THE END

Mom as a child. She's holding onto the

necklace around her neck.

As I begin to pen this chapter of my mom's life, 

I haven't even looked back to see where I had left off

in the telling of her story.

I've put off writing this last part of her story for months.

For a bit I didn't feel comfortable talking about it.

It was too fresh, too new, and too hard for me to wrap

myself around to write this last chapter.

Then I spent literally months trying to come up

with the right title for this post. 

It had to be the perfect title.

As you can see, I lost that battle.

Blogging moves on

(I heard that somewhere)

and I have some other stories I want to tell

but can't until I end this one.

(The Grow Your Blog doesn't count. 

Vicki's *vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com* my friend),
and, oh, a couple of others.

Those of you that have been blessed to have

a great relationship with your mom know

what I'm feeling.

After I grew up my mom turned from "mom"

to "friend". 

We had a great relationship.

She was a beautiful woman and her kids were her life.

She passed on October 12, 2012

at the River Point Assisted Living Center

Kerrville, Texas,

after living with The Tank and me at the ranch

for 6 months.

She was my job for ten months.

Some really good, really funny,

and some very sad, 

heart crushing moments.

I would cry out to God at points in her care

because I couldn't stand the pain

of watching her become someone I didn't know.

Oh, God, it was so difficult.

But, it was a huge blessing, too.

I was with her the last months of her life

and that was a blessing.

I was at the care center for two months,

at least eight hours a day, doing what I could to

help my mom.

And then Hospice became involved.

"Why are you here?? 

She's going to be herself again after she gets some rest."

And, I firmly believed it.

Oh, they had seen it before, I knew that,

but this was different. This was my mom

and SHE.WAS.GOING.TO.BE.FINE.

AFTER.SOME.REST.

It's amazing how our brain works

in that kind of situation.

You have to live it to understand.

And, the Hospice workers see

that kind of hope, that kind of desperation,

so many times.

In so many ways.

My mom passed and joined

Jesus on October 12, 2012.

She wouldn't come back even if I begged.

That gives me great comfort.

Mom and Frank, my Tank

South Haven, Michigan,

a celebration of mom's 80th birthday

THE END

Thank you so much
for reading all of the
writings about my sweet mother.

I appreciate you so much,
        .Jan

leave a comment??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME AND PRESENTS FOR YOU!

I'll be 56 on September 1st. Or, you can think like I do - my 24th birthday is September 1st because I look just like Barbie. Either way, I'M HAVING A BIRTHDAY!

And, what could be better than to gift y'all??!! So, keep reading and you'll see just how you can be the one to receive gifts on MY birthday! This is just so much stinkin' fun!

Oh, my gosh, I almost forgot! The reason you're getting two gifts is because I'm also celebrating the fact that I have OVER 100 FOLLOWERS! I feel like a celebrity. One hundred followers is, to me, a really big deal. I'll probably keel over if I ever get over 200 - that would be rad!

The first lovely gift is a very cool vintage brooch that I bought at an estate sale. In the photo it looks about as big as my bum, but it's really just regular size - about 2 1/2 inches across, I think. It's simply gorgeous - not a stone missing. Just think of what you could use this on!

AND, you will also receive the gift of a vintage evening purse! It's made of black velvet and has intricate designs sewn on both sides with seed beads. It's absolutely fabulous! I bought it at an estate sale, also. I bought both the vintage brooch and the vintage evening bag especially for this giftaway. I wanted two very special gifts for you.
See how it opens? Very cool. It opens with some kind of spring thingy that bends in the middle so it's really easy to get into. The lining of the evening bag is black satin. It's just beautiful!
Now, this giftaway is not only for having over 100 followers, it's for my birthday so that I can gift you, my readers.

And, I'll be adding a lot of extras to this giftaway to make it REALLY special!!

I've given so much thought as to how I wanted to do this.....did I want to just take comments as entries since these are being specially gifted to you? Or did I want to have the odds tilt towards the faithful readers that have stuck with me over time?

Let's see what I decided as you read...

rules of the giftaway:

1. Leave a glowing (LOL) comment = ONE ENTRY

2. If you are already a follower of my blog = TWO MORE ENTRIES

That's right - you get two more entries if you're already a follower of my blog.

3. If you sign up TODAY to follow my blog (see the right column of my blog) = ONE

MORE ENTRY

4. If you already follow me on Facebook = TWO MORE ENTRIES

That's right - you get two more entries if you're already a follower of me on fb.

5. If you sign up TODAY to follow me on Facebook (see the right column of my

blog) = ONE MORE ENTRY

6. If you leave an enticing post on YOUR blog about this giftaway = TWO MORE

ENTRIES.

That's right, sweet ones, two more entries.

(BE SURE AND LEAVE YOUR BLOG ADDRESS SO I CAN VISIT IT AND SEE YOUR
ENTICING POST:)

.

7. If you send me a very nice birthday present you automatically win. hahaha

(JUST KIDDING!!)

Okay, that's it, girls! I hope you have as much fun reaching for the gifts as I have had creating this giftaway!

REMEMBER TO LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU QUALIFY FOR WHEN YOU LEAVE YOUR COMMENT.

AND, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!

Thanks so much everyone for entering! You know what I always say, the more the merrier - that's what makes a great birthday party!!

XOXO, Jan

WHEN MY BOYS START GROWING UP DOES THAT MEAN THAT I'M NO LONGER 24?

*COMMERCIAL BREAK: COMPUTER'S ARE STUPID. SOMEHOW MY 'PUTER ATE MY TEXT FOR THIS POST. I WILL NOW RE-WRITE IT. IGNORE MY ATTITUTE.*

Blake, our middle child, graduated this month from the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor.

Now, that might not be interesting to many of you, but to me? It's totally worth blogging.

Blake is an amazing person, someone you would be blessed to know - everyone that knows him would tell you that - he's simply awesome in ways that most of us strive to be every day.

Okay. The pictures.

I'm going to give you a description of the photos and leave it at that. No more "text" except for pic descriptions.

Let's start with the flowers that were in our room when we got to Killeen the day before the ceremony. They were laying on the bed with a card and note from our dear son.

I felt like Barbie - flowers in the room.

I'm the one that found the vase.

Frank Two Pies aka Frank the Tank, enjoying the room.

Blake's sweetheart of a friend comp'd us the room and it was such a blessing.

Thank you, again!!

Clay was lovin' the TV - there was a basketball game on - I was really glad that we didn't have to watch HGTV or some nonsense like that.

A very proud mom and a very proud daddy with Blake after the ceremony.

Blakers and Clay. Clay is a sophmore at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

I get to do this one last time in three years.

Whoop.

Uncle John (the Tank's brother), me (John is always asking for my kisses), Blakers and daddy.

Craig *he's there in spirit - he had to stay in San Angelo and catch bad guys and couldn't come*, me, Blakers, Clayman and daddy.

The whole family.

Sorta.

I knew you'd want to see yet another picture of me, Blake and daddy.

I aim to please.

This is a picture of Brat, Blakers and Will.

Brat (short for Brittany) is like Blake's best friend.

Will is Brat's understanding boyfriend.

We all love Will.

Brat is like a daughter to me. She's wonderful.

Ahhh, Uncle Emil, Blake and Aunt Melinda.

Melinda is my cousin and one of my fave fives on my phone.

They live in Belton where UMHB is and they were always there if Blake needed anything and actually, they made it so much easier to leave him at college his freshman year especially, knowing they were there.

Melinda and I have been close all of our adult lives and they've both been "Uncle" Emil and "Aunt" Melinda to all of our boys. They're wonderful.

This is a picture of Greg and Laura's precious daughters. I have momentarily (yeah, right) forgotten their names, but they were at the PAR-TAY that their parents threw for Blake at the fitness center after the ceremony.

Friends of Blake's from the fitness center digging into the amazing food that was prepared!

Blake and one of the patrons of the center.

She adores Blake.

Look at the smile on Blake's face.

Enough said. Let's move on.

Brat with her baby.

Oh, wait, that's not unmarried Brat's baby. I'm sorry, Brat. Editorial mistake. ROTF

This is Greg, Blake's boss, who threw the party along with his precious wife, Laura.

I only got to speak to him for a few minutes, but in that short time I could see why Blake admires him so much.

He's standing with the sweetheart (for those not in the know, when I can't remember someone's name, I call them sweetheart. It works better in person and not so well when blogging.), and Blake's good friend, that comp'd us the room at the hotel. Of course, I adore him!

There was so much food at the PAR-TAY. It was amazing.

They had set up grills out back and bar-b-qued chicken and ribs! Shut up! I know!

They went to so much trouble putting on this celebration that I was humbled to think, no, to know, that they think so much of Blake.

In line for some of that amazing food!

What a special day it was! Everyone had so much fun celebrating this milestone of Blake's! I hope by looking at the pictures you felt like you were there with us because I would have LOVED to have had all of my readers there!!

I love you dearly, readers! Thank you for being so consistant and supportive of my blogging efforts!

XOXO, Jan

YOU'D THINK I HAVE NOTHING TO DO!

Oh, my gosh, you'd think I have nothing to do! I've spent most of the morning creating a mosaic of some of my work. It's in my photostream on Flickr, it's in the right hand column of my blog and now I'm posting about it.
You'd think I have nothing to do.
No laundry, no crack house, I mean studio, to finish cleaning up, no Easter dinner to prep, no searching my closet for something cute and pastel to wear to church tomorrow....that fits, no packing to do as I prepare to leave for Michigan on Wednesday, no weeds to kill *Round-up is my weapon of choice*, no bird feeders to fill and bird baths to fill, hummer's bottles to fill........well, you get it.
You'd think I have nothing to do!

But, I think it's just really cute!

And, while you're here I thought I'd show you my first Marie Antoinette piece! It's a Marie themed cake banner.

I had made this *the most amazing* carrot cake for a ministry party last Friday and I thought, at the last minute, of course, that it needed a banner! A Marie Antoinette banner!

This is what I came up with....

This is the front:And, this is the back of the banner. . .

I've decided that I like these so much that I'm going to make more of them and will even try some different themes. What do you think???

Well, that's it for today. My hummingbirds are wondering if I'm going to fill their bottles or not so I best get busy!

Thanks for taking the time to read my post - leave a comment if you will:) And, to all of you, Happy Easter and praise our Lord as we celebrate his resurrection!

XOXO,

. . .Jan