Sunshine

Sunshine our Cocker-mix dog
Rainbow Bridge
October 8, 2006
As some of you already know and some of you do not this past weekend my favorite little 4 legged friend got ill and we had to have her put down. I got "Sunshine" or my Sunny, Miss Mess, or many other affectionate names we called her, when she was 5 weeks old. She was 1/2 blonde cocker spaniel, 1/4 lasha aphso, and 1/4 pekingese... I called her a cocka-lasa-peek. She had so many special little ways and was such a sweet loving animal. She never snapped at anyone and loved to greet us with her tennis ball in her mouth when we came in the door.
After we got home from the vet hospital we put all her things in the storage room, her ball, her dish, her grooming brush, her leash and her collar and her little bed. I thought that this would help me not think about her so much and how much I would miss her. However, every time I sit down to a meal and she is not there with her big brown eyes pleading for just the smallest crumb it is very difficult. After we came home from church today as we walked in the door and she wasn't here to greet us I began to realize that there are so many ways in which our pets become such a part of our lives.
I don't know if there really is a pet heaven but I do know that God loves us and we will be very happy in heaven so I am hoping and praying that he will grant my wish and allow me to see my Sunny again.




In loving memory of "Sunshine" Feb 14, 1994 to Oct 7, 2006
The Rainbow Bridge
There is a bridge connecting heaven and Earth. It is called the Rainbow Bridge because of its many colors. Just this side of the Rainbow Bridge, there is a land of meadows, hills and valleys with lush, green grass.
When a beloved pet dies, the pet goes to this place. There is always food and water and warm spring weather. The old and frail animals are young again. Those who are maimed are made whole again. They play all day with each other.
There is only one thing missing: They are not with their special person(s) who loved them on Earth. So, each day they run and play until the day comes when one suddenly looks up! The nose twitches. The ears are up. The eyes are staring. And this one suddenly runs from the group.
You have been seen, and when you and your special friend meet, you take him or her in your arms and embrace. Your face is kissed again and again and again, and you look once more into the eyes of your trusting pet.
Then you cross the Rainbow Bridge together, never again to be separated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcQvYh_3Atw

My mother Wilma

Letters On Green Paper

My grandmother would have called me a "pack rat" and I would have told her "I inherited it from you"!
I love family history and I save old papers and photos. I have been trying to find a way to preserve them. Just recently I went through some boxes and found some old letters.
There were several letters from my mother to me and some from me to my mother. She was sick for a year before she passed from earth to heaven and had a lot of time to go through all her earthly treasures and distribute them to whomever she wanted to have them.
About a month before she passed I received a small package from her in the mail. Inside were many keepsakes that she had gathered over the years. There was my first "baby bootie", my "baby gloves", my "Girl Scout Badges", several letters and many other mementos.
Amazingly most of the letters were written on "green stationary" both those to me and from me. I thought that was odd, however even more odd was the content of the letters that were saved. One letter dated Jan. 17, 1972 (I was 18 years old and a young newly wed living 700 miles from my family) from me to my mother gave the details of my day and how I finally learned that cooking and cleaning can be fun! Ha, imagine that. Another was written when I was in a state of rebellion to everyone and everything.
All these letters that she had treasured all these 30+ years. In "my" box I also found a letter my mother had written to me. It started "Today your dad and I would have been married 30 years, oh love is so elusive". She went on to describe how much of herself she saw in me. It was a very touching letter.
Anyway, I've said all that to get to a certain point. As I look back over the 50 something years of my life I have come to realize some very concrete truths. We as humans when we are young don't know the very great importance and value of cherishing each and every moment we have with our loved ones.
As my parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles have slipped away like a silk scarf slipping out of my hands I find myself grabbing and trying to grasp the loved ones I still have here on this earth.

The Recipe Box

Linda Love my sweet sister

The Recipe Box

Linda Love Schmitto Henderson Zambrano passed from life on earth to the eternal life with Jesus Christ on January 7th, 2009. She was my only sister and I miss her dearly. Five years before her passing I would not have said that we were really close because we were so different and she did not like to talk about Jesus with me.

She had accepted Jesus at “Crane Christian Church” shortly after we started attending there as children but both she and my brother for some reason did not continue the pace of walking with Jesus that I did after I left Crane. Even though I did back slide several times Jesus seemed to bring me back even closer to Him each time.

Shortly after I married my second husband in 1977 I made a “recipe box” as a gift for my sister for her birthday. This was a wooden box that would hold several hundred 5 x6 index cards or paper with recipes on them. I cut and pasted recipes and photos of fruit and vegetables and other food items on it and put a coat of clear varnish on it.

I requested that my nieces give this box back to me after my sister passed on. It took me about a month before I could even go through the recipes because the pain of her loss was still so new. Then I started reading the recipes which were from many of her friends and some family mostly my mother. After I viewed most all of the recipes I put the box on top of my refridgerator where it stayed for about 9 months.

In the fall of 2009 right before Thanksgiving I was thinking about what desert to take to my mother-in-laws for the meal. I pulled the box down and began to go through the recipes more slowly this time. The pain of the grief had subsided somewhat by now but was being a bit stirred by the holiday season. My sister had gotten sick just after Thanksgiving of the previous year and had never really recovered.

I started to notice that some of the recipes were written on different types of cards and papers such as “pay stubs”, “pharmacy IV solution charge card” (my sister was a nurse) and other types of papers. There was one sheet of notebook paper that had our names in columns and card game scores on the back.

The thoughts and memories that came through my mind were so bittersweet and I wept for a while just remembering what a wonderful person my sister was.

There was one recipe that I don’t believe she had prepared because it had coupon on it and the expiration date was just prior to the time she passed. So I decided to make this recipe in honor of my sweet sister.