Happy Birthday son!

My lil man is nine. Jeffrey is such a blessing to our family. He is sweet, ornery, tender hearted and every bit the baby of the family.

He loves with his whole heart and I love to hear this lil man pray. He's a great prayer warrior at such a young age. He doesn't give up on a prayer request and he never doubts it will be answered.

For his party this year all he wanted was to go paint balling with his friends. So that's just what we did.

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?

**WARNING VENTING AHEAD**

My emotions are all over the board lately. How is it we can be happy and sad at the same time?

So happy about being a Grandma

Sad they are so far away

Happy for RW"s job

Sad that it's in Alabama

Happy to hear David say, "Gram maw I love you"

Sad I can't hold him

Happy for the year I had with him

Sad for the time I will not have with Caleb or any other baby that comes along.

Sad that I will never have a relationship with them. No birthday's, no first day of school, no school plays, no sports, no cuddle time.

Missing my Cassie..oh my heart hurts. 

I can honestly say that not having Jeff here I am sure intensifies these feelings. I am hurting, angry, sad, mad, lonely and feel so bad for Grace and Jeffrey. So yes I am venting, whining, complaining whatever you want to call it and I am posting this.

I often struggle with how "real" to be on my blog. Oh the posts I have written and not published.While I know the Lord as my Savior I am still human. So while I know that God has walked ahead of me I do have feelings of frustration. The difference is that with my hurt I can call on my Father to help me through. 

In my distress I called to the LORD;
   I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
   my cry came before him, into his ears.
Psalm 18:6

One of my favorite verses

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Thankful to have a Lord to come before me. 

2012

Florida Christmas

Cassie and family spent Christmas with the Roley's down in Florida. Here is a little collage of my sweet grand babies.

CHRISTmas

Trying to get these blog posts that I have written late at night posted before the New Year! lol.

The Christmas season brought with it A Not So Silent Night Christmas Musical. The first our church has ever done and it was crazy busy fun! We had 23 children involved and all new costumes for each of them. Grace played a Scribe and Mary and Jeffrey was Palace Staff. We are still signing the songs.

Christmas day itself was quiet..which was good because after all the hustle and bustle of the last month I came down with a cold. It has knocked me on my hiney this past week but in all honesty I have needed to down time.

Give-A-way!

Over at Not Just Another Housewife she is giving away a Silhouette! Click HERE to go and enter!

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!

 

Something on my heart

To say I have been moved after reading a post about a children's prison in Uganda. Well, I tear up at the thought of it. It is something that is taring at my heart. My dear friend just came home from mission trip to Uganda to love on and serve the people over there. The blog post from their visit to "M" made this gal sob. Why are they imprisoning children? how are we letting this happen? How are we as Christians letting there be orphans in this world? How are we letting one person anywhere go hungry, cold, sick and alone?

Please take the time to read about "M" here

And you can read about the ladies mission trip here

Ski Club!

This year Grace has joined the ski club at school. And today was her second trip up and I chaperoned! I had a great group of kids to include Ashton, Chase and Hunter. I love all these kids know them since they were pretty little. The trip up we listened to Christian tunes and the excitement was building the closer we got to Mt. Shasta Board & Ski Park. This being only Grace and Hunter's second trip they were both surprised to find out they has been moved up to a level 2 and so excited after their lessons to be moved up to a 3!

Our school has a total of 51 snow boarders and/or skiers this year. I had such a great time visiting with other great parents and shooting pictures!

The trip back home filled the car with stories of tricks and crashes! I can't wait to go again!

AWANA Games

This year I have taken the role as T&T director. It has been fun and with the AWAWA games in Redding we ended up having three teams quizzing! They all did great coming in 2, 3 and 4th places. We also came in 2nd place in the games with both our Sparky and T&T teams. Great day with some of our church family!

Cassie Lee is...25!

Seems like a silly post..but hey she is my baby too! Cassie Lee born 2.2.1986 on a rainy Sunday night. All I ever wanted to do was to be a wife and a Mother. And she is my firstborn. We couldn't have dreamed for a more beautiful, stubborn, blue eyed, great sense of humor, God fearing woman that she has become. She sure gave us a run for our money when she was little..busy busy girl. Funny thing is now that she is a Mommy..her David is doing the same to her! Love how that happens.

Cassie is the spitting image and character of her Daddy and I feel like the Lord is blessing us in that David is him made over. Never would have thought that when he was born..we thought he looked just like his Daddy. But has he has gotten older. Me oh My!

Happy Birthday to my Casaundra Lee! My daughter, best friend, and an incredible wife and Mommy! I love you!!

Jeffrey turns 7!

With everyone of my children..the birthday always seems to come as a WOW they are... My Lil man has turned seven. Jeffrey is the sweetest, kindest, most ornery, loving, ticklish, silly, handsome little boy a Mom could wish for. He was only 11 months when Jeff passed away so I am the only parent he remembers. He longs for a Daddy or for his big brother RW (my son in law) to come here and follow around.

The night before he was born I spoke with his birth Mom and she was doing well. Convinced of a good night's sleep I put my phone on silent. Only to wake in the morning with my dear friend Beth calling to say, "He's here"! Beth also being the physician I worked for, for nearly six years and the Dr. who delivered Grace. Well, my dear husband who was so very sick fighting cancer leaped out of bed woke the girls and we were off to Sacramento to get our boy! The longest four hour drive ever!

I will never forget getting to the nursery and I knew who he was immediately. Our sweet boy. Jeffrey Russell Chrisman born January 28, 2004. We are so blessed to have you in our lives and I am proud to call you my son.

My kinda craft!

I have a love of mason jars, doily's and candles! So coming across this craft today was right up my alley.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Hearts

So if you don't follow Mommy's Kitchen..well you should! She always puts out a monthly menu and If your like me..I get bored fixing the same ol' thing all the time. I wanted to share these yummy looking treats for Valentines Day..which is right around the corner!

Last pictures of 2010

Christmas in pictures!

Blessed

It's been awhile since I have blogged. We have been so busy the past two weeks. Over the course of time we have had RW come home on R&R, three sick kiddos, games played, movies watched, a lot of laughs, fires in the fire pit, BBQ's, smores, watched Grace teach RW how to ride a rip stick..he couldn't do it..very hard!, bowling, more laughs, and a great time of fellowship with family and friends! Can you say BLESSED?

It has been a great time. It's always hard to say goodbye. RW has really taken on the role of big brother with Grace and Jeffrey which has been a blessing to watch. Now he is headed back over yonder and we will continue to cover him with prayer. Please continue to pray for our troops.

Now to put the house back together again!