Memorial Day 2020

May we remember what today is truly about. Your sacrifice will never be forgotten.  Semper Fi!

Canning Marathon

I have been so busy canning here lately.  I do this every year to stock our pantries. Has nothing to do with the pandemic. I've been doing this for years. Carrots,  more cole slaw and sauerkraut,  and potatoes. I tried something different with our potatoes this year. I dry canned them. They are suppose to come out to not be so mushy if you pack with water.

I am going to try my hand at canning rice sometime.

Slowly but surely getting there.

Me and the girls are rocking right along. Mommy took her last exam for the year.

We had a girls night one night and they spent the night with me. I had a pic of me and Poppie and a pic of just Poppie on a night stand beside the bed. They grabbed those pics and hugged and kissed them and told Poppie goodnight. I melted my heart.

Poppie got me part of my Mother's Day. He found this stool for us. These girls will fight over one stool and push and shove and want to be beside Gmaw in the kitchen.  So he fixed that problem. ❤

One morning they came to eat breakfast and I put them to work.  No, really,  they wanted to help Gmaw of course. They made biscuits with supervision.  And wanted to wash dishes. 

Dallas is done with school. He has turned in all his work to his teachers.  This is a page from the year book at school. He is an FFA member.

I had two more rows of corn to plant and I planted some sunflowers too. I've got to replace some tomato plants due to weather.  But not as bad as I thought. We have got to find some sweet potatoe slips and plant two more rows of corn then we are done planting. 

It has been an exhausting week. 

Dad got to come home. The job is done for the summer but he will have to go back end of summer for a small project. But for now, we are going to enjoy every minute. I can't understand people complaining about being home with their spouse or kids during this pandemic. Oh well, that's a whole other soap box. 

Mothers Day 2020

I’m paying tribute to two beautiful women today for Mother’s Day. I am who I am today because of them. Their prayers helped me make it through life.
My momma: God bless her. She raised us in a Christian home and I have heard her sing all my life. She was a Preachers daughter. She had devotions with us prayed with us, and over us all our lives. And still does. She worked hard to always make sure we had what we needed. Even if it meant two jobs. We were never hungry. We always had clothes to wear, alot which were hand made by her and my grandmother. They put alot of love into those garments. I felt the love in my mommas hands and hugs. I always felt safe and secure with her. She made home a home. She also had her share of tough love for me. Yes, I got my butt whooped alot and should have gotten more to be honest. She was tough and still is. She didn’t take any crap and still want. She sacrificed alot of things just to protect us and provide for us.
Still, today, she is amazing and one of my best friends. We love the days we get together and make the most of it. I can call her anytime and she will listen, let me vent, yell, cry, and get things off my chest, then she prays with me or for me.
She is graceful, but a force to be reckoned with. She is one of my heroes.
The next is my Ma Ma Oliver. My grandmother. Boy, how I miss her. Even when I got older, I always went to visit, and she always made my favorites to eat. I made sure my children knew her.
She was raised in a Christian home and was a very Godly woman. Talk about a Proverbs 31 woman. I don’t ever recall seeing her angry. Maybe a hissy fit or two, but never angry. She was a gentle kind soul who loved God, family and everyone. She was a prayer warrior. I would spend every summer with my grandparents. They taught me so much.
She put love into everything from house work, cooking, cleaning, gardening, animals, sewing, you name it. My momma says I am my grandmothers child. I patterned my life after her and I get my old fashioned ways from her. She was a gracious preacher’s wife and served the Lord and the church. I miss her dearly and wish I could visit so bad. I’d make sure my grandkids knew her.
These two wonderful women are the reason why I do what I do.

Two of my greatest blessings call me Mom. I prayed for children and God heard. Everything I have done all these years have been for y’all. I may not have done it or do it the way you want, but hey, you’re still alive and loved. 
We may argue, fuss, fight, and aggravate but in the end, we are a team. Y’all have given me more scares, heart aches, gray hair and hurt feelings than I can count but my love will never change. At the same time, y’all have done things that have made me so proud and overjoyed that I just had to shout it to the world.
I know I’m strict and old fashioned but I think y’all may get it now. I know I have screwed up sometimes and I know I have failed sometimes as a mother, but it’s not because I didn’t try. I look back alot of times and ask myself where I went wrong.
Y’all are prayed for daily and loved so much. You will never know. Maybe one day when y’all are older. God gave me a high calling as being a mother and i will do it to the best of my ability until he calls me home.
Always remember, I would lay down my life for either of you. I love y’all.

I have the greatest mother in law ever. I can’t say I have known her all my life but for 29 years I’ve know her to be a God fearing, Godly woman. She’s one tough cookie but with a heart of gold. She has always put others before herself. From what I know she has done this for a very long time. I am glad she raised this man here. He loves her and will do his very best to care for her.
She has always taken care of her children and raised them to be who they are. She has always sacrificed her needs for the sake of her family. You can’t keep this woman down. God is on her side.

Happy mother’s day to a wonderful young lady. The mother of our little grand blessings. I know it’s not easy with these Dixon men, but you have proved yourself quite well. You are slowly but surely passing the test. 
You are a great mom and kind hearted and most of all patient. That’s what it takes. Thank you for loving our girls and raising them. Jocelyn Dixon we love you.

And these two made me a grandmother. Just when I thought my heart couldn’t get any fuller. They melt my heart and keep my young. We may not always see eye to eye but they are my little buddies and I know they love me.
We have so much fun together and I want to teach them all I can. They will always know Gmaw will be here for them.
When they run to you and holler,  "Gmaw, Gmaw,Gmaw" and hold their arms open for you to hug them,  PRICELESS.  and then they melt my heart when they say, "I love you Gmaw!" I just crumble.