~BRINGING ESSIE HOME~

It has been a LONG ten days for the little Robertson family, full of scary medical tests and diagnoses, but finally they were able to bring this beautiful little girl home. 

Welcome home Essie, may angles watch over you while you and mommie sleep!

(I Borrowed a couple of pictures from Essie's Grandma Shauna...They are the really good ones)!

~BARNS~

 

I love old barns! There is just something about them that somehow floods me with childhood memories that are warm, honest and peaceful. Barns are seldom beautiful leaning more toward the practical and functional.  Our barns held our livelihood.  The animals, the machines, the harvested crops and often times, the presence of my dad working on his current project. Now that I am older and have children of my own I realize that it was really my dads version of the "Man Cave".  A place for him to go where it was usually quiet, semi-warm and always  held many hours of work to be done.

So many of my hours were spent down at the barn.  I lived about 5 miles away from my nearest friend so to say that the barns and I were very well acquainted would be a big understatement. Some of my very best friends lived in those barns.  Our horses, the cows, the baby sheep, pigs, chickens and mice.  I think that is where I learned to love babies. Baby horses, cows, sheep, pigs and even chickens and mice.  Yes, mice!  I remember helping many a mommy mouse raise her little litter! Now, as I think back,  I wonder if I washed my hands or how how many times I was exposed to the Haunta Virus.  There is nothing quite as strong as a farm girls immune system!

I have no barn where I live today and my children grew up without one. But, the barns stood for a long time on the farm and my kids took advantage of the opportunity to explore each time they visited their grandparents. They will never hold the same memories as I do for them but, they have missed them now that they are gone. I have too!

Appreciation for what we had will always give us an enlightened  appreciation for what we have. I have learned that life can be pretty dark and somewhat frightening at times but, we always seem to make it through. It may be because somewhere deep down inside all of us there is a little bit of "farm girl", one that knows that there is not a mountain too high nor a road too long that can not be conquered with faith, love for our Savior and perhaps an exposure to a viruses or two  that will build our spiritual and physical immune systems. 

To my new grand daughter Essie, your journey has just begun!

~THIS AND THAT~

 Bokeh

 Gold and Red!

 My old Glass Candles

 Jingle Stars

I haven't put up the tree in the front living room for the last couple of years because quite frankly, it made me tired to just think about it! This year I am not sure if I have more energy or if I'm just getting a little more crazy ( quite sure it is the fact the the trees are now "pre-lit and I do not have to spend HOURS stringing light on.  I HATE putting on lights).

I put everything up early this year and honestly I have enjoyed the decorations so much more. It may become something I do every year.  All my shopping is done and the gifts are wrapped and under the tree. I have never been this prepared! I have even taken some time to play with my camera again. That is huge.  I have been working so much lately that I have forgotten how to have a little fun and enjoy life a bit.  It is nice to get back to relaxing and enjoying.  I like what I do but it takes me away from the people that I love spending time with.  Steve had surgery on Friday ridding himself FINALLY of 8 very large gallstones.  I would post a picture but the kids said that it was "gross mom".  He is doing great but, I wish I could be home taking care of him a little more.  I'm sure that he is fine with me going to work.  I make him do things that he really doesn't want to do right now like: 

Test his blood sugar

Take his medicine

EAT

Use his incentive spirometer

Walk, walk, walk

Ice, ice, ice

Rest

Start over again...  

Enjoy this day for me, cause my day will SUCK! ( I'm doing Lipo all day. Hahaha!)

Sorry bad joke :)

~DECEMBER~

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,

stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

I love this time of year when we celebrate the birth of our Savior. What a wonderful spirit the world holds during the month of December. I have spent way too many months being just a little  bit too "Grinchy" and sometimes I think that I relate way to well with that naughty greenish imp that hates everything and everybody then, along comes December with it's magic. The snow starts to fall and nobody seems to be depressed over it. In fact,  most everyone would love it to snow up until Christmas...Then most want it to abruptly stop.  Most everyone is patient with the crowded streets and stores. There are even those who you will find with a smile on their face if you look. Then soon you find yourself smiling too!  December is contagious.  I have never met anyone who doesn't like December.  So, let it's magic work for me this season. Let me be the first to smile, the first to lend a helping hand. Say hello to someone I don't know. Give a stranger in need a few dollars without wondering what he will do with it. Thank my neighbors for putting up with me for all these years and, do as many things with the ones I love as time will allow me to do but, most importantly, gather my family around when ever possible and show them how very much they mean to me. 

So many things to celebrate. Thank you to that little boy in a manger who has given December it's 

MAGIC. May I use it to do what he would do in December and every other month of the year.