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.

Happy Birthday, Christian!

Happy Birthday to my oldest, one and only Grand-boy!

One more year and you'll hit the quarter century mark.

One fourth of one hundred years!  (I shudder at the thought of it!)

 

 

I pray you had a wonderful day with many more to come. 

I love you to the moon and back and then some!

 

Hugs and kisses

Mom-Mom

Happy Birthday, Samuel! !

I didn't forget you yesterday.  I just stink at multi-tasking these days.  I thought about you All.  Day. Long.  But, alas, my memory got the best of me.   Forgive me?

I'm pretty sure you had an awesome day ;).

I found this picture that makes you look goofy I really love of you.  Even though it doesn't show your eyes, I know they are smiling behind those shades. 

Pray your year is as awesome as you are.

Love,
Aunt Crickett