A Most Touching and Thoughtful Gift

I received the sweetest, most thoughtful gift, from my youngest son for Mother's Day. It's something I will cherish always as he really thought about me and honored me in a way that truly blessed me.

The Pooh plaque is so perfect - Pooh and Piglet confirming their friendship.  It's the adorable original Pooh illustrations that I love so much. Next to the plaque, we have the book, "Because I Had a Teacher".

Isn't this absolutely precious? I have put it on the wall next to my bed so as I'm going to sleep and waking up, I see it. It brings me such joy as I know my son and I will, indeed, be friends forever.

Then we have this amazing book. I was so touched that he honored me as his teacher. *sniff* As a homeschool mom, I gave everything I had to help my children learn and become better than I ever will be.

The illustrations in this beautiful book are so sweet! They rather remind me of the original Pooh illustrations.

Adorable, yes? The whole book is about what his teacher means to this little bear.

He inscribed the inside for me and I love what he says, "To: Mom - the Best Teacher". I have tears in my eyes just typing this. This was the most thoughtful gift! I am going to put the book in my new cabinet I just got (pictures next Tuesday) so I can see it all the time and also give it a place of honor.

Thank you, dear Cody, for the beautiful gift and for being such a wonderful son and friend! - Mom

Blessings - Julie

Counting Our Blessings - LinkUp!

Our weather has been quite strange over the past week. Cold to hot - hot to cold. Today is cloudy and cool. Yesterday, it was warm and sunny. Spring can't make up it's mind!

27.  I was so blessed and surprised to receive a package from a friend last week! Aren't surprise packages the best? I opened it up and here's what was inside.

Isn't it amazingly gorgeous?! Such a sweet treasure from my friend to me. Thank you, sweet Mona, for thinking of me. I will treasure this forever!

28.  My son, Cody, blessed me this week (again!), too! I needed a new shelf for my CD's and so he built me this beautiful shelf!! It's absolutely perfect! Can you believe my huge music library? Here's the shocker...I have even more CD's not on this shelf. I just love this shelf!! I'm so blessed to have a son who makes me beautiful things all the time. He's the biggest blessing of all!!

29. I had a spinal injection last week, too, and it went very well. The last two injections have given me horrible headaches that lasted for days. I'm so thankful I didn't have that this time! It has definitely helped my pain, too, so it's a double blessing! I'm so thankful that I have such a wonderful pain management doctor who really cares. Huge blessing!

What are you blessings this week? Please share on the link below or share in the comments!


Blessings - Julie

A Beautiful Gift!

Look what arrived in my mail this morning!! Dearest Vickie sent me this extra special gift!

It's a beautiful bookmark that Vickie stitched up with Mitzi and Cookie on the front!! 

Look at those tiny little stitches! Vickie is a master artist! I just can't get over how she stitched my little poodles so perfectly!

 See the poodle fabrics on the back? Don't you just adore that pink poodle with the Eiffel Tower?

Then she put a gorgeous silver cross on the back as a testament to the faith that we share.  It just touches my heart so much!

Thank you so much, Vickie!! I am so very touched by your extra special gift so lovingly made. I will treasure it always!!!

Blessings - Julie

Update on my surgeries

It's been almost a month since my surgery. I'm still trying to recover and I'm still so exhausted! I fell asleep today after going to the Cardiologist, and I would probably still be asleep, but my hubby came home and the doggies went crazy with barking. LOL They just love to bark.

I was so blessed to get in with my Cardiologist today. They called me yesterday and said that they had a cancellation for this morning and would I want to come in. Absolutely!! He is so busy so I knew that God's hand was in this situation and that I was so blessed to get this appointment.

He was very concerned about the swelling in my legs. He put me on a new water pill that will, hopefully, help with this situation. The other thing he was concerned about was that my staples are still in my bypass incision. Like I said, it's been almost a month and the staples have not been removed. He would have done it, but he didn't have a staple remover because it's not something he uses in his practice. He said that they definitely need to come out this Friday when I have my appointment with the orthopedic surgeon. He is going to do a special test to make sure the bypass is doing well and then he will monitor me to make sure all is well. I am so thankful. He is such a wonderful doctor and I am thankful that he will be watching over me. He said some scary things about some of the bad things that could happen, but I knew it. It's something that will change my life forever and will have to be monitored forever.

On a brighter note, my sons went to WalMart the other day and brought me home this...

He tells the story of Easter and is so adorable! Here's a picture of him talking - so cute!

When they brought me this, it just brought tears to my eyes. I was so touched that they would think of me and bring me something so cute! I love that the bunny talks about Jesus, too.

Here's a picture of Holly. She's been pretty clingy since I came back home, but she's finally getting back to her old self in a lot of ways. She loves to hide in the pillows - either on the bed or the couch - and here she is peeking out from behind the pillows of the couch.

She just cracks me up! She is such a sweet little thing and I'm so glad she's calming down and realizes that I'm here now.

I've been reading like crazy as I got behind on my reading and reviewing. I haven't felt like doing any cross stitch, crochet or anything else. I'm just too tired to concentrate on much of anything but TV or books right now. I know it will get better, but your prayers are so welcome and I'm so thankful for them! I do have a prayer request regarding my insurance and would be so thankful that you would pray specifically regarding this! It's stressing me out a bit. I know that God will work it all out but I would be so thankful if you would pray that my insurance would get straightened out and that I would be back on it before the end of February! Thank you, dear friends!!

Blessings - Julie

A Special Surprise!

I won a cross-stitch pattern from my dear friend, Vickie, a couple of weeks back and I received it in the mail last week. Here's a picture of the pattern

Isn't it lovely? As soon as I'm done with my current project, I will work on this one. I will also be having a giveaway for this pattern (it's a traveling pattern, of sorts) when I am finished with it. 

Vickie being so sweet, tucked in some extra special goodies in the package. Not only that, the envelope itself was extra special! Remember this?

Isn't that just adorable? Vickie drew this on the outside of the envelope! Isn't she talented? She and I have a great love for poodles so I was so excited when I saw that envelope - knowing it was from her! I will be keeping this special drawing - yes, I will!

Here's what else was in the package

Isn't that so sweet? I love the pink! Here's some close-ups of what she sent...

Look at that adorable pink package with the pink poodle! The little bag is filled with gorgeous sequins!

I had to take a picture of that cute, little, pink poodle!

 
 Here's what was inside the little package...

Aren't these gorgeous? They are counting pins for my stitching. Vickie makes these and I love them! I will treasure them forever! She is so talented! 

My card she sent was so precious and I was so touched by her sweet words inside. Isn't it wonderful how we can make friends across the country or across the world that we wouldn't know if not for our blogs? I found Vickie because she cross stitches and then when I read her blog, she had poodles everywhere! I knew this was my kind of friend! Not only that, but she loves the Lord and, unfortunately, she lives with daily pain - just like me. It has been a privilege to pray for her and a comfort for me knowing she is also praying for me. God is so good to bring us together!

Thank you, so much, Vickie! I'm am so incredibly blessed by your sweet gift and your precious friendship! 

God bless you - Julie

A Lovely Surprise

The other day my son came home from his college classes and walked in carrying two, huge boxes! I wasn't expecting anything so was immediately curious!  They were from my parents and inside I found some wonderful treats for Easter! 

The first thing they sent were four of these luscious, yummy things - one for each of us!

Oh, my.  I haven't had one of these for over 20 years!  My parents used to send me one for Easter for the first couple years after I got married.  I was quite homesick and lived in a very, very small town and so this was their special treat to me to remind me of home.  It was so very nice to get one again as we don't have a See's candy in our little town that we live in now.  It immediately made me think of home when I received it.  :)

They also sent a box of these...

If you've never had these, you are totally missing out! There is nothing in this world like a See's Lollipop!  My favorite has always been Butterscotch but that was before I tried the new flavor of Cafe Latte!! Such yumminess! My youngest son loves the Vanilla, which is fine with me since it's my least favorite flavor, but still good.  Such a treat this all was!

The most wonderful part of the box, though, were these. 

Are these not the most adorable things you've ever seen?  (Be sure and click on the picture to view larger...they are worth it!).  My Mother painted these for me and I just love them!  I immediately cleared off the top of my dresser in my bedroom so I could put them on top where I can see them every day.  I just adore them and the fact that she made them, makes them that much more special.  Didn't she do just a great job on them?  My Mother is very artistic and she always encouraged my craftiness and I'm very grateful as I love making things, too.

Can you see that adorable 1950's lamp behind the bunnies?  I found that at a yard sale with the original shade!! The cord was bad, but that was an easy fix of buying a new cord and installing it (which I did myself) and it works like a champ.  I've had it for a long time, but wanted to share about it since it's in the picture.  I can't remember for sure, but I think I paid $1.00 for it!  Such a deal!

Today was a day of not doing much.  The pain is back in full force so I just relaxed, read a lot of different blogs and looked for fun, free crochet patterns online.  There are so many cute crochet blogs out there and I have a list a mile long of things I want to make! lol  The other crocheters inspire me so much and I'm going to be busy for awhile with all these patterns.  :) 

God bless you - Julie

A Gift Worth Treasuring

Here is a picture of my poor, little teapot looking very naked and all the tea inside is getting cooler by the moment.  It's a very pretty little teapot, don't get me wrong, but . . .

Look at this - isn't this just so much better?

Isn't this just gorgeous?  I was overwhelmed when I received a package in the mail one day and opened it to find this beautiful teapot cozy. It's absolutely beautiful  and my dear friend, Eva, and the staff of the church office, sent it to me.  I was and am still overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of this beautiful gift.

Here is a picture of my teapot and my teacup sitting ready for a sweet time of sipping tea.

I love tea and I usually always have a cup of hot tea before bed.  Of course, I always have tea while I'm watching all my British shows.  The just seem to go together.  My tea always gets cold way too fast, but now, with my beautiful teapot cozy, my tea will stay nice and hot for a long time.  This is such a beautiful gift and I will treasure it forever.

God bless you - Julie