The Book

One, Two, Tie This Shoe


Walk the Dog (a little blurry but there is a dog in the house)



Crinkle the Wings (blurry, but the wings make a noise)


Look for a surprise in the nest (Very blurry but there are eggs in the nest that is attached with velcro).


Learn to zipper (blurry).


Jingle bells in the bow (a little better)


Learn to button

Play peek a boo

I had made this book for our grandchild and finished it up about 2 weeks before he was born. I had made a similar book when my children were small and I wanted to do something for Lincoln. This one was much easier than the one I had made 26 years ago. The hardest part was putting it all together.

I hope that Lincoln has many hours of fun and learning with it.

Liz

Home Again

We got home yesterday after 9 days in Houston. Although we enjoyed our time there it was good to be home.

There is nothing like a newborn baby to make Christmas extra special. The parents of our daughter in law were also there so we were all able to enjoy Lincoln's first Christmas.

It is nice to return home and not have to put away Christmas decorations. It is just nice to be home.

Liz

A Christmas Present

Look-Santa has left us a present!



Just What we Wanted!

A Baby!

And It Is

A BOY!

Introducing our first grandchld: Lincoln Danger Ward! He arrived at 9:20 pm on December 19, 2008. He just missed sharing his birthday with his dad. Lincoln weighed in at 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 21" long.

There seems to be a tradition starting in the Ward family. Lincoln is now the fifth generation to have the initials LDW.

This Christmas we have much to be thankful for!

Liz

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my oldest baby-he is turning 28 today. Today is also the day that his baby is due so we will see what happens.

L is every mother's dream child. He was a good baby-slept, ate, and was always so easy going. I dreaded the high school years because I was afraid that he would make the wrong choices but I was the one that was wrong. He made all the right decisions. I joke and say that I had the only boy that would call and tell me every movement.

I then dreaded the day that he would leave home to go to college because I knew how much I would miss him. Missing him didn't end with him going to college. There are still many days that I miss him but I am so grateful for the way he has turned out.

A new parent asked me one time what was the best thing he could do for his newborn. I was so surprised that he thought that I would have the magic answer. The only response I had was to do as I had-pray for them every day. That prayer doesn't end with his growing up and getting married. I still pray daily for him as well as his wife (and my daughter and son in law).

Thank you for being the best son a mother could ever hope for.

Mom

Facebook

I have known about Facebook because I have children. My daughter would talk about it and the friends that she had found and at school I have had kids ask me if I had a facebook account. Until now I could truthfully tell them no, but now I have joined Facebook.

My husband and I met when we were both working at Glorieta Baptist Conference Center (GBCC) where we both had summer jobs. By the next summer we were married. We left there at one time and then returned and worked there for another 2 years. We have some great memories from that time and had some good friends, but friends move away and you lose touch with them.

Now through the internet age friends can come back into your life. I had recently discovered that there was a site through Facebook for former GBCC staff. I have become reacquainted with people from those days and it has been great to catch up on what has happened in their lives.

A bonus to this has been people that I haven't talked with since 9th grade. From 7th-9th grade I lived in Houston, Texas. I was part of a group of friends that not only went to church together but went to school together also. There were about 10 of us and that was one of the best times of my life. I have caught up with some of them and it is great to know that I haven't been forgotten by them.

Although life goes on sometimes old friendships endure-even after no contact for 30 years.

Liz

Being Thankful

During these difficult economic times everyone is affected one way or another, whether it is a job loss, declining house value, or retirement accounts. We are no different than anyone else.

We have lived in our house 3 1/2 years. Someday I will post a list of everything that has gone wrong with this house since we have been here-it will be lengthy. Originally we thought we would live in our house about 3-5 years, do a little updating, and then sell it. We now say we will be in the house indefinitely. The value of it has dropped and there is more to fix than we were aware of.

Despite the house I do have much to be grateful for. Even though our retirement account has lost a significant amount of money we are still many years from retiring so hopefully we have plenty of time to make that up.

My husband still has a job and even though he found out yesterday that no one will be getting raises next year we feel that there is no reason to complain. We have great benefits and he is still employed.

There are so many blessings that we have each and every day. Our children are healthy and employed, our parents are doing well, we have a house, we have jobs, and we live in a country in which we have many freedoms.

Even though these are uncertain times there is one constant in my life-God. I know that no matter what happens God will still be there walking beside me, providing for me, and enabling me to get through each day.

Liz

Family Christmas

We had our family Christmas this past Sunday. We gathered at my brother's house and brought our gifts (remember we drew names). We had a great meal-steak, ribs, baked potatoes, green beans, fruit salad, broccoli, rice, and cheese casserole, and cheesecake. The steaks were wonderful-my brothers are both better cooks than me.

I got a great gift-a web cam. My daughter in law had my name and that is what she gave me. This will enable us to see the baby every day if we would like.

I had my daughter in law's name which is a funny coincidence. They are wanting to get a camcorder so I gave her a gift card that they can put towards getting that.

I thought that my mother got the best gift (other than mine). My daughter had her name and she gave my mother a gift card to the theater in their town. My mother loves going to the plays and the actors are quite good for a small town. I have gone to several of the towns and have always enjoyed the plays. My mother is at the age that she doesn't need something else to sit around so this was a great gift for her.

Christmas shopping this year has been easy. I hope that we continue to draw names and give to a charity. I felt that we enjoyed the time spent with each other and also gave money that will help people in Kenya possibly see again.

Liz

Cold

It is cold today. At this moment the temperature is 23 and the wind chill is somewhere around 12. In parts of the city there are icy roads but it appears that the roads outside our house are clear. This is a day to just stay in the house and keep warm.

Since our daughter in law is due to have the baby any day I thought that this would be the day she would have it. It would be difficult for us to get out of Dallas to go to Houston. We are hoping that the baby will wait until at least Saturday, preferably Sunday, to enter the world. The other grandmother is coming Saturday and it would be great if we could all be there when the baby comes.

In the meantime-I will try to stay warm.

Liz

My Remarkable Daughter

My birthday was today. When you have a birthday so close to Christmas you sometimes get lost in the shuffle. That is why I swore I would never have a child in December but what did I do-I had a child in December. . .and now he is having a child in December.



This year for my birthday my daughter fixed me dinner. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, zucchini, corn, and bread. We also had cake and ice cream. She did all this after working all day-I didn't work today since it was my birthday.



The other reason my daughter is remarkable is that she does everything she can for others. She has such a caring spirit and she has chosen to be involved with children who have cancer. She endlessly volunteers for Camp Quality, a camp for children with cancer, a camp where children can be children for a week. She raises money, she keeps in contact with families, and she does everything she can to ease the pain and burden for these children and their families. I love her so much and I admire her for all the time, energy, and love that she puts into this.

Liz

No Decorations This Year

For the first time in 30+ years I do not have any Christmas decorations out. I had intended to put up the tree but decided not to do even that.

I have tons of Christmas decorations and I love decorating for the season. Even last year between surgeries and company I managed to get all the decorations out. This year we were gone for Thanksgiving and upon returning my husband went out of town. I thought that this would give me a lot of extra time but other things got in my way. Then a whole week went by and nothing had been done.

Since we are going to be leaving December 20 to go to Houston to await the birth of this grandchild (if it doesn't come sooner) I just didn't see a reason to get all of the decorations out and spend a week decorating and then only be able to enjoy it for a week. So-there will be no Christmas decorations this tear. That means that next year when I get them out then it will more exciting.

Liz

A Little Different This Year

Our family is no different than most families at this time of year. We usually buy several gifts for everyone and enjoy giving them, BUT I had always felt that we should be doing something else. We had tried to do things through church but to me it felt like it wasn't a family effort.

Now that both of our children are grown and married I thought that it was time to try something else. We decided that all of us were very blessed and there wasn't anything that we really needed. We decided that we would draw names. That in itself is not unusual-lots of families do that. We added another element to it and hopefully it will be something we do every Christmas.
We decided that we would contribute to a charity and that one family would choose the charity for each of us to donate. We also decided that my parents would be the one to make the choice this year and that it would rotate on a yearly basis. The amount that each person would donate would be totally up to them, we would just send our checks to my parents and they would forward them to the charity.

This year my parents chose Lighthouse for Christ (www.lighthouseforchrist.com). This is a charty that has doctors go to Kenya and perform eye operations for free. The doctors donate all their time to perform these surgeries. They also dispense glasses. This organization also talks with people about Jesus as they are waiting to be seen by the doctors. This is an impressive organization and I am so pleased that this year our donation will be going to them.

Liz

Our Fun 2007 Christmas Eve

Last year on Christmas Eve afternoon our son, daughter in law, daughter, my husband and I went to the mall. I had told them that we were going there to have fun. I know that they were thinking how much fun can you have at the mall on the day before Christmas where everyone is scurrying about trying to find those last minute gifts. I also think that they thought I had lost my mind.

Upon arriving at the mall I gathered them around and gave each of them $5.00. I then gave them the instructions: they each had 1 hour to spend the whole $5.00 (I forgot to tell them that they would have to pay the tax) and then we would meet up at that same spot to compare the things we got. The person that did the best won-all they won was the honor of saying that they had won.

I went to lots of stores to look and I found lots of things but nothing that I felt would be a good use of my money. I finally found a display of small tools that were less than $5.00. I bought about 4 things (one of them cost $2.00) and started my way back to our meeting place.

We compared the things that we had bought: a gummy rat plus some other candy, some light up earrings, and other useless items. Our daughter won-she managed to spend hers in the first 5 minutes and then spent the rest of them time wandering around. She could only bring back a picture of her choice. She had donated her money to Salvation Army and took a picture of the bell ringer and the money going into the slot of the kettle.

I think that everyone agreed that she had made the best selection. We all had fun and it was an enjoyable afternoon at the mall.

Liz

A Unique Gift

Last Christmas our son asked that we give them one of our favorite books as one of their gifts. As much as I enjoy reading it was difficult to select a book. I also had my parents give them as well as our daughter their favorite gifts.

For our son I chose Walk Across America (see my shelfari) and for our daughter I chose The Secret Life of Bees (see my shelfari). My husband chose to give our son White Fang/Call of the Wild and our daughter was given The Long Walk (see my shelfari).

I knew that my father would say that his favorite book was Ferdinand the Bull so I found a copy for each of our children. My mother gave our son Feet in the Fire and she gave our daughter the autobiography by Ben Carson.

I really thought that this was such a unique gift. We wrote in the book why it was one of our favorite books. I felt that it was such a personal gift and one that would share a memory. Sometimes the best gifts are simple and meaningful.

Liz

My Favorite Advent "Calendar"

When my children were young I started a Christmas countdown. I would take 50 (25 per child) small bags (the size that you would use for a sack lunch) and number them. Inside I would put a little toy, some change, candy, a snack, etc. Each day they opened one bag until Christmas Day.

When I first started this it was easy to fill the bags. They were happy with a quarter, a candy cane, a Hot Wheels car, anything that was small and inexpensive. As they got older it was harder to find things that I could fill the bag with. One time when they were in high school I found some bubble gum that was shaped like crayons and came in a box that looked like a crayon box. That was a big hit, especially with my son.

I continued this until 2 years ago. By then my kids were in their 20's and it was extremely difficult to do it. I had done this the whole time my son was in college and had even done it when he was first married. I had thought of stopping it a few years before that but the kids mentioned how much they liked their bags so I did it for a few more years.

In a few years our grandchild will be old enough that I can start doing it again. It will be fun and I am looking forward to finding those inexpensive little things again.

Liz

It's December

It is hard to believe that December is already here. November came and went quickly.

Our long Thanksgiving weekend was good. We spent the day with my parents and then the next morning we were off to Houston, where it was very warm. I have a hard time seeing people in shorts when it is this close to Christmas.

Our time in Houston was busy. We helped L&K put together the crib. Thank goodness the baby will now have a bed to sleep in. I made the valance for the window and a bed skirt for the crib. We had taken a rocking chair down but I brought the cushions back to recover them.

My husband helped L fix the leaky toilet, cut down some branches from a tree that was damaged by the hurricane and helped L mount their TV on the wall. They also moved a dresser into the baby's room.

Three weeks until this baby is officially supposed to arrive. L&K won't tell the name. They say that way we will have to like it. I tried to find out but I didn't have any luck. They are so excited about this and it is fun to watch them. The baby's room will be so cute when they have completely finished everything.

Right now we are planning on going back to Houston on December 20-the official due date and L's birthday. Of course we could be making a quick trip down there if this baby decides to come early.

Liz