Sister Saturday: Birthday Edition

Happy Birthday to my dear sister! 

You're the best! I love you!

Sister Saturday: Little Sister Edition

Little sisters sometimes (most times) give us fun stories to share. I've been getting lots from the littlest sister in our family lately, so I thought I'd share one.

Do you see that little bird on the shelf in my pantry? I bought a "three-pack" of birds last year at Hobby Lobby so I could use one on a wreath (wreath is still to be made or at least decorated in that way, but hey, it's almost Spring again). Mary Lane had seen the birds in my extra/craft room last year and asked if she could have one. Of course, I obliged and she took said bird to her house, and I guess it's still there somewhere.

A couple of weeks ago when Mary Lane and Erica spent the night at my house, Mary Lane brought up the bird again and also saw the last one still in my craft room. She asked if she could play with it and I, of course, obliged again (although I told her that she couldn't take that one home). She was fine with that and went on playing and then we probably got started making pancakes for breakfast.

Later that week, I was getting something out of the pantry from a higher shelf and happened to look down on the bottom shelf. I laughed out loud when I saw that bird in there! I was in a hurry, so I went on with what I was doing, but then a couple of days later had the same experience and laughed again (and that time took a picture). I'm leaving that bird in there so I can have an unexpected smile, courtesy of Little Sister.

Then one day last weekend, Mary Lane was at my house again and I remembered the bird in the pantry. I said to her, "Mary Lane! Guess what I found in my pantry? Do you know what it was?"
She thought a second and then grinned and said, "A bird!"

I sure love the Little Bird who left a little bird in my pantry!

Sister Saturday: Sleepover Edition

Last night, to give their parents a Valentine's date night, Erica and Mary Lane came to spend the night at my house. They had done a lot of Valentine celebrating throughout the day, so we had a low-key dinner with Grandma (pizza, salad and brownies) and played Sequence (or as Mary Lane calls it, "Animal Match Game"). After Grandma left, the girls got into their pj's and watched a video on Netflix before bedding down for the night.

The sleeping arrangements were a little source of contention, since one sister didn't want to sleep in the bed with the other and the other sister was afraid to sleep in Daniel's room because of a "scary picture" (which turned out to be a Nashville Predators banner). I got Erica down on a sleeping bag on the floor of Daniel's room and then Mary Lane had a piece of the floor in my room.

One funny Mary Lane-ism was that when we were making all these sleeping arrangements, Mary Lane got up on my bed and said she wanted to sleep on the "icing," which was my white down comforter folded at the foot of the bed. She lay down on it like that was going to work just fine, not being worried that she could easily roll off the end of the bed with one turn!

Since they were so tired from the festivities of the day, they were both asleep around 8:00pm, and we all slept pretty well all night (with the exception of Mary Lane telling me at 1:00am that she wasn't sleepy anymore). At 6:00am, Mary Lane was finished sleeping for real and got to climb up in my bed and rest/snuggle until Erica woke up around 7:00. Knowing that they would be hungry pretty quickly, we got started making pancakes.

I decided to make it even more special by offering to put food coloring in the batter, but of course, we needed to make several colors. Erica wanted blue, while Mary Lane chose pink and then purple. We also made some orange pancakes in honor of Daniel at UT! The girls had fun stirring and watching the pancakes cook before eating them enthusiastically!

I knew that Jeanette and Russell were coming at 9:00am, so I had the girls get dressed and they let me "fix" their hair (as best as the mom of a son can do). Netflix was then the activity of choice, although Mary Lane had some other ideas to play as well.

It was a fun time and we will do it again soon!

Sister Saturday: Silly Girls Edition

I took this little video of the girls while their mom was upstairs getting ready to go out. These sisters are so silly and I love them dearly!

Sister Saturday: Spring Has Sprung!

I stole borrowed that tag line (and the photo) from my sister's Facebook page. Doesn't she have the cutest girls?!

They have been getting along so well and are really sweet to watch as they learn to "play pretend" together. Jeanette gets a front-row seat to their pretend games and will send me little quotes or tell me stories. I always love to hear about them!

The other night I was visiting at their house and they both started hanging upside down, one on the ottoman and one from my lap. They just giggled and reached for each other and were having fun being sisters! So fun! Happy Spring!

Sister Saturday: Big Girl Bed

"Would you like to come up and see our new room, Aunt Nette?"

I think I've been asked that question about three or four times in the past couple of weeks since Mary Lane got moved out of her crib into a big girl bed. They already had the beds, but they were set up as bunk beds. Now they are set up like twin beds and Mary Lane is so excited (and Erica is too)!

Since it wasn't a good idea for me to take pictures at their actual bedtime, I got them to pose for me in their beds, and they happily agreed.

 

Sister Saturday: Happy Fall, Ya'll!

I know I'm a couple of days late for a "Sister Saturday" post, but the picture was taken on Saturday! And it was the first day of Fall!

I got to spend the weekend with these sweet girls and one of the things we did together (along with Grandma) was take a little trip down to an apple orchard. I did not have expectations for us to pick apples, only to buy some apples and some apple butter and to enjoy the late afternoon drive. I think those expectations were met and we got to see some pumpkins as a bonus!

I'm usually a "wait until October to get excited about Fall" kind of person, but since the weather has given us a little teaser, I've loosened up on my "rule" and have started drinking pumpkin spiced beverages and hung a Fall wreath on my front door.

In case you can't tell, I love Fall!

Sister Saturday: Birthday Edition

My sweet sister, Jeanette, had a birthday this week, so I wanted to give a little "shout out" as part of her birthday celebration. As sisters go, I think she's TOPS! I love watching her as a mommy to her precious girls and as a devoted and encouraging wife to her husband. She gives me love and encouragement every day, whether it's via text, chat, phone calls, or in person. She knows that I am a pretty independent person, but she loves to look for ways she can help me in my life, and I love and appreciate that about her.

On Thursday night while we were eating out as a family for her birthday, the waitress looked at us and said,
"You must be sisters!" I'm glad that people can tell from our looks and our actions that we are related.

I love you, Jeanette, and I'm thankful each and every day that God blessed me with a sister-friend for life!

Sister Saturday: Little Sister is Two!

I'll post pictures from Mary Lane's party later, but for now, here's a little look back. . .

On the day she was born

May 2011

First birthday

Easter 2012

Sister Saturday: Crahft Day

A couple of Saturdays ago, my mom and I were sitting out on my deck reading and relaxing. Mom showed me a picture from a magazine of a wreath similar to the one above and we thought it was cute. I had the idea that we should have a mother-daughter craft day and get together with Jeanette to each make a wreath. We knew Jeanette would not mind being left out of the shopping part of the project, so Mom and I got into the car that afternoon and went to buy the supplies needed at Joann.

You see, Jeanette doesn't get as excited about crafting as my mom and I do. But she loves spending time with her mom and sis, and since this wreath is fairly quick and easy, we figured she'd be into it. And she was. We made our wreaths today and had a fun time talking and catching up on the week's events. I am continually thankful to have my sister and my mom so close by. And I don't take it for granted (usually) because we haven't always lived in such close proximity.

In fact, the reason why I spelled "craft" with an "h" in the middle comes from when my sister was living in Germany for three years. She was a member of an international church in Dusseldorf and had friends from many different places, including England.

The group of women from the church got together regularly to have "Crahft" (say it with a British accent). I don't think they added "night" to the event title. It was just "Crahft." Since Jeanette was living at the church (which also housed a preschool where she worked), she would go sit with her friends during Crahft and would sometimes even do some creating of her own.

One time in particular, soon after I had been diagnosed with a malignant thyroid tumor, Jeanette made me the card pictured below.

Inside she wrote some sweet notes of encouragement, along with some scripture verses. Her friends cheered her on as she did this labor of love to send back across the ocean to me. She wrote, "The Lord has used various means of comforting me today. I'm using you as my Craft tonight. I hope this is as much of an encouragement as doing it has been for me." It was a cherished gift and I still have it saved in a box with other memorable cards and notes.

Several years have gone by since Jeanette made me that card. I am cancer-free and don't have any ill-effects from that health crisis. Looking back, the time that Jeanette was away in Germany was a time of great growth in our relationship. We had been friends before, but being forced to communicate via email (phone calls were more expensive back then and there wasn't any such thing as Skype) made us really value our friendship and work hard at staying close across the miles.

I'm glad that we had our mother/daughter/sister craft time today. It was fun to see how each of us made our wreath our own (sorry, I only have the picture of mine). Hopefully we can expand these craft days to include Erica and Mary Lane in the near future!

Sister Saturday: Snow Cones

Sister Saturday: A Birthday Tribute

Today I want to celebrate and honor my dear friend, Rhesa, on her birthday. Rhesa and I met at Belmont almost 25 years ago (Is that right? Oh my gosh, YES!). She has become a sister-friend to me over these years, so that's why it's only fitting that I devote a Sister Saturday post to her!

Rhesa and I have experienced a lot together during our friendship. We had lots of fun times with our group of friends in college, eating in the cafeteria, going to movies, staying up late talking, taking "Dead Day" trips to my uncle's house in Memphis to study for finals by the pool.

We were bridesmaids in each others' weddings, but I couldn't put my hands on pictures to show. You'll just have to imagine the teal taffeta dress that Rhesa had to wear in my wedding and the floral-print Laura Ashley dress that I wore in hers (I had the better end of that deal).

Rhesa also walked with me through my divorce. She drove two hours one-way to spend the day with me, loving on me, along with Leanne and Doug, when things were still very fresh, and spent many hours talking on the phone and praying for me throughout that whole experience. She has always had a knack for calming me down and helping me to find peace in difficult situations, which is one of the reasons I am so thankful for her friendship!

Here are a few pictures I found that give you an idea of some of the fun we've had through the years.

 Here we are at Belmont in the "Big Hair 80s"

The lucky dude in the middle is our brother-friend, Michael Dean.

I wish you could see our faces better, but the car is part of the story.

One time when Daniel was almost two and Rhesa's firstborn was a baby,

I rented a car to drive to visit Rhesa in Knoxville. The rental car agency gave

me an upgrade . . . to a Chrysler Sebring convertible! Driving on the interstate

with a toddler wasn't really the setting for putting the top down, so one night

Rhesa's husband stayed home with the kids while "us girls" went out for a drive in the convertible.

You know where these young mommies went?

Target!

 

 Rhesa has two sweet sister daughters of her own.

Here she's at the lake with Rebekah (center) and Rachel (right).
Daniel and I got to take several trips to visit Rhesa and her family in
Somerset, KY, when they lived there, and we'd go out on
the lake in their boat and spend some fun time swimming and snacking!

We have another Sister-Friend, Leanne (left).

The three of us have stayed close and I treasure

them as my dear friends!

I can't wait to see what other adventures we find ourselves in during the next 25-plus years!
Happy Birthday, Rhesa!

Sister Saturday: Team Emmett Edition

Today was the 1st Annual Team Emmett Courage to Conquer 5K, hosted by our church in Brentwood. Erica and Mary Lane had on their Team Emmett shirts and cheered on the runners/walkers with their Mommy. Russell and I walked most of the 3.1 miles together (he left me at the end to jog on in, but that was OK). There were over 400 people who came out to volunteer, run or walk and show support to our friends, Emmett, Wendy and Quinn Stallings, as Emmett battles cancer. If you don't know their story, you can read more about it here.

Sister Saturday

These sweet girls already love books and reading!

They each have a Storybook Bible! So cute to see them "reading" together!

Sister Saturday

I'm not exactly sure of what year this was taken, but based on Jeanette's missing front teeth and the length of my hair, I'm guessing it was when we were six and eight years old. We had moved to Glen Ridge, NJ, by then (last week's picture was taken when we lived in Englishtown, NJ, an hour south, in Central Jersey). We traditionally hung the stockings up the staircase like that, and I'm figuring that we must have had some grandparents visiting for Christmas, since there are more than four stockings there. (Funny how you forget things after a while).

Another tradition that we had in our family was Christmas nightgowns. Again, my memory is foggy about whether we started getting nightgowns before we started the other tradition of being allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve, but the two traditions became one somewhere along the way. So the gift we were allowed to open was always Christmas nightgowns or pj's (and sometimes slippers and robes as well). That way we could wear them to bed and be decked out for Christmas morning.  This tradition was carried out for many years, and both my sister and I have tried to continue it with our own kids. I've even been known to go by myself some new Christmas pj's now that I'm all grown up.

Such sweet sister memories!

Sister Saturday

Christmas 1970

We lived in that house with the red carpeted stairs for four Christmases,

and that staircase made a good backdrop for Christmas pictures of the Ryals girls.

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day Six

Since it's Sister Saturday, for Day Six, I am thankful for my sister!

I remember my first look at my sister, Jeanette. I was leaning over the front seat of the car, looking at this baby that my mom was holding. My grandmother had ridden with me and my dad to pick up my mom and my sister from the hospital and I think I was more interested in the Ritz crackers that Maw-Maw had for me than I was in the little baby bundled in a blanket. I don't know that I was all that thankful for her then, or for the first few months that she spent crying and not doing much playing with me, but that all changed!

My baby sister soon grew into a curious tag-along, who loved to do whatever her big sister was doing. Again, I'm sure that I didn't show too much gratitude for having her follow me around or having to take my little sister to the bathroom whenever we went somewhere (I think she just had a desire to see what different bathrooms looked like and didn't really have to go, but that's just my theory).

So, this isn't sounding much like a thankfulness post is it? Well, fast-forward to around 1985 or 1986. By this time, I had left home to go a thousand miles away to college. Suddenly, I didn't have my little tag-along with me. I didn't have my built-in playmate and I began to realize what I was missing. Yes, I missed my sister! Those were the days before email and cell phones, so we had to rely on the U.S. Mail and long-distance phone calls once a week. When she went off to college herself, to Birmingham, Alabama, we were a little closer geographically, but still didn't see each other very often. It wasn't until she transferred to Belmont in the fall of my senior year that we were once again living in the same town and kind of under the same roof (different dorms, but same large building).

And that began a new era of our sister relationship. We were not little kids anymore and our friendship started to grow and we related to each other on a new level. Life brought each of us different experiences, different joys, different losses. But we shared a common heritage and a common faith and that brings me to tell you what I am thankful for about my sister:

• She is loving, joyful, (somewhat) peaceful, patient, kind, gentle, good and self-controlled.
• She loves Jesus and points me to Him through her love for me.
• She loves her husband as a godly wife and loves her girls with thankfulness.
• She is my best friend who has known me the longest.
• She knows me better than anyone.
• She knows my weaknesses and strengths, my fears and my insecurities.
• She knows what makes me most happy and most sad.
• She is one of my biggest advocates and cheerleaders.
• She can make me laugh very hard.
• She can get me to do adventerous things and things that I would not do on my own.
• She gave me two sweet nieces and loves her nephew like he was her own child.
• She helps me look at life in a different way, just because we're two different people.

It may have taken me several years to really understand what a treasure my sister is in my life, but once I "got it" I have been continually thankful for the sister that God gave me back when I was two years old.

"Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God." Philippians 1:3, New Living Translation

Sister Saturday: Halloween Edition

 1972

I was a witch and Jeanette was a ghost for several years in a row.

I think this was the first year. She was 3 and I was 5.



1976

I think I was purposely being a sad clown.

By this time, I hated figuring out what to be

and hated dressing up in a costume.

I was also jealous that Jeanette got to have a store-bought mask,

although I got store-bought makeup.

Jeanette made a cute Raggedy Ann!

Sister Saturday

Jeanette got a cute new hair cut yesterday.

 I think it makes her look more like me!

But that's fine with me. After all, we are sisters!



Sister Saturday

When we were in high school, Jeanette and I both participated in the Glen Ridge High School Marching Band. Being the oldest, I got interested in it first, when I was in the eighth grade. I remember going to the home football games with my friends and watching the marching band perform during half time. I think some of my friends had older siblings in the band or color guard and I started getting an interest in trying out for the flag line. Jeanette played percussion in the middle school concert band, so it was a natural for her to go out for marching band in high school, especially since I was already in the color guard. From the fall of 1981 (late summer really) until she graduated in 1987, marching band was a big part of our family's lives.

In New Jersey at the time (and probably now), high school football games were played on Saturdays. That's right, we didn't experience "Friday Night Lights" (don't worry, we didn't know any different, so we don't feel deprived). Then on Sundays during band season, our marching band would go to competitions around the area. These were a BIG deal, with points being tallied to send us to larger competitions out of state. I can remember riding school busses to away football games and then the next day getting on nicer charter buses to head to competitions. And as it got later in the season, the colder it got, with hot chocolate being the drink of choice after coming off the field.

Our band went on two out-of-state trips to band competitions during my years in high school. I think Jeanette probably went on one after I graduated, but I can't remember. My first trip, in November of my Freshman year, was to East Tennessee State University, in Johnson City. Little did I know back then that just a few short years later, I'd move to Tennessee to attend Belmont College and end up becoming a Tennessee resident and establishing my adult home here!

I think I started dating my first boyfriend on that band trip, or at least during that band season. Good old James Davitt, a tuba player who was one of ten children in his family (good Catholic family). It was a sweet little romance, including going to the Candy Cane Ball that December. Sadly, I broke his heart, deciding soon after Christmas that I wanted to move on.

Funny thing was that during my Junior year, when the marching band went to another competition out of state, at Western Carolina University, in Cullowee, North Carolina, James and I rekindled our affections and started another brief romance. Must have been something about the long bus rides . . .

Anyway, every Fall when the temperatures start dropping and the leaves start crunching under my feet, I can't help but remember all those football games and band competitions as a member of the color guard in the GRHS Marching Band. Fun times and great memories. And so glad that I got to share them with my "little sister"!