This is a pretty poor picture of my last visit with my Grandmother during Christmas time. It also has my brother, Ian, in it. Late in the fall of last year my Grandmother suddenly declined mentally and after several tests she was moved into an alzheimers unit. The Lord graciously has brought back most of her thinking and memory; she is now on medication to slow the process and is doing well. At the time is was a very emotional process for my father and his brothers. Especially as they had to carry out her will in essence when she moved into the home.
Last night I sat down to organize my Grandmother's sewing box that I inherited when she moved into the nursing home. Even though she is still with us here on earth it was a rather sentimental time as I went through her old box. I kept thinking to myself, "my Granny put that needle in that spot. She had a reason for saving that little piece of trim off something...what was she going to do with it? I wonder if any of these items were given to her by her mother? I wonder what projects Granny was working on?"
In my memory, I don't remember this Grandmother sewing much. I have more memories of my maternal Grandmother sewing. It was really neat to see the old buttons and trimmings. She had several pretty threads on wooden spools that still are bright and cheerful. I had to put all those in an old canning jar to decorate my fabric shelf with! I think as I get older I hold onto to the things that are passed down to me more tightly. I now start to imagine how they used those items or wonder what ran through their minds as they put their hands to work with those items.

One of the donated items for our yard sale that I pulled out of a bag was this toy. I was quite surprised to see this and at the same moment a flood of memories came over me as I realized, "I had one of these!" I immediately decided that I could not possibly sell this, I felt like it was a part of my childhood! My friend allowed me to keep it so I washed it up and now Caleb plays with it. It brings a happy smile to my face to see it and to see my son playing with it. It is missing a few letters...hmmm...I wonder if Grandma has some extra letters we could use as replacements? :)

Later on today:
I was going through boxes of stuff that I have kept over the years and found this card from my Grandmother I spoke of above. The neatest thing about the card was the handwritten note inside. She says that when I was turning one (30 yrs. ago) she had found this card and it reminded her of a card she got for her 16th birthday. So she bought it and prayed to live to the day when she could give it to me!! Wow, what a great find!