Cat in the Hat and That Old Stand-by ~

 

Last week we had our oldest Grand kids for three days.

Always wishing for more days and more often...

Love to see their little transporters lined up...in case we need to get out quick!

Daughter Jackie brought them down for us and I do believe she was looking forward to some 'Me" time. Khloe gets in another visit with her big cousins!

I love that as soon as they arrive the two questions

remain the same.

Can we play with the stuffed animals?

Can you get the blocks?

(The same blocks my son's once built forts with)

My den becomes the zoo/castle zone.

Julia our oldest Grandchild with her Grandpa.

When the second grandchild arrived

(her sister)

she started to ask him to hold her 

like he did when she was a baby.

I think she liked being the baby and didn't want it to stop.....

Julia:  Grandpa, I still remember what you promised me.
Grandpa: What's that Julia?

Julia: You said you would even carry me on my wedding day....

Aubrie is the middle of the three.

Aubrie

Our little comedian, can always

make us all laugh.

She loves animals and cares for her stuffed ones better than

most do the real thing!

Gavin, the youngest of the three, our oldest grandson.

Gavin loves  building, loves video games, 

and much to his Grandma's delight,

he loves NASCAR driver

 Dale Earnheart Jr.

Our movie for our first night.

We ordered pizza and Grandpa

surprised us all with Mango sorbet.

Grandma and the girls made brownies that day,

and we decided they would go well with Mango.

What don't brownies go good with?

~

The next day, while Grandpa and Gavin watched

the Transformer movie....

I took the girls for manicures.

Julia went for blue sparkles!

Aubrie went with purple sparkles :-)

They always look forward to manicures when they come down,

such a fun tradition started at the first sleep over adventure!

After nails, 

well, what else do girls do?

We went shopping.

Grandma bought all three of them new sweatshirts 

in their favorite colors.

That second evening when asked what movie they wanted to watch,

Yep, the choice was our favorite!

Showered, in p.j.'s and ready for the movie.

During the movie we each had our own miniature carton of ice cream.

Can't have a movie night with out ice cream.

Well, we could......

But why?

I took a lot of video this visit of them singing and dancing. 

Memories I'll have forever....

Grandpa made waffles, bacon and eggs in the morning

(a crowd favorite).

We end every visit with them coloring at the bar 

while Grandma gathers their bags to load into the car.

We get in the car, and head down the interstate.

"Grandma, can you play that frog on the log song"

I start the Raffi c.d.
(great c.d. for kids)

and so it begins.

We are all singing,

Ten green and speckled frogs 

sat on a speckled log,

eating some most delicious bugs,

yum, yum!

One jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool.

Then there were nine green speckled frogs.

Nine green and speckled frogs

sat.....Well you get the idea :-)

As we head on down the road we will continue to sing song after song.

I get to watch the joy on their faces when they recognize the next song, 

and when they get to their favorite part of a song they find funny.

Excited to see  Mommy!

Mommy, appears looking rested and excited to see her children.

We make the exchange, hugs and kisses

 and then we

head in opposite directions.

On the way home I begin to wonder what we will do next time were together....

I love being the Grammie!

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

How Much Truth ?

Writing, and being sensitive to others...

Just how much truth do you want?

I was reading a friends blog and she mentioned that she was curious if 

her blogging style/content has changed since her family started following.

She is a such a great blogger to follow, she often makes me laugh out loud!

I had to ask myself, 

'Do you hold back saying or sharing certain things

because of who may read it?'

I'm not going to deny,

it crosses my mind.

When it does its a reminder to 

give what I write careful thought.

Echo of My Heart

a blog that came to be 

because my heart was hurting so deeply

after the loss of my sweet Dad. 

I wanted to release,

what was on my heart.

To be raw, it was an attempt to 

put into words the magnitude of my loss.

To express the degree of pain that took residence in this heart of mine.

Of course, no amount of writing could really express the depth of that loss.
Still I wanted to vent, release some of it.
Writing helped me so much in doing that.

I think we need to accept a certain amount of responsibility

in terms of privacy, and content

written in our blogs.

First and foremost 

I want readers to know, 

I am a flawed person

who loves a BIG God!

It is never my intent to judge another in what I write.
I am writing what has and hasn't worked for me.
I am write about that which I'm curious
and
that I'm yet to understand.


I don't ever want a reader to leave my blog 

without sensing,or not knowing,

that I am a Christian.

I try very hard to not,
 live a life that could be seen as hypocritical.

I have a responsibility to my faith to 

walk the talk of that faith.

I can't see sharing my faith

in one post, 

to then writing

anything that may appear the opposite in the next.

I'm careful not to share anything personal that should

be only between my husband and myself.

I am careful to not share anything about my children that could

possibly upset them or be seen as an invasion of their privacy.

It is not a place for me to vent anger or disappointment,
in regard to naming an individual or group.

That would be between me and that person(s),

I may however,
 write  of 'what I've learned' through the experience
of feeling angry, disappointed or hurt..

I

will share my feelings about life and its situations,

what my experience was from each.

Again, I am a flawed person,

so I'm not about to judge.

Speaking from my heart,

 is what this blog is about.

~

With that said, it pains my heart to read a post either
 on a blog or on Facebook of
a person who has shared about their faith

only to
  turn around and write a post that
does not reflect that they live their belief.

  

Nothing hurts the Christian faith more 

than one claiming to be a Christian,

when

 the life led,

and

 the words shared

do not reflect the same.

Mark 7:6
He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
 

It is not required that you the reader agree or not.

My intent is not to offended anyone.
 Just sharing my thoughts
on thinking about what is to be written before we write it.
That we are careful not to hurt or offend someone.
I believe we are to build each other up !

I Thessalonians 4:18

Therefore encourage one another with these words.

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

I thought this was worthy of sharing with any young Mom who might read it.

It's lengthy but your children are well worth the time spent.   

Something I wish I had read a hundred years ago.......

Motherhood Is Application

by Rachel Jankovic | August 25, 2011

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If I had to pick one word to describe motherhood, I think that word would be “transforming.”
The days of a busy mother are made up of millions of transformations. Dirty children become clean, the hungry child fed, the tired child sleeping. Almost every task a mother performs in the course of a normal day could be considered a transformation. Disorder to order, dirty clothes to clean, unhappy children to peaceful, empty fridge to full. Every day we fight against disorder, filth, starvation, and lawlessness, and some days we might almost succeed. And then, while we sleep, everything unravels and we start again in the morning — transforming.
Days of these little cycles add up and suddenly you see a big transformation. A nursing infant has become a boy on a bicycle, a baby bump has grown into a toddler, and children have been changed into brothers and sisters.
Then there is the kind of transformations that we do — not because we work at it, but because we were created to do it. You eat your lunch, and your body transforms it into nourishment for a baby. Taking something too big for an infant, and still finding a way to feed them with it — with the goal of growing them up to do it themselves.
Pregnancy and nursing are only a small part of a child’s life though — and this cycle is clearly not only a physical one. It is the spiritual cycle of food that is so much more important, and so much less talked about. Christian mothering is a constant cycle of nourishment — both physical and spiritual.

We Apply What We Believe

In the same way we take the food we eat and make it into something the baby can eat (and our bodies simply do this without us willing them to), so we take what we believe about God and the gospel and faith and life, and we apply it in the places that seem too little for it.
Imagine yourself in your kitchen trying to make dinner for a group of little kids who are tired and should have eaten a half hour ago. Imagine that things are going wrong beyond that — maybe you are out of something you assumed you had, children are fussing with one another, and maybe your littlest is still at the age where they come stand on your feet and pull on your pant leg. Bonus points if you are wearing maternity pants and this little person is actually capable of pulling your pants down. You are hot, you are tired, and you are sick of it.
This is no time for a gospel presentation. There isn’t time. There isn’t anyone to lead the discussion around the felt board, because you are still scrambling to figure out dinner. This isn’t a time for a gospel presentation because it is a time for gospel application. This is a time to take the grace that God has extended to you, and feed your children with it. Apply what you believe about God’s mercy and kindness and long suffering towards us, and pour it out to them — in a form they can believe in. Unrest like this is just like a baby crying for a bottle — only what they need is spiritual milk. They need you to feed them, not with a lecture, but with application.

You Have Everything You Need

Mothering is a job that is full of difficult moments. Diapers blow out in stores when you have too much in your cart to just walk out. Sudden carsickness can leave you pulled over on the side of the road wondering just how much can be done with half a bag of wet wipes. You need to take what you believe and apply it to these difficult moments. Does the Bible teach us that God is disgusted by our frailty? That he doesn’t want to carry our burdens? That he doesn’t have the energy to deal with us?
The good news is, you don’t need to have been through some elite mother’s training camp to apply the gospel in your life. You need to believe. Trust God, give thanks. Laugh. Believe — and that will feed your children. Rest in God, and your children will learn to. Extend God’s kindness to you, to them. Forgive them the way God forgave you. You have everything you need to spiritually nourish your children, because you have Christ.
The gospel is not just something to talk about Sunday morning while you are in clean clothes and the kids are looking orderly. It is not limited to quiet times and reflective moods. It is something to apply while you are in a difficult position in the back of the car trying to buckle a child up who is playing the kazoo and needs their nose wiped.
God is not above these moments. He is teaching us, and leading us, and refining us, in them. He wants to see our faith in action. He wants to see us feeding our children with the grace that he has given to us.

Mimic the Gospel

Of course, this side of heaven we will not do perfectly. Harsh words will be spoken, patience will wear thin. Frazzled mothers will act frazzled. And when this happens, our own sinfulness does not detract from the power of the gospel, it illustrates why we need it. Do not use your own mistakes as an excuse to wallow about what a bad mother you are. Repent, seek forgiveness, get it right, and move on. Believe. Be forgiven. Extend that forgiveness, that belief, that joy, to your children.
As you go about your daily transformations, set your heart on the truth. Mimic the gospel in what you do. Bring peace, bring order, bring joy, bring laughter. Bring it because it was brought to you. Give, because it was given to you. The gospel is not too big to fit into little situations. It is too big not to.

The Walking What?

My youngest son Brian,

aka

Boo, Bubba, Beandog, 

is a film junkie.

Television and  Movies....

Just as when he was young and he could tell you the 

going price on a given baseball trading card, 

he too

can tell you who produced/directed most anything.

When the new shows start advertising for the upcoming season

he previews them and then forwards the trailers

for the ones he deems worthy of giving a shot.

Often determined by the producer.....

'this is the guy that did E.R., this is the same producer of Alias'... you get the idea.

We generally meet for Breakfast on Tuesdays,

it goes something like this.

~

The latest thing to try and what took place at Trader Joe's  this last week (his employer).

The Dodger talk....why the owner is crazy, who he feels will be the new owners and why.

Laker talk... Kobe's stats on the court of late (dud of court...mom opinion), who might be traded and why

what team a player came from etc....

Then we catch up on the shows we both watch,

Fringe, American Idol, Parenthood, Blue Bloods, Alcatraz, Peron of Interest.

He wants to know what I thought of the last episode, tells me where he feels the 

story line is going and then wants to know what I think.

Now, as a Mom I am so thrilled that we purpose to have this time every week.

Just how far am I willing to go when he suggests a show?

He has told me about (brace yourself)

The Walking Dead

(yes that's what I said)

for two seasons now.

He explained how he didn't think he would like it

and how in fact he got "hooked".

I deflected this suggested for the same two seasons.

Then I got the text message.

' The Walking Dead marathon, tape the last two seasons (7 episodes each)

and get caught up.  Season three starting soon'

He provided me with the channel and the times to record both days

of the marathon

of

The 

Walking

Dead.........

~

ended the text with

'PLEASE!'

Well of course I taped it !

I have no desire to watch dead people walk the streets of Atalanta,

no desire to see them hunt the living as their,

 next meal...

Yep....

Yesterday he came over, and with a pot of coffee we watched the first four 

episodes of season one.

My thoughts;

For starters......one shouldn't eat while watching this show!

I confess to not looking  a couple lots of times.

Lastly, 

how incredibly much I love my son :-)

Love him enough to give the dead people a shot.

Will I watch the remaining 10 (yikes) episodes?

Yes.

I always taught him that when you commit, you see it through.

And I will.

Will I then continue on to season three?

Not likely if I had to answer today :-)

What I will commit to

 is finding those commonalities with my kids and grands.

Funny....he just called, 

I guess were gonna get through a few more episodes today !

Life is good....

if you aren't dead AND hungry ?

This is what echos from my heart today :-)

Speaking of Love ~

Valentines Day.....

it's a day of expressing our love.

As a kid, I recall staying up late the night before picking just the perfect

Valentine for each person in my class. We were always provided a list from our teacher

of each person in our classroom, the idea that not one would be left out.

Imagine how badly a child

would feel if the other kids received piles of valentine cards and they only one, if any?

Imagine the spouse that only let's the other know on this holiday how much they are loved....

Just one reporters opinion here;

There is a reason we are to love one another

My love for others and the desire to let them know

is not determined by a box on a calendar...
Sadly for some it is.

The people I love will be reminded often

not just on a specific day

 out of the year.

Is there any reason say,

on (random) an

Aug. 3rd day,

someone couldn't realize how much they are loved

via an unexpected card?

I'm of the opinion, the unexpected

card means much more than,

the day 

dedicated to sending a card expressing love on.

A step further,

the homemade card from a child

means more than the one someone else bought for them to give me :-)

To know those little hands created the masterpiece,

chose the words inside, 

just for me (warm and fuzzy at the thought).....

eventually

 to be filed away with all things a Mom treasures, forever.

Into the priceless file ......

The file I can pull out and and meander through,

as I remember, all over again how good it felt to receive it,

and I can do so

over and over again.....

 ~

What love is and isn't.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

  If I speak in the tongues of men and angels,
but have not love,
I have become sounding brass or a tinkling symbol. 
And if I have prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing. 
And if I dole out all my goods, and
if I deliver my body that I may boast
but have not love, nothing I am profited.
Love is long suffering, 
love is kind,
it is not jealous,
love does not boast,
it is not inflated.
It is not discourteous,
it is not selfish,
it is not irritable,
it does not enumerate the evil.
It does not rejoice over the wrong, but rejoices in the truth 
 
It covers all things,
it has faith for all things,
it hopes in all things,
it endures in all things.
Love never falls in ruins;
but whether prophecies, they will be abolished; or
tongues, they will cease; or
knowledge, it will be superseded.
For we know in part and we prophecy in part.
But when the perfect comes, the imperfect will be superseded.  
When I was an infant,
I spoke as an infant,
I reckoned as an infant;
when I became [an adult],
I abolished the things of the infant. 
For now we see through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face. 
Now I know in part, but then I shall know as also I was fully known. 

But now remains
 faith, hope, love,

these three;

but the greatest of these is love.

I'm really not the Valentine Grinch :-)
I sent all my Grand kids and my great Niece a Valentine card,
however,
On random days, I send cards and make phone calls that let them know I love them too.
I did buy my husband a Valentine card,
but I also bought him a card last week that told him
He was, 
my happily ever after.

So what I'm saying is
make sure they know you love them, often!
When they receive your Valentine wish for them,
may it  be you expressing your love for them,
as you always do,
like,
  that one time on a random August day!



Because,

tomorrow is never promised

let them know always and often....

This is what echos from my heart this, just another day , of saying I love you.....

Use What Ya Got ~

Khloe has discovered the art of raspberries......

Happy Friday !

Hugs!!!

Windshield or Rear View Mirror?

 Nope, life has not always been a bowl of cherries......

~

Now, I do love reflecting on different events and times of my life.

I rarely think of unhappy, sad or stressful times (not for a lack of them).

I choose to reflect on positive,

good, happy memories and times.

Beyond grabbing a memory that makes me smile or laugh 

or

a fond, remembrance of a moment in time,

  I find I'm more often looking at today and toward the future.

Yep,

I have turned into a windshield person.

I used to be the rear view mirror gal,

always looking at where I've been.

In doing soalong with the good things Isaw the mistakes,
 hurt, stress, and pain, and who did what or said what to me.

Then I would re-live it all over again.

Geeze no wonder I spent so many years not so joyful!

I was focused on what had been, 
rather than what will or could be.

I feel bad for folks who have yet to figure this out. 

You know the ones......

They continue to repeat the same old stories of who hurt them and why.

Reliving all the why's and what if's of days long gone.

Then they wonder why they're never getting anywhere

in regard to hope for the future.

Bottom line;

You're not going to find hope in the rear view mirror,

there is no hope found in looking back?

Nope, 

it's all right out  in front of you, 

out that big windshield,

moving forward.

Not looking back. 

For a constant, forever hope,

you would want to look up of course...

Jeremiah 29:11

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 

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

Girl Scout Cookies!

Ahhh...

It's Girl Scout Cookie time.

Surrounded by platters of Thin Mints, 

erasing the knowledge of exactly what a scale is from my chocolate craving mind.

Throwing caution to the wind.....

not a soul from Weight Watchers here to witness 

the shameful and weak act of me rinsing them down with a big tall glass of milk.

My eyes expressing pure joy,

my taste buds never happier!!!

(as I undo the top button of my jeans)

And,

then I woke up :-(

Girl Scouts

I joined  in the second grade.

Browines, 

which consisted of making a boat out of Ivory soap

and then something about getting my "wings" to 

move on to Jr.'s.

My Mom and Virgina (my besties Mom) were my troop leaders!

Juniors was a blast...Virginia had a sense of humor and wasn't lets say, 

strict about following the rules.

I was okay with following the rules to a point.

I was lead over my squad in Jr's so I had an example to set.....

at least at the weekly meetings......

What I'm about to reveal cannot leave blogland.....I am not proud of all I'm about to tell you ..

I confess, I was a smoker in a little green uniform!

Bold enough to do so in my tent while at camp with my buddie Gail....

Yep,

that was me

singing Make new Friends and keep the Old,  and Michael Row your Boat a Shore

  while sitting around the campfire.....
all the while

thinking about nothing but eating those

S'mores and getting back to my tent for my Marlboro reds, hard pack.

Don't assume I wasn't crazy about Scouts I was! 

I loved Scouts.

One year at cookie sales time,

I, the little hoodlum, was the 

top cookie sales person in our local area. 

350 boxes people!!!!

I suppose I should mention a little inflation tidbit....

when I sold they were .50 cents a box!!!

And, 

they were actually cookie size, 

not the little after dinner mint size they are now.

When Scouts come to my door selling cookies I get very excited about the encounter.

Memories of old come flooding back,

the years of fun and adventure Scouting provided me.

It goes something like this.

Girl Scout;

"Hello, would you like to by some Girl Scout Cookies?"

Me;

(uh, number one little lady why are you not in full uniform?)

" Sure I would, you know I was a Girl Scout for many years, would you like to see my badges?"

Girl Scout;

(looking at me like my head zips up the back)

"uh....... "

Me;

(Realizing once again, no, they do not want to see your sash full of badges lady)

Awkward.......

" Well, lets take a look at that order form"

I place my order, tell her I can't wait tell they arrive and most important 

I tell her to have fun while in Scouts!!

It must just be me,

I really thought (for years) that one of them would want to see my sash, after all 

I worked so hard for each of those badges,

I even had to sew

them on by myself!

(Got a badge for sewing by the way)

Is it just me?

Is it that crazy that I would want them to be excited when they saw

my badges were so plentiful that they went up the back of the sash?????

Would you think of me as odd if I answered the door like this?

Yep, 

I keep it all in the coat closet right by the front door.

I suppose, I confess,

it would be a little weird to see some young  middle aged woman answer

her door like this.....

I suppose my heart for Scouts was just so large I still have trouble containing it.

I mean, I used to tell my parents that if I were to die

they needed to promise me they would bury me in my Girl Scout uniform.

I wanted some honor along with my service :-)

(sadly I don't know where it disappeared to .....like it would fit...)

As my beret on my head in the photo indicates,

yes, after Jr.'s I became a Cadet......

My new leader, 

well, lets just say she was by the book!

My Junior year of High School I decided it was time

to hang up my sash and go it on my own.....

I knew there would be no smoking in my tent with this lady......

Proud to still have all my handbooks.... well of course I do!

 I am so fortunate that I was a part of this organization

and

It still warms my heart to think of it.

On my honor, I will try;

To do my duty to God and my country, 

To help other people at all times, 

To obey the Girl Scout Laws.

Scouting has as much to do with who I am today along with my faith in God.

Wondering as I write this if they still have "God" in the promise today.

I mean, 

I hope the Scouts never bought into the "politically correct" crud....

Don't tell me if it did.

I want to keep it a thing of HIGH honor :-)

Two things,

I no longer smoke
and

I haven't ordered any cookies.....

yet.......

I suppose looking back,
had they all agreed to view said sash....
today it would be something like....

Random Girl Scout;

"Remember that weird lady down the street that used to put her sash on ..."

like we wanted to see it????

This is what echos from this old Girl Scouts heart today ......

Letting Go ~

Angry still?

Holding on to "it"?

If so, have you noticed

that on some level it's a lonely, self destructive road?

There are occasions where we might be holding onto anger or bitterness toward someone

and

may not even be aware of it.

Most times however, we are aware of it,

in fact we make a point to hold on to it.

It comes out of us in many different ways.

We over eat because of it,

we are moody because of it,
we try hard to convince others we're happy ....
not!
When holding on to resentment, bitterness or anger
we

 hurt those who had nothing to do with it.

Either way....

If we are living a righteous life there is no place for holding on to either.

Both are means of hardening our hearts and both become a stronghold for Satan.

The worlds methods are to let our anger out in a flash,

or hold it in, which turns it in

to resentment.

God's Words are very clear on this.

Ephesians 4: 30-32

³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 

Do you recognize anger or resentment that may still be inside of you?

If you know why you are mad or bitter, it's time to forgive no matter what or why.

 I speak from experience, it really is so freeing to let go and be free from it!!

I've mention this in prior blogs,  

but I think it's worth repeating.....

Forgiving isn't excusing another's behavior,

its

freeing yourself from it! 

~

I was recently made aware that the Bible holds over 300 warnings about anger and being vigilant against it?

Hmmmmmmm.........

seems He was pretty serious about it.

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

Wise Little Ones ~

February 

Already?

No, she isn't sticking her tongue out at me....at least not to my face :-)

If like me, she's tired thinking about how fast January flew by 

and 

ready for a slower February.

So much happened in one months time.

We have aquired a new walker, complete with keyboard.

We now sit up all by our self!

......what hasn't change is her favorite toy,

it's still

her feet :-)

The happiness Khloe continues to bring to my life is indescribable.

Proverbs 17:6
Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.

Wishing I could slow down the clock

keep her small 

and

innocent......

her feelings yet to be hurt.

We can learn so much from the tiny ones.

Happy to be with people they love.

Allowing others to love them with out condition.

Not questioning motives 

and

allowing us to

clearly see theirs.

Simple,

to

 love and be loved.....

They expect little 

and 

express gratitude for what is given.

Never holding on to yesterday 

but looking toward the very next minute...

Are you willing to learn from them ?

They, 

teach with out words.

Surely, the one who made them
is even more magnificent than they are!

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