Making Grandma Jennie's Fruitcake-Christmas Begins

It is getting close to Christmas and it is funny how one begins to be nostalgic and think back to their childhood. I remember my mother making fruitcake from her mom's recipe. When I was young, I probably was like most of my kids and did not like fruitcake too much, but in later years I began to acquire a taste for it. I liked her fruitcake because it was a dark and spicy one with just the right amount of fruit. Not too much and not too little. "Claxton Fruitcake" is good but too much fruit. My Uncle Leonard started making it in his later years and sending it to family members. He did a good job too. Soooo.... I got the idea that it would be nice to pass this tradition on to Lindsay. I bought and gathered up the ingredients and on Saturday, we took on the task. I just had to document it for postserity as you can see in these pictures. I do not know how it turned out yet because it is better to wrap it up tightly and store it for a few weeks so the flavors mingle before you eat it. I have them stored away now and closer to Christmas will let everyone know how they turned out. Today, I even bought more ingredients for another batch I hope to bake in a few days. In these pictures you can see that I had Grandma Jennie sitting nearby as her grandaughter and great-great-grandaughter baked her special recipe.

Happy Birthday Kendra, Jon and Matt

We celebrated Kendra, Jon and Matt's birthday last night at the #1 China. Dad, Mom, Kelly, Allison, Gatlin and the three birthday kids all had a delicious buffet to celebrate their special day. Jon and Matt were born on the same date, one year apart, the 20th of November and Kendra's birthday is the 21st. Jon is 17, Matt 16, and Kendra is 21 now. Hard to believe! Happy birthday kids! Layout Kit by Simple Girls
from Digi Scraps website.

Birthday Twins!

Well, our little twin grandson's, Andrew and Aiden, turned one year old this week. I think of them as our family's little miracles. Although all babies are miracles, they had a pretty hard beginning to their life and tested the strength of their mom and dad, Adam and Trish. Poppy and I worried and prayed for them a lot too and the Lord has answered our prayers because they are now healthy and strong and growing bigger every day. You can tell by their picture that was taken at their birthday party on Sunday afternoon. The whole family showed up to celebrate and they were so cute as they partook of the twin birthday cakes that their cousin Angela made for them. (She works at Food Lion bakery). Thank you Heavenly Father, for family and for Aiden and Andrew turning 1!

Sunday Dinner

I guess that "Sunday Dinner" has been a traditional activity for a lot of families throughout the years. Our family has not been the exception. Although we serve our meal in a casual way and the kids are starving when the get home from church, we do have the tradition of having a pretty nice meal on Sunday afternoon. This week I was reminded of this as I set the meal out on the counter Sunday after church. I was thinking how lucky my kids were to be having a full course meal instead of sandwiches. I usually get up on Sunday morning and put something good into the crock pot so it is done by the time we get home. I almost always make a cake or brownies for desert. I think that is a pretty lucky thing that my kids have to look forward to when they are so hungry after church. It reminded me of Grandma Gilliam.
She loved to cook of course, and when she was with us we always had a big meal right after church. She and I shared in the responsibility of preparing it. Her special thing was that she wanted the missionaries to eat with us on Sunday. Very, very often they did. I hope that each of my older kids and the younger ones now will recall those good meals and the family sharing that went on every Sunday afternoon because of the tradition of "Sunday Dinner."

Frantic Saturday Morning

This morning I got up and had plans in my mind to make a scrapbook display of Chloe's swim team pics for her talent display at the church activity tonight, clean house, help Lindsay make a baked spaghetti casserole for the church cook off tonight, mow the lawn, paint the bench outside and maybe a few small other tasks. Well, I did not keep in mind that we have a little resident at our house that takes almost minute by minute supervision to keep him out of anything and everything around the house. This little boy is on the move! As my day started so did he. I no sooner got him his breakfast and he was on the prowl for whatever he could find to get into. I started on the scrapbook pages ( My first mistake was to procrastinate this job until this morning). It seemed that nothing went just right with my creative powers today. I ran into one problem after another with what I was trying to do. I finally settled on digital pages to speed the process. As I was working on the computer with that, Briggs was boiling up bushels of apples to make applesauce with. Between us both our little resident, who by the way is called Gatlin, was busy climbing on top of the counter, getting into the printer, pulling out pots and pans, crumbling bread on the floor and a whole lot more. I was beginning to have an anxiety attack because we wanted to leave at 1:30 so we could attend Ian's football game and then Lindsay's swim practice and on to the church talent show at 5:00. If everything was going right with my project, things would not have been so tense, but it seemed that today was not my day for creating something with smooth going. I finally had to let Adam know we were going to have to catch Ian's game another weekend. That helped to ease the tension all the while little Gatlin was still moving into anything he could see or do to occupy his curious little brain. Around 12:30 Briggs said he would take him into the bedroom and try to get him to sleep for a nap. Yippee! In a few minutes he was asleep as sound as can be. We were able to finish the applesauce, help Lindsay with her casserole for the cook off and get Chloe's Swim Talent posters finished. The house is not cleaned, the bench not painted or lawn mowed, but we survived another busy Saturday. But....you can't help love the face on this little fellow. You know? I think I like Mondays best.

Eat My Bubbles !

This summer has been a big time for swimming on the swim team for our family. We have six grandchildren on the McDowell Mariners Swim Team. Caleb, Joshua, Rahlee ,Ian, Jade and Chloe. For two months parents, grandparents and children participate on a daily basis in practicing and going to swim meets- swim meets at home and swim meets in other towns in our Mountain Swim League. It takes effort and is a time consuming sport, but the benefits outweigh the work and time. All the kids have had a great time associating with other kids and sharing the experience with them. They have all improved in their swimming strokes and speed and have a sport that will always be theirs. Lasting relationships have been formed and sharing this sport with Mom and Dad, Poppy and Grammy will always be remembered.
A bonus this summer has been that Adam and Aimee, as sister and brother, have been the coaches for the team. It has been so nice to see them working together. Both of them were on the Mariners Swim Team many years ago and now their kids are part of the team.

Many years ago, Poppy and Grammy were participants as parents so it was just natural that we wanted to be part of our grandkids team again. All the kids have learned to be really good swimmers this summer and improve all their strokes and times. But this was Chloe's first year and she did not know how to swim at all when she came to the first practice. She struggled and worked so hard to learn the freestyle stroke. Before long, she was swimming with much more ease. She was so proud of herself and never gave up even though it was a struggle at times. She still has improvement to make, but by the end of the two months she was swimming all the strokes and jumping off the block instead of the side of the pool. I can't help but think that her self-esteem has been given a big boost by her accomplishment. We are proud of each of the grandkids- Caleb, Josh, Rahlee, Ian, Jade and Chloe. "Eat my bubbles"

Ezekiel's Blessing

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. " Ezekiel in the Old Testament
My grandson, Bryan, had this verse on his "My Space" page. I was struck by the application of it to how Briggs and I are feeling lately. We are in no way "righteous" but we do try to do good most of the time. Life has such great burdens to bear and it is sometimes those who are closest to you that cause you the trouble. That is what makes it so much harder. You love all your family and when one member becomes a serious worry in your life, you can in no way reject them or step away like you could if it was an acquaintance, friend or some stranger. You are tied to your family members for eternity and their welefare will always be a concern to you no matter what they might do. The verse says, "Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children." As we deal with the aftermath of our daughter's accident and all the situations leading up to it, along with nursing her back to health, we have to have the attitude that we are her keeper and the finder of her lost soul. Patience in this process is needed and necessary and that is what is so hard to have. If it were not for scriptures like these and the knowledge of the Gospel, I think that it would be so much harder.
In the meantime, we look forward to her recovery, and the blessing of some happy times ahead.
Maybe not immediately, but soon. I hope!

Continuing Life-Miracles

It has been a long, long time since I started this blog and wrote here last. March, after Emma was born in Arizona, was the last post. I guess I was busy after getting home from Arizona and I was back to slow dial up internet again. It takes my desire to use the computer away. We still do not have DSL even though Verizon has brought it as close as 1.7 miles down the road. My friend Amy, that lives there has it. She must be on the very edge of the end of where it reaches. I just have to be very patient and one day it will be here, like a thief in the night. Like Walmart came here one day, and Lowes. They were almost deemed to be miracles. DSL for our family will be a miracle too. But, we have had many wonderful, REAL miracles in the last few months and so we have no need to complain. Our twins, Aiden and Andrew are growing big. They are 15 and 13 pounds now. What a miracle considering their very early birth and many complications. Another miracle is that Jennie and Takeshi have been able to move to Indiana, from Japan. A miralce of a job and easy transformation from Japan has brought them much happiness. Lindsay and Chris have been up there this summer, spending lots of time with their mom. Another miracle happened on Mother's Day when my sister and her husband and daughter were preserved in a very bad auto accident. The outcome could have been worse, but now they are continuing their recovery one day at at time and the outlook is good. Our most recent miracle happened the other day. On Monday, July 21, Allison was in a very bad auto accident here in Marion. She was not driving, but the driver lost control and they went off the road and hit a tree.

After being cut out of the car by EMS, she was flown to the hospital in Asheville and is now recuperating from her injuries. She has a rod in her leg, pins in her pelvis and a broken arm, along with other various stitches and bruises. But, she is alive and we are all thankful for that.

Briggs and I are taking care of the kids and taking them to see her in the hospital. Hopefully she will be out soon and knitting back together. So..... we do not have DSL yet but we have some things that are even better. Thanks and praise to the Lord for his blessings.

Yes We Adopted Three

Oh yes! We have 12 children and people are amazed, ususally. I thought that I would take a minute and let any lurkers here know that three of them are adopted. The last three- Kendra, Clay and Jon. We were blessed as foster parents to be able to adopt all three of our foster kids. We got them as babies so it was natural that we would want them forever. And that has been accomplished. We had them sealed to us in a temple of the Lord. They are grown now. Kendra is 20, Clay is 19 and in the Navy, and Jon is 17, almost grown. I will say that as they were growning up they were the sweetest and cutest little kids a parent would ever want. We are thankful to have them in our big family. Scrapbook paper at http://www.ajjensen.blogspot.com/ and from a digital freebie by KSC "A New Leaf"

Oh My Stars!

I am still here in Arizona and just decided to eat my nightly treat (a Bryers low carb ice cream bar) out on the front porch, so I could enjoy the beauty of the Arizona night sky-actually, North Carolina has the most beautiful night sky. But I have been known to be prejudiced toward North Carolina. Anyway, when I gazed up into the sky and saw the beauty of all the stars, I felt an overwhelming need to thank my Heavenly Father for all the blessings he has blessed me with lately. I also prayed that He would let our little Emma be born before I have to leave next Wednesday-according to his will and healthy and stong of course. I am so anxious to see her! Seeing that big expanse of sky and all the beautiful stars is evidence that God is truly in the Heavens and even better, right down here with us, blessing us each day. After enjoying my ice cream and taking in the night sky, I went into the house and checked my email. I had gotten a picture of my son Adam holding his two beautiful miracle babies, Aiden and Andrew. Born at 26 weeks, struggling to live, ups and downs and worries and scares, both of them have come home now. First came Andrew and now Aiden and they weigh 6 plus and 7 plus pounds each, a whole 5 and 6 pounds more than at birth. From now on when I look into the sky and see God's creations in the Heavens, ONE of the miracles I will give praise and thanks for will be Aiden and Andrew. "Please come to see me before I leave, little EMMA. Grammy Carol is very thankful for you too"!

Still Biding Time

Several weeks ago I wrote a post about biding time waiting for the birth of my new little grandaughter Emma. At that time, I had come to Arizona from North Carolina, to help my daughter Katie, as she was having preterm labor and was on bedrest. She has a busy little one and a half year old, Ellie. I was happy to get here and be able to do the things that Katie needed me to do. When she was taken off the "stop your labor" medication we expected she would have the baby in 3 or 4 days. Well, several weeks later and one airplane ticket changed, little Emma has not made her appearance. I have to go home next Wednesday so Emma has one week to get here so Grammy Carol can see her born and hold and love her. It seems that nature is the one in charge after all and those of us who are already here just have to wait. I made this quick scrapbook page for this post. It is Katie when she was two and a half. Her little Ellie looks just like her and I can't wait to see who Emma will look like. Meanwhile, we all wait here in Arizona for her arrival. The layout kit is Country Kit by Garden Angel.

Happy Birthday Lindsay

I cannot let this day go by without wishing happy birthday to my 12 year old grandaughter, Linday Jean. She is a delightful and happy girl and I pray she stays that way and does not turn into a mean teenager. It has been a joy to know, love and care for her all these years. She is growing into a beautiful young woman. This week she moves up into the Young Woman program of our church. As she does, I will look a little sadly on the fact that she is no longer a little child. She is a bigger child now, a preteen. But as she grows I will thank the Lord for her and pray that he keep her safely in his care as she ventures out into this scary world. Happy Birthday, Lindsay! Grammy loves you!

Aiden Finally Comes Home

God is good! You hear that said so often, but when a miracle happens in your family, you come to know the real meaning of that phrase. You beleive it all your life, but when you have your prayers answered for the preserving of a life (or two lives in this case), your understanding of God's great love and ability to bless his children becomes reinforced. Our twin grandsons were born on November 10 at 26 weeks and weighing 1 pound plus each. The three months since then has been wrought with worry, cares and prayer. Andrew came home a few weeks ago and left his little brother in the hospital.

But this week the second twin Aiden came home too! Aiden had a little harder time than Andrew with his growing and developing and learning how to breathe on his own. He had several health issues that called for a priesthood blessing from his grandpa. Finally, the doctors said he could go home. His mom and dad spent 24 hours in the hospital, learning how to care for him at home, as he has to have a monitor for a time. Since coming home he is cozy and happy with his brother Andrew, and I, as their "grammy" rejoice in the goodness and great healing power of Heavenly Father. I have nothing but praise also for Adam and Trish, the parents of the "boys".

It has been a long hard journey, which is still not over, but through this extremely hard hospital phase they have been lovingly diligent in caring for their babies.

God is loving. God is kind. God is Good! Thank you God!

A Perfect Day

In the last few days I have been going through files of pictures on my computer of all of our old slides taken with our 35mm. Yashica camera. Remember when slide projectors were popular? This was the 60's and 70's when my husband and I were having and raising our brood of 9 birth children. Each picture sure brought back memories of a time long ago when we were just young kids raising a family and not really knowing what life was about. When your kids are small you do not know that ahead will come the rocky years filled with trial and tribulation. You are so caught up in the fun and excitement of bringing these little spirits into the world and watching them grow and develop that anything into the future is just not something you can really imagine. I think that is a good thing. I remember all the excitement of expecting my first baby and the planning and preparation that went into getting ready for her to arrive. We did not even know she was going to be a she. We prepared her layette and bought and refinished a little dresser for it. We saved and bought a beautiful blue stroller from Penneys. (It was not called J.C. Penneys back then.) Her port-a-Crib was all set up and waiting for her arrival. There was never any thought on my young mommy's mind that the wonderful experience of making a family would be anything but Heaven from that time on. As the years pass by and life gets going, eventually all families experience the joys and trials of raising a family- or just life in general. Certainly, our life did not stay free from those many trials and tribulations that befall all families. But, you know, as I look at all those pictures of my sweet babies on their birth or blessing day, or having fun with Dad at the beach or around the Christmas tree, I will say that all of life is worth those wonderful memories. One day when we are a family in Eternity, we will most certainly all be able to recall the happy times displayed in those pictures of the past.

Scrapbook page above is our first daughter Kristen Louise, born in Provo, Utah in 1965. I am the exhausted mom in the bed! Scrapbook kit from Scrap Girls. "Express Yourself" by Ro P.

Andrew Comes Home

Hurray! One of our little twin grandsons has finally come home after almost 3 months in the NICU. It is truly a blessing and a miracle from a loving Father in Heaven. I could never imagine the stress and strain that Adam and Trish have experienced for the last several months as they worried and prayed for their two little blessings from Heaven. I, myself, have been in constant prayer throughout each day hoping that each day brought good news about the babies. Medical care has certainly advanced these days and is something every family will someday realize they are thankful for. We certainly are! Now that Andrew is home and the family adjusts to the many things involved in caring for a new baby, we await the homecoming of Aiden. He has always lagged a little bit behind Andrew so has a few more weeks to catch up. They are however, moving him closer to home, to the hospital where he was born but not equipped to care for preemies in their condition. Now it can now accomodate his lesser needs. It will be a big help to Adam and Trish as they will be only a few miles from him and perhaps feel like he has progressed along with his brother toward home. Angels around us? Yes, there are! I would like to say that they are the wonderful nurses in the NICU unit where Andrew and Aiden have resided for these few months. Much love and thanks go out to them and a kind and loving Father in Heaven who provided Aiden and Andrew with good care and healing.