the way without the GPS. We arrived and our sister Tammye was there with our niece - Mariah and nephew - Bill.
  Day 3:  Saturday, Family Reunion Day! Everyone up and ready to go. Well almost... We were all ready by about 11 a.m. We headed for the Italian Heritage Festival first that was being held downtown Wheeling. We arrived 1 1/2 hours later and walked several blocks to get there. Wheeling is a neat little city but I'm telling you they don't know anything about Italian Heritage! The festival was about 4 or 5 blocks and I think  they only had about 2 booths that were actually Italian in the midst of Hispanic, Asian, American, and Greek. We had a great time but didn't stay very long. Even the music was 70's rock and roll or something. We laughed about it and then left for the reunion.
   Once at the reunion, I grabbed my girls and walked into the middle of all of my cousins, Aunts and Uncles that I hadn't seen in a long time. The first family member that remembered me was my Uncle Victor. I have told the girls so many stories about him from when I was a kid.
    When he was young he was injured in an accident at a butcher shop and lost his four fingers on his right hand. When we were kids he'd chase us with the hand that only had a thumb. We had the best time and loved when he would do that. We would scream and run and laugh so hard.

Uncle Victor and Me

the bridge at Wheeling

the Italian Festival that wasn't

The Ohio River

My Cousins Donne and John Ray 

Veronica and myself playing Peek

Veronica & cousin Sam

Tammye (sister) and my Mom (Anna Marie)

Uncle Ray & Aunt Madaline

Antonio, Giovanni, Aimee, Jessica

Gloria, Giovanni

     The first thing he did as I introduced him to Aimee and Jessica was hold that hand up and stick his thumb in the air and said "I'm number ONE!" Aimee, laughed and looked at me and said "He's for real!"
    I love my family.
    The rest of the time was spent eating and playing games while visiting with everyone. The day ended around 8 p.m. and we were home by 9:30 p.m.
      Later that evening a storm moved in and while the storm was a way off we were outside watching the lightning show. Jessica got some really awesome shots. At one point Tammye and her daughter Mariah were outside trying to get shots on their cell phones. The lightning hit and thunder cracked so loud that Tammye almost ran Mariah down trying to get into the house. Aimee was standing on the porch taking video and explaining to the viewer that this was her crazy family standing out in the yard taking pictures of lightning. (See previous post) All in all it was a fun time. We made some great memories.

     Sunday Day 4:  My sister Tammye and Mariah and Bill left to go home this morning. Veronica and I decided to walk to the river and Jessica and Aimee went with us. The walk down was fun. 
Climbing back up the hill was a little different. Aimee has allergies and as we climbed upward in the heat and humidity she had a hard time breathing. (We went to the Dr. when we got back home and found that she has exercise induced asthma) We walked very slowly going back to my Mom's. But that was OK too. We just enjoyed the walk and the exercise.

 After we got home we went to visit our cousin Angie who had been in the hospital due to a fall. It was great visiting her.
Day 5- Monday - Back on the road again heading to NC. Along the way we stopped at a cute little quilt shop in Va.
Tuesday- Day 6: was spent resting at my Sisters home and getting ready to leave on Wed. Pretty uneventful.
Day 7: Homeward Bound. It took us nine hours and I was so ready to be home. I love going and visiting people and places. But, it sure is good to come home and to have a home to come too. I missed my Hubby and my Kelly, and from the way things looked when I got home, they sort of missed me too. :)
   Blessings to everyone ~S~ The Quilted YaYa