*~Please Vote for Emma Sage~*

My photograph of Emma Sage eating a delicious ice cream cone along the banks of the Raritan River has made it to the final round and now it is time to vote:

VOTE FOR EMMA SAGE [click this link]

Thank you so much for your support!!!!!

But we are not a family......

"But we are not a family" are the words spoken from my little girl.

"Otto, Greta and Nini are not here so we can't be a family" she continues.

Awe.........

That was the response I got when I told Emma Sage that her Daddy was taking she and I out to Gronsky's Milk House for an ice cream treat [her most favorite thing in the summer] and that were were going just us, as a 'family'.

But to her, we are not a 'family' as three members are missing.

We miss you Otto, Greta and Katrina [and look what you are missing.......Gronsky's Ice Cream!!!]

Tis' the Season ~ Raspberry Time

This is the Columbia Trail, that runs from the town I grew up in [High Bridge] up along the river to just north of Califon [where we have lived for the last 22 years, and where Emma Sage's Daddy was born and raised] It used to be a train bed [and when we were younger and out berry picking along the tracks, we would sometimes hop on a freight train that were creeping by.....they went sooooooooooooooooo slow, that you could run faster than they were going]

Now it is this amazing running/hiking/biking/horseback riding trail through one of the most picturesque places I know.



So last night, this little Imp and I went down to High Bridge to hop on the trail and berry pick [she also had an ulterior motive, as Gronsky's Milk House is also in High Bridge and she wanted Ice Cream too!!!!


And look what we found..........Japanese Winesap Berries.



More than you could ever imagine.......just stretched for miles along the trail [we are heading back out today with two big pails and a little more time on our side to pick] Yesterday's trip were eaten as we walked.



So sweet and delicious!


Yes, this is what you call a Raspberry overload face.......Yummy!!!



We then called PopPop and he ordered a Chocolate Ice Cream in a cup and we brought it up to him to finish out a wonderful evening out, just me and my littlest one.



This was taken two years ago, with a little of our bounty from our property. Rick has been busy clearing out all the stone walls around our property, and thus, our berry patches are gone. We have a few left, and I've been rooting the canes as they are cleared out, so hopefully next summer we will only have to walk out our door to pick.

Foever......

This will make you smile....tear a little from the realization that there is just so much LOVE and ENERGY surrounding this union.

Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the
Verities and Realities of your Existence.
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!
~Kalidasa

“May your days be many and your troubles be few
May all God's blessings descend upon you.
May peace be within you may your heart be strong.
May you find what you're seeking wherever you roam.”
~An Irish Blessing

Missing my Mother dearly today.......off with Emma Sage for a walk up the lane to the graveyard to visit. May your day be filled with an abundance of Blessings........

My little dare-devil

This child has no fear.....she will try anything, and usually with a smile on her face.

Tubing on the Delaware with her cousins......fun stuff.

Yummmmmm.......Ice Cream, Blue Bunny Ice Cream

5 Minutes for Special Needs is running a photo contect......

Here is my little ice cream lovers entry.

Go check it out and enter your little ice cream lover........

I scream, you scream ~ We all scream for Ice Cream!!!!!

What children pick-up......

One of the things that has always amazed me is how children pick-up everything that is going on around them, even if it is in bits and pieces.

A case in point: Emma Sage does not watch regular TV, she can watch the Disney Channel or DVDs, History Channel or her current favorite, The Weather Channel [she is hysterical with that one, as she is now my little weather forecaster!]

But there is TV in the home from time to time [especially if Daddy is home] and it is usually the news.

I had yet to mention the passing of Michael Jackson to Emma Sage.......first, because she truly is moved when she knows someone has died [and why expose her to more death than she has to be aware of] and secondly, I don't think she even knows who Michael Jackson is [I like his music, loved him as a young girl and I know how to do the Thriller Dance.....but that is as far as my fan-ship went] so it just hasn't been discussed here around her.

Well, she comes up to Rick the other night and has tears in her eyes......he asks her "What is the Matter?" and she says, "Jackson died....I really Miss him" He proceeds to say "Michael Jackson?" and she says "Yes, Jackson....he was FIVE" lol!!!

The kid has picked up from the background news programs [and I think now reading the covers of the tabloids at the grocery store [she is becoming a great reader] that a 'Jackson' has died and has figured out he was five because she must have heard 'The Jackson Five' a few times.

Too cute.

So, I sat down with her and explained who 'Michael Jackson' was and she is now learning how to do the 'Thriller Dance' herself!

R.I.P. Michael.....knowing you have a new little fan.

This was created by my dear friend Fran.....Thank you.

Let Freedom Ring......

"Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better." ~Albert Camus

This child of mine......

just makes me laugh, often.

Tonight we were all out getting some things that Daddy needs before his trip and we were driving in the car. Emma Sage turns to Greta and says "Greta, Text me" [she had my phone in her hands]

Greta turns to her and says "Why?"

Emma Sage replies "It will keep me busy!"

lol!!!!!

Sharing a beautiful gift.......

My children will be the first to tell you that I am the biggest sap in the whole world. I cry at commercials. Songs can move me to tears and laughter. I can only watch love stories or comedy's as anything else can profoundly move me, from sadness, to fear, to uncertainty, so very easily [and I feel my emotions with my entire being] so I just avoid movies and shows that are not, romance or comedy [two emotions that I embrace fully and easily]

Reading is my greatest passion and with reading, I can read more powerful stories, as I have the ability to pause and regroup much easier than in a film or musical score.

So, one of my most favorite things to read is true life stories, of love, of hope, of dreams come true.

The best place to read such stories is at my favorite ministry called Reece's Rainbow, as it is an international adoption resource for children with Down syndrome to be adopted. Sadly, in many countries outside of the U.S., children with Down syndrome that are not adopted by a certain age are destine to be institutionalized for life.

If you want to be empowered, to see the Grace of GOD at work, scroll through this page at Reece's Rainbow, as it is the photographs and stories [links to blogs] of families who have reached out and adopted a child with Down syndrome from around the globe.

and then if you will, click on one of the links to the children who are awaiting a forever family and if you are able, make a donation [however large or small] to help ease the cost of adoption, so that the dreams and hopes of a waiting child and their forever families may come true]

I promise you, it is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

Reece's Rainbow