summer 2011

summer 2011

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012
family

Monday, May 13, 2024

so extremely rich!

 Rich with blessings!  God has been so good to me.  Since rambling is my forte, here I go:

In a recent conversation with a very kind older woman, she revealed that she had many miscarriages, and lost a baby girl at just a few weeks old, then had one son, and that was all.  She told me not to take my kids for granted.  I have been rolling that thought around in my head, because my first thought was oh, I don't, I'm very thankful for them!

Truth:  we can always be MORE thankful.  

Four of my daughters:  Abigail, Charlotte Claire, Sonja, Camille
Ab, Char, Sonja, Emily, Camille

That's the extent of the pics from yesterday...I saw 12 of the sixteen yesterday:  Emily, Abigail, Benjamin, Mariel, Samuel, Margaret, Kathryn, Evelyn, Sonja, Jonathan, Char, and Camille.  

We were having a few over, but Margaret and Kathryn, who are married to brothers, have their mother-in-law from Winnipeg in town, because Adrian (Margaret's husband) graduated from college. (a degree in Engineering, already has a managerial position at his place of internship.)  

Anyway, they said they weren't going to be coming over, I understood, the boys' mom was in town...then on Sunday morning, they changed their minds, but it was good:  Darius was smoking ribs and bringing them over, along with some nice central NY hot dogs.  Evelyn brought charcuterie stuff, I got some burgers out of the freezer, and somehow, there was plenty of everything.  Darius did all of the grilling, and the girls put the food out, and cleaned things up later.  I had made a very good batch of brownies in the morning:  one box of chocolate cake mix, one box of brownie mix, a stick of melty butter, 2/3 cup of oil, 4 eggs, and a splash of strong coffee, sprinkles on top, along with mini choc. chips and milk choc. chips.  I baked them in a 13x9 pan lined with parchment paper, so they lifted right out for easy slicing.  

There was also leftover ice cream cake from Charlotte Claire's Friday night 18th birthday celebration.

It was a rainy day here, so the kids were mostly in the house.  It was a bit wild, but so much fun too.  Jamison scoots, Maeve and Blythe crawl, then there's Declan, Ruth, Rhys, Achilles, Tennyson, Wulf, Grant, Elise, and Anya, playing hide and seek and other loud running games ha.  (Molly and Josh didn't come over with Lydia, Ophelia, and Denzel).  

This picture I actually stole from Grace, it's Maeve and Blythe, cousins and speed crawlers.  I was terrible about taking pictures yesterday, I feel like the day went by in one big happy blur.  At one point, Tennyson, who is 3 and a half, was really wanting me to show him inside the new camper.  We sneaked out the door in the pouring rain and went in and sat down.  He had more questions than I had answers for, he can't wait to see the ends popped down so he can see the beds.  He is so sincere and sweet.  

Anya and Elise made me cards, Ben and Ashley gave me a nice card, Mariel a nice candle and a little laptop desk, I got a tea kettle that I bought for myself a few months back, shh, it was on clearance...someone had ordered it online at Target (not sold in stores), and returned it, so there it was on the end rack with random marked down items, so cute, so unnecessary....so I bought it and gave it to the girls to give me for Mothers' Day, why oh why didn't I think of this years ago? 

Lots of the kids pitched in and got me such a nice new purse, something above and beyond, I was so surprised:

It's the most beautiful shade of blue! I think it was Evelyn's idea,  I do love it.  

This fine morning after the pool, I went by myself to Walmart, and oh my goodness, I bought only one item, a shirt for myself.  I was wanting some of those cheap elbow-length sleeve t-shirts, but they didn't have any at all, except the one I got, which was not very cheap, and has sleeves made of different fabric, kind of weird.  I have been sorting through my clothes, and I have a certain type of shirt I wear over and over again, and so many of them are getting ratty and stained.  I don't like to buy solid colors, because one little slip, one little slop, and you have to hope you can pretreat it and get it out.  I think I am just a slipper-slopper, I'll cover my chest with a paper towel, then drop something right next to it, or it'll roll down the paper towel and land in my lap.  

I have my suitcase packed for tomorrow, just a few things I'll be putting into the bigger suitcase that Evelyn has.  

You think the forecast is nice enough?  I'm very excited about it.  They have a pool, and I will be in it.  I'll be bringing my laptop, so there will be blogging.  It's hard to leave here, because I like home, and I'll miss kids and grandkids, but also, it'll be so nice to see Aaron and Riley, and so nice to relax.  

Have a really good day!

2 comments:

Terri D said...

Have a great trip! Sounds like Mother's Day was wonderful - but every day is Mother's Day, isn't it?! You always seem to be honored and loved and appreciated!!

16 blessings'mom said...

Terri, thank you, I think I will have a great trip. Mother's Day WAS wonderful, but in reality, it's challenging sometimes. My kids are easy to love, they are all amazing, and I love their spouses too, but we are human, and we have different personalities, so I need to be working on my salvation, really watching what thoughts I allow to take up residence, so that my heart can be pure, and I don't hold grudges. Because seriously, not everyone always says the right thing, right? Life is good though, God is good. :).