So How Has Your Week Been?

Not gonna lie....spent my week with or thinking about being with Khloe......



Khloe with her Great Grandma :-)





 Khloe is one week old.....and she is what echos from my heart today........



Khloe Isabelle Stevens

Upon my arrival at the hospital the first thing my son tells me is, "today is Ernest Hemingway's birthday".

Mike is a big Hemingway fan so he is pleased !

Our Khloe made her appearance at 2:50 P.M, weighing in at 7lbs. 4 oz and was 20 inches long, blonde and a nice pink skin tone.  Of course...she is perfect!

Her Momma, Katie,  did a great job, remained calm the entire time.....until she had her little girl lay across her chest, and then the tears of joy came.....a Mommy and her girl bonding skin to skin. Katie somehow remained beautiful throughout.

My son Mike, Khloe's Daddy (I like to say that), was a great encourager.  He had words and a constant touch of reassurance for his wife whom he loves so much.

I spent the day in the labor room and was lucky enough to be their for the delivery as well.  I just kept having little flash backs to Mike being born 34 years ago and how I felt.....you don't forget that feeling.

My main goal was to get that photo of Daddy seeing Khloe for the first time.....I did.

Khloe holding Daddy's hand for the first time.....but not the last.

 
Watching Mike with his baby girl....I so wanted to tell him, 'now you know how much I have really loved you all this time'. ....I didn't.  He will know in his own time, just as I did.....

and so the family has begun........................

Nice to meet you ........

 


  I can't wait to talk to her about her Daddy when he was a little boy.
and here he is :-)

May 1977 ~ Mike 2 weeks old :-)

Mike ...wasn't he so cute....just like his little Khloe.

I am over the moon with Khloe and we just met.  I can't wait to start making memories with her.

Seriously.........

I can't wait to take her shopping!!!!!!!!!!

This is what echos from my big overflowing heart today.....
and what a day it was....

Living Fully ~

My friend Jane recommended this book to me, and am I so glad she did!

The author Ann Voskamp is a farmers wife and young Mother of six children.  She found that in giving thanks for the life she had, she found the life she'd always wanted.

I hope that you will check out her blog too.  As with her book.....it is so poetically written, only with beautiful photos.  

www.aholyexperience.com

I have started my own list of the things that I've been in too big of a hurry to notice, to be thankful for, to call it joy in my life.

a list of

My, one thousand gifts.....

By doing so, it slows down the day that is passing me by too quickly.

My list grows daily.

You, whose blogs I spend time reading and learning from, are on my list of thanksgiving.....

You are among.. my one thousand gifts.

I hope you will read the book and let me know what you think....I really hope you will tell a friend about it too.

This is what echos from my heart today.......

Happy Anniversary Bob !

Our Simple Beautiful Wedding Announcement.....

The words Judge Wyckman spoke in this beautiful keepsake.

Our witnesses; My very favorite Aunt Wilma, cousin Helen, Judge Scott Wyckman, Myself and Bob, my cousin Gene and my sweet Uncle Ray.

After our I dos, I tossed my flowers to the river in memory of my Uncle Jack. Every year we stop at this site and toast our marriage and Uncle Jack. :-)

The simplest things touched my heart.  My cousin Linda took the time to drive up to my Uncle Jack's cabin and pick wild flowers for my bouquet, and had beautiful flowers at the ceremony site.

Our first toast ~

We chose to marry on the Gallaitin River's edge for a few reasons; one, I am from Montana and love this river!  Bob too fell in love with "my" state.  Two, the ashes of my favorite Uncle Jack, who taught me to fish and ride a horse were placed here, it was his favorite fishing spot.  Three, it's a beautiful peaceful spot to just sit and enjoy the quite.

It was the simplest of ceremonies, positively nothing fancy about it. There about 12 relatives in attendance and as a surprise to Bob, his boss and his wife surprised him and were at the site when we arrived....what an awesome thing to come from California!

We had a glass of champagne at the site and my Aunt Wilma had arranged a small gathering at her home with cake and punch afterwords.

We spent our honeymoon at Seeley Lake where my cousins Gene and Helen have a lakeside cabin. We had planned on following them up to the cabin when Gene had the bright idea  to tow us behind his truck!  So we hooked up our small truck to his giant truck, Helen and I in the back seat, Gene and Bob in the front.  Not your typical honeymoon picture, but it was us and we couldn't have been happier.

Our not so typical ceremony, in a most beautiful place, with the sound of the river behind us and the smell of pine tree's filled the air.  With my most meaningful and perfect bouquet, surround by family we loved, we made our commitment to love and our new life together.

It's been eleven years and we still love, we are still growing together, progressively letting go of so much that never really matters. We're focused on the now, not taking what we have in our families and friends for granted.  We are blessed and we know it!

Grow old with me!
The best is yet to be.
The last of life, for which the first is made.
- Robert Browning

This is what echos from my heart today.....

Thoughts of Heaven...

So, heaven is this perfect place.

Let me try to imagine perfect......

Perfect color before our eyes, landscapes we've never imagined.

Sounds, what might they be?

I love birds, maybe nothing but birds squawking or softly singing....

Maybe just the sound of the breeze blowing 

through the tallest trees. 

 The temperature, a constant state of never too warm, never too cool.

The sun always shining, big white cotton ball clouds slowly

moving through an over sized sky.

 The sounds of water all around, moving past us,

only

to be followed by more.....

 Majestic mountains, 

green valleys, calm waters, trees of every kind.

 The scent of flowers .........

Flowers framing everything, everywhere.....

No memories of the bad, no worries about tomorrow.

Satisfied, without want, ever.... for eternity!

I won't be crabby, fearful, sad, uncertain or anxious.

In a state of constant calm......

Happy, perfectly happy....

Heaven.......

 mansions, streets of gold, majestic gates, it's what we know..
Surround by God's Glory....

Loving as God loves; loving completely, loving with our whole hearts.

Everything done in love, perfect love,

as He first loved us.....

Heaven, its not about how we might die it's about how we will live,

for eternity....

I hope to meet you there.

Content, sitting at the feet of Jesus ....

Heaven is what echos from my heart today.....

A Recipe For Love

A Recipe for Love

Another one of my finds. I'm glad I hang on to the stuff that touches my heart....it touches it today just as much as the day my son made it for me. I think he was in third grade :-)

Birthday card made by our Grand daughter Julia  for our Birthday's......

My son Brian (Boo) wrote me while in the fourth grade in my attempt to quit smoking. He called me Rare then, pronounced Roar ....long story....yet better then what it was changed to, ...Fat....longer story but not as it seems :-)

The front of my homemade Christmas card from my son's...I loved Joe Montana .

The inside of the card... I  love the Lakers :-) 

  I'm so glad I saved these special things.  With them, I can always go back to those moments by reading them again, it's as if they are new to me each time.

I stumbled upon this quote this morning. It's true, many are searching for happiness everywhere they go, only to find it's all around them where they are....it's called Family....

A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it.
-- George Moore

 Dust off an old file of saved memories, it will fill your heart with all the happiness of yesterday...all those moments in time that caused you to know, this is what it's all about.

Yep, who say's you can't go home again, it's called a memory.
This is what echos from my heart today ~

Waiting for Our Baby Girl !

The news is this, the Doctor has announced, my Granddaughter is in  position to make her appearance in this world at anytime!! Her due date of  Aug. 1st maybe different than what she has in mind!!

There are no words to describe the excitement that comes with her arrival, but to give you and idea.....at Katie's shower one game was for us to design a  baby one piece white cotton...well, a onesee (sp).  I am not at all creative, but I laid out this garment that was to serve as my canvas and I grabbed hold of the green and pink permanent markers and wrote;

My Grandma waited 

34 years 

just for

 me !

I didn't win a prize for the top three chosen by the Mommy......my prize will be this precious baby girl and the joy she will bring to my life.  My son's used to tease me and tell me they were never having children.  They knew they could get a greater reaction than, lets say the thought of me losing a limb!!!  My response was always, "yes, you are having children, it's why I had you!"

Mikey

I can't wait to see my Son as a Father.  He has a great Father of his own and had two wonderfully perfect Grand Father's  as examples.  There is just so much we suddenly "get" about our parents once we get our hands on one of our own.  I know he will fully understand just how much he is loved, (that love you can't describe) once he holds their baby girl.

Mike's first experience of loving a baby girl....holding my niece Summer.

He and Katie are outgoing, funny, very much in love and appreciate the fruits of their labor.  They are going to be great parents and the fruit's of this labor, well, one can't put into words.

Katie and Mike

Praying for an easy delivery and a healthy baby girl.  Until then I'll just continue to wait...................

this is what echo's from my heart today.