I'm Playing With Dolls Again

All I ever dreamed of being was a mommy.

Well, as I got older, maybe I wanted to teach.

That too was just the child calling to me!

I played with dolls until I was 12. 

I didn't let my friends see me!

That would not have been cool.

I did the Barbie and Ken-thing after I was 12.

Thus, my love for dolls continues.

My friend bought two old trunks.

Guess what was in one?

Vintage baby clothes and blankets.

Darling?

"...the cow jumped over the moon."

My daughter and son in law gave me an iron and ironing board 

cover for Christmas.  Yes, I asked for it! 

I washed and dried the pretties and then pressed them.
I soaked in Oxy Clean over night and washed two times
and some were still yellow.

A dress and matching slip that can be worn as a dress.

I knew the owner and she had boys.

I'm guessing the blue was for her boys.

Some of them were "Handmade in the Philippians."

The one with the pink bow is homemade and so adorable!

The buttons and button holes are so small.

I guess this worked for skinny, young mothers.

Me, I could hardly get the button in the hole.

When my Christy was almost 2, 

my granny gave her the doll that her son 

brought back from Germany after WWII. 

It's probably 75 years old.

She made the dress and the bloomers underneath.

My girls will be playing with their GREAT, GREAT Grandmother's doll.

Isn't that special?

Her eyes blink, she has a cloth body and rubber arms,

She cries when I squeeze them.

She feels like a real baby.

I decided that she needed a change of clothes

after 75 years. 

Don't we all count fingers and toes when our babies are born?

I like to kiss a baby's feet!

(Please pardon mine!)

Yes, fingers too!

Here are the newborn photos of my little blessings. 

I can play dolls again.

Waiting to do so.  Come on Feb 12!

Maybe we'll get to build a snowman!

Don't you just love the movie "FROZEN."

Take the Brokenness and Give Thanks

I'm daily filling the JOY JAR.

Small papers are sometimes dropped more than once a day.

Thanksgiving breeds JOY.

One, two and more and I am joy-filled.

I've been reading the book by Ann Voskamp,

One Thousand Gifts.

One thought that presents itself over and over is 

to take the pain that is given and give thanks. 

Jesus knowing the cross was before HIM, 

took the bread, broke it and gave thanks.

And I remembered...

Palm Sunday, March 23, 1975,

a broken body and broken hearts.

Cries of a dying little boy and tears and gasps of a family who waits. 

A few days later,

Baby brother, baby boy is gone.

In a hospital room, a mama takes the bread of brokenness and gives thanks.

Pain nonetheless, but thanksgiving for a Christ who was willing to take our pain to the cross.

Breaking bread and giving thanks.

In the Bible, thanksgiving always proceeded a miracle.

Mama's miracle, a vision of baby boy walking with Jesus along the crystal sea,

all because she broke a saltine cracker and drank the grape juice.

Fast forward one week, 

the night before Easter.

Like the disciples, we huddle together and grieve.

With a broken heart, Daddy takes the broken bread and gives thanks.

Maybe not yet for his own brokenness, but in Christ 

for being broken that we may know wholeness.

A baby brother, a baby boy is gone.

A Preacher-daddy and his now three children,

we take the pain that if given and we give thanks.

Today, I fill a vintage planter with kisses.

and they spill everywhere!

My first thought is to utter, "Ugggh."

(Maybe I did, on second thought.)

And then I remembered, 

Jesus, broken and spilled out

after He had given thanks.

The miracle?

The Ressurection.

Everytime I walk by the candy-filled planter, 

I will pause and give thanks. 

Because He lives, we may live also.

Baking Cookies With My Boy

If you follow me much, 

you know that I am no Susie Homemaker.

I like to move things around,

make rooms pretty,  

but keep me out of the kitchen.

I can mess up the easiest dish.

Even refrigerated chocolate chip cookies. 

Instruction:

1.  Open the package.

2. Cut the refrigerated

dough.

3.  Roll into little balls. Let Connor man think he's really making cookies.

4.  Shhhh.  Take a bite of cookie dough.

5.  Yes, you can have another one. 

Don't tell mommy, okay?

Our secret.  HeeHeeHee

6.  Bake (not done)

7.  Bake again (burnt)

Ok, ok. Now you know.

Baking sheet $0  

Refrigerated dough-$2

Time with my little man- Priceless!

Hometown Airstrip with the Boys

I counted a total of 4 weeks in December and January 

that I was able to spend with my children. 

I think that's the most we've been together since 

my nest became empty in 2003.

In my small town, we have a very small airstrip.

Connor is a Dusty fan so he's all about planes. 

I can't begin to tell you what joy it was
 to see the awe on his little face.

No one was standing by for take off so

we took the liberty to walk around.

This was his first look into a real plane.

He wanted to get in so badly.

He called this one, "Dusty."

It was freezing and raining so it wasn't long
before we headed back inside.

I just love this picture, Connor holding hands with his Grandy.

Three boys together, a Kodak moment!

Inside he found a book of Dustys.

Of course, Grandy had lots of stories to tell 

about where his daddy grew up.

I opened the door to his house last week 

and the first thing he asked was, 

"Where's Grandy? Can we see the planes?"

Grandy enjoyed his first little girl while they were home.

Now, he's ready to hold his newest little girl.

She was in the NICU the last time he saw her.

I asked him when he was ready to go.

He said, "Now!"

This is our most recent picture.
I can't believe how much she's changed.

Happy Thursday!

I think I heard the prediction of snow in tomorrow's forecast.