HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIBBI!!!

49 Years ago on an early Monday morning in Manning, SC in the delivery room, Dr. Kellar looked at his nurse Mary Nell and said "this baby is stubborn," this baby started 1 hour and 45 minutes ago, a very short labor and now she won't come, this must be a determined child! Then as if on cue, Libbi came out and greeted the world! She came out yelling and has been talking ever since! What a wonderful day for our family! She was our first little girl, did I say little? She weighed over 9 lbs and was just beautiful! she was the only girl in the nursery and even then she knew that she would make her place in this world and she has!

Throughout your life, Libbi, you have made a difference in everything you have tackled! and you have excelled in all! Do I sound like a proud(grateful is a better word) Mom? Well I am so proud of the many wonderful things you have accomplished in your field of nursing, but I am more proud of your compassion for those you serve, the world is a better because you serve the sick!

I am grateful for your choice in a husband, one of my wise men, and I am so happy you chose to have a family and choose to serve the Lord in your decisions in your life! I am thankful you came to me! I love you, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

autumn leaves

The smell of fall is in the air! Cool crisp mornings are wonderful and I love them. And with the autumn leaves comes a great time to reflect my many blessings!

Each day I get up is a blessing and as I look around I see the beautiful world that I live in and love I am so thankful for it. (at our age, you do begin to count the days-ha) When I see all the "tea parties and town hall meetings" I know how blest I am to live in a country where people can speak their mind and voice their views and I am thankful for this! I am thankful for an eternal companion who allows me to be me! He gos about quietly doing things that make my life easier and always is happy when I am! He asks very little in this life, a piece of Kim's pound cake, or Jean's chocolate chip cookies, or Libb's lasagna and he's good to go! I see my blessings when I go down my hall and see my picture of my family, my wonderful children, grand and greats!! What great joy this brings me as I pray for their safety each day! I think of them early in the morning, going to work, school, or seminary and think how blest I am for such a wonderful family. I count my blessings when I go to the cemetary to carry flowers for Noah and think of the joy he brouught to all of us in a such a short time, and to know that I will see him again! I am blest to be able to get up and go to work 2 days a week! I am thankful that my mind is still fairly sharp(no comments please) and I still love to read the scriptures and enjoy reading a good book, what great blessings I have and as I watch the leaves begin to fall, I think of them all!!

I love you all!

July, the beach and family

What a wonderful vacation that Gramps and I had after a rocky start with his auto accident.
The beach was beautiful, ( even tho the condo -was not as clean as I would have liked in the beginning)

How wonderful it was to be with almost all our family! That was a gift within itself, but added to that was the wonderful picture that Lib gave us of all our family! Katie, Jacob, Jared and family, and Noah were missing but I have a plan to put them in when I have it framed! Every night was just a little bit of Heaven as we ate together and then as Gramps and I watched as the cousins and brothers and sisters got to have fun just being together!

I know that some of you came as a great sacrafice and for that I am grateful.(Like the hard sofa that Kim and Jerry and Laurel and Floyd endured)

There was news to share, with new babies on the way, and Lib and Pete getting a house, and welcoming Ellen to soon be our newest family member, congradulations on yours and Peter's engagement! We love her already and she and Peter make a perfect match! Honey, you saw all of us ; now you know what you are getting into!
I know Lib and Pete was so glad to have all of their family together for a few days! No greater joy than this!

Getting to spend time with our great grandchildren was an added bonus! It is so fun to watch Lib and Kim as grandparents! What fun it was to see them all.

Also Gramps and i got to spend a few special hours alone with Steven and LaNelle as we traveled that Sunday to the beach and then got to see them the Saturday after they left the beach!(They came by for lunch on their way back to Utah!) It was such fun to learn of all LaNelle's accomplishments as she embarks on her career in teaching! Those kids are sure lucky to have her! And she's lucky to have that precious Steven! And now Patti is going to pursue teaching, how exciting!!

We watched as Little sassy Sarah Beth became a world traveler, off to Utah with LaLa! And thank you Andrew for coming on our week, that meant so much to Gramps and me. Andrew, the accountant in the making! Seeing Will for more than a minute was a thrill, we have not gotton to be with him since his mission, his wonderful spirit has not changed but become more so! and my faithful Jacob makes me laugh! It was so good to have David with us (the soon to be tallest Edwards boy!) Connor is so good with Kalib, I love to watch them together!
Getting to be with the Bailey bunch for more than an hour was fun, how blest I am to have lived long enough to have a redhead! Seth is a little Rob and Carolyn is a little Beth and Katlyn is a little Kim and Natalie is a little mess!! What a ham!

Seeing Jean happy at the beach, seeing Jeff happy watching Jean be happy, and seeing their kids have fun with everyone was wonderful !

And we all need an Uncle Floyd and an Aunt Laurel! How dull life be like without them, what fun they bring to everything! Thank you for all you do, you bring joy to us all!

Now July is fading and with it comes a birthday for Michael and so today we enjoyed his birthday by eating 8 lbs. of french fries and Jeff's wonderful hamburgers and seeing lots of family again, my cup runneth over as I take it all in.

Close in my heart is a little boy with a little rainbow shirt and a big grin who constantly reminds me of how precious and fragile life is and how important each day is and how I want each one of you to know how much I love each you and how grateful I am for each memories we share together, even the silly string!! Thank you one and all. I love you. Momma

AN EARLY MORNING CALL

Today at 4:50 AM I said goodby to Gramps and went back to bed because I had Jean's car and could sleep another hour before I went to Jean's house. 10 minutes later the phone rang and in my
mind I knew it must be Lauren, I cannot tell you the fear that gripped my heart-It was Gramps and he had been involved in an accident: someone, a young man had rear ended Gramps while Gramps
had been doing 60. The young man reached for his cell phone he said. There were 2 other lanes open and Gramps sailed from the far right to the far left and then back again, we don't know the
damage on our car(hope the frame isn't broken) The young man must have been doing 70 or 80.

Poor Jeff, he answered his early morning call from me and I went to his house and he went to rescue Gramps. What a wonderful peace came over me, for I knew he would do whatever he needed to do.

Except for a few cuts and bruises Gramps is ok. not fine, just ok; but in a couple of days all will be better! Now I find joy in this! How, well he could be dead or in the hospital, so I find joy in the fact that he is home. I find joy that the young man who hit him is ok too. I find joy that we have traveled a long and happy road together.

Now for the first time I realize that Gramps is getting fragile; this man who has put up with me these 27 years looked so fragile too me. And I thought of friday before last when he sat with me as I had surgery; this is what life is all about being there for one another and I find joy in that!

All of you have your busy lives and I love reading about them, but Gramps and I just waddle
along and find joy in being together and watching fox news and loving each of you at a distance. And reading your blogs and seeing your pictures.

We love splitting a meal at the cafeteria and maybe getting a drink at sonic for 1/2 price and I love the way he lays out my glasses and keys on my pocketbook in the mornings so I will be ready to go on time and how I drive him to work and we listen to the Book of Mormon on tape and I go and get him a bisquit and he calls when I get to work to see if I'm safe and what joy we have in the simple things. How we want to serve one more mission together and are working toward that! See, even at our age we still have goals! We have joy in the morning for we do not
know how many we have left and are enjoying each one as we go!

Thank you all for being a part of our simple lives. How much we love this beautiful world!

And how grateful I am for that early morning call that turned out better than it could have!

the month of June

Today is Sissie's birthday and I thought of her as I woke up before Gramps left for work. She was my dear friend and we shared many wonderful times together. She was there first when I went into labor with Floyd! She bought his first church outfit! she and I were pregnant at the same time with Fran and Kim. What fun we used to have opening our presents from Nina and Granddaddy when no one was around and rewrapping them and acting suprised on Christmas!

She and I had a wonderful friendship and she was truly my sister! I still miss her, but just think how she and Nina and Granddaddy will be together for her birthday today!

Sunday was Mother's birthday and I was a little sad as I usually am on that day, but smiled as I remembered how she loved her birthday and how she would do nothing on that day; it was her day she would say and everyone had to celebrate with her; she had such a zest for life and never grew old even if she had lived on this earth to be a hundred, she would still be a kid. Floyd is like her in this sense! Two years ago I heard from my high school friend that I had not talked to in 49 yyears and she immediately ask about mother! Everyone loved her but she loved being "grandma nell" the most! She loved setting up til 3 in the morning playing cards with her grandchildren! She loved cooking and gardening, she loved life!

Perer's birthday was this month and I love the way he is growing up into such a special young man! And I love his choice of Ellen, I only met her once but I can tell these things you know!

And my sweetheart turned 76! He is still the kindest person I know and will do anything he can for anyone, especially the grandbabies and yes they will always be our babies!(some grown up but never the less our babies! And thank you gramps for putting up with me all these years.

Happy birthday to all!!

A Garden Grown with Care

The Gardener and her Garden

Picnic Table Garden Layout

Topsey Turvey Tomatoes

Garlic

Onions

Squash

My Garden on the PicnicTable

The Bishop ask that all of us plant a garden of some kind, so I did. all on an old picnic table, right out on my patio! Now it began with 4 tomatoes and 4 pepper plants. Well, it kind of grew as the days went on. I now have 7 tomatoes and 4 peppers and 3 little pots of cucumbers and one squash, and 3 pans of beans and a container of garlic and one of green onions! Now whether or not they will produce is left to be seen, but I have 4 small tomatoes and 2 tiny peppers already!

My Mississippi roots are deep in the soil! I loved growing up in the country and watching my granddaddy grow his garden and work on his farm. I loved being able to see calves born, and chickens hatched and oh what fun it was to find a fresh bunch of little biddies and to watch as the mother hen gathered them under her wings just as I read in the scriptures about the Savior gathering Isreal under his wings! I saw first hand what it was to work" by the sweat of your brow". and in doing so I learned the importance and the joy that comes from a job well done!

I followed Daddy Kees all over his farm. I watched him sharpen plows in his blacksmith shop and helped him haul hay and even picked a little cotton(remember the story of the shoes and how I had to pick cotton to buy them) I went with him when he took his cotton to the gin, I was there at the grist mill when they ground his corn into cornmeal! I can remember going to the cane mill and watching them make syrup out of sugar cane! What fun i had.

When the vegetables were ready to can, Daddy and Mama Kees worked together, and we had "canning days" and as they worked they told wonderful stories of their childhood and of their children's! I loved to count the jars of beans or tomatoes, or corn! They kept a log of how many they had, and i finally figured out that they would can all they needed and then share with the neighbors! We picked blackberries and made jam and plums and made jelly! Always using the wonderful gifts that Heavenly Father had placed on the farm(blackberry bushes, figs, plums, and pear trees) to make food and store it for the winter! Each week in the summer brought a different fruit or vegetable and they were ready and prepared to work until all was harvested.
What a wonderful education I received on that farm and how simple it was but yet all that was needed was there!

I could never understand why my cousins were so excited to come and visit and see the animals and the garden and drink all the milk they wanted! They would um and aw as Mama Kees fried chicken and had homeade bisquits and cornbread and corn on the cob and butterbeans and I thought, what is wrong with them? You know it was not until years later that I knew what a wonderful life I had as a child! And I am so grateful to be able to share it, for as I look at my little picnic table full of plants my mind wanders back to Fair Oak springs and Daddy and Mama Kees and the "salt of the earth' people that they were!