mizmollye

A NEW BLOG FOR A NEW YEAR

2010-12-30T18:00:00.000-06:00

HI EVERYONE.........................I WANTED TO START OUT THE NEW YEAR WITH A BANG SO I HAVE STARTED A BRAND NEW BLOG. IT IS CALLED "FRUIT OF SPIRIT"I WILL KEEP THIS BLOG BUT WILL NOT BE WRITING ON IT.......................

I WILL ALSO KEEP JAKE'S STORY AND WILL WRITE FROM TIME TO TIME BUT MY LIFE HAS CHANGED SO DRASTICALLY AND GOD IS AT WORK IN MY LIFE AND TAKING ME IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS AND I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU IN A FRESH NEW BLOG.

SO I HOPE ALL MY "OLD" FRIENDS WILL MAKE THEIR WAY TO MY NEW BLOG AND I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO MAKING "NEW" FRIENDS.

I LOVE YOU ALL AND AM READY TO GET BACK IN THE SWING OF VISITING ALL OF YOU AGAIN.

Mizmollye and Punkin

Oops! I had forgotten the Ballet Pictures!!!!!

2010-12-13T07:14:00.007-06:00

(the momma here would be Mizmollye)

FAMILY
...............FAMILY
..............................FAMILY

Spending time with family is just PRICELESS isn't it?

I've always loved Christmas. The hustle, bustle, shopping, wrapping, carols, TV specials, parties, church events, Santa pictures, lights, the tree, decorations, mailing cards, receiving cards, baking, and just everything connected with this holly jolly, and holy season.

BUT....................................................

It felt all out of place for me this year. Approaching Thanksgiving our family began discussing the holidays and what we wanted to do this year. We found that we were all on the same page. After losing our beloved son and brother, Jake just shy of 6 months ago, we were all full of so many memories and while all very sweet and loving, the pain of facing this first Christmas without him here was just overwhelmingly sad. We began knocking around ideas and were in agreement on what we wanted to do this year. And Sisters I can tell you it has so far been wonderful and oh so rewarding and blessed for us.

Shreveport Symphony warming up for the Nutcracker performance of the Metropolitan Ballet

Ma and Pa Self before the ballet

Lori and her hubby Marc

Kane, who was Shari's date for the evening! (her oldest grandson)

Buddy living in Alabama was not going to be able to be here so that left Punkin and myself and the two girls and their husbands. What if we each planned a night during the month to spend time together and planned the fun along with meal and gifts of which we had already decided would be something we already had (re-gifting).

So.....I picked the first family event and I prepared a Gumbo dinner complete with baked sweet potatoes, chicken and sausage gumbo, hot garlic bread and pecan pie. Everyone got together here early in the evening and opened their presents and ate and then we went together to the Nutcracker Ballet. The girls loved it and I was so happy to be able to take all of us as a family to one of my favorite things about Christmas.

Shari was the next to host Family night and she had all of us to her house last Saturday night for Game Night. Her home glowed from all the beautiful decorations and candles lit. She and her daughter Emily

had worked so hard to present a magical setting for our get-together. She made red beans and rice with sausage, and her special tater tot casserole. For the sweet tooth she had yellow cake with chocolate frosting which little Luke helped ice, chocolate pie and pumpkin pie. But the hands down winner of the night was the mango iced tea! She re-gifted with sentimentality and tears were shed. We played Pictionary Man and a Shout and Pass game.

WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT CHARADES? And PD was a natural!

Lots of laughs, a few tears, many hugs, smiles and love filled the evening.

Now our next event will be this Friday night and Lori is hosting a Pizza party and comedy show with Tim Hawkins at her church. I'll take pictures and report on that after we get together.

By not shopping, we all had extra cash to do nice things for others and the girls chose the little shoe box gifts to the children in Haiti and they selected the age and sex of children they wanted to shop for and they ended up "adopting" way more than one child apiece and they were so blessed and happy with the opportunity of making children happy at Christmas. Punkin and I adopted a couple expecting their first child in January from the VOA, and it has been the most rewarding experience ever in helping make someone feel special and loved.

The girls and I are planning a surprise Donut party for the employees of all three of the Home Depot stores in our area as Jake worked at all three of the stores and many of you are aware of the magnitude of support we were given by Home Depot after Jake's death. So this is a very small way to be able to gift some smiles in an attempt to say "Thank You".

Our family has truly discovered Christmas this year and while uppermost in all our minds is the thought that Jake would have loved celebrating in this manner and "why oh why did we not do this while he was here", but we can't afford ourselves those hurtful thoughts and still know joy so we have chosen to just think that somehow we have learned to get our priorities in order as a gift to Jake.

Merry Christmas days and nights from Mizmollye and Punkin Darlin!

SOME SWEET CHRISTMAS MEMORIES

2010-12-10T07:56:00.014-06:00

Ho Ho Ho... This was taken when Jake was ten or eleven years old and we attended Benton Presbyterian Church where my father was the choir director. It was a small church and there were probably only about five or six little children so Santa insisted on EVERY kid, big and little sitting on his lap. hmmmmmmm

So of course even though Jake was at the age of being wise in the Santa department, I think he enjoyed sitting on the fat man's lap and telling him his wishes. I think all the "big" kids received Bibles.

Christmas '08. Mike and I took Jake and his friend Nancy from church to the American Rose Garden here in Shreveport where many acres of gardens are decorated in lights. We had a good time. Lots of laughs.

This was also '08 and these were taken in Jake's mobile home. Jake had told me around Thanksgiving time that he had never gone out and gotten his own tree since he and his wife had divorced. I planned to buy a new tree that year so gave him our old one along with lots of ornaments. He put the tree up and decorated it himself and was quite pleased with the results.

His oldest sister Lori and her hubby were in town visiting from Arkansas so we all got together at his house along with his friend Nancy and her two boys and had dinner which Nancy prepared and snacks. We played Scrabble and Jake's favorite Monopoly. He played Christmas Music and we had a really great time. I think Jake loved hosting the party most of all! He had bought tins of Popcorn for everyone that year!

This was the year before Buddy moved to Mobile and I always got tickled at he and Jake together as they were truly as little boys most of the time. Just having fun and enjoying their time together.

I have so many great Christmas pictures of Jake but for now will stop with this one. Jake was showing us all what someone had given him for Christmas and reminding us of the true meaning of Christmas.

Jake just lit up when he could tell someone of Jesus.

This will be a tough Christmas to get through this year but we will do it. I think the hardest part for me will be the fact that Jake will not be walking in my door on Christmas Eve to spend the night on our couch so he could get up early Christmas morning to open his stocking. It will not seem right to wake up Christmas morning to a quiet house with just the two of us. But then again nothing has seemed right since June 17. Maybe we'll go visit Jake's grave and take a little something to leave. Just to have a tiny connection with him.

As the poets write I can look in the sky at night and find the brightest star and say it is my boy or I can stop my pain long enough to say "Thank you God for the years we had with Jake" and then though the pain never leaves and the tears are still there I feel blessed because I know my boy is alive and is still with me in my heart. We have no choice of when our time on earth is over but we make a choice on how we deal with our heartaches.

As far as "getting over" the death of your child..........it is like asking someone who has lost his legs and arms if he is "over" the fact that he no longer can walk or touch something. We will never get over the pain of losing Jake but we will learn to live with it with grace and mercy.

Merry Christmas Jake

BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

2010-12-09T09:49:00.003-06:00

ha ha ha.........I can relate.

This what I can do when Mike's in the woods.....................

Stay warm sisters!

Beginning To Fuel Up in 2010

2010-12-02T13:38:00.000-06:00

Hi Everyone, I poked my head out of the covers long enough to search my December 2009 posts because I don't want to be completely out of the loop but did not have my thoughts together enough to write something new. I hope you enjoy this. I love you all.

Yes word on the streets has it that waaaaaaaaaaaaay up at the North Pole those magnificent beasts known as "Reindeer" are busy being exercised, and fed, fed, and fed to be able to withstand the strenuous, long and arduous journey they make each year about this time.

Have you ever seen anything quite as cute as this little fellow? Mrs. Santa had the pleasure of naming the newest baby of the herd "Thunder". I have a feeling he will be staying at home with Mrs. Santa this year. Perhaps even for the next few years.

Oh the lucky folks who live in the North Pole area and get to shop and travel around the town in the glorious sleigh pulled by those favorites we all know by name.

This little fellow's name is Dustin seen here feeding Donner a treat!

Here's the big jolly one we all know and love spending a little time with Comet and Cupid.

And here he is with hmmmmmmm now I do believe this is Vixen.
Yeppers that's Vixen alright!
And isn't he a beauty.

And awaaaaaaaaaaaaaay they go! Over the housetops, over the hills, across sea and mountains. From the north to the south from the east to the west, Santa visits those who act their best.

And after he leaves the North Pole, all the little Elves get busy decorating the beautiful Christmas Tree for their boss and his wife as she begins her own Christmas Preparations the Claus Family way!

So remember Girlz, 'ya better watch out and 'ya better not pout 'cause ya never know when someone will be checking you out!

He's Coming..........he's coming to your town.

DECORATIONS FOR JAKE'S GARDEN

2010-11-27T15:42:00.004-06:00

WOW Has this year flown by or what? Here we are almost in full swing of the hustle bustle Christmas preparations. And before you know it we'll be in a new year. I tell you sisters, tempest fugate.

My heart just is not into decorating the house this year, but that's ok because I'm not scrooging Christmas. Just the decorations. Our family has some very sweet events planned for the holidays and I'll be sharing with you as they occur, however my heart was very much into decorating Jake's gravesite so it would be elegant and speak of "the season" for which we celebrate.

So Lori and I went down this morning and had a fine time sprucing up Jake's little corner along with Mike's Mom, Dad and his two sisters gravesites and we even doozied up the Gazebo in the center of the cemetery with a little greenery! Tra la la la la.

We opted for simplicity here with the one large poinsettia and greenery with berries and pine cones and a sweet little cardinal perching on a branch.

Showing back of the headstone with a peek at something special Lori did.

See the fence line. We were fortunate to get the spot for Jake in the newer and less developed area of the cemetery and therefore he has a shady corner. We have a small black wrought iron bench we're taking next time we visit. Isn't the fenceline pretty with the greenery, splashes of red and all the little birds looking as if they're singing Christmas Carols!

Happy Weekend everyone, and I can't wait to see all your decorations.

Love ya, Mollye and Punkin

WITH SUCH GRATITUDE

2010-11-23T15:22:00.003-06:00

Thanksgiving 2010..............My cup overflows with gratitude

For Jesus Christ who took my hand and my heart and brought me from undescribable grief to knowing true Joy and the Gratitude for the forty years he gave us with Jake

For my Family who is there for me, who I cherish, treasure, adore and love deeply

For the New baby in our family coming next year

For You.........the best sisters anyone could ask for. It matters not that most of us have never met in person. You lifted me up, you sent cards, gifts, letters, and most importantly stopped by to visit so I would not feel alone. You didn't desert me when I didn't feel up to visiting you. I love you truly, new friends and old

For my Health which I do not take for granted but nonetheless I could improve with more conviction

For my Home as my heart knows safety and peace within these walls and my next door neighbor who has become my sister

For Opportunity to be involved, to help others and for the desire to do so

For Laughter to lighten my load

For Tears to cleanse my soul

For a Country where we can share the Word, Vote and Pick and Choose

I wish all of you the most Blessed and Happy of Thanksgivings ever!

Love to you all, Mizmollye and Punkin

SHOWTIME FOR PARSLEY'S SWAP

2010-11-22T01:54:00.002-06:00

Oh Sisters This was a Fun Swap. Thank you to Parsley our charming hostess for a fun swap and wonderful way to meet someone new. She has the links up on her blog today so we can all go by and link to everyone who participated in the Swap.

We had our choice of Fall or Winter Theme and I got the name of a gal who loved Winter and the gal who got me found out that I also loved Winter, so it was really festive and fun shopping for just the right thing.

I sent a box of assorted Winter themed goodies to Cat. So be sure to pop in to visit her and you can see what I sent her. Sure hoped she liked her gifts.

The sweet sister who got my name was Cheryl and she "knocked my socks off" with her gifties. Oh and what a sweet person she is. I am so glad I got the opportunity of meeting her. She is a homeschool mom from Oklahoma and has a virtual barnyard of critters. Above all she is a Christian woman with high morals, lots of love and a wonderful personality and very crafty too! Please go by to meet Cheryl.

I began by opening the box and as you can see everything was individually wrapped and she probably heard me squealing for delight like a little girl! Pretty, pretty!

Then I opened an envelope and found a Beautiful Christmas Card with a 2-page letter inside. Wheeeeeeeeeee. Not too many people still take time to write so this was extra special. Well this lovely lady commented on my bloggy and expressed her love and sympathy for the loss of Jake telling me she had even read all of "Jake's Story" which caused a lump in my throat. Then she outlined every single element of things she had included in my box and I loved that. I almost didn't want to open the packages until Christmas since I already knew what was in them. That way the excitement could really build, but I knew we were to post them today for everyone else so I had no choice!!!!!!!!! Here Goes. Ready......Set..........GO

A Hand poured Vanilla Palm Oil Candle by Cheryl and I would not be surprised if you could smell it via cyberland because the scent is absolutley breathtaking. Oh and the little jar is awesome. I hurriedly closed it back up because I want to save every single bit of scent for Christmas. Told you she was waaaaaaaay crafty!

Next up is a little vintage Christmas Tea Towel with a crocheted hanger top and Cheryl had bought it from a sweet little 90 year old lady at a craft bazaar. This will never dry off dishes or pots and pans. For Lookin Only! Year after year.

And Cheryl went on to tell me how much she loved the smells of Pumpkin Bread baking on a cold winter morning and that a big slice of Pumpkin Bread with a steaming cup of coffee is about the only thing that can shake her out of a warm cozy bed, and so she sent a box of Pumpkin Bread fixings along with a beautiful little serving tray.

Oh c'mon old man winter. I can't wait to bake my bread. That will be a special treat for Punkin Darlin and I. Hey I just realized I'm married to Punkin and talking about baking Punkin Bread. Have Mercy!

And last but certainly not least was a Needlepoint Stocking filled to the brim with little special gifties. And the important thing here is that Cheryl got to "know" about me from reading my blog and chose the gifts for a special meaning to me.

A Butterfly symbolic of New Life and our family is expecting a new little life in April with a little great-granddaughter!

A Bird and not just any old bird but a Red Sparkly Bird because Red is my fave color and I have a bird on my blog header.

A Present because Every day is a Gift from God. Yes it surely is. A Sparkly Gift!

A Gorgeous Cross because without the Cross we would have no Christmas. Or no life. Or no Blessings. Our Savior went to the Cross for each of us and we will meet him there when our spiritual life begins

And the last little ornament I pulled out of my stocking was this Beautiful little Picture Frame for Jake's picture. Because Cheryl knows that Jake is always on my mind and this being the first Christmas without him I can rejoice in seeing his smiling face looking on all of us from our Christmas Tree.

Thank you so much Cheryl. You touched my heart more than you can know and I am so glad to know you.

Love you all, Mollye

A CHILD'S COMPREHENSION

2010-11-16T21:16:00.006-06:00

Last Saturday Shari, son-in-law Wes and little Luke, her grandbaby (and our youngest great-grandbaby) went down to visit Jake's grave so Shari could put out some bulbs for next spring and as she was planting and Wes and I were watching her and talking he looked around and snapped this amazing picture with his phone.

Luke won't be three until January and he has only been told that his "Umpa Jake" has gone to live in Heaven. But has been told nothing of death, buriel, gravesites or anything like that.

Judging by the very poignant look on his sweet little face and his tiny hands clasped as if in prayer you have to wonder what he is thinking.

Luke loved his "Umpa Jake" and Jake was absolutely delighted with and adored his littlest of nephews. Jake was only 12 when Joe (Luke's Daddy) was born so Joe and Jake developed a very strong relationship through the years.

I don't think Luke related the mound of earth as being associated with Jake. He was told we were there to work on Umpa Jake's flower bed, but he did smile with glee as he saw the portrait of Jake on the headstone, and I believe he just simply took a seat and was deep in thought, perhaps thinking about what had happened to make things feel different now and wondering if and when he might see his Umpa again.

Precious.

AND THE WINNER IS..............

2010-11-15T07:27:00.005-06:00

Ok I know I'm cheating a bit as this is the 386th post and I am a little short of my goal of 400. But Yikes.................I want to get this pressie out before Thanksgiving as that is the reason for this Basket of Blessings.

When Jake died, I began hearing from so many of you my regular buddies and so many new ones too and you were placed in my life by God as He knew I needed lots of earthly angels to lift me up and support me during those dark, scary and oh so tragically sad days, and you did and I will be eternally grateful for you and I wanted to do something special for one of you who was randomly drawn by my daughter Lori, who is NOT a blogger. I only wish I could send each of you a beautiful basket of surprises. Though I cannot do this I none the less send each of you my love and gratitude.

I will get your basket in the mail so you will receive it before Thanksgiving. WOW it is right around the corner so I better get busy filling it.

Love you all and I hope you know you are ALL a Blessing to me.

The Winner is...............................BERNIE so pop in to visit this special lady and tell her Congrats!

Bernie was so inspiring to me when Jake died as she too had lost a son and she just celebrated a milestone of his death and she has such faith that I am always encouraged so woweee I am happy to be able to surprise this lovely friend!

AMAZING EASY PEASY MUST HAVE

2010-11-11T13:43:00.003-06:00

Fleece Arm Warmers

If any of you do not know Anitra from Coffee Pot People I invite and encourage you to pop over and visit with her. She has been one of my "oldest" little blogger buddies and she amazes me continually with her crafting.

I love wearing the arm warmers rather than gloves because they're just easier to drive with and wow this is one cute little pattern.

Also Anitra designs and sells amazing Christmas Cards and her one of a kind coffee pot/tea kettle sculptures. Whimsy...Funky...Fun and when you see them you just feel like you've got to have one. Or two. Also Anitra makes the most beautiful ATC's, Post Cards and Mail Art Envelopes you've ever laid eyes on.

To say I'm a big fan of Anitra's is an understatement. Go visit this crafty chick!

And I've decided that regardless of how many posts shy I am of the 400th mark, I will none the less draw a lucky name from all the comments and get my Basket of Blessings out to someone this weekend. Check back with me Sunday for the Surprise! Whee............Yay................Whoot Whoot................

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY

2010-11-08T07:05:00.011-06:00

Yes my patient and long suffering sisters who read my bloggy for news other than yet another birthday! Tis true. My oldest son Lance who has always gone by Buddy is having his 43rd Birthday today!

He is in Mobile where he and his wife Jessica and her three youngins live. So we will celebrate with him today through cyberspace and by phone.

Also I must tell you that this is Post #383 so in just 16 more or before I will finally reach my 400th post and Yay I can send that pressie out to someone! And no the next 16 will not be about family birthdays LOL

OK a bit about Buddy............He came into the world on Nov. 8, 1967 and was received by Momma, Daddy, sisters Lori and Shari and a host of grandparents.

We were living in Baytown, TX as his father was employed at NASA in Houston. Shortly after he was born, we came back to Shreveport and Buddy lived here all his life until he went into the army.

He re-enlisted and got to see many parts of the world. After his second hitch was up he moved to the San Franciso Bay Area and married.

The bike he built while living in California

They divorced after about nine years and he came back to Louisiana.

Playing softball with his team from work.

Some time went by and he and Jessica met and they married and he went to live in her home town of Mobile, AL.

When Buddy brought Jessica home to meet us for the first time.

His father wanted to name him so he was named Lance Albert after his father's Dad and favorite Uncle. I told him it didn't matter a hoot what he was named as he would always be my Buddy, so from the moment he drew his first breathe, he was "Buddy".

Taken a few years ago at the Sunflower Tour close to where we lived when he was little. He was a little tired of me telling him to "Smile". So he did! LOL

He and I shared a special relationship and spent many happy years as he grew up doing the simple things small town people do. We would load up a fishing boat into the back of our pick-up and head for the lake and spend hours catching bream and crappie (white pearch if you're from Louisiana).

Buddy was the "little brother" of Lori and Shari and therefore did not share the same kind of relationship he shared with Jake as he was the "big" brother and Jake looked up to him as protector.

Buddy and Jake with Jake's dog, Bugsie taken in 1996.

He grew to be the tallest in the family and he has the tenderest of hearts to match.

Never too big to clown around!

Happy Birthday Buddy, I love you!

APRONS...Who knew?

2010-11-07T11:56:00.004-06:00

Who knew that aprons would be such a trend in 2010? But my granddaughter Erika wanted one so bad that I just had to whip up a little flowered number for her 30th birthday. She sure makes them look good.

Thanks for not scolding me for posting so much about my girls and granddaughters, but as I said almost everyone has a birthday during these fall and winter months and I am trying so hard to get up to my 400th post so I can draw a name out and send you my Basket of Blessings! So please bear with me.........a couple of more birthday celebrations and we'll be there .......wink wink!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIKA

2010-11-06T14:34:00.004-05:00

Love you Erika!

Yep another birthday in our family. Most all our birthdays come between Halloween and the first part of January, so it is a busy time for us and getting harder and harder for this ole gal to remember each and every one of them. Sshh don't tell but I do get them confused. Sometimes I'm off on the months and have been known to completely overlook one and that makes me feel very very bad!

But tomorrow we Celebrate Erika's 30th birthday. Erika is a beautiful woman, inside and out and is Lori's (my oldest) daughter. She is a busy wife and mom to two little girls; Nayda and Ellie.

She lives in the Dallas area and they are up here at her Mom's for the weekend to do a little celebrating.

Oh gee....say it ain't so that I have grandchildren in their 30's. WOW.

I love this picture of three generations. My daughter Lori, Erika and Erika's oldest daughter, Nayda.

STILL MY LITTLE BROTHER

2010-11-03T07:46:00.008-05:00

Freddie...(second from right)

CONGRATULATIONS to my little brother who recently was promoted to Lt. on the Bossier City Police Department. He's devoted many years to helping keep our streets safe and worked tirelesly as an advocate for children's rights and safety.

I'm so glad he is getting the recognition he deserves. I'm proud of my little brother who is a wonderful husband to my sis-in-law, Mary and father to six children and too many grandchildren to name.

He has gone almost as far as he can in the Masons and Shriners and spends a great deal of time volunteering with the Shriners Hospital and CASA and other organizations.

I was 2 1/2 years old when I first laid eyes on my little brother. I can vaguely remember Momma placing a tiny pale yellow fuzzy blanket on my lap and recall the feelings of awe as I glanced in the tiny red face with blue eyes gazing intently in mine. I remember loving him at first sight, so I guess he was my "first love" behind that of course of Momma and Daddy.

He was my only playmate growing up.

We don't make the time to see one another often but I believe we are still strong in our mutual love from another day and another time.

He helped carry my boy to his final resting place and for that alone he is dear to me like none other.

He ain't heavy. He's my brother.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHARI

2010-11-02T10:32:00.006-05:00

Help me wish my Baby Girl Happy Birthday today as she turns 46!

Seems only yesterday at age 10 that she was fussing at me for giving her those home permanents. Why oh why did I do that? She has the most beautiful hair of anyone in our family but I always thought she should have curls! Oh gosh are we ever satisfied?

We celebrated early on Sunday her birthday along with Joe (her oldest son) as she is a nurse who works nights and has to work tonight so her hubby had a little family party for her Sunday and we will get together again on the 8th when she's off for another celebration. I tell you the birthdays in our family tend to go on and on and on. This was taken on Halloween as she was about to cut her cake.

So many many sweet memories of Shari but as a child I also have many bittersweet memories as she was such a humble child that she didn't want anyone to fuss over her or spend money on her. At the time when we'd begin our school shopping, she always reminded me that she could wear big sister Lori's old dresses. Imagine that. I tell you I don't know where she got that virtue but she never wanted!

And the most recent of things I like to share about my little gal is how my life was changed as she gave me the Bible Study by Beth Moore on Mother's Day two years ago of the study of Esther and since then we have had a bible study going constantly just the two of us and it has brought us closer to each other and so much closer to the Lord.

Shari is amazing as she juggles her time between being a wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, friend and nurse. She has such great compassion for her patients and truly comes to life around children. She always thinks of others first and self last. Well..............almost last. But then again there is her bright red Mustang with the loud pipes and the tinted windows. I said ALMOST... You go girl!

Happy Birthday Shari....... I love you so much.

AMERICA'S LARGEST HALLOWEEN PARTY

2010-10-31T10:17:00.004-05:00

SAINTS VS. STEELERS............TONIGHT

Oh gosh it's gonna be so sad for all the little trick or treaters here in Louisiana who can't get anyone to come to the door. Cha-ching...dat's da way it is here

Game Time Halloween Night ... sorry little kids...just a few less cavities for ya!

And I leave you with a little 4th of July foolishness from da girls...who dat!

GEAUX SAINTS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE...(Post #376)

2010-10-31T01:00:00.002-05:00

Our Halloween Baby

My grandson Joe turns 29 tomorrow! Happy Birthday Honey

This is the face of grief. Taken at Jake's funeral as Joe honored his uncle as pallbearer. He and his Uncle Jake were almost 12 years apart but very close; living together the first four years as Joe grew up and Jake grew into adolescence and his teen years. Later as "grown ups" they became running buds. The pain of losing his uncle was so hard and Joe's face says it all.

Hope this next year will be a turning point for Joe and he will find peace, serenity and happiness. I love You Joe.

A LOAD OFF

2010-10-30T08:45:00.003-05:00

The building SOLD ! I am so grateful that we did not have to "eat" this sum of money and that someone was able to buy it that really needed it. She is paying a huge sum of money each month to store her household of furniture until she can get in her own home and now can move her things to the building and save the monthly fee. Then when she moved into her own house she plans to turn the building into a little house for her 18 year old son to have his own space. Yay...Yay...Yay

And another bit of news is that I went to my doctor yesterday and he put me on an anti-depressant called LEXAPRO. I do not have a history of depression and did not know I was depressed and he is not totally sure ( you know I could just be plain NUTS) but he thinks the problems I am having with my memory,confusion, lack of motivation and making decisions that are out of character for me may stem from depression. So he said this drug is quick acting and that I should begin to start seeing a difference in a few days even.

Well Punkin is in the woods again this weekend and all my chicks (yes, I know they are full grown hens) are at the state fair. It's just me, Toby, Lou (the louder than loud Conure) and the new pup, Tootie who cannot hold her pee and is an neurotic as can be are here by our lonesome. Toby had a bad seizure last night and he is sleeping in this morning and I have Tootie out on the back porch so she won't bother him. Also she has my house smelling to high heaven. So I will have to make a Fabreeze run today.

I had lots of activities planned for this weekend, but since I did a very silly thing and went a couple of weeks ago and got my new short haircut cut off even more until I feel like a boy...............Now when it gets time to do what I planned, I back out because I just don't want to get out of the house for anything other than church or the necessary shopping. I just feel almost what feels like "shame". I know that sounds irrational but it is what it is and I likely won't go places until my hair grows more which will be another month at least.

Happy Halloween, Trick or Treating and Happy Fall and Happy Weekend, Happy Saturday and just be HAPPY. Be Safe and you do know don't you that Jesus loves you?

POST NUMBER 374

2010-10-27T18:13:00.003-05:00

I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT...I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT...I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT...I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT...I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT...I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT...I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT...I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT...I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT...I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT...I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT...I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT...I WILL NOI WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT...T GIVE IN TO DEFEAT.I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT...I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DEFEAT.....

We are STILL trying to re-sell this building we bought for Buddy to live in. You know when he thought he was moving back. And we are having such a hard time as it was built on site and measures 20 feet by 30 feet and the Mobile Home Movers won't touch moving anything wider than 16 feet, and the House Movers want an arm and a leg and people obviously think they can hire a mover for a couple hundred dollars.

But it is what it is and we still have a week or two before it has to be moved so we'll just wait and see.

However the main reason I am even posting today is that I'm trying to run my number of posts up so I can send someone one heck of a snazzy Basket just overflowing with Blessings for that is the way I've gotten through the past four months was due to the blessings my blogger sisters have bestowed on me and my family so I want to give back to someone and she will be after I have posted 26 more times, but I promise it will happen BEFORE Thanksgiving even if I have to post each day and just say Howdy and uh................did you know Jesus loves you? :-)

SHARING A LITTLE CUTENESS

2010-10-24T19:31:00.004-05:00

Happy Sunday Evening Everyone!

Hope today was a good one for you. As someone once said EVERYDAY above ground is a good one! Well I don't really know how funny that was but is just something that popped into my mind.

My Punkin is still in the woods, he called Saturday morning and had gotten one doe (a large one) but he is still there so who knows.............

What I know is it is HOT here cause the AC went out and Louisiana does not know it is Fall. We're still in summer around here at night. Shari gave me a box fan today to bring home so I will sleep better tonite.

I don't have anything clever, inspirational, or super interesting to write about was just feeling a bit disconnected and thought you might like these pictures.

This is a cute picture of Jake and Mike aboard the Belle of Hot Springs during a trip we three took two years ago to visit Lori and Marcus. So glad Lori had taken this and shared with me.

This is Shari (youngest daughter) with her beautiful little niece Hannah who will be a Mommy next week and Shari's daughter, Emily (granddaughter) who will be a Mommy next April with Lori (oldest daughter) next to her.

I know I am bragging a bit but I just think I have beautiful daughters and they are as beautiful on the inside as they are to look at. True inner beauty.........what could possibly ever be better?

You know there are many who are gorgeous to look at but without the inside matching the outside, the outside will fade and rust in time and there is nothing nice to see.

And I love this picture of Shari, Emily and Luke (Shari's youngest grandson)and our baby great-grandson.

So that is it cause I'm knee deep in the Brookshire's Contest where you pull off little stickers and find the place to stick them to win big savings at the grocery store. Yay yippee yay.

And to borrow a little phrase my boy Jake was fond of asking people?

"Do you know that Jesus loves you"? "Well he does and I do too"!

IN MY CORNER OF THE WORLD

2010-10-23T09:42:00.005-05:00

Blessings can be found behind every sorrow.

Hey everyone, I have missed you but my absence from visiting your bloggys does not reflect that does it?

I'm not real big on making excuses, but I do have one or two. tee hee

For one thing, my mind is still not working properly. In other words I am still a little "spacey" and easily distracted and not one hundred percent yet, but nonetheless I do think of you and offer you up in my prayers.

Pretty soon I will reach that 400th post and get my Basket of Blessings off to a randomly drawn blogger sister and I'm having fun selecting things to go in the basket, but will wait to get most of the things until I can know where it is going.

I don't know how it is in your families, but in ours............this has been quite a year for unpleasantness...and tragedies...and a whole rash of unexpected sorrows.
And it seems that you can go for years with nothing dramatic in your immediate family then Whoa Nellie...it hits in cycles!

Each of my kids began this year with their individual load of trials, illnesses, heartache and in general stressful situations.

Then Jake died in June.

Then just days after, my daughter Lori's father-in-law had a stroke and was in bad shape for weeks before passing away in July. My daughter was left here for months alone to face many trials including getting over pneumonia. Her husband came back home last night. A blessing.

My youngest daughter Shari's father-in-law went in for heart surgery in July, and it was sucessful. A blessing.

My son Buddy's marriage seemed to be ending and he came home for a visit a few weeks ago and while here interviewed for a very good job and we found a "sweetheart" of a deal on a 20x30 building already finished out and set up as a little "house", so we went immediately and bought it outright for him and he was going to have it moved to land in the country owned by his friends. Well, on his way back to Mobile he learned that his father-in-law had been diagnosed just that day with Multiple Myeloma and is in stage 3. He is still a young man in his fifties and is facing chemo and stem-cell therapy so he needs many prayers.

The good news here is that Buddy and Jessica have decided to give their marriage another try. A blessing.

But therefore he does not need the building. Mike and I have both been so very stressed out because we could not afford to just flush that money down the toilet and to have the building moved such a distance was more than any of us could afford. Another worry. But I heard from the guy last night who we had bought it from that he was going to re-list the building and try to sell it for us so another huge blessing.

On another note, our little dog Toby was becoming fat and lazy and very lonely by himself all day and we decided he needed a playmate, so we found a little Blue Healer mix 5 month old female and named her Tootie and I am in doggie love with her. Toby likes her but she wears him out. It was love at first sight for her and she cannot leave him along. She went to get all "shot up" this morning so he is in the backyard and she is inside being babied today.

Mike has been to the woods only once so far this season because everywhere he looked he was reminded of the times he and Jake were hunting together and he was sad and lonely by himself, but he left yesterday morning to stay all weekend and I hope he can find peace out there and some enjoyment as he dearly loves his hunting.

I deactivated my Facebook as it was causing me some angst and I was spending too much time in front of the computer. I will keep my blog and Jake's Story bloggy too but I will try to get back in the swing of things by setting aside a day or two a week so this weekend I plan to pop in for a visit to all my sisters and say hi.

I love you all and hope your weekend is blessed beyond belief!

FOUR

2010-10-18T07:00:00.002-05:00

FOUR..........

I was tagged by Denise of Shortybear's Place to answer 4 questions, then I pick 4 bloggers to answer 4 new questions. Here are the 4 questions:

1)Favorite woman of the Bible? Ruth

2)Favorite season? Spring

3)Favorite cookies? Oatmeal Raisin

4) Do you chew gum? Not since I got my lower partial toofies

I am Tagging...............Shari, Anitra, Deborah, Kim

Here are your questions:

1. Favorite Bible Story:

2. A WOW moment in your life:

3. Something you'd like to do better:

4. Favorite snack food:

P.W.C. AND BRING THEM UP!

2010-10-12T18:20:00.003-05:00

Pray Without Ceasing and Bring Them Up....It all begins tonight

At ten o'clock our time (I presume) the exodus from the mines will begin with one at a time to be brought up and expecting to take approximately one hour per person.

Oh my God in Heaven. Can you just begin to imagine the stress, worry, concern, and sheer fear the families are feeling? I cannot.

Do you think the miners are feeling similar feelings? I think they have gone beyone the Fear and I think they are feeling Hope and that their fears and anxieties have been replaced by serenity and expectance.

Oh Heavenly Father, please direct the ones in charge of lifting them to safety, please keep the machinery safe and capable of doing the job to bring each and every one of them to the safe return of their loved ones.

Miracles happen every day. Please give us one in Chile tonight Lord. Amen.

IT'S ONLY FITTING

2010-10-09T21:38:00.012-05:00

Yes my son Jake has been gone since June 17 and we got his headstone in today. I think it is only fitting that everyone have something to identify them and let people know just who is buried here. What kind of guy/gal were they? What were their interests and so on and so forth. And I believe we as a family did a fine job in the space we had in letting people know a bit about our boy.

From the front of his headstone, you can see across the top that his name was Jake Gregory Wendling. I named him Jake as it was a nickname of my grandfather and coincendentally was the name of my OB/GYN who delivered Jake, so he always thought we named the baby after him! The name Gregory is my maiden name and his father's name was Wendling.

At the top left you can see the emblem of the BSA and that he was an esteemed Eagle Scout! Quite an achievement he earned at the age of 15.

There is a really nice and recent porcelain picture of Jake wearing a New Orleans Saints cap. He was such a huge Saints fan.

You can see that Jake was born on January 3, 1970 and died on June 17, 2010.

He was a beloved son and beloved baby brother of Lori, Shari and Buddy.

He was a Christian signified by the engraved cross on the bottom right hand side and the scripture taken from Romans was a favorite of Jake's and Shari's.

And on the back of his headstone the family name WENDLING is large enough for any friends who may visit and not know where he is buried to be able to easily find.

And the inscription under his last name lets everyone know that Jake indeed is very Cheerfully tending the flowers in Heaven as he surely is, because everyone who knew Jake knew his passion was in caring for nature.

Lori picked out beautiful fall flowers for his first arrangement and it is tied off with his Home Depot Tony Stewart bandana.

Buddy cheerfully tended the soil and our day was ended.

A little tired, a little sweaty, a little sad in having to leave and a little happy in knowing we did something pleasing to Jake.

LEARNING TO TRAVEL LIGHT

2010-10-07T06:43:00.004-05:00

He leads me beside the still waters.
Psalm 23:2

The key is this: Meet today's problems with today's strength. Don't start tackling tomorrow's problems until tomorrow. You do not have tomorrow's strength yet. You simply have enough for today. (p. 50)

Oh don't you just love this! And isn't this so true of especially us women who can barely get through today's problems without trying to solve what we perceive tomorrow will bring. I truly do not know when I've been so thoroughly enchanted with a book. I know many of you regularly read Max Lucado, but I have to say this is the first thing I've ever read of his and he had me from "hello". I am a Catholic and I tend to buy little books from the Catholic Book Store which is right around the corner from me and they do not stock Max Lucado. However my daughter Shari and I regularly do the Beth Moore Bible Studies which we get at the Lifeway Book Store and they carry all of Max Lucado material so I know where to find more. Theresa you really hit the nail on the head when you thought of me and bought this book.

The little pearl of wisdom about today's strength came from the chapter titled "Whaddifs and Howells" about worry. You know "what if this or what if that"........and "how will I do this and how will I do that".

And that is his style of writing, just as simple that a child can understand but interestingly written to capture your attention.

Each chapter deals with a burden which includes:

discontent...weariness...worry...hopelessness...guilt...arrogance...burden of the grave...grief...fear...lonliness...shame...disappointment...envy...doubt...homesickness.

So if you're looking for a little something you can pick up when you plan on nothing more than a 5-minute read before falling to sleep ... look for this book! A little book that packs a huge PUNCH***

Oh and before I forget..............This is post #368, so when I write my 400th post I will draw a name for the big Basket of Blessings, so be sure to click on the sidebar basket and go to that post to leave a comment for your entry!

A PICTURE IS WORTH .....................

2010-10-05T14:43:00.013-05:00

A Thousand Words at least!

This is a shot of Punkin Darlin, AKA Mike AKA Poppa to all the great grandkids with the youngest of the bunch Luke who will be three in January!

And since I didn't have my pictures downloaded when I wrote my last post, I thought I'd show you what I've been talking about!

This is the new look into what was formerly referred to as the "art room" or the "studio" which will now be referred to as Mollye's Room (which I happen to still allow Punkin to keep his clothes in the closet in here)

To you it may still look full but it is minus 19 large moving boxes! For real...before you could not even tell what color the shelving was as they were jammed full and there were plastic storage boxes stacked on top of each all around the room nearly to the top of the closet! Oh yes Sisters ... this is a major change!

And this.....is our new look in the bedroom. I'm just sayin............

Could it possible get any more Americana????????????????

I told you I was painting the old dreary dark scarred dining room table and chairs white and white they are and I love it. I re-covered the seating in a Cranberry Red corduroy but will be on the lookout for some fancy floral cushions to protect the solid red seats.

And now a look at the shelves and hutch painted white, whoops, I need to find my peach paint to touch up the wall here where the big wall shelves used to be! And oh my goodness is that a huge cobweb I see there? You just can't count of those Merry Maids this day and time can you.

And you can see I didn't stop with the white paint as I also gave a good coat to the little vintage 3-legged table in the living room. I hate drab and dark and this new lightness gave me some cheering up!

So that concludes my white make-over but before I sign out I wanted to give you a peek at my new short haircut. I went last week and got it all chopped off, but the hairdresser was afraid to go to short at first because of the shock! So she left it longer than I wanted. I'm going back in a couple of days and get lots of this fluff at the sides taken off. I am just not gonna be able to do the teasing this style requires to look right. I want fast and easy. Shampoo...blow dry... minimal curling iron curls...and comb out...fluff with fingers and lightly spray!

I don't know how others do it, but I cannot take a half-way decent picture of myself. I always look like a deer in the headlights and there's just something that doesn't feel quite right about asking someone to take your picture for you. Right? !!!!!
Catch ya later, Mizmollye

WHEW..............feels better already

2010-10-04T21:30:00.003-05:00

A couple of you mentioned in your comments when I was clearing out my art room and hauling boxes out of the house right and left that you felt I was ridding myself of a burden and 'ya know I had not thought of it quite like that but you were right!

For some reason since Jake died, I got almost physically ill when I had to go into the art room I had not too long ago loved and loved spending my time after I had spent Punkins money on every sort of art and craft supply you could imagine. Gadgets galore, tools, scrapping, serious art paints and supplies, books, magazines, jewelry tools and supplies, beads, wire, doll heads, bottles, wax, ephemera, vintage laces, ribbons, buttons, rusty metals and the list goes on and on and on!

I still don't know why the "stuff" affected me like that. I guess the best way I can explain it is that it felt like I had too much and I got a bad feeling about that. Similar to the way a person might feel if they sat down to a table full of every rich dessert you could order and looking out the window at a hungry child. A nasty unwelcome feeling and I just came to feeling sicker and sicker with each passing day and I knew I had to do something about it.

I ended up keeping a little paper stuff for collages or whatever, my jewelry making tools like my Dremel, most of the fabric, some lace, buttons and yarns. I kept all the little things you have sent me over the past few years and much of what I've made and kept and these are just fun to look at besides I figured my daughters might want them some day. And I have a great place now to go in quite and solitude to study my bible study lessons, listen to quiet music, sew, piddle with jewelry or just sit and look. It is clean, simple and not overwhelming. I kept what I thought I might actually use someday but unleashed the hoarding tendencies of not needing 6 glue guns and well you get the point!

So I posted about my surplus of crafting supplies and sold 6 or 8 Flat Rate Boxes at a very good price and of course I didn't make a 10th of the overall costs, but that didn't matter. When the boxes were mailed I realized I hadn't made a dent in the room. So to Craigslist I went and I posted FREE ARTS AND CRAFTS! I had intended to be able to give it to an activity director at a nursing home or something similiar but I ended up with 2 stay at home moms, 1 hairdresser with a penchant for crafting with her teenage daughter and a grandmother of 2 so I was happy and they were elated.

It took me three or four days to finish the room and I'm happy with the outcome. I feel freer and a little redeemed, a little like the feeling when you've honestly made amends to someone and you feel cleaner as if you have another chance.

I have done much more than the room, I did our bedroom, dining room and the living room. I got rid of those claustrophobic feelings I was wrestling with. I almost felt as if I was being suffocated.

And just a couple days ago I went to the mail box and was surprised with a book from Theresa of They Call Me Ganky who had seen a book by Max Lucado called Traveling Light as he writes about undeserved baggage we bind ourselves with. I needed to read those words as I realized I've been carrying burdens I don't need to carry.

Oh sisters, I tell you there are no coincedences in life. God had a hand in Theresa spotting that book and thinking of me. How I thank her and when I finish it I hope it is as helpful for the kids as it is to me.

When my son died and it's been almost as if I can play movies of his life over and over in my head and of course I see no wrong or no mistakes from anyone but myself and I now know this is silly and unreasonable. Probably very typical and normal though.

This "purging" of all the clutter and surplus around here as done something amazing to me. I can now put this big ole world down and hold my shoulders up and smile.

MY HEART IS BURSTING WITH LOVE AND PRIDE

2010-09-29T10:46:00.004-05:00

Have you ever encountered anything or been a part of something completely unexpected that was so awesome that you could not stop crying and praising God for the sheer feeling of happiness?

I just got a call from a young lady in the office at the Home Depot store where my son Jake worked for so long and she said the store employees had been raising money in memory of Jake since his death on June 17. She said the corporate offices were going to send a check along with a substantial amount of cash that I could pick up in the next few days.

We had recently ordered his headstone and are waiting on it to be finished and I told her part of the money would go to pay that off and that we wanted to do something very nice with the balance to pay tribute to Jake. I don't know what that will be just yet as it will be a decision for all of us to make.

The outpouring of love, condolences, prayers, financial support and just downright neighborly Christian acts of kindness have overwhelmed and humbled me. I knew we all had a winner with Jake. We all knew he was something else and just exhibited qualities of a depth that we lacked and I knew he had many friends, but I wasn't aware of the level of feelings that so many had for him.

As you know if you've been reading since he died, we were also blessed with a substantial amount of money from the Homer Fund which is a non-profit fund of Home Depot where employees are assisted with various needs, and to be again blessed in such a way is almost beyond belief.

I will forever Praise God in Thanksgiving for giving us 40 years with Jake and forever remember in prayer for God to Bless in a very Special Way the employees of Home Depot and The Home Depot Company

to be able to continue in their success.

Jake would be humbled beyond words and bursting with pride in his company and completely giving God the credit.

My lesson, you expect to read the accolades after someone very famous passes away but for someone with the grace, dignity, simplicity and humility of just a "regular" guy such as Jake is heartwarming.

Regular guy? There was nothing regular about Jake.

OFFICIALLY THROUGH WITH CRAFTING

2010-09-29T08:07:00.002-05:00

Yep I finally got rid of the last crafty thing in my studio. Now it is not a studio. It is a sewing room, a room to solder jewelry; ya know I still love making pendants. And a room to just sit in and rock away my troubles!

It is also the room where Punkin has his clothes closet.Imagine that. Poor guy had to wade through my tangle of creativeness half of which never got completed just to find a clean uniform to wear to work each day.

Many of you have expressed that I may wish I'd kept my supplies. But I think not. Since Jake was killed, I have just not had the first glimmer of desire to create anything out of paint, paper, or anything similar that I had to sit down to and do.

I'm sure some day that will change. But in the meantime the room with all the clutter was making me sick. Making my life unmanageable.

I'm busier now transporting the cancer patients to treatment and my hotline volunteer job with the homeless. I also have doctor appointments, Go to my 12-step meetings, and love to watch my recorded shows on tv, visit my girls and go to lunch and shopping with them, and Shari and I are just beginning a new bible study. So you can see I have plenty to do.

As far as a craft I plan to still do are the little journals. I love to buy the fabric squares, you know the little bundles called Fat Quarters and cover the books with fabrics and I'm for some reason loving making aprons. And I may go back to making the little premie dresses that I used to make and donate to the hospitals for the stillborn babies to be buried in. That was really a rewarding project.

So don't feel sorry or pitiful for me sisters, I am as happy now as I can be under the circumstances and just have moved out of one creative phase into another.

Love you all, Mollye

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN

2010-09-28T06:47:00.005-05:00

HUNTING SEASON...........Opening weekend coming up and I just this morning realized I have not gotten my Punkin Darlin ready! Oh me oh my what on earth would he do without mizmollye?

I'm off to Big Lots as they have the very best selection of canned goods which is all he likes to take. Although the lease is several hundred acres and there are a dozen or so members, not all of them hunt at the same time and Mike spends most of the time while there alone so cooking is out of the question.

This is a typical picture of Man Getting Ready To Do What He Was Born For.

This was made last year right before Buddy left to move to Mobile. Note the back of the truck the plastic box loaded with canned goods. Boys I tell ya...it just don't get no better.

Sooooooooooooooo from now until the end of the year, I will see my hunny=hunny about three nights a week and he gets no phone reception from the woods so I'm really out of touch with him. I used to worry about him getting hurt and no one knowing it but now I'm coming to the realization that God has His eye on him and there is nothing I can do to prevent anything from happening to anyone.

This is the time of year he works for all year long and I am happy he has something that for a short time he can be at complete peace... with nature, with God and with the critters.

In some ways I like the time to myself as I just live a little differently...you know? House not so clean, eating what and when I want, sleeping later, etc.

I sure get lonely for my Punkin Darlin though.

CAN'T EVEN GIVE IT AWAY...WHAT THE HECK!

2010-09-27T09:27:00.008-05:00

I told you a couple of weeks ago that I am getting "out" of the paper arts and I offered flat rate Priority Mail boxes of art and craft supplies for sale. Well I did actually send out approximately 8 boxes but still........................ it barely made a dent in my bulging art studio.

OK...it wasn't like I was trying to make my money back on what all that stuff has cost over the years, but my goal was to clear out my room leaving nothing but crochet, sewing, and my tools for jewelry making. That way I could actually "decorate" the room and have a nice room to set up my little folding table when I do want to create. Also there will be room for a rocking chair for which I can't tell you why...........but my daughter Shari has promised to share this secret with you very soon on her blog at She Openeth Her Mouth.

Anywhoo........I decided to put a FREE ad on Craigslist and I was looking for Non-profit groups like maybe nursing homes but only got calls from stay at home moms and a couple of church women. So I boxed it up and boxed it up until I had 17 big moving boxes full and I called everyone over the weekend and asked them to come this morning as the living room was full to the brim and you know how anxious stuff like that makes my Punkin and I wanted it G-O-N-E by the time he gets home this afternoon. Weeeeeeeelllllllllll two have come and the other three are so far a no show. And I'm jsst sayin.........this is GOOD stuff. No junk!

We also have out in the front yard a two piece sofa set and a queen size bed set all covered with plastic and waiting for the Rescue Mission Thrift Store truck to pick it up. They may get lucky and get a load of craft supplies too!

Why is it so hard to GIVE something away these days?

A BASKET OF BLESSINGS GIVEAWAY

2010-09-26T07:12:00.005-05:00

I just noticed this morning that I've posted 360 times since I began my little bloggy and I'm coming up on a milestone.

Some of you know how much I love to send little surprises in the mail and what better time than to celebrate my 400 Post.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo.........I am going to create a Basket of Thanks and send out to celebrate 400 times I've put my thoughts out for you.

This is just an oh so small way of Thanking you for all the kindnesses you've shown to me and to my family through blogging by way of your support, encouragement and your prayers and friendships.

The rules are pretty simple and of course they have to be FUN so

#1 leave me a comment telling why you're thankful for blogging for one chance
#2 post the basket badge on your sidebar for two chances
#3 be a follower/friend for the third chance

There you have it, and when I reach 400 I will randomly draw a name and send you a basket filled with goodies, both "storebought" and handmade which will show you why I am Thankful for YOU!

Happy Sunday everyone...love you all!

AND HE SURELY WILL

2010-09-23T13:59:00.005-05:00

It was so subtle that I don't even know when he began saying it.

Everytime Jake finished talking to someone whether in person or on the phone, whether family, friend, customer or total stranger...............ALWAYS

I repeat ALWAYS he said to them, "God Bless You". It must have become an ingrained habit like saying "see ya later", or "bye-bye".

But I think there was something to that little phrase. I think Jake truly wanted God to bless that person and I believe He did.

We all began wondering how we could honor Jake's memory and in a nice way and talking to each other about the legacy Jake had left us and Lori my oldest wanted to order little printed cards with scripture and the phrase "God Bless You", along with maybe something like In Memory of Jake and to be able to hand these out to people.

Shari is a busy wife, mom, grandma and a working nurse (night shift at that) and didn't want to begin a cause she didn't feel that she would continue with but she said I can ask God to Bless people, so she began repeating that phrase to folks when she finished talking to them and she said it warmed her heart.

Buddy is living in Alabama and I truly don't know as of yet how he will use the legacy left by his brother but I know he will do something amazing.

I on the other hand do not feel as if I've done anything much other than I'm happy to have created Jake's Story in blog so others may come to know the person we all loved. It does give me a creative outlet to write about my son as well as provide a form of therapy to release my feelings.

And today was one of my days in which I answer the hotline phone from home for the St. Vincent de Paul Society, through the catholic church as one of my volunteer projects where people in need call in for assistance with utilities, rent or groceries and in the past I have answered the calls, taken the information down and make the correct referrals when my shift ends and that is that. Something pretty much anyone can do and perhaps even a trained monkey??? I'm just sayin.........

But today is different. I began lingering on the line after all the information is obtained and telling the voice on the other end, "Good Luck to you and God Bless You", and practically every one of them has said "Thank You and God Bless You too". And I've noticed that I hang up with a smile on my face and you know when you're talking on the phone you can almost always know when the other person is smiling or frowning and based on that it seems to determine your general outlook as well.

And it seems as if the person requesting assistance is also smiling, feeling perhaps a little hopeful. And the strangest thing has happened not once, not twice, but three times today and that is that someone I do not even know has begun talking about spititual matters and we have actually encouraged each other to not give up and to keep on praying and they have told me they would pray for me too. Amazing.

So you see, another lesson from my least of my children, from my baby. From the one who has gone on before us. I have learned today from Jake that it matters not how much you have to give someone. Or how badly you yourself are in need, that it does not cost one penny or more than a second of your time to let them know they are important and that they are special and that you are asking God to Bless Them. How rewarding for you and for them.

I think Jake was on to something don't you?

Have a Great Day and God Bless You!

COME MEET SHARI

2010-09-21T17:19:00.003-05:00

My little daughter Shari just got her blog up and running and I just can't wait for all of you to meet her and for her to get to know you. She has kept up with many of you who have commented on mine and Buddy's blogs following the death of Jake and she was inspired to start blogging after seeing how close we all can be through cyber land. So please go by and visit her at She Openeth Her Mouth. I'm so proud of her and I just think she's a Hoot!

AND She's just about ready to share some BIG news from her homefront!!

TIRED.....BUT A GOOD TIRED

2010-09-19T21:18:00.003-05:00

Am I dreaming?
Is it really almost September 20?
Have I slept for a few weeks?

Seriously my head feels foggy, fuzzy and a little off kilter like I've been sleeping and missed part of my life. I realized this evening that the month is almost over and I rushed over to visit some of you as I've been more than a little remiss in stopping by to see what you're up to and to even say Hi. I apologize.

Seems as if I've been doing lots of that lately. I feel like I've been a bit of a "taker" rather than a "giver". I've sat by idly doing whatever it is I've been doing and letting you all visit me without my reciprocating. Sometimes I feel as if I should dismantle by blog because it seems as if I cannot keep up, and then I think that I cannot do that because I will surely lose touch with you and then my life may unravel and I would come undone.

I had a productive day today though. I've been making some needed changes around the house and painted our old wood dining room table, chairs, shelves and end tables and re=upholstered the chair cushions. Next up is a new table cloth and floral tie-on cushions for the chairs. THEN I'll make some pictures and show you! Ironing and Football along with some Church time completed the good day. Punkin even went out and bought the week's groceries. Love it when he does that!

My little daughter Shari has been reading the sweet and uplifting comments you've given to my son Buddy at his blog and her heart is warmed and she wants me to help her "build her a bloggy"! I will give you the link when we get it going. I tell you sisters, our family is NEEDY these days with the death of our Jake, Buddy's impending marriage failure, and two of my oldest grandsons who are in a very dangerous and dark place and of course their mommas who are Lori and Shari, my girls are dealing with so much heartache that they just need some love and there is no love greater than you girls have to share. HOWEVER, there is some very good and wonderful news to share with you, but you will have to hear it from Shari as it is her place to do so before me blabbing about it!

Just want you all to know I love each and every one of you and think you just ROCK!
Another little positive thing I am doing is beginning a new prayer journal and I would be most honored to pray for someone I do not know, so please send me your prayer requests and I promise to remember them to our Lord.

'yall have yourselves a great week! Love, mizmollye and punkin darlin!

THE KNOTS PRAYER

2010-09-17T11:41:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone, Another week gone by and it must have slipped up on me because I feel like it is Tuesday. Where did the other three days go?

Oops, I forgot to enlarge this, so just double click on the image and you can read it easily.

I thought this was so appropriate for the way I've done things in my life and I think the next time I'm thinking of why not or cannot or should not, I hope I'll remember these knots!

'yall all have a wonderful weekend and I hope everyone of you are healthy and happy.

STUDIO CLEARANCE SALE

2010-09-13T19:58:00.014-05:00

Hi everyone...I'm having a sale of the contents of my arts and crafts studio and boy have I got the loot to throw your way...and at a very good price.

The room has taken on a life of its own and Punkin and Mizmollye will be having to look for another house if I don't unload some treasures. And we truly love our little house, so take a lookey look and if your heart tells you to help would you please put a little blurb on your sidebar for me? I'll be thanking you ever so much!

Everything will be shipped in the Priority US Postal Service flat rate boxes so I will pack as heavy as possible.

These are the flat rate boxes and they DO INCLUDE SHIPPING

Small 8 5/8 x 5 3/8 x 1 5/8....................$12.00
Medium 11 x 8 1/2 x 5 1/2......................$20.00
Large 12 x 12 x 5 1/2..........................$25.00

Just pick a box size and let me know which elements you use or want or give me a vague idea such as; scrapping, collage, jewelry making, mixed media or such and I'll do my best to match up the contents to your liking.
...............................................................

WALLPAPER SAMPLES
SCRAPBOOK PAPERS

SCRAPBOOK SCISSORS
BITS AND BOBS FOR SCRAPPING
EPHEMERA
BUTTONS
LACES

RIBBONS

FABRIC SQUARES

YARNS

RUBBER STAMPS
INKS
PAINTS
CLOTH PAPER SCISSORS MAGS
EXPRESSIONS MAGS
STAMPINGTON MAGS
MISC ART MAGS
MISC HARDWARE FOR ALTERED ART

JUNK JEWELRY AND PARTS

GAME PIECES

TOO MUCH TO LIST SO JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU'RE INTERESTED IN AND I'LL MATCH FOR YOU!

Thank you sisters, Mollye

CELEBRATING THE BACKBONE OF OUR COUNTRY

2010-09-05T18:59:00.002-05:00

Happy Labor Day Everyone!

Do you still work? Where?

My hubby is working today but then again he works every Labor Day and most every holiday. He is the Maintenance Tech at the Mall here in Shreveport and just takes it for granted to work a holiday. Bless his heart and all those who have to work today.

What was the hardest job you ever had and why? I think one of the hardest I ever had and it was in 1968 at the AT&T plant here and thankfully I only had to work there a few months before I found something better. I was on an assembly line and my job was called a "screwdriver girl". Tis true! I had to sit on a stool everyday and as the headsets came rolling by I had to take my hydraulic screwdriver and drive two little screws in the part where you talked into and stuff a piece of cotton in the other end that you heard out of or vice versa..........it's been awhile ya know. But what made it so hard is the repetition of the job and at the end of the day my shoulders were so sore and achy.

I think the easiest job I ever had was working at my church as a receptionist. What a nice place to work to most always meet and greet happy people and do God's work.

Hope the weather is pleasant for each and every little nook and cranny of the country and even across the pond for this is the last big hurrah for cooking outdoors, fun in the sun and just family get togethers before fall and cold sets in.

I can't say I'm sorry to see the end of this summer for more reasons than one obviously but also because the heat has been almost unbearable and this from a gal who loves summer. Take care my sweet friends!

THE NECKLACE STORY WITH A HAPPY ENDING

2010-09-02T06:32:00.005-05:00

I have a story to tell you and I just hope you have not completely tired of hearing anything about my son Jake. If you have I do apologize and understand; however, this is so healing for me and I just have to let this out.

On Mother's Day I was out in the backyard getting the leaves skimmed off the top of the pool because I was pretty sure we would have kids over who would want to swim.

Jake and his girlfriend of only a few weeks came walking back there and he had a little gift bag in his hand with a card poking out the top. He kissed me and told me Happy Mother's Day and gave me the bag. In it was one of those big glass lilac scented candles. He was grinning from ear to ear and obviously happy he'd picked a winning gift!

She was quick to tell me that he had actually picked out a Red cranberry scented candle and she made him give it to his step-mother as his REAL mother deserved the nicer one of lavender. He cast his eyes down as she told this story as if feeling that he'd made a mistake in his selection. ( He knew my favorite color was RED and that RED was the birthstone color of both of us ).

So in this small gesture of hers she had succeeded in making him feel bad. Then she quickly showed me that she had signed her own name on my card. And with her drug trembling hands she presented me with a box inside of which was a silver plated necklace with a heart and tiny key with the inscription Mother and she told me that it was from HER and not Jake.

She said I knew you deserved more than an "old" candle, so I got in Jake's wallet last night and took money out and went to Walmart on the way over here and bought this for you. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he didn't quite know what to say and I knew too that he was barely able to make ends meet since meeting her and that he was probably feeling a little desperate knowing she had "taken" money from his wallet that he needed for gas or something essential like food, but said nothing, because he was so taken by her and felt so protective and responsible in some way. He knew she was not "right" and as he explained her to me before I met her "She is SPECIAL". Of course she was telling me that the gift Jake had bought me was not good enough so she took care of that. My heart was sad in knowing she had made Jake feel bad but I was trying to be kind to her so just thanked her and blew it off.

Well it would soon be known in a matter of less than a month that she was into drugs, alcohol and casual sex and was robbing him blind, that she was in fact responsible for the action that caused him to take his own life and that she was a horrible person with no values.

She did not know the Lord and Jake had concerns with this but it was I who had told him even before I met her that she was young and that he could be such a good influence and could lead her to the Lord. Oh my God how I wish I had not encouraged him to befriend her.

My girls told me each time they saw the necklace hanging on my jewelry box after his death to "throw the thing" away, that it was NOT from Jake. I somehow could not bring myself to do it. I felt in some way I needed to torture myself by looking at it and reliving that day. I know this is twisted, but we do strange things in grief and in trauma.

So a couple of weeks ago a package came to me and it was the sweetest little necklace. A custom handmade silver disc pendant with a Garnet birthstone and inscribed on the bottom of the disc was J-A-K-E. It was made by The Vintage Pearl and a gift from one of you blogger sisters who asked to be unnamed. Oh the joy I felt when I opened this gift.

I cried tears of sadness and of joy because this gave me the courage to throw the other necklace in the garbage where it belonged and now I have not taken this off except to photograph it, and I apologize for the poor quality of the lighting. It is truly so personal and special.

So now I have something to wear as a daily reminder of my son close to my heart and something that was truly given in love. Thank you sister. I shall never forget this.

WHO AM I TO TALK?????????

2010-09-01T08:58:00.011-05:00

Now I can see why when I was a teen I thought old women were just big mouthed yakkers!

I mean it wasn't just old women, it was old men too. Old being anyone over the age of 40 for sure. They were always criticizing the way we dressed, the way we wore our hair, the things we did, the music we listened to. They were just old fogies and no fun.

Today I had one of those light bulb moments, or a spiritual awakening, or a come to Jesus meeting by myself or whatever you want to call it. I know it was a revelation!

And I was sitting here remembering the stupid...stupid things I did when I was a kid. Like the time I had finished my clarinet music lesson and was waiting in line to pay at the counter to pay for my session and just for the pure hell of it, and because I could, I put my finger in the little hole of the silver cap that went on the mouthpiece of my clarinet to protect the reed. Well I turned it and I turned it and before you knew it .... yep it was stuck on so tight I could not get it off.

Embarrassed just did not describe the foolish way I was feeling and what an ordeal to get it off. It literally had to be cut off.

So the stupid things I see kids do today ... well there still seem stupid to me, but they did not invent stupid. Been there and done that myself.

And of course a quick trip to the mall leaves us shaking our heads at the dress code for today. Dress code????????????? There is none. Sometimes silly, sometimes cute and many times downright vulgar.

But I am sure there were old folks in the fifties and sixties who thought we were completely out of line here. And I know the kids of today think we were lame.

I remember my Daddy not wanting me to go out with a boy with a hairstyle kinda like this only he probably had Brylcream in his hair. But if his hair touched the collar or if he had sideburns he was a "bad boy".

But wait......lookey here, lookey here this is a boy of 2010 and this style, well it is downright stylish. To anyone under 40 that is.

So what is the moral of this story you ask? Probably not much of one. Just wanted to join in bloggyland today and my mind went here. But what I mean to impart on you is that we can all probably just chill out and accept the youth and everyone else on the planet as being the unique person they are and realize that in a 50 years folks will be making fun of this generation and with any luck I might not be around to see what comes next!!!!!!!!!!!

REMEMBERING KATRINA

2010-08-29T07:00:00.003-05:00

devastation...destruction...despair...disbelief...deadly...determined

may we never forget

August 29, 2005

JOINING THE MIRACLE PARTY FOR COLLETTE

2010-08-28T09:33:00.007-05:00

My post for today had already been written by my son Buddy and while it may not be considered "uplifting" it does have a lesson to share. I had been a small part of the group that originally sent Collette a bombardment of cards during the early stages of her illness but I'm afraid I lost touch as I've just been so out of the loop during our families tragedy but when I learned this morning of the fantastic makeover and the celebration for Collette I wanted to link up with The Katillac Shack so if some of you are visiting me and are not aware of this event you would have the opportunity to go to Kelee's blog and read about this courageous lady and the inspirational project.

THE PITFALL OF WANTING

The pitfall of wanting something so badly is that you can become blinded by that desire, allowing you to make costly mistakes.

Click on this link to read the full story http:://homeatlast-jake.blogspot.com/

Happy Weekend everyone. Love you all, Mizmollye and Punkin!

WHERE WE WORSHIP

2010-08-24T07:13:00.009-05:00

The Cathedral of St. John Berchmans located in Shreveport, Louisiana is only one of seven catholic churches honoring this saint. Although a cathedral the church is therefore the church of our bishop.

Bishop Michael Duca.

Our priest, Father Peter

Our church has a vigil mass on Saturday evening, an early Sunday mass, one at eleven and again in the evening. We have ten daily masses, including an early morning and one at noon. So you can see we belong to a large church, but it still has a small church feeling.

There is a school on one side which teaches children from ages four through middle school, and another on the other side of the cathedral from middle age through high school. We are a busy church with many opportunities for involvement and a huge outreach program.

In between the church and Loyola Prep is our parish office from where I retired two years ago.

The image of our patron depicts St. John wearing the cassock this patron saint of altar servers would wear as a Jesuit scholastic, while attentively listening and writing in his notebook.

As a young student always eager to learn, John was naturally endowed with a bright intellect and a retentive memory, devoting much time to study. What further distinguished him from his companions was his piety and faith. John performed ordinary actions with extraordinary perfection, purity, obedience and admirable charity.

He is the patron saint of altar servers and an ideal patron for our students who are eager to learn and deepen their faith. St. John Berchmans (1599 - 1621).

Hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of the church we love and I hope today is a good day for all of you. Much love from mizmollye and punkin!

FRIDAY FUNNIES

2010-08-19T20:02:00.006-05:00

IT'S FRIDAY! Wheeeeeeeeeee...(sourced from the internet)

This is a picture of my sister-in-law Mary and my daughter-in-law Jessica taken at Jake's gravesite service.

I really couldn't think of anything to write about today but was missing you! So just in the nick of time my little sister-in-law Mary sent me some email funnies so heres one I just have to share with you!

No one believes seniors . . . everyone thinks they are senile.

An elderly couple was celebrating their sixtieth anniversary. The couple had married as childhood sweethearts and had moved back to their old neighborhood after they retired. Holding hands, they walked back to their old school. It was not locked, so they entered, and found the old desk theyd shared, where Andy had carved I love you, Sally .

On their way back home, a bag of money fell out of an armored car, practically landing at their feet. Sally quickly picked it up and, not sure what to do with it, they took it home. There, she counted the money-fifty thousand dollars! Andy said, Weve got to give it back. Sally said, Finders keepers. She put the money back in the bag and hid it in their attic.

The next day, two police officers were canvassing the neighborhood looking for the money, and knocked on their door. Pardon me, did either of you find a bag that fell out of an armored car yesterday? Sally said, No. Andy said, Shes lying. She hid it up in the attic. Sally said, Dont believe him, he's getting senile.

The agents turned to Andy and began to question him. One said: Tell us the story from the beginning. Andy said, Well, when Sally and I were walking home from school yesterday .... The first police officer turned to his partner and said, We're outta here!

Gotta luv it.....Hope all of y'all have a wonderful weekend and try to stay cool!

ORANGE

2010-08-17T06:42:00.007-05:00

O-R-A-N-G-E ..... The Theme for our August ATC Swap with Blissful ATC'S

This is the card I created for my swap partner, Mya

First I cut out my card from an empty box of crackers then covered it with gesso. Then after drying I covered it with a paper party napkin with a border and let dry and then sponged some inks all over to give it the slightly brown, yellow and orange look, then stamped on some Chinese characters with black Staz-On ink. Stamped the man in the moon image on and gave him a little crown of found objects, then put a little caption on with glue and glued on an image of a fish found in a catalog and lastly melted a red crayon and ran it randomly down the card. I finished the card with a layer of Mod Podge and that was that! Oh yes I gave the fish a beaded eye of bling-bling in orange!

And this is the card my partner Mya sent me. I love the sleek lines and crispness along with her choice of vivid colors. Every layer is meticulously cut out and applied separately. If you want to see how she created her card you will have to visit her site and all the sites are listed on Blissful ATC's. I think you will be surprised at the art and this is such a nice group of ladies. Go pop on over and read about our monthly swaps. What are you waiting for C'mon you'll love it!

HOLY COW

2010-08-16T13:27:00.005-05:00

(like the devil in nylon hose)

HOLY COW..........It's 1:30 in the afternoon and I'm still in my nightie.

Gotta get outta dis bed and wash my face and hands

and get into dat kitchen and shake some pots and pans

Punkin Darlin let me sleep in this morning and I can't let him come in and find me just like he last saw me at bedtime last night!

Whoooooooooooooo Hoooooooooo I been naughty today for sure. Watching that bad TV! L-A-Z-Y

TWO THUMBS UP

2010-08-15T07:16:00.006-05:00

The Legend of 1900

I had let my ironing pile up for two months and yesterday was sooooooooo hot that I decided to stay inside and iron, so picked a Netflix Movie that I could watch NOW and chose a WINNER!

Raised aboard an ocean liner after being abandoned there as an infant, 1900 (Tim Roth) becomes a virtuoso piano player who learns about the outside world only through interactions with passengers, never setting foot on land, even for the love of his life. Years later, the ship may be destroyed, and a former band member fears that 1900 may still be aboard, willing to go down with the ship in this compelling drama from director Giuseppe Tornatore.

I addition to some of the best piano /trumpet jazz I've heard in a long time the movie was a "can't take your eyes off" from the beginning. It had it all. Wonderful music, a hauntingly good looking man, a baby, and it knew how from "Hello" to tug at a woman's heart strings. I cried at the end, but it doesn't take a lot to make me cry anyway, but though I cried I still somehow could relate to the ending, and while sad on one hand, I understood.

If you want something a little different and thought provoking, take a chance on The Legend of 1900. Besides enjoying a good flick you'll have a closet full of freshly ironed duds.

Hope all of y'all have a wonderful Sunday!

AND HOW IT IS NOW

2010-08-13T14:30:00.004-05:00

JOYFUL

Yes a mere one hour later and I feel joyful.

These two posts were for a reason

To everyone who has remarked and graciously commented on your amazement of my strength, my ability to cope and my positive nature in the wake of my son Jake's death............I hope this will show just how my mood swings.

I am no different than any of you. Left to my own will, I would be a raving maniac, a woman lost in grief and dispair. Unable to get out of bed in the mornings and a smile would not exist. I would cry 24/7, moan, scream and not find life worth living

BUT

I have someone who is carrying this heavy load of grief for me. He walks with me daily, he listens to me, he lends his shoulder for me to cry on, he understands my grief, my sadness, my questions. His name is Jesus. He lets me scream when I need to and he places the most amazing people in my life. People who encourage, motivate, pray for us, love me, and give me the will to go on.

Every day since we buried my son has been a good day because I am alive. Everyday has also had sadness, tears and anguish. But the tears, the sadness and the anguish are coming further apart now. Each day is made up of about 90 per cent good and joyful and 10 percent of sadness. My sadness comes in little waves, they come in and they go out and the serenity of smooth sand remain. Calm. Not always happy but serene.

You see I have come to grips with the fact that my boy is still alive. Yes I said ALIVE. He resides in heaven and he is alive there. He did his job while he lived here on earth, but I have not finished. I have a job to do also. I don't know what it is, but I do know that if I let myself become sick I won't be able to do it. And I want to see him some day so I want to be well, willing and eager to live each day to the fullest.

And each one of you all help me do that. Thank You!

MY MOOD TODAY

2010-08-13T13:14:00.003-05:00

No words needed

I know this is normal and I am doing well

I'm just having a "day"

I will be fine before I can turn around

NEVER FORGET WHERE YOU'RE FROM

2010-08-12T06:35:00.010-05:00

WHERE HE'S FROM................

He's from an old tree shaded home filled with books and a pocket full of memories and hearing "Quit that". A brother named Bryan and the taste of his mama's hot corn bread and turnip greens.

A place where old people stared down from pictures on the walls. His mind sees today the squirrels running to and from him and Gary as they try to behave and the memories of his mama's chicken and dumplings.

From a place of old dogs, boyhood friends and fresh sliced tomatoes. His heart still hurts from being called a little s.o.b. He's from the place of remembering a much older brother named Doug.

To put to rest and in the past are the times he was told "You ain't worth two cents" and "You ain't worth the powder to blow you to hell". Gone are the old trucks, the horses and his daddy. He's from a place where then and today he can still own a gun.

Alive with joy are his memories of teapots and Mama, her pride in the garden and the meals she lovingly made. Bisquits like none other; fig jam and fresh yard eggs. He's from a place where today he knows Jesus loves him because she first told him so.

AND WHERE SHE'S FROM...

Home...
for a little while
it had been forty-four years since I
stood on this lawn.

We had gone back to a family reunion.
Gone back to the place where I'd lived
for almost fifteen years.

A place where I took my first steps, fell in love for
the first time when I looked into the face of my mother.
Met my precious baby brother for the first time.
A place where I formed relationships,
made friends. Learned acceptance
and faced rejection.

A place where my mind opened up to learning,
to art and music appreciation.
I grew here and grew up here.
I knew security and stability.

Many years would pass before I would know again
the feelings that having a home could bring.

I looked. I searched and so very many times
I pretended.
I longed to give those feelings to my own children.
The people were all in place. Some no better,
most no worse.
But the walls were not as firm.
Was it the walls which made this home?

Don't tell me it was the people.
You just don't know.
They had fallen as many times as the ones to follow.
Scabbed up just the same.
No...

I think it was the thread. The knot always stayed knotted.
Sometimes fraying but never coming undone.
They don't make thread today like they did back then.
It looks the same, in many cases, even better.
It promises to do the same. To perform as well or better
but it is somehow just a cheap imitation.

I don't know what I expected to find when I got back home.
Most grateful was I that it was there at all.
Different people
and the place seemed to have shrunk.
It had become a house. No longer a home.
You could just tell by looking.

Perhaps those who lived there
were looking, searching and maybe
even pretending.
Put upon hard caring for the handicapped one residing in my home.

I found something much different than I had left so long ago
but I found more than I expected to find
It was the memories I had burried;
was able to dig them up and place them back
in my heart.

A place for them to remain safe and private
to be taken out and re-visited time and time again.

The memories...they were the thread
The thread is still strong
I can mend with that thread until
my days are over.

I can teach with that thread
I can spread joy and love with that thread
I can share Jesus with this thread
the threads of my past have made me stronger today.

I'm thankful I have another home today
it was a long time coming.

I like to think of it as one most blessed
a tale of two homes
one I came into
and one I will leave from.

Stopping off houses
until I go to my home
where no thread can break
no lease can expire.

Do you ever stop to remember where you first called home..............It seems the older I get the more vivid are my early memories.
Mostly good ones.
Can you close your eyes and see your home. Can you smell the smells..........touch what was dear to you...
Can you hear your parents call you in from playing?

Do you long to go back
No.....I didn't think so but it doesn't hurt to remember
in fact I think it helps
Helps us to be more thankful of what we have today and helps us reclaim values and traditions that shaped us into who we are today.

Sometimes it's not always good to completely shut the door on the past, perhaps we should leave it cracked open just a tiny bit.

DO-OVERS

2010-08-11T08:39:00.004-05:00

REGRETS.............................

I've been doing a lot of reading and learning too! This article on "regrets" came from the internet and I thought it was pretty helpful and wanted to share it with you. I call them do-overs because we'd all like a chance at something we regret to do it over. Right? Well some of those we obviously cannot do-over and some of our regrets can be a chance to learn from and put them in the past and move forward with a new way of thinking and doing.

I'm having a "do-over" with one of my children and it couldn't be sweeter. How blessed we are to be able to have a do-over. God is so good sisters. I so wish I could have a do-over with my son Jake and with my mom but I can't so rather than suffer and get mired down with regrets, I want to turn these regrets into a positive and not feel the need to have another do-over with those I love.

There is no such thing as a life without any regrets. However, regrets can become either burdens that intefere with your present happiness and restrict your future, or motivation to move forward. If you find yourself overcome by regrets, here are some steps that should help you integrate them.

1. Determine what your regret really is. Do you regret something you did or something you didn't do? Something someone else did or did not do? A circumstance beyond your control? It is important to step back from the feelings of regret and identify exactly what the regret is.

2. Ask for forgiveness and make amends. Apologize for any harm you may have caused others, it does not kill to ask for forgiveness so give it a go! Forgive yourself. Forgiving others will make you happier. Be compassionate toward everyone involved including yourself.

3. Accept the circumstances. Avoid blaming others but rather take responsibility for anything that you could have better handled.

4. Deal with toxic relationships. Sometimes other people cause us to do things that leave us with serious regrets. Do you have a toxic relationship that needs to be addressed or severed?

5. Grieve for your regrets. When we feel regret, we re-live guilt, sadness or anger over and over again. Allowing yourself to experience these feelings fully with the intention of moving forward can help you stop revisiting them.

6. Recognize what you have learned or gained. When you find yourself thinking of the regret, turn your thoughts to the things you have learned and the opportunities that are now yours - even if they are not what you would have preferred. There is always a lesson even in pain and sadness. Look for the lesson and focus on it instead of what might have been.

7. Write out a plan or agreement for yourself that identifies how you could avoid having this sort of regret in the future.

And uh.........by the way if I could do it all over and find new bloggy sisters I'd say "ARE YOU CRAZY.................?" Cause you girls are the bestest ever and I just love you all to pieces!

AUGUST ADOPTIONS

2010-08-10T06:15:00.010-05:00

Well girls can you believe that Christmas is just 4 months away! These girls are going to be listed very soon in my Earth Gaia online shop but before I do that I thought someone out there might want a quick lookey-look at the lineup just in case a new rag doll is on your Christmas list.

So may I introduce you to some friends from my Hillbilly Orphanage of Love known as The James Mountain Girls.

Well howdy my new friend, I'm Estelle Caroline from way up on top of James Mountain in the Tennessee hills. The thangs I do fer pleasure is mainly searchin fer an cookin the herbs. I'm right handy with the remedies hill fork use to cure ther ills. The Lord has blessed me with the gift of knowin whut herb is used fer whut ailments. When I'm relaxin I'm generally found in the settin room jest gazin an dreamin of the days when I wuz jest a girl. Them mountains an hills is a good place to come frum. I'm proud to be a'goin home with you.

Well glory be I'm pleased to meet you. I'm Ophelia Delight James up from the Tennessee hills whut is knowed as James Mountain. Hits purty up in them hills. Folks come frum miles around to buy my jellies an jams an the city folks clamors to buy em up fer presents at Christmas time. When I ain't cookin berries I keep bizzy pickin dandy lines fer teas an sech an to study my old bible. Hits a right smart way of knowin how a body is spose to live. I'm proud to be yore new friend.

Howdy I'm Maggie Mae James an I hail frum the Tennessee hills up in James Mountain. Thers lots to do in the hills an hits a purty place to grow up in. Pa's lettin me court now an I'm fancyin the company of Ernest Blue. Ernest Blue has an ole dawg whuts called Booger. An him an Booger come up to court me an Pa makes one of my sissies go along. I'm happy to be yore new friend.

Howdy. I'm knowed up in the hills as Mornin Glory. An I reckon ever bird up on James Mountain flocks to me. I spend a good part of ever day tendin to God's critters an when I ain't on the mountain I'm down at the Holiness church where I play the piano at all the meetins. Them hills has been my home fer all my life an I try to spred happiness fer all the glory whut has been gave to me. An I'm proud to be yore new friend.

Howdy friends, My name is Suzy Lou James an I live with my sissies an brothers with our Mam an Pa up in the Tennessee hills way on top of James Mountain. Hits a purty place to be growed up frum. I go to school when the crops has been brung in an my chores is fun tho they keep me bizzy. Thangs like tendin to Peckie Mae's brood of baby chicks an tryin to keep em frum wanderin an heppin Mam with Jakey an Luke. Pa sezs he don't rightly know whut they'll do without me up in them hills. I'm a worker bee.

Howdy friend. I'm Geraldine Louise Pickens frum James Mountain up in the Tennessee hills. I'm a gal whut fancies the purties an I kin jest git plum tickled with a'fixin up an sashayin aroun town. I like to keep up on all the happenins on James Mountain an folks jest know when they wants to know who done whut to come an see me. The hills is a good place to come frum. I'm a friend to all an I'm pleased to be yore new friend.

Howdy. I'm Dixie Lou James an I hail frum James Mountain up in the Tennessee hills. Hits a purty place up in them mountains. Pa sez I'm a dreamer an Ma sez gitter all done afore yore growed up cause ther won't be time fer dreamin then. With Mam's ole weddin veil I play dancin an hits turned brown now with ole age but hit makes a right good dancin skirt. I'm glad to be yore friend.

The girls said they'd be happy to live with any of you! Hope you enjoyed meeting my little hillbilly orphans. Next week I'll introduce you to some little city gals.

Have a wonderful day! Sending the love from mizmollye and Punkin too!

LAZY HAZY CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER

2010-08-08T15:08:00.006-05:00

What do you do with two little girls visiting from DALLAS when they're just plain tired of staying inside??????????????????????

SWIMMING.............did that

PICNIC...............that too

MOVIES................yep

SHOPPING.................oh yes

CRAFTS.................ditto

COOKING, SEWING, NAP TIME, VISITING RELATIVES, TV, GAMES, they did it all!

My great-granddaughter Erika and her hubby John from Dallas took a little fly by out to Vegas and my daughter Lori got to take care of her two granddaughters; Nayda and Ellie.

NAYDA

ELLIE

Well for nine days, between Lori and her sister Shari and Shari's grandkids, and nieces and nephews and on and on and on the girls were growing a wee bit bored from wanting something NEW to do and I think too they were missing Mommy and Daddy so Lori brought them to my house last week and we went very early one morning while it was way below 90 degrees in the shade and took them to the Duck Pond.

This body of water (bayou) is about 1/2 mile behind our house and runs about 2 miles in length and of course is home to ducks, geese and turtles. It's a landmark and I took my kids there when they were little and they took theirs and now they're taking their grandkids!

It's not unusual to see little ones bream fishing there with Grandpa and is also a favorite place for birthday parties.

The girls were delighted to feed all the ducks as they're so tame that anytime a car pulls up the ducks come up on land waiting on the kids to open those bread sacks.

It was a fun way to spend a morning and did me good to remember back to the days when these two girls grandmother, uncles and aunt used to play at this very place.

THINGS I'M LEARNING

2010-08-06T06:54:00.008-05:00

Isn't it truly amazing that we never grow too old to learn. When I was a child I thought it would be so wonderful to someday get old enough to finish school because then I would know it all and would not have to keep learning.

I've been reading two books that have inspired, helped and healed. One is the book that Becky Povich sent me called "I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye" by Noel Brook and the other is one I heard about from my blogger gal pals called "Why My Child Lord?" by Michielle Sullivan which I ordered from the author who had also lost a child from suicide, which I sadly was presented with this week as the cause of death of my son Jake.

I have learned and understand how I can have Joy in my life while not Happy. I cannot be happy that my son has died though I know where he is and am happy for that. I can know Joy and I can receive Peace day by day just by staying in Jesus and praising Him through my loss.

One of my favorite sites is Bing and I can usually find some awesome images there to reflect the way I am feeling on any given day and these are some of the images that speak to the way I feel this morning.

I hope and pray each and every one of you my sisters will experience JOY in your day today! Because each comment you leave me sure add to my Joy~

Love you all,,,,,mizmollye and Punkin too!

GRATITUDE

2010-08-05T06:54:00.004-05:00

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" Matthew 5:4

Though my heart feels broken with losing my son Jake, God is doing mighty things in my life as I trust Him and learn to trust Him more. The closer I am to God the closer I am to my son.

In my road to recovery we're encouraged to always keep a journal whether written or in our minds of what we are grateful for. What a powerful God we have that in the midst of losing a child we can feel grateful for anything. Awesome!

For each of you who visit know that your name is in my Gratitude Journal.

Have a wonderful Thursday and I love you. mizmollye and Punkin too!

TRAGIC LOSS FOR OUR COMMUNITY

2010-08-04T06:42:00.003-05:00

UNBELIEVABLE is the only word I can think of to say in regard to the tragic drownings of 6 teens Tuesday just blocks from my house in the Red River here in Shreveport, Louisiana. Having just gone through the shooting death of my youngest son Jake, I can only speculate on the pain of losing three children at once. Six kids, two families. Each family lost threee children at once. To help offset some of the expenses the Shreveport Federal Credit Union has set up 2 accounts to help the families and they are matching the donations dollar for dollar.

I am printing some of the article in today's paper in case anyone wishes to give something to help.
(exerpt from The Times; Shreveport, LA. 08/04/2010)
"We are opening each account with $1,500 and will match all donations, dollar for dollar," Shreveport Federal Credit Union President/CEO Helen Godfrey-Smith said in a news release from the city of Shreveport.
Three brothers — Litrelle Stewart, 18, Latevin Stewart, 15 and LaDarius Stewart, 17 — along with siblings — Takeitha Warner, 13, JaMarcus Warner, 14 and JaTavious Warner, 17 — were wading in the river when they stepped over a dropoff.
"We want the Warner and Stewart families to know that they are not alone in their time of need," Godfrey-Smith said.
The routing number for Shreveport Federal Credit Union is 311175860.
n Community Support for the Warner Family: #76969000

n Community Support for the Stewart Family: #76970007
"The outpouring of care and compassion for these grieving families is indicative of the great human spirit of not only this city, but the entire country," Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover said in the release. "We have received calls from as far away as Florida, California, Georgia and Illinois, asking for a way to assist the families. I commend Mrs. Godfrey-Smith and her staff, and I am truly grateful for this act of compassion that will never be forgotten."

My son Buddy leaves this morning to go back home to Mobile and I will miss him so much but he has a family and needs to get back. He and I went to Jakes grave yesterday and did a little cleaning up and put out new flowers. I took some pictures and will write about it later this week.

Wow what a hot, hot summer. Please stay cool and hydrated. My hubby has to work much of the day in this scorching and dangerous heat. Love you all! mizmollye and punkin too.

IN SEARCH OF PEACE

2010-08-01T13:15:00.003-05:00

ZenandSand Image sourced from the internet

I am taking a little blogging break for a few days as my son Buddy is in town from Mobile, AL and since he has to leave to go back Wednesday morning I want to spend as much time as I can with him.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and peaceful week!

STUCK ON YOU

2010-07-30T09:30:00.003-05:00

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions and the main thing I got from all your comments is to be PATIENT with myself!

Also I am going to once again try some journaling. I did actually begin a new blog and it is called Jake's Story and you can find the link by clicking on his picture on my sidebar. I told the kids I don't want to start a blog where I'm identified as being a mother who has lost her child because I don't want Jake's death to label me.

The intention for Jake's Story is to share some of who Jake was without dwelling on his death so people could perhaps find some enlightenment for their own lives and also as a tribute to the fine people who were a part of Jake's life, especially his Home Depot family as I know they are hurting from losing him and I want to acknowledge their importance in his life and in ours as well. So I think this will be a positive thing to do and I won't blog daily for his blog, and maybe even not weekly but as I am led to do so. I want first and foremost to keep up with my own bloggy because you are the ones who give me courage and motivation to keep going.

And SIMPLYDEBBIE suggested that I try my hand at creating some buttons for us who have been relegated into this club we're in; the parents who've lost children club. And even some other buttons and badges for other causes, so I think I'd like to try that as a creative outlet right now.

Hope you all got why I was asking for help. I've always been so involved in creative endeavors that here lately, my hands are idle and I'm left only to my thoughts and I feel like I want to get to another place as doing nothing leaves me sad and I feel so much happier when I am busy.

So thank you all for your comments, suggestions and most of all your love and in taking the time to offer what I need. I love you all, mollye

I'M SO STUCK

2010-07-29T08:17:00.002-05:00

HELP........................................Someone has the answer.

I know I have been through trauma, tragedy and a total devasting experience in losing my son. I know what I'm going through is probably very natural and normal but I am so stuck.

I want so badly to be able to go in my art room and begin creating something that will satisfy, but I just cannot find the motivation or energy or whatever the word is to actually DO it.

Has anyone gone through something that just keeps you from moving forward. And I do know I am moving forward and through my grief process but creatively speaking I seem to be stuck as if I had never been creative. And there are so many things I am interested in.

I have plenty of things to work with so a shopping trip is not needed. The supplies are there the room is there and the desire is there but it stops there!!! I want to MAKE something but it seems as if I need a shove or big push in my rear end to get it in gear.

C'mon sisters, give me a push or a nudge. Please...............

STRENGTH

2010-07-28T07:14:00.000-05:00

“There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness.”
Han Suyin quotes (Doctor and novelist, born in Beijing, b.1917)

ATC'S - my first love

2010-07-27T01:15:00.003-05:00

Sometimes things happen and you twist off from one area into another and I had begun to do this with my artwork. I had gotten more involved with working with metals, altering, sewing and all sorts of things I love and of course with blogging which I hope I never twist off from!

Then one of my "new" blogging sisters, Debbie was just starting a new journey in the field of ATC's and she was so enthused that she started with another blogger pal named Wendy a monthly swapping group called Blissful ATC's. Now their little group has grown and they have their own badge which you will find at the right on my sidebar.

July was our first month to swap cards and I am finally getting around to posting mine. I guess I need one of those old favorites "a round tuit". Remember those?

The theme for July was "Sisters" and this is the card I made for my partner Debbie.

My card was created from chalks, inks, shoe polish, beeswax, stamping, cut-out images, cut-out captions and Diamond Glaze.

And this is the card Debbie made for me

She has not listed the elements she used in her creation but it is a beautiful toille image of blue over white background with Sisters stamped on and a little red stitched silk heart. I love it!

So if any of you are wanting to make these little ATC's or like me drifted away from them and want to get back in on some fun, visit Blissful ATC's and join in. The themes for each month have already been posted and for August the theme is "Orange".
So "orange" you glad you read this post:)Now go and say "hi" to Debbie and Wendy and sign up for some swapping!

Love you all, mizmollye

MAY I INTRODUCE MY ALABAMA FAMILY

2010-07-26T06:08:00.002-05:00

This picture of Buddy and Jessica was taken at his place in Louisiana before he moved to Mobile. One of the yellow roses he grew.

You know girls, I'm always talking and bragging about my girls and their youngins and all the fun stuff we do together, but my oldest son Lance whom we have always called Buddy lives in Mobile, Alabama and I thought it was high time I introduced him and his family to you!

Bella enjoying nature in the Great Smokey Mountains

Buddy met and married the beautiful Jessica almost two years ago and moved to Mobile which was where she lived with her three adorable children; Malcolm, Addison and Isabella. Malcolm and Addison are twins who will be 14 this December. Now quite an interesting story about these two charmers. They were premies and though visually impaired are far more abled than disabled as they participate in so many sports and are such well rounded guys.

Malcolm recently was interviewed to attend boarding school in Taladega for the visually impaired and scored high so there is a good chance he might be going away for school this fall and of course if he does he will get to come home every three weeks for a visit and his parents have arranged to connect with him each evening by Skipe. (did I spell that right?). Addison will stay home for a year or two probably to get some extra one on one with his studies and hopefully be able to join his brother later on. This school would give these boys such a wonderful opportunity to achieve a career to be completely independent when grown. I have such respect and admiration for my daughter-in-law as you know it will not be easy to turn loose of one of your youngins for away from home school, but she truly sacrifies willingly to afford the best of the best for her children.

Addison, Bella and Malcolm (just two of the sweetest boys I've ever known)

And then there is Isabella, known simply as Bella. She is a perky, fun and delightful 9 year old with a bit of a serious nature. She's easy going but still can get wound up! They all three recently got to go on a camping trip accompanied by their mom up in the Smoky Mountains and were one with nature as you can see by the fun activities they got to participate in.

I loved both of these and couldn't make up my mind on which to post so I'm just sayin...........I couldn't decide! I loved the pensive look on her face in the doorway but also the ease with which she rode the horse.

My son Buddy has an extensive background in saltwater fish which began when he lived for many years out in the San Francisco Bay area of setting up tanks, design and the care of these exotic fish and is quite an expert with corals, rocks and the elements involved with saltwater and reef tanks.

But he's also a "farm boy" and loves nothing more than raising and caring for critters and growing their own food. Isn't there just something about a guy in a cowboy hat? I know I'm a wee bit biased!

Jessica is a Surgical Registered Nurse and works in a busy hospital there in Mobile

We just think we have a gorgeous daughter in law who is just as pretty on the inside!

In her "off" time she is a Roller Derby Skater. For those of you over the age of 50 you probably remember the Roller Derby of that era. It was the rage and apparantly has taken quite a hold there in the Mobile area also known as L.A.(lower alabama)!

Jessica on the left and you'll get a kick out of her "stage name" for the rink...Jess is known in the world of skating as Tata Bodacious! Buddy is presently coaching the team and his name is "Coach Jefe". LOL

So there you have it. You've gotten to know my son Jake and what a wonderful stand-up guy he was through my writings regarding his recent passing away. You've seen various pictures and little stories of both Lori and Shari and now the clan is complete.

You girls have a wonderful, restful, but playful day today and be good to yourself!

Love you all, mizmollye and Punkin too!

OUR WEEKEND SAFARI

2010-07-25T01:50:00.000-05:00

Hunting...it is a Louisiana Tradition and no one loves it more than my Punkin!

Oh Girls you know how much my Punkin Darlin loves his Mizmollye and is always soooooooo accomodating and just lets me feel as if everyday is Christmas and he takes me to the ballet, the opera on occasion, to plays, junking excursions, shopping, to my choice of movies, restaurants, and you get the picture he absolutely treats me like I'm his little princess and I love him so much for being the wonderful caring guy he is but you know I truly get to feeling such guilt for not being "into" the stuff he is and I decided that this weekend it would be all about him and I said, "Honey, whatever you want to do this weekend is gonna be what we do, and I'll go with you and be your best friend and be happy doing stuff you like". So of course his dream has always been to go on an actual safari. I mean truly a dream. Well we really can't make that happen right now but we did go to Bass Pro Shop together and I decided since I had my camera that I would create a Safari for the two of us today. Sure hope he likes it! teehee...here we go!

We begin our journey with Wild Bill showing Mike AKA Punkin Darlin the latest in knives, cause you know he must have a new knife for skinning purposes and he told me to go and find us each a nice pair of boots

like any of these?, I ask. At which he gives me the look. You know the one

Well...what about these...any better? I ask. It was then he decided he'd find the boots and they looked nothing like these. He got the big old clunky green and brown patchwork kind. Grrrrrrr!

Well Punkin said we would be bow hunting as well as gun hunting so he was checking out the latest in archery supplies for his little sidekick

And then he said I could pick out my own rifle. Guess which I chose?

And I wandered around the big hunting store eyeing all sorts of things we might need
hmmmmmmmm... I wonder... uh nevermind

So off we go into the wild blue yonder to safari country

It's been decided that I will try my luck with the bow and arrows first so after a few quick tips Punkin suggests that I practice a little first at the range

So as you can see I'm decked out from top to bottom in the latest camo couture and before I can say "quiver"

And I have an entire herd of whitetail deer right on top of me and Bam, Zing, Swoosh...one arrow after the other and I missed every one of them

So Punkin gets down from his stand...
Says he brought me a pressie and blows it up and stands it in front of me and says I can practice until I use up my arrows and then if the air is out of it, he will give me the pink gun to do some real hunting with

I soon call him to say my arrows have all been shot and he comes back down off his stand. The little deer is still standing. Full of air.

So Punkin leaves shaking his head and soon I see him coming with one of the guides in this little pick-up truck and he has another pressie for me. A Camera! So he suggests good naturedly of course that I might just like photographing wildlike while he tries once again to get something. Anything he says!

So with my camera

I see these

these little guys

and this

this big boy

what a beauty she is

A family of Bobcats

more relatives

some pretty angry hogs

And I was so glad Punkin had put me high up in a tree before I eyed these furry beasts. Too late. My cover was blown. This momma had a youngin nearby and she had seen me and thought I was a threat. I screamed like a schoolgirl and Punkin came thrashing throught the brush and momma bear scrammed and he held me and consoled me and took me down and off we went in the black pick-up.

"Honey," I asked, "what did you get"... Poor darling, he had seen nothing. NOTHING all day.. But for some reason he was tired and ready to get back.

such a sweet little kitchen, but we had nothing to eat

Punkin just sat quietly and gazed out the little window as I told him of the animals I'd seen and captured on my camera.

I never knew hunting could be so much fun and I can't wait to come back to our little treehouse cabin for another safari. Sure hope he asks me again soon.

I just love my best friend like crazy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS. MAGPIE

2010-07-24T06:52:00.002-05:00

Everyone be sure to stop by and wish Sheila of The Quintessential Magpie a wonderful birthday today! She is someone that I cannot say enough nice things about and I can't imagine anyone who has not met her and to meet her is to love her, but just in case you haven't visited with Sheila, one trip and you will be a friend forever, hook line and sinker! Love you Sheila.

PLAY DAY WITH LUKE

2010-07-24T01:57:00.000-05:00

I told you yesterday that Friday was gonna be a play day with Luke and play we did!

Here's the big guy in his own chair waiting for the action to begin

And this is what he calls his "boat" and you can see he is getting ready to do a little water gun shooting

And he decided he liked shooting us with water guns but he didn't like being on the receiving end. He said "don't tickle me, let me tickle you"

Here's Shari (my youngest daughter) who is his grandmother and she is known to her grandchildren as "Grandlady" but Luke hasn't quite mastered the lingo and he calls her his "bay yay" and she was trying to get him to know how to play water guns and when you shoot someone with your water they get to shoot you back and he wasn't having any of that

And here is Luke showing me how to fish from his boat.Whoever is pulling the raft has to make the motor sound for it ya know. He and all the grands call me "Mammy". So he's saying "do the motor Mammy"

Shari's daughter Emily stopped by for lunch but was dressed for work and couldn't play in the pool. I'm real proud of Em. She will be taking her clinicals to become an RN like her momma this fall and for the summer she is a valet for one of the casinos. She also rocked our little punkin to sleep while we all caught up with the happenings in Genoa City. You know with the Newman and Abbot clan. Whaaaaaaaaat.....You don't watch Young and Restless????? Oh my do you have any idea just what you've been missing???

I gotta tell you girls, a day of fun in the pool, some "skeddies" for lunch, a freezer pop, a quick nappie while Mammy and Bay Yay watched their soap and then a shopping trip to Target. Yay. A great day and I feel blessed beyond belief.

Punkin and I are going to the flea market today so I hope to show you some fabby fleas or other stuff we bring back! :)

Love you all, mizmollye and punkin too!

HAPPY FRIDAY

2010-07-23T07:37:00.004-05:00

FRIDAY.....The day we all lived for when we were working. Whoops! Maybe you still are. But now I'm retired and Friday, well I still look forward to it because that means that my Punkin Darlin will get to be home for the next two days!

So what's on your plate for today? I'm getting ready to leave you bloggy gals for awhile and go out to our still hanging on garden and cut okra, pick a few tomatoes and then pick a bucket of peaches and some figs. We've got a few watermelons that are not quite ripe.

Then Shari is bringing our little funny guy, Luke over and she and I are gonna take a swim with him. He loves the pool and we just do the grandma and great-grandma thing and smile and laugh at him the entire time like he is the cutest, smartest little thing ever to come along. I'm just sayin...........well, he is. I'll make some pics for you to see, that is if there is anyone possible who has not seen Luke!

And I plan to spend the entire weekend with Punkin so I'll see you all again on Monday and be sure to be kind to yourself while you're busy being kind to others and have a wonderful weekend. Love you all, Mizmollye and Punkin too!

OUT OF THE CLOSET

2010-07-21T19:33:00.012-05:00

No.........not THAT!

It's Mizmollye and Punkin Darlin all the way. But.........
what do we keep in our closets? Things we don't want to have out in the open. Right?

And there is a huge part of who I am that I don't keep out in the open and after much thought and prayer on my part I have decided to "come out of the closet" with all of you for one reason. I think I have a story to tell that cannot be as effective and maybe as important to someone out there if I keep that part of myself locked away in my closet to only be taken out for a choice few.

Now I realize that there may be some who are offended, some who may not want to be my friends and perhaps some who just do not understand. If so...I won't say my feelings will not be hurt, but I will understand that sometimes things are just not what you'd like them to be and after weighing the consequences, I've decided to get honest with all of you my blogging sisters who've I come to know and love like crazy.
And if the truth be known, I'll bet some of you have been affected one way or the other by the bug that bit me long ago.

I am a grateful recovering alcoholic. There I said it.

I have a sobriety birthday of July 14, 2002. And with humility and gratitude I just celebrated 8 years of continuous sobriety.

Now we who are recovering from an addictions are eager to tell "our story" to others in the hopes that someone who still suffers may be helped by hearing us tell what our life used to be like, what happened and what our life is like today.

And as you might imagine, this is likely to be a very long post so if you're interested and just can't hang around long enough to read it, I will post "My Story" on my sidebar and you can return to read it later.

From the time I was a very small girl I always felt "less than". Different and not as good as. I don't know why because I came from a happy family. There were only three people in our family who had a problem with alcohol. My grandmother, my grandfather (both my mother's parents) and my uncle (my mom's brother). I cannot remember being affected by them as I rarely saw them drink or saw the fallout from. But I always had the "izzms".

At the age of 18 I was a single mom and again at the age of 20. I felt that I was a huge disappointment to my parents, because in the early '60's this was totally unacceptable and very shameful. But my girls and I were happy and I had a good job as a telephone operator. I felt the only thing missing in our little family was a D-A-D-D-Y and I soon found one. He was cute, had a new car, lived across the street with his momma, had a day job and sang in a band. I felt at that age that he had all the requirements! He was the one. Yep he was the one alright (NOT) and without going into any details suffice it to say my life was anything but happy. We later had two sons and when my youngest son Jake was 15, I left the marriage and never looked back. I had spent 19 years in a very disfunctional marriage. As to drinking, we were not big drinkers and we could not afford it anyway, but regardless of the amount or frequency of our drinking, the outcome was always the same. BAD. It brought out the worst in both of us. Our children went through years of atrocities uncalled for.

After our divorce, I jumped into the fire again after only 6 months and once again, when nothing changes...nothing changes and I married a charismatic good looking barber from south Louisiana. A Cajun. And an accomplished daily drinker. So that is what I became. Our marriage was volatile. We loved each other but clearly both were sick. When you are sick and you don't know it, you don't know how to get well. My sickness in addition to a severe allergy to alcohol, was that I was of such a low self esteem and never felt that I deserved to be happy, to have anything nice, or for anyone to treat me nice that I always felt more comfortable being physically and emotionally, verbally abused. He also became sick as a direct result of alcohol and died a horrible death after 15 years of marriage.

Well I was a widow at the age of 56 and didn't even know how to start a lawnmower, or balance a checkbook. I had always had faith and knew God from a teen but certainly did not live reflecting that. However God indeed brought me through some very dark days following his death. After about 18 months, I realized I was still alive and had lots of living to do. I began living a very unhealthy lifestyle and hung around lots of sick people,unsavory places and again used alcohol to mask my pain, guilt and shame. A couple of my children turned away from me and I was not allowed to be a part of my grandchildren's lives. I felt dirty, rotten, worthless, useless and became very, very depressed. I thought more than once of ending my life. I believed my family hated me. I now know they never hated me, they hated my disease.

One morning I sat at my kitchen table and while drinking a cup of coffee God spoke to me with a mercy I did not deserve. He told me I did not have to live the rest of my life like I was living. I listened. Finally something had changed.

I called the local number of a 12-step program to recovery and they mailed to me a little schedule of meetings. I waited a few days and planned to make my first meeting on a Sunday night. I got lost trying to find the place and called and went back the next night, and the next and the next and I made a meeting every night and every weekend twice a day for one year! Then before you knew it I had been sober for two years. Then three and now.....................

Today my life is so very different that I sometimes pinch myself to see if it is really true. I met my husband after I came to know sobriety and we have a marriage that I only thought existed in fairy tales. He loves me unconditionally and treats me like a princess. He has so much respect and admiration for me. He also loves my children. They in turn all adore and love him. I love him more than I thought I was capable of. He is my soulmate, my best friend. He is not my past, but he is my present, a gift. I hope he will always be my future.

Today I am close to all my children and while I missed so much of being a grandmother, I still love and have a relationship with my grandchildren and have such joy in being a great-grandmother. Today I know how to be a friend. I do not take my sobriety lightly or for granted. I lost both parents while I was still in my addiction and I reacted badly. I regret my mother did not live to see me in recovery.

I got the nightmarish telephone call that every mother prays she'll never receive. That of telling me my youngest son had shot himself and was dead. He too was coming up on three years of sobriety for the same disease and was so grateful. Jake was just simply a Godly man. I pray it was an accident. I believe it was an accident though I have not been told. That was June 17, 2010. Just a month ago.

Ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death each and every day since that phone call, I'm not alone for Jesus Christ walks beside me. He comforts me and restores my soul. I will survive.

I am doing well. I could not have endured this horrendous pain and agony if I were still a practicing alcoholic. I attribute much of my strength aside from my family to the loving friends I've connected with in bloggyland. You, my sisters.

I have learned to balance my checkcook and in fact I am the "bookkeeper" in our family. We even "save" today! I am active in my church. I do volunteering with various groups. I go to meetings to be with others who have found what I have and I try to practice the principals of the program daily. I have a good life. We're not well off financially, but my husband has a good job and is a hard working man. We bought a house. The house he grew up in. I feel blessed and think I am the "richest" girl in the world.

We get on our knees before we go to bed at night thanking God for another day and I go over the days events and when I realize I've not been the woman I should have been that day, I try to make my amends to whomever I have offended and try to work on the areas that crop up in my life that need a good overhaul. God delivered me of the obsession to drink and he gives me serenity one day at a time. My serenity is contingent to the way I choose to live. I have to continuously think of you before myself and when I put myself first, you can be sure there is a trainwreck around the bend.

I accept alcoholism as a disease and also a family disease. Everyone close to the alcoholic is affected. My daughters are active in the sister program which helps them take care of themselves and teaches them that they are not responsible for anyone but themselves as they did not cause it, they cannot cure it, and they cannot control it. "It" being the one with the disease. We're a family in recovery. A family that was sick and is getting well. We've learned how to be there for each other in a healthy way.

I hope by opening my closet and trying to be as honest as I have the right to be that I may help someone out there who is hurting and does not know where to turn. All I have is today and what I am asked to do in return for my today is to share my experience,strength and hope for a brighter tomorrow! We do this one day at a time.

So for all of you who have commented on my strength and are amazed at the peace I've been able to find following Jake's death, you now know from where it comes and how it came about.

I love you all!

DOWN IN THE RIVER TO PRAY

2010-07-20T10:25:00.004-05:00

Oh Sister, let's go down

c'mon down

down in the river to pray

JUST GIRL TIME

2010-07-19T18:47:00.010-05:00

Every now and then just nothing will do a body good quite like a little girl time. Wouldn't you all agree?

Lori, Shari and I took off this morning for a day trip to Natchitoches, LA which is about 65 miles south of us and our plan was to tour Melrose Plantation above all. But we never even considered it would be closed on Monday! So we plan to go back down there and go through every nook and cranny of Melrose Plantation and the story of Melrose is just so fascinating and I want to take lots of pictures for you when we go.

But we still had a great time. We explored some little gift shoppes and the oldest hardware/mercantile store in Louisiana. And I bought this

and this little giftie which has post-it notes inside with the initial K on each sheet for my next door neighbor Kay who has shown me the love.

And we ate lunch at Laysone's Famous Meat Pie place and drove up and down the Cane River and looked at lots of little former slave quarters still being lived in! and by that time ... well we had to make a little pit stop on our way out of town and next door was another restaurant touting the best Bread Pudding ever, so well I'm just saying who could resist. So in we went and sat out on the deck overlooking the Cane River and were told they were OUT of bread pudding today so we all got something else and a cup of dark roast Louisiana Creole coffee and it was time to come on back.

Wouldn't you love to have a little art studio or hobby get-a-way like this charming little retreat?

I'm so thankful to have two girls who love each other and care so much about their momma too. We have such fun together.

Oh yes and my boy Buddy is coming in this weekend from Mobile to visit us.

Love you all, Mizmollye and Punkin too!

FROM YOUR HEARTS AND HANDS

2010-07-18T09:43:00.002-05:00

Thank You Debbie Pucci from For Your Tears. Debbie has an awesome ministry for mothers who have lost a child in death. This beautiful hankie will be placed in Jake's Book of Memories to cherish. Please go to Debbies blog and you will be amazed at her story of compassion.

Thank you Deborah Bonner from Deb's Vintage Soul for the beautifully creative little cloche vignette. Deb and I have been blogger friends for about a year and she is so creative and down to earth. What a little work of art she created here for me and I know you all heard me squeeling when I opened the box. I look at it each day and swoon with amazement at the tiny scene. Love you Deborah.

I was asked to tell my "story" to a group last Thursday and just talk about what my life used to be like and what happened to me along the way and just how my life is different today and one of the things I related to the group is that I had very, very few friends when I was younger and that I had always had such a low feeling of myself and when I asked God to be the center of my life my life changed and that I now humbly thank Him daily for the many many women who lift me up and encourage me with their love and support. Thank you Deb and Deb for being there for me and for all of you who continue to offer prayers, words, love, cards, gifts and just your thoughts for our well being. You ROCK!

THE ONE THAT KEEPS US LAUGHING

2010-07-17T11:10:00.007-05:00

I just couldn't resist showing off our youngest little great-grandbaby Luke who was two this past January. He belongs to my grandson Joe and is the youngest grandbaby of my baby girl Shari's. And he is INFATUATED with tatoos..so his "grandlady" as he refers to Shari bought the wash off variety and they had a fun day playing "boyz in da hood'. His hair was buzzed off for the summer and to keep him from sunburning while out in our pool he HAS to wear his little bandana. So this was Luke showing off. He's a cut-up and a little clown. But those blue eyes!!!!!!!!!!!! And he's always saying "I wuv you" So c'mon girls and humor me cause I haven't done the crazy proud great-granny thing in quite awhile now.

"Yall have a wonderful day and weekend. Love you all, Mizmollye and Punkin

NO WORDS NEEDED

2010-07-16T15:28:00.001-05:00

NEW AWARD

2010-07-16T07:04:00.003-05:00

Thank you Debbie from I Am Simply Debbie for the sweet little award. Debbie has helped me so much by talking to me about her daughter, Amy who lives in Heaven and I feel such peace in knowing Jake and Amy are watching over us. As I told Debbie and as she had also written about, I used to post the awards and then stopped accepting them and posted a No Award Zone Blog and then I got to feeling...how very huffy and arrogant of me that someone could think so much of me to present me with something special and I'm TOO BUSY OR TOO IMPORTANT to take the time and valuable space on my blog to post it!!!!!!!!!! Ha Ha who am I kidding. So I am delighted when someone gives me an award and will proudly post about it. You've shown me this past month that there is simply nothing in life more valuable than the love of family and friends. And my friends without you I would not have made it. So thank you Debbie and I'd like to pass this little award on to the following although all of you know how much you mean to me and I have told you all that you have a sweet blog haven't I? But rules are rules!!!

Suzie at Itch2Stitch
Anne at Annesphamily
Becky at Writer Gal
Dottie at It's Just Dottie
Deborah at Debs Vintage Soul

And if any of you do not post the awards that is ok with me too. I only speak for myself and do not judge your reasons if you've decided to be award free! Love you all

THE PICTURE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

2010-07-14T13:52:00.004-05:00

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
IICorinthians 5:17

I went to lunch today (bar-b-que) with girls I worked with at the Cathedral office and we had a good time. It did me good to get out with someone outside of family and I'm so glad they invited me and I'm so glad I didn't make an excuse not to go!

Whew.......I'm burning up here today as our AC condenser went out during the night and we're already at over 100 degrees. I'm waiting on the repairman to get here but big girl Lori came over and unlocked her motor home which is out on the side of our back yard area and we can go in there tonight to sleep if it does not get fixed today.

Hope you all are having a good day. Try to stay cool.
Love ya all, mollye and punkin

FINDING THE SILVER LINING

2010-07-12T08:33:00.003-05:00

I'm sad this morning.

I was fine at first and even went blog hopping and visited several of you and then
swoosh!

something cold entered in and knocked the wind from my sails.......left me sad......melancholy...........weepy........and blue

my boy how I miss him

but I am old........ well I think of myself as old as far as true years go and I am wiser than ever before in my life so I know what I must do because I know what will happen if I stay in this darkness, this sadness, this vortex..............

I gotta do what I gotta do and pull up those big girl bloomers and begin my day all over.

Hope all of you have a wonderful day. Whatever you do though...don't waste it!

Love you!

I'VE NEVER FELT SO LOVED

2010-07-10T21:11:00.031-05:00

(This post will continue to be updated and Thanks to all who continue to sign Jake's online book. To do so click on his picture on the left sidebar and you may also post your picture!)

Thank you Sisters for all the beautiful cards you've taken the time to send by snail mail. They have helped lift our spirits and mean so much. They will be preserved in Jake's Memory Book.

From Cathy Minerva

From Mary Freeman

From Toni Curtis

From Linda MacKean

From Deborah Bonner

From Sue McPeak

"Hankie for my tears"

From Suzie Sroka with felted pin

And from Suzie an original "Suzie Sketch"

And for all of you who have clicked on my left sidebar at the top of the page to sign Jake's online Obituary Guest Book. I thank you so much. My son Buddy has paid to keep the guest book online for a full year so many can sign the book and even post photos and then he plans to order it in a hardbound book for me. I will treasure the book and your comments so very much.

Thanks to:
Cathy Minerva
Sheila Magpie
Anitra Cameron
Suzie Sroka
Deborah Bonner
Suzanne Dutcher
Bevie Sams
Peggy Jones
Bernie Wood
Debbi Pucci
Becky Povich
Debbie Hembree

I have received over 350 comments since the death of my son and for me to tell you Thank You would be just such a gross inadequacy and understatement of what they have meant to us. Most of you have not lost a child and for that I am so thankful because I have never known this level of pain in my life but you have cried with me, prayed for us, written sweet words of hope, encouragement and support and you've patiently read my blogs which were probably so depressing to many. Some of you have lost your own child and you have felt my pain as you did your own and you've helped me see what helped heal you.

I've wanted to visit all of you to give you a personal thank you and a virtual hug, but I'm afraid I have lost track of who I've visited and who I haven't as some days I've begun gung ho and have lost all my steam before the day was half over. I want to know each of you and see your bloggy to know what you're up to. Please write me again!!

I see I have made some new friends on my list of followers and I am so delighted and hope you won't give up on me. I have been known to have a decently funny or informative post from time to time and I'm sure I'll get on back to myself before too long.

You see my faith is great. I know Jesus and I know my boy lives with Him so I cannot stay down for too long. I'll be changed and all our lives will be changed but I will be a stronger person and a more loving person because my son Jake taught me that and he would expect nothing less.

I love you all, Mollye

and so does my Punkin Darlin!

SPECIAL EDUCATION WEEK

2010-07-08T17:36:00.004-05:00

People need to understand that children
with special needs don't have an illness, so there is no cure &
it's not contagious. They only want what we all want, to be
accepted. Copy this and leave it on your Facebook status or your blog for at least an hour.

It's Special Education week, and this is in honor of all the
...kids ...who need a little extra help & understanding!!

HAPPY MAIL DAY FROM HEAVEN

2010-07-07T11:32:00.006-05:00

Hi Momma and Mike,

I thought it was time I spoke to you all through your imagination. You know God blesses us each with the ability to imagine things, and our imaginations can be used in so different ways. Sometimes we can use it to help us cope with sadness and heartache. I think God gave you your imagination to do just this at this time in your life.

You know don't you Momma that I am in heaven? Of course you do. I see you and Mike, Dad and Jill. I see Buddy and Lori and Shari. I see Uncle Freddie and Aunt Mary. All my brother and sister in laws and nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews. I see my extended family like Amanda and her family and all my church family, my Home Depot family. The wonderful friends I made while working for the City of Bossier and for Cintas. I see the many longtime lawn customers I had who were more than customers. They were my friends. And I see all the friends I ever made along the way; some of whom I didn't even know still cared for me.

And all your blogging friends, Momma. WOW it is unbelievable all the prayers that have been sent up for all my family and for me. Prayers from people from all over the world that I never knew. I will thank you in person one day though. Take the strength Momma. Take it Buddy. Lori, Shari, Mike, Dad and all of you who are hurting take the strength those prayers have sought. It's there for you. Don't let the cries of mercy go in vain. God is answering prayers faster that I can even tell you.

And those of you who helped my family in other ways too, you all know who you are and please know we see it up here and God is smiling and writing it all down!

And some of you are handling my absence easier than others. I know you miss me. I want all of my family to know that I surely knew how much you loved me. I was blessed beyond belief to be your son, and your brother. Your uncle and your nephew. I was amazingly blessed to be your friend.

I can't really say that I am missing YOU though and wait a minute........what I mean is that up here in Heaven the time thing is not the same as you know it to be and you will be reunited with me in a twinkling of the eye by our time here so there is not time for me to be sad. But the main reason I am not sad is because here there is no such thing as sadness. It's true all you ever read about is true and so much more.

Please don't spend any more time thinking of my last breathes on earth because I can tell you that I did not suffer pain. One second I was in my house and the next second I was looking at the face of God. And I was holding the hands of Jesus.

I hope beyond all things that each of you will begin to let God heal your hearts and you will keep me in your heart as well. I am still alive within each of you and am totally alive in heaven. WOW is all I can say about that. You just would not believe how glorious it is.

Remember the good times and the love we shared. Don't even let your mind go to places that are not happy and good. Celebrate my life but not my death, because I did not die. I live forever and you will also live forever with me when you are finished with your jobs there. You see THAT is the reason God called me home.

He told me that he had created me to be born of you, Momma and that I had one specific job on earth to do. When it was my time to either do my job or refuse my job I would be called away from all of you because my time would be over on earth. I never even knew what my job would be, but all of a sudden here I was in heaven and God said to me "Well done my faithful servant. Well done". "You are my child and you listened when I spoke". I had actually done the job I was created for. I came to heaven not because I deserved it but because of the Cross and because I listened.

And you see family, this is what I want for all of you. You won't ever know why you are there until you leave, but please, please be ready. Just live as you know you should and always listen. Open your hearts to listen and to love. Be joyful and you will rise to the challenge when your special heavenly job presents itself. And please let God take the heartache away, because if your heart is filled with sadness, depression and you are having trouble finding your way then you will miss the joy God so desires you to know. Please come out of the darkness and into the light. I'm telling you, it's all about love. I'll help you if you will let me.

I love you all and we will be together soon and it will NEVER end. WOW!

Oh and talk about joy. You probably heard me hooping and hollering when I saw my old faithful pal Bugsy again.

I'm still smiling and I'm smiling at all of you too.

Eternally in your heart and soul, Jake

INDEPENDENCE DAY 2010

2010-07-04T01:36:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Be careful, be safe and enjoy the holiday

VACATION WOES

2010-07-02T19:39:00.016-05:00

We're baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Yep that's right. I call it vacation woes, but honey it ain't nothin but a thang. We had as many of you know a prepaid and preplanned one in a lifetime vacation in Boston for the week of July 4th, and with the recent tragic death of our son, we decided to cancel the trip. OK

So we decided upon the strong urging of our girls to take a "short" trip since Punkin already had the time off and the girls just really thought it would do us so good to get away for a few days. Right? Right.

And daughter Lori came over all ready to house sit for a week and feed the critters. Bless her heart.

Soooooooo as I said we left Wednesday morning planning to stay a week or so being hometown tourists in south Louisiana since we are "northerners" from the northwest corner of Louisiana. Right? Right.

Soooooooo off we went and about an hour into the trip the bottom of the sky fell out and buckets, no not buckets but the entire sky rained and poured, thundered and lightened. The wind blew cause as you know a hurricane named Alex was in the making and wrecking havoc on the entire gulf coast.

Sooooooooo our plans had been to spend the first two days at the beach in and around Port Arthur, TX and the Cameron, LA area. Ha Ha Ha. Nature had other plans. So we drove the coast line looking out the windows and could not even get out to put our toes in the sand. In fact the roads were deserted because the locals were seeking higher ground and had already deserted the island!

We went on over to Crowley, LA just east of Lake Charles and spent the night and had a great room

and dried out. And woke to sunshine the next morning so we thought "oh goodie, our trip is on". We toured the St. Joseph Cemetery which is in Ripley's Believe It Or Not as the ONLY cemetery known to be facing north and south. It is also the oldest cemetery in our state. So we took a few pictures

and poked around until killer mosquitoes almost vampired us senseless and we left or as they say around here "cut a shuck".

Next we toured Rayne, LA which is the Frog capital and of course nothing was going on anywhere we could find. But I did get a cute picture of Punkin at the Civic Center.

Then it was off to Lafayette and they have an awesome downtown area with...guess what? SHOPPING. And still no rain, so Punkin being the more than good sport with his mizmollye missus accompanied me into all the girly girl shops and the mardi gras costume shops

and yep even the gift shops where we bought the kids a little souvenir and he never once complained. I'm just saying there were no Sporting Good stores or Hardware stores or Tractor parts places. Everywhere we went were laces, purses, panties, ribbons, buttons, china, and lots and lots of bling-bling and frou-frou.

But rain or no rain, we HAD to tour Longfellow's Evangeline and yep you guessed it we did not get to go in for the rain. But we enjoyed what we did get to see.

Sooooooooooo we stopped at a little place to grab a bite and when we left there, the rain was baaaaaaaaaaack! So we hightailed it back to our borrowed ride, ya know "Mis Tang", Shari's bright red Mustang...Bless her heart.

and we left Lafayette much wetter and a little broker. At that point we came to the same conclusion that the rain was in Louisiana to stay and that it made absolutely no sense. I'm saying NO SENSE to continue driving and looking through rain to see nothing and buying more gas, and more food and paying for more hotel rooms all in the name of TRYING to have a little fun.

So we got back home at 6 pm last night and guess what? It ain't rained a drop all day here!

I re-packed our bags and in the morning we're gonna try this again but we decided to stay closer to home. We're going about 65 miles south to Natchitoches, LA and tour the Cane River Plantations, and Melrose and some arty stuff in Natchitoches and JUST IN CASE we decide to stay a night over, we're good to go with our next day duds!

If the rain holds off.....I'll try to have some awesome pictures for you next week!

Sothere are no "woe is me" from this camp cause like I said, "Honey, it ain't nothin but a thang"

Luv ya all bunches, mizmollye and punkin darlin

WE'RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD AKA a little r & r

2010-06-29T19:51:00.001-05:00

See you all next week. Have a safe and Happy 4th of July weekend.

Mizmollye and Punkin

MUSTANG MOLLYE

2010-06-28T06:35:00.005-05:00

girl you better slow that mustang down!

Today is Monday June 28 and the first day of the rest of my life. I am alive! I have felt dead since my son was accidentally shot and killed the 17th of this month. But I now know I am not dead and neither is he. He just lives somewhere else now. He lives in Heaven and I live on earth. I don't know when we'll get together but someday we will and what a beautiful day that will be. But until then all mothers want their children to be happy and his joy surpasses happiness. And all children want their mommas to be happy and this is what I will strive for, a little at a time each day. This is not to say I will not fall apart the next moment but I am grateful for each moment of peace and hope of healing I get.

There are not enough words to adequately thank all of you for your comments, well wishes, support and love. You have helped our family beyond understanding. We have gained strength from your prayers.

I'm trying to "meet" the new Sorority Sisters who joined up with Some Days Are Diamonds but geesh there are lots of us!!! And for all my bloggy sisters and friends from before my world came apart I have not even begun to personally contact you but please know I will.

Many of you know that Punkin Darlin and I had our dream vacation planned since January for Boston and were set to leave tomorrow. We have cancelled our trip but we are getting out of "Dodge" for a bit!

We are driving down to south Louisiana over to Port Arthur Texas and back east on the coast line of Louisiana and back up Lafayette and on up to home. We will get away to different surroundings and just be together away from home for a few days. We plan to return home on July 5.

And why the Mustang you ask.................. Well it belongs to baby girl Shari and she graciously is letting us drive it on our trip. I tell you sisters nothing quite like a death puts things into perspective.

This car is her pride and joy and no one I said NO ONE drives "miss tang" but her, but now she says "It's just a thing". and she had the car detailed, filled up with petrol and left a hundred dollars on the dash for "just in case" and said "I want you two cute little old folks to get in this mustang and have the time of your lives, you gotta turn on the AC, roll the windows down, let your pony tail fly, momma and rev up the engine.........and uh by the way............miss tang don't like to travel less than 75 miles an hour"! So my Punkin Darlin, somewhat the ole rocker dude he is will be jammin and mizmollye will be smilin and if anythign we'll probably get a few tickets by driving too slow!

So I have many many details to attend to before leaving very early Wednesday morning and girls I have to tell you, my phone does not take pictures, and we have no laptop, so I will do it the old fashion technical way. I will keep up with our adventures by handwriting in my journal, take pictures with my Canon point and shoot, and download them when I get back on my desktop and then I will share with you our gettaway!

Until then, happy trails... keep smiling...and remember God Loves You and so does Mizmollye!

SORORITY RUSH DAY

2010-06-25T06:38:00.009-05:00

The big day is here to reveal what we decided to create from our sweet image and my sis blogger Anitra had sent me two of the coolest little vinyl cigar boxes to play with. I used wallpaper pages to cover the box and ironed the image on tea dyed muslin and then stitched it to the wallpaper. I started this little project a few weeks ago but had not finished it when my life was turned upside down from the so unexpected and tragic death of my son last week.

But I thought it might help me begin to get back to some sort of normalcy by blogging about a subject completely unrelated to death. I will post the completed purse when I one day finish it. I do plan to add some fringe and other little elements. I am anxious to soon visit all of you and see what you have made.

Be sure to click on the link at my sidebar to see what all the fuss is about and what everyone else created on their Rush assignment!

Love you sisters!

This was the image we were given to create anything we wanted. No Rules!

So I decided to make a purse with mine to take on our Boston vacation. However, I must tell you that we have canceled our trip to Boston but I had an amazing time in planning it and almost feel as if I have been there!

(PS.... the hairy knuckles belong to my hubby; Punkin Darlin who always agrees to help me!)
I'm sorry girls I am not quite all there yet so I had to re-read the instructions and saw I was supposed to post my picture for our newer sisters. So this is me with the stuff I like!

A NEW DAY FOR JAKE'S FAMILY

2010-06-23T16:31:00.013-05:00

Hello Everyone! It truly is a new day, a new way and a new beginning on trying to learn how I will be normal again.

My son Jake was laid to rest in a little country cemetery about 125 miles south of here where my husbands family members are all buried. It is small and it is pretty. It will not be conveniente for us to visit his grave but there will be times I'm sure that we can all come together to freshen up and make pretty his final resting place. We all know Jake is not in that grave but just his earthly pajamas.

Jake had a beautiful homecoming celebration funeral at his church where he had served and loved the Lord for more than 15 years. The church was full of family, his church family, co-workers who wept and shared their love. There was a slide show of Jake's life and a music tribute featuring the songs that Jake loved. You could not be there and did not personally know Jake so I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to him.

Jake was my baby and was born January 3, 1970. He was always a good little boy and never any trouble or in any trouble. He never got scolded in school and was liked and loved by everyone. His disposition was sunny, optimistic and friendly. He was a scout and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout at age 14.

In 1990 when Jake was barely 20 he received a blow to the head and suffered a closed head injury and it was also determined at the time that he had a congenital Dandy Walker cyst at the brain stem. He had to undergo neuro surgery.Chances of survival and a quality life if he did survive were not good. He had shunts for the rest of his life.
However God had other plans for Jake and he did survive and he had to learn to walk, talk, eat and all the other skills all over again. He turned down the option of receiving disability as he wanted to be "abled".

Shortly after his recovery he received Christ as his savior and fell head over heels in love with Jesus Christ and remained until his death last week a champion of all souls. Jake was a soul man. He loved soul food, soul music and most of all he was passionate about every soul he met. Passionate about the condition of their soul. You see he truly wanted all to know his heavenly father and of His love for you.

He never met anyone without sharing his love of the Lord but he did it in such a loving, gentle way that he never offended. Everyone knew the Lord when they knew Jake whether he said anything or not by the way he lived his life.

Jake realized he had a love for flowers, plants and had a natural knack for making plants flourish and a keen eye for design so he studied hard for several years having to re-take the test more than once but achieved his goal of becoming a licensed horticulturist. He began doing landscaping and flower bed work, lawn cutting etc. for friends, neighbors, family, church members and then many others and continued doing this all his life.

In 1998 he was hired to open up our first Home Depot store and of course worked a long time in the garden department, but eventually worked in every department. He stayed with Home Depot for over ten years and wanted to branch out on his own so left to be his "own boss". It was tough and Jake realized it was not time for this dream so he was hired as Horticulturist for the City of Bossier City, LA (across the river from Shreveport) and was as proud as punch as he had "arrived". He loved this job and took such pride in his work but it was short lived. Less than a year into the job the city was facing a huge deficit and there were many lay-offs, among which was Jake who was low on the rung of hires. He was hired back at Home Depot as a part of their Merchandising Team and therefore he got to work at all three of the local stores. He was still at Home Depot at his death. We all kidded him for years that he "bled orange". He was a team player and a true and loyal Home Depot man.

He had been married for eight years and the marriage ended in divorce three years ago. They had no children. Jake wanted more than anything just about to be a father. He had met a young lady a few months ago and fell in love and was planning to ask her to marry him shortly. He was hoping they would be able to have a child.

On Thursday June 17 Jake's dream of becoming a father ended.

I received the phone call that every mother prays she will never get. Jake's girlfriend was with him when the accident occured. Her step-father called me to inform me that my son had been shot and was dead.................We have been told by some that he died instantly. I urgently pray this is true.

My life will never be the same. A piece of me died with Jake. My heart is broken. Jake had a big brother and two sisters. They will never be the same. Jake had a step-father who loved him like a natural son. He will never be the same. Jake left his father and step-mother who will never be the same.

But we will survive his death. We will someday walk and work through his death and be at a place where our hearts will beat regularly rather than so eratic and scarry. Our blood preasure will someday be at a healthy rate and we will be able to sleep and eat and even maybe go an hour without laughing at something one moment only to break down the next.

We have faith. We all believe. I will likely never feel this level of pain again and I strongly pray for those of you who have not experienced losing a child that you never will know this pain.

I also will likely never again be as honored and humbled and blessed any more abundantly than I have been in the past few days as I've felt by your comments, your support, your personal messages, physical cards of condolences, devoting space on your websites to blog about Jake and his family, asking your readers for their prayers for us and your tears I know you've shed. The times you have taken in your busy days to think of me, of Punkin, and the rest of my family. The times you've remembered before closing your eyes at night to ask God to heal us and receive my son in His Kingdom. On and on and on I could write about all the things I know you have done out of love.

Oh and those who do not blog or know about blogging just could not know how women, and even our spouses and some guys too can blog hop and become "friends" with so many different people across our great land, across the sea and with so many various interests. Oh it is amazing at our differences. But our likeness is the thing that is more amazing. Because all of us. ALL of us have the same heart. We love the same. And I leave now with words that are so very inadequate and that is a simple Thank You and I Love You. And please know I will eventually personally "meet each of you" at your bloggy place and we will chat and you will know that you are now and will be eternally my Sisters. God Bless each and every one of your precious hearts.

Mollye, Mike, Lori, Marcus, Shari, Wes, Buddy, Jessica,and the rest of our family!

many sweet pictures of our Jake

Oldest son Lance (Buddy) Mike and Mollye

Oldest daughter Lori and Buddy

baby daughter Shari and her children, Michael, Emily and Joe

Loris daughter Erika and two of our great grandchildren; Ellie and Luke

THANK YOU FROM MOLLYE

2010-06-20T13:33:00.003-05:00

Oh I wish to thank each and every one of my sister bloggers for all the love, support and prayers during this tragic time. Our son will be laid to rest on Tuesday and your prayers are certainly giving us the strength. We know he is in the arms of Jesus and that will someday mend our broken hearts. For now we are selfish in just missing him being here with us.

Thank you Peggy for this humbling award and it makes me ever grateful for love of those we might never meet on this earth but share our hearts and love with. Amazing.

I will personally write each and every one of you when Jakes funeral is over and just know how much you mean to all our family. God Bless, Mollye

UPDATE ON JAKE

2010-06-18T18:14:00.003-05:00

Jake Gregory Wendling
01/03/70 - 06/17/2010

Rest in Peace my sweet one, I love you Momma

Thank you all for the prayers and well wishes. You have sent your strength through your words and prayers and our family feels the love.

Jake accidently shot himself up through his neck and we think his death was quick. His funeral is set for Tuesday the 22nd. I love you all so much.

URGENT REQUEST FOR PRAYERS

2010-06-17T18:31:00.002-05:00

My youngest son Jake just was killed not more than a couple of hours ago. I just know he was shot. He was my baby. I ask that you all my friends and sisters lift him up to our Lord and ask that God give his family strength to endure this grief we are feeling right now. That is all I know. I or someone in my family will post more when we are able. Thank you. mollye

TUTTY FRUITY

2010-06-17T06:36:00.008-05:00

SUMMER 2010...promising to be one for the records! HOT...HOT.....HOT

So stay hydrated and stay healthy. I found some great recipes for fruity non-alcoholic drinks and I for one cannot wait to try them.

Cinderella recipe
2 oz orange juice2 oz pineapple juice1 oz lemon juice1/2 oz sugar syrup1 oz soda waterShake and strain into an ice-filled highball glass, and add soda. Garnish with a slice of lemon, add a straw, and serve.

Fruit And Sherbet Punch recipe
2 liters soda1 gal fruit juice2 pints sherbetMix the carbonated soft drink (like 7-Up) with different flavored fruit juices, and float the sherbet on top before serving.
0% (0 proof)

Fruit Cocktail recipe
1 oz orange juice1 oz grapefruit juice1 oz passion-fruit juice1 oz mango juice1 oz pineapple juice1/4 oz lime juice1/2 oz kiwi syrupShake with a glassful of broken ice and pour unstrained into a wine goblet. Garnish with fruit, add straws, and serve.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Wine Goblet

Fruit Cooler recipe
1 can frozen apple juice concentrate1 cup sliced strawberries2 tbsp sugar1 lemon1 apple1 liter soda water iceToss strawberries with sugar, and let sit overnight in refrigerator. Cut lemon, reserve two slices. Juice the rest. Mix together the lemon juice, strawberries, apple juice, and soda water. Add slices of lemon (decor, really). In glasses, put ice cubes, and a slice of apple. Pour drink in, and serve.
0% (0 proof)

Fruit Fantasy recipe
3 oz orange juice2 oz pineapple juice1/2 oz kiwi syrup4 strawberries2 tbsp melonsBlend until smooth. Add half a glassful of crushed ice, and blend again briefly. Pour into a pina colada glass, and garnish with fruit. Serve with straws.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Pina Colada Glass

Fruit Punch recipe
2 packages Kool-Aid® Cherry mix4 liters soda water1 can frozen lemonade concentrate1 can frozen pineapple concentratesugarMake up the kool-aid ahead of time, by dissolving in a small amount on water (as little as possible). Don't add sugar! Cool this mixture. -- With everything cold, mix it all together, just before the party. You can add sherbert to keep it cold, or make ice cubes, or an ice cube ring, using the kool-aid mixture. You probably won't need to add any sugar to this, as the soda, lemonade, and pineapple juice should contain plenty.

Fruitloops recipe
3 oz pineapple juice1 1/2 oz orange juice1 oz cranberry juice1 splash grenadine syrupStir all ingredients and serve over ice. Garnish with an orange slice and a cherry.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Highball Glass

Fuzzless Navel recipe
2 oz peach nectar6 oz orange juicePour peach nectar and orange juice into a chilled glass filled with ice cubes. Stir well and garnish with a slice of orange.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Highball Glass

Golden Glow Punch recipe
6 oz orange juice concentrate6 oz lemonade concentrate1 qt chilled apple juice2 qt chilled ginger ale1 pint lemon sherbet icePour the concentrate and the apple juice into the punch bowl. Stir the ginger ale into the bowl. Spoon in sherbet or add an ice ring. Serve immediately.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Punch Bowl

Grenadine Cocktail recipe
1 part grenadine syrup4 parts orange juice4 parts pineapple juiceCombine all ingredients with plenty of ice in a highball glass. Stir, and serve.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Highball Glass

Innocent Passion recipe
4 oz passion-fruit syrup1 dash cranberry juice1 dash lemon juice10 - 12 oz club sodaAdd syrup and juices to a collins glass. Fill with chilled club soda. Garnish with a cherry and serve with a long straw.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Collins Glass

Jungle Juice #4 recipe
1 banana2 cups orange juice1 dash gingerPlace orange juice and ginger into a blender jar. Break the banana into chunks and add it in. Cover, and whiz on medium speed until well blended. Pour into a collins glass, and serve.
Serve in: Collins Glass

Kiba recipe
100 ml cherry juice100 ml banana juicePour all ingredients into a highball glass over ice cubes and serve.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Highball Glass

Long Distance Runner recipe
1/4 oz passion-fruit syrup2 oz pineapple juice1/2 oz lime juice1 slice pineapplePrepare in a blender with crushed ice. Strain into a large highball glass, fill with crushed ice, and serve.
Serve in: Highball Glass

Mandate recipe
4 oz mandarin juice3 oz sparkling bitter lemon soda1 tsp raspberry syrupAdd to an ice filled wine goblet.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Wine Goblet

Merlin's Treat recipe
2 oz mango juice1 oz pineapple juice1 oz orange juice1/2 oz strawberry syrup2 oz dry ginger aleShake juice and syrup, and strain into an ice-filled wine goblet. Add the ginger ale, garnish with fruit in-season, and sprinkle with grated nutmeg. Serve with straws.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Wine Goblet

Mock Daisy Crusta recipe
1 1/2 oz lime juice1 oz sugar syrup1/2 oz raspberry syrup1/4 oz grenadine syrup3 oz soda waterRim a wine glass with lime/caster sugar, add a spiral of lime, and fill with crushed ice. Stir lime juice and syrups together, and strain into the glass. Add the soda and sprinkle the grenadine on top.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: White Wine Glass
Monster Slime Juice recipe
6 oz Kool-Aid® Berry Blue mix12 oz orange juice concentrate1 gal waterMix orange juice concentrate and kool-aid, and add water. Stir, and watch it turn green.
0% (0 proof)

Passion Cooler recipe
2 oz pineapple juice2 oz mango juice1 oz orange juice1 oz passion-fruit juice1/3 mashed bananaBlend briefly with half a glassful of crushed ice. Garnish with a spiral of orange peel and a slice of banana.
0% (0 proof)

Pussy Foot recipe
1 cl grenadine syrup4 cl pineapple juice4 cl orange juice4 cl grapefruit juiceShake or blend briefly, and strain into a highball glass. Garnish with fresh fruit and a cherry. Add a straw, and serve.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Highball Glass

Rosemary recipe
3 oz strawberry puree1 oz guava juice1 oz pineapple juice1/4 oz lime juice1 tsp strawberry syrup2 oz lemonadeShake all ingredients (except lemonade) and strain into a highball glass three-quarters filled with crushed ice. Add lemonade, garnish with a slice of lime and a strawberry, add straws and serve.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Highball Glass

Spiced Peach Punch recipe
46 oz peach nectar20 oz orange juice1/2 cup brown sugar3 3-inch cinnamon sticks1/2 tsp cloves2 tbsp lime juiceCombine peach nectar, orange juice and brown sugar in a large saucepan. Tie cinnamon and cloves in a small cheesecloth bag. Drop into saucepan. Heat slowly, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves. Simmer 10 minutes. Stir in lime juice. Serve in hot mugs.
0% (0 proof)

Spring Cooler Punch recipe
6 oz can frozen lemonade12 oz can frozen orange juice6 oz can water4 cups sugar6 cups water5 bananas42 oz can pineapple juice3 qt ginger ale1. Boil the sugar with the cups of water in a large saucepan for 3 minutes. Allow to cool. 2. Mash the bananas in a blender and combine with the can of water, orange juice, lemonade, pineapple juice, and bananas in a large bowl. Add sugar syrup; blend well. 3. Freeze the mixture for at least 24 hours. Remove from freezer 1 hour before serving. Using a fork, break frozen punch into smaller pieces. Add ginger ale. Continue blending until slushy. Serve in punch cup's. (50 servings.)

Spring Fever recipe
3/4 oz lemon juice3/4 oz mango syrup1 1/2 oz pineapple juice2 oz blood orange juiceShake well over ice cubes in a shaker, and strain into a collins glass half-filled with crushed ice.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Collins Glass

Summer Rain recipe
1 oz raspberry puree1 oz grapefruit juice1 oz pineapple juice2 oz orange sherbet1 oz lemonadeBlend all ingredients (except lemonade) briefly with half a glassful of crushed ice and pour into a highball glass. Add lemonade, garnish with fruit, add straws and serve.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Highball Glass

Ugly Virgin recipe
2 oz mandarin juice2 oz grapefruit juice2 oz lemonadeShake juices and strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Add lemonade, garnish with a slice of Ugli fruit, add straws and serve.
0% (0 proof)
Serve in: Highball Glass

ENJOY AND STAY COOL THIS SUMMER!

FLUTTERBY BUTTERFLY

2010-06-15T06:35:00.018-05:00

For today I wanted to give you all some beautiful little butterfly images to copy

Have you ever used Shrinky Dink? It is easy and fun.

First of all, left click on each one of these images to enlarge and then right click to save to your hard drive. Then print one of them out and cut around. They will shrink about 75% in size and you may want to experiment first with some black text without wasting your colored ink.

Next place the image behind a sheet of shrinky dink like a transparency and using your Copic markers or just any marker or colored pencil or even acrylics, paint or color the image. Then cut around the colored image on your shrinky dink plastic and following directions for your product, bake it and you will have a little charm, pendant or if you've made two of them a pair of earrings. Be sure to make your hole at the top before baking. I love to make them as charms and tie fibers, wire or ribbons and attach to journals and altered books or on tags. Again...Creativity. The possibilities are limited only to your imagination. Anyone of you doing VBS...this is a fun project for the kids and they can use biblical or color book images. Have fun.

एअर्थ गिया

2010-06-13T20:46:00.008-05:00

EARTH GAIA

Have you been shopping here at the newest online marketplaces? Earth Gaia is the place to shop for one of a kind artwork and other gotta haveit stuff.

I am in the process of listing some of my artwork and other things and thought "why not" I still have my Etsy shop but as you know Etsy has grown so that it is hard to sell from.

These are two of the Retro Aprons I made this weekend and I am listing them along with some of my handmade dolls and art prints.

love this paperdoll fabric

can you see the shiny blue stars on this fabric?

this is the back view showing the cut of the sides being rounded

I am offering my collage and digital prints in regular printed format to be mailed to the buyer, but I really need to figure out how to print in JPGS so I can send the print through EMail as a digital download. Then I can save of ink, postage, photo paper and I can cut my prices drastically and offer them so much cheaper. If anyone has ideas on how to get me started here, I sure would appreciate any tutorials:)

The name of my new shop is WRINKLES. Come on over and visit and if you're looking for a new place to show your art, crafts and other creations where the market is not completely saturated then you might want to give Earth Gaia a try!

THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR

2010-06-12T01:44:00.000-05:00

Is it for you too?

Do you hate the sweltering heat

the bugs

sweating

What do you do on a daily basis to enjoy it inspite of the moments which are very close to unbearable?

Like most things in life to truly enjoy and get the most benefits it is Balance. I have to pace myself.

I stay in awhile, go to the garden to work for awhile, take a swim out back, come back in and play in my art studio, read, do housework where it is cool. Take showers, make refreshing drinks...

and the main thing I do in the summer to enjoy it is to make myself think of WINTER and how cold I get and how miserable I am and how my body aches and the colds, sneezing, coughing, pale skin :), layers of clothing and yep I smile and say "Bring it on". Summer Forever!

INJUSTICES AGAINST WOMEN

2010-06-11T01:38:00.004-05:00

The Stoning of Soraya M.
This article was sourced from the internet and I thought it was so compelling. If you're not familiar with this story and are as moved as I am about the terrible things still happening to women in this day and time I think you will want to read this.

Please, take the time to watch this film, and tell an many people as you can about it as well. Again, a special thanks to those who have joined the community and all others who care about helping to help share these tragic stories with the world. If we don't tell these stories, and share them, then it is as if these crimes never happened. The site I listed gives more information and also allows you to send the trailer via email to others. Please help tell Soraya's story.

This was in fact one of Soraya's last concerns, that the world would never know what was done to her. That her unjust and terrible death would be in vain. Soraya's aunt promised her that her story would be told, and to the entire world. Against all odds, this aunt, a woman in a small Iranian village, magaged to keep this amazing promise.

Later, as Soraya's aunt tells a journalist about Soraya's death, she pleads with him to be her voice. We can help be her voice as well.

This movie relates exactly to this issue, the silence regarding injustices against women, stories of unspeakable violence that go untold and unheard by the world at large. In this case, ignorance of these crimes is not bliss, not for the women who live their lives under the threat of violence and death. The mainstream media seems to have little interest in what happens to women, especially those in third world nations. This must change, and we can change it.

For those who can't see the trailer or film.
"The Stoning Of Soraya M.," based on a true story about an innocent woman was convicted of adultery and stoned as punishment. This woman had no chance at all to defend herself from this lurid accusation. Under the law in Iran, if a woman accuses her husband of adultery, she has the burden of proof. If he accuses her of adultery, she again has the burden of proving that she is innocent.

In the case of Soraya M, her true crime was, after twentry years of marriage and giving birth to four children, she had aged. A "crime" many of us have shared. Her husband decided that he wanted to marry a pretty, much younger girl, but couldn't afford to support both households.

So, Soraya had to go, and this husband was willing to do anything to get rid of her. He beat and demeaned her constantly, demanding a divorce. Soraya wanted the divorce, but had two daughters to support ( the husband was taking her two sons to live in blissful matrimony with his teenybopper wife to be ) so Soraya stood her gorund, taking a job housekeeping for a local widower and his handicapped son in order to make enough money to care for her daughters.

The widower liked her and gave her a sewing machine which she spent her "free time" sewing clothes for local women on, to get the money she needed for the divorce sooner. But this was not enough for husband. He wanted his child bride now.

So, he accused Soraya of adultery, his proof, she smiled at the widower. Then he and some "authorities" in their village threatened the widowed man she worked for with also being charged with adultery, ( as if ) and making his mentally hadicapped son an orphan with no one to care for him. The widower is afraid and caved under this threat. Then things moved very quickly.

Soraya's husband made the accusation "official" by beating her in the streets while screaming that she was an adulteress, only using uglier terms. Court was quickly held, a court in which Soraya was "unable" to attend. In fact, I believe no women were able to attend. This was manly stuff. In any case, Soraya was not there.

Within a matter of a few hours, Soraya's fate was sealed. She was, shock!, found guilty, and the punishment followed as soon as a hole could be dug, in which she was buried up to her knees with her hands tied. This is how Soraya died, beaten, humiliated, wrongly convicted, on her knees, buried to her waist in dirt, being struck again and again by rocks as many people in her village cheered and carried on as if it were some sporting event.

This may not sound like a movie you want to see, or one that has any uplifting qualities about it. I urge you to put aside your qualms and watch it anyway, because it proves that the voice of one brave woman can make a difference. Although the practice of stoning women "convicted" of crimes of a sexual nature, including rape, the best selling book, also entitled "The Stoning Of Soraya M., made a huge difference in how often these cruel and primitive sentences are handed out, but also made the laws regarding convictions of crimes committed by girls and women far stricter.

This movie can only do more to stop this barbaric brand of "justice."

Yet another huge reason for loving our country and knowing we are blessed to live in such a place of freedom. But I think we are not entitled to feel smug about it do you?