It is another cold snowy day in the great state of Indiana and there are several things I need to be doing but find myself stuck to the sofa with a blanket and the dog! One of the things I need to be working on is laundry which is not bad given the fact that I do not have to go outside to take care of this! The other thing that is on my mind are the family birthdays that come every 7 days in the month of January.
January 7, is a day to celebrate the birth of my first born. Ashley Marie Tiede turned 22 this year. WOW 22! I thought last year was a tough one but 22 seems so old...so ADULT like, I am just not sure how she got to age 22 and I did not get any older?? Seriously, I love her and miss her like crazy because this is the first time in her life that I have not spent the actual day of her birth with her. I guess that is a sign that she is growing up. The other sign would be what the gift was she asked for. Are you ready? A CROCK POT! I know... where did that come from? I am certain it was the request of her boyfriend Tony who surely cooks more than Ashley does but at any rate it seemed like a strange request.
January 14, is the day to celebrate a life cut too short, my brother Joe. As I stated in my last post he was 5 years older than me and was grown up and gone before I really got a chance to know him. His life was full of desperate times but it was full of joyful times as well. He had beautiful children that will live on unfortunately without their father and now has grandchildren as well that will never know what a great person their grandpa really was. I am not going to pretend that his life was without fault it was but God forgives all sins and I believe that he is residing happily in heaven with the Lord.
January 21, a day to celebrate the birth of my niece Lindsey Marie Barkho. What can I possibly say about this one? Beautiful, intelligent, funny and so, so honest she is a wonderful young lady. Living in a more frozen tundra than Indiana she is a nurse at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota! Doing her life's calling and enjoying snowy weather. She is as unique and different as each individual snowflake.
January 28, a day to celebrate another person whom God needed more in heaven than we did here on earth. My Mother. I miss her more than anything in this world. It breaks my heart to know that she never got to see what beautiful grandchildren she had. My girls remember very little about her. Ashley remembers the way she used to tap the straw wrapper to open the straw and to this day Ashley opens her straws the very same way. Lena really has no memories of Nan, she was just a year and a half old when my mom passed away. My mother was a beautiful lady. She was never afraid to speak her mind and this put some people off but those who knew her, really knew her, loved her and knew that she would do anything for them. Mom was often referred to as Nan, or Nanny as she was tagged by Heather Jo (her first grandchild by affection). She was often accused (by my father) of taking in all stray kids and cats! Our home always had an open door policy. If you had a problem and couldn't be at your home you came to ours and you were not judged you were just loved. Love sometimes came in the form of hard work...you might have been required to carry in firewood for the huge fireplace in our home. Sometimes love came in the form of food. My husband says that I never learned anything about cooking from my Mom. She was an excellent cook that as Byron would say...could cook your huntin' boots and you would eat them and love them. Chili was always a favorite especially on cold days and of course every Sunday after church you knew you would find fried chicken, mashed potatos and gravy. She left this world far too soon. I felt like I was cheated and that God took her away from me but I realize there must have been some sort of lost child or possibly a cat in heaven that needed her more! I LOVE YOU MOMMA and miss you everday!
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