Whew!  I'm back after what seemed like an even quicker trip than usual.  A lot was accomplished, though, so let's get with it.

I left here around 9am yesterday, arriving in Lockport around noon.  It took that long because I stopped a couple of times, once to get some coffee, which I don't even really like.  I just felt the need to have something warm going down my throat--I think I threw away more than half of it, but it really did feel good.

On the way home, I called Randi to see if she had plans for lunch, which she did--she and her Dad had already had lunch at Burger King.  I asked her to call at Blackie's to see what the lunch menu included--red beans, rice, salad, and choice of meat--fish, sausage, or hamburger pattie.  I decided that I would grab the lunch and eat at Jessie's, so I picked up the lunch with fish as my meat choice.  Before picking that up, though, I went to THE CAKE SHOP to put in my order for our first King Cake of the season--they have THE BEST anywhere at that little shop at home.

Then, I picked up my lunch, headed to Jessie's, unpacked the car, ate lunch, and was on my way back to Lockport to pick up Randi for her appointment with the eye doctor.  Thankfully, everything is going very well with her eyes.  Randi has glaucoma, so the pressure needs to be checked regularly, and she put drops in her eyes every night.  The doctor said that everything was great, and her next visit has been scheduled for 4 months, at which time she'll have the full exam.

After finishing that, I stopped by to see Mom for a little while, bringing her some pics that Josh had sent of his little family.  He printed up LARGE copies so that Mom could see them.  Now, of course, she wants me to get a frame to put up the family picture, so I'll try to remember to do that next time I head back there.

Next stop--Jessie's!  The rest of the evening was relaxing and about the hardest thing I did was eat supper--fried chicken wings and some harvest chowder that Jan prepared.  Everything was delicious.  I guess I was more tired than I thought, 'cuz I think I fell asleep before 10pm, and I stayed asleep until Jess' alarm went off this morning around 5am.

Today is Chandler Clareese's THIRD birthday!  Jack will be three exactly one month from today!  It is so hard to believe that these little ones are already three years old.  I remember being at the hospital when they were born, and it just doesn't seem like it was that long ago.  So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHANNIE!  Gramma and Grampa love you very much and hope that you have many, many, many more birthdays in your future.  (I'll get to Jack next month!)

As most of you know, we lost our Dad on the day after Christmas; of the six children that Mom and Dad had, there are four of us left--one died in an auto accident at age 19; one died from cancer at age 48.  The four of us who remain seem to have gotten closer and closer as time has passed, probably in large measure to way our parents raised us, but also probably due to the fact that BOTH our parents began to need our help much more over the past few years.  We have tried our very best to work together, putting their needs before ours at times, but always trying to do what was best for them--and we did this TOGETHER.

Lately, Sandie and I have written about sibling love in our journals--she because of a Bible class she is facilitating and me, well--just because.  Today, I got a note from one of my brothers, and I just felt that I had to share this, not just because he's my brother (and I love him very much) but also because he's a man, a man who usually doesn't speak his feelings very much (he's a "show-er" and not a "tell-er)--I thought that what he sent to us is beautiful, and he speak so eloquently of his feelings for our Dad in just a very few, powerful words.    I hope he doesn't mind that I put them in here.  (Just got an e-mail giving approval!)

"Sometimes, those few beautiful little words are the words that we forget to
say, to those that we've loved the longest, our very own family. I do love
you all. I also thank all of you, for everything you all did, the small
things, and the big things, while we all went through these last few years
of Dad's illness, and, of course, the passing of this man we all loved so
much, one of the greatest men that I've ever met."

Hope you have a wonderful evening.  I know my heart is full tonight, and both Mom and Dad are taking up a lot of space in there; however, my siblings are definitely taking up a lot of that space, too.  Love you guys/gal!

HEARTFELT BLESSING:  "Be who you are, honestly, truthfully, and entirely.  There is no one who can be you better."  

                           --Harmony McCormick-Witstyn (very wise 14yo)

NOTE:  Years ago, a nun-friend of mine gave me a plaque that said:  "I am not who I think I am; I am not who YOU think I am; I am who I think you think I am."  How true!  We always want to be the person we think others want us to be.  Can we not be satisfied with the person God created?  Let us always try to be that person, the person we truly are, entirely--THAT is who I want to be, don't you?