I Heart Photo Challenge/Hey Girl

This month, I Heart's photo challenge is focused on Girls.

This photo proves that no matter where you are in the world,

the universal language of the smile binds us.

Keep Smilin' ;)

Head over to to I Heart Faces for more photos or enter your own.

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Happy Birthday Matt

He came barreling into the world with a presence at
 9 pounds 12 ounces,
earning him the name,
"Fat Matt".

Although the nickname stuck, by the time he started kindergarten there wasn't an ounce of pudge on him.
However, to his chagrin, we continue tease him with that moniker.
But I'd like to share with you a few things about
Matt that are actually "FAT".

He has a HUGE, sentimental, loving heart.

Yea, he's "mean and tough", but he knows how to
listen to others and "feel their pain" or happiness.

He has the BIGGEST, strongest, uncontestable, enveloping
 hug of anyone I know.
They are healing, soothing, comforting and full of warmth.
I wish he never left home.
Then I could get one whenever I need it.

He is creative.  And his work shows it.
He impresses me everytime with his IMMENSE knowledge.
 He is the Go-to-Fix-it-Man.

Paul McCartney once said,
"You can judge a man's character
by the way he treats his fellow animals."
That being said, if you've ever met his dog, Shorty, you would instantly
know Matt's MAGNIFICENT inner qualities.
Never has a dog loved his Master so.
When Matt is away from the house, Shorty lays facing the window.
Waiting, wondering, wishing for his return.
And when he arrives?
Pure, elated, unabashed joy.
The rest of the night, Shorty follows Matt wherever he goes;
 a look of adoration on his hound countenance.
How many of us can say we have that waiting for us at home?

Matt has an ENORMOUS amount of patience.
He would make an excellent teacher. In anything.
He's one of the few people I know who can break down the difficult
and explain it in Stupid Simple terms.

And although I could go on and on (Mother's are like that)
I could not end without mentioning his
VAST ability to analyze just about anything.
We are alike he and I in this manner.
So much, in fact, that we were are often in danger of being
separated at the dinner table.
We look at each other and know what the other is thinking;
sending us into a fit of giggles.

Today, Matt may be scrawny, tall and lean,

but now when you hear anyone call him
 "Fat Matt",
you'll know what they really mean.

Happy Birthday Son.
I LOVE YOU
XXXOOO



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 http://www.seizingtimetoday.blogspot.com/

to leave your comments ~

I Heart Photo Challenge/Happiness

This month's Photo Challenge is about Happiness.

Happiness is Traveling with my Best Friend.

Can you tell I was Happy in China?

Head over to to I Heart Faces for more photos or enter your own.

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Happy Birthday Meister

Today is a special day for me.
It is my sister's birthday.

When I got married, she was only 4 years old and at that time,
I only knew this bratty squirt as a royal pain.

I was her third parent and hated the responsibility.

We seldom talked, with little or no interests connecting us.

Fast forward 17 years.

Probably out of obligation, she asked me to be in her wedding.

At that moment in time, we realized.....
"You do that too?"
...we had more in common than we knew.

Thus a bond was formed.

Together, since then, we often
Giggle

(twice we've whispered long into the night in a double bed
with 3 sleeping children in the room),

Solve world/family issues

(if only everyone were like us...it would be Utopia) 

Cry

(the pain seems less when we share the burden)

  Scream

(once, yes recently, during a nightmare,
she pulled me out of bed, onto the floor, and landed me on top of her)
 Lose our way
(we've spent more time than I'd like to admit trying to find
Unnamed Road
...and we're still looking for it)
and Laugh and Laugh and Laugh
(it's of highest security what we laugh about).

I suppose all sisters experience this sister bond,
but I can't help feeling my sister is the best.
She is everything I'm not.
And that is probably why I love her so.

I know no one as compassionate

 (no wonder she's a nurse...her concern envelops you).

I know no one as passionate

(don't get in her way if you say something offensive about her children or sister).

I know no one as good a listener

(always willing to share her shoulder).

I know no one as selfless 

(unconditionally, she puts others first).
She is a fabulous
Mother, Wife, Aunt, Daughter, Sister, Nurse, Student and  Friend.

I could go on and on about this sister of mine.
I feel blessed that we are making up for lost time;

and cannot imagine not having her input in so much of my life.

Happy Birthday to the "Best-est" Sister :)

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 http://www.seizingtimetoday.blogspot.com/

to leave your comments ~

Happy Birthday Albert

Pssst... I know you're not going to believe this,
but I have a 50 year old brother who is younger than me.
I know, I know...but it's true.

My first recollection of this interference with my solitude at the Huizing House
was soon after he was born and placed in the baby buggy.
My Mother had this little seat that was clamped across the top
and away we'd go.
Miles and miles of walking.
Up hills, down hills, 'round hills.
I don't know if we had to walk so much because he was such a "crier" or if my Mother needed some fresh air.

It was clear, right from the beginning, that this bundle of joy was set on scrutinizing EVERYTHING.
Oh, I could tell you stories; like when he hid in a metal garbage can on a summer day (with the lid on) for hours;
or when he sat behind my Mother at the dentist, slowly, silently, deliberately unscrewing the head piece off until her head snapped back with a sudden jolt.
(Fortunately she didn't lose any teeth)
He has always been a mischievous one and I'm sure that hasn't changed.

For most of our younger/adolescent years, we were a musical duet.
He the trumpet, me the piano.
Church, school, family...you name it. You asked. We played.
And played. And played. And played.
It's no wonder none of our children have any serious musical interest.
We had enough for all 8 of them.

His talents, of course, go beyond music.
He's fun to be around and full of energy.
(How else would he be able to spend all that time with
Youth Groups?)
His laugh is contagious and seldom do you see him without a smile.
He's a good listener and knows how to sympathize/empathize.

Married on Christmas Eve,
(really?...I think I slept through Christmas 1988)
he is now a wonderful Father to 4 beautiful children
and a devoted husband to a wife who literally goes to
the ends of the earth for him.

Unfortunately, he lives in Canada now, on Prince Edward Island,
so I don't get to see him much,
but I hope to visit with him some time.

Boy, we've come a long way.
Happy Birthday.
And welcome to the Nifty Fifty Group.

I Heart Photo Challenge/The Letter "A"

No, I'm not in Maui..... but I keep wishin' I was back there ;)

Head over to to I Heart Faces for more photos or enter your own.

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i Heart Photo Challenge/Hugs&Kisses

This weeks photo challenge is Hugs & Kisses.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of Sister Love.

(Hey...there's Daddy in the background)

I LOVE those Girls

Head over to to I Heart Faces for more photos or enter your own.

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