Sad news

I am heartbroken. Tonight I can't sleep, my good friend called me tonight to tell me the Dr's told her today she is no longer a candidate for the surgery to remove her tumor from her abdominal wall. It has metastasized to her lungs, and other parts of her body. (she did not specify and I didn't ask, we have known each other many years, it was too painful to get the details. She was crying, and I was trying to be strong for her while she talked).

Donna has been a friend to me for many many years. She and I knew each other when our kids were very small. I think Karen was 7 or 8 when we met, Karen is now 30. Donna is one of the sweetest, kindest people you would ever meet, one of the meak that the bible speaks about. She taught me to hold your tongue in anger, for those words can never be retrieved, or the pain that they caused reversed. (Good lesson to learn from a girl who was raised on harsh, bitter words and a heavy dose of unforgiveness for any wrongoing.)

She was adopted by wonderful people and grew up an only child. She has survived one cancer, to be diagnosed with a totally different kind recently. After undergoing 3 chemo treatments, her Dr. had to tell her she was not responding as they had hoped to the treatment, the chemo would be reduced, given more frequently as palliative treatment, because the tumor had spread. I listened to her talk, and then hung up. I have been making beads, quietly thinking about the impact this would have to me and my life. I just broke down and cried a good cry, then decide to share it all with you here, with her permission of course.

I love that gal like family, I will not stop praying for her, if God wants to use her as a tool to practice a miracle, I am not going to argue, but embrace His decision, which means I will get my wish to have her remain with me on this earth.

If He chooses to take her, then I will relish in the Glory of Him taking home one of His own, she is willing to go, as she is a born again Christian, understanding an early end to this physical life only means a return to Him in our kingdom home. I am selfish enough I want a miracle, but that is me, I am a selfish kind of person, only thinking of my own needs. I will not accept her staying in a body wracked with pain and suffering, it wouldn't be fair.

Please help me to pray for her, thank you.

Bakerella: New Blog for your pleasure

Karen has a cool new blog site to add. I put it in my links for you. I love this:













Here is the recipe


Ingredients
Makes about 50
• 9-by-13-inch Chocolate Cake for Cupcake Pops
• 2 cups Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
• 1 package chocolate coating bark
• 1 package white coating bark or pink candy melts
• Sprinkles, for garnish
• Candy-coated chocolates, such as M&M's, for garnish
Directions
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Trim about 1/2 inch from the perimeter of the cake. Working in batches, crumble cake into the bowl of a food processor; process until fine crumbs form. Transfer to a large bowl and add frosting; blend together using the back of a spoon, until well combined, 5 to 10 minutes.

2. Roll mixture into 1 1/4- to 1 1/2-inch balls; transfer to prepared baking sheet. Cover with parchment-paper-lined aluminum foil. Transfer to refrigerator until chilled, about 2 hours or to a freezer for about 10 minutes.

3. Begin to shape balls into cupcakes by rolling balls first into logs. Fit logs into a 1 1/4-by-3/4-inch flower-shaped cookie cutter. Push cake mixture into the cutter halfway so that some of the cake mixture extends beyond the top of the cutter. Shape extended cake mixture into a cupcake-shaped top. Push cake from cutter to remove. Transfer to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Transfer to freezer until chilled, 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, melt chocolate in heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water. Line another baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Remove cupcakes from freezer and dip the bottom of each cupcake into the chocolate; transfer, bottom-side up, to prepared baking sheet. To make lollipops, insert a lollipop stick into the bottom of each cupcake. Let chocolate set, 15 to 20 minutes.

5. Melt white chocolate or pink candy melts in heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water. Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the chocolate and place right-side up on prepared baking sheet or stick lollipop sticks into a Styrofoam square. Place a candy-coated chocolate in the center of each and top with sprinkles. Let dry completely.

Salvation Beads

Last night I got home early enough to dedicate the evening to making beads for my friend Karen. She is our daughter's namesake. Karen and her husband Ric go to Canada each year to spread the gospel to a small village.

It occurred to me that I should do something for her. Last night I made beads that tell the salvation story. Here is the way it is done:

The Salvation Bracelet Story

The GREEN bead represents how God made the world, lush and perfect. The BLACK bead reminds us of how Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin was brought into the world. The RED bead represents Jesus Christ, Son of God, who shed his blood on the cross to pay the price for sin. The WHITE bead represents how we look to God when we accept Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and make Him Lord of our lives. The YELLOW/GOLD bead represents the streets of gold in Heaven, where we’ll be when we leave this world.

I made enough for one bracelet, and started the beads for a second one before I ran out of oxygen to supply the torch. This might take more time than I originally thought. The beads are pretty unique, I also found some small crosses and little fish to go on the clasp portion of the bracelets. They are pretty costly, so it may be something that will only go to Karen and her daughters. It is relaxing to do this kind of thing, I thoroughly enjoyed my session last night.

I didn't take them out of the kiln this morning, but will try to take pics tonight so you can see.

Art for Tracy

This post is for Tracy, we were talking about Sandy's art at work one day, while the glass class was going on last weekend, I went into Sandy's yard and took photos of her copper art.

Spider with a gazing ball:



There are various yard art items in her yard, all are totally neat. The yard is so much nicer in the summer when all her plants are in bloom:











This butterfly is one of my favorites, it is steel, but the detail is so amazing:

Easter Bunny left things at my house

I am a very bad Grandma, this year work has kept me so busy that I was not able to shop for my grandkids for Easter. I did that on Friday last week, finishing on Friday this week. I love the Cars crocs that I saw at Wal-Mart, they are adorable, but Noah is such an orange hound, I got him orange crocs to replace the ones I bought him last year. Karen says he is still wearing them, even though I am sure his toes are crunched up in them!

When looking for a pair of purple princess crocs for Sis, I found a Barbie car pair of crocs, I had to get them for her:



Generally, I get them new jammies, new undies, gum, and some kind of licensed outfit. I love to see Olivia in a little dress, so I got her 2, Noah 2 t-shirts. It is so fun to hear them squeal with delight when they get their box from Grandma.

Here is what I sent for Miss O:




Noah isn't going to be left out:




I love his little crocs, it was so hard to find Orange last year, I got so disgusted, this year I have seen them everywhere! He is such a spiderman fan, loves the movie Cars, so it makes it easy to keep him entertained. Sis is just now figuring out she is a girl, and she can have girl things. Before, her only point of reference was her brother, so she thought like a boy. Wanting cars, playing with cars, etc. Now she is into princesses, her favorite is Cinderella. That makes it nice for me, I love to do the girly thing.

My favorite thing I got them this year is the bug houses, they happened to have one with an orange handle, and one with a purple handle. Only one left in each color. We are big bug house people here. Steve used to make them out of wood, I would burn their names into the wood with a wood burning tool. All the kids in the family have them, except for our very own grandkids, how sad is that?

Miss O

She loves her magic socks grandma sends to them. Remember the magic towels when you were little? They were as small as a hotel sized bar of soap, then you put them in water and they GREW? These socks come like that, they are adorable!




As usual, no pics of my boy, he runs and hides from the camera. Doesn't mean I love him any less, I just can't get pics of him out of his mother. She has some cute ones on her blog, go check them out!

I'm still here

Nothing new to add, but I do have some beads to show you:




I'll send these off to a bead store that carries some of my beads.