I Sure Miss You!

If life could only bring again, the days I took for granted when
To hear your voice was just a call away
Oh what I 'd give for just some time to say the things that slipped my mind
There's so much now I 'd really like to say
But I can never go back when we did the things we did back then
I'll store those precious memories in my mind
I'll take what you've instilled in me;I'll try to be all that I can be
And walk the path that you have left behind.

Chorus: I sure miss you; life will never be the same with you not here
Each passing day has brought much pain
But with God's grace my strength remainsI sure miss you, but heaven's sweeter with you there

The little things that seemed so small
are now gold in a memory vaultI cherish every one I have of you
Now I can see and recognize the part you played to shape my life
I often see you in the things I do
In God's design and master plan
He saw the hurting hearts of manAs we would say goodbye to those so dear
So with our family and friends we'll be together once again
We'll view all heaven's splendor hand in hand

Holidays are always a lot of fun for kids! My kids love it for sure. I even remember a 100 years ago when I believed in Santa! lol I always tried so hard to catch him ( even though we didnt have a chimney) I thought he made one to come down in every house. I enjoy seeing the excitement that my kids have around the holidays. I also love seeing other people with happiness in their eyes too. For me , feels a little different . Don't get me wrong .... I 'm so thankful every day for the people in my life, and my family who are around! I just miss so many people that I love! The holidays will never feel complete again until heaven . I just wanted to take a few minutes to remember them all this holiday season. Remember to hug and tell those you love .. how much you love them everyday! We aren't promised tomorrow! If we could send hugs and kisses to the people we love in heaven my list would be as follows: Dustin , Papaw Foy, Papaw Lyman and Mamaw Bessie , Dot , Ellie,Nellie,Franklin and Hubert( all my great aunt and uncles),Allen , Dorothy , Nikki, Ray, Jackie and so many more. Heaven has been filled with so many of those I love so much ! This song by the Crabb Family means so much to me. It brings both tears and smiles. The memories we make with those we love are priceless!

SHINE ON! SHINE ON! SHINE ON! BAMA 36 - AUBURN 0

Well .... We did it !!!!! Finally , beat those Auburn Tigers! This has been the most amazing season of Roll Tide football for my kids ever! We love our team. We have supported them through lots of phases. I have to say it feels realllllllly great to have had such a wonderful winning season. I wanted to share some of our tailgate pictures with ya'll! God bless and Rollllllllll Tide!

"Yea, Alabama!"Yea, Alabama! Drown 'em Tide!Every 'Bama man's behind you;Hit your stride!Go teach the Bulldogs to behave,Send the Yellow Jackets to a watery grave!And if a man starts to weaken,That's a shame!For 'Bama's pluck and grit Have writ her name in crimson flame! Fight on, fight on, fight on, men!Remember the Rose Bowl we'll win then!Go, roll to victory,Hit your stride,You're Dixie's football pride, Crimson Tide!

Just a little FYI- 92 thousand people packed in Tuscaloosa to see this victory!

Thanksgiving History

Contrary to the popular belief, the pumpkin pie, cornbread, roasted turkey and all the Thanksgiving paraphernalia that we see on the Thanksgiving Dinner table, do not owe its roots to the original Thanksgiving meal of the Pilgrims. In 1621, a harvest festival was celebrated by the colonists or the Pilgrims, to thank God for saving their lives and guide them through their struggles through their journey in Mayflower and the following years of draught at Plymouth. After the rain that marked the end of the draught and revived the crop of corn and other fruits, they decided to celebrate the day with their neighbors or Massasoit, the chief of the Native Indians or Wampanoags, and his family. He came with all his extended family that constituted ninety people and stayed for three days. Colonists were of course in bad shape and there were only four grown up married ladies left to do all the cooking. Thus, General Bradford sent four of his soldiers to hunt for fowls, who brought such a large number with them that it could feed the whole village for a week. Wampanoags also helped in supplementing the food supplies by contributing five deer they had killed and probably other supplies out of courtesy. The food listed in Winslow's account consists of corn meal, fish such as bass and cod and wild fowls or turkeys. Other things that were not listed but were available to residents of Plymouth in those days and were probably a part of the feast were lobster, rabbit, chicken, squashes, beans, chestnuts, hickory nuts, onions, leeks, dried fruits, maple syrup and honey, radishes, cabbage, carrots, eggs, and may be goat cheese.Potatoes were unavailable in those days and butter and oils were scarce. There were no ovens so though pumpkin stew and pudding may have been served there was no scope to prepare pumpkin pies. Women who did the cooking were born and raised in England and probably experimented with their cooking by adapting their methods of cooking to the native foods available to them. Roasting was the preferred method of preparing meats and poultry but roasting on a spit over a fire take hours and constant monitoring by someone who needs to turn around the spite every now and then, so perhaps roasted venison was served with boiled fish and fowl or turkey and it is not unlikely that few of these birds may still have an overlooked birdshot embedded inside them. Indian corns do not pop well, so there were no popcorns on Thanksgiving table though corn may have been ground into meal for bread and thickener. Though, cranberries were available to the colonists, cranberry sauce could not possibly have been served because they had no access to sugar and though honey or syrup could have been used to sweeten the cranberries, it requires a lot of labor, and four ladies cooking all day to feed the crowd of about 150 people, could not have find time to do all that work. In short, the Thanksgiving meal for the pilgrims may have consisted of roasted venison, stewed or boiled fowl, lobster and fish, corn and wheat breads, stew of dried fruits and perhaps pumpkin, one or two boiled vegetables and only water to drink. So, you can cut out roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, popcorn, pumpkin or any other kind of pies, beer and wine from the pilgrims' Thanksgiving feast and have a simple fare to commemorate all they had gone through.

Today we might share any food ... although, some still stick to the tradional creations by our mother's and grandmother's . Whatever food you use to celebrate your holiday with this year...remember to be "thankful!"

THINKING ABOUT JOSH AND OUR TROOPS

I have a very dear friend who is serving in Iraq right now. He sent some pictures I want to share. Before he went to Iraq ... I cut his beautiful curls off in the trash can at my salon. He was really scalped that day! He wanted to get some sun on his scalp before he went away. We had a lot of fun times laughing , joking around, and just hanging out together. Josh is very loved by our family . We all miss him! Looking at his pictures its clear to see that children are children. Some of the other pictures its clear that war is real! Please pray for his safe return home.

Capturing Moments

Today was a cool Sunday afternoon. We decided warm enough to clean up the leaves! All ten- thousand!!! I looked out the window and this picture is what I saw! Dillon was collecting the leaves and dumping them to burn. Sarah decided that she wanted to ride. Watching and looking around so proud ! You just can't beat moments like these.

Loving Outdoors

Both of the boys love outdoors. They enjoy doing all the things boys love to do. We have some family that has farmland . They have experienced putting up fences with their daddy and seeing animals born. I'm glad they've been able to see both sides of living city and country. As for me, I like waking up ... walking outside and no stinky cow poo!

My Little Superstar!

Music is so important to me . To me, if you can't express it in a song.... it does not exist! It's a part of my very being. For those of you who know me personally ...your probably saying... DUH! My baby is learning to play .... YAH! Makes him happy to just be around music! He is starting professional lessons after January. OK ... I 'll admit it.... I'm lovin' it! Have a great night~ Stacy