cool quote

“service is the rent that I pay for the space that I occupy on earth.”

I came across this today and it just really jumped out at me and I wanted to pass it along.

in-laws

We have been so very blessed.
We started out with 8 offspring and they have multiplied and given us some wonderful additions to the family.
We have 5 of the sweetest and talented daughters-in-law that you could ask for. They take good care of their guys and keep them in line. They each have special talents that they willingly share with the family and are doing a great job of raising some amazingly smart and cute kids and sweet pets also.
There are 2 great sons-in-law. Both are so good to help out when ever called on. They are both quiet compared to the rowdy guys but hold their own and even get in a few licks(verbally, no physical abuse here) of their own when cornered. They are both wonderful men and take good care of our daughters and grandchildren.
When there are get togethers, it is always a blast to have so many different personalities and temperments in the same space.
As each new member has been added to the family, we have been blessed.
We are definitley thankful for special in-laws.
Thanks kids for making such good choices in spouces.

love/hate computers

Have you ever noticed that when they are working right, we love them and when they don't , it is a source of real frustration.?
I really love/hate computers. I love email, blogs and being able to look up things when I have a question or want to buy something ( I love me some amazon and ebay)
I get really mad when I have typed out a long reply to someone in an email or a post to a blog and have the darn thing wisk it off and lose the whole thing. Grrr.
Of course it has nothing to do with me messing up and hitting the wrong key at times. It always has to be the computer right?
But let the darn thing go down and what happens? Oh no, withdrawal!!!!!
then I feel bad for having bad feelings and talking ugly and just want it back. I might miss something really important.
Sigh, right now it is working, I am happy and feeling content for however long it lasts.
thanks for being there for me computer.

love my computer guys

I love my computer guys, especially when my computer goes on the blitz as it did recently.

The last time my computer died, my first born son came to my rescue making several long trips out to the boonies to get me back in action.

This time it was a sweet son-in-law. As I am sure you can guess, it is never a simple thing with my computer. He came out ready to face the unknown and left with the problem improved but not solved. Sigh, another day computerless.

Never fear, these guys are fearless in the face of a clueless operator who doesn't always know how she got in the mess she is in. then comes the much appeciated phone call that there may still be a way to salvage the poor thing.
Another trip to the boonies and much effort to revive the ailing machine.

Joy of Joy. We are back in action, wading through countless missed emails and checking out the missed blogs. I have my fix and am happy.

What can I say, I am spoiled. Thanks guys.
I love love love me some computer guys who put up with me and my 'puter.

What do you get?

What do you get when you have,
one husband,
one wife,
their 8 children,
the spouces of those children,
18 grandchildren,
one great granny,
one sister of wife,
one niece,
one great niece,
at least 3 dogs,

Add great food, cake and ice cream, lots of visiting, kids of all sizes running everywhere, feeding carrots to goats, and donkeys, trees being climbed, babies continuously being passed around, lots of joking and laughter, and in general,total chaos.

Have you guessed??? What else??

A Mayfield family get together!!!!!!

and the great granny, sister and nieces actually survived to live another day!!! We did give them prior warning of course. Not sure they would want to repeat the experience again anytime soon, but survival is the first step to recovery.

So the Mayfield family pulled it off one more time. thanks everyone (especially Dawn for hosting and providing the wonderful calzones) for helping to make it a great evening for the Great Granny, aunt and nieces.

Hopefully there will be pictures on the family blogs soon to prove said guest did in fact survive the experience.

my sister is half full

I love my big sister.
She has such a great sense of humor and a positive outlook. I love that she sees life with her glass half full.
She laughs alot, even in the face of some pretty tough times.
She called this morning at 6:45am
She, my 85 year old mother, niece and great niece are driving from Texas for a visit. they had stopped at a hotel for the night and in the morning our mother who has Parkinson's fell out of the bed.
Luckily she wasn't hurt badly, just scraped and bloodied elbows and they had to call for help to get her up.
As my sister is telling me this on the phone, she starts out by saying, I just wanted to call and tell you about our latest adventure. She then proceeds to tell me what had happened. She is laughing and then tells me how cute the guys were who came to help. I can hear my mother in the background agreeing with her on the cuteness of the guys.
Ya gotta love her. She made the best of the situation, chose to see the humor in it and keeping a positive focus on the benefits of continuing the trip so our mother could see the grandchildren and most of the great grandchildren that she hasn't met.

Is my sister being realistic? Did it scare her? Of course it did. She is the care giver of our mother and knows better than anyone else what could have happened. Did she dwell on what could have happened or what could still happen if they continued on the trip, being a long way from home in case it had been serious? She made a choice. She chose to help our mother live life to the fullest, to even take a risk but not let fear of the what if's, or the oh my gosh's to keep her from the joys that are also a choice.

Because my sister sees life as a glass that is half full rather than half empty, she is taking a risk and giving our mother the opportunity to have a wonderful adventure, to see things she hasn't seen before and to look upon the faces of her posterity and have the joy of holding and kissing great grandchildren and experiencng what life and joy is all about.

I love my big sister and want to be more like her.

Reflections on Mother's Day

I love Mothers Day,

Not because of what I get, but because I survived and am still glad to have been and still am a Mother.

I get to reflect on memories of my own Mother and feel and express apprecation to her for all she was and still is to me.

I read a magazine article once that asked a group of women, if they had to do it over again, would they have chosen to be a mother and it was sad to see how many would have opted out. How sad.

Not me, I would do it over again in a heart beat.!!!!

I was privileged to have been the Mother to 8 extraordinary individuals. Each one different and unique and yet all with things in common.

I get to reflect on my role as a mother, to wince at my mistakes, to laugh at the many good times, to sorrow over sad times and things I couldn't fix or make go away and the hope that overall I hadn't done a bad joy, that my children would grow up to be good people and still like me.

How blessed I was and still am.

I marvel at how quickly the roles change.

I am still a Mother but not needed in the same way.
We are no longer adult and child, but adult and adult.
I enjoy my children and have joy in them and in our role as adults.
Now they are teaching me and helping me.
I love Mother's Day.
It has been and still is great to be a Mother.