The loose ends...

 Hello, my sweet Readers! We are back in sunny AZ, and I've got more pictures! (I told you I would need to do a Mississippi in recap post! )
 Well, that picture is showing Dad, Cate and Princess. The second Dad walked in the door, Princess lunged for him and followed him everywhere he went. She was CRAZY for him!
  And Cate in that picture has her hair done up beautifully, all set for the wedding.

  

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I love love LOVED the mason jars on the trees!

Aren't those mason jars beautiful? Really, the whole wedding was beautiful. The bride was beautiful, the church was beautiful, Cate was beautiful,-it was all so sweet and beautiful!




Uncle George and the triplets!
It was SO great seeing him...

Moving on once again, let me add this one photo of Bess and I. (my mom took this so I couldn't add it to my 'friends' post!)
 Did I mention how much I love that girl?!

Cate- another one of my dear ones! She shined at that wedding, and so deserved some play time!

 We went to Joyner playground with Nana and Papa,
and so I loved taking pictures of Mom's former school - which is beautiful!

I told you this post was to tie loose ends, right?! I'm looking at it thinking, 'How in the world did I get  from Dad to the wedding to Bess to Joyner?AH!'
  But, really, this post is to add all the lovely pictures that A.) I took after I last blogged, or B.) My amazing live-in photographer (who we call mom) took and only just now got them downloaded to our computer. So, please excuse the hopping around, movings on and so forth! : )

One of my favorite things to do at Grammie's house is to dig. I delight in searching all the closets, drawers and purses the lady owns. The best things to find, in my opinion, are those little bits of a person's past found in a  book. I guess you don't think about it, but I bet nearly every book on all of your bookshelves has a piece of paper, ribbon, or picture tucked inside.

  So, as I searched Grammie's bookshelf, I found a scrapbook with lots of pictuers tucked into the back of it. What treasure!! I took pictures of nearly every one, but the above is by far my favorite. I know it's not the best picture, but isn't GrandDaddy Mason so handsome? Even though I was disappointed to find no family videos, I found such joy in the pictures I found. I encourage all of you to take lots of pictuers! Moments that may seem minute today will probably mean a lot in the future. Through pictures and stories, I feel like I know my wonderful GrandDaddy Mason. Readers, never underestimate the importance of a good story, or the legacy a picture can hold.

                                                      

                                                              Staying true to my words, let me show you what happened in the Shrader household.  Mason, Mom and I got new glasses! Mom's are so cute with bright designs on the side. She looks ravishing. Can you guess what mine have on the front?! Calico! I love them...

Well, my Readers, I hope you've enjoyed this post and have a wonderful weekend! Your Blogger,

                                                                                                                 Claire

I took this upon arriving home and thought it would make a nice 'closing photo' to this post! Love to all of you! : )

So thankful God made...

     Friends. As we are in Mississippi, we have been blessed with so many great reunions with dear friends.

Monday night, we were blessed to have the Sheltons visit. Bess and I have been penpals since I was in third grade! We have talked so much by mail (and email!), that  it's always a blast when we get together in person.

Cate,Bess, and I

              I'm so blessed to have her as a friend. I'll share more pictures of us that my mom took when we get home. She's taken some great photos, so I'll have to do a Mississippi in recap post with all her pictures! 

Riley Hailey and Cate

                       Mom's dear friend Mrs.Carol drove from Meridian yesterday. She and mom have so much in common - same name, they both homeschool, have two 5 year olds, are from MS, both worked at Garaywa, and both can still sing all those camp songs beautifully! So, of course they're friends.

 I had the best time photographing these two dear ones. They are naturally beautiful and were wearing the perfect colors!

Nick Bell's picture and State's logo

 Another thing I'm grateful for - Mississippi State! Without State not only would I not exist, (my parents fell in love there!) but we also would not know many, many wonderful people. As soon as we walked in the door to see a dear friend, a man came to us, welcoming as ever, and got us the cutest Jr.Bulldog club t-shirts. Mississippi  State really is something special.     

        
     Another blessing, I believe, lies in the spirit of family fun!
We had such a good time the other night, filled with hooting and hollering, laughing and screaming, and my camera flashing about a hundred times. We stayed out of the rain by  playing  Scattergories and Bible Trivia. Grammie made delicious finger desserts, and we had the best time. (I've said that a lot this week!)

I hope all of you, sweet readers, have had a wonderful week as well! Please remember to keep thanking God! This week, we've been showered with so many blessings, and yet I find my prayer time almost only intercessory. I'm working,though, to praise God as the blessings come - and encourage you to do the same!

Another thing I'm grateful God made - all of you! Thank you, my wonderful Readers, for allowing me to share a corner of my life with you. I hope I've been able to lift you up and encourage you along the way!

 Your Blogger,

 Claire

From Grammie's House

 Dear Readers,
   Oh, this has been such an amazing trip so far! That is exactly the reason why I've adopted my mom's habit of blogging during the trip, so I dare not let one detail go untold.

  My Mom has wanted to go to the McCarty Pottery sale for two forevers. And we both had a blast! Grammie was kind enough to hold her seat these last several months, and stayed outside with the boys and Cate while Mom, a lot of our family, and I went inside. It was amazing. I loved the feeling that everyone was family as they found something and passed it along, shouting that it was "Nearly perfect and only 10 dollars!"

As y'all all know, I love the Mitford books and felt like I was inside one.  I took a few pictures, but I had a big bag that I was too busy stuffing with pottery to take  many pictures.  But that's exactly how it looked - big wooden boards covered in pottery. There was pottery on the boards, under the boards on the ground, in people's garbage cans - everywhere! I think I've found a new love and appreciation for both the South and pottery. I loved it, and know my mom did, too - she was grinning from ear to ear all day!

We saw this sign on the way to Merigold - we miss you,too, Daddy! : )



Grammie's street - lined with mailboxes! YAY!



One fun  morning Cate, Princess and I walked.

    

    



GrandDaddy Mason's brick at the Veterans' Memorial

We went to the Veterans' Memorial, and it was gorgeous. The geese came to greet us, and it was a photographer's paradise. The bricks were a beautiful way of honoring your dear ones, I thought, and it was sweet seeing GrandDaddy Mason's name there.

   Our Mississippi visit has been so amazing. Really. God outdid Himself with the blessings He's lavished upon us. Grammie has made delicious treats for us, and we've enjoyed just 'being'.
There's much, much more to share, so let me publish this and I'll download a whole other set of pictures! I will try to make each and every one of you feel like you're here with us, as I always like to feel that way.
  Love to all our Arizonian (and other) friends! And Dad, Lenny and Pluto! (I hope the fish is being fed...) : )

 Love,
                                                                                Claire

A dose of encouraging courage

 Hello dear Readers,
I know it's been a while since I've blogged...
  I hope you've all had a wonderful last few weeks filled with blessings!
I had a fun little blessing yesterday at my first piano competition - I played  a fun song called 'Peppermint Rag', and got a score of 1! It was a lot of fun, and we've spent the rest of the weekend preparing for our trip to Mississippi and just having family time. Ah...
  
    I just wanted to give all my dear ones a bit of encouragement this Sunday!
I hope you keep the realization with you that you're in your circumstances for a reason! That no matter how unfair it may seem now, God has a great plan - and you're a part of it! Actually, you're a vital part of it.

     "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of faith develops perserverance. Perserverance must finish its work  so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-3

   And...
 .
   "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not  be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

  Pure joy in trials and strength no matter what. That's a tall order. But we can do it! Why? Because -

   "I can do all things through him who gives me strength."  Philippians 4:13

  I don't know where you are in life. You maybe standing in the sunshine, living life to the fullest and enjoying every blessing that comes your  way. I'm so happy for you.  Or,  you  maybe hanging on by a thread, and unable to hoist yourself back up. God's here to tell you that you CAN get up again. And you don't have to do it yourself - if you give all those burdens and anger and grief to God, not only will He take it from you - He'll help give you wisdom through this situation, and strength  to boot.

' How could anyone live this crazy life without God?' That's where the 'courage' part of this post comes out.
 Have  courage to... Stand up  for Christ! Don't let the lamp that is your faith be hidden.

To share the good news! Don't be a 'parrot' Christian, living in your comfortable cage,  never reaching beyond  your borders. Reach out for God - and for the eternity of your fellow human beings.

And have courage to give it all to God! Don't feel defeated if your evangelistic attempts don't strike gold right away. It's a rewarding process, planting those seeds for Christ, but also one that can be depressing.
  Ask God for wisdom and strength and the door will be opened. Prayer is the most important thing.
Pray for those you know who need Christ, and pray for the Christians you know with dear ones who do not know Christ.  And have faith!

   I hope, my Readers, that this post has encouraged you and given you courage.
Your blogger,
 Claire

A story of sunshine and rain. And what God's plan has to do with it.

  Dear Readers,
This week I realized that God has the absolute perfect plan. I know we all think 'God, why does this happen to        ?' (-insert your name or someone you know who's going through some unfairness) But, the truth of the matter is - Yes, some things in life are  NOT fair. But it's all in God's plan.  And He is seeing the Big picture - what's best for everyone. We tend to only see what's best for us and our dear ones.

Calico in China!

Such a silly girl...but beautiful with that parasol!

The dragon puppets were amazing to see.

God has planned for you to have sunny days, and rainy ones. If you praise Him in the sunshine and stand under His umbrella in the storm, you'll be okay.
    We had a sunshine-filled day on Friday, for sure. We went to the Chinese Festival. How my mother always comes up with ways to make every subject in school fascinating, I'll never know, but this was one such time.

 We've been studying China, and got a first hand experience yesterday. We ate Dim-Sum and watched a show with a lion puppet (I use that term loosely - more like a true-to-life-size lion), and that was really  amazing.  You could see the men underneath, but they made it move like an actual animal. And, we walked through the beautiful gardens at the Cultural center. The statues were lovely, and Cate was very photogenic with her parasol!

We also watched a lady paint our names in calligraphy. (We're about to do that in school, so it was perfect!)

Chinese calligraphy is such a graceful and fascinating art, I've always loved it. I'll share a picture of my name soon! Mom, Cate, and I went to the children's pavilion and made a lantern. Even though it was supposed to be too hard for children, Cate helped quite a bit and it turned out to be beautiful!

Lastly, we went to the Asian Market Grocery store. It was fascinating. We couldn't understand what we were eating at Dim-Sum, so it was neat to walk through and figure it all out. We saw huge tanks of catfish, octupus legs (suckers included!), baby squids, fish heads, and lots of ginger! We also got these little 'Fruti King' mini sodas which were adorable! (And really good, too!)

  So, as you can see, we had an amazing time. But on Thursday, however, Mom had a bit of sad news for me.   As you know, I'm part of AZ Friends in Sign, which translates songs into American Sign Language and signs them at different places. (nursing homes,hospitals,etc.)
  Well, this past Christmas we went to a home for people with Alzheimer's. I was completely unprepared for what I saw, and my heart went out to the people living there. One man there was deaf. He had not learned sign language, and so had no communication with the people around him.
  After we finished signing, he was reluctant to go back to his room! It made me so happy that we had brought him joy. And then, I went up to him and signed "Merry Christmas, thank you."
(Because we had gone around after the show and thanked all the residents for coming to watch). He signed thank you back to me! That was such a happy moment for me, and I was just certain I (or someone else in our group) HAD to come back and teach him more sign language.
   No one did ever get to teach him sign because he died not long after we performed.
I didn't know that, and so when Mom found out last Thursday so did I.  Mom said (she always has the perfect words) that it is better for him now, though, because he's in Heaven and he doesn't need sign language. He can hear now, and he can remember. That makes me so happy.
   Why am I telling you all this? For two reasons. 1.) Because you should know that God's plan is always perfect!  Yes-I was sad. I'm sure his family is sad. But I know he is happy, and much better in Heaven than here. I understand that this is a part of God's plan - and His plan is  wonderful and perfect. (He's a God of love, not maliciousness.)  
 2.) Alzheimer's is a terrible disease. And, as of right now, there is no cure for it. I'm certain God's plan has a  cure included in it, so did a bit of research to inform all my bloggy followers of. There is an organization called Alzheimer's CURE foundation, Inc.that has come up with a nice incentive for scientists. They are working to raise 20 million dollars to award the scientist who finds the cure. This will hopefully speed along the process and add a bit of competition to it! Please go to their website and help find a cure for this disease. Going to that home showed me that this is  a real thing. Not just something you can put statistics on and ignore. (I may be repeating last Saturday's lesson a bit...) 
  I hope my story will inspire you to spread the word, too. Your Blogger(who is SO glad to have a God who does the planning for me), Claire
P.S.- prayer is the best gift you can give! Please pray for the people around the world with Alzheimer's, and their families,too.

No words

        Dear Readers,
  We've had an amazing weekend. Even though Mason broke his foot. Yeah - it happened again. This time, however, he's not in a cast. So...it's not as bad as last time,  as you can see from my mom's blog post. 
  We finished school early Friday and went out to lunch with Dad, and after that  we all went to swim class together. And then, (on Saturday), Mom, Cate, and I went to the fabric store. (Mom is going to be making curtains for their room.)  Would you believe we saw a man walking his pet turtle?
   And THEN, we went to church and I was blessed to have a reunion with a dear friend.
So, you can understand how for the last few days I've been feeling especially blessed. And, I'm sure you can also understand how when I read Compassion International's magazine my heart, feeling absolutely full to the brim, was broken for the families and children featured.
    925 million people worldwide are chronically hungry - almost one in 7.
        7.7 million children die each year before age 5. In 53% of these deaths, malnutrition is a factor.
                                  8oo million people do not have access to clean water.
  Wow. Isn't that absolutely heart wrenching? I hate looking at these statistics. As I typed them, I thought about turning right around and erasing them. Really, I did.
  I'm guessing that your first instinct was to probably look away, too, right? It's so easy for us (or at least it is for me) to ignore those facts. To go on with our carefree lives, turning a blind eye to the pain of the world. We want to look away, it's just too much.
     But God never gets to look away.
 I read that in a devotional book, and it's so true. God is always looking down on the people halfway across the world from us, and He loves the people who smell bad and live in garbage just as much as He loves us.
   Here's a link to a website called 'Whoarethejoneses.org'.  The first thing you see is a slot where you type in your salary. After that, a page pops up that  says "The Joneses make       
amount that is double your salary." and "If you have hamburgers, they have steak. If you have this big a tv their's is MUCH bigger." And so on, so on.
  Then you can choose to ditch the Joneses. You then read a story about how families around the world live compared to you. It was shocking. I encourage you to go to this website.

A picture (colored by Cate) for our sponsored child, Moris.

           I'm sorry if I put a damper on your amazing weekend with those terrible statistics.
But, please, don't let it discourage you. In fact, let in ENcourage you. God can free those families from poverty, and you can help. Compassion International  lets you chose a child to sponsor. They then give you the oppurtunity to, along with a monthly gift to your child (of 38 dollars), write letters and give family gifts. On their website, they share stories of how flooding  destroyed a family's home and crops. But a family gift of $300.00 gave them the supplies to build a new home. And also stories of children who thought they were worthless, until their sponsors wrote to encourage them. Jesus can use YOU as a vessel to help lower those statistics. Your Blogger,
                                              Claire

Family time in Flagstaff

        

   Dear Readers,
 We have just gotten home from a marvelous trip to Flagstaff! Even though Dad had to work, we still had a great time just being together. And Mom planned some pretty fun activities for us to do during the day!
   Cate has been DYING to see snow. So, Dad has been planning for some time to take her up to Flagstaff on one of his numerous trips to take care of the kids up there.  When we got there, the snow was a little 'harder' than we had expected...
 But we had fun nonetheless!

The Lowell Observatory was really very fascinating.

The Lowell telescope was housed inside a dome, both of which were hundreds of years old. The dome was wooden and built by two men who owned a bicycle shop. They made it flat on top!

Also - you see the wheels there on the wall? Well, they thought they could put salt water underneath them, so that when the groundkeeper pulled the dome open, it would be less tiring. This worked great - for the first couple of days! After that, well, I'll just show a picture.



Those are some serious water stains!!

When Lowell died, he let his wife determine how to use his money. She decided to spend 40,000 dollars on a grave marker for him. Hmm, his telescope was only 20,000 dollars!

The grave...

  The first time we went to Flagstaff, I fell in love with this adorable church. Mom was kind enough to stop the car, let me get out, and take pictures. So of course I had to share!  I'm so grateful for a mother who understands such things... 

 We  had to bring just a FEW books with us. Really, they were each a necessity for our one full day -two night trip. We may or may not be guilty of stopping at a Barnes and Noble  while in Flag,too...

One of my favorite things was watching the scenery change. Though it is VERY hard to take pictures in a moving vehicle, as I suppose I learned the hard way, I kept trying  to capture the change from desert to forest. Oh, I love living in Arizona! God is so creative.

We went to eat at a little mexican restaurant called Casa Bonita, and it was SO good. But, more than the food, I think we will all remember that restaurant with fond memories because of the laughs we shared there. We had such a great time together - I'm really blessed to be a part of this amazing family!

Cate loved drawing in the frost - a treat you can't enjoy in Phoenix!

Well, my Readers, I hope you enjoyed seeing my pictures and hearing of the fun we had in Flagstaff!

 Your Blogger,

 Claire

ASL news

  Dear Readers,
   The Shrader family has the crud. This cold thing attacked Dad, then Cate, now Mom and Benjamin.
 Ugh.
     But I'm not here to blog about the crud. I'm here to blog about an amazing girl who took an inspiration and ran with it. I just saw a news report about Allyson Townsend. She is a young girl who grew up with a friend who was Deaf.  This friend asked her all these questions about what it was like to listen to music, and how do you know how long to hold the words out, etc. So Allyson interpreted a song into American Sign Language (ASL). Her friend loved it. And soon, Allyson had tons of videos out on YouTube. Along with many,many followers. Most of whom are Deaf.
  Now, Allyson is a teacher for Deaf second graders and has a major in Deaf Education. She continues to share the gift of music with others who can't hear it.
  A news story featuring her as ABC's 'Person of the Week', caught my eye in the video bar of Yahoo. I soon found the story on ABC, which you can go to here.  The video they show is filled with so much passion and expression. I felt like I should take notes!
  Really, I'm blogging about this because all year I've struggled with becoming the person God wants me to be, and how to do the things God wants me to do. I know I have a passion for animals, music, and sign language. My question is - how do I use that to further God's Kingdom?
  Although this news report certainly didn't answer my question, it encouraged me. Allyson started out a lot like me and now is helping Deaf people worldwide. What a great ministry!

The amazing Interpreters on the Disney Cruise and I

  I hope it encouraged all of you, too. And I hope you're having a great (crud-free) Saturday!                                                     

 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” - Matthew 7:7-8

 I've asked God to lead me where HE wants me to go and I encourage you to do the same! He won't let you down.              Your Blogger,

                  Claire

                                                       

                                                                                    

The Little Moments and Mississippi Melts

      Dear Readers,
 Yesterday was a lazy Sunday for the Shraders. We woke up to Mom making waffles, so of course everyone was in a good mood! After breakfast I attempted to write my most inspirational post yet. However, after trying to find that perfect excerpt from my 'Sister Freaks' devotional, I wrote a long post that after a quick run through, I promptly deleted. So, if you scroll down, you will see a small entry about Jesus, with an excerpt from the Bible, which was really the devotion book I needed yesterday.

Moving on:   In case you don't already know, Mississippi Melts are a cookie recipe my sister and I made up. Filled with pecans and white chocolately goodness, we decided to make them last night.

Cate is the amazing pecan chopper. Here are her little hands hard at work. As we baked, she turned to me and said " I love doing this. Making cookies with my sister." Aww... I love you, Cate!

The rest of the day Mom and I went a little blog crazy. She redid her blog, and did a gorgeous job. The Blessing Counter's new header is designed by her! So is mine...

 I must confess, though - my new background is called the Christmas Quilt. It has nothing really CHRISTMAS-y about it, though, so I thought it looked perfect for winter. I got the 'be a deer (yes - deEr!) leave a comment' blinky, too. I hope y'all enjoy! Well, I'm sorry if that was a bit boring, I just had a need to share our  do - nothing yesterday.  After all, it's the little moments that are special, right?

Your Blogger,

 Claire