I love my husband and the love letter....

Cofer Brothers today ~ started 1919 by Reid Cofer and his brother
I am so glad that I waited for "The One" that God had planned for me! He blesses me everyday in every way! From the moment I wake up until the time my head my hits the pillow he makes sure that my every need is taken care of. After being married to him for 25 years, he still surprises me constantly in ways that attract me to him! Last night he gifted me this beautiful love letter that his grandfather had given his grandmother in 1922. At the time she was living in Monroe going to school (where we are now living and where I was born) and he was trying to start a business with his brother in Tucker (Cofer Brothers). He shared his love for her and how he was trying so hard to start the business for them. It was a wonderful love letter. I will cherish it forever. I know you are asking why it took him so long to give it to me..... Well, he found it as he was looking for a couple of small diamonds (that belong to his grandmother) we had put away in the safe for our children when they decided to get married, hoping they would want to use them for sentimental reasons. Yes, we have a son considering his bride! He has had an excellent role model in his dad! She will be a lucky woman if he follows his daddy's lead! I truly believe that God has that special someone for everyone that will bring them that cup of coffee with the right amount of cream and sugar in the morning. You just have to have patience and wait on God.......... I love you Reid! (Yes, My husband was named after his grandfather that also waited for his wonderful bride~ Belle)

Keeping up the History of the Family...

A picture that hangs in my Mother's house and that was just given to me by my Aunt Betty to scan. This picture is of my Great Grandmother and Grandfather Mitcham and their family. My Grandfather and Grandmother Shumate are pictured in the middle.

I love pictures................ I can't help it! I feel like I am the one that has been selected (by myself of course) to take on the burden of carrying on the traditions and history of our family. History, the word sound so important........ When we look it up, the dictionary says 1: tale, story 2 a: a chronological record of significant events often including an explanation of their causes 3: a branch of knowledge that records and explains past events

Now I like these explantations of a history of a families past, especially the first~ a tale, a story. How often I like to tell the story of how something happened to my children or how we got into a certain perplexing situation as a family. And now with the digital camera, often this situation is recorded into history immediately onto the computer! If you love pictures as much as I do, here are a few hints...
1) Make sure that you download your pictures from your camera to computer immediately. Don't allow your pictures to back up. Keep your pictures caught up so that you can keep them filed properly.
2) Have a filing system on your computer. Figure out how best to file your pictures. I file mine under events. I have a Christmas file and then under the Christmas file, I file them by year. The same goes for Halloween, 4th of July, My daughters dances, etc. As far as family pictures~ I try to file them as best as I can. Vacation pictures each had their own destiny file. We vacationed at the same Island each year so for us that was easy.
3) At this time of my life, I seem to be making a lot of PowerPoint presentations for my families weddings, anniversaries, etc. I have found that if I make a file for each person I know that has an event coming up, I can just copy and drop pictures into their file as I find them. This saves me so much time when I get ready to make their PowerPoint presentation.
4) Also, go ahead and run the pictures through Photoshop and make your adjustments. It is so much easier to do them while you have time instead of when you need them!
5) Only keep your good pictures, DUMP your bad pictures! This is the hardest thing for me to do! I am the world's worst at dumping pictures! I think I will spend a hour doing that today!!

6) Be sure to back up your files regularly, digital pictures are treasures that can be lost forever if you have a hard drive crash.

Tuesday's Tips...Candle Wax

Just don't forget about your candle sticks in the freezer

The wax where it has fell out of the candle holder

I have decided to devote my Tuesdays to "Tips around the House". Anything that makes life easier, I love it! Today's tip was an easy one to come with ............ As I pull the drawer open to my freezer downstairs to get some ice, I find a pair of candle sticks that I had purchased at a yard sale. I had forgot all about them because I rarely use this freezer, asking my husband to run up and down the stairs to do my errands! Now I know you are asking "why in the world would you put a pair of candle sticks in the freezer?"~ Well, this is the EASIEST way to get old candle wax off. The wax shrinks and just pops right off. If you have a votive and you have wax stuck in the bottom, stick the votive in the freezer for a few hours. When the votive is covered with an icy look it should be ready for the wax to pop out. Tap on the counter a couple of times and the wax should pop out immediately. If not take a knife and gently pry the wax out!

God gives us OPPORTUNITIES in the most unusual places...

As many of you know I live on a roller coaster........... What some of you don't know, even those of you close to me..... Last week was a bummer of a week! I was at the bottom of the roller coaster ride, wondering how in the world I was going to get enough energy to even find a way to fight my way to the top again! Infections started, depression started.......... asking God, "How in the world do YOU think that I am going to do your work if I am feeling this way?" Not understanding His purpose for me feeling so sick! I still don't quite understand the up's and down's that God puts me through but then again Paul didn't understand his "thorn" that he suffered. I do know through it all God has given me this incredible ministry and without my suffering I wouldn't have it! So with that and through that I praise HIM! So, this leads into my day.........

I felt GREAT today........... GREAT enough to visit WALLY WORLD (our local WalMart).............. GREAT ENOUGH to walk around and talk to people as I went up and down the aisles at WALLY WORLD. (By the way, this is where I go when I feel good and want to visit my neighbors) A neighbor passed by me as I was gawking at all the new releases on videos and said, "It's good to see you, How are you?" and I say, "I am feeling so GREAT!" and she looked, tilted her head, smiled and sincerely said, "I can tell by your eyes that you really are having a great day." "Thank you, that makes me even feel better!" I said. Sad to say, most people having health problems only want people to see them when they are feeling good! When we are feeling bad we want to lock ourselves away! Anyways....... back to my day.....
After that I mosey on over to the fabric section, the section that I love, and I run into this elderly lady in a motorized chair looking for someone to help her with the sewing machines. Knowing the sewing section and knowing that Walmart sales associates hide in this section I knew I would have to represent Walmart. After awhile we finally find someone to go and find someone to help her. After I decided that I had time to spare I stayed and chatted for a bit. I found out that her name is Ms. Inez and it just so happens that she lives one road over from the one that my grandmother use to live on. Well, I feel at this point she is my neighbor and she deserves even more of my time and help. So, I ask her exactly what type of sewing machine she is looking for (as if I am the authority on Walmart's sewing machines, but then again I do know that I am going to know a heck of a lot more than the girl they are fixing to send over). She explains that she just found a heap of fabric and her sewing machine had given out and she just needed a simple sewing machine. As we looked we decided the cheapest sewing machine would probably work out the best. We talked and talked for over twenty minutes and the whole time not a sign of a Walmart helper. Now tell me, is that God or what? No, joking aside. A policeman did pass by and that did get her attention, I am not sure why, I don't know how she thought he was going to help us. Maybe she thought he could go and arrest some Walmart person. I wish someone could go and arrest the Walmart fabric person for not being there for her. But anyway I made a very dear friend today. Spent time well in Wally World and I think the GUY upstairs would have been proud of me for being a salesman and representative for Walmart!

Blessings from Above...

~Blessings~

Is it not amazing how God sends people in our lives daily to bless us with their gifts?
Well, recently I had two people shower me with their gifts.

The First is Jamie. Jamie help me design CopperTone Blog for our rental home on St. George Island. She did a wonderful job, going way beyond what I imagined my blog could ever be! In return I created her a piece ~ Rose Cottage! It went in the mail yesterday! I hope she enjoys it as much as I enjoy my blog.

The other is my Aunt Betty. She has blessed me over and over with treasures from her home. The other day she sent over a bag of vintage material and squares of material that had been quilted. You can't imagine the excitement that I felt.

The piece above is the first piece that I have made from the vintage material. It is quite fitting as it does remind me of her. Every 4th of July she makes fresh squeezed lemonade for our family gathering (which is quite large). She serves it in a very large cooler and she stands over with a large ladle serving it. She is quite a sight! Oh my Aunt Betty, How I do love her so very much! And the memories Aunt Betty and Uncle Charles have given me are priceless!! Everyone should be blessed with a family like mine!

Back from Break

Happy

Me and my MOM

Little Ones

My little cousin ~ Reagan playing in my mother's beautiful garden

What a break............. I am not sure what happened, but I am back! Life can get crazy, turned up side down! You can get put in line on a roller coaster ride, knowing the ride is going to be great, but wondering if really you should be doing this, and then you are on the ride and............... oh my goodness........ Up and Down, Up and Down, your head is spinning, You want to get off and there is no way off, You just have to stay on until the ride is over! Trying to enjoy it all! But at the same time thinking, "Don't you know that you had no business doing this girl?" Well, finally I feel rested and thanks to my wonderful and gracious God, my husband and sister, I have my mind back! Oh yeah, and the waiter at The Cheesecake Factory last night (he was a hoot)! And I forgot having the breast smasher exam behind me!!! (You have to go to Piedmont Hospital ~ The Doris Shaheen Breast Health Center ~ The Best ~ and it didn't hurt that I had an awesome nurse)

Anyways and Anywho.......... I am back like it or not!!! During my latest UP's and DOWN's I did paint~ Sharing it with you ~ Let me know what you think~