Tuesday

Well, we have another rainy, windy day here in Arcade, NY. I plan to actually go work in my studio for a while today. I need to make Nick's new pajama pants smaller. Brad got them for him for Christmas and they are size 14 and he wears an 8. LOL Nick wants to wear them so badly and has been teasing me to fix them since Christmas. Rachel is taking the boys to see "Bedtime Stories" this afternoon, so that might just be a good time to work.

I heard from Steven this morning and he has been working for a temp agency and work has been hit and miss. He got on a construction job today that will last till at least March, so he was happy about that. He hopes to go back and work at camp this summer.

I will be so glad when all the Christmas goodies are gone. Steve, Rachel and I are going to start dieting after the 1st of the year. We can't decide whether to do South Beach or Weight Watchers. I was thinking maybe a combination of the both of them. We had very good success with South Beach a few years ago and I had compiled a whole notebook of recipes and many were so good. We have asked ourselves why we stopped eating that way when we liked the food so much. All we can come up with is stupidity. Anyway, we need to see if we can even afford Weight Watchers. They are offering free registration so that will help. I was thinking we could count points and eat a lot of the South Beach recipes. Which ever we do we just need to stick to it!! :o)

Quiet Sunday

It was so windy here today. The sun did shine for a little while, but it was definitely a gloomy type day. We got caught up on our chores and got the house back to normal and watched movies with the kids. Oh, and I made an awesome soup using the left over ham. It had potatoes, ham, left over corn, onion, milk and velveeta cheese. It was really good and perfect for a yucky weather day.

Rachel had to drive to Buffalo and work at Old Navy today. She said the wind was actually worse this morning than it was tonight. Reid and his friends attended the Bills vs. Patriots game in Buffalo. He is home safe and sound...we checked. I can't imagine it was too enjoyable in the windy weather, especially when the Bills didn't even score at all. :o(

One more week and the kids will be back in school. We found out that Bradly's bus will be arriving at 6:40 a.m. Ugh It ought to be interesting getting him out the door at that hour. He has been in the hospital and this is his first experience in 5th grade. I am hoping he is welcomed by the other kids and fits right in. At least I have convinced my hubby to take turns with me getting him up and off to school every day. :o)

Christmas is Over!

Well, I don't know how everyone else feels, but I am pooped and as much as I loved the holidays and spending some wonderful time with my family, I am glad it is over. It was a wonderful Christmas despite the changes and those loved ones who were missing. My husband was awesome!! He did most of the cooking and even did the dishes after our holiday ham dinner today.
We loved having Megan and Scott and their two dogs come Friday night and stay until this evening.
By the time the kids went to bed I have to admit to some frayed nerve endings..LOL Tomorrow is a whole new day and I look forward to some quality time with them. Rachel has been a good help too over the holidays. She is so good with Nick and handles him well, which is a huge help. The boys did great over the holidays. Today was the toughest, but they were really wound up and the adults were exhausted..not a good combination..LOL I look forward to getting back to writing daily and keeping everyone up to date with our crazy life. :o)

Christmas Eve

Well, our company just left and the boys will be going to bed soon. Nicholas is so excited about Santa coming. He woke me up this morning asking if we could make some cookies so we could leave cookies and milk out for Santa. Tonight he has already gotten a plate and put the two cookies on it. He is really cute. Bradly has been so sweet about not ruining it for Nick. Brad is loving being home and it seems great to have them both home. The girls got moved. What a circus that was, but it is done. We are watching them for 5 days next week while the dad works, so we will get to see them.

Rachel is off to the neighbors to play "Guitar Hero", and Reid is on his way home, but he called and has a flat tire. It figures! He is waiting for roadside assistance since it is slushy, windy and raining. He just texted Steve and said the tow truck just arrived. Rachel and Reid will be playing Santa and bringing up all the gifts that are wrapped in the basement and putting them under the tree. Our backs would never hold up to toting bags of gifts up the stairs. I will put the stockings together as I have everything wrapped already. Christopher will be joining us tomorrow also. Reid will go pick him up late in the morning and he will stay for dinner. We were glad that he called and asked if he could come. Of course we welcomed him. We tried to get him to come for Thanksgiving, but he wouldn't, so this is a nice surprise.

I would like to wish anyone reading this a very merry Christmas! Enjoy your family. :o)

Almost Ready

Well, tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Christmas seems to have some so much quicker this year. I have everything wrapped except the white chocolate cashew bark that I still need to make for my son-in-law and a couple of gift cards we have yet to buy. It struck me tonight however that we still have a bag of stocking stuffers to wrap. We had Christmas with the girls tonight as they are moving tomorrow. They loved their presents and Brad and Nick handled them opening their gifts very well. They handed out the gifts, although they each opened a present from the girls, so that did help. It is going to be sad to see them leave and I will worry, but they are in God's hands and I do trust him.

Bradly was discharged from the hospital today, and we are all glad about that. It seems nice to have the boys both home. Hopefully we never need to go that route again. I talked to Steven and his box of presents arrived today, but his box of goodies (fudge, cookies ect) did not. The goodies were sent a day earlier than the gifts, so he is getting nervous. I hope the goodie box arrives tomorrow. Reid is driving home from college Wed. evening as he has to work until 6pm. They are calling for nasty weather, so we are praying he gets home before it hits.

Tomorrow we are going to get the lasagna made for Christmas dinner. We will have tossed salad and dinner rolls with it. Making the lasagna the day before allows the flavors to really blend though and makes Christmas day so much easier. Scott and Megan will be here on Sat. to have Christmas, so we are making a ham and mashed potatoes and gravy dinner for them. We will have my mom and dad and Ernie (my husband's brother) that day also. It promises to be a busy week, but an enjoyable one. Love to spend time with my family. So glad the kids did have school today. :o)

Snow, Snow and More Snow

We are due to get up t0 2 more feet of snow by morning accompanied by lots of wind. I am assuming the kids will be having another snow day tomorrow....they are hoping!! I got the apron made for Rachel today and still have one more thing to make before Christmas. Steve made some banana bread as we had some bananas we were going to lose if we didn't do something with them. I made a small batch of Mexican wedding cake cookies with a maraschino in the middle. Steve actually faced the weather and went out and grilled steaks for dinner. We had raw fried potatoes and green beans as well as brussel sprouts (one of my favorites). This is short as it is already midnight and I may actually have to get up and get kids off to school, although I really doubt it. :o)

Feels Like Sunday

It has been a strange few days. Yesterday seemed like Saturday all day, probably because the kids had a snow day from school. Today has felt like Sunday all day, and then I remember it is Saturday and I feel so happy that the weekend isn't really over. Tomorrow is Sunday again and you all know what that means...right?? It is my day to sleep in and Steve gets up with the kids. :o)

We had the nicest day at my parents house today. One of my sweetypie nieces, Liz, comes up every year for a Christmas dinner with my parents. and we always go too. Her boyfriend, Tony, is really nice and Nicholas adores him. Tony went down and played ping pong with him and then they rough housed a bit and then played big, Lego blocks together. Of course, Nick made a gun out of his and shot Tony a few times. LOL Liz brought her nephew/Godson who is a little over a month old. Nick loved him to pieces and of course Rachel thought he was adorable. We all did!! It was nice to hold such a tiny baby again. He was unbelievably alert and sweet.

Well, it is almost bedtime for the kids. The girls spent part of the day with their father and arrived home about 7:30 pm. They will be moving back with him after living with us over a year and a half. It is going to be so hard on all of us. They are moving on Christmas Eve day, Dec. 24th. Bradly is being discharged from C.P.C. on Dec. 23rd, so we are going to celebrate him being home and have Christmas with the girls Tues. night. It will be nice to have Brad home again and have our family back together again permanently. Now I am going to play a game I love on line called "Wordscape". It is relaxing and I just thought of it the other day and loaded it onto the new computer. I used to play alot before starting my Etsy businesses, but haven't had the time in months and months, so I am enjoying it. :o)

Very Nice Day

I have to say that today was just so enjoyable. I got the laundry room straightened and actually put away the bread making machine, which sat on the counter next to the washing machine, away in the cupboard. We haven't used it in a long time, but didn't want to get rid of it, so now it is out of the way, but it is there when we want it. Anyway, I put away the clutter that had collected on that counter and cleaned it good. Wow, what lot of room that gave me. I put containers of fudge and choc. covered pretzels out there and it is so much better than sitting on my kitchen counters. I put lots of clothes away and reclaimed the laundry room..LOL

Steve made his mom's white peanut butter fudge recipe that is his brothers favorite. Now that his mom is gone, Steve makes some every year. It turned out really good, and is cut and put away. My hubby made a great dinner consisting of french toast, sausage and scrambled eggs. Mmmm...it was so good. I did the dishes and Rachel played a game with the kids. We watched a movie, and just had a really enjoyable day. Tomorrow, we go to my mom's to have a Christmas dinner with my neice, Liz, and her boyfriend, Tony. I love getting to see Liz, but I can't help but remember how nice it was in years past when all my brothers, sisters-in-laws and neices and nephew all got together to have a Christmas celebration. At the time it was kind of crazy and tiring, but looking back, it was really nice. How come it seems we don't appreciate what we have until we don't have it any more. That is one thing I hope I can get through to my kids...enjoy the place you are at and the loved ones in your life. :o)

The Wrapping is Done

Whew...I was starting to think I would never finish all the gift wrapping, but alas, I finished today. At least I am done until the rest of the gifts are delivered. LOL We still have all the stocking stuffers to wrap, but I don't worry about that, as I can squeeze that in between other jobs.

I sold another one of my owl bags today. This is the first time I was asked to gift wrap an item. The purse was for a little girl out in Wisconsin. I think I have sold 6 owl purses now and have 2 left. That is a pattern I created quite some time ago, and I guess after the holidays I had better get some more made (might as well be optimistic).

They are calling for a really bad snow storm tonight after midnight. They think another will hit us Sunday and then one on Christmas Eve. Of course that worries me as Reid has to work until 6 pm at Walmart where he works in Brockport, then he will be making the 1 1/2 hour drive home. I am hoping they are wrong about that storm. Time will tell. :o)

Pleasantly Surprised

I assumed that I really wouldn't have any sales in either shop this week or next week due to Christmas being so close. I was very pleasantly surprised when I got an order for my last mans chef apron this week as well as a child's apron. I sent one of my tattoo bags to Scotland, which was very cool. I have felt very good that I have used some of the money I made that is in my paypal account, and bought many of our Christmas gifts with it. I also did some trading with a couple of people which helped us all out. Almost everyone is getting something homemade from etsy this year. I can't wait for Christmas to see what everyone thinks of their gifts. :o)

I Have to Share Another Recipe :o)

Well, we got lots of wrapping done today, but we are far from done. When we stopped wrapping I took a break and then I tackled making "Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles". I almost forgot about them. I made them for the first time last year and everyone loved them. This year I made a double batch thinking how great it would be not to run out. What I wasn't thinking about was how long it would take to roll a double batch into balls and then dip them all in melted chocolate. Ugh, I thought I would never be done, but alas I am done and they are all put away in tins. I thought I would share this recipe as it is actually quite easy and very well liked. As long as I had the table covered with truffles, I decided to do my Christmas pretzels too. I use the small knots and lay them as close together as possible on waxed paper. I then use a fork and drizzle white, red and green melted chocolate wafers back and forth until they all have some of each color. After that, I just let it harden, break them apart and store in a ziplock bag. These make a great treat to send to school for the kids school party....not too much sweet, but enough to enjoy that great taste of salty and sweet together. :o)

COOKIE DOUGH TRUFFLES

1/2 cup softened butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups flour
1 (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 teas. vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional..I do not use)
1 1/2 lbs. chocolate wafers

1) In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy
2) Add the flour, milk and vanilla; mix well
3) Stir in chocolate chips and nuts
4) Shape into 1 inch balls; place on wax paper lined baking sheets
5) Loosely cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours until firm
6) Melt choc. wafers in a double boiler or microwave, stirring often until smooth
7) Dip balls in coating; place back on the waxed paper lined cookie sheets.
8) Refrigerate until firm, about 15 min. (I just let them set up on the table)
9) If desired drizzle the tops with more melted chocolate (I drizzle with white choc.)
10) Store int he refrigerator

Makes about 66 depending on how much you nibble while making them..LOL

Found a New Recipe

I thought I would blog early today since we have a busy day ahead of us. We accomplished all the baking and candy making that we intended to over the weekend. It feels really good to have so much done. Now if only all those presents were wrapped...LOL We have not wrapped a thing yet, and we need to wrap, pack and ship our son in Texas a box of Christmas gifts and a box of samples of all the goodies we have made. He is really missing the cookies and fudge. Anyway, that is on our agenda for today. Don't you know that the day we have to ship these things, plus and order for a bag that needs to ship to Scotland, they said on the news last night is the busiest shipping day at the post office. That figures...the lines will be long I am sure. Anyway, I wanted to share this new recipe we found this year. We have always made thumbprint cookies for Christmas, but they were such a pain to make. You had to roll the ball, roll the balls in egg white, roll the balls in nuts, imprint them and put the jelly in and bake. Whew..what a pain. We found a recipe that is way easier and the taste is out of this world. Here it is. :o)

RASPBERRY AND ALMOND SHORTBREAD THUMBPRINTS

1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teas. almond extract
2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

1/2 cup confectionary sugar
3/4 teas. almond extract
1 teas. milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, cream together butter and white sugar until smooth. Mix in 1/2 teas. almond extract. Mix in flour until dough comes together. Roll 1 1/2 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Make a small hole in center of each ball, using your thumb and finger and fill the hole with preserves. Bake 14 to 18 minutes or until just lightly browned. Let cool 1 minute on the cookie sheet. Ina medium bowl, mix together the confectionary sugar, 3/4 teas. almond extract, and milk until smooth. Drizzle lightly over warm cookies. Makes about 30 cookies.

Try Making this Recipe

This is such a simple recipe and your kids can easily help make them. This is probably the number one holiday favorite at our house. The trick is keeping everyone out of them so we have some left for Christmas. My family has had this recipe about 40 years because my brother made them in second grade and brought home the recipe. They are his favorite candy to this day!! Leave me some feedback if you try making them.

Peanut Butter Balls

1/4 cup confectionery sugar
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup peanut butter

Mix confectionery sugar and chocolate chips together. Add the sweetened condensed milk and then the peanut butter. Mix very well.

Shape into 1" balls and place on waxed paper. Let candy set a bit and then store in an air tight container with waxed paper between the layers. Store in refrigerator.

*****OPTIONAL.... I always drizzle melted chocolate wafers over balls while they are still on the waxed paper just to make them look fancier. The original recipe did not do this.

I Love Saturday Night

Sunday morning is the one morning each week that I get to sleep in. I get up during the week and on Saturday with the kids and Steve gets up on Sunday mornings. It is wonderful and I look forward to it. By the time I get up, the kids have had their meds, eaten breakfast, and the coffee is made. I love to get a cup of coffee and look at the new Target ad. Funny how we get certain routines in our lives.

We all thought our oldest daughter was going to have to have surgery today and were quite relieved when it turned out she didn't need it after all. I appreciate so much the way our family rallies around and you know you can count on them to pray and be there for us. We have a wonderful family and I appreciate them so much...I think sometimes I just don't tell the people I love enough, how much they mean to me. Sounds like a good thing to work on during the new year.

On another note, we got some Christmas baking done today. It was nice because Rachel was here and she pitched in and helped too. We made peanut butter balls, thumbprint cookies, Scottish shortbread, and more penuche fudge (as the other got eaten). Steve also got cream cheese sugar cookies mixed up and ready to bake tomorrow. This is a new recipe this year and they are awesome. We also used a new thumbprint recipe and it is even better than the old one. Maybe tomorrow I will share these great recipes. :o)

Friday is Coming!!

Oh yeah, tomorrow is Friday, and that will mean I survived having two extra kids for two days. They are actually very nice kids, but the boy is a handful. He likes LOTS of attention and get very loud and a bit obnoxious trying to get it. I got a phone call this morning to see if I could keep them for the weekend too.....I had to say no to that because my guys have enough problems getting along and to throw 2 more in the mix for the weekend...no way. I have gotten smarter in my old age and have learned to say "No" when I need to. Best to maintain my sanity..LOL

I finished my other monkey purse today. I got the idea to use a pair of earrings Rachel bought quite a while ago and only wore 1 or 2 pair off the card, and I gave the monkey pierced ears. I think it looks really cute, but then I am prejudice. I am psyched because I had been admiring a couple of bracelets in someones shop. I noticed she had marked some of my things as favorites, so I wrote and asked her if she would like to trade. She was really glad to, so I am trading for two really pretty bracelets for myself. :o)

Respite

Wow, we told D.S.S. that we would do a respite for another foster family for two days. Oh my goodness. The kids are 11 year old twins..boy and girl. The boy might make me crazy by Friday. LOL He is sweet, but quite loud and obnoxious. I have a whole new respect for this other foster family, that is for sure.

I finally finished my first furry monkey purse. I designed the pattern months ago, and finally have gotten around to making one. I have a darker brown one all cut out and embroidered and just need to sew it. Hopefully I will get that one made tomorrow. We have to take our foster daughters for counseling tomorrow, but hopefully after that. :o)

Two Sales Today

I was starting to get a bit nervous because I had not had a sale in a few days.....then boom I got an order for a ballerina bag and a little while later I sold a childrens art/chef apron. Those sales sure lifted my spirits. I loved the three ballerina bags I had made and wondered why they weren't selling, so that felt nice. :o) I really like these little aprons I have listed, and this morning I was trying to think of a way to promote them. I decided to offer free U.S. and Canadian shipping on all aprons, both adult and childrens from Dec. 9th-Dec.14th. I don't know if the sale of this apron was based on that promotion, but I will take it. It would be really cool if buyers would leave a note under "note to seller", and tell me how they found my shop. It would be nice to know which methods of publicity are the ones working. LOL I really LOVE having these two etsy stores and I think it has been good for me.

I am working on two really cute monkey purses. I had some fabric that is perfect...kind of furry. I had drawn up a design quite a while ago, and this is the first chance I have had to try it out. I hope they turn out as cute as I think they are going to be. As soon as I get them listed I will put a pic here on my blog for all to see. :o)

Christmas Won't Be The Same

We just hung the stockings we will need this year for Christmas, and I think that really made me realize how different Christmas is going to be this year. Last year we needed 9 stockings and this year we need 4. That is really kind of depressing because it means we will have 5 less loved ones to spend this special holiday with. Megan and Scott will be having Christmas with Scott's family in Canada, and Steven is living in Texas and can't afford to come home. Our two foster daughters, Megan and Joyce will be going to live with their dad on Dec. 24th. Don't know yet about Chris, but I doubt very much he will choose to be with us either.

On a happier note, we got some Christmas shopping done today. I do love shopping at Target. At least we pretty much know what we are getting everyone, so that is a big thing. We got our tree decorated yesterday and it looked nice except for the dark spot in the middle where the lights died. We bought more today, so that is ok. Our two cats must have had quite a rowdy time last night, because there were ornaments on the floor this morning and sadly, the ornament Steve has had that belonged to his Grandma, and is older than he is, was broken all over the floor. He was sad over that to be sure. The tree skirt was in a bunch out from under the tree and had to be all arranged again. The cats have both been scolded and have promised to behave better tonight..LOL

My hubby is busy baking the cutouts that got mixed up on Sat., and we just didn't have the time to finish until today. We have planned and easy supper consisting of pancakes and eggs and possibly sausage (not sure we have any). The kids love that and so do we actually...plus it is pretty simple. :o)

Relaxing Sunday

Wow, we got quite a bit of snow overnight, and it is blowing. I told the kids that if it had been a school day, they probably would have had a snow day. Actually it is a great day to decorate the tree and the rest of the house as well as baking some Christmas cookies.

One of the blogs I follow is a culinary one and they had the most awesome sounding cheesecake bars listed today. We are quite fond of cheesecake at our house, so I think I am going to try these. Here is the link if you care to take a look. http://desertculinary.blogspot.com/2008/12/white-chocolate-raspberry-cheesecake.html

So anyway, I think today is a great day to just relax and do some fun things with kids. I need to go check out my monkey fabric as someone e-mailed me about making one in an adult size. They had seen the child sized one I have listed. I don't think I have enough fabric left, but I will check and see. :o)

Goodies for the Christmas Season

Our daughter and her hubby are here from their home in Canada, and they were talking about fudge and how much they love it. They have gone to the craft show for a bit, so I decided to make them some Penuche fudge. Our whole family loves it and it is so easy and fool proof, that I thought I should share it. You can have it all finished and cooling in about 15 minutes as long as your walnuts are already chopped. So here is the recipe. If anyone tries it, let me know how you like it. It is just as good or better than the kind you cook on the stove and have to use a candy thermometer. So here it is.

Penuche Fudge

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
2/3 cup butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk (NOT EVAPORATED)
1 1/2 teas. vanilla

1) Spread the walnuts in a glass pie plate and microwave uncovered on high for 6 or 7 min. stirring three times, until lightly toasted.

2) Line an 8"x8" square pan with tin foil (bottom and up the sides) and lightly spray with Pam or something like it.

3) In a 2 1/2 or 3 quart microwave safe glass bowl melt the butter in the microwave.

4) Remove from the microwave and stir in the milk and brown sugar until well blended and microwave uncovered on high for 7-9 minutes and is a med. caramel color. Stir at least 4 times while it is cooking.

5) Remove from microwave and beat with an electric mixer for 3-4 min.

6) Add the toasted walnuts and beat for another minute until the mixture is shining.

7) Pour into tinfoil lined pan and spread evenly.

8) Let cool and lift it out of the pan, removing the tinfoil and cut into pieces.

I store in an airtight container in the fridge.

No More Stress

Yup, the stress is off. All my stuff is at the craft show which opens Sat. from 9 am till 4pm. Rachel and her best friend Amanda will be sitting there all day for me, so now I can just relax and not feel like I have to be sewing and getting more things made. The girls are excited about running my table and I am excited to have them do it. LOL I think all the spots were taken so it should be a really good show. I had a huge piece of Christmas fabric to cover the two tables I rented, but when we got there, the tables were in an "L" shape. A very nice women helped us figure how to do the corner so I wouldn't have to cut the fabric. It actually worked out quite nicely. Now the girls just need to set the things out tomorrow morning. We didn't dare set our stuff out for fear of something getting stolen. Our table is the first one right by the door when you walk in, which is an awesome spot. That means we will be the last table they see on the way out. This is good because I always check out everything, and then go back and buy. Tomorrow I will let you know if it was a success or a flop. Either way, it only cost $15 for the two tables so it was worth it. :o)

Hashbrown Potato Casserole

I just e-mailed this recipe to my oldest daughter as she requested. I got to thinking it would be a great recipe to share, especially with the holidays fast approaching. My mom makes this every year for the family Christmas dinner she hosts either right before or right after Christmas. She serves it with chicken cor. don .bleu and green bean casserole. It is always a hit. For this reason, my children call it Christmas casserole, but believe me, it is good any time of year. Give it a try and me know what you think. :o)

HASHBROWN POTATO CASSEROLE

1 - 2 lb. frozen hashbrown potatoes or shredded

3/4 stick butter

2 cups sour cream

small amount dehydrated onion

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup (cream of mushroom works too)

1 teas. salt

1/2 teas. black pepper

Mix together and place into a greased 9x13 pan


Topping

2 cups crushed corn flakes
3/4 stick of butter, melted

Mix and spread over potato mixture and bake uncovered and bake at 350 degrees about an hour..

Not much time

Well, I just don't seem to have enough time in the day. I have been working hard getting things made for the craft show this weekend. There are so many things I would like to have done. On top of that, this is the busy time for my business with people doing their Christmas shopping. So, when you don't see a post on here, or at least much of one, you will know I am just too busy. LOL

Steve and I are usually pretty much done Christmas shopping by now and we are no where near that. We don't even have our tree up yet and that usually goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving. Once we get through this weekend, hopefully we can get on track.

I wanted to wish my sister-in-law good luck today as I believe she took her pharmacy assistant exam. I would be willing to bet that she aced it. :o)

Hurts

As a parent, no matter how old your children get, you wish you could spare them the sorrow and pains that come in life. When you are in the middle of the sadness, you forget that these are the times that help us all grow in our christian faith and these times help us to become more compassionate to others.

Our daughter and son-in-law lost the baby Megan was carrying this weekend. I wish there was a way to take their pain and disappointment from them, but it isn't possible. The important thing is for them to know that their family and friends love them and support them. They don't have to go through this time alone and we are all here for them. :o)