My mother's birthday is today!

It is my mother's birthday today. Please keep reading to see just how wonderful she is, not that a few words and pictures can do her justice...but they give a glimpse.

Happy birthday mom, I love you.

You are my inspiration and you are beautiful, Happy Birthday!!

A Sonnet for My Incomparable Mother

I often contemplate my childhood, Mom. I am a mother now,

and so I know hard work is mixed together with the fun;

You learned that when you raised me long ago.
I think of all the things you gave to me:

Sacrifice, devotion, love and tears,Your heart, your mind, your energy and soul--

All these you spent on me throughout the years.
You loved me with a never-failing love you gave me strength and sweet security,

And then you did the hardest thing of all: You let me separate and set me free.

Every day, I try my best to be a mother like the mom you were to me.

You lead an interesting and wonderful life, thankyou for including us in it mom.

My mother’s love showed me the way.
I’ll love my mother all my days, For enriching my life in so many ways.

With open arms and open heart,with enduring patience and inner strength,

you gave so much for me, sometimes at your expense.

You are my teacher, my comforter, my encourager, appreciating all, forgiving all.

Sometimes I take you for granted, Mom,

but I know that everything I am today relates to you and your loving care.

Your husband loves you and IS blessed by you!

Your friends love you and have fun with you!

You do so much with and for us! Thankyou.

Everything Mom
How did you find the energy, Mom

To do all the things you did,

To be teacher, nurse and counselor to me, when I was a kid.
How did you do it all, Mom,Be a chauffeur, cook and friend,

Yet find time to be a playmate,I just can’t comprehend.
I see now it was love, Mom, that made you come whenever I'd call,

Your inexhaustible love, Mom, And I thank you for it all.

Your grandchildren love you! (I know these pictures only show a few of them :)

Your family loves you!

You Let Me Know You Love Me
You let me know you love me In so many different ways.

You make me feel importantWith encouragement and praise.
You're always there when I need you to comfort and to care.

I know I'm in your thoughts; Your love follows me everywhere.
Thank you for all you've done and given so generously.

I love you, mother; You're a heaven-sent blessing to me.

Your sacrifices and unselfishness do not go unnoticed, Mom.

I admire you, I respect you, I love you...And I'm so glad you're my mother!


Nobody loves me like you, Mom.

No matter what I do, Good or bad, happy or sad, You support me;

You always come through.
Nobody's equal to you, Mom.

With you in my life, I'm blessed.

I love you so, and I want you to know I think you're the very best!

Happy Birthday beautiful Mom!

Mom,

you're a wonderful mother, So gentle, yet so strong.

The many ways you show you care always make me feel I belong.
You're patient when I'm foolish; you give guidance when I ask;

It seems you can do most anything;You're committed to every task.
You're a dependable source of comfort; You're my cushion when I fall.

You help in times of trouble; You support me whenever I call.
I love you more than I can express; You have my total respect.

If I had my choice of mothers, You'd still be the one I'd select!

Seriously mother, many of the words that proceeded this note are not originally mine, though I have made them personal with a few added or subtracted here and there.

I thought much of you today and worried you would be sad without all of your family around you. I know we are the most important thing in the world to you (apart from God:) and you have shown that so completely...I could never doubt it. You are truly the best mom I have ever come across. I've not met any I'd choose over you. You have always encouraged me, dared me to dream and when I was too lazy or afraid to dream...you dreamed for me. You encouraged and helped me to do whatever God would have me do. And you were patient, yet honest, when I did the opposite. You put everything you are and have into me, into your family, even what you don't technically 'have' :) and I love you for it. Thankyou for being so generous and for wanting to be a mom above all else, never have I felt second best around you. Never have I felt you put anything above me or the rest of us kids. Wow. That is pretty amazing. You are awesome. Truly. I wanted to remind you of some of your amazingness in these pictures and words. I don't have any old pictures to share, but there are a ton of 'old' memories I am remembering today. I am so glad you are here with us to keep on making perfect memories. Without you, none of us would be where we are today (in a good way that is!) Thankyou mom, Thankyou, Thankyou, Thankyou

Happy Birthday!!

Your "James Gang"

“James-ness”

(words taken--and only slightly changed--from my alphabet album from Amy)
You are one of the foundering members of the unique 9-member club. You possess a fierce sense of loyalty for every other member…loyalty that grows from an unbreakable bond of love. You began and still enjoy the open door policy this club adheres to: all members know that there is never a bad time to call or stop by, never a meal that won’t be gladly shared, or a bed too crowded on which to rest their weary bones.
Club James has sometimes been accused of an overindulgence in sarcasm, a startling lack of financial stability and even of being un-affectionate…but the heritage of spiritual honesty, unrelenting grace and a fearless pursuit of personal healing and growth is unmistakeable and rewarding. And the afore-mentioned LOVE covers a multitude of wrongs!
You have created a rich soil that allows your offspring to root securely. A gift and connection for which we as your children, (and later your grandchildren and great grandchildren) find ourselves eternally grateful. Thanks Mom for getting it started!

Homemade Jam! By Sara and Kristy?!!?

You bet! This is jam made by myself and Kristy. On the right we have Banana/strawberry freezer jam (no cooking required, was the first one we tried, very sugary, bit runny but excellent in taste! Today we tried boiling one of the batches to see if it would make it less granular, seemed to work, but even on its own, sugar and all...it is delicious!)








Next we have a close up of the raspberry jam we made today. It is excellent in consistency, taste and looks! Very proud of ourselves. Even though we were 5 minutes late putting the pectin, we've found jam to be pretty forgiving.












Here is a closer view of our freezer jam...and the jar just to the left of it is the one we tried boiling to reduce the granular sugar consistency. Seems to have helped a bit.












Proper jars and labels too, plus....all of our jars sealed properly, even the ones that weren't full completely. So amazing, we had fun (even though when we had kicked all extras out of the kitchen, I heard Nelson (our international student) ask John why we had to be so grumpy while we made jam :)

By the way, jam is horribly full of sugar and very unhealthy, so...enjoy.

Casendra is 7 weeks old!

Kristy Mccarter is down visiting us and she brought Casendra this very cute dress. So knowing we've fallen behind on posting after dads birthday, we figured it was a great outfit to show her off in. She's looking so alert cause she's been giving me a 9 hour straight sleep at night :) yeah!!!! Going for 12 now :)

She really is a darling, sometimes fussy...specially it seems if I drink milk (which is awful cause I really enjoy milk!) But at least it seems I can still eat sweet stuff, for awhile I thought I'd have to give it up too. Speaking of sweet stuff, I'll post tomorrow my latest venture with Kristy. Very successful for the two of us and a joyous occassion for John! Any guesses what we've been up to??

bumbo beauty

Taking a break from the hard work of caring for Casendra, you can see how it wipes them all out!

A wake up kiss

Some people are morning people...

some people aren't.

"Yes, Moosey, daddy is always this sleepy in the mornings, but he does still like when we cuddle with him."

Ethan has seldom referred to Casendra by her given name, instead he first called her "Allie", then it switched later to "Moosey" and now at 7 weeks she is "Nosey", no idea why he nick names her but he is loyal to the name he chooses, even introducing her to his playschool teacher by it. Very funny.