Category Archives: 3 Celebrations & Festive Events

A record of our gala celebrations and convivial festivities!

Paper Chains, Paper Roses, and a Sunny Day for a Baby Shower

2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, Stuff I Actually Think, , , , , , , , , , ,

Stef and Wrex are having a baby!

If they didn’t already both have great parents, we’d just legally adopt them.  Meanwhile, since their bio-fams are far away, we have scooped them up and just love the stuffing out of them.  It’s a match made in heaven.  So, sweet bebe Sawyer is due to arrive on 8.9.10, which is a very cool date and works for me, but if if she should decide to arrive earlier, say July 31 when Heaven Fest is happening?  I will have to miss HF for I am serving Stef and Wrex as their labor and delivery doula/keep-Wrex-in-line coach!  Oh yeah, baby!  I was pretty good at having babies myself and though there are three previous births I was supposed to coach people through, each time something would happen and I didn’t get to (medical or the out-of-town husband would make it back in time or whatever).  So this will be FUN! I hope I don’t end up needing Wrex to hold smelling salts under my nose and Stef to fan me while she is laboring.  I am pretty empathetic.  Haha.


  

We had a little waiting-with-great-anticipation-for-you-baby-girl-Phipps Shindig.

 

Tredessa (Stef and Dessa are tight!), Tara, Stephanie, Jovan, Stormie and me threw a little shower in Casree’s backyard not long ago.  The day was brilliantly sunny.  Which is what we ordered.  But exTREMEly windy, which we did not.  For you see, we had decided on PAPER decor.   We got together and gathered our zany-patterned scrapbook paper and big wads of brightly-colored tissue paper from another baby shower (recycle, people!!) and piles of paper the school was getting rid of and jars of old buttons and old pickle jars and some goldfish and glue sticks and bits and pieces of ribbons from previous projects. 

It was all about creating a colorful, vibrant, bright, engaging, fun, delightful afternoon for Stef and her beautiful friends and family, all of whom adore her wholly.  And the key words were: Lavish. Recycled. Reuse. Re-purpose.  And utilize dishes and serving utensils we already have! 

Pictures of the preparation~

     

  

   

Click on thumbnails for a closer look.

We cut circles and made pinwheels, by hand!

 

 

 

We created miles and miles of paper chains.  We made accordion-fan circles.  We created old-fashioned paper fans with pinwheels on them and fancy tags for all the treats and foods.  We used every bright color from the spring pallette, but zeroed in on orange and hot pink.  Goldfish swam in a bowl on the treats table, around the orange daisy stems, for they matched the decor.  Huge, fluffy tissue-paper flowers hung as garlands from posts.  Hot pink coffee-filter roses were woven vines ’round about.  No one knew, it is safe to say, they had once been white coffee filters.  We also grew some triticale (a wheat/rye-blend seed) for display purposes on the serving and buffet tables.

We ate, drank and made merry.

 

 

 

There was a triple-layer coconut cake made with love especially for mommy-to-be.  There were candies and sweets galore, lemon-poppyseed cupcakes filled with fresh lemon curd and topped with mounds of delicious cream cheese icing.  There were swedish meatballs and spinach-artichoke dip along with deli meats and cheeses.  Fruits artfully arranged on skewers and chocolate, of course, were there, too. All the girlies and me made the food. Bright-colored cookies on sticks were even more incredibly delicious that they looked!

We withstood tornado-force winds. A slight exaggeration, perhaps.

 

 

Seriously?  It was windy.  That was the one tiny, little thing that did not go our way.  Kinda messed up some backdrops and wreaked some havoc on having all-paper decor.  Had to go to Plan B (devised there on the spot), but it was still lovely because Stef is lovely and it was our chance to tell her so.  But the one thing that was nice about wind?  No sweat.  The wind kept us cool in spite of the heat and brilliant sun.

 

   

Thing that made me most happy at the end?

 

Mandy asked if she could have the decorations for her daughter’s upcoming birthday party.  Yes. Yes!  YES!  Recycled yet again, which I LOVE!  Because I am sort of becoming a greeniac.  {I may just have invented a new word again}  I kinda like that whole waste-not-want-not idea.  I am so happy Sawyer will see these pictures someday and know that the real value of the day, the place most of our energy was spent?  Was on the love for her parents, on our delight in the creating, all because she was going to soon arrive!

 

 

Etc.

   

   

The people.  Are the real decorations.  And everyone of us?  Love Stef and co.  Something to celebrate!

PICTURES:  Mostly by Stormie, but 5 or so by Mary!

Family Frolic, Merriment and Conviviality~

1 Christ is All, 2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, 5 Songs I am Singing, 6 Looking Back // Memories!, Stuff I Actually Think

We have just emerged intact from our very own, 

annual, familial  FEU de JOIE

Father’s Day 2010, Dave and his family.

“Celebrate the little things in life, appreciate tomorrow, love your neighbor…never condemn yourself to a life without cause to celebrate and be thankful for what you have. Never forget the people you love and love them when you have an occasion to do so. Celebrate their life and celebrate yours.”  ~Unknown

Feu de joie, a French term meaning “fire of joy,” is actually a gun salute, described as “a running of the guns” as they are fired on occasions of public rejoicing and celebration.  It can also reference a large bonfire being lit as a token of national joy.

But we have just navigated our way through our very own rapid-fire of joy and celebration.  For during a 12 week period between Dave’s birthday (March 23) and Father’s Day (3rd Sunday in June), we do a whole lotta shaking!  There are 9 family birthdays during that time…no wait!  Amelie was born a few days after Dave’s birthday, so now 10!  This is immediate right-here-local family, people!  Plus, there was a HF fundraiser, a big baby shower or two, the aforementioned birth of a new grandbebe, some travel among us, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, a couple of theater productions for the patriarch, a holiday, tax-day and some end-of-the-school-year plays and programs.  Oh.  And cakes.

I think I feel a summer cold coming on.  A little worn out, but whew! Still, mostly intact.


  

Jubilate

  

Oh, how Averi loves her little Flintstone-esque car; Gemma said of her big sister, “Guini is so nice.”  Hunter is a great big-cousin to the girls!

“That it will never come again

is what makes it so sweet.” 

~Emily Dickinson

 

Dave with original 5, and with the 6 grandbebes.  On Father’s Day.

 

Make merry

 

 Scenes from good times: Jovan and Aunt Dessa with baby Amelie.  Gemma and the cone.

The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck

Dave with grandbebes, left-right: Hunter (5), Amelie Belle (almost 3 months), Gemma (3), Guinivere (almost 5), Averi (2), and Gavin (7)

Celebrate ~ a LIST of reasons:

Birthdays, anniversaries, firsts, promotions, making the yellow light, getting the good parking spot, your husband’s first novel getting published (buy here!), a moist spring, summer arriving, a full moon in an azure-blue sky, the first sip of amazing morning coffee, a grandbebe tying his own shoes and riding without training wheels, tomatoes ripening on the vine, and a new granddaughter.  Also, achievement and success, failures we made it through together, a good movie, really green freshly-cut grass (that deserves an ice cream cone at the very least), a completed project, an upcoming festival, finding out some one is praying for you, healing for dad and brothers in light of heart junk, first teeth, first lost teeth, seeds that sprout, weeds that pull out easily.  Moms.  Dads.  Brothers, sisters, neices, nephews and grandbebes.  Aunts and Uncles and family in the faith.  Growing love and re-ignited passion.  Good times.  And even hard times with people who won’t leave. 

For these and many other reasons, throw a party.  It can be filled with lavish decor and a seemingly endless buffet of tempting tidbits, or as simple as a blanket on the grass with milk and cookies as the stars come out to dance.  Find your reason.

Can you over-do on celebrating?

I guess that remains to be seen.  On our deathbeds, when total clarity and perspective comes to us, we may realize that some of the extra fancy cakes or over-the-top decor wasn’t themost important thing, but I doubt I will ever regret using every possible chance I could to show the people I love the most their great worth to me by planning, scheming and finding ways to celebrate their lives and existance.  And if it should disrupt “normality,” or be a little taxing, so be it.  I’d rather know I did it because I loved them.  And not regret missed chances to say so.

  

My family always complains that when I take pictures, I never count and give them warning.  See left.  Well, when I FINALLY did a one-two-three count, this is what I got (see right).  Improvement?  Not sure.  My photographic philosophy: just snap away and hope for the best.

“Love your life and prove it.” ~You may quote me on this, actually

Nehemiah 12:43 (New Living Translation)

  Many sacrifices were offered on that joyous day, for God had given the people cause for great joy. The women and children also participated in the celebration, and the joy of the people of Jerusalem could be heard far away.

I would say our neighbors, based on what has been “heard far away” would think we have!…Jeanie

 

.

Happy Birthday, DP, extraordinary s-i-l

1 Christ is All, 2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 5 Songs I am Singing, 9 TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment, Stuff I Actually Think

Happy Birthday, to our very own Captain Picard

 


  

Mood music for reading about Dave!

Dave Powers?  Oh, we adore him!

If you could dream the perfect man for a daughter you love, if you could order up qualities you’d want your daughter and the children they’d have to enjoy their whole lives through and a personality that was made to bless and challenge and delight the whole family, if you could choose a man of character and one with as much wit as wisdom, if God would have just written across the sky, “Oh yes.  I created him to be in your family,” the choice could not be more perfect than Dave Powers.

[Picard, Data and Worf are attacked and pursued by Kolaran natives]
Picard: I think it’s time to try some unsafe velocities.

 

Dave Powers.  I still remember the first time I heard your name.  It echoed around in the halls of my heart along with a spark, me wondering, “Would Tara ever be interested in a guy like him?…”  {WOULD SHE EVER!!! was the answer!} Before ever even meeting you, before ever even laying eyes on you, your name just sort of plopped into my mind and if wishing you’d love Tara could have had anything to do with it, then no wonder it happened.  I still love that you were born the very day Dad was proposing to me.  As you said yesterday, in the way only you can, “God was hookin’ a sister up!”  He was.  He was looking down the road, knowing what we’d need.

For I am of the persuasion that the children we get are as much used by God to form us and train us as we are in their lives,  And you, son-of-my-heart, are a shining example of it.  You are courageous and bold and have invited to me to go places I never would have gone, didn’t even think I wanted to go and sometimes have been crazy-uncomfortable.  Most of it, I wouldn’t trade.  Some of it I am waiting for the day I can say, “Oh we can laugh about that now…”  Haha. 

I wouldn’t trade you for anything, though, Dave and since the day I met you and for the months we spent getting to know you before you and Tara met and then after, I always knew you were meant for greatness and that I would one day say, “I knew Dave Powers when…”  I just didn’t know I’d get to hang out near the path you are walking so closely.  You were born to make an impact and you are blowing up the universe.  You were born to terrorize the devil and you annihilating his strongholds.  {throwing in some DP-talk there}

[In the attempt to find an alternative exit, Picard intends to blast with a shuttle through the inner shuttle bay doors and fly through the Scimitar]
Data: Do you think this is a wise course of action, sir?
Picard: We’re about to find out, Data

I love you fiercly.  I chose that word very purposefully.

&

I believe in you to inifinity and beyond.

Picard: Captain’s personal log, supplemental. We’re heading toward Federation space at maximum warp. The crew has responded with the dedication I’ve come to expect of them. And like a thousand other commanders on a thousand other battlefields, I wait for the dawn…

I’d stand to the death with you.  Because you have done that with me.

 

You are such a great daddy to our little Hunter Magoo!

Praetor Shinzon: Were we Picards always warriors?
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I think of myself as an explorer.
Praetor Shinzon: Well… were we always explorers?
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I was the first Picard to leave our solar system. It… caused quite a stir in the family. But… I’d spent my youth…
Praetor Shinzon: …looking up at the stars, dreaming about what was up there; about…
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: …new worlds…

And for all your giftings, for the strong anointing on your life, for your natural abiliies and Holy Spirit-empowered insight and works, for the sensitivity you have with people and your way with words, because you can capture a conversation with one or with hundreds, though you have a voice that does not quit and the power of God rides into a room on it, and you can lead and protect and empower thousands of people, and even because I  believe God is calling you to not only bring the Church together in unity, but He is making a way for you to impact governments and jurisdictions, and because I will never ever forget 2 years ago when He told me He would not let your foot slip –  for these and many other reason, I know you are a great man, destined for amazing opportunities.

But I am most thankful and love you best for loving my daughter, for raising Hunter to be what God has called him to and for joining this imperfect family and calling us your own.  When you’re just “ours,” it is lovely.

Happy Birthday, Dave…Love, mom

photos by www.lilacphotography.com

Lt. Tasha Yar: Captain, so far we’ve obeyed every order, no matter how far-fetched it might have seemed. But if we’re to risk the safety of the ship and crew,  I think we have to ask you for an explanation.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I understand your concerns, Lieutenant; and I know that if I were in your position, I would be doing the same thing – looking for answers. But you’re not gonna find any, because I don’t have any to give you.

I know it is difficult for you to understand, but we have to take the ship into the very center of the phenomenon and create a static warp shell. Now this will put the ship at risk.

Quite frankly, we may not survive. But I want you to believe that I am doing this for a greater purpose, and that what is at stake here, is more than any of you can possibly imagine.

I know you have your doubts about me, about each other, about this ship. All I can say is that although we have only been together for a short time, I know that you are the finest crew in the fleet; and I would trust each of you with my life.

So, I am asking you for a leap of faith – and to trust me.

NOTE TO HF LEADERSHIP:  You can trust him, his heart.  I do.

Happy Birthday, Tredessa

2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 5 Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think

Our little Dessy–Pooh–Pie had a birthday

You’re beautiful, you’re beautiful to Me
So beautiful, so beautiful to me
And the fragrance of your love it is so sweet to Me
The fragrance of your love anoints Me
And I will pour it back upon myou
I will pour the oil of My love upon you

This is the song I am hearing for you, sweet Dess.  It’s a song of love from the Lord to you (Laura Rhinehart, Isa’s Song).  I can hear God singing with delight over you, I can hear Him singing strong.  I am humming along. 

From your birth, you possessed a quiet serenity, a sure confidence.  From your tiny beginnings, the blessing of God and His call on your heart have been apparent.  Deep calls to deep…even at three, your main topic of conversation was “And the Bible says…” and your love for God and for His word have been the hallmark of all the days of your life so far.  How pleasing it is to me to see how strong that remains in you.  You are woman who is to be admired.  You have my awe and respect.

And it’s through your love and through your life
I will pour my anointing out over all the nations
I have not forgotten you
I have not forgotten even one tear
I have not ever left you alone
And I am showing Myself strong to you

Tredessa at 4, Tredessa at 6

 

And you’re my little girl, too.  Sometimes I hear you giggle and I get to see that ornery twinkle in your eye.  Your ultra-wry  sense of humor is so fine-tuned, yet not often what you are known for, as capable and gifted as you are and sometimes maybe you hide it a little, fearful that it is a frivolous part of you.   But I think you crack God up and when you are lighthearted and a little silly, when you set out to make God smile and wind up making the rest of us laugh?  You are in your strongest place.  You will never be considered a silly airhead, my sweet.  Not possible.  The fact that you could run a small nation  – or even this nation (Obama would be wise to offer you a position) is what makes it OK for you enjoy some frivolity and cause some laughter.  Your joy is a strength to us, as it flows from above.  You are so plugged in to the Source!

Today is the day of My love poured out over you like you have never known
Today is the day of my love being poured out all over you
And you will see all the desires that you have had
You’re going to see them fulfilled!

 It‘s your birthweek!

O, baby number three {thus: Tre},  I know God is dancing over you, but I am so pleased to see His delight dancing through you.  You are in your groove, yet, it is only the beginning.  God is the Writer of your story, the Author of your very faith.  We all wait with eager anticipation to see how the grand drama will progress.  What will the finish look like, I wonder?  What plot does our Father have in mind for one Tredessa Christine, a true heroine of the faith? 

It is hard to say because I think it will be beyond what any of us could even imagine, but certainly, when you were three and we were dirt-poor and would buy one drink at the drive-through for you and your older sisters to share after church – we saw an inkling.  When you’d ask, “Can I be in charge of the drink?” in that raspy little voice – your giftedness and call were already at work and you are a woman in charge.  You, darling and amazing woman, are a Grace Kelly ~ without a doubt!  You are Arwen Evenstar (Liv Tyler) from Lord of the Rings, a grace and strength giving warrior-princess.

Arwen: Do you remember when we first met?

Aragorn: I thought I had wandered into a dream.

Arwen: Long years have passed. You did not have the cares you carry now. Do you remember what I told you?

Aragorn: You said you’d bind yourself to me, forsaking the immortal life of your people.

Arwen: And to that I hold. I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone.

[hands him her pendant]

Arwen: I choose a mortal life.

Aragorn: You cannot give me this.

Arwen: It is mine to give to whom I will. Like my heart.

  

Tredessa and her sister at HF Sunday at NHC; Tredessa addressing the HF leadership at Union reservoir recently; Tredessa during a video shoot for HF.  She dies a lot of HF.  {smile}

All the dreams of your heart, all the dreams of your heart
They will be fulfilled, they will be fulfilled
As I dance over you, as I dance over you
they will be fulfilled
As I dance through you…
My love is increasing…
I am breathing on the fire
The desire in increasing…
 I love you,  I will love you, love you*

What I know about you:

You are wise beyond your years.  You are thoughtful and kind.  You are deep and strong.  You are intelligence and ability, capable and giving.  You are grace and vision and worth much trust.  Wildly lucky, deeply blessed will be the man who wins you.

I love you, sweetie-pie, mom

*Listen to Isa’s Song by Laura Rhinegart at http://www.myspace.com/laurarhinehartmusic

Arwen Undómiel shall not diminish her life’s grace for less cause.

She shall not be the bride of any Man less than the King of both Gondor and Arnor.

 – Elrond to Aragorn – J.R.R. Tolkien

A good kind of tired

3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, Stuff I Actually Think

7 Things that wear you out, but for good reason

  1. Weeding in the garden, fertilizing the soil.  Hard labor in God’s creation.
  2. Throwing big, joyful family birthday celebrations with homemade gifts and silly songs and specialty cakes and desserts and decorations to reflect the recipient’s interest – just going a little bit over-the-top to say I LOVE YOU!
  3. Helping a friend who needs you even when it isn’t on your schedule, especially when it isn’t on your schedule.
  4. Growing really, really good tomatoes.
  5. Laughing your head off at ridiculous things: like finding out you are just as forgetful as your mother – right after you have made fun of her.
  6. Two+ hours singing old songs at the top of your lungs with your mom and dad from the sheet music case in dad’s office: the songs he loved when he first found Jesus in the 50s (Ira Stanphill, Mosie Lister) and the ones he and mom and I sang together in the 70s (Lanny Wolfe, Dottie Rambo).
  7. Laughing so hard you can’t breathe with people who love you enough to resuscitate you if you fall over cold from it

4 Things that drain the ever-loving life out of you and probably won’t be worth it

  1. Working hard to be number one in your chosen field; being the first one to work and the last one to leave.
  2. Being the best at everything.
  3. A perfectly clean house, one where every single thing is in its’ place and where there are never ever kid fingerprints on the patio doors and no dog hair in the vacuum cannister and the laundry is always finished the day it is started.  You know-a house that reveals nothing of the people living there…
  4. The burden of always being right.

  

Pictured: early morning from the patio.  Left, “Snow on the Mountain” near the pond trickles toward the house. Middle, an unplanned pot gets whatever flowers I haven’t used elsewhere and will declare its’ own identity eventually.  Today the white ruffly petunias are asserting themselves.  Right, white petunia to snow-on-the-mountain, “Hello.  How is it going down there?”

The conclusion of the matter~

All has been heard, all has been said and done; the end of the matter {the conclusion} is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God’s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man.

Ecclesiastes 12.13 The Amplified + other words I think fit

 

The Russian Sage, left, thinks it is ok to naturalize and extend its’ borders.  We will have to have a talk.  Balloon background, right, from Wrex’s birthday.

SENT TO ME IN AN EMAIL FORWARD, and o-so-true….There are five things that you cannot recover in life:

         (1) A stone…………..after it’s thrown,
         (2) The word……….after it’s said,
         (3) The Occasion….after it’s missed
         (4) The Time……….after it’s gone.
         (5) A person…………when they’re gone

When all has been said and done, most of what we worry our pretty little heads over (people’s opinions of us, status, getting ahead) won’t matter 5 minutes from now, let alone 10 years down the road.  I really want to figure out how to be tired for the “right” reasons.  The good kind of tired….

Black Spiderman Cake for a Red-Headed Kid

2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, 6 Looking Back // Memories!, Stuff I Actually Think

Gavin wanted Spiderman.

 

Pictured: Black Spiderman Cake

 

Yes.  Spiderman is hot-glued to a non-stick spray cap.  That’s right, what of it?

I hand-carved the small Spiderman figurine using  from-scratch fondant…  NOT!  Bought him at WalMart.

10″, double-layered chocolate cake with chocolate icing, tinted black.  I used pre-made icing and augmented DH mixes.  I cut notches in a piece of cardstock and ran it around the side to create the comb-effect ridges.  A little white icing from a tube.  A little red icing from a tube and voila!

And to think: my first “specialty” cake ever (or at least since the ridiculous venture into Wilton-type cake decorating in the 1980s…maybe someday I will have the courage to share those pictures…) was for Gavin’s 4th birthday when his mommy requested a dinosaur cake. I plotted for weeks-it nearly did me in. {sigh} June 2007.  Time flies…and I get a little more laid-back about the cakes with each birthday.  Nicer for everybody!

On the occasion of the celebration of Gavin’s birth

His mommy got him a Spiderman costume.  And Aunt Jovan got Uncle Rocky one, too.

 

 

Averi looked lovely in lavender and yellow, from her two-piece and cover-up to her flip-flops and matching bag, not to mention her sippy-cup and sunglasses.  Her accessories and coordination were flawless.

 

Guini was all smiles and cuddly-ness.

  

The girls looked summery.  And it was 90-some degrees out, so – that seems appropriate.

As long as everyone has their own purse, everything is just fine.

 

Grilled chicken sandwiches on bolillo with the sweetest corn on the cob ever!  The boys were on edge with some intense Battleship strategy against Aunt Dessa (and with her accusations of foul play, who could blame them? tsk.)…

 

First grandbebe dip in the pool this year.

Simple toys are best.  A freshly cut lawn for running and staining feet bright green.  And good, old-fashioned latex balloons, all while using “outdoor voices”.  Entertainment in its most basic form!

   

Click on thumbnails for a larger view

 

   

Family get-togethers before Gavin-the-first-grandkid  was born were much much quieter.  And less colorful, too!

Cake devoured.  Black-tooth smiles.  Good times!

HAPPY x 7 to Gavin

2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, 5 Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think
I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow
And each road leads you where you want to go
My wish for you is that this life becomes all you want it to
Your dreams stay big and your worries stay small…
And while you’re out there gettin’ to where you’re gettin’ to
I hope you know somebody loves you…
Yeah, this is my wish…*

Sigh.  Happy sigh.  Satisfied sigh.

   

The first one.  The first grandson, the first grandbebe.  I wonder how long I can keep calling him my grand-bebe?  Forever, I hope?

And wow, God gave me a good one.  Gavin is only 7, yet he already possesses and incredible work ethic.  He is caring and watchful, a leader, but a servant, too.  He shoulders responsibility and loves little babies.  Spongebob Squarepants makes him laugh and superheroes inspire him to fly.

He’s got red hair and freckles and boundless energy.  He is respectful and has a great outlook on life.  He believes the best in everyone, thinks school is great and even his sisters sing his praises, “Gavin is a good brother,” Gemma May recently told me.  They love their big brother.

I love you, too, Gavinators.

I hope you never look back and you never forget
I hope you always forgive and you never regret
And you help somebody every chance you get
That you’ll find God’s grace in every mistake
And always give more than you take…*

The day you were born, Gavin Lee Kelley, the company I worked for was in crisis and I was working another 16-hour day, firing people, closing down locations in the area, responding as needed.  It was hard to tell people, some who’d mentored me earlier in that job, that they wee no longer needed – we were going to make it go without them.  I came home that day on my crutches with my broken foot, and could barely drag myself up the stairs when I was told, “Stephanie is at the hospital having the baby.”  I wasn’t really sure I wanted to be a grandma yet, and I had just had the saddest, most draining day  but you were on your way. 

And didn’t you just change everything?  You made me a Nonna.  And you made my heart explode with hope and joy and love.  You made what I thought was the worst day ever the BEST day!  And you still do that – 7 years later.  When Gavin is around – it is a good day!  A really, really good day!

 

Thank-you for the hugs and kisses even though you’re such a big kid now.  Thanks for gardening with me and for loving tomatoes as much as me.  We are going to have a great gardening year, Gav!  I love you for always.  I will never, ever get over you.

Happy, happy Birthday!…Love, Nonna

This is my wish, my wish for you
I hope you know somebody loves you
May all your dreams stay big…

* LYRICS: portion of “My Wish” by Rascal Flatts

Happy-Happy-Happy, Gemma May!

2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 5 Songs I am Singing, 9 TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment, Stuff I Actually Think

GEMMA IS THREE NOW!

 

Gemma with her 1982 collector’s doll that her fabulous grandparents (us!!) found at a garage sale last week!!) and with Sandy-the-family-dog, who is way less shaggy now, but is still, in fact, actually “Sandy!”

 The sun will come out tomorrow

Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow ~ there’ll be sun!

Gemma wanted an ANNIE! Party

She LOVES Dora, too but Annie won out.  She plans to play Annie onstage someday and is hoping Poppa will reprise his role as Daddy Warbucks.  She is learning all the words to all the songs and does interpretive dance to the soundtrack.  And she has naturally curly red hair.  Could it be anymore perfect?

 

Gemma/Annie with her daddy and with her mommy.

Even though Gemma’s mommy and Aunt Stormie were getting ready to fly to New York, we found a little time to gather and bat around red balloons, eat lots of good food including fruit skewers the grandbebes made.  There was a wrapping-paper-wad war instigated by Rocky and a silly-string attack which paid him back.  The birthday girl’s mommy made her an Annie red dress and curled her hair up tight.  The little were girls trying on all of Gemma’s new shoes and gardening boots, and of course, there were bubbles.

  

Just thinkin’ about tomorrow

Clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow ’til there’s none

  

 

Gemma stayed in character pretty much the whole party!

Poppa sang “Something was Missing” from Annie-the-musical to Gemma and they danced together.  Gemma performed several numbers herself, especially shining on “It’s a Hard-Knock Life” with her old-time bucket. 

Gemma is three.  And she is sweet.  And she is sunshine.  And she is joyful and has a very upbeat outlook on the future.  She smiles easily, she is kind and sweet and she gives big hugs and lots of kisses.  Always ready with a song, GemGem delights us all everytime we get together.  And she is the epitome of the classic Annie song, “Tomorrow.”  No matter what happens, “Aw, it’s OK,” you’ll hear GemGem say.

When I’m stuck with a day that’s gray and lonely

I just stick out my chin, and grin and say

 

Gemma wanted a strawberry cake.  Buttercream icing.

I love you Gemma-roo!  You’re Nonna’s sweet puddin’.  I love your face, I love your blue eyes, I love that curly red hair and I just LOVE YOU!  Oh, yes, I do! 

Happy Birthday, sweetie-pie.  You keep on singing, baby-girl, and dance and jump and twirl!  Ok?  Never ever stop dancing.  You were born to dance us into happy.  So go, twinkle-toes! 

Remember ~ I will love you for always.  I love you today and I’ll love you tomorrow.  You make the sun shine in my sky!

Love, Nonna!

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow

You’re only a day away!

Went to Sleep with YOU on My Mi-i-ind!

2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 5 Songs I am Singing, 9 TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment, Stuff I Actually Think
“I woke up in love this morning
I woke up in love this morning
Went to sleep with you on my mind!” 
~The Partridge Family

The Pay-off for the Diaper Days

We did Mother’s Day a week late.  My children make everyday Mother’s Day, though, naturally.  Nevertheless, I got flowers and CDs and hugs and kisses and eye cream that will erase every wrinkle guaranteed and other stuff to make me pretty.  I got the colorful new dishes I have been wanting – all sorts of them and a shopping spree already with one daughter and another to come with another and handmade stuff and an orange ring to die for and this <SO neat> cool-cool-cool hook rack made with heavy-duty outdoor faucet handles (each unique in color and design) for the pool area,  and time with my grandbebes and a big family meal surrounded by the people I love and a cool case for my iPod Touch and flowers and plants and shrubs for my garden and more. time. 

Time in a Bottle

{Sigh}…I love time. 

There is nothing more valuable than some one giving you the gift of their time.  Nothing.  So, my kiddos gave me theirs and they stayed late and were loud and it makes me happy.  There was dancing and merriment and videos of the olden days when the kids were little and singing and prayer and love and kisses and grandbebes jumping from the stairs and on couches and into pillows.  There were ping-pong-gun games which did not pan out because the balls just sort of blopped out instead of actually shooting, which was probably safer for us all, anyway.

 

We were also celebrating birthdays with Tara and Stephanie, so it was a wonderful occasion of good stuff.  Eighteen of us, together just to love and honor one another.

“Do dreams come true?  Well if they do I’ll have you
Not just for a night, but for my whole life through” – David Cassidy

Birds of a Feather

But the pièce de résistance?  The thing that wowed me most??  My kids did my second-favorite Partridge Family song, “I woke Up in Love this Morning.”  YES!  They did!  Sooooo sweet and hilarious.  They had a little fun with it.  They didn’t do it like last time, during which they pre-recorded my FAVORITE P-fam song, “It’s One of those Nights.”  With that, they sang it and then taped themselves lip-syncing so it would be truly Partridge family-ish, a little off and marvelous!

This time, they just gathered in the family room and sang it live looking at pieces of paper with the words.  But I?  STILL. LOVED. IT!!  And I will now share it with YOU!

  

The daughters: Jovan, Tredessaa, Tara, Stormie and Stephanie.  The sons: Dave, Tristan and Rocky

Mother’s Day 2010 Patridge Family Cover: I Woke Up in Love this Morning

 

Blast from the past ~ Mother’s Day 2008 Partridge Family Cover: Yes, Love (It’s One of those Nights)

My kids have made life great.  The babies they’ve given me are making it divine! 

  

  

Gemma, Hunter, Gavin, Guinivere, Averi and Baby Amelie Belle

I woke up in love this morning
Went to sleep with YOU on my mind!

Thanks, kiddos!  I L O V E this!  Keep covering the Partridge Fam for me, ok-ok-ok???

Happy Birthday, Stephanie

1 Christ is All, 2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 5 Songs I am Singing, 6 Looking Back // Memories!, Stuff I Actually Think

It is your birthday, dazzling daughter~

Really?  Is it possible that exactly 28 years ago today you were born?  That 28 years ago this morning I awoke to the certainty of my baby arriving on. this. day. even though you weren’t due for at least 5 weeks and the whole sha-bang had been started on a ridiculous carnival ride where I taunted the operator for it being too tame and he, in turn, decided to show me how rough it could be and our course was set?  Oh…I was young and stupid.  Can you imagine, Stephanie?  Can you forgive me from jolting you from the safe place too early?  I was only 22, naive, untested, and very ill-equipped in my mind – and yet, God was about to place the most fragile, tiny amazing head-full-of-hair, cutie-patootie ever in my arms.  He trusted me. With you!  I am still awed.

I want you to be remembered as the girls who sang their songs for Jesus Christ

Who were willing to lay down their lives, And do His will no matter what the price

 

We celebrated both Tara and Stephanie’s birthdays just a few days ago…a picture of Steph by Stormie

You’ll be singing for the deaf man who will hear about salvation through your song

You’ll be singing for the blind man who will see the light in you and come along.

So, here you came: this itty-bitty thing with underdeveloped lungs and not an nth of fat under your skin.  You arrived to a smashingly handsome and proud daddy and a big sister who’d just turned three and you were her utter delight and joy.  She took to that role like bees to my flowers and referred to you as “my baby,” when she told people about anything you’d done or happy she was.  During your extra-long 12-day stay in the hospital, we sewed and prepared and cushioned and made-ready.  I wanted everything to be perfect when you came home.  And even though they’d told me in the middle of the night, after you were born, to expect a 3-month stay in the hospital, 12 days later, we wrapped your 4 1/2 pound sweet self up and brought you to the charcoal-colored house on Armstrong Street in Kokomo.  We brought you home praising God, grateful that He heard our prayers.

“For this child I prayed and the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him.”  1 Samuel 1, an amazing chapter!

His.

And back when baby dedications were more personal, before the designated days of them, our home church allowed me the honor of singing to both you and Tara as we dedicated you to the Lord, His to use and live in and work through all the days of your lives.  And we stood there, young and naive and full of hope for our two little girls and this tiny, tiny little thing we called Stephanie May (May for the beautiful month in which you came), and I sang Evie’s song, Live for Jesus over you.

Live for Jesus, that’s what matters

And when other houses crumble, ours is strong.

Live for Jesus, that’s what matters

That they’ll see the light in you and come along.

And whether God honored my prophetic words over your tiny self that day, or whether I had just unknowingly tapped into His heart for you already, you became, along with your sister, such a songstress.  You started singing so early, I can hardly remember when or how.  You started singing as a baby and you sang your way right into the funny, delightful little girl you became.  You sang first thing in the morning and you sang while the rest of the household was going to sleep.  You sang silly and you sang well.

Well, I know you’re not the only girls who can sing His melody

But He’s chosen you to bless you

And to bring you into all that you can be

And you never self-promoted.  So when your song would go public, people were wowed (Remember high school?  His eye is on the Sparrow!?).  I can remember hearing you sing in your room and hitting those Mariah-highs and have heard you level those Kim Walker lows now and I have still never heard enough of your song. 

I laugh now because I can actually remember, when you were supposed to be taking a nap as a youngster telling you, “Stephanie, quit singing-go to sleep,” because you’d sing ’til the cows came home if we’d let you.  Well, I take that back.  Don’t quit.  Never stop singing, Stephanie.  You are dazzling and deep.  You are gifted and you are Miriam – singing the song of triumph.  Your voice was meant to proclaim: in your face, devil!  Your lungs were healed to give power to proclaim enemy defeat.  So sing, Miriam, sing!

And sweet Stephanie?

Live for Jesus, that’s what matters

And when other houses crumble yours is strong

Live for Jesus, that’s what matters

That they’ll see the light in you and come along!

 

The family legend is true. 

When you were 3 you’d fall asleep in the middle of singing a song and when you’d start to wake up, you’d pick that song up exactly in the place you’d left off.  You are full of song.  You are song.  And I love you.  Happy Birthday, Steph.

Love, Mom

SONG:  Live for Jesus was an Evie Tornquist song waaaaaay back in the day.  I adapted the actual lyrics for my purposes in singing it for the dedication in 1982.