Birthday Boy And Blogging Break

I'm going to be taking a break from blogging for most of the month of February. The end of next month actually will be a year since I have started blogging so I hope to get back to it before that date, but before I do that I have lots to do around this house, some obligations to meet, and some promises to keep.
I might post for my Mom's Anniversary but as that day approaches I am feeling more and more sad, and less and less like posting about it.
I'll try visiting (and commenting) as often as I can, and I'll post if anything out of the ordinary or anything interesting goes on in my usually boring life.

Well, I think it's appropriate that my last few posts before I break from 'Umma's World' have been about the little lad that dubbed me 'Umma'!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAYDEN!

On his Birth Day!




~1st Birthday Party~

Jayden's 1st Birthday party had to be put off numerous times because everyone in the house was sick that winter. And we had so many other things going on in our lives at that time too. We did have a little cake for him on his birthday though.

We finally had a party for him a few weeks later on February 11.

My sister Diane and I left the party to go be with my Mom who was on hospice care at the time, we stayed the night with her, and we were Blessed to still be with her when she went Home to Heaven the next day.


~2nd Birthday Party~





~3rd Birthday Party~






~4th Birthday Party~

Jayden's eyes really lit up...


...when he saw Uncle Brian's gift!





~5th Birthday Party~

Today, January 31, is Jayden's Birthday, but there has been a lot of celebrating already, his class celebrated his birthday in school, and he came home with a Birthday Crown that the teacher gave to him. And we celebrated his birthday with a family party yesterday, and today we'll be going to a school Mass, and then go across to his school for Open House, we'll get to see his classroom and some of the work that the children have been doing will be on display too, and then we'll take a tour of the school and visit the Kindergarten class that he will be in next year. After that we'll go out to lunch and come back home and have another little birthday celebration for him.

It's amazing to me to think about how much my life revolves around this little guy when even the thought of him did not exist just a few years ago.

Precious Moments

Sometimes in our lives God Blesses us beyond our wildest dreams. I have been so Blessed with my grandchildren Mia and Jayden.

On Sunday Jayden will turn five, and the joy that has filled my life these past five years is way beyond description. I don't know of any words in the English language that would do justice to the elation, delight, and love this child has brought into our home and into my life.
I'm ashamed to say that I did not greet the news of Jayden's impending birth with great joy. And it was with reluctance that I readied the house for a new baby. It had been twenty years since I had fed, and diapered, and cared for a newborn, and I did not relish the thought of bottles, and bassinet, and playpen, and crib, and stroller, and high chair (and all the rest of the paraphernalia that comes with caring for a baby) taking over my home again. It felt like an invasion.

Had I only known the immense love that was about to enter my life I would have gleefully tended to that task with a grateful heart and happy anticipation rather than a mere sense of obligation.


Here are just a few of the precious moments spent with this precious boy:

I am so Blessed.
God Is So Good.

Happy Birthday, K-K-K-Katie!

I was going to write a story or a poem that went along the lines of this:
the times Katie's tried, and of the times she's filled us with so much pride, and I was going to write about how she has Blessed us with one of our greatest gifts, and how to our family this has added so much bliss.

I was going to write about how Katie drives me insane to a point where at times I don't know my own name, or how my oldest daughter and I hardly ever see eye-to-eye, or how I have to remind myself that our children are not actors in some play and how they won't be directed by anything we do or say, and how we have to let them go their way, it's pointless to hold on to yesterday.

(No matter how old they get ~ isn't this the way we remember them?)

But then I thought long and hard about this daughter of mine and I could think of no better gift to give than this...

(This is a song her FarFar used to sing to her.)











...and this:

Remember when our boy was obsessed with vacuuming?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATIE!
Love,
Mommy


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMMY!
Love,
Jayden

And I want to wish a Happy Birthday to Debbie, the teacher I used to work with, she became a very treasured friend during those years. We spent many joyful moments together in that Kindergarten class, and we also weathered some very heartbreaking moments together.
'Love you, Deb!

Happy Birthday To My Aunt Florence!

My Aunt Margie, my Grandmother holding Aunt Florence, and my Mom.

(There are not too many pictures of my Aunt Margie because she had a heart condition and spent a lot of time in the hospital when she was young. I know I have pictures somewhere of the four sisters together but I couldn't find them in time for this post.)

My Aunt Marion, my Grandfather, my Aunt Florence, and my Mom.

Aunt Marion, my Grandmother, my Mom standing in front of her, and Aunt Florence off to the side.

Aunt Marion, my Mom, Aunt Florence

My Mom, my Grandfather, my Aunt Florence

Aunt Florence
(my Mom told me that they spent a lot of time 'up on the roof' and I can see from a lot of their pictures that they really did!)

I think the three pictures below are all school pictures but I'm not sure:

Aunt Marion, Mom, Aunt Florence

Mom, (I think the girl in the Communion dress is my cousin Mary), Aunt Florence

(up on the roof again!)

I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to my Aunt Florence. She is my Mom's youngest sister, and I feel very close to her.
When we were growing up we lived right next door to my Aunt Florence, Uncle Tom, and my cousin Jimmy in a semi-attached house. Their home seemed like an extension of our home and I think I spent as much time playing next door as I did in my own home. There was no fence separating the backyards so it was like one big play yard, and Uncle Tom had set up a swing set for us, and in the summer he had a little play pool set up for us, and my Mom hung out her laundry to dry on a wash line that was set up on their side too. Our side of the yard had a garage and next to the garage was a little concrete patio with a picnic table and a barbecue and every Saturday in the summer my Dad and Uncle Tom would barbecue and we'd eat at the picnic table, then we'd run off to enjoy the pool and/or the swing set.
I remember too all the fun we had in the winter with my Aunt Florence, Uncle Tom, and Jimmy making snow forts in the back yard, and we would have 'wars' with Aunt Florence heading up the girls team and Uncle Tom head of the boys team. And they would take us sledding at the golf course. Some of the happiest times of my childhood were spent with my Aunt Florence, my Uncle Tom, and my cousin Jimmy.
Aunt Florence brought all of us girls our bouquets on our First Communion days, Aunt Florence used to bring us to the Easter Show (there was a little song and dance show and then a movie) at Radio City Music Hall, Aunt Florence and Uncle Tom took my sister Diane and I to our first Broadway Play (South Pacific), and Aunt Florence and Uncle Tom would always have some of the kids from our family along with them when they went on their summer vacations to Florida.
Aunt Florence and Uncle Tom were always the first ones out at Belmont Lake State Park to set up all the picnic tables for our family picnic reunions. And their home was the gathering spot for many family parties, Birthdays, Christmas, Fourth of July, and I remember the Sing-Along-With-Mitch nights.
Aunt Florence was like a second mother to me and I went to her just as often as I went to my own Mom for love, comfort, guidance, and advice.

Florence was there for every important occasion in my life, Communion, Confirmation, Graduations, my Wedding Day, she was there as Ray and I welcomed each new baby, and she was there for all the little moments too, and she and Uncle Tom were always there to lend a helping hand, lend support, and lend a shoulder to cry on. They were a wonderful couple and upheld many of us through trying times. There may have been times that we were down, but we knew we were never 'down and out' when Aunt Florence and Uncle Tom were around. Anytime we were moving, they were right there to help pack a box, drive a truck, move furniture, paint a room, anything that was needed, they were right there. If a family member was sick, they were right there at the door willing to fill any need. Aunt Florence's Cheesecake was at every party, and Uncle Tom was right there with his movie camera at every occasion. And they were good friends to Ray & I too, we had lots of fun with them on vacations, and camping trips, and we enjoyed their company and many times we would just drop in on each other for no reason at all.

I admire my Aunt Florence so much, and I am in awe of her Faith and her strength to carry on through so many hardships and heartaches. My cousin Jimmy, her only child, passed away fifteen years ago, and she had to see him suffer through many battles in his life, ending with losing a battle to cancer. She lost the love of her life, my Uncle Tom, it will be nine years this March that he is gone. Florence never complains, she never wallows in self-pity, and her Faith in God never falters.
We are all so Blessed to have this wonderful, loving, giving woman in our lives.

Happy Days! On one of our camping trips to Disney World.

Florence, myself, Ellie (in front of me), Andrew, my sister Diane, Uncle Tom, Steve,
and my nephew William in front.

Florence and Tom at their 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration.

Aunt Marion and Aunt Florence holding little Tommy (her great-great grand-nephew on his Christening day).

This was taken on a cruise a few years ago.

This is Florence celebrating her 80th Birthday a few years ago.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AUNT FLORENCE!

To my family:
I know you read here, and I know that I forgot lots of wonderful things to write here, so please fill in my blanks! What's your favorite memory of Aunt Florence?

Brief Encounters

Today is the 10th Anniversary of my little friend Kerry going Home to God and I am re-posting my story of Kerry and the major Blessing she has been to my life .

Sometimes in our lives we have such brief encounters with others and yet they leave lasting impressions on us. It may only be a minute, a small act of kindness, a written word or two, some small consideration, or a helpful hand. Sometimes we stumble upon these encounters with strangers, and other times we are fortunate enough to have a brief encounter that so profoundly touches our lives and we are also Blessed enough to have that experience last for just a little longer than a moment in time.
I was privileged to have had such an encounter with Kerry, one of the Kindergarten students in the classroom where I was a teacher’s aide a few years ago. Kerry was in my life from mid-September to January, and in just four short months my heartstrings developed such a strong attachment to her. Kerry came to our classroom with cancer. She had been diagnosed at the age of two and since that time she had numerous brain surgeries, and had undergone countless sessions of chemotherapy. Her skull was misshapen, and she had several scars on her little hairless head. She was near blind in one eye, and the eye would ‘roam’ and she couldn’t focus it at all. She used a tiny little walker that her Mom had decorated with stickers, and a helmet hung in the coat closet for her to use whenever we went into the playground.
Over the first few weeks Kerry tried hard to keep up with the other kids, scurrying around the classroom and the playground with her walker, learning her letters, numbers, and colors, doing all the arts and crafts, fighting for a favorite toy, standing her ground. But by mid-October Kerry no longer wanted to participate in much of anything. Her Mom sent her to school with her ‘sick-y bowl’ as she was undergoing chemotherapy again, and it left her sick and exhausted. Most mornings she would nap in the back of the classroom on a Barney mat that my sister Diane had sent in for her to use, and most afternoons I would sit with her in the rocker on my lap and sing to her. She became an attachment at my hip because I’d carry her everywhere now as she had become too weak to walk. Her Mom would come up to the classroom at lunchtime to sit with Kerry so I could take the rest of the class out to the playground. One day her Mom said to the teacher Debbie and myself that it wouldn’t be too long before Kerry died, and she wanted to know if Debbie would like for her to speak to the class about it. I was seething inside and I wanted to scream at this woman, “Why don’t you have this little girl at home with you? Why don’t you want to spend every minute of what little time she has left with her?”
One day I worked up the courage to ask her just that, more out of bewilderment now rather than anger. Her Mom humbled me by answering, “Because I want Kerry to experience everything a normal five year old would experience. I want Kerry to have as normal a life as possible for as long as possible.”
And, to tell you the truth, I was so grateful her Mom felt that way, because I got to spend so many hours of Kerry’s last months with her. She and I got to know each other very well. I learned that she loved Barney and her family, in that order! I learned that she collected Beanie Babies and I happily added to her collection. I learned that she didn’t like dressing up but that she liked looking at party dresses, and she especially liked white Communion dresses. I learned the songs that she liked most, and the games she liked best, and I learned that Kerry was feisty. And sadly, I learned that Kerry thought she was ugly.
On the first Friday of every month the whole student body went to church for a school Mass and the Kindergarten class participated in this. At the November Mass, Kerry as usual was in my lap and I noticed her shaking her tiny fist at two little girls across the aisle. I asked her why she was doing that and she said, “Because they’re looking at me. They’re looking at me because I’m ugly, because I have ugly eyes.” My heart broke for her and I said to her, “Oh, no, Kerry, they’re looking at you because you’re so beautiful, and because you have such beautiful blue eyes.” She smiled up at me, and snuggled into me and she fell asleep. Kerry continued to be such a joyful presence in that classroom and such a joyful presence in my life each day until Thanksgiving. As Christmas approached her days at school were few and far between, and her Mom came to retrieve her walker and her helmet from the classroom. She told us Kerry would be in the following week though as she wanted her to participate in the Christmas play, Kerry was going to be one of our little lambs.
All that week Kerry sat on my lap and repeated a mantra “I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home.” And something told me that Kerry’s spirit wanted to go Home to God. I asked her if she wanted to pray with me and she shook her head yes. I carried her to the front of the classroom where we had set up a Christmas tree, and my husband had made a little manger and placed it under the tree, and Debbie had swaddled one of the dolls from the playroom to be our Jesus. I told Kerry we would ask Jesus to take her home, and she smiled at me, and she looked down at the baby and she said, “Jesus, I want to go home.” And I prayed too that Jesus would please take her Home to Him.
Kerry seemed so fragile the day of the Kindergarten Christmas play, but she was dressed as a lamb, sitting in her Mom’s lap on the stage with her classmates, too weak to sing along, but she was there, smiling out at all of us in the auditorium.
Her Dad brought her to me after the play was over to say good-bye, and the pain on that man’s face is a heartache I will carry with me all my life, his eyes filled up and he had to excuse himself, and I felt helpless, I had no words of consolation. How could you tell a man that is about to lose his baby daughter to cancer that everything is going to be okay? Maybe he couldn’t bear to hear that Kerry was a part of some great plan. Maybe he couldn’t accept that it was God’s Will. How could I say any of those things when I was finding it hard to accept myself? I felt powerless. There was nothing I could do for this man. I could only hold his little girl in my arms and pray that he and Kerry would find God’s Peace.
Kerry didn’t come back to school after the Christmas vacation, but I did see Kerry once more after that, it was a cold January afternoon, and her Mom had come to pick up Kerry’s sisters and brothers from school. Kerry was sitting in the front seat of her Mom’s car in the school parking lot, God was good to me as I happened to pass by and I spotted her. She looked so frail, and she looked so tiny wrapped up in a big blanket. Her Mom had rolled down the passenger window for me and I leaned in to say hello, Kerry’s eyes were closed and I thought she was sleeping, but she opened them and smiled a weak little smile at me, and then she leaned her head against mine. I told her I loved her and she closed her eyes again and shook her head yes, and she said slowly, weakly, slurring her words a little, “I…love…you…too”. Her Mom told me the doctors said it wouldn’t be long, and it wasn’t long at all because on January 20 God took Kerry Home.
I went to her wake and Kerry looked angelic dressed in the white Communion dress her Mom said that Kerry had picked out for herself while shopping one day, and some of her hair had grown in, and it curled around her beautiful little face, and she looked so peaceful. I saw that among the toys placed in with her was one of the Beanie Babies that I had given her, and her Mom said she had always slept with ‘Monk’. Her Dad asked me how I thought she looked, and I said she looked beautiful, she looked just like a little cherub. Kerry had always looked beautiful to me though, and Kerry was always my angel. And I thank God for allowing this little soul to come into my life. One of my most valued treasures in this Blessed life I live is that God bestowed on me the gift of this brief encounter.

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

It was so beautiful out today we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. We usually walk through an area called Malba and then to Whitestone Park, but today we took a different route to the park.

We walked along the service road to the Whitestone Bridge, and here is one of the rare blocks without a sidewalk, I love how this home kept a rustic look with their wooden rail fence:


Just around the corner are rows of attached co-ops, and I thought it was sweet how these neighbors each had a set of Adirondack chairs, one neighbor had two in blue, and one neighbor had two in pink:






Along the way we spotted a Volkswagon Beetle:



I loved those 'Bugs'! My favorite colors were the pale yellow, and the pale blue, but the Irish in me likes this Kelly Green too!


Here is the entrance to Whitestone Park (it's actually Francis Lewis Park but everyone in Whitestone calls it Whitestone Park), the park looks so bare now:




There is lots of construction going on, they are working on the bridge and they are working on the playground in the park that is under the bridge.
Here is an area of the park that is still quiet and peaceful though:



We walked down by the water and it was peaceful here too:




There were two little ducks in the water and as mild as the weather was...



...it still made me cold to think of being in that water!





Here is the boat Ray wants and he wants this set-up too so he can just walk out his door and hop in his boat!


There are lots of new homes going up in Whitestone, I think they are gaudy looking, but I do like the idea of the conservatory, and I would like the water view that some of these homes have!






And this is one of the newer homes that I actually do like, and I wouldn't mind at all having lots of room, especially when we have parties!




But most of the homes I love are the older homes in Whitestone.
This is not one of my loves, it's just not my taste at all, it looks like an office building to me, but an interesting fact about this home is that it was owned by the Revlon (Cosmetics and Fragrance) family in the 1930's.




We walked further on and came to Booster's Beach:




I'm actually thinking of joining this beach club for the summer, it's certainly not the nicest beach and it's not the prettiest beach, but it's close enough for Jayden and I to walk to, and it will give us something to do a few times each week, and a lot of his schoolmates' families belong.






As we walked along we passed the older homes in Whitestone, here are some of the oldest which are my favorites:















I read that this was an old farmhouse that Walt Whitman rented a room in when he taught at a nearby school in Whitestone Village:






This old home is now a Funeral Parlor:







Across the street from it is the new Greek Orthodox Church:





And up the block is Immanual Lutheran Church, it is the church Ray went to when he was growing up:

There are many churches in Whitestone of many different denominations, I will post about them one day.


Further down the block is one of the oldest homes in Whitestone, we have a map dated 1863 and this home is on that map (that same map shows that Tatham's Farm is the property that our home was eventually built on). I read that this old home pictured below was once an asylum, and at one time it was a rooming house, it used to have those iron fire escape staircases on the outside. The house is set back far from the road and the property goes from one block clear through to the other.


There are many homes in the Whitestone/Malba/Beechurst area that have an interesting history attached to them and some of the homes were once owned or rented by movie stars in the early 1900's. And Paulette Goddard was born in Whitestone. One day I will do a post on some of those stories.

If you enlarge this next picture you can see the green parrots that have invaded our neighborhood, these birds are beautiful to look at, but they make a mess and they are very noisy!



This is where they usually make their nests:




Okay, last picture, from the top of most hills in Whitestone, if you look West, you can see the New York City skyline in the distance.


And now I'm tired and it's time to head home!

And a very Happy Birthday to my nephew William (who is also our Godson), I would go on and on about William's many attributes, but I think he might be one of my 'don't mention me on your blog' relatives!

Sisters In Faith Award

I was happily surprised and honored to receive The Sisters In Faith Award from Cathy @ A Bit Of The Blarney. Cathy's blog is so Faith-filled and so inspiring, and I am grateful that she chose me as one of her "new" Sisters In Faith.

As a recipient of this award you are asked to pass it to those who reflect the spirit of this award and the instructions are:

1. Pass this award to sisters who have been blogging with you from the beginning.

2. Include at least one new Sister In Faith.

Well, I wanted to make sure I understood exactly what this award was all about so I went in search of the creator of this award and I found it was Karinann @ Blessings for the Day. Her blog is beautiful and spiritually enriching.
In her post about this award she wrote:
"For my final post of 2009 here on Blessings, I thought I would celebrate the gift of spiritual sisterhood. God has used this special medium of the blogosphere to bring many of us together who might under the usual circumstances of life, may never have crossed paths.
I am grateful for those who have joined me on my spiritual path.
As 2009 ends and 2010 begins I wanted to say thank you to all of my spiritual sisters who help and encourage me along this journey of faith. To do this, I created this little blog award called The Sisters In Faith Award."

I loved what Karinann had to say and her words speak what is in my heart.

She went on to say that while she would like to award everyone on her blog roll, she was going to single out the few that had been blogging with her from the very beginning and she was going to include at least one new follower.
So in keeping with that spirit the two Sisters In Faith who I have been blogging with since the very beginning are:
1. Marcy @ Blessings Each Day
2. Diana @ Welcome To My World

I think that Marcy has already been awarded this but I had to list her as she was my very first friend from the Village to pay me a visit and Diana was soon after.
I really should include you all, because you have all helped me along my spiritual journey these past months, and I am so grateful to you all. And I hope that in turn Diana and Marcy will help to spread this beautiful award throughout the Village because you are all so deserving.

The newest followers I would like to pass this award to are:
1. Rebecca @ Life and Godliness
2. Lidj @ Crown of Beauty

Both these women have helped to heighten my spiritual senses and they have helped me remove so many obstructions that serve as roadblocks on my journey of Faith.

God Bless you all!