I'm Back!

I have been so busy. After looking at things that have any meaning to me..I found this is one of them. I love having somewhere to journal about our little family. So the blog has a new look and I am looking forward seeing what the coming months bring.

CUTIES

Cassie just sent me these as a text and since I am sitting here blogging I though I would share. Because that is what any good Gram-Maw would do! :)

My tough guy

Just as wrestling was starting a couple months back I was shocked that Jeffrey said he wanted to try it. Now mind you I see a tough boy here at home but he has never been one to show that outside the home. Our dear friend Justin was coaching and they were gracious enough to give us a gift certificate. Mind you I was still just hoping he liked it. I have always stood firm that once the kids committed to something they had to stick with it.

Well, I am happy to stay that J-Man as he likes to call himself LOVED wrestling! I went and sat a couple times watching him but he seemed to like it better if we weren't' sitting there. He would always tell Grace and I to go run errands. lol. But the last night I told him i wanted to come and take pictures. I was so involved in watching it was hard for me to get many. Thank you Shauna for taking these for me.

So thankful to Justin for always being there for my kids. Counseling Cassie, giving her away at her wedding, coaching Grace at softball for oh so many seasons now and now coaching Jeffrey and giving him a love for something new. Mind you this is just a speck of what he and his family have done for us. I am so grateful. Love you Vaughan's!

Happy Birthday Baby Brother

This is my baby brother 38 years ago! He was such a chunk that the nurses called him "Moose" the name stuck and he is our Mooser.

Daniel and I are 8 years apart and I honestly thought he was brought home for me. I loved to change him, feed him, and cuddle him. You name it I was his second Momma. My Grandma used to say that he never knew who to go to me or my Mom. lol.

My brother is the most amazing Daddy. He loves his girls so much and they know it. I love how sweet and playful he is with the kids. My brother loved Jeff so much. I know he still hurts as I do. And Jeff loved him so very much. Daniel was only 12 when Jeff came into our lives and at first he was mad that another man was around but they soon hit it off and were the best of friends.

This picture was taken just 5 months before Jeff went home.

Happy Birthday Daniel Adam! I love you so very much!

Philippians 1:3; I thank my God every time I remember you.

Romans 10:9-14

⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”^{[e] 12} For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”^{[f]  14} How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?

Saying good bye to 2011

It's been quite a year. Spending time looking back on it makes me tired! lol. It was a busy year but full of great memories, family and dear friends. Here's to 2012! May it be another blessed year full of blessings from our Lord and Savior. When I think of a New Year I can't help but think about Ecclesiastes 3:1-14

Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

 ¹ There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:  ² a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 ³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
 ⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 ⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 ⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 ⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 ⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.
 ⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴ I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

 I am not a.. make a list of resolutions kinda of gal but thought this was cute..Pinterest!

Resolution posters

Happy New Year to one and all. May we all draw closer to our Lord and Savior in the coming days ahead.

Two thousand- six hundred miles!

Well the cat is out of the bag and yes it's sad but true...Cassie and family will be living in Alabama. Happy to say the RW got a great job has a conductor with CSX RR. Yes a conductor. Cassie seems to living her childhood over with the Army and now RR life..wife! lol.

Needless to say I am HAPPY for the job. VERY SAD about where they will be living...Birmingham, Alabama! Cassie and I grumble about it which is good to be able to vent to one another. Broken hearted over not having the boys in our life. Just typing this makes me cry. Tonight David knowing I was on the phone was screaming and crying Gram ma because he wanted to talk to me. Be still my heart. Love those two boogers.

Oh and you know I mapped it out...2600 miles from my babies!! Please keep us all in prayer. We are just sad. Sad that distance has a way of hurting relationships. I know first hand having been an Army wife and living away so far away from family. We came home when Cassie was 8 which still gave her time to connect with family and I am so thankful for that.

I must remember..Isaiah 55:8-9; “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

In a nut shell...

The last few months have been so very busy. We began home schooling this year and LOVE it! With the start of the school year also brings AWANA on a weekly basis. I am pleased to be the T&T director for a second year. Love the kids! We also started watching Silas three days a week. He belongs to our youth pastor and his wonderful wife. Love them so much. They are Cassie and RW's age and I have adopted them as my own. Silas has been good for us as we miss the boys so having a little one in the house brings my heart pure joy. Chelsea has been good for me as well. It's nice to be needed and me being a server..it's in my nature. Love being there for this dear family.

Back to home school really quick. This was a long time coming for me. And purely the Lord calling me to do this. I have to say I have never looked back. Funny when the Lord calls us to do something and we are obedient how wonderful things can be. Hmmm..Ephesians 6:1-3; Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—  “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”. And thus obedience to our Heavenly Father as well. With home schooling through a charter school you are assigned an Education Facilitator (EF) I am happy to say we were Carla's first family and we could not be any happier. She is the niece of our pastor's wife..(small town) and what a blessing she is. We tell everyone "We Love Carla" and we are not kidding. It has been so nice having someone that is a believer, loves kids, loves teaching, funny, kind and all in all so sweet. We are blessed by her. Carla was also Grace's cross country coach. It was Grace's first year and she loves to run!

With home school also brought Grace taking guitar lessons and Jeffrey starting wrestling. I am still shocked about the wrestling ..but have to say a couple weeks off now and I can't wait for him to go back. Raising a boy as a single parent..hard and he needs to be able to expel his energy. I don't have any pictures of wrestling but here is a fun photo shoot we did with Grace and her new guitar.

We have been having fun over the last month getting our home school group together for a craft day. It is much needed and I long for those day as it not only is a great time for the kids to connect with their friends whom they were used to seeing on a daily basis. But, it is a time for me to connect with other Mom's. Not having a hubs around I find I need these day's more often.

26 years

Twenty-six  years ago today I married my best friend. I feel so blessed to have spent nineteen of those married. But, I also mourn the loss of what could have been. On our 18th anniversary Jeff wanted new wedding bands. He chose two beautiful silver bands. I remember just weeks before he went home he handed his ring to me because it no longer fit. But told me he always loved me and he always would. I miss you babe so very much.

I can say this. while the days flow into weeks and weeks in to months..months into years. One thing remains I still have an empty place in my heart. I was chatting with a friend the other day about how not having a spouse enables me to be there for others that I would not normally be able to do. I am thankful for that. My prayer everyday is to live and do for the Lord. But most of the time this ol' heart of mine is hanging by a thread. Loneliness can be crippling. It is by the grace of God that I get up and face each day. I miss the days of knowing just by having Jeff at my side everything would be okay. I miss that.

Thanksgiving

We always spend Thanksgiving at my Folk's house. This year it was looking like it was only going to be the three of us and my folk's until my cousin Rachael called. We were very happy to have them join us. Rachael is my cousin on my Dad's side. My Mom is an only child. We did not see a lot of my cousins growing up. Not like some families anyway. Family dynamics and all. ;) So we were really excited that they were coming and staying the night. God is so good..The Mickel's are such a great Christian family and we were truly blessed with wonderful fellowship. The kids clicked right away and it was just a great time by all.

Okay..so the last time they came to my Folk's was several years ago and I took this family picture of them. And mind you this was their last family picture! So having a bit of fun we recreated the same picture this year. Here are both of them...We waited too long to get this years picture..thus the bad lighting. Momma needs a flash!

Donovan Harvey Fraizer

Grandpa Fraizer went home to the Lord this morning. I am not sad but rejoicing. This is a man that lived a full life. Knew the Lord as his personal savior and was 93 years old. When we visited with him this summer he told me he was tired and ready to go home. What a day of rejoicing in Heaven there is today. A family reunited. Here is the eulogy that was read at his memorial held on 11/25/11 at his church Fair Oaks Baptist. 

Donovan Harvey Fraizer of Bentonsport, Iowa was born to Warren & Gracie Fraizer on February 18, 1918. He was the youngest of six children. His first job was carrying water to the thrashing crew on an old white horse named “Fanny.”  At the age of seventeen while working for his sister Alice he met his first love Blanche. Their dates consisted of driving to town, parking the car and watching everyone else go by, because they couldn’t afford the gas money to cruise. They were married on September 14, 1940 at a parsonage in Fairfield, Iowa.  They lived with Don’s parents for a short time until Don began working as a farm hand plowing with mules. Their first daughter Karen Louise was born at a hospital on September 2, 1941. Shortly afterwards Don injured his back while farming and Blanche took care of their new baby and farm chores.  Later Don went to work in town at the washing machine factory and on May 28, 1943 Robert Wayne was born on the farm.  In 1946 they moved to a log cabin with no electricity or running water, paying $10 a month for rent.  Don offered the owner $2 more per month if he would put in electricity and he did.  On March 26, 1948 Linda Grace was born in that same nearby hospital, in Fairfield, where her older sister was born.  Shortly afterwards they moved to a house in town and were fortunate enough to have electricity and running water.  Don worked at the ordinance plant making ammunition starting at a $1.10 an hour.  It was there that he worked on the atomic bomb, doing machining.  When he was about 35 he was laid off and went back to farming.  After many different farming jobs and off and on at the washing machine factory he was tired of working all summer to pay for the winter fuel bills.

So in 1957 they rented a u-haul, loaded up everything that would fit, sold the rest and headed to California with no job or place to live.  The only people they knew in California was his brother, Wayne, living in Citrus Heights.  Don has often laughed telling the story of the one thing that was remembered by all during that trip.  Robert had hidden his socks underneath the front seat of the car and they couldn’t figure out where the odor was coming from.  After arriving in California they stayed with Wayne for a short time until they found a house in Citrus Heights on Sydney Drive.  He secured a job at Arrow Jet, working the assembly line until they went out on strike.  He often told us about watching a safety film, getting dizzy, stepping outside the double doors, then passing out.  When they tried to leave they had to push him out of the way since he was blocking the doors.

In 1959, they bought their first house on Pratt Avenue with payments of $96 a month and they laid awake at nights wondering how they were going to make the payment.  He did a couple of construction jobs until he was able to secure a position at Peri Built Pools.  He ran the clean up crew, driving a bobcat and ended up retiring from there. They spent lots of time through the years raising incredible gardens together and enjoying raising their children.   

In 1975 their oldest daughter Karen died so Don and Blanche took on the responsibility of raising her two youngest children, Deeane and Leesa.  Don professed to know Christ when he was about 8 years old but the change came in his life when he started attending Calvary Baptist Church in 1979.  He could be found every evening sitting at the table reading his Bible quietly and praying.

            Don had a great sense of humor.  Many of us remember him hiding in the closet and jumping out at you when you went to hang up your coat or dousing you with a hose when you came around the corner.  Often times while eating dinner he would give you a little grin then pop his false teeth out at you.  It always made the kids giggle.

After retiring from Peri Built Don spent lots of time maintaining the church property and building along side his mentor Don Willet.   If ever you needed something done everyone at church always new whom to call, the two Don’s.

On September 14, 1990 Don and Blanche celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary with many friends and family, where they renewed their wedding vows. 

On March 29, 1993, after 53 years of marriage Blanche went home to be with the Lord.  Don was very lonely and seemed pretty lost.  He continued to attend church and Sunday school activities and the monthly homestretch group lunches.  He also continued doing odd jobs for people around the church trying to keep him self busy.

On the 12^th of June, 1994 Ila wanted to go to the Old Time Fiddler’s concert at the Grange Hall in Orangevale but she had nobody to go with.  She knew Don liked fiddle music and thought he looked lonely, so she asked him to go with her.  That evening when Don and Ila went to services at Calvary, Don asked Ila if he could sit by her.  By the end of the week Don was asking Ila out to Saturday Night dinner.  They took early morning walks down by the creek side. Don felt uneasy about her being out alone at 6 am so he started walking with her.  First Ila asked Don in for coffee; then it got to be breakfast and devotions together.  Before they knew it she was spending a lot of time feeding him.  Don and Ila enjoyed taking rides and bus tours, going to fiddler concerts and “We Care” groups at Arcade church.  Most of all they just enjoyed being together.  In March of 1996 Ila and Don announced their engagement at Calvary Baptist Church morning service….you should have heard the cheers!  They were married on June 2, 1996.  They had fourteen wonderful years of marriage together making great memories and going on many exciting adventures together.  Ila helped to keep Don young.  They may have been married when they were in their 70’s but they still experienced young love.

On Easter Sunday, in 2003 at the age of 85 Don was baptized here at First Baptist Church of Fair Oaks by Wayne Stacks the associate pastor.  Don loved volunteering at the church.  He never wanted to miss packing and distributing meals for the homeless.  He also enjoyed making the coffee for his Sunday school class.  You could often find him in the evening playing dominoes with whom ever would play.

In 2006, Don was hospitalized.  He was having problems with his throat and heart.  The doctors gave him two weeks to live.  Miraculously, he made it out of the hospital and into a nursing home.  He didn’t like it their at all and was motivated to get well enough to be released.  A hospital bed was rented and he moved in to Jim and Deeane’s living room.  Ila slept on a mattress on the floor at his side.  With lots of love and care Don was back up and around after a short time and they were able to go back home.

As Don and Ila aged gracefully together their came a time when they just needed a little extra help around the house.   In 2009, Sally came into their lives.  She has been both an angel and a blessing to the entire family. 

On the morning of November 21, 2011 after a rough night Don passed away quietly in his sleep.  He has passed along an incredible legacy to his children, 11 grandchildren, 29 great grandchildren, and 4 great, great grandchildren.  He will be missed immensely but we know he is rejoicing in heaven with Jesus and now he is truly Home.

Tears

Well today has been one of those tearful days. I can't seem to stop them from falling. First off I am just lonely. I miss my husband so very much it still makes my heart ache. I am tired of being alone!

And then Cassie said they won't be making it out for Thanksgiving. I just want to be sick. They are going to Alabama for a couple months and truth be told it's like losing Jeff. I know we won't see them often at all. I have lived away from family and I know how it is. The distance is wearing on a relationship. Just feeling sad.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Where did the Summer go?

Well, at my last post I mentioned our busy summer and oh my was it busy. Here is a run through.

We finished up school and immediately fell into VBS Son Surf Beach Blast. This was my I believe 5th year running doing crafts and I love it! It combines all my favorite things..My Savior, crafting and children. We had a great week!

During VBS week I got a visit from my dear friend who drove out from Colorado. Robyn Jones..Love her! We met when Cassie and her Wesley were 14 and sweet on each other. We attended the same church, the kids attended the church school, we did a bible study together, and just all in all our families enjoyed each others company. This friendship is one from when Jeff was here and is precious to me. Robyn's husband Jeff was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma about a year after my Jeff was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Jeff Jones is still hanging on..the Lord is still using this old cowboy!

So let's see..June 17th after VBS closing the kids and I raced home to get ready for our week at Mount Hermon. We literally packed up and headed to Sacramento to spend the night with my Folk's before making our way to the Santa Cruz area on Saturday. I cannot begin to tell you how excited we were about being gifted a week at this amazing camp. We were meeting up with 4 other widows and their children. Between us we had a total of 13 kiddos. I will be posting more on this later. But suffice to say the week was incredible. Since Jeff went home to our Lord. I have not had a more mentally relaxing time. This time with my sister's sharing our stories, concerns, hopes and dreams. I well up with tears just thinking about it. Craving it again! We had trying moments..like when my car seemed to have an explosion under the hood. a small fortune later all was okay. Overall the week meant so much to me and the kids. I think it says a lot that we are in October and they are still talking about camp and going back again. And if you as them what their favorite part of summer was Mount Hermon and having Cassie and the boys home top the list.

Right after we left camp we headed back to Sacramento to pick up my nieces and bring them home for a week. Love these girls and love having them with me. We of course crafted and just all in all had great family time. Before we knew it we were headed back to Sacramento for a day of fun with Grandma which included getting ready for Grace's 12th birthday party and my nieces getting their first Bible's!

July 2nd we celebrate Gracie's 12th Birthday. She gets her own blog post for this. But, we were also celebrating the arrival of the Roley family! Having all my kids together makes life all better for this Momma. After losing Jeff my heart is not whole unless they are all together. It may sound corny but it's true.With the kids home we went to visit Jeff's Grandpa who is 93 years old! I love Grandpa Fraizer. He is an incredible God fearing, silly, loves to tease, loving man.

 My loves with Grandpa

 David with Grandpa

And this is Cassie with Grandpa about David's age

Let's see..so Cassie and RW headed to Mount Hermon for their week and we brought the boys  home and had a blast! Before we knew it the week was over and Cassie and RW were home and we got to enjoy sometime with RW and I was ever grateful for him helping me get a few things done around here. We also did some fun things like hike McCloud Falls. He was here about a week and then had to get back to work but Cassie and the boys stayed the summer! Yes the SUMMER! So blessed to have had them home for nearly 2 MONTHS! By the time we sent them off to Colorado it was time for to start school.

The Countdown!

We are counting down at our house..Many things are on the horizon.

Just 4 more days of school!

 

10 till Vacation Bible School

 

16 till Family Camp at Mount Hermon

And then....just 29 days till The Roley's are here I can love on these sweet grand-babies of mine!

Happy Green Day!

My need to craft and a holiday just means more fun for this Mama and Grandma! I ended up appliqueing shirts for all four of the young ones and then last night Grace and Jeffrey asked me to crochet them hats to match. They know how much I love matching! So here is the end result. Two cute kids! Pictures of the David and Caleb later. Wish I had them all together today...well everyday!

Can't leave this post without mentioning my Mom. Today she is sixty-four years young! Happy Birthday Mom!

 

Caleb Aaron

He's here! A  bit too soon..but he and Cassie are doing well. Keeping Caleb in the NICU for a bit to monitor his breathing since he is only 35 3/7. Once again there was a placenta issue with Cassie. Twice is no accident..something is going on there. And in both cases it stopped doing it's job at the same stage in pregnancy. Concerning to us and once again the placenta has been sent to pathology. These are the only pictures I have for now..Enjoy!

Missing my man + a need to create =

Mother & Son

Put this together just for fun. I have never had a child that looked like me. Cassie is the spittin' image of her Daddy and now David is following suite. Just fun to watch David grow and look so much like them.

2010 in Subway Art form

Thanksgiving 2010

We spent Thanksgiving in Sacramento with my Folk's, my Sister and her family drove in my Utah and my Brother and his family live right in there Roseville.  It was so nice to have almost everyone there..missing was Cassie and her family. The grand kids now range in age from 24 to almost 7. I have the oldest and youngest in my family. Ooops..David would be the youngest now at 15 months!

Anywho..we made a lot of great memories with the kids. A great day of fun, food and games on Thanksgiving and over the next couple days we took them to see Tangled, went bowling and took them TP'ing! That is by far one of my kids favorite parts of the weekend. My Dad was a wreck thinking about us doing this..we tp'd a church members house..mind you this church member is someone my sister and I were in youth group with and he LOVES to tp houses! We had a blast and left a note..which James enjoyed finding out it was us.

And Here is Thanksgiving in a picture collages..enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for! Just yesterday Jeffrey had a dentist appointment and dental bills can be expensive with insurance but without Yikes! So I get to the counter to check out and someone had paid the bill in full! I was so blown away! I couldn't bring myself to speak it at first because I just cried. Thank you Lord for special angels you place in our life!

This past Sunday one of our pastors had challenged our congregation to make a list of 50 things that we are thankful for. We will be making our list as we travel down the road to Grandma's house. We want to encourage you to do the same.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!