More Than Friends

There is nothing like "Friends"!
May May's friends have been so good to her.
They brought this box to the hospital and I
had no idea what was in it.

It was this beautiful cake!

Welcome Asher (aka "Brudder")

This is 3 of her friends that were at the hospital during her labor.
Bek Bek (as "Little D" calls her) is on the left.
She came to May May's house that morning to stay with "Little D"
so our family could be at the hospital. 
Bekhi is in the middle. She is actually expecting her 3rd baby.
Miranda is on the right.  These 3 are such good friends to "May May" !

Miranda went and picked out several coming home outfits for Mandy to choose from.
May May was prepared for a girl and had a boys outfit ordered but it didn't come in time.

These girls are so sweet not only to May May but to our whole family.
They are taking turns cooking meals and will do anything to help May May!
Friends mean a lot in life.

This is May May at 36 weeks and Behki at 21 weeks pregnant!!!
This was at a shower that some friends gave both of them!

Have you ever seen a little baby boy in pink with a Santa Claus hat on?
Bek Bek is one of May May's neighbors & sweet friend.
She came to the house with a swaddling blanket (just so happened to be pink! lol) and showed us
how to swaddle.  I wish I had took pictures of it step by step.
 I will have to ask her to do that again so I can get pics!
And then here came "Little D" with the Santa Claus hat!!!
It is so neat that once you swaddle them they just calm down and look around.

I can't leave this little girl out!
May May and Nicole grew up together and are like sisters but
Nicole lives far far away now but she still was part of the labor and delivery
through texting and pictures. 
We sure do miss her!

I can't help myself. I just have to show some more pics of the babies!

Big Brother & Little Brother!!!
***********

TODAY I AM THANKFUL FOR....the blessings of friendship.
I know that there are many more of May May's
 friends who are helping and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Just didn't have pics of everyone!

I have always told my children that if you have one friend in your life that

is a "true friend"- hang on with all you have.  There are a  lot of people that

never have the blessing of friends...I mean real true friends.  I could not make it

without my friends. Real friends are like sisters.

 They are a phone call away. 

 They know all about me.

They know if something is wrong just by talking to me.

I am honored to call "May May'"s friends "my" friends too.

And thank goodness for Facebook because we can stay in contact with all of them.

Our family is blessed to know them. 

******

Show me your friends.

I will show you your future.

********

A man that hath friends must show himself friendly:

and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18:24

Our Baby Is Having A Baby

Please pray for her & the baby & us!

An Answered Prayer

Wonder what he is saying??? Is that a ring???
Yes, I believe it is a gorgeous ring!!!
This picture does not do it justice.

These 2 are so much alike. This is an answered prayer.
We all knew that this was in the works. The Lord is so good.
Now it is official!


Congratulations to Maranda & Lane!!!
We are so excited for you both!

I have 4 grown children. Three of my children are daughters and one is a son. My dream for all of my children is that they find their soul mate, their best friend - someone to love them and take care of them. I want them all to have what I have. I am so blessed. Two of my daughters are living their dreams. And now, another answered prayer......Lane proposed to Maranda!

This truly is an answered prayer in more ways than one.

I have learned that we think we know it all, but God has a plan and he does answer prayers.

Sometimes we have to go through things to get where we are going!

His timing is not our timing.

HE is right on time.

Special Note To Maranda's Angel:

I know that you know who you are. You are a blessing.

You gave her hope and now look!

An Answered Prayer.

Foot Surgery Again?

This is Maranda with her nephew before her surgery.

This is her 3rd foot surgery in 6 months.

They put screws in both feet during bunion surgery.

Now the screws are coming out so they have to be removed.

She is not a happy camper.

Lane (boyfriend) & Maranda before they took her back.
For some reason she looks a lot happier here.
Wonder why?


Papaw holding "Little D" at surgery center.
He had to go with us because his Mommy & Daddy were working.


Mom (me) & Dad with Maranda & "Little D."

She is getting nervous here but you can't tell it.

Lane holding "Little D" in waiting room. He is such a good baby.

Look what came out of her feet?
Not the spoon! ha!
The screws!
Maranda asked me why I put the spoon there.
Do you know?

Because I wanted to show you the size of the screws!
I was amazed how long they were.
Pictures do not do it justice.

So here she goes again. Recooperation time is not as long as the other surgeries though.

She is really doing good though for what she has been through. It just killed her to have to go through surgery again. She loves cute shoes & was just starting to get to wear some but it will be a while now. Keep her in your prayers.


Note: My other daughter, Mandy ("Little D's" Mom) also had a minor surgery today( I wasn't there to take pics or you would see her too) so please remember her as you pray. Also, please keep my MOM, my bff Vicki, & our special friends Krista & Charlie in your prayers. If you would like to read what Krista & Charlie have been going through, she is trying to do day by day posts when she can. It is still so fresh and they are hurting so much. If you would like to read about their journey just click here. They have been through a lot. Please remember all of these in your prayers.

A Mother's Love

Mommy kissing her baby goodbye as she leaves for her first day back at work.

Mommy getting in car with a broken heart.

I love you Gran, but where's Mommy?

Tummy Time - Mommy says it is good for me!

So sweet!

Sleeping so good

Working on Alyssa's blanket during naptimes.

My "sweet daughter" Mandy had to go back to work this week. Her baby is 12 weeks old and it was heartbreaking. She is the best little Mom. I am keeping the baby for her while she works. I went to her house on Monday to make it easier for her. He is very attached to his Mom. She is nursing him so it makes it harder to leave him. It was so sad for both of them. Mommy cried and Baby cried and Gran cried! She came home at lunch to feed him and you should have seen his whole face light up. It is amazing that at 12 weeks old he knows her so well. He had a rough day yesterday without her just as she suffered without him. Today was a better day for him though. I don't think it was any easier on Mommy though. I met my "Sweet honey" for breakfast and guess who dropped by as we were leaving......Baby Davis's daddy! I was changing his diaper and he just came and took over. He put him in the car seat and kissed him goodbye. It was so sweet. He is such a good daddy and is willing to help with whatever he can. I think Daddy is having a hard time too just knowing baby is not home with Mommy. I never had to leave my newborn babies so I can only just imagine how they feel. I wanted to share a sweet note that my daughter left me yesterday as she left for work crying. I don't think she will mind me sharing. This note meant the world to me. I try to help all of my children and grandchildren as much as I can but sometimes I need to hear that I am appreciated. Mandy will never know what this note meant to me. There is nothing that could have meant so much to me than this note. Baby Davis did great today (our second day). He took sweet naps and had lots of happy times. My "sweet daughter" Maranda took a vacation day and helped so much. While he was sleeping I worked some more on my "sweet grandaughter," Alyssa's crocheted blanket that I am making her. Tomorrow my other grandchildren will get out of school early so I will have 4 children! Pray for me!

Mom,

First of all, let me start by saying "thank you." This by far is the hardest thing I've had to do my in my entire life. Baby Davis has been the biggest part of me for 52 weeks (pregnancy & 12 weeks old). Everyday I've talked with him, read to him, played with him, and felt him. Today is the first day he will not be with me. I will say that I have cherished each moment I've had with him and I've had a blast! I know that this is much harder for me than for him and I know that he is in great hands. Thank you for making this hard day as easy as it can be. He loves to sit in his bouncy seat in front of the window and look outside. I love for him to do tummy time because he looks like such a big boy. He eats about every 4 hours now. I know you will learn all of this but as a Mommy, I just want to let you know. I know he will love you just as we all do. You are the rock of our family. I am going to be as strong as possible and know that God is in control. Many women (Mommys) have told me, "you will get used to this." The thing is that I don't want to get used to not being with my baby. I thank God each and every day for this miracle and I know that in HIS time everything will work out. I am trying to "trust" this! It is a challenge. I also thank God everyday for you!

I love you and thank you,

Mandy

I just thought you all would enjoy reading my special note from my daughter. There are not words to tell you how much this meant to me.

**Special Prayer Request: Please pray for my "sweet Mom" as she is having some back problems and pray for my 95 year old "Sweet Granny". She is not feeling well at all.**

Car Shopping with "Financial Peace"

My "sweet daughter," Maranda has been car shopping for several weeks. She is so funny. She knew the car she wanted and she wouldn't budge. She said if she was going to spend that much money that she was going to get what she loved. She wanted a Maxima. She has saved her money and did not go into debt to buy this car. She knew how much she wanted to spend and shopped until she found the perfect car. She knew not to spend all of her money because one day it will rain! (Get it...rainy day fund)! She knew the car would drive so different if it was paid for. She did not want a car that would be a curse-she wanted it to be a blessing. We tried to teach our children that debt is a burden. Some of our children listened & learned. Debt will drag you down. We ought to know because we have been there and done that and will never go back again. We taught them that the Bible says the borrower is slave to the lender. We didn't learn this on our own. One day about 11 years ago my "sweet honey" decided to buy me a Mercedes. We had owned several before and loved them all. We always had car payments and didn't know any different. Anyway, we purchased this car out of town and I got to drive this gorgeous car home. As I was driving home I left the radio on the station that it was on when I got in the car. It was classical music. I didn't even like classical music, but I was feeling pretty ritzy (is that a word?) driving my little car. When I was about 30 minutes away from home the radio changed stations and I heard some man saying things like:
Car payments are the downfall of America!
Cut up your credit cards!

Get out of debt!
Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else!
Debt Snowball!
Save Money!
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!
Get an emergency plan in place!
Save for your retirement!
Beans & Rice, & Rice & Beans!
Pay cash or don't buy it!
People will think you are weird
Don't be normal- normal is in debt!

Change your family tree!

Baby Steps!
and on and on and on.
Anyway, to make a long story short......It was Dave Ramsey with Financial Peace! He is a Christian Financial Counsler. His ministry changed our life! We always thought that you had to have house payments, car payments, credit cards, etc. We never dreamed that you could have "paid for" cars or for sure never a "paid for' house! We used to charge our childrens Christmas on credit cards and make payments. When we started listening to Dave, we started learning and applying his baby steps to our lives. WE DID IT! We will never go back! And at this time in our economy, we sure are proud. You can do it too! If you get Fox Business Channel Dave is on t.v. now too. We both still listen to him everyday. Anyway, back to Maranda..... She shopped and looked and prayed and finally found the perfect car. She got everything she wanted. It is so nice and I am so proud of her for working hard and saving her money. The Lord has really blessed her! She, too has also been in debt before and she said she will never go back again either! Isn't her car beautiful? I snapped that picture when her and her boyfriend, Lane were out looking at the car. This is how we change our family tree! Telling people about Dave's plan and how to budget is a passion of mine. I love it. I have learned a lot through his program. If you don't know of his ministry you can go to his website and go to the archives and listen to his radio programs. I truly believe that when we bought that mercedes 11 years ago, that the Lord let me hear that radio program. I remember going in and telling my husband about it and he said there was no way!! But then he started listening to it also, we got on a budget together, we quit using credit cards, saved our money and paid cash for our cars and then worked hard and paid our house off. Baby Steps are the key. If there is ever a time that people need to be out of debt, it is now. This plan will change your life. IT DID OURS!

P.S. A special Happy Birthday to my BIL, Mike!

Proverbs 22:7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

Happy Birthday Mandy!!

Mandy when she was born 27 years ago.

What can I say? It is my babys birthday! She just got the ultimate gift--a healthy baby boy!! I am speechless. I am so excited for her and us! When Mandy was in labor, I could not help but think about 27 years ago when I gave birth to her. She was the best baby and she is the best little mother! I can't pass up saying something about Dusty too. He is just precious with Mandy and Baby Davis. He is a great daddy. We are blessed! Happy Birthday Mandy!!

Busy Time Of Year

My "sweet daughter" Maranda is doing well from her foot surgery. We went to the doctor today and he is amazed at how well she is doing. She still has a lot of recooperating to do though. I will be taking my other "sweet daughter", Mandy to the doctor in the morning to check and see how much progress she has made and when my new grandson will be making his appearance. Last week he said that it could happen anytime but she is still going. I also have been working on Christmas presents for my grandchildren. I bought each grandchild a quilt from my "granny" and gave it to them along with some extra little goodies that I had made them. I made Alyssa 2 headbands that Krista told me about and then I crocheted her a little hair scrunchie. I made Triston some pajama pants. They just loved them. I made Brett 2 little pillows but he doesn't have them yet.I did get a picture of him opening his quilt. You can see it on the side. I think Alyssa is holding it up. Brett is dressed up like a wrestler! I even made my new little grandson, that hasn't been born yet some burp cloths and a bib. I have also been working on my second quilt in my "down" time.(Ha!) It has been a very busy time around here. I hope you all have a very blessed Christmas!

We had our family Christmas party with my Mom & Dad & sisters & their families & all my children & grandchildren. We had so much fun. My "sweet daughter", Shannon hosted it at her house. We had so much fun. She had bought a Karaoke machine so there was lots of singing and cutting up along with a lot of great food. This was a special Christmas. We had so much fun!! If you see the picture where it looks like my Mom is bending over to shake my hand......well, this is one of those things that you would have had to have been there to see how funny this was. I was sitting down in a hole on the couch and she didn't want to make me fall on Mandy, who is expecting anyday. Anyway, so as she came over it looked as though she was going to shake my hand and we got so tickled. We laughed so hard. Later on in the evening, I went over to Mom and acted like I was gonna shake her hand. Like I said....You would have had to be there!!!! My "sweet sister" Brenda got to come and we were so excited. She missed Thanksgiving because of her husbands health. He still needs lots of prayers. Everyone was there except Brenda's daughter, Jami. She had finals at college to study for. We sure missed her. It was a great Christmas. There are many answered prayers and miracles in these pictures that only my little family knows. What a blessing to see the Lord work.

More Answered Prayers......My "Sweet Daughter", Maranda had surgery this morning on her other foot and she is doing great. The last time was rough but this time is wonderful. So far, so good. If you remember, she was my "hurting child".....but little did she know blessings were coming her way. She is so happy now. Sometimes we think it is the end of the world, and then we find out the Lord is in control. He knows much more than we do. Maranda will be off from work through the holidays to recooperate. Tomorrow, I will be going with my other "sweet daugher", Mandy to see when this little grandson of mine is coming. I will keep you posted. Thank you to everyone that has emailed or called and most of all for the prayers.

UPDATE ON MANDY: The Doctor said she could go anytime. He said everything looks great. Her blood pressure was still the same so he did not put her in to induce her. Baby Davis is due on Dec. 28!!! Counting the days.....

An Angel & My Hurting Child

I have had a lot of emails wanting to hear an update on "my hurting child". If you would like to read the original post-go to my labels under prayer request. Here is more about "my hurting child" and an update.

The reason my daughter is hurting is because of a divorce. She has her good days and bad days. Yesterday (Sunday) she told me that on the way to church that she prayed for the Lord to send somebody with some uplifting words. Well, we had a wonderful service and toward the end of the service a beautiful young woman got up out of her seat and came back and sat next to my daughter. There were some singers singing. I noticed that she put her arm around my daughter and was talking to her and they both were crying and hugging. After church, my daughter told me an angel visited her. You see, my daughter knows this young woman but not well at all. She told my daughter that she was praying the night before for her children and my daughters face came before her and her spirit was troubled for her. She told her how she had been there where my daughter is now. She told her about one time even forgetting to fix her children's supper because of her pain. My daughter shared with her how she had forgotten to eat one day until I asked her what she had ate for lunch. This angel shared with her how "his" family was "her" family and it was like a death and that she had to grieve. My daughter told her how special 'his" family was to her and always will be. This angel told her that she may not see it now, but one day she would be thanking him, because there will be someone to love her more than she could ever imagine. She told her to trust in the Lord. This is what happened to her. She thought it was the end of her world and now she is blessed with a good husband and family. She told my daughter that sometimes we have to go through things so we can help others. She also told her to call her if she wanted to talk, cry, scream, or just have someone hold her while she cries. My daughter needed this so bad. It took a lot for this angel to get up and walk back to where we were sitting during church. She is a very quiet, humble young lady. It means something to obey the Lord and not care what anyone thinks because you might miss out on blessing someone else. What an angel this young woman was to my hurting child. What an answer to prayer. My daughter will be o.k.- I know that because I know that she knows the Lord. I know that she knows where her help comes from. I ask you again to pray for my daughter and my son in law. And if you find it in your heart please say a prayer for us also, as we go through this trial with our "hurting child." Thank you all for your emails and kind words. It has amazed me that people I don't even know, care enough to ask about our situation and not only that, but will pray for us. I know without a doubt that the Lord is in control. So, if you are going through something and you think your world is ending, remember that the Lord could send an angel to you. HE is always right on time. As our Pastor tells us, When HE is all you have, HE is all you need.

Some of Mandy's friends from her church gave her the most beautiful brunch Baby Shower. She got a lot of nice things. We really enjoyed meeting all of her friends. They were so nice. We had a great time and the food was excellent!

I was very excited about the gift I got her for this shower. I had bought her a high chair and a beautiful Strasburg chenille blanket, but what I was most excited about was the baby quilt that I won from Sandy's blog! I received it in the mail just in time for this shower. Mandy loved it as you can see! It is beautiful. It will be cherished by all of us. Thank you Sandy!

The Doctor's Visit

My "Sweet Daughter" had her first check up this morning, since her surgery. It was rough getting her there since this was our first time out. This doctor is a great doctor, but is all business. He doesn't do any small talk. We went in and a nurse started to remove the bandage. I, being a blogger and a scrapbooker, asked her if I could take a picture. I had just snapped the picture when the doctor walked by and told her not to remove the bandages until he did X-rays. So she stopped. When Maranda came back to the room, the doctor came in, said hello, and started removing the bandages himself. All of the sudden, he looked up at me, and said, "I saw you taking a picture before, would you like to take one now?" I couldn't believe it. Of course, I jumped up, took my camera out of my purse, and took the picture. It was so funny, (because he is so quite & formal)-but he had the biggest smile on his face. I just couldn't believe it! It was hilarious! After he changed the bandage, then he showed us the X-rays and explained how the screw & steel pin were in the right place and everything was going as scheduled. We have to come back in a week. Then, we left and went to the court house to get the handicap sticker the doctor wanted her to get. I could not find a parking place anywhere except handicap parking with signs that say $500.00 fine. Even though I was there to get one, I told Maranda that it would be my luck to park there and even though she was sitting in the car, waiting to get one, I would be the one to get a ticket. I finally found a parking place though. Next, we take a trip to the grocery store. I offered to take her home, but I thought it would be good to get her out some. I got a wheel chair with a basket and went in to get a few things which overloaded the little basket. I did fine pushing her through the store. The basket was filled and she had some things in her lap. I guess everyone wondered what I was doing to this poor girl. I asked for some help getting out, but no one came through, so here I go pushing her out with all the groceries still in the basket and her lap. When the automatic doors, opened the wheels of the wheel chair hit a rubber rug and because of the weight of the basket from my groceries, the wheel chair almost flipped which would have put her bad foot under her! I caught it in time. It scared both of us! Then I thought to myself, to lock the wheels and go get the car. As I walked right in front of the wheel chair, it started to flip again. Fortunately, I caught the front of the wheel chair and a little elderly man grabbed the handle on the back. Maranda was saved once again! So then I have the bright idea to take everything out of the basket and set it on the sidewalk so it would not be front heavy & try to flip on us again. Then, I was going to get the car and bring it up to the sidewalk to pick her up and load my groceries. While I am taking everything out of the basket to set on the sidewalk, I noticed all the healthy people, men and women passing by looking at me, sweating, with a girl sitting in the wheel chair. I asked myself:

"Self, why are all these people passing by and not offering to help?" I kept waiting on the answer, but I never answered myself! I think I was just too tired and hot. I brought the car up and loaded my groceries and as I was about to get her into the car, a little handicapped young man came and asked me, if he could help me. I said, thank you so much. He opened the car door for her. He rolled the wheel chair over to the car and helped get her in. He asked what happened to her and told her he wished her well. I just thought that was so ironic that of all the people that passed us by, it took someone that was handicapped to take the time to help us. It really made us think. The next time I see someone in need, I hope that I take a minute out of my day to help them. Well, that was our day today. Wonder what tomorrow will hold? Well, I may have a surprise to tell you. I hope so. We will see.

Today Was A Better Day

My "Sweet Daughter" is doing some better today. This surgery is a lot rougher than I thought it would be. It is also complicated because she has rheumatoid arthritis. She is 28 years old. She was diagnosed with this when she was 15 years old. She deals with a lot of things that people don't even realize. Her dad, ("My "Sweet Honey") has had this mean disease since he was 20 years old and we just recently found out that her cousin, our niece, which is also in her early 30's was just diagnosed with it. It is so pitiful. We just hate it. But they deal with it. That is one thing that has made this surgery so hard. Maranda had to go off of her RA medicenes for a week before the surgery, and has to stay off of the meds for 2 -3 more weeks because it prevents healing. Doesn't that sound so ironic? You take meds to help your arthritis, but you have surgery, and you can't take them because it slows the healing process down. It just doesn't make sense to me. But this will be the real hard part. But all in all today was a good day. She actually got out of the bed, and walked with crutches and my help. She has sat up 2 long periods today. I am amazed how well she is doing compared to yesterday. She is a fighter. I cooked our supper and I fixed it all out on the grill, so it wouldn't heat up the kitchen. I fixed fresh green peppers, tomatoes & mushrooms, sauteed in olive oil. Then I fixed turkey burgers with cheddar cheese and fried potatoes. It was delicious! Then I headed out to the garden. I picked my first okra this year. I guess you know what supper will be tomorrow night. I also had lots of squash, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, onions, & green beans. My other "sweet daughter", Mandy had bought us 3 little apple trees last week and we planted them down next to the pond. It is easy to water them down there. I just get in that little gator and grab a bucket and dip it in the pond. Then I went and watered all my other flowers. It was a good day. Thank you all for all your prayers. It means a lot.

Don't forget to check out My 7 Day Sweet Pickles that I am making!