A RING REBORN

According to the date on an old Pamela photo, my mother received her engagement ring somewhere between December 1 - 9, 1944. I remember hearing that the stone fell out soon after she received her engagement ring from Daddy. It was never replaced. I don't know exactly why, but knowing my mother's frugal ways and the fact that it was during WWII and Daddy was a poor sailor in the Navy - it became an event indefinitely deferred. I am sure at the time they thought they would replace it, but life jumped in with beginning careers and babies and homes to buy and it just never happened.

In July while visiting CiCi - my sister and I found ourselves sitting on her living room floor looking through old jewelry boxes and the modest treasures that had belonged to Pamela and Mommas. My generous sister started giving me items that I ooh'd and aah'd over and I went home with a pendant from South America with 2 sides of pictures carefully formed from butterfly wings, my favorite bead necklace of Mommas' and our mother's engagement ring with it's sad and empty setting.

I kept finding myself wearing it - somehow comforted by a sweet emotion when I looked at it. I couldn't entirely explain it. The engagement ring to a marriage that ended in divorce could be sad and represent something that couldn't weather the inevitable storms of life, but I found that when I looked at it, I thought about my parent's love when it began and when it was hopeful.

Uncle R. knew that I had a wish to someday have the ring restored and so for our 20th anniversary this month, he had the ring cleaned and the stone replaced. I love it so much and love the man's heart that would want to do that... who would understand a sentimental treasure like that little nearly forgotten ring.

How kind is the Lord to give me a man who loves Him most of all and gives me the next, very best part of his love. I have seen throughout my marriage the precious comforts given and securities felt with a man who loves the Lord with all his heart and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. Uncle R. makes me laugh, entertains me, encourages my creative bents, holds my hand when I am frightened and prays for me with a quiet, strong ease that I thank the Lord for every day. I wish so much that Pamela could have met him, but rejoice to think that one day at the end of our lives, she will.

Happy New Years Pamela’s Girls!

Love,
Auntie J.

Baby B's 1st Christmas

We had such a wonderful time celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ with our loved ones at Christmas. (The only thing missing was Aunt J!!!)Boyd had so much fun spending time with Cici, SS and SanFran S.
They all came to church with us Sunday as we participated in the lighting of the Advent candle. As soon as SanFran S walked up, Baby B had the biggest grin on his face. She spent the night with us and spent lots of time playing with and taking care of Baby B. At one point, they were in his room and I heard him laughing louder and harder than he's ever laughed. He definitely loves his Tia. SanFran S also had the fun experience of going to lunch with me and Baby B and two of my friends and their babies (one 5 months and one 11 months). It was definitely nice to have an extra helping hand:) Baby B and I spent a few days in Darlington, and then we came back to prepare the house for Christmas day.
Although Christmas with a 11 month old is pretty hectic, Baby B and my family made it such a special and memorable celebration. They are my most precious gift!

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord...

Psalm 127:3
~Mommy M

MERRY CHRISTMAS PAMELA’S GIRLS!

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for all of God’s gracious and overflowing gifts, but at Christmas we find that our hearts become quiet and specifically grateful for the gift of Life granted to us in the glorious Savior, Jesus.

At various times in my life, I have enjoyed working through one of the Year-Through-The-Bible studies. I love reading all of my favorite stories – Joseph and his tenacious, unwavering commitment to be Godly, David and his mix of rashness yet tender open heart before God with his ability to cry out to the Lord through any trial, Daniel & his 3 friends patterning their footsteps after God’s Word, unwilling to compromise & unafraid of death, Esther and Ruth’s examples of placing all of our choices in His loving hands. And there are always the surprising stories, the ones you NEVER heard in Sunday School. The first year that I did a Bible read through I was shocked at some of the bleak places that God’s people found themselves as they strayed far from His path.

This past year I have been following a plan that is laid out chronologically and I am once again awed as each month has passed at watching His promises unfold from Creation & man’s fall through the gift of a Promised Land, the kings that came and went, truth proclaimed by the prophets and the birth of our Messiah. Jesus could have chosen to leave us where we lay – lost and hopeless – but He not only gave Himself, but His words lovingly recorded as a roadmap…. All we need to do is follow and we can live abundantly.

The two photos that I have included in my Christmas posting are 2 favorites from the “old family photos” category. In one I am waiting unseen to make an appearance a month later. In the second CiCi, our dog Coco and I look like we are barely able to contain the Christmas cheer (hee-hee), but I love it because it was so obviously staged.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO MY BELOVED PAMELA’S GIRLS!

Auntie J.

Tree Trimming At The Office

Recently we decorated the office for Christmas. There is a beautiful tree downstairs, wreathes on all of our outside doors and second story deck and a garland draped with lights around our upstairs railing looking down into the lobby.

The tree trimming afternoon is always a festive one for our office. Work customarily ceases on that day at around 3pm and cookie baking starts in the kitchen while muscled song pluggers troop upstairs to our attic to haul down the boxes of lights, ornaments, garlands, bows and wreaths. Somebody starts Christmas music in an office and we all fall into our decorating niches. My job has generally fallen to the task of hanging the upstairs garland and draping the lights with my office friend T-lou. We seem to forget each year how in the world we managed to unwind the greenery from the box and find a way to extend it in graceful, even loops from one side of the upstairs to the other… and then there are the lights…. But somehow it all seems to end up looking nice anyway.

On cold days we frequently have our fireplace turned on and the outside wreath-hangers rush back in to warm their hands and look at the tree ornaments. Office tradition holds that any new employee has to make their own ornament to contribute to the tree. That’s MAKE your own ornament. Then there is a presentation ceremony where the person is forced,... I mean, requested... to explain their ornament design.

I really admire the way our head of office manages to run a highly successful & motivated office and yet always encourages a sense of fun. That is someone who is a pleasure to work for!

Auntie J.

I would like to thank all of Pamela's Girls for a wonderful birthday! Such sweet cards, calls, presents, good wishes - it has been a wonderful two days. I got a beautiful new necklace from my sweet and thoughtful SS, had a lobster dinner with friends Friday night, and went to Columbia to have a joint birthday dinner with Daddy L, Mommy M and Baby B Saturday.We met at Rockaway's to have our favorite, heart-threatening lunch of pimento cheeseburgers, french fries, and fried onion rings. The highlight was watching little Baby B taste his first pickle.

It was so much fun being with them and sharing in the joy of watching Baby B's little personality developing.

Then Mommy M and I whisked him off to go shopping, while the older guys pursued the manly activity of going to a gun show. We know it probably won't be long, before Baby B will be going with them, so we savor the time we can keep him with us. After hitting the Mall for about an hour it was time to leave, but it was a wonderful day for me spent with those I love. I am eagerly anticipating next week, when SanFran S will be able to join us in the fun. I feel very blessed to have reached another birthday in good health and in the company of those I love.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CICI!

Sisters are different flowers from the same garden. ~Author Unknown

Beginning life under the shadow of CiCi wasn’t easy. She was brilliant in school, making straight As in a way that looked effortless. She was (and still is) beautiful. She rolled and styled her own hair, could play the piano well and learned early how to bake excellent desserts. She could beat me at any board or card game. She could sew clothes and knit almost anything. How was a little sister to follow that?

An older sister helps one remain half child, half woman. ~Author Unknown

I wanted to go everywhere she went and do everything she did, but being a few years behind CiCi, I could only look on with admiration as she glowed wonderfully through life. Mommas, Mother and then CiCi showed me how strong & resilient and yet soft & flexible a woman could be. They were examples of a sweet faith that became an inner road sign pointing the way. How could I not have grown up loving the Lord with their precious example before me. When I’m around CiCi – I see the way I was - with both the bad and the good - and the way I want to be.

A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost. ~Marion C. Garretty

Now CiCi and I giggle over funny memories, scan photos and pass them back and forth and try to recreate the recipes that warmed our hearts as children. I love to look back at old photos of CiCi and me. When I do, it’s easy to remember the good moments that passed within our family and bring to heart so many memories that I cherish. I like to look at the photos and see ways that she and I are alike.

A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life. ~Isadora James

I still think my sister hung the moon and I still want to be just like CiCi.

Happy Birthday CiCi!!!

Auntie J.

Christmas in South Carolina

Since we were in the midst of moving and busy preparing for the arrival of Baby B, we did not get to decorate fully for Christmas last year. This has made putting up our Christmas decorations even more fun than usual this year!

However, Baby B has made this the most exciting Christmas season ever. It has been so much fun dressing him in his Christmas outfits, taking him to see Santa (twice...the first time he would not even think about sitting on his lap), watching Christmas cartoons and movies and picking out the perfect gifts for him. We are so thankful and blessed to have Baby B with us this year!

~Mommy M

Santa Baby

Baby B is changing so fast! He is learning new things everyday. This week he has learned how to open and close his hand when he sees something he wants. He mostly does this with snacks (like cheerios, goldfish or teddy grahams) but he is also doing it with toys in his nursery that he wants but can't get to. It is so amazing to watch each new discovery as he is learning how to interact with the world around him.

Baby B and SS

We had a great time with Cici and SS this weekend while Daddy L was in Tampa! Great minds think alike because SS and Baby B just happened to be dressed in camouflage, white shirts and black jackets (Baby B was wearing his black penguin jacket that Sanfran S gave him). I could not pass up this photo opportunity even though SS really didn't want to have his picture taken. :)

Christmas Decorations…

Sunday afternoon I was sad to remove my silk garland of autumn leaves and my pumpkin teapot from the mantelpiece, but my consolation was to pull out the cute snowman dishes that CiCi gave me a few years ago. I usually lay the kitchen table with them at the beginning of December and leave them there until the end of January. The mugs are sorta mix and match Christmas mugs that I have collected along the way, but are all snowmen, so it totally works.

To replace the leaves and pumpkin teapot on the mantle, I arranged an angel collection that R & I gave his mom one Christmas, my beloved Christmoose, a candle from a dear neighbor now moved away and a dressy English teapot.

It’s a somewhat random assortment of Christmas decorations – not totally color coordinated – not meticulously arranged…. But it represents precious friends and family – and that makes it perfect!

Auntie J.

My First Post!

I apologize for taking so long to post my first blog. I've seem to be more the invisible Pam's Girl. This is only because I don't think of a whole lot I like to write, but I do love sharing pictures and videos of people and places I love.

My nephew is of the cutest boy in the whole world, Baby B! He's my first and only nephew, or niece for that matter, which makes him have a very special place in my heart and so much fun. When I'm with him, a lot of my time is spent taking pictures and videos of him, trying to capture how cute and amazing he is; I don't want to miss a minute. After my visits back home in the South and I'm in my apartment in chilly SF, I enjoy playing the videos of him (and Barkey, my doggie nephew) over and over. They never really do get old. And although SF is my home away from home and I love it dearly, I love my nephew and the rest of my family even more which is why I'm exploring ways and areas to move back closer to them. I'm not sure where or when I can make the move just yet, but it's nice to think I can be less than a 5 hour plane ride from them in a couple years or so.

This video is of Baby B "gumming" fruit. This is his first Thanksgiving week and he's loving the fruit his Mom is feeding him. It's so funny to watch it in person and the video doesn't really do it enough justice.

SanFran S

The Jane Austen Tea Society

I can’t remember if I have told you about a little book club that I started with a few friends just over a year and a half ago. We call ourselves The Jane Austen Tea Society. The name surfaced due to the fact that our meetings seemed to have been rather pointedly arranged around meeting at a beloved Nashville tearoom for tea and of course we all love Jane Austen! We began in July of 2008 with a plan to meet once a quarter to discuss a Jane Austen book and have a Full Afternoon Tea, which includes such standard English tea goodies as lovely bone china teapots brimming with our favorites (we always guzzle several pots of various flavors), scones or muffins, clotted cream or jam, a savory tart, a cup of soup, assorted finger sandwiches, tea breads and pastries, fresh fruit and a sorbet (which you desperately try to find a way to ingest at that point…)

We have read through the major Jane Austen books in the order that they were originally published - Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion and most recently, Northanger Abbey.

Our next scheduled reading plan will include a selection of major & influential Victorian Era authors, which we have grouped by date of birth. This list holds some well-known classics written by recognizable authors. It might, however, contain as author’s name that we have been familiar with, but is linked with an unknown and unread title. Perhaps it also includes a book or two that – quite possibly - made our palms sweat during high school. And if so….. does it still?

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) – Ruth
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) – Our Mutual Friend
Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) – Jane Eyre
Emily Brontë (1818-1848) – Wuthering Heights
George Eliot (1819-1880 – Silas Marner
Anne Brontë (1820-1849) – Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) – The Woman In White
Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915) – Lady Audley’s Secret
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) – Far From The Madding Crowd
Bram Stoker (1847-1912) – Dracula
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) – Portrait Of Dorian Grey
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) – (we think that we will each pick a Sherlock Holmes)

We have had a variety of readers at our teas in all age ranges and interests and usually number 7-8 for each get-together, although sometimes more people than that did actually read the book. The fact that we all seem to come from different points of view make our discussions all the more lively. It is interesting to note that whether you are single, married or a mother, or whether you are in your 20s, 30s, 40s or even 50s, all stations in life make your observations on Pride and Prejudice amazingly different and similar at the same time!

Any Pamela’s Girl that might be interested in participating would be greatly welcomed!!!

Auntie J.

The Week After Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is now behind us and we are still reminiscing about the delicious meals, car rides and wonderful memories. It was so great to spend time with Cici, SS and Sanfran S. Baby B thoroughly enjoyed every minute with them all! Daddy L and I also enjoyed our day tailgating at the game (especially because of the outcome). It was so neat passing several cars today that still had their Gamecock flags flying. That is definitely the sign of a big win because normally the flags are not flying by the end of the game, much less 3 days later!
Now we are back home and it is time to get ready for Christmas. Barkley got his holiday haircut today. When I picked him up from the groomers, the receptionist said when she opened the door to bring Barkley to me, he crawled right up her body like a cat, he was so ready to leave.
As we now prepare for Christmas, I am reminded the reason for the celebration, because it is so easy to get caught up in this hectic time of year. I heard this song, "It Won't Be Like this for Long," on the radio today. Have you heard it Aunt J? The singer, Darius Rucker, is from Charleston and used to be with Hootie and the Blowfish. It is a good reminder to try to appreciate every moment! It made me kind of sniffly listening to it as I thought about Baby B.
Mommy M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_lUnFjXg8

Thanksgiving With Pamela

It’s hard to sufficiently describe the goodie-heaped table that Pamela and her mother, Mommas, put together with love, sweat and some muffled cries of despair as the English peas persisted in boiling over their small saucepan as attention was given to other more important dishes.

What I remember about the food itself was that it was a remarkable representation of who we were and where we came from. It had an innate taste of the southern farm, of the small South Carolina town-dwellers table of the Depression when available local foods were featured, of the 50s housewife cookbooks and even a tiny smattering of Ellis Island on my father’s side. While Daddy was still with us we had a random sampling of some northern dishes that he and his family always enjoyed. Even though he staunchly regarded himself as a Southerner, having moved to Charleston when he was six years old, his mother’s signature dishes were always close to his heart at holidays.

The old ever-debated North & South conflict found its way into whether we had moist white bread dressing that was actually cooked inside the turkey or whether we majored on Mommas’ sage-bright, savory pan of cornbread dressing – so we had both. And we always had a bowl of tart turnips and potatoes mashed together, which I still suspect to be a northern dish and desserts that seemed somewhat foreign to our southern palates like Cici’s memories of Grandmommy’s northern-influenced mincemeat pie, rhubarb pie and the occasional nut bread.

Mother and Mommas’ multitude of dishes alone would have sent us into food shock; turkey and gravy, a small china bowl with tiny pearl onions, a basket of hot biscuits, rolls and corn muffins, creamy baked macaroni & cheese casserole, sweet potatoes, green beans with new potatoes, a dainty cut glass plate lined with celery stuffed with pimento cheese, whole cranberries AND the jellied roll of cranberry sauce, pickled peaches smelling of cloves and pickled beets in a warm, sweet dark syrup, and the troublesome small English peas that were often topped on your plate with Mommas’ own homemade southern chow-chow. (For those who haven’t experienced a good, homemade southern chow-chow – it is a relish made from a combination of different vegetables dictated by your own family recipe and tradition that may include green and red tomatoes, onions, cabbage and might also include carrots, cauliflower or beans. They are pickled in a jar and served cold. The Francophile in me likes to note that the term chow-chow is thought to have come from the French word for cabbage - “chou”.)

After you thought you could not carry one additional fork full to your mouth, you would hear that Mommas had brought her homemade sweet potato pie and that Mother had a warm pumpkin pie in the oven to be topped with fresh whipped cream. Before my coffee-loving days I found that an added part of the delectable dessert experience was the smell of the percolator brewing a fresh pot of Mommas’ heart-stoppingly strong coffee on the kitchen counter to be sipped with a slice (or two, if you gave in) of pie. Even if you paced yourself and slammed the door to seconds, you knew you were in some serious trouble when you faced this den of temptation.

When CiCi married and brought the wonderful SS into our family, each year she added her own offerings that have become a special part of my Thanksgiving memories too – her own sweet potato casserole with a brown sugar & pecan topping and an oyster casserole reminding us that the ocean was just a couple of hours away from us.

I love to hear my sister Cici’s memories of Thanksgiving. How our Mother would peep around into the living room at random moments with a smile and twinkling sky blue eyes and ask what we were talking about. She didn’t want to miss any of the fun. But with Mother and Mommas balancing pots, plates and saucepans in the kitchen, sometimes the living room was the safest place to seek refuge and prepare your stomach for the coming onslaught of food.

When I wish that Mommy M and SanFran S - and now Baby B - could have experienced that mingling of amazing food, laughter and the special gift that Pamela and Mommas had of making memories and moments, I realize that those gifts have been passed down through Cici and grace the love and memory-making ability that she has been given to bless her family. The devotion and tenderness that Pamela and Mommas lavished on us is the same sweetness that brings Cici to make it a point to be up early cooking so that she can send smells of good food cooking out of the kitchen and up the stairs of her house to tickle her daughter’s noses or make her sister a Mommas Meal when she comes to visit.

Who know…. Maybe her peas even boil over once in awhile.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
Auntie J.

1 Chronicles 16: 8 - 13
Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples.

Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;
Speak of all His wonders.

Glory in His holy name;

Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad.

Seek the LORD and His strength;

Seek His face continually.

Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done,
His marvels and the judgments from His mouth,

O seed of Israel His servant,

Sons of Jacob,

His chosen ones!

Colossians 3: 15 - 17
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,

to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you,

with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another

with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Whatever you do in word or deed,

do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Pre-Holiday Exhaustion

The holidays are not even officially here yet, and Baby B is already worn out!

Thankfulness

As the seasons are changing and we prepare for Thanksgiving and Christmas, we are reminded of the many blessings God has provided. I am so thankful for the beauty we are surrounded by during this season and for my family. These two hymns we sang this Sunday at church really say it best!

"God, all nature sings Thy glory and Thy works proclaim Thy might;
Ordered vastness in the heavens, ordered course of day and night;

Beauty in the changing seasons, beauty in the storming seas;

All the changing moods of nature, praise the changeless Trinity."

"Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided;

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!"

http://www.ilike.com/artist/CeCe+Winans/track/Great+Is+Thy+Faithfulness?src=onebox

Cat Under A Hot Tin Hood

OK… so this is the weird thing that happened to me while on my lunch break…. I went into a little used bookstore across from a university here in Nashville and when I was getting ready to leave, a young man came into the shop and asked; “Is anyone in here driving a red car?!”

“Uh-oh”, I thought. “Someone has hit my car….”

“Me!” I said, walking up to him.

“Well!” he exclaimed, “You have a cat under your hood!!!”

Huh?!? A what?

I followed him outside and saw two college girls peering worriedly all about my car and under it, trying to figure out where the echoing meows were coming from. It was obvious as I walked up to the car that they were, indeed, coming from under the hood.

“Did your cat crawl under your hood before you left home?” They asked.

“No – I’ve come from work and I don’t have a cat!”

So I got into the car, released the hood latch and lifted the hood. There – curled up on top of all the mysterious car workings with eyes like saucers was a little fluffy, white, blue-eyed kitten. Before any of us could react, it leapt from the car and dashed to a nearby bush.

“I wonder if the Lord brought me a little kitty?!?” I wondered to myself, marveling at the odd method He would have used to bring it to me. But the kitty defied all pursuit from me and then from the two college girls as they dashed across the street and followed our adventurous kitty across the wide expanse of campus.

How did that kitty get in there and when?!?!? Had he climbed up under the car at my office, which is surrounded by a little thriving tribe of feral cats?

I will never know.

Auntie J.

To Autumn

I love Autumn… the leaves changing, the crisp air after Tennessee humidity, pulling out sweaters and scarves… There is also a mystery and depth of emotion to the season that begins pulling me in as September fashion magazines feature plaids and deep jewel tones on their covers and carries me through the pumpkins of Halloween and laden tables of Thanksgiving. I love it!

This year our sugar maples were a beautiful, vivid yellow tinged with red & orange and backed by many days of brilliant blue sky. Their color began to shift into orange and red just before they started to drop in earnest this past weekend.

Trying out the new PhotoshopMobile application on my iPhone to intensify saturation, I came up with these photos of our back yard.

In Autumns past I would celebrate my favorite poet, John Keats, by throwing a John Keats Birthday Party at my house. He was born on October 31st and so on Halloween night a group of us would cluster in my living room and feast on Fall foods; homemade vegetable soup, corn muffins, hot spiced cider and apple pie for dessert. Then – whether they liked it or not – everyone would read a Keats poem. For some friends – I’m not looking at you, D. – this took some cajoling.

So, I’ll finish this post with my absolute favorite Keats poem -

To Autumn
by John Keats
(written in Winchester on 19 September 1819)

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,

Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Auntie J.

Exciting News

It makes me sad that I didn't get to know Amma better. When Cici and I were going through family pictures a few years ago, it just didn't seem fair that I didn't get to spend more time with her. I have so many wonderful memories with my other Grandmother, and I desperately wish I could have had the same kind of relationship with Amma. I am so thankful to now have our Pamela's Girls blog, so I will get to know more about the beautiful Pamela.

Because relationships and memories with your grandparents are so important, I am excited to say that there is a chance that Baby B will soon be living closer to his grandparents, Cici and SS. Daddy L has been trying to find a new career route for some time. He was planning on applying to law school after the first of the year, but we have been struggling to figure out how we could afford for him to go to law school while I am staying home with Baby B. We have been praying about his career path for quite a while, and then last week he was contacted about a possible position with the City of Darlington. It would be a step up in his career and it would also move us closer to Cici and SS. We feel like it could be God's answer to our prayers concerning Daddy L going back to school. He has expressed interest in the position, but it is not official yet, so the news is still hush hush. The job starts in January though, so hopefully a decision will be made in the next week or so.

On a lighter note, Santa stopped by in his sleigh today to deliver an early present to Baby B. He got a portable DVD player a little early so hopefully he will be entertained as we travel over the holidays. He LOVES Mickey Mouse, so I've attached a video of him watching Mickey on his new DVD player. I wish I could have gotten a clip of him dancing around to the music... so cute!

I have also attached a few of my latest art projects... Christmas bath/kitchen towels I painted and a frame.

http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVZADVSZUP0

~ Mommy M

About Pamela

She loved her family. She thought her granddaughters were the most perfect gift from God that ever graced her life…. or anyone’s life in her estimation. She loved to laugh and hug and wear dresses that were soft pastels in pinks and pale powder blues with accent clip-on earrings and a pearl necklace. And the last thing that I ever remember her saying to me before she died at the too young age of 62 was; “Didn’t we have fun together!”

And it was fun. She had an infectious affection and my friends took over when I drove away to college in Tennessee and paid her frequent visits. Maybe part of it was the hope for one of her tasty, comfort-food meals, but I don’t think so. She loved to talk but my friends found out that she also like to listen. And a good listener is irresistible!

She didn’t think she could cook. I’ve tried to figure that out, but I can’t. I realize that her own mom could lay a table filled with mouth watering southern cuisine that would make your eyes literally brim with happiness at the sight, but she had her own style and it was just as good in its own right! I would practically kill to have a bowl of her warm banana pudding at this very moment and she is the only person this side of the Atlantic that I knew could make delicious and perfect Yorkshire pudding. I often like to picture in my mind the pleasing experience of lounging on our brown naugahyde sofa in the den watching old movies and smelling supper cooking 20 feet away in the open kitchen. It might have been her own recipe of goulash or salmon croquets, spaghetti or maybe the old girl scout “hamburgers in foil” recipe. And then we would eat at our little flowered metal TV trays in companionable silence as we watched the screen and munched.

I bet if you asked her she would say that she really didn’t have any special talents – but again – there she was wrong. As a young woman she loved to sketch and write and would have loved to pursue either of those talents as a career if she had not been caught in the post-depression pre-WWII economy and been forced to attend a business and secretarial college at the demand of her father. She passed the love of writing, art and also literature and books to all four of the Pamela’s Girls. Well, OK… it’s mostly me and my sister, CiCi, who like to read, but both of my sister’s daughters have definitely caught the art bug - and I have to say that as for myself, the weekend afternoons that find me with paint brush in hand are happy ones, mixing an odd combination of elation and a suspicious feeling of complete ineptitude.

Pamela left her two daughters and two granddaughters with a legacy of love for family and the sweet things of life here on this earth, but most important of all was the way that she shared her faith with us. I never to this day hear the hymn “The Old Rugged Cross” that I don’t hear her sweet voice singing that song to me as she sat on the edge of my bed after our prayers at night. She prayed for us, took us to church, stood firm for God’s Word and was a faithful reader of her Bible. But the standout banner for her Christian character was that through the worst, the darkest and the most painful times of her life – the kind of times that make many stolid believers shake their fists at God and ask “Why me?!?!?” – she grew closer to His Holy presence, more humbled by His goodness to us. She sought Him with her questions and fears and found healing and peace. By clinging to Him when the storms broke over her head, she became more beautiful and more joyous as her walk on this earth continued and came to a close.

I want that. And I want to be that. And I want that for my other Pamela’s Girls. For the four of us to grasp that legacy and that blessing – the things we saw by being active observers of her walk - will be the thing that Pamela will love the most….the thing that will make her clap her hands with the cloud of witnesses above and cheer us on.

Auntie J.

November 16, 2009

For my first post, I wanted to include two of my favorite pictures of us - "Pamela's Girls"

The one on the right is of Mommas'

83rd birthday in July 1981, where our Sunny would not arrive on the scene for another 9 months.

On the left is one of the last pictures taken with Mother and Mommas with the girls in September 1982.

Auntie J took this picture at the airport before flying back to her home in Nashville. I am so glad we were able to get this picture, because going out to the airport to see Auntie J off was a spur-of-the-moment decision. With a 3 year old and 6 month old, naps and feeding schedules, you never knew exactly what you could plan for, and having us together in this picture is priceless to me.

One of the biggest regrets in my life is that my girls never got to know my mother and her mother(Mommas) and get to know their sweet, sweet spirits and feel their unconditional love. I am hoping to use this forum to share some of my memories to give an insight as to who they were individually and their legacy to us as examples of women walking with the Lord in all that they did. Although neither of them had an easy life, overcoming many hardships, they were examples of virtuous women.
As Proverbs 31 says in:
Verse 26: “When she speaks, her words are wise, and kindness is the rule when she gives instructions.”
Verse 28: “ Her children stand and bless her…”
Verse 29: “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!”

It has truly been my goal in life to follow in their footsteps and try to be a hope and encouragement to my family and those around me, as they were to me.

We also have many family “heirlooms” that have been passed down, and I hope this will be a chance to describe some of them and my memories of them (with the help of Auntie J), so that our girls will have some of their background.

With love, CiCi

Devotion

At church Wednesday night, a woman in our bible study class asked us to pray for an colleague. Her 4 month old little girl recently died of SIDS. She and her husband are now considering divorce because they can't move past the tragic death of their daughter. They don't understand why God would allow this to happen. Our bible study teacher immediately responded, "Romans 8." I came home that night and read Romans 8, and it is such a great answer during times in our life when we can't understand the aftermath of tragedy.
~Mommy M

Romans 8:35-39
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

November 11, 2009

In spite of the cold, rainy weather, the past week has been a very eventful one. I kept the nursery at church on Sunday and since Baby B is the only baby, I had lots of fun watching him explore all of the nursery toys. You can see in the picture that he especially loved the blocks. Every day he continues to remind me that he is not a little newborn anymore. He loves eating fruit(youtube video below), playing in the bath and he even learned to clap this week. It is difficult to get him clapping on video but hopefully I will soon because it is very cute. He is so much fun and I enjoy every minute with him during the day!
~Mommy M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUlV97YT6rM