Pre Thanksgiving Smiles

My Thanksgiving has started early… My heart is full of smiles and this is why…

Six of my grands are already here with us.

They are Claire, Davey, Emma, Gracie, Austin and Evan. Aren’t they just darling. I could eat them up they are so sweet.  What a joy.

I’ve been helping Emma make a dress……

and making homemade ice cream…. Evan got to lick off the dasher. Of course I have to keep the chocolate chip cookies and banana nut bread coming for little hands to sneak out of the cookie jar.

My life is rosier when I’m with my sweet family …..

Even the skies reflex my feelings…. we have had beautiful pink sunsets since they arrived.

Erin and Family will arrive tomorrow….. and Lynell’s gang get here on Wednesday. We will be wall to wall kids and toys and giggling and fun. There will be singing, dancing , Wii playing, Lego building and lots of noise. There will be mountains of food to fix and clean up and tons of work to do….. but it is the high light of my year.

I am so thankful for our Thanksgiving Holiday when my kids travel so far so we can all be together to count our blessings, thank God and celebrate our joy in being a family.  Am I a lucky blessed Grammy or what!!!!

Have a wonderful week. As always I am sending you hugs and best wishes.

 

Tummy Ache greetings with a smile

Hello blog friends. I hope that you have had a good week. I did. It seems like they roll by so quickly that I can’t even get my breath.

Can you believe that it is almost Thanksgiving? It will be Christmas and New Years before we know it.

I had a good week last week. I was really busy and got a lot done but today I am worthless. I get bad stomach aches from time to time.

I’ve been to several doctors in the past and had lots of tests. Every thing checks out fine. No one seems to know why I get them or how to prevent them…. so I live with them.

A really bad one hit me last night but maybe it was for a good reason. I hurt too badly to stay in bed or even sit, so I got up to walk around. This same thing happened a few weeks ago and I found walking seemed to help. Last night, about 3:00 a.m,  I decided to go out to our garage to get a 7up out of the refrigerator we keep there. Sometimes drinking 7up helps me.

When I opened the front door I saw red lights flashing in the street.

I walked down our driveway and saw a fire truck and ambulance at our neighbor's house. I was concerned for our neighbors.  Another neighbor joined me. We texted our friend and asked if she was OK. She texted back and said no… it was her husband. There was no reason for my young neighbor who has 3 little children to stay up since I was hurting to badly to sleep anyway. She went back inside and I stayed. I let my friend know I was there if she needed me. I stayed there until their grown kids arrived and they took her husband to the hospital.

I didn’t do much  anything to help…. I just gave hugs and said prayers…. but I think it was good I was there and my friend knew I cared.  I  would not have known about what was happening if I hadn’t had a stomach ache and gone outside to get 7up.  So….. maybe this one time me getting sick was a good thing….. but I am ready to get back to normal any time now…. I hope soon.

I am wishing you a good, pain free week ahead.  I’m also sending you hugs,

Grammy Lura

Remembering Lyle with a smile

Lyle, our 3rd child and 1st son was born 42 years ago today.

Unfortunately he died during labor. His only cradle was a coffin.

His little room was empty. My arms and heart were empty.  His absence left a hole in my soul.

I almost died that night too. My labor was going well until the placenta tore away from the uterus cutting off Lyle’s oxygen supply and making me hemorrhage. I was bleeding so badly that they couldn’t take him by C-section for several hours.  After his birth they worked hard to piece me back together, stop the bleeding and save me. 

They took Lyle away while I was in surgery. They said it would be too upsetting for me to see him…. to hold him… to tell him goodbye. They were wrong but that is how they did it in 1971.  To this day I feel sad that I never got to hold my precious baby boy.

My heart was broken. Then one night I woke up with this poem in my heart. I got up and wrote it down. Afterwards I felt at peace.

Only Son (I’ve now renamed it First Son)

Your baby’s dead. How cruel the words! How shocking to my soul.

It can not be! It must not be! God would not take my son from me.

But it was true. My babe was gone….taken from my arms and breast.

I wept. I cried in agony. My torment knew no rest.

How could it be? How could it be that God took him in his infancy?

Before he walked or talked or cooed with joy, God took away my baby boy.

Then in His loving tenderness, God touched my heart that I might know,

I’ll have my son. I’ll hold his hand.

I’ll watch him grow into a man.

Though I wait to sing him songs of love,

I’ll sing them in our home above.

For now I’ll prove my faith and worth

and thank God he let me give him birth.

I miss my Lyle. I’ve missed him all these years. As I’ve watched my other children grow and develop into wonderful adults with fine families I realize more than ever how much I have missed by not having Lyle…. but I am smiling because I know he is still a part of our family. I know that life is eternal. As I stated in my poem, I know I will have my son again one day.

One of the main beliefs of the Mormon religion is that through the power of the priesthood families can be sealed together in our Holy Temples for time and all eternity. Families can be together forever.  To learn more about this doctrine please go to

Mormon.org

So today, on Lyle’s birthday I can think of him with love and smiles. I know that our son is in a wonderful place. He is with our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior. I bet his grandparents are taking good care of him.  I am happy that he did not have to suffer any of the pains or sorrows of this world. I am smiling because I know if I live a faithful, good life, I will have my son again.

Happy Birthday Son

Have a good week dear blog friends.

Hugs, Grammy Lura

 

Halloween and Birthday smiles

I hope that all of you had a Happy Halloween that left smiles on your faces like it did mine. Some people don’t like Halloween but I’ve always enjoyed it. As a little girl we were poor and never had much candy in the house. Getting a whole bag full of candy at Halloween made it a special holiday to me.

When I was a young mother my Mindy was born near Halloween so I always decorated the house up cute and had Halloween themed birthday parties.  When Mindy grew up she added to the fun by having both EJ  and Claire born the end of October.

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We worked on our regular temple shift Thursday night but we still got to enjoy Halloween fun at our Church’s annual “Trunk-n- Treat” party last Sat.

The whole recreation hall was decorated so cute. They must have spent hours decorating.

There was all sorts of good “Halloween” food at the potluck dinner that

that was enjoyed by all of us.

Fun cupcakes and desserts were a big hit too.

There were ugly and pretty pirates…..

There were BYU cheerleaders and the game ball…

There were all sorts of darling princesses… and…

Despicable and Incredible people… all having a good time together.

Of course I was partial to our pirate Claire, ball player EJ, farmer John and young Austin Anakin.

After dinner we made our way outside to “Trunk-n-Treat”in the church parking lot. The kids went from car to car collecting their candy.

My heart was touched by the efforts people went to for the children to have a good time.

I’d say that the whole bunch had a bewitchingly good time.

Some were even jumping up and down.

John and I had so much fun watching all of the kids, young and old, enjoying the evening together.

Of course celebrating EJ’s and

and Claire’s birthdays made our week really special.

I hope that you’ve had a fun week that was full of smiles too.

I am sending you lots of hugs, Grammy Lura