Congratulations!
Last night, we had the pleasure of attending our niece Amanda’s high school graduation ceremony. She has never looked happier! There were around 200 students in this graduating class:
I loved this photo for all the caps being thrown in the air.
Here’s lovely Amanda:
She’s oh-so-happy and we are so proud for her!! Graduating high school is such a significant time in our lives. It signifies a huge change and choices are so abundant. I remember my own like it was yesterday…
Congratulations Amanda and the Class of 2009 everywhere!
Happy Mother’s Day!
I wish everyone a very happy mother’s day. I hope your day is special and beautiful…just like you! ♥
From the Bottom of My Heart…
I thank each and every one of you for your prayers for my Mama. She had her first appointment regarding her back and she doesn’t have to have surgery! She can’t lift anything, including my Grandmother anymore but she’s not going to have to have surgery at this point. This is such a blessing and an answer to our prayers.
Now, she just has to get through the heart cath later around the middle of this month. Please, please keep her in your prayers. There’s so much power in prayer and my strong Christian friends and family mean the world to me.
Thank you, again, from the bottom of my heart. ((((hugs)))))
xoxoxox,
Rhonda
Thank You + Garden Beginnings
Thank you all so very much for the wonderfully kind comments and private emails. My heart is touched by your concern and your prayers for my mother. I’ve shed many a tear by your words – overwhelmingly happy tears. She’s doing ok so far and really just waiting for her appointments. In the meantime, she has a positive outlook and is in really good spirits. Her first visit regarding her back is coming up soon. I’ll keep you posted and thank you so much my dear and wonderful friends.
Before all of the issues with Mama’s health came to be, Charles and I had been working diligently on our very first garden. Last weekend, he tilled the area (and ended up with some horrible blisters!) and I had taken some pictures of the before and after.
Here’s the area in our back yard before:
and after:
I’m not sure if this looks large to you or not but this garden has 19 rows! Already planted in it are onions, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, and pole beans (green beans). Still to be planted are cucumbers, corn, peanuts, peas, tomatoes and okra. WHEW!
Plus we have this little second garden:
Inside this are strawberries and I think I’ll also have some herbs there. It’s just off our patio so things would be easy to harvest from there.
We can hardly wait not only to grow things but to share them with our neighbors, friends and family. I can’t wait until I want a salad and I just go to the back yard to make one!
Prayer Request
My dear friends and family who read my blog:
Please, please pray for my Mama. For over 20 years she’s had some very serious health troubles. She had a follow up visit to her doctor today and has learned that she will have to have two different visits to specialists. One is regarding her back. She has a vertebrae that is dangerously close to entering her spinal cord. If this happens, she will become paralyzed.
The other is her heart. She’s had two heart attacks in the past. There’s plaque buildup in her arteries and she must undergo a heart cath. Pretty routine usually, except for the fact that she was born with small arteries. Her regular Cardiologist has done this before to her but is sending her to a larger city to a specialist because he fears they may collapse. This specialist is supposed to be someone who can take care of her if they do collapse.
These are two very serious, frighteningly scary procedures she’s facing next month.
Please keep her in your prayers. I’m so thankful to have all of you out there to help me with this. I am truly worried. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Stopping and Thinking
This morning, I was bundling up to go to the mailbox in the freezing rain and sleet and I had one of those crystallizing moments. You know the ones that stop you dead in your tracks? I realized how very lucky I am.
I grew up with the best family in the world. My parents are the epitomy of love. They would give me everything they had, if I needed it. I am incredibly thankful to them and my life is so blessed to have been born to these loving people! My brother is always there if I need him, always caring, so funny and a true friend!
I have several very good, special wonderful friends in my life whom I’m also very thankful for, including the brilliant and talented ladies whom I have met on the world wide web. Lovely ladies who inspire, encourage, care and share. Your comments to me on this blog and in emails and private conversations are not unappreciated – I love them each and every one. Thank you wonderful friends – you are appreciated more than you could ever, ever know.
What brought it all on? Yesterday, I made scones (using this recipe I blogged about before, sans the egg/milk topping and the raisins) and thought about having one this morning. I imagined I would heat it just a tad and use a little butter on it. Then I had the moment – the world stood still just briefly while I took it all in. The warmth, the happiness…of everything in my life.
Who knew a scone could do all that?
Happy Birthday Daddy!
To my dear, sweet, strong, caring, loving father, I wish a wonderfully Happy Birthday today. We’ll see you this weekend to celebrate!!
The above photo was taken at my Phi Theta Kappa Induction Ceremony.
Uncle Harold
So many friends and family read my little blog that I really just talk about almost anything that’s going on in my life. While I try to keep my posts mostly positive, I feel it’s only fitting to tell you about things when times are hard, too.
My Uncle Harold passed away last Sunday, December 21st. Because of Christmas and his family living all over the US, the funeral wasn’t held until yesterday. He was 83 years old.
Daddy is one of 11 children. My grandparents, H.E. and Lucille, had 11 children. Can you imagine? WOW! My paternal aunts and uncles (in chronological order) are Harold, Juanita, John, Jo, Allene, Gerald, Larry, Bobby, Billy, Charles and Ronald (Ronald’s my daddy, thus my name). My Granddaddy passed away in 1979 and my Grandmother passed away in 2004 (she was 96 years old). My Aunt Jo passed away in 2005. Now, my Uncle Harold in 2008.
My family is huge and I’m so thankful for that. Almost all of them live within a few miles of each other here in Tennessee. I am so very proud of my family and each time we lose someone, it really breaks my heart. Each of these people are such wonderful, strong, compassionate people and I am so very proud to be a part of it.
With lots of love and many blessings to my family during this difficult time,
Rhonda
Scott Baio
You know how when you were little, you had this guy (or guys!) who you absolutely idolized? They were the ones who made you dream of being that “one selected to go on a date” courtesy of the latest Tiger Beat or 16 magazine? Well, in the 80s, I was really puppy lovin’ Scott Baio. Remember him? From Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi and Charles in Charge?
When I was in my early teens, I had posters EVERYWHERE in my room of him. I had clipped all kinds of photos of him and put them all around the perimeter of my dresser mirror. I had have his cassette tape…did you even know he released one? 
Anyway, each year Charles and I usually do some fun gag gifts for different members of our family. This year, we did a couple small things, nothing too big. But, let me tell you…my brother and his girlfriend, Michelle, really did something so embarrassing to me, which leads back to Scott Baio…
Once when I was around 12 or 13, I was adding the photos around my mirror of my dresser. I sat back on my bed to admire my work and one of them was a little crooked. So, I went over to reattach it and then went backwards to my bed to sit back down. And, I missed the bed. No one saw it. No one knew of my silly fall. No one ever had to know. What did I do though? I told Mama and it became this huge joke which is still talked about upon occasion to this day. She dubbed it “I’m falling for you Scott” the moment I confided in her what I’d done!! I’ve never lived it down!! Ron (my brother) and Michelle discovered this and created this in honor of my teen idol, puppy love, girlie days:
When we finished Christmas breakfast this morning and I walked into my parents’ living room, there it was. I took these pictures from my home tonight, so the lighting isn’t great. You can click on the 2nd picture to see it larger, if you want. My face was BEET RED!! I was so incredibly embarrassed, but they went through so much trouble, I felt it was worthy to tell all of you so you could laugh at me…or admit that you, too, were into the teen idols and tell me who, please!!
By the way…you should know…this thing is as large as a big screen tv…not a small creation by any means! AND that’s not all. I also received a Chachi action figure/doll AND a Scott Baio t-shirt….
LOL! Merry Christmas Everyone!!
Prayer Request
This is just a quick post and a prayer request for my blog reading friends and family. My Grandmother, who turned 100 years old this past February, fell and broke her hip this week. She has had surgery and is currently on the mend. I respectfully request your prayers for her and my family, especially my Mother. For those of you who may not know, my Mom has some significant health problems of her own and needs so much strength to help my Grandmother through this.
My Grandmother at her 100th birthday party:
She is just precious and such a dear lady. The surgery went fine though she did have some complications with the medicine making her sick. Thank you so much, in advance, for your prayers and concern. (((hugs)))
Nostalgia
Tonight, Charles and I ate out at a restaurant and after we placed our order I noticed bluegrass music playing. Then I saw the bluegrass band performing in a little room off from the main dining area. They were actually at such a low tone that we could have sworn it was coming through the speakers. This little band was comprised of four people – three men and one lady. Later on, some other people joined them in the room, which is I’m sure the audience they had been anticipating while they played their practice runs.
This was so nostalgic for me because I remember growing up, we would go to Aunt Jo & Uncle Ed’s house and listen to them and their family sing and play for hours. My parents, brother and myself would be clapping and grinning and so happy. Since that time, my Aunt and Uncle have both left this world to meet God. I miss those days and my Aunt and Uncle, but I am forever grateful that I was able to spend those happy hours amongst my lovely and talented family. One day, I know we’ll all be together again.
Here’s to happy times – ones that are in our hearts and memories…and ones still to come.
More Sneaking Peeking & My Mama
The goodies just keep on coming in…you know…the ones my first five customers are going to get for FREE with their purchases??
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A cute Grocery Bag Magnet with so many miniature items inside like drawer liner, cereal, a newspaper, fruit and more!!
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An adorable bag of potatoes magnet. I have had one of these for YEARS that she made for me and I love it so much. They are so very adorable!
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A precious red and white lollipop that has the clear protective wrap on it.
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A sweet tiny sundae in a clear sundae cup. Look at the tiny straw (for when the ice cream “melts”)!
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And, my personal favorite, a teeny-tiny miniature pink and white lollipop. It’s so very cute and sweet and adorable and lovely! Just like my Mama!!
Here’s a picture of them:
There’s more to come and those will be in soon, I’ll keep you posted on that. Also, don’t forget to look here tomorrow evening for things that I’ll have for sale in the shop on Saturday!
