Papa and Lucy

Loving this pic of Papa 

and lovely, little Lucy.

One generation shall command your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. 

Psalm 145:4

Do Terra

New adventure ... I am a Do TERRA Essential Oil consultant. 

Here is my intro   :) 

Do TERRA Essential Oils.

If you are interested in the top of the line, 

undiluted and effective essential oils

buy Do Terra Essential Oils - from me! 

To order 

click HERE  

(http://www.mydoterra.com/maryabele/) 

How do essential oils work? 

Our family uses Do TERRA's Essential Oils everyday. 

Convinced of their value, 

we buy the oils that strengthen our 

bodies own healing processes. 

Do TERRA oils are highly concentrated and

come directly from nature.  

To order click 

HERE

Any questions? Message me 

maryabele@gmail.com 

12 months of Christmas - January

Twelve Months of Christmas 

Twelve months of spreading the light of Jesus' love.

Are you looking for a way to reach out to your neighbors or your community? 

Here is a fun idea! 

Every month I am going to send out a blog post with a new idea for that month.

Families can set their calendars to spread the cheer - all year!

After your year of giving you will be the one blessed.

You will have joy in your heart because it feels good 

to care for others.

January 

Food banks are usually low this time of year.

For the month of January collect food and donate it to the food bank. 

It can be as simple as filing a box with 

some of your extras

or you could set up a food collection box at church 

or places in your community. 

Pray and gather food as the Lord leads. 

At the end of January, take what the Lord has supplied to the food shelter to bless those in need. 

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his deeds Proverbs 19:17

 {Some of the material is from 
Michelle Howard
of Danville, VA.}

A wedding Part 1

I am wanting to share a story about a 

most wonderful wedding.

Our daughter, our baby got married.

Here is her suitcase and her coat, 

packed and ready to go.

 She made her bed for the last time.

Golly, forever is a long time.

It started one February on a North Carolina Beach.

On his knee, David asked Elisa if she would marry him, she said YES!

 Support and love came from everywhere.

Thank you for this chocolate hug, Rebekah!

Planning a memory of a lifetime takes work. 

Late night planning of colors and styles. 

Lots of conversation and paint chips. 

Winter turned to summer. 

Finding her perfect dress was 

pressing on Elisa's mind. 

In a little consignment shop, in the small town of Graham, after a long day of driving 

and looking, 

the shop we hesitated to visit - we found it.

Inside, Elisa pulled out a tiny dress off the rack, I thought poor girl, that dress is so small it will never fit ... then out of the dressing room she comes wearing the beautiful lace dress. With her critical eye she looked. Elisa is a visionary. She can see what I can not. While she looked in the mirror at this tiny dress, she saw a tuck here, a seam there. 

The removal of the bow, maybe some sleeves. 

 Turning

Satisfied to see that it had a train. 

"Hmm, from the side, how does it fall?" 

"The back? What will it need?" 

Walking in the store, checking how it feels. 

-She is so dramatic-

 She became friends with that little white lace dress. 

Yes, she looks good. 

Further inspection. 

Heart shaped back was a keeper. 

 Glee! 

 satisfaction

Yes! This is the dress. 

What you see here is just the beginning of her vision of loveliness. 

She paid $100 and got the form from which she would build upon. 

Next post will be the transformation of 

THE DRESS 

Wow! That was BUSY!

Day 1: The first morning I sleepily got out of bed at 5:30 am. Happy to start the day with God's Word and a cup of coffee. 

After my refreshing morning routine I prepared fruit and cheese for my precious gems to snack on until it was time for the marvelous breakfast I had planned. 

Day 14: 7:30 AM, It was still dark in my room, I was almost comatose in my bed when I heard the wings of an angel "Grammy, are you awake?" I turned to see a refreshed, round faced, bright eyed grandchild looking for some direction, some food and lots of attention. 

Boy had things changed.

My love and devotion were still the same. My grandchildren are the light of my life. What changed was my energy level. 

I am thinking about sweet mamas right now. I have renewed devotion and respect for their daily, weekly, monthly and yearly task of their role as believers, wives and moms.

Years ago I walked that road. I am a mom of 4 adult children. It was fun and I wouldn't change it for the world but it was exhausting.  

Now my life is different, I can actually sit here and type this out on my laptop. If I wanted to I could go peruse Pinterest for a little while. 

I am able to rest. 

If there are other women like myself, able to rest a bit. Maybe we can lend a hand to those mamas with little ones. We can babysit so they can take an afternoon off just to think. Maybe we can become their friend and help them with their housework. Sometimes we could give rides while mom stayed home and could actually finish making dinner without an interruption. 

We could at least send notes in the mail. When the grandkids were here I did not have a lot of time for such luxuries of email and facebook so a note in the mail would be greatly recieved. 

Think about it, maybe it's something the Lord would put on your heart. 

A couple pictures from our two weeks of heaven. 

Aubrey, Magnolia and Lucille - the first morning with the fresh fruit. 

Henry

Aunt Elisa loves her family 

What a bunch of crazies! 

Look at those chubby little hands. Aren't they beautiful? 

Back yard fun

This picture has my hearts love in it. 

This is ONE of the meals our amazing, wonderful, thoughtful, loving church brought. I have still to send my thank you notes. 

We were so glad Chris came <3 

Little sweeties. 

Now THIS is a hug! 

Feed and feed and feed. 

Papa is the BEST. 

Our love buckets are full. 

We gave and received lots of love. 

Now we go live the lives the Lord has called us to.

 We will remember the good, thank God for His blessing and wait .. until .. next time! 

Magical Moment

Auntie Phee

She died. 

After she lived. 

Born on August 14, 1924 

In that year, Walt Disney produced his first movie Alice in Wonderland.

George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue was published.

It was the year of the first Macy's Day Parade. 

Auntie Phee was the baby to a family of 7. 

Three boys followed by two girls

Irene and her baby sister, Phyllis. 

Part of a busy family, she helped her mom cook, clean and garden. That was back when you had to iron all the clothes. 

She graduated from high school when it actually meant something. 

For vacations, her dad and mom packed the car with kids and they all traveled to the Atlantic Beach. 

Auntie Phee loved music. 

She told me she and her sister, Irene, my mom .. loved to dance.

While living in Washington DC as a young single woman, 

those sisters would jitterbug the night away. 

One of her favorite movies was The Sound of Music. 

She was a traveler. Just let her get in her car and she was gone. 

She had places to go. 

You know, she married a spy, Uncle Les, he worked for the CIA. 

She told Elisa and me

that they would move from location to location to keep his cover. 

Auntie Phee wasn't to ambitious, she was usually satisfied to live simply. 

Her favorite way to spend her time was with her family.

She had a daughter, Suzanne. 

Who blessed her with the light of her life, 

David, her grandson.

She had the good pleasure to help raise him when Suzanne had to work. 

Gaga, and David developed the close relationship that they shared until the day she died. 

In fact, I was there that day. 

She was laying in her bed in a horribly weakened condition, David told her he loved her and she didn't have to keep suffering. David shared with us that when he told her goodbye a tear fell from her eye. She loved her family. 

She always made us laugh. She had a way to look at a situation and with some wise crack, give it a whole new perspective. AND, even until recently, she had her eye on a certain gentleman. I have heard she would sit in the dining room and call to him, telling him she loved him. Funny lady. 

We love you, 

Phyllis Evelyn Dillon Riber 

We are thankful to our Good Lord that 

He let us have this earthly time with you. 

Yes, Auntie Phee died 

but not before she lived a good long life. 

Her funeral 

After the viewing, having a late night dinner of spaghetti with family. 

Thank you, Bud and Liz 

Me and Linda 

Don and cousin Bud

 Suzanne and Jackie 

 Sherry and her mom, Liz 

We stayed at Sherry and Bud's house. SO nice. 

 Cousins Rick and Lily

 Lily's granddaughters 

 And her special pal 

The day of the funeral

Cousin Julia that lives in Fredericksburg 

The next generation 

The reality. 

Cousin Irene, her husband and cousin Linda 

Cousin Liz with cousin David 

Cousin Suzanne with cousin Jim 

After the funeral on our way to the cemetery 

On our way to the church for a lunch

This is the mine where Dada Phil worked. 

This is the bridge where Uncle Tony fished.

The family house. 

David and cousin Rayme 

The ladies that made all the good good. 

Ashton trying hard to understand why he needs to settle down. 

Yummy food. 

The Moore family (cousins) 

Explaining our family tree to cousin Irene 

Two jokesters, cousins Jimmy and Alex 

 These are some of the people that loved Auntie Phee. 

Lots of people couldn't come because of work or illness, distance or because they were just 9 days away from their wedding. That was OK.

Auntie Phee was a smart woman. She understood that there was a time and place for everything. 

She loved us all with her whole heart. 

This is her hugging us, because she loves us. 

Love never ends ..