feeling so proud

As my son journeys forward into his life as a man, I reflect daily upon how proud he makes me feel to be his Mom. It's so hard to let go, but the comfort of his voice on the telephone or a simple smile in emails with photographs of himself in the arms of Rachel, warms my heart and eases my worries for his well being. He is so brave and strong. No longer the tiny bundle I birthed almost 24 years ago, but a big hearted, honest strong soldier...yet always my tiny bundle of newborn flesh, un-scarred, un-tattooed, and un-broken.

L-O-V-E

My son has a delightful girlfriend, Rachel. And I adore her.

slow plane to France

Today my son, Sergeant Kyle Mackey "Scooter" Broughton leaves on a military plane to Corsica, FRANCE, where he will be on his final mission for the Army, diving in the beautiful waters of the Mediterranean for World War II Bombers!! Yep, live bombs. Damn, someone's gotta do it, he tells me. It is a very high honor to be hand selected for this Dive Team of seven young men who will also be searching for the remains of another fallen soldier from the war. I can hardly believe my baby all grown up doing such a mans job. I continue to be amazed and so proud of my One Son, as he is the light of my life. Travel safe, be well and return home to us all. love, Mom

playing with dolls!

In between watching soap operas, painting toenails, plucking eyebrows and eating Bon Bons I make paper dolls, metal dolls, beaded dolls, domino dolls!

swapping inspires me

So now that my creative juices are flowing again, I am busy swapping on SwapBot and Yahoo Groups again. Yes, that beast within that beckons me to sew, bead, paint, cut, hammer, swirl, crimp, knot and alter anything I can get my hand on! Now that I have completely "altered" my own life, I am back to making art dolls, ATCs, paper dolls, assemblages and mini art quilts. I will potentially teach classes at the local Scrapbook Store in Brenham! It's great to have sticky, painty, gluey fingers again. ( above are my Starbucks theme ATCs and Art Trading Doll ( combo ATC/PaperDoll) "Hands love to knit & sew, hammer and saw, knead and shape. Hands that are idle grow restless or bored and worse, start to feel useless and unappreciated. Hands love to do what hands can do. When the hands are happy, that can make a being pretty happy too. " Ed Espe Brown