My Favorite Valentine Card this year!

I can still remember the excitement of filling out Valentine cards and making our "mail box" at school. My mom kept them for years and I used to go through them over and over and over again. I would pick out my favorites and place them in piles.

This year, I have received a few cards....not as many as when I was in elementary school, but it's still exciting.

This one was my favorite!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Granny

We are in the process of cleaning out our attic and other storage areas in our house. We are having a Community Giveaway at our church on Saturday and this is a great excuse to do some purging and reorganizing.

I found some great pictures of my Granny Eastwood today. I've posted more on our Rayality blog, so go on over and check them out.

Now that I am a Grandma, I can appreciate all the little things that she did for me to make me feel special. I hope I can always make Lyric feel as special!

It's been a year!

Well the great thing about waiting a year to post, is that you can pretty much repeat last year's events!

It's almost time to wish Brittany and Justin a Happy "2nd" Anniversary! Where does the time go?

It's been a busy and eventful year for us and we are so blessed by our new little family addition, that I can hardly find time for anything else.

But.....time keeps marching on and before you know it, we will be celebrating Lyric's 1st birthday!

In the meantime, Brittany asked me to join her in a blogging venture. She wanted to include all of the "Ray" girls, so that we could document our interest and adventures. Our new blog is called "Rayality."

I will continue to have this blog and update it from time to time. But come on over and see what we are up too....a lot of tweeking to still do and we are hoping to have guest bloggers as well.

www.rayalityblog.blogspot.com

Peace ~

Trisha

Happy Anniversary - Justin and Brittany!

Hard to believe that it has been one year since our trip to Savannah, for Brittany and Justin's destination wedding. I still haven't gotten prints from Ashley's wedding printed and framed. Brittany did make me photo books of both weddings for my Christmas present this year. Before the end of March, it is my goal to have pictures printed, framed and hung throughout the house.....they have to find their space on the wall before my baby comes in August....after that, I'm sure it will be all about her...or him.
Happy Anniversay!

I love these old vintage Valentine's Day cards. My mom used to save my "mailboxes" that we made in school that was full of valentines. She had them in a drawer in her bedroom. For years, I remember sitting in the floor looking at them over and over and over. I guess she threw them out when they moved to Southern Illinois. I do have some old post cards from the early 1900's that belonged to my Great Grandmother. I keep them displayed in a book and there are some cute Valentine cards in there...I wish I would have scanned one for today.

I always send my little great nephews special cards on holidays. For Valentine's Day, I put in some stickers and two dollar bills....I know, big spender....but hey there are seven of those little guys!! In my haste, I forgot to put the dollar bills in Jaron's card. I don't know if one of the other guys got four dollars, or if I just miscalculated. Poor Jaron, I will have to do something extra special in his Easter Card!

I sent a card to Brittany and Justin and my Mom and Dad. I put a card out by Terry's coffee pot before I left today and Terry is going to put Ashley and Jose's card in their mailbox before he leaves for the day. Terry also picked up our grand baby a little card....it says to a "Sweet Little Lady"....so he is on "team girl" too! I bought the baby a Golden Book...Poky Little Puppy, a classic to help start her/his library.

So, who cares if this is just a made up holiday - a way for the greeting card company to make money....I say, hurray for a day that encourages us to share the love!!

Happy Valentine's day to all.

A day of paradox

Yesterday was the 4th anniversary of my brother's untimely death. For the last three years I had a box in my bedroom that sat next to my computer....in that box was the notepad that I was scribbling information and numbers on as I received the news. I never used that notepad again, but over the last three years, I would get it out and read over my scribbles and remember my emotions.

Most of all, I was concerned for my parents. I had to make the call to them, then I had to get to Houston to take care of my brother's things...then I had to get back home and pack and get to Illinois as quick as I could, to be with my parents. Looking back now, I don't know how I did it, how it all worked out...but it did and time has past and life goes on.

Yesterday, I heard the heartbeat of my grand baby. Ashley had a doctor's appointment and went alone. How surprised I was when I got a text message and it was the audio of the heartbeat. Her doctor recorded it on Ashley's iPhone and she sent it to us.

Even though the day reminded me of a time of loss, how quickly my emotions changed when presented with the sign of life.

The bible is full of paradox, our lives are full of paradox.....I find it exciting to know that things change, for the good and for the bad, we never know what our day will hold. We do know this....God is unchanging and He holds our days.




To celebrate, I took Ashley out for dinner! I snapped this picture at the table, I can't help but see her as my "little" girl here.

New Year Wedding

Ashley made a beautiful bridesmaid for Jose's sister's wedding this past Saturday.
The wedding took place at the same plantation that Ashley and Jose had their reception at. Since their wedding, the plantation owners have built an outdoor cathedral. It is just beautiful. The weather was perfect...just a little cool.

Ashley and Jose during the recessional.

The cute couple - Monica and Jonathan Guzeman. They are enjoying the warm weather in Florida this week for their honeymoon.

I enjoyed the wedding, so glad that I could just sit and enjoy.......I'm still a little on edge from having to plan two weddings in a row. My final "to do" is still not finished from both weddings! That is ordering pictures to be framed and hung. I have had all the 4x6 pics from Ashley's wedding printed, but not put in albums. Still need to decide which ones to have printed larger and framed.

I have not had any of Brittany's printed yet. So that is my first project for this year. Brittany did give me great hardbound books of each wedding and small softbound books for Christmas. They are beautiful. Thanks Brittany!!