Without Their Love

HAPPY 33rd ANNIVERSARY, MOM & DAD!
(which will occur this weekend)

A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year. ~Paul Sweeney

The difficulty with marriage is that we fall in love with a personality, but must live with a character. ~Peter Devries

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. ~Marcel Proust

Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that. ~Michael Leunig

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Countless times Shawn and I have had conversations about "copying" a beautiful marriage. You know whose name comes up EVERY time?...Without a doubt, my parents. To pen the words from an above quote by Michael Leunig: "..it's as simple and as difficult as that."

Mom & Dad,
I love you. Without your love for God, without your love for each other, and without your love for children, I would not exist. Thank you for raising me in such a loving atmosphere of what a marriage should be. Your daughter, Melanie Lynn

Happy Thanksgiving

Turkey in the barnyard, what does he say?
Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble all day.
Turkey on the table, what do I say?
Yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy all day.
Turkey in my tummy, what do I say?
I ate too much on Thanksgiving Day!
-author unknown-

The unthankful heart discovers no mercies;
but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.
-Henry Ward Beecher-

Secret Formula

NINE MONTHSAt Cabela's with her daddy -
who made sure she had a camoflauged rag doll before leaving the store!Pawpaw cuddling with one of his princesses...

All conked out in her big girl seat...

Sarah Morgan is such a bright spot in our lives (she shares this spotlight with her 2 big brothers).Her most recent well-child appointment showed her weighing a whopping 22 lbs. 2 oz. and measuring in at 30 inches in length. When people ask me how old she is they are like, "Wow! She is BIG!" I just tell them that every time she cries I give her food! Ha! That is just a joke, by the way! Although, if her Pawpaw Clemens is around when a baby cries, this is his secret to a happy child. (inside joke here!)
Eating is one of her favorite pastimes, along with being entertained by her brothers, climbing, standing up, and sending warm smiles to everyone.

Art Smarts

Last weekend Shawn went on his yearly hunting trip to Bedford. As usual, the kiddos and I caught up with him a couple days later. Emily went with me (as my bodyguard!) and we enjoyed getting to go to Sunday Morning Worship at our "old home church".
On the way home, Shawn took the boys with him in his truck. (Em and I had such a relaxing trip home since we just had Morgan - who slept over half of the way home!) The boys love passing the time on the road by scribbling on many, many post-it notes their daddy keeps in his truck. Ethan is getting to where he draws things and they actually look like what he was trying to draw. One of his pictures was a dog. Shawn looked at it and saw that, yes, it was the profile of a dog. The dog had a tail, mouth and tongue, but only one eye. "Where is the other eye?", Shawn asked. "I could only draw one eye, you can't see the other one!", Ethan replied.

Heartfelt Thanks

I so appreciated all the beautiful comments
that were written in response to my last post.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Seeing New Faces

Picture this: (Uncle) Ray Satterfield, gazing at the beautiful mansions in Heaven, when someone taps him on the shoulder. He turns to find two beautiful, intelligent looking girls staring at him with happy grins on their faces. Uncle Ray is staring into the eyes of his stillborn daughter, Carla, and my younger sister, Sarah (his niece). Oh, what a homecoming!
In my human mind, I am moved with raw emotion; I ache because my Uncle Ray has passed from this life - of what seems to be so far - a heart attack. And then on the flip side, my spiritual mind has me feeling envious that he has made it safely to the other side and is immensely happy.
What helps me so much is the fact that one of the last times I was with my uncle he was helping me with some church stuff. I was trying to get some outreach items printed, and I was needing some brains to help with the computer side. Uncle Ray took some time out of his evening and worked with me to figure out the problem. I am so grateful to have such wonderful memories of my uncle and to know that He was at peace with God when he passed away. What a fabulous story to tell my children and for me to remember and also to help me strive to make Heaven my destination - just as he did and now has done!

Love you, Uncle Ray!
P.S. Why don't you make one of your famous pizzas for Carla and Sarah?
Until we see each other again, Your niece, Melanie Lynn

My 2 Energizer Bunnies....

Well, as of today, I believe Ethan would say he is NOT a bunny. Let me explain...
--Ethan, who is eating a banana, hops into my lap--
Me: Are you my monkey?
Ethan: No, I'm a penguin!
Me: You are a penguin?
Ethan: No, I'm a boy!

Landon Reese: My cuddle bug...but sometimes just my ornery child. Let me explain...
The boys love to play in my closet. Fine by me. BUT, this particular time Landon was playing with some Silly Putty. During the course of playing, he managed to "lose" the Silly Putty. The following day I came home and was taking off my boots, only to find this goop of orange - you guessed it - Silly Putty! As Landon watched me pull the "melted" wonder off my pantyhose (since leg, pantyhose and boot were all "glued" together!), the only response he could come up with was, "Oh, dear!" Thanks, Landon.
Update: Silly Putty came off of pantyhose...just a few small orange spots remain!