Happy Birthday, Matt!

Oh my stars!  I'm in denial that you are grown.  In. Denial. 
But I'm so proud of you as a young man. Your choices have proven well for you! Just look at that Lovely Lady on your right arm!

 

 

This picture just makes me smile right back at you!  I can't help myself. 

 

I pray you have a wonderful birthday ~ that you stop and smell the roses along the way ~ that your memories fill your soul today ~ and life gives you the best in every way!

 

Much love,

Aunt Crickett

 

PS ~ I shamelessly creeped Amanda's FB to find this picture.  No need to thank me.  That's what Aunts do (don't they?).



Just A Piece of the Puzzle

I love to work puzzles (not crosswords so much) and as it turns out, most of my squirrely girlie's like puzzles too!  Itty Bitty could sit with puzzles all day long.  And I have to admit, I think about letting her!  It is wonderful watching her analyze, twist and turn and finally place a piece where it belongs.

Using the box lid as a guide I taught her to work the border first.  It would give her something to connect to, as it were. Then we would move inward.  The pieces would be encompassed ~ forced to find their place. Next she learned to look for like colors, shapes, patterns and connecting parts.  The similar things allowed the "picture" to start to take focus and excitement followed.  And even though it was far from done she could see progress.  And so the process continued ~ observation, trial and then success.  When all pieces were placed in the correct spot and she stood back to admire the work, there was pleasure.  Pleasure in her work, even though there was trial and error, and pleasure with the end result.  She is now able to see past the fact that it took forever to work that pattern on the tiger because it all looked very similar. Or all the pieces of the same color giving her grief.  Perhaps a piece went MIA ~ only to find she was sitting on it.  All the frustration was lost in the pride she felt with a job well done.  Looking back at the big picture was rewarding and the joy, frustration and the "I don't want to do this anymore." attitude was overshadowed by what lay in front of her. The pieces.  All together.  As they should be.

It reminds me that my life is  just pieces of a puzzle. It is just much larger and sometimes more complex.  In any given day I find myself, more often than not, looking for where I belong. How  I'm going to get the pieces of my "puzzle" to connect together and not damage or misplace any of the surrounding pieces.  Most times I try not to put too much thought in it and just let the pieces fall in place naturally.  But, alas, Easy is never the name of my puzzle. 

Fortunately my "border" is done. I am encompassed by the Almighty Hand.  I am forced to find my place.  I look for like personalities (colors), interests (patterns) and fellow believers (connecting parts).  When I find my similarities my puzzle begins to take form.  And my process continues ~ observation (reaching out), trial (bad, unpredictable days, short temper, frustration, on and on. . .) and then success ~ joyful, blissful days, making it through the rain, dealing with disappointment and coming out on the other side.

But, unlike working a board puzzle, the only thing I can look back on is the "work in progress".  I won't ever see the finished puzzle this side of Glory.  God holds that box with the picture on it for me. 

I will get it some day. I will be able to look back despite the joy, the frustrations and the "I don't want to do this anymore." attitude and be overwhelmed at what lays in front of me.  The pieces. All together.  As they were meant to be.

But, not today.  Not today.

Happy Birthday, Sarah Sponda! !

Sometimes in order to move forward we need to look back at ourselves.  Here's a little "look back" for you Sarah.
 
 A well rounded life:

You love baseball!



You tried your hand at "boxing"  ;)

 

 

You love Guards

 

 

You're just simply put ~ beautiful!

 

 

Ahh ~ can't forget swimming

 

You don't mind striking a pose now and then!

 

You have matured into such a wonderful woman.  You set standards and examples for people you don't even know are watching.  You never seem to compromise your faith or your morals.  Your goals are impressive.  Your love for family even more so.  And just as important ~ you make room for the fun things in life ~ seizing the moment!

I am so proud to be your Mom-Mom.

I love you with infinite measure.

 

Happy Birthday!

 

Love,

Mom-Mom

Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut. . . . .

. . . . . and, Sometimes you are!

I haven't blogged in a coon's age.  I miss it.  I really, really do.  So, hopefully, this post is just the thing to get me jump started ~ again.

Ben and I went shopping at Marshall's (my favorite place to shop) a couple weeks ago.  We weren't
really looking for anything in particular, just fighting the winter blues.  But, as luck (not that I believe in luck) would have it, I found some orange sprinkling sugar marked down from Christmas.  Score!  Browsing and scoring are a match made in Heaven.   Every now and then I would see Ben saunter by.  He was more browsing his phone than he was the store.  He eventually discovered a bottle of beauty on the mark-down cart.  He says:  "Look what I found.  White chocolate syrup.  I could make us a bangin' coffee with this.  I could make my own espresso and add this."  Well, he had me at chocolate.  We browsed a bit more and headed on out to the checkout, ooo-ing and aaah-ing over the white chocolate in the beautiful bottle. 

 

Isn't it just beautiful!

 

 

 

He warned me not to crack it open 'til he was ready to make the coffee.  Talk about self control here.

He finally decided a couple days ago to create his masterpiece.  I.  Was. Stoked!  He opens up the bottle, he sniffs, he snurls his nose, he looks at me.  I give him a "What"" look.  He says: "This doesn't smell right.  Smell it." he says.  Ooookay, I think.  Is it bad?  Not a happy thought.  I smell.  I look at him.  I say, "It smells like vinegar."  He says, "Yep, that what I thought."  I say: "Didn't you read the label!!??"  He says: "I can't read German, or Dutch or whatever language that is."  So I turn the bottle over (and in English) it says:  White Condiment Gourmet.  Ingredients: white wine vinegar, concentrated grape must.  And it did have the words "Gourmet White Condiment" on the front at the very bottom of the label. It probably doesn't take an Einstein to figure that one out.  But our minds were set on WHITE CHOCOLATE!.  That's my excuse and I won't change it. 

 

Can I just say, on the one hand all the air had been deflated from my excitement, but on the other I had been spared drinking a lovely white wine vinegar espresso.  

 

Lesson here:  Read. The. Label.  Well.

Don't get the cart before the horse.

If it seems too good to be true, then it probably isn't.

 

We did mope about it for most of the afternoon.  Then we would laugh, and mope some more.  Now we just laugh.

 

Live and learn they say.  Live and learn.

Home is Where Our Heart Is

"In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you."  John 14:2 NKJV

In the past years when I was working at an electrical distributorship I had the privilege of being inside many glorious homes.  Homes one could only dream of.  Huge spacious rooms, multiple baths, and a view of the water to die for. Mansions.  At least to me.  I would often ask myself why some were more fortunate to acquire such wealth and beauty while others just lived pay check to pay check.  I would dream of living in a home with such beauty.  Oh, the entertaining, the leisure, the comfort. I could almost taste it.  But it was a dream that was economically beyond my reach.  Unrealistic. So I would put it to bed.  Daydream upon occasion, and be done with it for a while. 

Then a passage from the Bible, one we read all the time ~ one everybody knows, seemingly took on a new meaning for me one day.   A meaning that has allowed me to put away any longing for (which is really envy dressed up) my earthly mansion.  

We are told of streets of gold, crystal rivers, jewels everywhere in Heaven.  What makes us think our "mansions" are going to be anything but breath taking.  Even the smallest of those abodes would probably put the most lavish home on earth, the whole planet, to shame.  It would not be able to hold a candle to the beauty of what God has built for us.  THAT was my eye opener.  Why had I not thought of that before?  Silly me.

I kinda kept that little tidbit of self discovery tucked under my turban.  Until one day.  One day at a social function at a breath taking home with such a view, a friend expressed the same desire of having such a home.  How wonderful it was to share with her my new take on that verse.  Of how God is going to give us way more than we could ever imagine on this earth.  Of course she knew that, but perhaps like me, it settled in what I was saying.  It will be mind blowing, if there's such a reaction in Glory!  Just mind blowing. 

So I shan't fret about my measly little abode here (let us remember, tho, measly to us may be ginormous to someone else).  Let us feather it, nest it, love it, and be content.  It is, after all, a gift from God and our responsibility to care for it. It will shelter us until it is time to move into our permanent home in Land of  Glory. 

Just my thought to share for the beginning of this new year.