Resolutions for 2010?

December 31, 2009 11:39 PM 5
 

It is getting dark on this last night of 2009, and something about a new year really gets me to thinking! Right now here in middle Georgia it is cold and foggy with a rainy drizzle outside.  My sweet man and I are “staying in.”  That is NOT big news…we like a quiet New Year’s Eve.  [We have been to many a New Year’s Eve party with food and fellowship and fun back in the day, but for the past few years, we have chosen to stay home.]  I do have some sparkling cider to toast in the New Year, and I made a big pot of chili too.  So we will celebrate quietly, and I really like that because I like my “thinking/pondering/reflecting/praying time.”

But as I was thinking, I decided I sure would like to hear from YOU!

  • Do you have New Years’ Resolutions?
  • Can you share them?
  • Do you always have resolutions or are you just beginning to do so?
  • What are you doing or what did you do for New Year’s Eve?

May God bless you and keep you and use you mightily for His glory in 2010!

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Recipe – Buffalo Chicken Dip

December 29, 2009 1:33 AM 7

If you need a good recipe for a New Year’s Eve party (or any celebrating purposes) please consider making this Buffalo Chicken Dip. My whole family LOVES this dip!  My sister Joan gave me the recipe. I made it for a Christmas party a week ago and it was a hit. (Be sure to make it in a pretty deep dish pie plate.  I’ve got several that I love. I saw a cute red one at Kohl’s the other night that had a scalloped edge, but I resisted the urge to add anything else to my kitchen.)

This dip is just the right amount of “heat” and oh so good!  If you want to see a video clip of the recipe being made, go here!

Ingredients:

  • 1 pkg. (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup bleu cheese salad dressing (or Ranch if you prefer)
  • 1/2 cup crumbled bleu cheese (or shredded cheddar if you use Ranch)
  • 2 cans (9.75 ounces each) Swanson® Premium Chunk Chicken Breast in water (drained)
  • 1/2 cup any flavor FRANK’S® RedHot® sauce
  • Assorted fresh vegetables or crackers

Directions:

1.  Heat the oven to 350° F.
2.  Whisk the softened cream cheese in a 9-inch deep dish pie plate until smooth.
3.  Stir in the Bleu Cheese dressing, Hot sauce, and crumbled blue cheese.
4.  Mix well.
5.  Stir in the drained chicken and mix well again.
6.  Bake for 20 minutes or until the chicken mixture is hot and bubbling.
7.  Remove from oven and stir before serving.

Serve with vegetables and crackers for dipping.  It won’t last long!

Prep: 5 minutes
Bake: 20 minutes
Makes: About 4 cups

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Gran Jan’s (and G-Daddy’s) Christmas SURPRISES!

December 25, 2009 11:53 AM 12

We celebrate Christmas with my parents on Christmas Eve. It is a long-standing tradition and my Mom passes out the gifts because she is really the heart of Christmas in our family.  As she handed a gift to me and a gift to my husband, she said “I don’t know who these are from or where they came from.”  The card said, “Open Together.”  So we each opened our gifts and lo and behold…this is what we saw! (I opened the PINK one.)

YES! Our May grandbabies have been revealed! 
It’s a GIRL!  It’s a BOY!
The stockings match the mommies below! 
They have been telling us that it would be next month before we could find out and they have kept the secret well – and I am so proud of them. (Go here to read the original post.) My boys obviously did not inherit the “cannot-keep-a-secret-well-gene” from their mother!  Now if it is confidential, sad and serious, my lips are sealed! But if it’s happy news, well, let’s just say I fit the old song, “If You’re Happy and You Know It, Then Your Face Will Surely Show it…”  because everyone can tell I know something. Read my smile! So be sure I have a BIG OLD SMILE on my face this Christmas morning.
Oh and one more thing…Gran Jan is 3 for 3 in “G.G.G.” (Guessing Grandbabies’ Gender). Yes I am…right before we were handed those gifts, I leaned over to Erin and said, “I think you’re having a boy!”  She just smiled…  The sonogram pictures are in the stockings too – I have some sweet and thoughtful daughters-in-law.  I love them for all they are to my sons – their love for my boys means EVERYTHING to me.
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM GRAN JAN!  I will post some Christmas photos from the farm later, but right now I just want to let this one sit…and I’m going to go sit by the tree and count my many blessings, name them three by three, Zeke…Baby Girl…Baby Boy!
Emmanuel, God With Us – Oh YES – HE IS!
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SAM’s Weekend = “Sisters and Mother,” not the Club!

December 18, 2009 1:09 AM 5

SAM’s = Sisters & Mother

I don’t think I have ADHD until times like this… You see, I was just busy finishing up wrapping Christmas presents, and I found the picture frame I had bought for my Mom that says “Me & My Girls.”  Of course I realized that I needed a picture to put inside the frame before I wrapped the gift! I mean the girls that are in the picture that came with the frame are cute and all, but you know it just won’t mean the same to my Mom unless it is “her and her girls,” like the frame says. (By the way, that really is a pet peeve of mine – people that buy frames and put them around and don’t ever put pictures in them – but leave the “studio models” in the frames.)  But back to the reason for this blog post… there goes that ADHD again.

So I came to the computer to print the picture for the frame, and that led me to checking my blog, finding the picture, etc. etc. So here I am with a long overdue blog post and lots of memories.  Please read on…

There have been three “SAM’s Weekends.”  On the “3rd weekend in October” my Mom and my two sisters and me have gotten together at my middle sister’s lake house for a SAM’s weekend. SAM’s is our acronym for “Sisters and Mother.”  We eat, play games, watch movies, and laugh our heads off – always at the expense of each other – as only families can do.  This is a picture of Joan’s boat house and dock.  It is such a peaceful place.

The first year was great – we had a campfire and watched a hilarious movie and went for a long walk around the lake, fed the ducks…
Last year was not good due to really scary tornadoes and we drove through a storm to get to the lake house and then we were delayed for over five hours due to downed power lines and trees – only to arrive at my sister’s place to sit in the dark because her power was also out! We were exhausted, we couldn’t watch our movies or play games in the dark, so we all just went to bed and it was cold and well…miserable.

This past year was the best yet! It was way too cold and windy for a fire outside, so we sat together and we talked and talked and laughed and had so much fun. (I won Scrabble and Crazy Eights, just thought I would mention that.) We hope this tradition will continue on for as long as possible. It’s a blessing to be together.

That’s my sister Joan in the black, then my Mom, Lois; my baby sister Jo, and then me! One more thing about the SAM’s weekend…there is a sister who is missing, her name was Jean. You see, she died back on July 19, 1985, in a tragic car accident. We miss her every single day. At our parents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary we honored her memory – you can see it in the picture below:

I am the oldest of four girls, Jan, Jean, Joan, and Jo. We are actually all four “PJ’s:” Pamela Jan, Phyllis Jean, Patricia Joan and Peggy Jo.  At my parents’ fiftieth anniversary party, us girls had our picture taken and my niece Amy, Jean’s daughter, stood “in Jean’s place next to me.”  Do you see the tears brimming in my eyes in the picture below?  It was literally all I could do to stand there… Amy was only 23 months old when Jean died – and now that she is a young woman, she treasures stories of her mother.

Jean is missed every single time our family gets together, but especially on these SAM’s weekends. We know she is in the presence of the Lord because the Word of God assures us that “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Father.”

As Christmas Eve draws near, I am reminded that every memory I have at this time of year includes my sister Jean.  She was “next in line” to me, so we grew up together. I learned a lot when Jean died – about what is really important and how brief life is.  She was only 25 years young, and I was a 27 year old young mother myself – with two little boys myself when we buried her.

I know without a doubt that her death shaped my life. I am not a worrier, I treasure every single day God grants, and I delight in the Lord.  I rest in the assurance that I will see her again one day because Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Talk about a SAM’s weekend!!! Can you imagine?  It will change to “Savior and Mansions,” and it will last way longer than one weekend, hallelujah! How about an eternity?  What do you think about that?

Now I’ve got to go…I’ve got some presents to wrap, and some memories to unwrap…

Much love,

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THANKSGIVING 2009

November 26, 2009 1:21 AM 3
THANKSGIVING 2009

T – Time with family!
H – Heaven is my eternal HOME!
A – Anticipating TWO new grandbabies in May 2010!
N – New Mercies every morning!
K – Knowledge that God is in control!
S – Sons…my boys, being their mama!
G – Gary, my precious, faithful, godly husband!
I –  In-laws…namely – daughters-in-law, blessings from God!
V – Volumes of books to read, I love books!
I –  Investing in the lives of the young women in my church!
N – Nothing can pluck me from His Hand!
G – Gran Jan’s grands…one named Zeke and two on the way!

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Double Delight – Two Babies on the Way in May!

November 17, 2009 3:27 AM 16
DOUBLE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW DELIGHT!

I am BEYOND excited to share the news that we are going to welcome TWO MORE grandbabies to our family in May 2010!   Both of my sons and their sweet wives are expecting babies just FIVE DAYS APART!


My oldest son Jeremy and his wife Carrie (they are the couple on the left) are the parents of Zeke, my 15 month old grandson and “Gran Jan’s Joy.”  (This blog began as a way for me to process and record the joy of waiting for his arrival, which was a miracle of divine design.)

So their little boy, Ezekiel (everyone calls him “Zeke”) is going to be a big brother sometime around May 16, and then he will welcome his cousin to the family around May 21!
 

My youngest son Jonathan and his wife Erin are on the right in the photo above.  They are expecting their first baby! Erin made these matching shirts as a way to “tell” the Double Delight news to my parents (the great-grandparents) who live next door to me.  Here they are walking over to my parents to share the news.  I was following behind with my camera to record the event!

Here they are going back over to my house after they told my Mom and Dad…it was almost more than I could take in one evening.  I can’t believe I am going to be Gran Jan times three, and I am counting my blessings.  The other day I heard a woman call her grandchildren “Grandblessings,” and I loved that. They truly are grand blessings, and I can’t wait to meet the May Babies!

Today is my birthday…and I can’t think of a more fitting day to celebrate LIFE and God’s goodness to our family. 

i am thanking God for the promise fulfilled in my life from His Word, found in Psalm 128, verse 6:

Psalm 128:6 
May you live to see your children’s children.

Thank you Lord,
Gran Jan

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South Africa – 16 (Journal Day 11 – FINAL ENTRY)

November 15, 2009 4:05 AM 0

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Dear Blog Friends:  I so hope you have enjoyed this journal, because it was certainly a joy for me to keep.  We are home now, and may I use a well-worn saying? There is no place like home. As often as we have all heard that said, I know in my heart that it is the absolute truth, for I have experienced it first-hand.

We went through customs easily in South Africa and our flight was good. If you don’t really bemoan the fact that there were many (many) children on our flight home who were ALL awake and ready to play at 3:00 in the morning and they were all sitting very close to me and my husband. 

May I just say that it is unnatural to fly for 17 hours straight? I was just about  “squirrley” the last 2 hours.  I mean it.  I had to get up and walk and move around and sit and then get up again.  I had to really pray and breathe deeply.  I was ready to get OFF that plane and RUN!

We did not sleep as well on the flight home as we did going over, so I know the jet lag cometh, but I will be in my own bed, can I give some praise to the Lord?

We were met at the airport in ATL by some precious folks from our church, Mr. Jim and Mrs. Maggie Dollar, and also Mr. Pat Bembry. They drove the church minibus up to bring us back home. Mr. Pat was part of the mission team to Kariba, Zimbabwe last month, so he knew the joy in our hearts to be home.

Coming home at 6:55 in the morning is the way to do this!  It was great. The airport was not really crowded and we came through customs expeditiously! Everything had to be searched and examined, but I was so proud to be home I didn’t care if they wanted to look through my purse, my luggage, my wallet, my pockets, or my carry on bag! Help yourself! I had nothing to hide except a bad case of “17-hour-hair.”

We stopped at a McDonalds on the way home and had a McBiscuit and some McCoffee and it was McDivine!  I was McDelirious and so McHappy!  I am not McKidding!

When I got home, I made myself “stay up.”  I unpacked, I washed clothes, I went through the mail, I watered my plants, I checked my email and all my text messages.  Then I walked around and just relished the joy of being back home.  Yes, my experience was amazing. I do pray the things I saw and learned won’t soon leave my heart, but the joy of being home is so good. 

Makes me ponder the joy of being really home – to my heavenly home.  To that place where there will never be any shanty towns, or crime, or HIV Aids, or little children with no shoes or coats.  No pain, no sorrow, no cancer, no heartache, no divorce, no gossip, no evil…

And one more glorious thought…no 17 hour flights, for the Word of God says we will be there in the twinkling of an eye.  Glory!

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