Grandkid memories

It was so fun Saturday night. I had a "sleep over" with the 2 oldest grandaughters and their little sister. I remembered a recipe I had read a while back in one of my recipe books about "haystacks". I looked that up again and got all the ingredients. Officially, according to the internet, that is called a Mexican haystack. The girls had so much fun creating their own haystack to eat, and many requests were made to do that again soon. Then for our snack we made a smores snack recipe that I had found on Pinterest. Yummy! They were able to make the whole thing with little assistance and the results were wonderful. Game time was great too....we love solitary frenzi, and we get so addicted no one wants to quit. This time I didn't win one single time. They are growing up and are faster and many times smarter than I at these games.

We will definitely have to do all that again!!

It's so sad, I want to remember it!

My sister took my Mom on a day trip to see her newest Great Grandson Camden yesterday. Today, I tried to talk to Mom about it, and she has absolutely no memory of being there, of holding the baby, or of playing with Sydney. This is the saddest thing in my life thus far!

When I asked her questions, she had a blank stare, and I wanted to scream, "What have you done with my mother???" But instead, a still small voice whispers, "Love her, cherish her, and adore her, she is your mother". Oh how I miss her. I wanted to write about this because I don't want to forget about dementia so that I can help someone else someday that will have to go through this.

Mom, you were the greatest Mom a girl could ever have. We will take care of you till the day you leave us. Much love, Kim

Sewing and Preparation!!

Wish I had a picture of my Grandma Irene to put with this blog. (I will work on that!) Anyway, today I drug out my sewing machine. It's always out, but in a cold corner of the basement. When I have alot of sewing to do I like to bring it upstairs in the warmth and sit by a sunny window. This always makes me think about Grandma Irene. Thank you to my Grandma for teaching and encouraging me how to sew. You know she gave me a sewing machine for high school graduation and I thought then, "I will never use that", but I was sooooo wrong. I use it all the time, not just for me, but for others too. I remember one of the boys at Rankin, saying "Mrs. Allen, I have a zipper broke on my coat, can you fix that?", many curtains and valances for lots of homes, mending, and most recently sewing on cards that I make. It is sometimes frustrating, but always rewarding. My most recent project is for some kids I don't even know. Jenni and Justin are going to foster parenting classes and found out that in emergency situations when kids are taken out of a bad situation at home, their belongings are thrown into garbage bags. So their parenting class teacher is asking for homemade bags to help the situation! I am giving it a whirl. One done, several more to do.

On another note, today Ryan went to look and apply to live in a rental home. Oh, I know he needs to go, but I am already having issues with an empty nest. Not the empty nest so much, as the last child, out on his own, growing up in this world, with lots of lessons to learn. It's OK, I have a heavenly Father who loves him more than I do and I have asked Him to take over where I can't. I know that last statement to be oh so true, but I wrote it out to remind myself once again that I can trust in God's promises. He is faithful and ONCE AGAIN, I put Ryan in His hands.

On to more sewing, (and of course) praying while I sew.
Kim

My Mom

I will be taking my sweet Mother to the doctor again today. She has complaints of a constant back ache and stomach ache. She is so confused and I am sure her stomach ache is nerves.
She finally said the words today "I am so confused and I am depressed". I can honestly say I hate dementia. She cried and cried saying that "I will never get better. I don't want to be like this." But, I tried to comfort my mom with the words that God has blessed us beyond measure with so many things that we must learn to deal with this disease and move on.

I am desperately trying to remember who she was, and I hate that that memory is slipping away. She was always helping others, always willing to have someone in her home for a meal or a party. She loved the family of God and faithfully played the organ every Sunday for over 50 years. Boy, could she cook and she could sew and she could clean like no other. But, all that is gone, and it doesn't really matter to me, because I just want her well taken care and to see her smile from time to time is good enough now.

The older I get, I see how some things that were so important to me when I was 20 aren't important now at all. God has a way of changing our priorities, and so often it helps us keep our eyes focused on Him. "Turn your eyes upon Jesus,look full in his wonderful face, and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." Isn't it weird and wonderful that when we look in the eyes of Jesus, the things of this earth seem so unimportant. Keep looking at Him!!! Wow!