Hope all have had a beautiful Mother’s Day with your children. For those of us who have children in heaven I know they are looking down and smiling at us. The day has been a good day in so many ways! My youngest son gave me the World Encyclopedia of Butterflies and Moths and I hope to study and learn the names of the butterflies in my yard and garden. My oldest son gifted me with a gift certificate to my favorite feed and seed store, ML Awbrey’s. Gonna do a little shopping tomorrow in the bird feeder corner and get some pine straw.

Oldest brother brought his tiller over and plowed up my flower bed and dug some good deep holes for my tomato plants. I planted several rows of zinnias and several rows of different colored sunflowers. So excited to have a flower bed this year. Didn’t have one last year but had a sparse row of zinnias come up from the seeds dropped the year before. Just enough to entice the glorious butterflies to visit. I know I’ll wear down the grass, walking a thousand time a day checking to see if the seeds have come up.

I was sitting in the porch swing cooling off after working in the garden and a large soft bird feather floated right up to my face at the same time a branch of mistletoe fell off the old oak tree. Can’t convince me that wasn’t a Mother’s Day hug and kiss from Chief and Rosie.

Vet brother’s daughter invited me and Stew down to a Mother’s Day family celebration and we enjoyed a delicious meal with them and oldest brother. Had cake and ice cream for dessert. Can’t pass that up! I’m stuffed and happy and counting my blessings this evening. Family is so important to me and I’m so grateful for my three brothers and their families and my dearest friend, Linda. They bring so much joy into life. I’m thankful for my sons, Stewart, and Thomas, and the beautiful family Thomas has created with Ashely and their three precious children. My grandchildren are my greatest blessings and the sunshine of my life.

Eva Burrows says, “The love of a family is a life’s greatest blessing.” Those words are so true for me. The most wonderful things about a family are their unconditional love and acceptance. God loves us, too, despite our imperfections and our sins. His unconditional love is always with us and he walks beside us as we travel this earth. When obey God’s words and follow his teachings, we become members of God’s household. We are God’s children and each one of us a part of his heavenly family. We are heirs to the kingdom of heaven.

As Billy Graham said, “We need to place God at the center of our family. As a family, we need to walk with God daily.”

“When we place our faith in Christ, God becomes our Father, we become his children, other believers become our brothers and sisters, and the church becomes our spiritual family. The family of God includes all believers in the past, the present, and the future.” — Rick Warren