thirty days of thanksgiving 9

This morning my phone rang, it was my sister's number, I knew what she would say, and still I the words were difficult to process. 

My mother's sister, Evelyn, had passed away, no longer able to fight the cancer that has attacked her body for so many years. I sat at my desk and cried for the  wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt. She will be terribly missed by her family, and that's a lot of people.

Sister and I left work to go to momma's. She hasn't been dealing with this well, and we knew she would be very upset today. We were right.

And this afternoon another sister got unwanted news from her doctor today.

Not a good day at all for the Norton siblings.

But GOD is good all the time.

Ten children born. Ten children grow up together. Ten children mourn the death of a father. Ten children raise their children together. Ten children for Thanksgivings, and Easters, and Christmases and deer seasons and Memorial Days and Fourth of Julys. Ten children become grandparents. Ten children visit the nursing home. Ten children cry and mourn for a mother.Ten children still visit and laugh and share birthdays each month.

A blessing from God - to share some much with so many.

Heavenly father, thank you for providing strength when we can't go another step alone. Thank you for family that each day is a testimony to your love. Thank you for allowing me to witness first hand through the Norton siblings what it means to love unconditionally, to trust unconditionally, and to have faith that never falters. Thank you lord for hearing our prayers. Continue to bless this family.

thirty days of thanksgiving 5

If you have no desire to worship the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, whether it be the gods whom your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrats, or the gods of Amorits in whose land you are living. But I and my family will worship the Lord.
- Joshua 24:15

My birthday was yesterday.

My day started with sweet messages from my nieces and nephews.

Then my sister-in-law texted me. I talked to Brooke. And it didn't take long to plan a girls' shopping day for Saturday.

We did some serious shopping. And had a delicious lunch.

When we got back to Brooke's, Brother and Caleb came from the deer camp to watch a little football.

And tomorrow we will probably all be at Nannie's for lunch. And it will be another laughter-filled day.

Dear Lord, thank you for blessing me with a loving Christian family. Through your love for us, you have taught us to love one another. I am so grateful that we are able to live close to each other and spend so much time together. Thank you for the ability to laugh, to share, to support, and most importantly to forgive one another.

diy sock monkey costume

I have always loved Halloween. But I have to say that trick or treating in a rural area is not like trick or treating that they show on TV. When I was younger and would watch TV shows or movies that showed parents and kids walking around in neighborhoods to trick or treat, I would always think it was so strange. I couldn't imagine that people would actually do that - we had to load up in the car, drive to someone's house, unload, grab some candy, load up, and hit the road again. We could have walked to about two or three houses, but that's it.

We always went to a few neighbors, some aunts and uncles, and my grandma's. Even when Lovey and I got married and didn't have kids, we went to Grandma's every Halloween. She handed out popcorn balls. And they were yummy.

For a very short time I did live in a small town, and witnessed families out walking around to trick or treat. I was just amazed.

Now I live in the boondocks. We get very few visitors on Halloween. Most years, we don't have any trick or treaters. This year we had 4 - and it was a great turnout. We have two little girls on our road, and I just knew they would both show up. But one has been sick, and her daddy came by to let us know that she just wouldn't come. He said she only put on half of her costume tonight. She got sick over the weekend, and the most of the family has it now.

Lovey's little cousins were our first visitors tonight. Ella wanted suckers, and Eli really racked up - Jus has a tub of toys saved for him. Then Emma came by. She is allergic to nuts, so she got all of the Dots in the bowl (I don't like those, so I was glad to get rid of them.)

Finally, Baby Eli got here - remember what I said about driving? His momma was exhausted. They  had visited all grandparents which meant a lot of driving. I had supper waiting (actually, we had given up and eaten already).

The little sock monkey got his first sucker and loved it. He was just a smacking on it, and Lulu was laughing at him.

Until they both got a glimpse of the TV -

I lost 'em for just a few minutes.  Look at that - same expression.

He's the cutest sock monkey I've ever seen. I made his costume from a women's sweater. We acutally bought two sweaters - his momma is wearing the other one.  The socks are mittens with the thumb cut off and then sown to the bottoms of the sweater. I didn't stuff the tail so that it would be easy comfortable in his car seat.

going to bed happy

Just last night I started working on my nephew's first Halloween costume. Tonight, I finished it. When his momma was little, I spent days and days making costumes for her and her brother. Sewing costumes for my nieces and nephews is a tradition.

I'll post pictures after Halloween - he is going to be a sock monkey. I used a sweater that we found in the lady's department at Wal-Mart. It was the perfect color and the correct "sock" feel. We bought two because I wasn't sure about how much material I would need. We also got a cream colored beanie and mittens. I had to cut the beanie down to fit his little baby head and then add ears from the sweater material. And I cut the thumb off of the mittens and attached them as feet.We bought a red scarf and cut it down to baby size. I also added a red oval on his booty where the tail is attached.

I only used one of the sweaters. His momma is going to wear the extra sweater and a red scarf so that they will match for trick or treating.

Tonight I can go to bed knowing the costume is finished.

Tomorrow my niece is in homecoming. She will have an afternoon ceremony and an evening ceremony. Several weeks ago I went with her to shop for her dress and suit. I can't wait to see her in both.

I took a personal day and don't have to be at school tomorrow. Which means I won't be in a hurry to get dressed in the morning. Which means I won't be needing in the bathroom just as Lovey gets up.

Tonight I'm a happy camper.