$4400~~

No I didn't find $4400 dollars dangit, I could only wish.  Instead that was our nice Christmas surprise we recieved today.  We all like suprises right?  Well not this kind when you find out that your cell phone account and cell phones have been hacked into

Merry Christmas!~

Merry Christmas to all my dear friends and family!  I hope that you get what you asked that cute little "Santa" man for.  I wonder if you have all been good, you know he watches you and he know's if you've been bad or good. So I hope you've been good.

Brrrrr!

You know the Christmas song "Baby it's cold outside"!
Well that is what it is here in Fl. But nothing brings more of that Christmas feeling than cool air and a breeze to go along with it. I am NOT asking for snow or anything, they can keep all that up in the northwest.
I really think that all those seasonal people who came here from the north brought it with them. So much for them going where the weather is supposed to be warm. Hehe
Even though we live in a little paradise where it is usually very warm, at this time of year just right before Christmas this brisk air is nice for a change of pace and it definitely puts you in that Christmas mood and that I am grateful for. I may have to go buy me an electric blanket!

A small blessing!

The past couple days has been alittle downer for me.  My son left on Saturday from Houston to go to Iraq where he will be for the next year working as a mechanic.  The goodbye was

Lights!

This evening the Christmas lights and decorations start to light up the outside of our home.  With the help of Candace and Eric the icicle lights were hung on the house.  The reindeer, snowman and packages were put together and tested to make sure they worked.  So far all has went very well.

I am grateful for the kindness of others.  Taking the time out of their already long day making sure the lights got hung before it gets too late.  No, it would not be the end of the world if  the lights did not get hung outside of our home.  Christmas would still come and packages would be opened, ribbons and boxes all around.  But there is something about Christmas lights that add the extra glow. 

I remember as a little girl getting into the car to take a ride with the family and look at the lights on all the houses that people have so meticulously put out for others to enjoy.  I still love doing that at this time of year.  Minus the snow and the freezing weather, here in Florida you can still feel the spirit of Christmas.

The lights that glow from the trees, bushes, snowmen and santa's mean so much more.  The glow of the lights remind me of the light of Christ.  I am so grateful for my family and friends who have shown me the light of Christ in the little things that they have done for me.  So this year when I look at those lights, I will think of the light of Christ that we all carry with us, and share it with others.

Time is flying by..

I cannot believe how the months are just flying by.  When we were kids time did not fly by this fast at all.  Birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas (and of course all those school breaks that we never had like they do in these days).  They just could not come fast enough and now today they come and go so quickly.

I was thinking of what I could post for today and my thoughts keep going to gratitude.  My daughter Lindsey gave a talk on Sunday.  It was about the "Attitude of Gratitude".  Since this is the 1st of Dec. I want to TRY to post something everyday up until Christmas Day on Gratitude.  Things that I am grateful for however great or small they are.  Sometimes it is just the simple things in life that we don't even think about on a daily basis that we need to be grateful for, and what better time of year to do it during this holiday season.  When we need to think and give to others and not ourselves.

So here it goes:
I was watching a show the other night that really has made me do some thinking about myself.  As most my family and friends know my self esteem is not very high about myself.  There are things that I am not happy with, (as many of us are)there are those flaws or imperfections that we don't like about ourselves. I am sure we can all name a few.  But today I am thankful for my face.  The pimples or wonderful ugly cold sores that I get.  Or my short eyelashes.  These are embarrasing things to have for me.

The other night I saw this show about a couple of men who had some imperfections on their faces.  It was not JUST a pimple, or a cold sore on the lip.  These men had tumors on their face that were quite large that they hung down past their chins. They only had one good eye that they could see out of.  One of the men was so embarrased he spent all his time at home never leaving the house.  The other held a job as a restaurant manager and did not let his imperfection interfere with who and what he truly was on the inside and out.  He had a wife that sincerely loved him for who he was, and children who did the same. 

These two men got to meet face to face with the same imperfections that they were both born with that gradually got worse as they got older.  The man that was not able to go out of the house finally got to where he could get out of the house some just by visiting with this other man.  The manager of the restaurant ended up having surgery and taking off some of the tumor but not all of it was able to be removed. 

So things could be alot worse.  I am grateful for the little imperfections that I may have.  As tough as it is for me to say that, I could have it alot worse.  So those little pimples, zits, cold sores, that we may get are just small in comparison to what others may have.  I need to work on being happy with who and I am over this coming next year.  After all no one is made perfect!!

Dana

The Beginning

So this is the beginning of my blog that I thought I would never get going.  (I am quite computor illiterate)  But with alittle pushing and poking from my daughter here it goes.  Of course she is helping me, you know they say two minds are better then one!  Well when you put us two and our brains together you still come up in the negative.  Lol!  After a couple calls to a friend I hope we got it going now!

We are the happiest grandparents of 4, three girls and one baby boy. 

Let me start with our first, and that is.....

Hailey,


She was our first grandbaby, the daughter of my oldest
son.  They live in SC, too far away for MeMe, and GaGa.

When Hailey was coming
into the world, my husband, I and two daughters were
on our way moving here to Florida. Oh how I wanted
to turn around and go back to SC and be there when
she was born. That did not work out with our plans,
but we were able to be on the phone right after her birth. 
She is now 4yrs old and looks soooo much like her
Daddy, and is just as busy as he is or was.
It's always the mothers curse that I love to put on them,
"When you have children of your own they are going
to be just like you".  That does come true :) 




Next along came Kylie

Kylie is our second grandchild.  She is my daughters
little girl.  She is almost 3yrs old at the end of next
month. 

She had quite a few problems that Candace found
out about when she was pregnant with her.  So we
were prepared for the worst, but not really knowing
what to expect. 

When she was born we were told that she had some
heart issues but not quite sure of what.  They found
that she has sideus inversus.  Which is that her organs
are flip flopped around to the opposite sides of what
they should be. 

With lots of testing, surgery at 1wk old, and no eating
for 3wks.  We got to bring her home.  Thank goodness
for the Ronald McDonald house where we had to stay for the time she was there.

As you can see she is a perfect little girl.  Well you see that smile?  That says watch me on the other side of it.  Don't take your eyes off her.  She keeps us all on our toes!




This is our third little grand daughter.
Her name is Leila, and she is now
2.  This is my sons second daughter.
Both of his little girls are very blonde
like he was when he was little.  It is crazy to look at them and see him in them.

What a sweet little girl she is, you don't even know she's around for as quiet as she is.  I guess she is quiet like her MeMe....Lol





And Finally...

YES!!!  We finally got a boy in the bunch.

This is our grandson Chandler.  I is one of our larger babies.  He came out a big whoppin 9 1/2 pounds.  And just has kept growing ever since.  Such a big boy he is.

Now he is 9mo. old and is getting such a cute little personality.  He is very shy and hides his little face in your neck.  VERY loving and is a Momma's boy very much!  His cry is so heart breaking when he gets upset and he will let you know when he is hungry.  And don't put food in front of him or try to hide it from him.  He smells it and will let you know about it until he gets some.  I have never seen a baby eat like he does, no more baby food for him give him the real stuff.  See he even likes the bones...Lol   He is such a joy to have around.

That is it for now on my grandkids.  I wait for more to come in the future so I can spoil them just as much.  Having grandchildren is such a blessing in our lives.  We could never ask for anything different other than to have them all live close by us.  I am so thankful to have been blessed with such a wonderful family. 

It is not always full of peaches and cream, with lifes challenges comes alittle sour milk every once in awhile.  And alot of times that sour milk is hard to handle.  But we are an eternal family and strive to live as Christ would have us live so that we can return and live with Him again.