Blessings from Above . . .

This week started off pretty badly for me. I spent a great deal of Tuesday crying and upset because of a certain comment that had been left on here. I know, I shouldn’t let things like that bother me, but it was such a tender subject and the comment had been so vile and hateful that I couldn’t help it. And then another one was left on Wednesday morning. I deleted the first one, but left the second one. The first one was a hundred times worse than the second one, although to be sure, they were both pretty venomous.

In our church we can get something which is called a Patriarchal Blessing. This is a blessing given by the laying on of hands by a patriarch of our church, to a church member. Patriarchal blessings are modelled after the blessing given by Jacob to each of his sons prior to his death. They are gifts of knowledge and strength of one's coming challenges and blessings. Personal Revelation from Heavenly Father to the recipient, and very special. Promises are made, contingent on your faithfulness and obedience, that pertain only to you and to your life. They are really very special and have a great deal of meaning to a Latter Day Saint. The blessings are recorded and then transcribed into the written word and then you are givein a tangible copy of it which you can read and refer to off and on during your lifetime. A copy is also kept in Salt Lake City in their archives.

I keep mine in my bedside table and I take it out every night to read it. I was reading it on Tuesday night, after having been so low that day and I read these words, which are not words that I haven’t read a thousand times before . . .

“Your children will continue to love and appreciate you as you become an example to them. For you will become a light on a hill to your family. And as you bear your testimony with courage and with love, they will begin to understand the importance of the gospel and will respond to the love you show to them.”

At that moment on Tuesday night, I just could not see that happening . . . and a tear slipped from my eye. I thought to myself that it was impossible, but then in the next breath . . . . I thought to myself . . . Nothing is impossible to Heavenly Father. He can, and does work miracles. There is nothing and no one beyond His realm of power, and so I continued on with my evening prayers as I always do . . . pray for comfort and peace for myself and for healing and safety for my family, amongst other things.




Then of course, I got up Wednesday morning and that person had left yet another nasty comment on my page. I was distraught about it. I think anyone would be. This was not very nice at all. And then . . . my eldest son left this comment, which I will post for you here.


I am Marie's eldest son. I have to say that the foul comments left here were no reflection on reality, written by someone far removed from what happened in our family's past, they can only know what's been told to them, and what lies they dream up in their vile hearts. God is the one who passes judgement, and to do so yourself is not to live God's way. To spread your mis-truths is even more a sin, you should feel shame at what you've done. IF you had any honour or truth, you would not hide anonymously.

My wonderful mother provided an abundance of love, understanding and compassion (not to mention good food) as we were growing up. It was mostly up to her to bring up five children, as my father is a military man, and did not have a heck of a lot of time for us.

Every Christmas my mother would coordinate family gatherings, decorate the house, and cook many a tasty treat for all the company we would have over.

A testament to her fine mothering skills would be the fine children she has. Every one of us has compassion and love for others, and are more selfless than selfish.

Myself and Douglas inherited her love of cooking, and every day we cook it is a reminder of those fantastic family meals we shared every night. My sister Amanda is a nurse, caring for others, complete strangers even, which I am sure has more than something to do with the love and compassion our mother showed us as children. Eileen is a world champion in the special Olympics, is a devout Christian in a way most of us could only dream, and also loves to cook. Eileen is so generous and loving it is hard to believe, even when people are taking obvious advantage of her she takes it in stride, this is yet another hallmark of my Mothers hard work. Bruce is the youngest, and was quite young when the divorce happened, so he is the one most deeply affected by all this, and likely the one with the biggest questions about it all. He is very much like Mom in his tenderness and passion, and especially in his sense of humour. I wish only for his sake that things had happened differently, as it is hard to look through pain to see the good in things. The rest of us should be able to realize by now, as we are almost all parents ourselves now, how very human both our parents are.

May everyone go in peace. God bless you Mom, I hope your mother's day was not a total bust.




To say that my heart was lifted is an understatement. My eyes filled with tears once more . . . , but this time they were tears of joy. And then yesterday I received in a post, not one . . . but two lovely Mother’s Day Cards. One from my Olympic Athlete and the other from my youngest daughter and her husband, the first written communication I have had from her in several years. I cannot describe to you the joy I felt, and again the tears fell. For the first time in many years, I have to say . . . my mother's day was not a total bust. I was blessed.

God’s promises are true. He is ever faithful. We must never doubt that He can and will do what He says that He will do. When I include the text message I got from my eldest son on Mother’s Day and the message on Facebook from my middle son, that means that I heard from four of my five children and that is an extra special blessing to me. My heart rejoices, and my cup runneth over.



I just wanted to share this with each of you. I am so grateful for your love and your prayers and all the support that each of you gives to me and I wanted you to know that prayers are always answered . . . maybe not in the time we want them to be, or in the way we expect them to be . . . and sometimes the answer may even be no . . . but we do have a Heavenly Father who loves and cares for us, and for all of our heartaches and problems.

“Always remember your Heavenly Father loves you and desires for you to be happy, for this is the design and purpose of this life.”

That is another promise given in my Patriarchal blessing, which, until this week, I never gave much thought about and more or less took for granted. Oh, I do love it when my Heavenly Father reaches His hand down into my life and gives me a little shove. It helps me to know I am on the right path.

I am off to my One Step Program this morning. Last week the scales had stayed the same. I am hoping that today they will have gone down even a little bit! Wish me luck!! (Post script. I am down another pound. Step by step, the scales are going down, little by little!)



There was a lot of wonkiness on blogger yesterday. This was the post that I wrote yesterday but that didn't publish, so I hope you don't mind that I am publishing it now. This (above) is my latest painting on canvas. I call it "A Walk In The Country." And I will be selling the original and also prints. I am enjoying working in colour. (I know she is the same as the other girl I did the other day, but this is in acrylics and on a proper canvas, whilst the other was in copic markers on Water colour paper.) My second set of rubber stamps is all set to go now and I am ready to begin on a special set of Christmas ones!

Here's some very tasty cookie balls, a bit different than the normal ones as there is raspberry in them! Tasty little one bite morsels!




*Raspberry Oreo Cookie Balls*
Makes 48
Printable Recipe

Raspberries, Oreos, chocolate . . . need I say more???

1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, softened
1 (16.6 ounce) package of Oreo cookies, finely crushed
¼ cup of raspberry jam
¼ cup chopped dried cranberries
1 ounce of white chocolate, melted
2 drops of red food colouring
16 ounces of semi sweet chocolate, melted

Mix together the cream cheese, cookie crumbs, raspberry jam and cranberries until well blended. Shape into 48 (1-inch) balls. Freeze for 10 minutes.

Stir together the white chocolate and red food colouring. Set aside.

Dip the balls into the melted semi sweet chocolate and place in a single layer on a baking sheet you have lined with waxed paper or non-stick parchment paper. Drizzle with pink chocolate. Chill until firm. Store in the refrigerator, in an airtight container.



Over in The English Kitchen this morning, some delicious Crispy Crumbed Romano Peppers!