"Chocolate Chip Cookie Smile"

Our family loves chocolate...It's genetic. We come from a long line of chocoholics, and my sister and I (and I guess my brother too) will gladly take credit for passing this love on to all the generations following us that we live long enough to influence:)

Look at little Jack's happy face. He was enjoying his FIRST real, homemade with LOVE, chocolate chip cookie! He's been indelibly marked now, and as he grows, he won't really understand the WHY of it, but he will always crave those tender-crisp, buttery, chocolate-gooey, melt-in-your-mouth creations. He probably won't like them as much if they have nuts in them, because it just "takes away" from the REAL basic simplicity of our best-loved cookie.
Two of my nieces were present and watching as Jack weighed in on this newly-discovered treat, and they took great pleasure in being a part of an important family event. They both had their own chocolate stories involving Aunt Diana (me). When they were little and I had them, I gave them chocolate milk in their bottles or sippy cups. Actually, Leanna had quit taking a bottle till I filled one with chocolate milk, and when she went home to her mama, insisted on her choco-milk bottles for months thereafter! (;0 I don't think my sis was so pleased, but, hey, she got over it. Melanie, the "big sister," claims to still remember the Halloween when I gave Leanna her first c.c.cookie. I had baked them for a special treat, and couldn't wait another minute for her to try one. Melanie already had her mouth full as a little chipmonk, and after all, Leanna WANTED one, so what's an auntie to do? It made her so-o-o happy. It's always the same: that first little quizzical look, and then, absolute DELIGHT! It's the expression you can see on our youngest grandchild's face...the pure, unadulterated JOY of tasting his FIRST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE. I shall make them often and share them generously, so maybe our next generations will keep the tradition going. ________________________________________________________________________________________________Easy Simple and Wonderful Chocolate Chip Cookies: (one reason I LOVE my big blue Kitchen Aid mixer!)
2 sticks unsalted butter (yes, you can use a good fake butter, if you really believe there is one)
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar (light may be better, but can't tell that much difference)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking SODA
2 cups all-purpose flour 1 pkg. (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips
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Beat butter and sugars with electric mixer (or wooden spoon) until smooth. Beat in egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Add flour until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by heaping tablespoons (or can make smaller) 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake in pre-heated 375' oven about 10 minutes, or until edges are golden. Cool on baking racks, and then enjoy with a big glass of cold milk...YUM!

"Sayings" and what I know about them

 Today I've been doing a lot of thinking about life and the years I've lived it and some stuff I've learned. Things like "if you play with matches, you're going to get burned.!" That can apply to a range of stuff, from the hole my sister and I burned in the bathroom floor when we were little to the "famous people" scandals we continue to see ad nauseum on the evening news. I can't begin to imagine how that Wiener guy's wife must feel...first thing I would do is change MY name!
"Don't count your chickens before they are hatched," is one my mama used to say...I remember thinking and thinking about it till it finally made sense, but it didn't have much effect on me with some of the foolish decisions I've made in my life."When one door closes, another opens" has new meaning to us as our only children who live in our town are relocating because of job changes. They are "stepping out in faith" (another one) for the good of their family, but it's going to be a huge adjustment for the parents/grandparents as they aren't planning to leave the grandson behind! I have a feeling we'll be keeping the road hot!
The main thing today is (and there's even a book with this title) "Bad things happen to good people."  Look at what's going on in our own country, much less the rest of the world! People have had to flee their homes because of floods and fires, or have lost their homes, all their belongings, and even loved ones due to the horrible tornadoes! These are tragedies that make the news, but, honestly, personal tragedies are going on every day in our lives and in the lives of people around us. I have a good friend right now who entered a hospital in February for hip-replacement surgery, and the unthinkable happened...she contracted bacteria which led to infection. She's now in a different hospital facing what, her 5th surgery, I think? She entered a hospital suffering pain, but optimistic about her future. However, now, months later, she's a sick woman, facing who knows what else? She's a person of faith, and she keeps saying to me, "It's going to be alright. I don't know what's going to happen, but it's going to be alright. God has been with me all the time, and He won't leave me." She may be alright, but I was in total despair, until I talked with a "bff" who has experienced some really bad things, including death of a child (God help us!) as well as serious personal illness. She reminded me that "God gives an extra measure of peace and grace to those who really NEED it," and "It's not something you can understand unless you have experienced it, but it's like being wrapped in a cocoon of God's PEACE." She also said it's probably a lot harder on the ones on the "outside" who want to help and "fix it." I believe she's right. I want Vonda WELL! I believe in the power of prayer, and I am praying desperately that she will be well and whole soon. I'm also praying that Vonda will continue to have faith that no matter what happens, she will know God is with her through it ALL and it will be ALRIGHT! I hope you will take a minute to pray for her too:)

The Eyes Have It!

EYE tried to put another picture up, but have so many passwords, EYE couldn't remember which one to use! The computer remembers me when EYE want to blog, but, unfortunately, Picasso doesn't. Oh, well. That can be remedied later; EYE just needed to get something down on paper NOW!! (not sure this counts as paper, come to think of it, but not complaining. Love our technology!)    Surely you noticed the word EYE instead of I. It's because (and I'll quit doing it now:) my EYES are on my mind today. I've recently undergone surgery to remove cataracts from both eyes. I'm still using drops, and the drops go on and on and on. It's only been a week  since I had my right eye done and two weeks before that, I had surgery on the left one. The surgeon doesn't just remove the cataracts, no. She implants lenses that are like contact lenses and, if you are fortunate (like I seem to be at this point), your vision can be almost totally repaired! It's amazing! A mere 3 weeks ago the first thing I did upon waking was put on my glasses and now I'm sitting here clicking away without them! It's a wonderful, new freedom that I never thought could happen. I was never a good glasses wearer...they were on and off a zillion times a day and misplaced about that many times too. Hopefully, my family will never again (or at least for MANY years) have to hear the familiar, tiring question, "Has ANYONE seen my GLASSES?!?"

Thank YOU, Lord, for allowing this medical miracle to occur in my life. I pray that I will never take my sight for granted and that I will always let your LIGHT shine forth from these EYES.

A WOW of a WEEKEND!!!

It was a weekend our family had looked forward to for months! Son Nathan, who moved all the way from Little Rock, AR to Seattle, WA, came for a visit. And he didn't come alone! He brought the love of his life, Jensina, with him. Family members from Ft. Worth, Tyler, and Houston, TX along with Arkansas family from Magnolia (us) and Little Rock met in Little Rock where my daughter's home became the hub of activities! Bless Julie's heart, and thank goodness she has a place where many people can mix and mingle comfortably and children have several nooks and crannies for play! Anyway, we welcomed Jen into our hearts and lives in a big way. Most of the family had never met her, including me. And although we had skyped and facebooked, texted, and talked by phone, actually seeing her and being able to give her a big hug was a really big, emotional time for me, and for her too. There were tears as well as laughter. It was wonderful, and there was no doubt at all that we have each other in our hearts.

During the early afternoon, everybody kind of dispersed for awhile so "littles" as well as the rest of us could have some nap time and space. Nathan and Jen took a trip to Conway so she could go by the house her parents built there many years ago, and they could go by Hendrix College where the two first met about 21 years ago. He was a staffer and she was attending Governor's School, a special summer program for gifted students. (She is a concert pianist and teacher in a college now.) Of course, they were breaking every rule by even spending time together then, but what are rules when attraction is there? And who hasn't fallen "in love" at a summer camp?

When we all converged on Julie's house later for dinner and more visiting, Jensina had an addition to her "wardrobe." A very sparkly, beautiful diamond ring! While at Hendrix that afternoon, the place where they first "began," Nathan proposed marriage and Jen said yes. So, our "welcome to Arkansas party" became, even better, an ENGAGEMENT party! From seeing the cake that just "magically" appeared, it seems that daughter Julie had a little hint of what was going to take place. Hoorah, and hoorah! Congratulations, Nathan and Jensina and ALL of us! And welcome to the family, beautiful Jen!

A Special Weekend

Oh, Be Still, My Heart!

I know. I've been away so long, with Lent and Easter and life in general, not many will remember I'm here, but that's OK. I guess I do this mainly for myself, anyway. Isn't that true of a lot of us out here? Our main audience is ourselves, or at least it begins that way. For so many I've read, blogging has become a ministry, too, and that's a very good thing:)

But all that is for another day. Today is about a dream I had about a little girl who would someday arrive in my life and would be very accessible. A little girl I could hold, and sing to, and dance with and read to; a little girl I could make up games with and adventure with, and spoil, and watch grow...a little girl I could join my life with and wrap my heart around. And, OH! GO TO HER DANCE RECITALS!!!

Friends, just LOOK at our little dancing princess! She takes my breath away. I don't even have to see her on that stage, to have my wish fulfilled...WHAT? Of COURSE I WILL, unless God calls me home first, but when I said I had a dream, I also had a prayer, and I really believe He's going to let me stay around for awhile, at least as long as she REALLY needs her Nana.

Addie is wealthy in grandmothers. She has GeMa, KK, and me. She also has a GG, who will soon be 90! So, Addie doesn't lack in adoring women in her life. The grandmothers will all three be at Miss Addie's first dance recital, and all 3 of us will have tunnel vision, firmly fixed on the little apple of our eyes who has danced her way into our hearts and will remain there always. So, DANCE, little ballerina, DANCE!

"I don't know about tomorrow, but I know who holds my hand."

It's been another "one of those days." But this time it had nothing to do with not being able to find the keys or being late for a meeting or forgetting to mail "that" bill. It's been yet another day when we don't have WORDS to express our feelings. A day when more have died in wars, some being killed by their own neighbors in CIVIL war; a day when Christians have been persecuted and killed in an African country; a day when people's houses fell on them while they slept, or the ocean jumped up and over them, sweeping them out to to watery graves; a day when another soldier from Arkansas, my state, was shot down and killed in battle over - what? Oh, God, maybe all the "end time" prophets are right. Perhaps we are on the verge of the end of this world as we know it. It may be that our country never again knows a time of peace until Jesus comes back. Even in the midst of all the turmoil, though, it has still been a day to celebrate the miracles, big and small, that come in to our lives each day. A good friend's relief that her husband would not require a pace maker after just recovering from a terrible stroke; another friend celebrating that her new-born great- grandson is out of danger after being born with a collapsed lung; a blogger friend who has just celebrated her 5th "re-birthday" being cancer-free; my little grand daughter saying, "I love you. Nana," as she twirled and curtsied in a video sent by her sweet mama, my daughter, who said for years she "wouldn't have children," and now has two. Yes, miracles that give us hope. Hope that breaks through the storm clouds of life to renew our Faith in Him who holds the world in HIS hands.