Someday

Look what arrived in my mail yesterday! Thanks, Jori!! You are a sweetheart.

And having read right through this little gem of a book, I can tell you that it's one you need to get for your collection. Right now. What a sweet message. Tears? Of course! (well, duh!)

Thanks again, Jori!! Love it, love it, love it.

Yippee!!

Finally! Natalie has spilled the baby beans and I am free at last to express my joy at the exciting news of another baby coming to join our family.

I love, love, love babies and I love grandma-hood and I am so thrilled at the prospect of meeting another precious grandchild. I can't wait! Once again, I am filled with gratitude and anticipation of the arrival of a new little person in our family. How blessed I am!

**picture = Mason as a newborn

Thanks, Emily!

What a wonderful surprise to find a package in my mail yesterday from Emily. Even better than the cute heart-patterned bubble packaging were the contents -- oatmeal cookies! These are the very cookies that my mouth has been watering for ever since I saw them on her blog.

Delicious, of course! Thanks, Emily. Not only do I love the cookies, I love the thought and kindness behind the gift. You're the best. In lots of ways.

Happy Easter

“These simple words—“He is not here, but is risen”—have become the most profound in all literature. They are the declaration of the empty tomb. They are the fulfillment of all He had spoken concerning rising again. They are the triumphant response to the query facing every man, woman, and child who was ever born to earth.” ~Gordon B. Hinckley, “He Is Not Here, but Is Risen“, Ensign, May 1999, 70

There's nothing more meaningful that could be said than this -- that He is risen. I know He is and I am grateful for it every day of my life.

I will be spending some time this weekend with my feelings, thinking about the gift that He is: His life, His example, His atonement, His death and His resurrection. We are all so blessed and I am so thankful.

Happy Easter to all!

For that Special Mama

Take a look at this newest necklace from Lisa Leonard. It's beautiful, isn't it? Such a sweet message. This one I love, but not for me, I don't think, [I still have my eye on the one with the teeny little initials for my grandbabies -- her March special] but I can think of several lovely mamas who deserve this one. Maybe I should alert some hubbies.

Happy Easter!

This one really tickled my funny bone -- because I am a reformed hollow chocolate Easter bunny popper. [ask Natalie for details on that one!]

Friendship

"When we honestly ask which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not-knowing, not-curing, not-healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness . . . makes it clear that whatever happens in the external world, being present to each other is really what matters." ~Henry J.M. Nouwen

I so love this quote. So often when there is a large problem, there really isn't anything a friend can do. But deep down, all we really need or want is just for someone to be there. They don't have to try to solve the problem, cure the illness or fix anything. They just have to be there and to make their love known.

And that is what really matters. That's the kind of friend I want to be.
[photo via flickr]

Breakfast for Dinner

Big thank-you to Natalie's friend Amy, whose Baked French Toast recipe is a family favorite. As I was trying to figure out what to have for Sunday dinner [again!], I decided we'd do breakfast, just for fun. So we had hash browns, sausages, fried ham, OJ, and the baked french toast that we love. We would have had scrambled eggs if I hadn't used them all up for the french toast -- but we certainly had plenty of food. It was so good -- love that recipe. It's more like dessert than anything, for sure.

Give it a try!

Baked French Toast [Amy Elmore]

1 cup brown sugar
½ cup butter
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup

1 loaf French bread cut into 1 inch thick slices

5 eggs
1 ½ cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Place first 3 ingredients in medium size saucepan and heat over medium heat. Spray 9x13 inch baking dish with nonstick vegetable oil. Pour hot mixture into baking dish. Place sliced bread over mixture, pushing bread together closely to get more slices into dish.

Mix eggs, milk and vanilla and beat slightly. Pour over bread. Make sure each piece is covered.
Cover baking dish with saran wrap and refrigerate overnight.

In morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees and place uncovered dish in oven for 30 minutes. May be served directly from dish or turned over and served onto plates. Serves 8 - 10.

What Matters Most

This past week, family has been on my mind and in my heart. We had the chance to spend a little time with everyone a few days ago, and it was wonderful. It always seems like the time is too short -- but the reality is that we all have our own lives, our own families, jobs, responsibilities and things that keep us busy. It would be so nice to have more time together.

Since that just isn't possible in this life, I think about how much I love each one of them and how grateful I am for them.

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."
~Desmond Tutu

I like the idea that God chose my family just for me -- as a very special, personal gift. I also love the reminder that not only is my family a gift, but I am supposed to be one too.

Sweet thoughts for sure. ! Now I need to figure out how to be that wonderful gift - because my family is such a gift to me.

Success and Happiness

"The thing I remember best about successful people I've met all through the years is their obvious delight in what they're doing . . . and it seems to have very little to do with worldly success. They just love what they're doing, and they love it in front of others." [Fred Rogers]

Isn't that the truth? In every area of my life, when I do it well, when I flourish and have a lot of growth, and when I am happiest -- it's because I'm doing something I love.

Very simple concept and something to remember. Find what it is you love doing -- and do it.