A wonderful Christmas this was...this was a wonderful Christmas. All of my children home in the Frozen Tundra...with their children. It just doesn't get any better than that. Right? I suppose.


Happy, NC fan and Beautiful left today. Bittersweet. I will miss them terribly, but will see them again in 4 months. But not at Christmas anymore. I'm sad that I will not see Beautiful open a Christmas gift. Or share Christmas memories as I do with Z-man, Flower, Bright Eyes and New York. I understand the whole waking-up-in-our-own-home-on-Christmas-morning tradition thing. I understand wanting to have that special time with the children. I do. But that doesn't make it any easier. Not when I know I am the Oma who misses it. I am sad today. Poor, poor pitiful me. Pathetic and pitiful.


So...my babies are beautiful...and their babies are more beautiful! And I can prove it. Take a look:
So, there you have it. A wonderful Christmas it was...it was a wonderful Christmas.

Now Arizona here we come! It better be sunny...that's all I have to say!

The Dedication and the Blustery Day

What a wonderful day this was! Well, except it was 24 degrees when we left for church and 16 when we came home. Oh yeah, and the 35 MPH winds.

Having ALL of my children, my sister and my parents in church with me this morning... dedicating Beautiful...it just didn't seem all that significant. I LOVE baby dedications. Especially when the baby being dedicated is family. Awesome.

"Do you promise to raise up your child in service to Jesus Christ?"

"We do."

"Do you promise to pray for your child and teach your child about the saving grace of
Jesus Christ?"

"We do."

The prayer...and Happy asked ME if I would sing. I did. I did not cry and ruin it. The Holy Spirit was a very present help in my time of...well, there was no real "trouble", but I sure didn't think I could sing for my baby AND her baby. But with the help of God...it was a "Masterpiece".

Then the charge to the family..."Do you promise to pray for this child and these parents? To be a present Godly influence in the lives of this family?"

"We do."

Random pics:

Again...MERRY CHRISTMAS!

They're here!

After a 3 hour fog delay in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Happy, NC Fan and Beautiful have finally arrived and our family Christmas is now complete! Oh how I missed them, and oh how overwhelmed I was when they finally walked through that door! How touching to see Chief FINALLY get to hold his Happy's baby girl. He was thrilled. There will be many more pictures of this wonderful week...but for now...

What a beautiful smile! She looks JUST LIKE HER DADDY!

Flower wants to play!

New York hugs her best bud Z-Man.

And Bright Eyes gets to hold Flower!

Bright Eyes, Rachigga and New York, respectively.

All in all it was a fun-filled, packed-with-family-and-food day! Don't these guys look happy together? Hmmmm...

Have a WONDERFUL Christmas!

"Ohhh...

...the weather outside is frightful..." ANOTHER post about snow?? (Snow...snow...snow...snow...SNOW...it won't be long until we'll all be there with snow... "Vermont should be beautiful this time of year, all that snow.") Ahhh... White Christmas!

And it is sure to be one this year! I am just so excited that my Mom and Dad are here, that on Saturday my little family will be complete with the arrival of Happy, NC fan and Beautiful, and Christmas this year will be full of warm fuzzies, hot chocolate and turkey. I love Christmas.

Don't you?

Baby it's COLD outside!

To coin a phrase from an old '60's song...Baby it's cold outside!! As often is the case here in the frozen tundra in December! It's cold and snowy and cloudy (at least until this afternoon...then it's clear) and crisp...and it SMELLS like winter has arrived. My love for the winter here has often caused a wrinkled nose or a disbelieving raised eyebrow from time to time. Still...don't hate! :~)

I do love the snowy weather. At least through January. I do like it to come and go, as with summer (I do not like the heat!); but, Old Man Winter likes to take his sweet time going back to where he hails...WAY up north! SO...complaining about the weather is like worrying to me. Wasted energy. Nothing I can do about winter. I choose to live here. I like it here.

The cold invigorates me. I sleep better in the cold. I love the hustle and bustle that winter brings. The hot chocolate, hot-hot coffee, great soups and stews...I love to cook in the winter. And the movies. Yeah, that's right...it's major movie time! Curl up on my recliner, in my freshly cleaned house that has homemade orange-cinnamon-clove potpourri simmering on the stove; and watch a glorious old movie. I LOVE those days! I am very sentimental. The movies need to be old...Christmas classics, of course, are the best. Still, it depends on what mood I am at that moment.

Today, it's soup, salad and bread for lunch with a friend...and maybe an old movie with Chief later. Anyone up for a little White Christmas?

Lullabies...

Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)

Irving Berlin

When I'm worried and I can't sleep I count my blessings instead of sheep

And I fall asleep counting my blessings

When my bankroll is getting small I think of when I had none at all

And I fall asleep counting my blessings

I think about a nursery and I picture curly heads

And one by one I count them as they slumber in their beds

If you're worried and you can't sleep

Just count your blessings instead of sheep

And you'll fall asleep counting your blessings

Oh the joy of singing a lullaby again! The softness...the quietness...the feeling of peace. A precious little baby snuggled on my shoulder in the tender glow of the faintest of light so as not to disturb her slumber. Beautiful baby...here on out to be known as Beautiful. Because she is. Because the word fits her, like Flower fits her. You know what I mean.



Counting my blessings is only ONE of the many things I have been doing since November 2, 2007 at 4:01 p.m. Counting...crying...sighing...wondering...staring in amazement...my emotions are different this time around. I am singing lullabies I sang to Happy as my baby daughter, and now I sing them to Beautiful as my baby granddaughter. Oh how I love her. Oh how I miss her. How I miss them both.


She is beautiful...just take a look...and sing a lullaby.

Baby Mine

(From Dumbo)

Baby mine, don't you cry
Baby mine, dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part, baby of mine
Little one when you play
Don't you mind what you say
Let those eyes sparkle and shine
Never a tear, baby of mine

If they knew sweet little you

They'd end up loving you too

All those same people who scold you

What they'd give just for

The right to hold you

From your head to your toes

You're not much, goodness knows

But you're so precious to me

Cute as can be, baby of mine.

How much we love our precious Beautiful...we hope you will see why!

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow...

It seems as if it will never come. Tomorrow. I leave tomorrow. To surprise Happy. Tomorrow. Her birthday is tomorrow. It will be the first birthday I have spent with her in four years. She will be 25. A milestone. I remember it.

But this is NOT about me. My Happy. My baby-girl. 25. Where has the time gone? I DO remember the night she was born...warm San Diego. Beautiful San Diego. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. All 10# 4 oz. of her! My first C-Section. All those hours of labor (almost 72)...the surgery...the pain...the stitches...the spinal...all but disappeared at the first glance at her beautiful round little face. She was beautiful. Peaceful. Curious from the very beginning.

Oh there are hundreds of stories...it's difficult to choose just one to share...so I won't. Because they are all awesome or hilarious or touching. All of them. She has that kind of "way" about her. Very outgoing...yet shy. Full of life...yet reserved. She is incredibly smart, beautiful, talented, fun to be around...she can make you practically wet your pants with laughter or cry with her sensitivity.


Okay, I said I wasn't going to share...but I have to share this...we were at a local Italian restaurant standing in line to order our food one day, and there was a family in front of us who had to leave because they couldn't afford to buy the whole family food from the menu. Yeah...you guessed it...she ran out after them and offered to pay for their lunch. That is just how she is. She hates to see people sitting alone in a any restaurant, she will offer to sit with them or have them sit with her. She is the first to offer not only money when needed, but a ride, her time, anything she can do to make someone else's journey a little less rocky.


And she loves Jesus. It's all around her and in her. You can see it. She doesn't need to say one thing. You know it just by being with her. Or by hearing her incredible voice. She has a beautiful voice. Which I do not get to hear that often. I had the absolute privilege to sing a duet with her the last time she visited home. It was an honor. Seriously...you should hear her.



Goofy with her Papa's glasses on!

Dad giving her away on her extraordinary day.

An extraordinarily beautiful bride!

Beautiful with her family!

So...tomorrow I leave to fly to where she is to surprise her for her birthday. And I get to stay with her for 18 days! I will be there when her first baby comes. My baby is having a baby. She is so beautiful. And awesome and wonderful and sweet and HO-HI-LARIOUS and the best wife and she will be the best mom ever... and she is my favorite 25 year old. Ever.

Happy birthday, Happy!