Jenny's Pearls

I heard this story on my favorite christian radio station yesterday, and it brought tears to my eyes.  It's great to be reminded that just like Jenny's father, my Heavenly father has something bigger and better in mind for me.  All I have to do is stop hanging on to the smaller, less great things.

 

The cheerful girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them: a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box.

"Oh please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please!" Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face.

"A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma." As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her piggy bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores. She went to the neighbor, Mrs. McJames, and asked if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere--Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother had told her that if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night when he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do you love me?"

"Oh yes, Daddy. You know that I love you."

"Then may I have your pearls?"

"Oh, Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess--the white horse from my collection. The one with the pink tail. Remember, Daddy? The one you gave me. She's my favorite."

"That's okay, honey. Daddy loves you. Good night." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?"

"Daddy, you know I love you."

"Then will you give me your pearls?"

"Oh, Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is so beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper."

"That's okay, Honey. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you." And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss. A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian-style. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.

"What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?"

Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. When she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here, Daddy. It's for you." With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's kind daddy reached out with one hand to take the prized necklace. With the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case. He handed the handsome velvet case to Jenny and told her, "Thank you for giving me your most prized possesion that you even saved for all by yourself. Here Honey, I have this for you also. I wanted to trade you, but I was going to give these to you tonight either way."

As Jenny pryed open the blue velvet box, so nice a thing itself she'd never known, the glistening white sheen of the rich genuine pearls struck her teary eyes.



 

 

 

Another Sometimes and Always day...

I'm linking up with Mackey Madness today. I haven't written in a good while... I guess life has gotten in the way. :)  I am quite certain it will stay that way too, since I started my final semester before my Associates degree yesterday and my son is now in 1st grade.

SOMETIMES :I want to write about all the happenings in my life

Always:
I remember this is world wide and not everyone wants to read about or needs to read about my every move and decision.   :)

Sometimes :
I look at all the hard work ahead of me and groan and mumble....

ALWAYS:
I try to look at how far I've come and how very worth it all of this work will be.

Sometimes :
I watch the weather and will it to affect various places.

ALWAYS:

I laugh when it does,  but I hope no one is hurt... well... lol most everyone. :)

Sometimes & Always

Sometimes:  I can't sleep in the middle of the night, so I blog from my Droid..

Always:  I save those posts as drafts to edit from my computer the next day when I'm awake good so my readers don't have to be victims of horrible misspellings and sentences that don't make sense. : )

 

Sometimes:   I think I could go to work baking and decorating big elaborate cakes and love my job forever!

I love this cake... wish I could do these things

 Always: I know that I want to help others... and that social work is probably the better idea... no matter how much fun I think being a baker would be!

 

Sometimes:  I only have a drink for breakfast... most of the time it's Pepsi ... sometimes a cup of coffee.

Always:  I'm starving an hour or two later

 

Sometimes:  I pin lots of alcoholic drinks to my drink board on Pinterest although I hardly drink at all

These three drinks make a "Smoretini"

Always:  I worry that people will think badly of me for it.

                                               

I'm linking up to the Sometimes and Always  blog hop at Mackey Madness today. :)

                                              



Our trip across Texas

Thursday Payton and I loaded up my car with everything it seems in the house but the kitchen sink and set off down the road.  We traveled through many small towns and saw many sights.   Payton and I had the privilege of seeing a camel in a pasture.  I also spotted this sign as I drove, it made me laugh.. these type things are only in tiny East Texas "Redneck" towns. : )

Notice their sign reads Licker instead of Liquor. Lovely spelling folks.

Freebirds World Burrito is where we stopped for lunch in Aggieland, College Station, Texas. Payton had a steak fajita quesadilla and a taco, I sampled the fajita tacos as well.  It was so yummy!! Payton was entertained for a long time looking at all of things people had sculpted out of their foil burrito wrappers.  All I can say is people are really talented! Payton loved "bird free" and couldn't wait to go back again.    After a good 30-45 minutes, we were on the road again.

We drove another five hours or so before we arrived at the house where we would stay for five days.  It felt so good to step out of that car and see a sweet smiling face.  It was even better to see Payton so excited to be there.  We had a pepperoni pizza for dinner and called it a night.

The next day Payton and I just enjoyed the morning together.  Later on Payton was invited to go swimming with the neighbor's children.  They had a big time trying to outdo each other with stunts into the pool.  Payton would run about 30 feet, then basically do a flip into the pool.  It was scary to watch, thinking he could break an arm or leg, but really cool at the same time.

 

Payton's feet are sticking up out of the pool :)

  I'm happy to report none of the kids ages 4,6 and 6 were injured in the fun. : )  We then visited a tank of blue crabs.  Payton had great fun trying to scoop them up with a dip net, to get a better look and holding one that had it's pinchers removed.  Later on, we got Payton dried off and we went to see Ice Age 4: Continental Drift.

The movie was super cute.  Payton really liked the lion, for the time being, his name has slipped my  mind.  He really liked when Manny, Sid and the lion took over the pirates ship and I'm sure much much more.

Saturday we loaded up and headed to the beach for the day.  We arrived on the beach about 10:45/11:00am.  We stopped to buy bait so that we could fish.  Apparently this stop was well worth it.  We had so much fun catching the 10 or more Whiting we brought home to eat.  We spent all day playing in the waves and fishing. Payton found his first hermit crab and marveled at how little it was.  We spent the next hour and a half looking for more and looking at the differences in their shells.  This trip was so greatly needed.  I was truly happy and couldn't have been more relaxed.  Around 4:00 we had finally been in the sun long enough and headed home for some time out of the sun.

He couldn't wait to go fishing!

 

Sunday was spent mostly indoors until the late afternoon when we went fishing on the local jetties.  Payton cast the first line and was the first to catch a fish.  He caught a 21 inch Speckled Trout! 

 Everyone was so incredibly proud of him!  I think this would have made his day... he had no clue what else was to come.  In the next couple of hours , we caught another big Speckled Trout as well as are you ready for this?  We caught 4, let me repeat myself, 4 Black tip sharks!!  Payton caught one on his new fishing pole he had just gotten for his birthday! Each of these sharks were at least 3 feet in length.  It was really neat to be that close to a shark, to see one up close and in person.  Payton can't wait to tell his friends, although he thinks they won't believe him.  At least we have the pictures to prove it! 

Our whole trip was awesome!  I can't wait to do it again before long!  Hope you all have a great week!

Summertime

Watch "Kenny Chesney - Summertime" on YouTube

My son and I began our summer trip yesterday. This is what summer is all about. A nice drive with your baby, listening to the road, the radio and the sound of my six year old chattering away.

It's great. I have sure loved the sense of peace and relaxation this trip has brought to me, just in the last 24hrs.

Totally not wanting this to end!

Happy weekend everyone!

A Monster of a Party

Payton turned six in the first week of July.  We held his birthday party on the lake the weekend after. This year he decided he wanted to have a Monster Truck themed party.  Payton and his papa often play Monster Jam Urban Assault on his PlayStation2.  He knows each truck by name.

We had so much fun!

He had a monster truck cake:

Texas heat combined with Payton sticking his finger in the buttercream caused a slight crack in the cake.

     The wind blew so hard that day.

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We chose Crush drinks in Orange, Strawberry and Grape for party drinks , since Monster Trucks CRUSH cars.We also wrapped checkered flag Duck Tape around water bottles. 

This little boy loved licking the frosting off the wheels of the monster truck that once sat on his cake.

 All the kids munching on yummy

 Chocolate Cake with chocolate filling.

The Monster Truck tire floaties.

 

 Of course I had to try one out. :)

Everyone had fun in the lake trying to do their best tricks.

Payton's Uncle Cody was first to do a flip off of my dad's shoulders.

Then it was Aunt Jackie's turn.

Followed by Papa.

 

And after everyone else was done..

 momma tried it... this is my splash. :)

We all had a go on the slip and slide too!

We wanted Jake to be included in the party, so when it was over, we sent him one of Payton's balloons.

    The sunset on party day was beautiful. 

 It was a great way to  end a great day

 with close friends and family. <3

  

Currently

I am feeling the need to blog today, but don't really know what to blog over... so i'm stealing the currently blog from my mother.

Attempting to:  Since yesterday, I have been attempting to understand why the gunman in Colorado would shoot so many innocent people and kill 12 people including small children.  Our world is so violent.  I hate it.  I hate having to be afraid for our lives when we go places. 

Excited About:  I am super excited about the trip Payton and I are going on at the end of the week.  There is a beach with sun and sand in our future, along with fishing and relaxation.  This week needs to hurry by.

Listening to: I am listening to Tom and Jerry on Cartoon Network.  Payton is in love with Tom and Jerry and the Looney Toons... it's all we watch during the day. :)

Hating:  That so many good friends of mine are in great pain and have more to bear right now than most are dealt in a lifetime.

Looking forward to:  I am looking forward to graduating in the Fall.  It has been a goal of mine for far too long now.  It's finally in my reach.

Reading:  I just finished Heaven is for Real not long ago.  I am now reading thanks to my good friend Lynsey, who is also a baby loss mommy, I will Carry You, by Angie Smith.  Angie is the wife of lead singer for the Christian group, Selah.  It is a great , heartfelt book about her feelings and walk with the Lord as she finds out her daughter is "incompatible with life" and continues her pregnancy knowing her daughter will pass away.

Stumbled Upon:
I stumbled upon this on Pinterest the other day, and thought it was pretty funny, hope it makes you laugh a little.

   

 

Watching:  Lately I have been watching lots of Snake and Alligator shows on Tv with Payton.  We have been watching Swamp Wars in between Tom and Jerry episodes, also Swamp People and Gator Boys.  It's pretty interesting, and some days you actually learn something.  Payton knows all of the venomous snakes in the south now, I'm quite certain.

 

Spending Time:  I am currently spending a lot of time in prayer.  I am also spending time talking to those I love and care for, making sure I am there for them when they need me the most.

 

Hope you have a great Saturday afternoon!

Sometimes & Always

Sometimes: I want to go buy myself something nice. Always: I end up getting something for my son and nothing for me. Sometimes : I don't drive my car for a week Always: I'm glad to be in it again. :) I'm sure it misses me. Sometimes : I feel like wearing make-up Always: there's at least one item I can't find, like mascara. Link up at Mackey Madness today and share what you think Sometimes and Always. :)

Sometimes and Always Link Up

Today, I am trying something new.

I am linking my blog to Megan's at Mackey Madness.  :)

Sometimes:  I want to be the beautiful mother with nice clean shoes, tan legs and beautifully done hair.

Always:   Life gets in the way... my shoes sometimes mirror my time spent with my son in the chicken pen and outdoors at our rural country home, my legs show the time spent indoors with him and my hair is in a ponytail.

Sometimes:   I wish for things I don't have and think I need or deserve.

Always:   I am grateful for my family, my home and my God.

Sometimes: I want to be the person that has someone to rely on for help when I need it or a good conversation.

Always: I love being the person who is there for other people and ready to lend a helping hand or an ear to listen.

Hope you all have a Great Tuesday!

Payton's Birthday

Saturday the 7th was my eldest son Payton's SIXTH birthday. 

This is so very hard for me to believe.  Time flies by so quickly.  It has already been six years since I brought home that tiny 6 pound boy wearing preemie clothes.

  Now he weighs close to 90 pounds.

Payton has been looking forward to his birthday since January.  

Since June he has been counting down the days.  He would ask me at least every other day if after that day it would be his birthday.  

Friday morning started out just like any other, Payton came and woke me up and we sat on the couch watching his favorite show the Looney Tunes.  I got a phone call that changed our weekend.  We were going to have company!

Payton and I waited patiently all day long.  I finally convinced him we needed to go into town to run some errands.  He had no clue his mommy was surprising him.  We dropped by Fed-Ex place and returned my book I had used for Environmental Biology, then we ran by the carwash and attempted to wash my car... I covered it in soap, then the time ran out and the change machine wouldn't take my dollars.  So we loaded up and went to the other car wash in town.  That one wouldn't take my dollars either.  So, my car still has soap on it.  : )


After a quick trip to Wal-Mart after that, and we could finally go meet our company. We had so much fun! We went to the park and played ball with Payton's t-ball bat and a spare ball from my car.  
We walked about a mile in the 94 degree heat. We admired the pond Payton had found on a previous trip to the park with his papa.  Eventually we got TOO hot and raced back to my car.


We took our guest back to their hotel and went home.  


Payton got to go shopping after this for his first birthday present.


He chose a Badge City Remote Controlled Police Car.

HE LOVES IT! 

 Payton wants to be a policeman sooo bad when he grows up.  


Saturday started about the same as Friday.  We woke up and watched a couple of cartoons.  Our guest came to the house and after a while we decided we should spend Payton's birthday at the Lake.  We packed little to nothing, just fishing poles and chairs and headed to the lake.


We stopped to buy some worms for great fishing at the local "corner store".  This place has been in business since I was a little girl.  I remember going in this tiny little gas station on our county road with my dad to buy minnows and such.  It was great to get to take my son there to buy worms to take him fishing.


We stopped by the boat ramp to check fishing conditions and decided another place a couple of miles away would be better.  


We drove down the winding lake roads I love so much and found the perfect place to stop.


We had a great day there! We stayed from about noon until 6:30 that night.  We cast fishing lines, we swam, Payton saw another little boy who plays on his t-ball team and they played several games.  We built sand castles... we RELAXED.


It was perfect.  At the end of the night we left this portion of the lake and drove back to the place we had originally looked at. 


Payton caught about 10-15 fish.


Payton has never caught that many fish at one time. 


He insisted on eating them.  Tiny little Perch and brim about 4 inches long.  He wanted to grill them!


Soooo.... we put them in the cooler and brought them home to grill.


We grilled out with the family.  We ate well on porkchops, salad, watermelon, cornbread, corn on the cob and of course chocolate birthday cake hand baked by Payton's mimi. <3

By the end of the night we were all worn out but smiling.  : )


Happy Birthday baby boy!!


I can't wait for your  Monster truck party this weekend at the lake!
Momma loves you!

Surprise Day Trip

Yesterday the kids and I needed something to do for a while out of the house, so I thought I would take them to do something fun.  Originally, I had thought I would take them to a place called Kid's Depot and let them play indoors.. it wasn't until I was in town, that I changed my mind and we headed for the zoo!

Before our trip, the kids and I stopped at Wal-Mart to get a few things for a great day... they just didnt' know what I had planned yet. :)  We bought bread, lunch meat, a little Styrofoam cooler, ice, tons of Kool-Aid (Red & Blue) :), potato chips and of course some fruit snacks.

Payton just got too hot between the wal-mart exit and the car so he had to rest on the bag of ice. lol :)                                           

After I loaded the kids into the car... I packed the cooler, poured in the ice and we were on the road... that is until I thought the cooler fell over and the ice was falling out... so about 10 miles down the road we stopped again.  The cooler hadn't fallen over after all.. so we continued on for about a 1/2 mile and we stopped for one more bag of ice just in case... and some drinks.  Finally we were on the way again...

After about an hour of driving with those two munchkins we had finally made it to Lufkin, and the Ellen Trout Zoo.  Lol this was after yet another stop at the K-Mart for Off, since this is mosquito season and I had forgotten to get any at Wal-Mart earlier.  The kids were so happy to finally know what they're surprise was. 

                                                                          We sat and munched on our sandwiches and chips and drank Kool-Aid by the lake...  it always makes you feel good to eat lunch by a sign that says "Alligators Inhabit this 

 

  

After lunch, the Kids and I headed to the Zoo's train station. 

This is our view from the caboose of the train... (the most popular spot according to the conductor)

This is the train we rode

When the train ride was over.. we finally got to see some animals.  These are two Beautiful owls we saw.

After the owls we saw Payton's new favorite fascination ... SNAKES!  This was the Black Mamba.

Payton was so excited to see so many of the snakes he sees on Swamp Wars.

In the middle of the Zoo, they have an Angelina County Train.. of course the kids had to go tour it. :)

After the train, the kids and I headed off to see more animals... next up was a Porcupine, Raccoon, and the Jaguar.

The Jaguar was so sweet snoozin' in the sunshine... I think we were waking him up and he'd just roll over with an eye half open and go back to sleep.  :)

The kids were loving this little turtle

We thought this little squirrel eating up a bird's food in the feed bowl was pretty funny!

Adleigh wanted to ride this tortoise. lol . . . she said it was her pet.

After about an hour of wandering around the zoo.. it was time to again head north, because Adleigh had to attend Ballet lessons.   We didn't leave before visiting the gift shop.  

Adleigh had to have this stuffed lion.

And, what else would my little lover of snakes have but a four foot long snake... and 3-4 frogs and a pencil with a shark on it.  :D

 

              On the way home, Payton and I stopped by to visit Jake at the cemetery and take him all the new things we'd gotten him earlier in the week.

Jake's little grave after we added the bugs and heart to it with his Pinwheel.

All in all we had a really good day.    :)  I love those babies!!

  Mommy Love you Payton, Jake and keekee loves you Adleigh-Bear!!