Babies in Heaven

Just having memories of babies that are now in Heaven. My dear friend is reminiscing about her twin boys born 24 years ago today. They went to Heaven a few hours after being born. My first baby in Heaven was born very prematurely 20 years ago early this month. Some would have called it a miscarriage, others an spontaneous abortion (I hate that word) I held my precious 7 week baby in my hand. I mourned, rejoiced and buried my baby in a small jewelry box. But don't be sad. He is in Heaven and being loved by his grandmas and Jesus. My second baby in Heaven, who Katherine thinks is a girl, would be 6 later this year. Babies who others may think of as unimportant were and are cherished by our family. We do remember. Love you Jeanne, we will see our babies in Heaven someday and rejoice!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day
My dad Tillman Howell died in 2000. He served as a medic in France during WW2 and he and mom would be married 67 years this year. Dad worked hard to provide for his family and wasn't home much. My favorite memories of him are later in life. One time Don and I took he and mom to Dollywood. I was surprised at how much he enjoyed it, specially the log ride :-) We were surprised when he agreed to go on vacation with us that year and camped with us in the Smokey Mountains.

Cousins

Lots of fun this week when the cousins came to visit. Three 16 year olds, a 13 year old, an 11 year old and a 10 year old, all boys but one. They ate pancakes and hot dogs, went swimming, played board games, watched TV, played Wii, hunted for Caleb's lost phone and lots of other cousin things ;-)

But the most fun a few of them had was finding a bull snake in the chicken pen. Don killed it and then they had to inspect it a little closer.

Elizabeth's Watermelon Cake

Elizabeth is home for the summer. One of the few things that she misses when she is away at college is baking. So this week for the church potluck she made a beautiful watermelon cake. No, it did not taste like watermelon! It was the Hershey's Cocoa Cake with buttercream frosting and a few chocolate chips for seeds. Not a crumb was left to bring home. :-)

maria's recipe plus katherine's garden equals delicious

When I work early voting during election times I work with several wonderful Ladies. During the lull between voters sometimes our conversation turns to recipes. One recently from Maria was a different way to fix squash because we were talking about how prolific Katherine's garden seemed to be. So I tried out the recipe a few weeks ago with one of the first squash pickings and it was really good. Then this week I altered it a little because Katherine harvested a huge zucchini squash. Now that was delicious. I'll have to share more of their recipes sometimes.

Maria's Squash Bake
pour a small layer of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a baking dish, layer sliced squash on top, then sprinkle with mozerella cheese, repeat layers. I layered about three times before the dish was full ended with spaghetti sauce on top with one more layer of mozarella.  Baked for about 30 minutes at 350. Yummy!

This is Matthew holding the zucchini we used.

Happy Birthday Patricia

My sister Patricia is having a birthday today. I remember one special birthday that she had for us. The summer she got her first job, at Dart In, she received her first check shortly before her birthday, and went shopping. Who knew what she was doing. But on her birthday she presented us all with gifts. What a giving heart.
She still has that today always caring for others. I don't remember the gift she gave me but I do remember how special I felt. She has always taken such care to listen and watch my children, learning their interests and then purchasing them just the perfect gifts. And even after having surgery on Friday a belated birthday card arrived today for Daniel with a gift card to go get that special something.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATRICIA --I hope your day is wonderful and you are up and around soon.

Love you!