Christmas Memories

Christmas Memories

The songs, the garland, the decked out trees,

Bring back happy Christmas memories

Like the annual Christmas tree search

And playing an angel in the pageant at church

Singing carols from door to door

Until our noses are rosy and sore

Braving the cold for every exploit

Warm mugs of cocoa to end the night

Turkey dinner at grandma’s with uncles and aunts

The sight of so much good food makes tight our pants

The glittering lights, ornaments, tinsel and gifts

Step in the house and the spirit lifts

Home always filled with the scent of pine

But first and foremost in this memory of mine

Was the outpouring of love and joy making this season fine

So if I jump into Christmas too soon for your taste

And it seems I am making far too much haste

Remember my goal: to rediscover that feeling

The happy family, love, joy and peace so appealing

April Photo a Day - 5 Tiny

Day 5 - Tiny

So yesterday I drove three hours to go to my mom's so I can see my niece this weekend, which meant I was too tired to do yesterday's photo. I'm glad I waited because while I was taking a walk with my mom and my 3 year old niece I found these tiny little flowers on a tree. I tried to get my niece to hold a tiny flower in her tiny hand, but she didn't want to sit still long enough for me to get a good one. So in the picture I'm holding the flower in my fingers. You can see how small the flower is compared to my nails. I love taking pictures of flowers. Even the tiny ones are beautiful, and it shows how much care God put into every tiny detail of our world. How is it that we can feel like God doesn't even care or notice us with all this proof looking us in the face.

Dreaming for My Child - And Enjoying My Nieces

I dream about the day that Ben and I can take our toddler to the zoo, or to the park to swing on the swings and go down the slide. I long for the feedings, the smiles and those tiny fingers to grab mine. The other day we were at Walmart looking at all the Easter Baskets, and it started us talking about the kinds of things we would put in our child’s Easter Basket. 

But while I dream, I make sure to enjoy the reality, which is my adorable nieces, who I love so much. This weekend I got to see 2 of them, and briefly video chatted with another. It made for a great weekend. We went to the Chattanooga Zoo with the Layla, watched Winnie the Pooh, danced and shared dinner. I gave a bottle to Storie and got some great shots of that two month old lighting up the room with her smile, and the 3 year old discovering the world around her and emanating innocence.

While I will always have that hope that one day it will be Ben and I our kids, I strive not to let that shadow of longing block out the sun that is my current family. If you don’t take the time to enjoy what you have, you will never be happy because there will always be something that you wish for. When I think about my nieces it brings a smile to my face, and when I know I’m going to get to spend time with them I can hardly wait to get through my week.

“Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it”

          -William Feather

Dogs and Love

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My dog is really special to me. I always thought I didn’t like dogs, but since we got her I think I’ve been converted to a dog person. I didn’t really think it was possible but she seems to truly love. When she looks at me I can see the love, trust, and adoration in her face and eyes. It’s really awesome, and I finally get the man’s best friend thing.

Cats are great. They are beautiful, intelligent, they do some adorable things, and they are self sufficient. My husband says they are like love camels. They can store up a bunch of love and then go for a long time without needing much from you. Since we feed our cats by leaving the door to the food storage container open (since my youngest cat Seven wouldn’t have it any other way) we can go on vacation for a week and just leave out some large water dishes for them while we are gone and they hardly know the difference. That right there is a pretty cool pet.

But, after feeling the love that emanates from my puppy (who’s not a puppy anymore); I can’t imagine living without a dog ever again. She is a pain for vacations, since we have to bring her along or find someone to come over several times a day to let her out and feed her. For example, for Thanksgiving this year she was the 13^th body at my mom’s. She was the only dog but that’s one dog and 12 people in a 2 bedroom apartment. Overnight there was one dog, one baby, 2 teens, 2 men, and 4 women spread out over two beds, a couch and various places on the floor. It was packed, and clearly adding a dog to the mix only makes things more complicated. To make matters worse my dog apparently HATES my sister and her fiancée. Luckily this is not the sister from Texas who stayed there the whole time, but the two times my other sister came by my dog growled and barked and really worried us. This is the sweetest, most scardy-cat dog I know, but when my sister and her fiancée walked in she acted like she was a drug dog and they were smuggling something.

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But even with the added complications and with making leaving for vacation a little more work we still love her to pieces. I can’t get enough of my dog, and even though I shouldn’t, I let her up on the couch with me once in awhile if I’m lying down while watching TV. I love her like a kid, because she is my furbaby, and sometimes our kids need to be a little spoiled

Thanksgiving

Gabby - See more of my Photography

                                    

Thanksgiving is around the corner, and mine is going to be great! I get to go visit my mom, my husband will be there, my stepson, both of my sisters, both of my nieces, my brother-in-law and his little brother, my soon to be brother-in-law, and my aunt and uncle.

Layla

My nieces are the light of my life. They are so beautiful and awesome I just can’t get enough of them. Unfortunately one of my sisters lives in Texas, and like the mean lady she is she keeps her daughter all the way down there with her. My other sister lives near my mom on the other side of Tennessee from me, so I get to see her and her daughter a little more often, but not nearly often enough. Layla is 2 and a half years old and has so much energy. The last time I went to see her I was sitting on the floor and she would run across the living room and jump into my arms, and then run away and do it all over again. At one point she was standing next to me and suddenly just jumped into my arms, luckily I was quick enough to catch her; she just jumped with full confidence in her invincibility and my capability of catching her.

Gabby and daddy - John

My other niece is Gabby almost 2 years old, and I’ve only seen her twice (plus seen her through video chat once). She is also beautiful and does some really cute stuff, but because I haven’t been around her as much I don’t have any stories of my own about her.

It is an extremely rare occasion when the whole family gets together. It hasn’t happened that all three girls with families have been together in over 4 years since we all moved away from Michigan. Both my husband and I love being around kids, so this holiday will be a wonderful one, though it will probably leave us wanting a baby that much more by the time Sunday rolls around. Maybe that will be a good motivator and conversation starter to start thinking about getting this process started again. 

Layla and Ben (My husband)