Seeing Life through the eyes of an 8 year old!!

This morning as I was getting ready to go to the grocery store, little AB, 8 years old, said "Ms Ali I've never been grocery shopping with you can I go with you please?"  Sure you can!! was my reply.

So off we went with our 

in hand.  AB had strawberry and I had blueberry...AB asked if I wanted to trade one of his for one of mine...sure we can!!!  

After arriving at the grocery store and each of eating our last bite, we began walking into the store.  AB says "Ms. Ali if we get the water first we won't forget it."  Smart cookie there!!  So we put the 5 gal water bottles in our cart and off to the produce department.  First up are bananas and then a salad to go with dinner.  Then followed a conversation of having chili cheese dogs for dinner...sounds good to me...so we bought some hot dogs (already have chili and cheese at home) and got some hot dog buns too!  Picked up cereal: requests for Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms...no problem...then picked up some other groceries like grapes, bananas, pickles, multi-vitamins and 4 gallons of milk...these kids sure like their milk!!

AB was such a  big help, he organized the groceries in the cart so we wouldn't squish the hot dog buns, put the milk on the bottom so we wouldn't drop it, 4 bags of cereal fit real good on the bottom with the milk...as we were loading the groceries into the truck, AB says "Ms Ali, I like going grocery shopping with you...you let me pick up the heavy stuff and that's good because boys are supposed to help with the heavy stuff right?"  Oh, AB thank you for being my helper today!!  It was fun to see how you do things!!!

Once home, lunch was had by all...good ole peanut butter and jelly...how many sandwiches can eight kids eat...16...and one ate four of them!!!  I'm giving thanks I don't pay for the groceries around here.  And tonight those same eight kids had 16 hot dogs between them with the 4 and 5 year old only eating one!!  It is fun to see kids enjoying eating!!

Breakfast tomorrow is French Toast...wonder how many slices I will have to fix??

One thing we do at dinner time is go around the table and each person shares their low point and high point of the day...a few of them said saying good-bye to DP who left today to go back and live with his mom...we are all excited for him yet a little sad because we will miss his laughter, sense of humor and even those stinky feet!!!

Now everyone is settling down for the night so this HP Mama is going to pick up her crochet hook and work on a moose and a baby blanket...

Talk to y'all again soon!!

I'ts Been Awhile

Whew...where has the time gone?  Can't believe it's been two months since I last visited this place...I used to come here faithfully every day, then every few days, then once a week or so and now it's been over two months!!!

I have wondered about keeping my blog off/on over the years and I truly do miss journaling on a daily/every other day schedule.  I think for many reasons I have stopped yet lately I am feeling the need to pick up the pen (or keyboard) and write again but then Satan gets in my head and says things like "you better not say that because..." or "who really cares about what you and Ron are doing?" or "nobody reads your blog any way" or "what do you hope to see happen if you write about ?"  and the thoughts keep coming and coming and then I step away from the keyboard...

...then today as Ron left to go to Men's Bible Study and the kids are outside playing for a few more minutes I thought...hey hit the keyboard and almost immediately the thoughts started BUT I have plowed through and sat down here...

What's on my mind?  

FRIENDSHIP

I am so blessed to have friends, good friends, a BESTIE and acquaintances in my life.  I think have a lot more friends than many and I am so thankful for each of them.  Today though, I want to share about a few of them...

My longest relationship is friend, Corrine from high school...we lost contact for awhile but with the help of Facebook I reconnected with her brother and then her...I am so glad.  We have only physically seen each other once since graduation in 1975...YES that was a long time ago but each time we talk, write and yes, when we got together in Colorado a few years ago it was like a day had not passed between us.

I have a friend that I made when we were stationed in Holland, again we have only seen each other once since we left Holland in 1979 but we have watched our families grow with our own children and now with our grandchildren.  Connie and I come from very different backgrounds and have very different beliefs about some things but we are still friends.  I always get a smile on my face when I think of her and especially when I see the little sheep ornaments she and the kids made for us one Christmas.  

And from our time at McChord AFB, now Joint Base Lewis~McChord, is my mama best friend...we have nursed each other's babies...YES we did...we have flown across the US to see each other for special occasions like graduation from college.  We have cried with and for each other and I know that whenever I pick up the phone Merel is on the other end she will love me, laugh with me, cry with me and pray for me...we have been there when our father's passed away and when our mom's have been sick.  I am blessed to be able to share my grandbabies with her and she shares her furgrands with me...we are sisters of another mother and I am so thankful to call her my sister (one of many).

There is my Mom, Friend, Sister, Co-worker, Confidant and Counselor who has walked so many miles with me...we have been separated by miles yet we are never far apart from each other.  Lynda and her hubby, Jerry are not only friends, they are part of our extended family...they have counseled us through some rough times and been there to celebrate for the wonderful times.  We may not write or talk every day but when we do it's like we were just together the day before.  Through my friendship with Lynda I have another "mom" I can call...Kathy...she has helped me through some rough times and encouraged me on difficult days yet smiled and laughed together so many times we can't keep track...and isn't that how friendship should be...

My BESTIE...Dee...I love her more than any sister that could be blood to me...we have laughed, cried, argued and not spoken but through our love for the Lord and each other we have always found our way back to each other.  I think Satan picks on our relationship because we are so special to each other...if I don't hear from her after a few days, Satan puts those thoughts of "she doesn't like you, she's mad at you, you said something to piss her off"...Satan never says "she loves you BUT JESUS brings us back together with an email or a post on Facebook...we have gone years without seeing each other but boy do we make up for it when we are together...like a six hour coffee date!!!  Only a Bestie would spend that much time on a hard chair at Woods!!!  

Oh, so many names are going through my head...Mary, Norma, Donna, Amy, Rachel, Barb, Sallie and so many more...I am truly blessed to have so many wonderful women in my life and I even have a few great men in my life...besides my hubby of almost 44 years!!!  Oh what my life would like without Ron...nope, don't want to go there.  And then there is Jack, Jerry, Gary, Charles, Jim ~ oh how I will never forget our first meeting, Gerald and a few who are no longer here on earth: Curt, Al and Don...

I know I have not listed everyone...how could one person do that...

I just know that friendship, true friendship is a gift from God and I am blessed with so many

one of the things I want to do in my life is to be intentional in my friendships,

friendships are not on a one-way road but a two-way road where we meet along the way, sometimes in short distances, sometimes it seems forever.  

Friendship...what does that mean to you?