Thank you Mom!

Mom- I wanted to surprise you Mom and say thank you for the gift "publicly" on the blog. I didn't have much of a chance to look it over after you gave it to me but later that night I did. Page after page made me cry. I have a distorted memory of my childhood- but this made me realize that some of the distorting may be due to my own fault. My mom loved me very much and I love(d) her.

To everyone else. This is a Christmas gift that Mom gave her kids. It is a journal, in which she wrote some "old" family recipes and also some pictures from our youth. Some of the recipes and what she wrote include:

Grandma H's Chile Sauce

Grandma H's Filled Jumbo Drops

Grandma used to make these often. She would often have them fresh out of

the oven when we got home from school.

Grandma G's Half Moon Cookies

Snickerdoodles- Jessie Mae's Favorite

Oil and Vinegar Chocolate Cake

My Grandma H used to make this. She would

just sprinkle confectioners sugar on top instead of putting frosting on it

Above is the cover and an example of a picture page. This is me when I was an infant and the page reads:

The Child In Me

We all would like to go back

to those days.

For, if we could, we would love

to stay.

Back to the days of yesteryear

When we had no limits, we had

no fear.

I have a son and he is now three

There is no doubt, he looks like me.

The way he moves, the way he talks.

For even now he has my walk

If I look at what I see,

I have not lost that child in me.

For when I'm holding him you see,

am I holding him, or am

I holding me?

Raymond R. Stephenson

"Jesus I want to believe in you

more fully. Search my heart and

where there is any unbelief, fill me

with belief"