Awesome!

(one of Rachel's flowers)

Prayer works!!! In the same day I prayed for Wisdom, God JUMPED and gave it to me. It was not at all how I expected, but then, with God it never is! First, I will share that Saturday ended up being anything but, the Jane Austin movie and hand quilting. The sun came out and TJ came over. His parents had errands, but that was fine. I needed to cook anyway. I had to make dishes to pass for the Ladies Night Out and the Church picnic on Sunday. I made Rachel's Famous Grape Salad...Niki can vouch for how wonderful it is.
All the ladies loved it and many asked for the recipe. It is easy to make...I will post the recipe later in the week.

Then I made my homemade Macaroni Salad for the potluck....

This is one of Sweetheart's favorites.

I left for LNO (Ladies Night Out), grape salad in hand, at about 6:15. It was my first time there, and BOY WAS IT FUN!!! We played Bunko!!! It was such a great way to meet everyone. These ladies were all wonderful. I felt like me again. Fellowship is so important and I had been missing it. I use to go to a local guild meeting in my old town, but for the last 8 years (when I needed it the most) I have not had it. There were about 17 women there.

They gave out lots of prizes....I was tied for the most losses!! Yes, you can win for losing! I was shocked I had lost 11 of the 18 rounds, as I had way too much fun to lose! I lost the roll for that prize (no surprise) but was given a beautiful gift just for coming...
A beautiful ceramic box. Perfect for holding sewing tools!
Now, enter wisdom....follow me here, cause I am going to tell a story. You all know how I struggle with parenting Charlotte. I feel most of the time I am failing her. I feel mean, unloving, guilty, sad, heartless, etc. When I started the women's bible study, there is a young woman there. She is about mid 30's. SWEET as can be. She shared alot about her life. She is adopted. Her mother got her at close to 2. She shared how much she loves and respects her mom...how unbelievably close they are. She is the only girl and her mom and her are like best friends! They go on "dates" together for brunch and shopping...a fairy tale. How great for them! So on LNO I was introduced to this wonderful mother....
That is her sitting on the very far right. This lady has the softest eyes I have ever seen. She looks at you and you can feel the love pouring off of her. NO WONDER her adopted daughter loves her so much. I actually thought, "poor Charlotte, should have gotten someone like her for a mom." I shared with this lady how much her daughter loves her and how she talks so highly of her. She looked a little surprised and then said, "That is good to hear...it was not always that way." She then proceeded to tell me about her years raising this little girl. I am not kidding...it was like she described me and Charlotte!!!!! She told how people thought she was mean and how her daughter changed personalities for different people, especially her husband. How she stole and lied. How she was diagnosed reactive attachment disorder and was told she would only ever hold a minimum wage job (maybe)...I have been told that same thing...By the way, this girl works in a local Doctors office who sees 80+ patients a day and she is in charge of the whole office....She told me how she felt there was no relationship and that her daughter did not love her and would never love her. I stood there with tears in my eyes at the awesomeness of God. HE knew what I needed. I needed to see a success story from both sides. I also heard from the daughter how she was afraid her mother would stop loving her...how she loved her mother all along, but did not want to show it incase she left her. She said she knew in her heart she would not leave, but her head lied to her often. I plan to spend more time with the daughter...she is where the wisdom is. She can tell me how my daughter is feeling and what she needs. I know she said the hardness of her mother setting boundaries was important and that she would not have survived without it. Anyway...isn't that AWESOME!!!??? That night I went to sleep feeling hope for the first time in....well I can't remember when.

Want some more awesome???? Sunday we all...ALL.... our whole family.....went to the Church picnic. We had a really good time. So much fun that I did not get pictures. The kids got some clam shells which they were thrilled about.....From there we went to our son's house. Emerson's room is done. I will show pics later this week, maybe tomorrow. You are greeted by these flowers as you go up the steps to my son's front door.Aren't they beautiful??!! TJ was in his room playing with his ABC's.
I asked him, "Where is the "I"?" He said, "It's right here." and pointed to an eye on his face! I just laughed!

My Rachel has a love for family photos and she has such a wonderful display. This frame is HUGE....
I love these from their wedding...Rachel dancing with her Grandfather and Bud dancing with me.
I am really proud of my oldest child. He has an incredible family! Kyle snapped this picture of us yesterday. He is such a man! How did that happen???!!!