Lovin Big!

My Bother-in-Law, R.J.'s new niece, Ava. Hillarious! You have to wonder what each are thinking?

My Sweet Evi from Indonesia

Meet Evi, my little friend from Indonesia. I do not share about her in my daily talks as much as I should! I adopted her as my sponsor child through Compassion International when she was 3, long ago during a pressing time financially in my life and God proved faithful to take care of a small part of her needs through me. It was a faith step and she has shown herself to be so much more steadfast than I in conversation and full of hope in her life situations. I have learned much from her and know that we have both gleaned much from the written friendship. This is the picture she sent to me and the picture I keep on my desk of her. She is now 13 (where does the time go?) and I will share a more recent picture of her soon. I just love her face in this image. Tender and full of hope! I just wanted to share a joy with you and hope she makes you smile too.

Dancing Fireflies

Just a quick note from an email that I found in my email log from Heartlight a while back. It brought back this memory of catching fireflies with a little friend of mine that was just as fascinated with their twinkle as I was. This is my favorite bible verse, and well, I just love what it says.

The Light Within, by Joseph Mazzella

Don't hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand
and let it shine for all. In the same way, let your good deeds
shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your
heavenly Father. (Matthew 5:15-16)

I just spent most of this evening on my back porch enjoying a yearly
miracle. Every year during the summer I have always been fortunate
enough to get a week or two of watching the fireflies light up the
world. I can remember seeing them and chasing after them when I was
only a child of four or five. I can remember being blessed by seeing thousands of
them lighting up my back yard these last few years.

Tonight they seemed to almost dance along as they flew over the
tombstones in the graveyard behind my house. Their shining lights
seemed to blink a beautiful reminder into my soul that there is no
death only everlasting light.

I sometimes wish that we humans could shine our
lights as clearly and beautifully as our firefly friends do, but I
guess God in His infinite, loving wisdom meant for us to shine our
light in other ways. We do, after all, have a powerful, glowing,
wondrous light within us. It comes out of us as goodness, kindness,
love, joy, compassion, caring, peace, happiness, and delight. It shines
from us whenever we share it and is more brilliant than a million
fireflies.

Make sure then to shine that light within you. Reach down into your
soul and bring out all the love, joy, goodness, and light that God
fills you with. Bring it out, nourish it, and make it burn bright. Then
share it with the world. Let it shine in your smile, glow in your kind
words, brighten others' lives through your loving actions, and
illuminate the world in your joyous life.

Be a daily miracle.

Be a firefly of love for God.

Let the light within you set the world aglow with its brilliance.

Big Smile, Big Hug

Peyton Grace at my kindred friend Paige's youngest daughter's (Caroline) birthday party. I love it how Peyton Grace finds a restful place in me conveyed in this image. Peyton Grace was full of hugs that day. I think she might have squished the very breath out of some folks (Emi), but that is just her heart and I guess she just knew that we all need a good, big ole, tight hug every now and again. Emi, thank you for picking Peyton Grace up and spinning her around in the room while you had Madison's new high heels on. You have no idea what that did for the heart. I guess that is the what God feels when He sees us loving on one of his children. Smiles of incredible Joy!

This makes me happy today

Today, I ran across this image in an old file of R.J., Kelly, Jake, Gabrielle and Zachary. Okay, the kids have grown so much, but their smiles stay the same! Their parents, well, they are still this good looking!

I got this quote in email this morning. The world would be such a great place is we just incorporated this into our lives. I just love it, so here you go.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his or
her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you'll never walk alone.

-- Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) British Actress

Hope you have a great Monday.

Gimme more Sugar!

The lights in my eyes, my sister Kelly's and brother in law, R.J.'s now young adult kids. Starting from left to right. Gabrielle, their dog Belle, Zachary and Jake.
I want to be heartfelt and say what matters to me about each of them, I don't want to miss out on any of the detail of their qualities, not even Belle's, so please look in the near future for what they mean to me. I will try to get on with that this weekend.

More Sugar

Okay, I have not yet talked of the other people in my life and am still
trying to gather images, to place the people I so care about.

So, let me introduce you to more of my family. The Stuermers. My sister, Kelly, her husband R.J. and her kids (young and good looking up and coming adults), Jacob (Jake), Gabrielle (Breezy) and Zachary (Zach). I hope to have kids this beautiful one day!

Oops. I need a moment. Having a hard time downloading these images. They are probably too beautiful for ones eyes to hold, so that is why it is complicated.
I will have the images up in a few. Until then, just take my word for it, this is one good looking family!

Okay, I am still having a hard time getting any images pulled in. I have visited this a couple of times now. Like I stated, I am new at this blogging...so probably user error somehow on my end. I hope to get the images up soon.

I still have two more sisters and a Mom to come. Always leave them wanting more...smile!

My Sweet Pea People

Above is a picture of my niece Peyton Grace on a boat with the wind in her hair. I call her my LuluPie and she calls me, Kiki and sometimes Kiki LaRue (she pronounces it, Kiki Maloo). I cannot describe my love for her. Even though she is not my daughter, I feel as if she is the greatest gift that God has bestowed in my life. She has taught me so very much about laughter, experiencing true joy and well, that one should choose to skip instead of walking and that sweet glitter blow kisses are to be held tightly to the soul. She has this vive for life and has helped me capture moments in time that I will sew gently in the tapestry of my heart.

Question to ponder...When in life do we stop skipping? Peyton Grace skips everywhere she goes and I see other children do this. It got me thinking, when as adults do we find that skipping is not important?


Okay, it could be just me being partial, but I think she is just the cutest! Gotta love her inner smile!




My sister Kelly and her hubby R.J. Such pretty people they are, inside and out!


Anthony. This shows what he looks like without birthday silliness below. He does always keep that smile on his face though.


Anthony and Peyton Grace at his 36th surprise birthday. They both love to laugh and enjoy life in a big way. Peyton Grace thinks he is hillarious and often states, "Kiki, you are funny", then with a giggle states how much funnier Anthony is! They probably would get mad at me over this photo being published, but it does capture their attitudes when around one another. Two peas in a pod!

At any rate this is my first shot at blogging. I am certain that there will be many more giggles to come.

Have a sweetly blessed day and may the sun shine brightly on your face.