the smell of home

This weekend I went home ( Montgomery ) for my nephew's Senior Recognition at my home church. This was of course a special time. I was accompanied by my two youngest children for the trip. We don't live far ( Huntsville area) from home. When we arrived at my parents home and I opened the door of the vehicle, the aroma swept over me. There was a mixture of roses, jasmine, gardenia, and honeysuckle. It immediately brought a rush of childhood memories too me. It amazes me how God designed the senses for memory recall. It was such a priceless moment, a private party for me to enjoy. The fragrant breeze coupled with the warm sun was a gift from my creator to me.

Later that evening we went on a walk, my Mom and nephew Mason went with us. We went to feed the ducks and we struck gold, gold and white honeysuckle. My poor nephew had never had honeysuckle. We taught him how to tear off the bottom and squeeze the sweet nectar out. He was delighted, and although he had 9 stitches in his mouth , he was able to enjoy the treat, he loved it.

Again we were blessed by our creator. Even though my little MaryEsther was afraid someone could have peed on the plants. I am praying not !!

Dark Clouds

Have you ever thought there was a dark cloud looming over you and your household? We have had more car problems in one month than in years. We have had our fridge break and had to wait 3 weeks to get a check for the new one ( thanks to our home warranty). For 2 weeks had no fridge, we were innovative with a cooler system. Thankfully our neighbors let us borrow their extra one.

All of these things have only been minor inconveniences. In actuality we are blessed with a family unit that can with stand such craziness. It hasn't been easy, but has forced us to be creative. We have also had to ask for help. That has never been my strong suit. Letting people see our weaknesses and receiving help is difficult for me.

I have awakened in the night for no apparent reason. I feel that God allowed me to wake up to pray. I have been praying a hedge of protection for my household ( and my neighbors too). I am sure through all this He is growing us to truly depend upon Him for everything.

I know that God is in control no matter how out of control I am. Isn't that a great thing?

What $30 a month can do

We have an addition to our family. He is four years old. His name is Rony. His lives in a thatched roof house with a dirt floor in Haiti.

He has recently been sponsored by my youngest son through New Missions organization. The money Jackson sends will allow Rony to go to school ( no public schools) and one hot meal a day. I tell you this not to brag on my son but to show you how you can change someones life with your generosity. The school he will go to will teach him 4 languages, but most importantly it will teach him that Jesus loves him .

Our friend Brent Gambrell is on the board of this amazing ministry and travels there numerous times throughout the year. He told Jackoson he would photograph and video him receiving care packages from him.

Jackson is so excited about his new brother he took his picture to church yesterday.

Maybe you should consider how you can change your world.

hoe cakes

Ok a family tradition for my family(Wray) is breakfast suppers. We would often have hoe cakes, eggs, and link sausage for supper.

My favorite thing about the hoecake is that my father would make mine in a itty bitty iron skillet, kinda like a personal pan pizza size. Ofcourse, I couldn't eat the whole thing by self but it was for me.

My Mom is the biscuit maker and Dad, the hoecake maker. Neither of these things did I learn to make until recently. My oldest child was introduced to the hoecake when we went home for Thanksgiving. My Dad made my special hoecake and my brother snuck and stole it. How Rude !!! And he DID eat the whole thing.

Christmas morning my Dad made them again and I payed attention. One problem neither he or my Mom use recipes for these items. So I googled and found a recipe that I played with. Here is how it went.

You will need buttermilk, self rising flour, butter, and crisco. Cut up the cold butter and add to flour, mix and add buttermilk. Pour in greased skillet, cook either stove top and flip or in over. You can see they brown fast , Yummy!!! So good, kids love them, but they are very fattening.

Fast Forward to today

Here is what you have missed:

Jackson's trip to the ER, bloody eye, nose, mouth.....recieved popsicle from attending physician.
Cause of accident, drama over hermit crab.......4 days later crab dies, gets funeral.
Jackson gets 2 more sympathy crabs ( he really didn't want them ).
Thanksgiving.....eating.....shopping......eating.....shopping ( did learn how to make homemade hoe cakesm flour, not corn meal)
Christmas turbo speed with two boys playing basketball, while training for baseball and a daughter competing in cheerleading.
Illness, knee and back injuries for the hubby, not to mention all the doc appts I made him before our insurance changed.
Youth trip...take down decoratons....house guest.....broken car....no money to pay for problem...borrow friends truck.....crab race....crab dies.....crab funeral.....still have one left.


o.k. so know maybe tomorrow i can give you all a real post. Oh, Jackson adopted a child from haiti... Look for more about our new addition !! Pray for Rony.

Daddy's Little Girl

 

I am my daddy's little girl.  Still.  Which I think is great.  WE took this picture a couple of weeks ago while at a family gathering.   I have a lot of pictures with my Mom, but this is one of the only pictures I have taken recently with my Daddy. 

My Dad really spoiled my Mom and me.  When I became a young lady, if you know what I mean, my Dad was the one who would buy my supplies.  This was awkward as you can imagine but he would always include a little surprise of candy or gum. It was always in a brown bag folded down.

He also would write notes on cards and place them in my lunch ( My Mom did too).  That was really cute until he started speaking as if he was my bed and inquired why I never made it up, he was trying to sneak discipline in to my fun note, not cool,

He drove me to school most mornings ( he worked night shift and slept while we were in school) and put up with me and my bff blabbering over teenage girl stuff. 

 

When I was sick he would always buy me cherry ludens cough drops which tasted like candy and not cough drops, that was a major plus.

He never complained that I would chew all his Freedent green gum and I mean all, I think I lived off of gum and koolaid mixed with sugar.  I would eat it with a spoon.

He was nonconfrontational with me, which was a major plus, I don't like conflict, still don't.  I prefer to bury my head and not deal, just like Dad ( My Mom really loves this about us both bless her heart). 

 

My husband said that my Dad hung the moon and it is his job to hang the stars.  I am a lucky girl!!

Fright Night

 

We took a little road trip this weekend to Atlanta.  It was a fun filled trip.  We started our trip at Six Flags Friday evening.  We told the kids if we could get coupons for the park we would go.  We searched the local fast food restaurants for the coupons.  That search took us to a McDonalds one exit past Six Flags that had the BOGO coupons.  We decided we would eat there too.  As we were exiting the vehicle, an older gentlemen flagged us down.  He told us we did not need to eat there, this was a dangerous area and we should leave.  So back in the suburban we went towards Six Flags.  We went to another fast food restaurant at that exit too save time adn money, NOT !!  WE wasted 45 minutes waiting on the order , that was messed up, no surprise here.

 

Finally we arrived at the park to begin our adventure.  Our kids love thrill rides and were looking forward to the coasters. It happened to be Fright Feast at the park.  There were freaky looking people there to scare us.  Yes, we payed to be spooked.

While the big kids were on the Scorcher, little man and I decide to take in a monster show, or so I think.  I was thinking along the lines of Beetle Juice.  It wasn't.

They were blowing that fake fog all over the place.  Little man is asthmatic so we moved back away from that, BLESSING.  The show stared and dead people rose up from graves thrashing all over the floor, singing and moaning.  All the sudden I look down the aisle and see a dead man crawling on the floor grabbing people from behind.  I immediately jumped up and grabbed little man.  I am ready to race to the door , when dead man crawls toward me to grab my leg, I yelled NO and kept going.  I had to work hard to find the exit behind a black velvet curtain.  When we got out of the show, I realized I had little man in a choke hold.  His poor little neck and chest were red from my massive wrestling move.  I felt so bad!!  Luckily I hadn't terrified him too much.  It was crazy.  After I recovered from that episode. WE did have a great time.  I was prepared to find scary clowns and other monsters to jump out at us from anywhere.

Pretty huh?

 

We did have a lot of fun riding bumper cars.  It was my mission for me and little man to get everyone else !

Jackson was finally tall enough to ride the swings, the Big Ones.  I don't like them but rode them to protect him.

The most memorable event of the evening was Neal's cell phone going overboard on Goliath.  Now that was very unfortunate.