Our Weekend

I was so happy to have my husband home this weekend. He was gone with his job all week and I have missed him so much!
He worked around the house and hung many pictures for me. He also painted the front door:

I love a black front door! I hung the wreath that I made a long time ago onto it. So Spring/Summery looking :)
Next up my husband hung hanging planters from the front porch, along with flower boxes..I picked out fern type plants at the store and impatients. I am not very good with plants..but I am hoping these are hardy enough to live for me:

He put up a bracket for a beautiful new American Flag, and I also put out two garden flags..one with a little bluebird on it, and the other a United States Naval emblem flag in honor of our Son while he is in bootcamp. I love the look of the front of our house! Here is how it looks now!! :

 We have an awesome screened porch out back. I just love the view! I haven't seen any deer roaming back there yet..but hopefully one day I will. I have to stop sleeping in so much, then maybe I will see one :)

I am glad the back porch is screened in...because this is the type of bugs we have here in North Carolina, I do not, I repeat, I DO NOT want to be the recipient of an attack from one of these beetles, and I don't want to find one crawling up my leg, thank you very much!! hee hee

The Royal family Rabbit, Peter has been quite happily romping around the screen room since we have moved in. I must say, he is quite spoiled! He is litter trained and a very smart fella. We leave him loose in the screen room all day long now and I visit him with his favorite treats of almonds, spinach leaves and celery:

I put a hummingbird feeder out front and thought I would never get any hummingbirds. I bought a more expensive feeder and it wound up leaking..and never saw one hummingbird as of last week. Then, I went to Walmart and bought my favorite 5 dollar hummingbird feeder and made up my own solution of food, and within two days a hummer arrived!!! I was so excited! The same little birdie visits me every day all day long now. I have been trying to snap a picture of it while sitting on the front porch..it is a little bit afraid of me however..but I managed to get this picture today...if you look to the left of the picture you can see the hummingbird peeking around the feeder, so sweet! :)

I noticed the hummingbird up in the tree on a branch..I don't have the best camera, but tried to take a picture of it sitting up there..when I snapped the picture, this is what I got..it was on it's way back to the feeder!

Do you see that tiny little spec near the little branch? lol
That's our little hummer!
I have been working on teaching myself to crochet Japanese flowers. Still having a bit of trouble, but getting better at it! Here is what I have come up with so far. I really like making these, they are fun!

I haven't done too much in the way of cross stitching in a while...I need to get back to that soon. I want to work on my chart "Roots and Wings" again. I need to pull that one out :)
I hope to be getting together with a friend this week to deliver meals to elderly people with the Christian Mission. I so enjoy helping others. :)

I wish you all a beautiful Blessed week ahead.
Louise

Giveaway!!

Hop on over to Miss Linda Lee's beautiful blog for a chance on her wonderful giveaway!
While there take a peek around..she has such beautiful posts and always something to bring a big smile to your face!
Good luck friends ! :)

Cross'N My Stitches

Letter and a Phone Call!!

Last Thursday, Jun 14th, we received a letter from our son Patrick who is presently in Naval boot camp!!
I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened up the mailbox. A LETTER FROM OUR SON!!!!!!!!!!
I started to cry, my hands began to shake..it has been weeks since we have been in contact with him. It has been so difficult for me especially. When you have raised your son since birth and have been so very close to him and you share a bond like a Mother and Son should in this life, it truly is hard to let go. You want to know they are safe, happy, and that they are well fed!! :)

I sat on the front step..it took me a moment before I could even open up the envelope..I was so afraid that he might be having a hard time...
I slowly opened it up..he wrote quite a bit...which I am glad for that. He said he was doing well. He sounded really good! I didn't sense any worry. I am so PROUD of our Son!! He spoke of many things...he did mention how well his division was doing in training. :)

Then....a couple of hours later..my cell phone rang...it was on the kitchen counter, I looked at the number..not recognizing it..but suddenly my heart jumped!! I thought "could it be?"...
IT WAS OUR SON!!!!!!!

I RAN to the front porch (we have Sprint..and the service is TERRIBLE!)...I prayed while we spoke that it wouldn't drop the call)..
He was quiet on the phone, and that is when I started to worry a little bit..but then he went on to say he has been sick for 5 days..and he had just had all FOUR wisdom teeth taken out just a couple of days before calling us...he had written the letter to us prior to all this happening.

Now, I must tell you that I used to take him to the dentist, like a Mom should..his whole childhood...when they told me he needed to have his wisdom teeth out, he was at an age where he refused to let me take him..I believe he was 18 at that point.. I gave in and now when the military took him in, they automatically take your wisdom teeth out in boot camp!
So, now he is suffering even more than he would if he had them out years ago when he should have done it. I feel terrible. :( I wish he had listened to me all those years ago. (he is 22 years old now).

So, he is not feeling well, and I worry about him so much. I tried not to cry when on the phone with him..and did well..until the very end. I had passed the phone to his Father to say hello, then to his sister..they spoke with him for a little bit and then the phone was passed back to me. I told him I loved him and that I missed him. We told him how proud we were of him. Then, I started to cry, just a little bit. I didn't want that conversation to end. Oh, it is truly so hard.

Yes, I am crying as I type this!

I told my husband I wish that God had blessed us with even more children than two...he said would that have made a difference when each one would have left the house? I laughed and said you are right, probably not.
:)

I put my earphones on this morning with my music and did a 2 mile walk..so nice to pass all the beautiful fields filled with hay bales.
I started a Navy scrapbook for my son..it is coming along nicely!

The card reader won't work in our computer anymore for our camera card..so I either have to get an adapter or a cord to upload pictures now.. hope to figure that out soon.

I wish you all a blessed day,
Louise

HOME!

We are finally HOME! :)
I cannot believe it, but our move to North Carolina is finally over. The past couple of months have been so hectic and so full of emotions. We sold our house, saw our son off to the military, bought a new house, packed up and moved to another state, all within a couple of months!
I know that this was all in God's plan, for it seems that it all worked out in perfect timing.."HIS" timing.

I must say, it was very hard to pack up the truck without our son. My  husband and I are getting older now and we can't do as much as we used to do.
It was very difficult! We did it though...a friend helped us in Florida move the furniture onto the truck..here is the back of the truck in front of our Florida home jam packed!!!

We used a 26 foot truck for this final load for our move (we had previously taken a 26 foot truck up to storage in the Carolina's before selling the house)...can you say too much "stuff"!!!

When we arrived in North Carolina, I contacted one of my son's friends who was more than happy to help us unload the big heavy furniture, I prayed so hard that somehow we would have help, God answers prayers! We were two days shy of closing on our new home...we stayed with wonderful friends who have a house on the Lake..it was WONDERFUL!!
We spent time on the lake in their boat...

Their lake house is gorgeous!

After our boat trip, we came back and had a lovely dinner made by my sweet friend...she eats all the healthy things I do. For the guys there was burgers, for us nice healthy salads with turkey burgers and avocados!

It's amazing through all of this I have even lost a couple of more pounds. I continue to eat healthy and like wearing a smaller size too! :) I hope I can continue to live my life this way for my health and long term benefits.
It was fun to eat dinner on the deck and watch the baby geese with their Mama's :)

Since my son has left for the military, I have been seeing bluebirds here and there..makes me think of him so much...

We finally closed on our new home and transferred our pet birds and Peter Rabbit to the new house. I am sure they were probably wondering what was going on! Our daughter was so happy to start setting up her new bedroom...we have a very long way to go though. There are boxes everywhere!!
We are fortunate that there are plenty of bedrooms in this house, so when our son comes to stay, he will always have his own room...
I am very excited...there is a bonus room that will be my very own sewing room!!!
Can you hear me scream with excitement?!!
YES!! A sewing room and a place just for ME!!
It will need cabinets of some sort, but for now, I am happy setting up on the floor! lol
Look at the wonderful window too..lots of light comes in during the daytime.
This will be my creative space! YIPPEE!!
A place to call my OWN!

It is difficult to hide all my craft and cross stitching stash from the hubby when we move....it all comes out from hiding then...he even had to carry it up the steps!!
Yes, that is all my "stuff". lol
He just shakes his head.....
Our backyard is quite large and beautiful..it reminds me of a park:

I ventured around and look what I found!
Honeysuckle...it smells wonderful!!

And then...I found this!.....
Wild berries too!

We have a "block" window above our garden bathtub in the master bathroom...it does not exactly give you full privacy..so for now I purchased a spring rod to put inside the window frame and I also purchased pretty "sheer" curtains with flowers on them....I am hoping this helps....

I probably need to hem the curtains ..but for now I just "scrunched" them up on the bottom (being lazy)! lol
I love the nook for the table in the kitchen! I used my Waverly curtains I purchased many years ago at Target for the windows...

We put new hardware and locks on our front door...I really like the front door, it's so pretty!

Our neighbors dog comes to visit me..he is the cutest thing ever!!

I finally have the front porch I have always dreamed of having..can you imagine all the crocheting and cross stitching that will be happening on this porch?! Endless hours...yes, endless my friends. :)

I am so happy, but yet, my heart still hurts. I wish I could hear from my son. I know he is safe in boot camp, but I miss him so much. I wish I could hear his voice and tell me that he is doing fine. A Mother will always worry about her children. We are so proud of him. I wish he could be here to share in the joy of our new family home, but I know that will come in time. He does have his own room here too, his own place in this house, as he will always have. I miss him terribly.

 Thank you for letting me share a bit of my life with you,

My Wish

For my Son Patrick.....

The Invisible Mother

The Invisible Mother

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this??

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

Some days I'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock?, Where's my phone?, What's for dinner?'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history, music and literature -but now, they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: 1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. 2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. 3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. 4) The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, No one will ever see it And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was Almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does.

No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for 3 hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, he'd say, 'You're gonna love it there...'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers.

Share this with all the Invisible Moms you know... I just did.

The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.

To all the wonderful mothers out there!!  God bless and keep you.