Happy Mother’s Day Smiles

My Mother’s day began yesterday when I started getting gifts in the mail from my sweet kids.

Each time the doorbell rang  with a new delivery …..

my heart smiled at the thoughtfulness of our children.

Lynell’s chocolate covered strawberries even came with instructions.

Erin’s flowers and David’s necklace didn’t need instructions to be used.

This morning John got up early and made me a delicious breakfast which he served me in bed. He brought it in along with this beautiful card and a thoughtful gift. What a sweet guy!

We spent most of the day at Mindy’s house. On the way we stopped by the cemetery to put flowers on my mother’s grave.

Today is her birthday.

Happy Birthday Mom

There never was a sweeter mother than mine. She adopted me at birth. She always said that I was God’s gift to her. She said that I was special because out of all the babies in the world she picked me.

I think of her often but especially on her Mother’s Day Birthday. She died when I was 41. In one week it will have been 27 years. I still think of her every day.  She is greatly missed but I feel her close to me often and I know that she is not far away.

After church Mindy’s family went into high gear fixing our brunch/lunch.

I always tell Mindy that she should not work to make me a special dinner since it is her Mother’s day too….. But….. she always does even though Ernie and the kids are helping too.

We had a lovely meal and then…

Mindy and I were showered with more gifts…. most of them homemade gifts of love…. those are always special.

I am so very blessed to have a husband, children and grandchildren who love and honor me. The love of family is the world’s greatest treasure. I am in deed a rich woman. What could be more valuable than this????

I know that Mother’s day is not a happy time for everyone. My heart always goes out to women who are sad on this day.  Women who want children and have not been blessed with any… Women who had abusive mothers instead of nurturing ones... Women who do not have loving, respectful children…. 

I wish that I could share my joy with you today.

I am sending each of you a hug coupon. Consider yourself hugged.

I wish that I could ease your pain. I can’t make you feel better but our loving Heavenly Father can. Turn to Him… Trust in Him. Know that one day all tears will be wiped away and all the injustices of this world will be made right.

I hope your day was special.

p.s. There is a free giveaway in Buttercup land. Hop over and take a look.

Hugs, Grammy

Mother’s Day Smiles

 

This has been a much better week for me than the previous one was. I felt good all week and didn’t even have to spend even 1 day down in bed like I usually do. That made me smile.

I know I told you I would post more pictures from Hawaii but I have to take a break for one more week to document my Mother’s Day Smiles.

My families mother’s day phone calls and gifts made me smile. My hubby and children would make any mom smile. I am blessed to have them and thankful for their thoughtfulness.

My 32 year old rose bush makes me smile. I think she is so sweet to keep providing me with roses after all these years. I Think my mom looked down and smiled too when I took some of the pretty blooms to her grave for Mother’s Day.

Ernie planning and cooking our Mother’s Day meat  made me smile. The tri-tip and shrimp were delicious. I have such great sons-in-law!

Of course Mindy works to make the meal too. Since we don’t go out to eat on the Sabbath  we always have Mother’s Day Dinner at Mindy’s. I feel badly that she always has me to cook for rather than sit and be pampered all day. At least she gets good help from Claire. That makes me smile.

They always set a beautiful table as well as have delicious food. Living close to this dear daughter and her family makes me smile. (They will be here for dinner soon so I’d better stop blogging and get to cooking!)

The thing about my children that makes my heart smile the most is that they Love the Lord and are teaching their children to love the Lord too.  They try to live good, Christian lives, loving and serving their fellow man. That makes my whole soul smile.

I hope that you had a Happy Mother’s Day too. If you didn’t, I am sorry. My heart goes out to you. I hope that God blesses you with comfort and peace.

Have a great week.  Hugs, Grammy L

 

Happy Mother’s Day

I am wishing all of my dear blog friends

a Happy Mother’s Day

I Know that this can be a hard day for some. 

It was hard for my mom as a girl because she was an orphan and never felt a mother’s love as her friends did.

It was hard for 2 of my daughters during the years they were not blessed with children and wanted them badly.

It was hard for me the first year after my mother died… especially since her birthday is May 12th and always fell  on or near Mother’s Day.

It was hard for my sister-in-law who never married.

It can be hard on women who did not/ d0 not have loving mothers.

It can be hard for mothers who are estranged from their children or have children who are wayward or not kind to them.

It can be hard on a birth mom who’s arms are empty because she loved her child so much she placed her up for adoption.

I am sorry if you have any of these sorrows today.

God knows your heart and He is there to comfort you. 

I feel so blessed that Mother’s day is a special time for me.

I had a wonderful mother who loved me dearly. Memories of her makes my heart smile.

I have dear children  & grandchildren who respect, love and spoil me.

I will go to a nice dinner at Mindy’s later today.

I will eat my yummy chocolate covered strawberries.

My eyes will feast on my pretty flowers.

I am blessed.

My heart is full of gratitude and thankfulness.

I will have a lovely day.  I hope that you will too.

Hugs, Grammy L

 

Sunday Smiles from Mother’s Day

Yes, I know that Mother’s Day was 3 weeks ago.

I know that I should have posted this long ago..but…

Better Late Than Never…

That is my motto these days…. so bear with me. These memories are too precious for me not to document them. There are more than 6 but I couldn’t leave any of them out.

However, before I get started l want to tell you that Holly is having a give-away for her 1000 blog post. Click HERE if you want to enter.

Now... on with my belated Mother's Day smiles....

In spite of me spending much of the day in bed, I was happy to be out of the hospital and back in my own home for Mother’s Day …. surrounded by …. loved ones…. flowers…. gifts…. and good food.

It really is a miracle that John and I both survived that awful accident. At first I thought I had lost him. It was the worst experience of my life… and then, here I was 6 weeks later getting Mother’s day flowers from him. What a blessing… my heart overflows with thankfulness and smiles.

The previous day, ProFlowers had delivered beautiful roses from Erin and Patrick and Lynell and Dathan. (I may be a tiny bit biased… but I think my precious girls and grand-girls are the most beautiful flowers in my life’s garden.)

The Young Women from our ward, Marie and Sil also sent me flowers. My family room looked like a flower shop. Smile… Smile….

I think my Son and grandsons are beautiful too… but since they are men I guess I’m suppose to say handsome even though they are gorgeous. David gave me his gift 3 days earlier when I flew home from Utah. John carried it on the plane without even 1 complaint. Smile… Smile.

Ernie loaded up his smoker and all the supplies for dinner and brought them to our house since I could not travel to their home. All of his efforts made me smile.

Lynell and Johnny drove out from Long Beach where Johnny had been competing in the National Gymnastic Meet the past few days. I was thrilled to get to spend a few hours with them before they had to drive to LA to catch their flight home.

Johnny was pooped exhausted after his week of competing…. but we were all thrilled that all of his years of hard work had paid off and out of the 1000s of boys who competed this year, he was one of the 14 who made the National USA team.

That made us all smile.

Here he is showing me the National Team rules book he got.

I was sorry that sweet Lynell had to hurry off to the airport before she got any Mother’s Day dinner but we all appreciated her making the effort to drive out so she and Johnny could spend some time with us… and we were glad that she could get home to her own family just in time to get a call from her Justin who is serving on an LDS mission in Guatemala for 2 years. Smile… Smile

(Notice the basket full of supplies and all the food they brought from home to make dinner for us. What a big job for them.)

While Mindy and Ernie worked making dinner…

…E.J. played piano and Claire sang for me. We had not been able to attend the talent show they were in the day before. It is the first time we’ve ever missed their talent show. That made me sad but having my own special concert made me smile.

Ernie’s smoker produced the best chicken ever made. We were all smiling when our delicious dinner was ready.

I got the invalid treatment royal treatment and was served dinner in bed. Just when I thought all the festivities were over I was presented with one last gift… more charms for my Brighton bracelet. Smile… smile

What a wonderful day!

However, even though the flowers, gifts, phone calls and dinner were very nice and very much appreciated….. they were not the best part of Mother’s Day.

The best part of Mother’s Day is having a precious family…. every one of them…. who love the Lord and love me, as I love them.

I have dear friends who do not have this blessing in their lives. My heart goes out to them. I am so sorry. I do not take my loving family for granted. I realize it is my life’s greatest blessing… and greatest joy. I thank God for them every day…. and I am thankful I am still here with them.

A few weeks ago, after the accident, I prayed that God would call me home to release me from pain I was experiencing. I felt it was more than I could bear for even one more minute….. then I would think of my family. I thought about how sad they would be without me. I thought about how sad I would be to leave them.

I am glad that God didn’t listen to my pleas to bring me back to my heavenly home. Instead, He gave me the strength to go on. He knew my family still needs me and even though I feel rather worthless just lying in bed waiting for these darn ribs to get better, I know that eventually they will heal. One day I will be able to be of service to my family and friends again. I am thankful for that.

I am thankful for you readers too. I know that this is a very long post. Thank you for letting me express these heartfelt feelings.

I hope that each of you have a great week that is full of smiles.