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.

How Will You Spend It?

A friend sent me this on e-mail and I wanted to share it with all of you !

 Imagine that you had won the following prize in a contest:  Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400.00 in your  private account for your use.
However,this prize has rules, just as  any game has certain rules.    The first set of rules would be:

       Everything that you didn't spend during each day would be taken away from you.

      You may not simply transfer money into some other account.

      You may only spend it.

Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another $86,400.00 for that day.  

     

The  second set of rules:

      The bank can end the game without warning; at any time  it can say, Its over, the game is over!  It can  close the account  and you will not receive a new one.

 What would you personally do?

You would buy anything and everything you wanted right?  Not only for yourself, but for all people you love, right?  Even for people you don't know, because you couldn't  possibly spend it all on yourself, right?  You would try to spend every cent, and use it all, right?

      ACTUALLY This  GAME is  REALITY!

 Each of us is in possession of such a magical  bank. We just can't seem to see it.

               The MAGICAL BANK is  TIME!

Each morning we awaken to receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life, and when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is  NOT credited to us.

What we haven't lived up that day is forever  lost.

Yesterday is forever gone.

Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank  can dissolve your account at any time....WITHOUT  WARNING.

SO, what will YOU do with your 86,400  seconds?

Those seconds are worth so much more than the same amount in dollars.

Think about that, and always think of this:

Enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you  think.

So take care of yourself, be Happy, Love Deeply and enjoy life!

Here's wishing you a wonderful and beautiful day.

 

Start spending.

Just some random photos of my backyard and

my Grand dog Turkelton :-)





Our new baby doves and Mom...








Love my ducks...

 




Favorite thing is my red water pump

 




Grand dog Turkelton smelling the flowers :-)

 




Turkelton posing like a good dog....

 

Father's Day

Always a difficult day for me, hard to stand in front of the Father's Day cards and not be able to buy just the right one.  As time goes by, it becomes more clear than before, that there may have never been a card made to describe just how wonderful he was.
So I will think of him today, as I always did . 


 We Thought Of You Today
 We thought of you today,
But that is nothing new.
We thought of you yesterday
And will tomorrow, too.

We think of you in silence
And make no outward show.
For what it meant to lose you
Only those who love you know.

Remembering you is easy,
We do it everyday.
It's the heartache of losing you
That will never go away.

In Loving Memory Of

My Sweet Dad ~ Ray Matthis  
Who Rested in the Arms of Jesus

                                                                            6/20/08