Drew's 26th Birthday

Yesterday was Drew and my "golden" birthday. He is exactly half my age. So hard to believe. Frances and Alex went to Springfield with him and they hung out at the mall and there is also a Toys r Us and Kmart really close and about once a week they go into Springfield with Drew and spend the day there while he is at work. Whenever he is in town he tries to meet them at the mall to have lunch together because his place of business is right across the street from the mall but he has been working in Branson every day for a couple of weeks now. I baked him a cake. We were going to put candles on it but he said that since candles come in a box of 24 and when you need more than one box, then you are too old for candles. Drew has started back at college, the same one as Clay and so there are constant talks between Drew and Clay for hours about so many things. Recently Clay has been working on "tasks" concerning "Global Warming" and "creation vs evolution." The guys go on and on for so long that Frances and I finally wander off into one of our rooms to get a change from them and their discussions. I love it, I love seeing father and son back together and respecting each other again and enjoying their time together. Right now they are putting together plans for a big car port. The front porch will be put off so that the cars and our truck will be out of the icy weather. Well here are some pictures of "Drew Past" enjoy.

The Christmas that Clay was in the Persian Gulf for a year, so "mommy santa" had to come visit on Christmas Eve.

San Antonio

Virginia and Kentucky

The last Christmas that Drew wasn't a daddy.

Drew's most recent picture and the one that I love. We are so proud of the young man that he has become. He is such a good, decent and giving man.

Not Measles

Well it seems that it wasn't measles that Alex had but actually a really light case of Chicken Pox. It was such a light case that it didn't seem possible to be Chicken Pox but it was confirmed by a nurse and it makes much more sense. Let's just hope he isn't like his daddy and his Aunt Angela and get the Chicken Pox repeatedly. If it had not happened to my own children I would never believe that someone could get it over and over but they sure did. Some times a really light case and other times they broke out horribly. It is all frosted over outside and we have had lots of freezing rain but no snow to speak of. I am hoping that as a Christmas gift to us this year that we get a good snow fall by Christmas Day. I guess it doesn't really matter, the day will come and there will be enough snow to go out and build a snowman and build a snow fort and pull Alex around on his sled. Drew and Frances bought him a really nice one a month or so ago. They wanted to be ready when it did finally snow. Not much going on here, same old same old. We have so many, many requests for eggs. One of the Sheriff's from Clay work came by the other day and bought 3 dozen. It is the first time that we sold any. We were just giving them away, to friends and neighbors. This spring we will get another 25 chicks and once they start laying then we will have a regular income from the eggs. We already have people who want to commit to a certain number of dozens a week. We get from 10-12 eggs a day. We finally got a HUGE egg the other day and it had a double yolk. I think the egg selling will be Frances' job and it will give her some extra spending money. She really babies and looks after the chickens so much. We are all excited and getting the plans ready for a HUGE garden and getting our goats and 2 feeder pigs this coming spring. Hopefully we will be eating pretty much what we grow. All looking forward to this coming year.

New Toy

Clay and Drew found this down the road from us and went and bought it. It is Nana's, Frances and Alex's new toy. Now we can go shopping or to the park any time we want. There is a really nice new park about 3 miles from here where we can let Alex play on the playground equipment and have picnics as soon as spring gets here. Lot's of fun ahead.

Mr. Alex Boy

I have never had trouble with my children messing with the Christmas tree and this year I was so worried about Erin's cats tearing up the tree. WELL

Guess what, it is Mr. Alex Boy that is the problem. Of course it is a problem that I love. But he has broken at least 2 ornaments and has taken at least 6 ornaments off the tree and tore up part of a strand of popcorn, he loves popcorn and I'm sure that he considers the strands to just be a snack waiting to happen. I can't even put presents under the tree. He would have them torn open and playing with whatever within a bat of an eye.

I love him so much and I love his curious mind, how he has to look at and figure out EVERYTHING, it isn't enough for him to just "see" something he has to know how it works and what all the uses for something are. He is not an out of control child he is just VERY, VERY inquisitive.

Clay and I are so blessed to have him close and being able to watch him grow.

Frances signed him up for WIC here and they are so informative and knowledgeable compared to the stupid people who worked for WIC in Hawaii. Here they also talk to you like you aren't an idiot and keep you informed and want you to know and understand what they do. He also came home with a coloring book, stickers and a frisbee. When they poked his finger for his blood test to check his iron levels he didn't even flinch.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow

As I write this the first snowflakes of the season are falling. We had about 30 minutes of freezing rain and it has turned into snow. Don't know if it will turn into anything but it is snowing and it is Christmas time, I am so pleased it really feels like the holidays. I LOVE CHRISTMAS. I am so happy to be here in Missouri.

Ho Ho Ho

First, you have to go and see what you want Santa to bring, then....

you go straight to Santa and give him a big hug, then....
you get down to business and let him know about that great John Deere that you saw earlier.

A great Santa at Battlefield Mall, it's his real beard and hair and he obviously loves his job at this time of year.

True Meaning of Christmas

It is really Christmas this year. I don't feel the need for lots of presents given or a lot of anything really. I just feel thankful. I have so many blessings and the most I believe are the family that love me and just the love I feel in my heart. The cold weather, the privacy and beauty that is our farm and home here, the slow progress of building our dream here is such a joyful thing to me right now. A little over a month ago I found myself not wanting to live anymore and wound up in ICU and then an acute care unit for a few days and I have no memory of how I got there or any of the ICU stay, just gone, no memory. I felt at first scared that there was no memory of it but something happened that was an incredible enlightening moment for me. I WANT TO LIVE. I am strong, I am a good person and I am thankful that I have the opportunity to live. I have had so very many horrible things happen to me this past year and as this year ends so does all the bad stuff that happened. I am closing the book on 2007 with pleasure and assurance that 2008 will be an incredible year with many things to look forward to. I want to continue losing weight and get that last 44 pounds off and to get physically stronger, more so than I am now. My arthritis makes for some really painful days but I have many more good days than painful days than I have had for years.

I seem to have lost a daughter, son-in-law and 2 grandchildren but I cannot dwell on that, I have an incredible last half of my life to live and I am going to do that and just remember all the love that I do have in my life. Maybe some Christmas all of my children and grandchildren and Clay and I will be together to celebrate and cook and wrap and unwrap presents all together in the same place but for now I am a very blessed lady who is thankful for what she has.

I had to stop and wipe away the tears that flow from my eyes but I am glad I have this blog and I hope that everyone that reads it that knows me realizes how much I appreciate them and how much they mean to me.