Happy Birthday, Shell!!!

This is my sister, Shell when she was around 5 years old. It was her birthday yesterday, and I thought I would do a blog in her honor. Of course, since I've known her all my life, she's been a great influence in my life. She's been a special person--second only to my dear Mom--who has helped shape the wholesomeness I so dearly cherish for the stability and sweetness required for a happy home. I credit her with teaching me how to sew--and coming to the rescue to assist me when I had to use the seam ripper, and that was quite often!--decopage, batik, and many other crafty skills that I am still mediocre at since I haven't had her around to keep me going on them... She's always been the most crafty one; I'm just the imitator... She was a caring sister from the start... As I got older, I looked around and saw that many other people didn't have this special something that we possessed. I hold onto it now and nurture it, and try to pass it on to other family members, since it is our special brand of wholesomeness. I'm sure it's just unique to me because it is ours, and it's imperfect and yet beautiful at the same time. Ours was a family that was resourceful and frugal so we seemed to have just enough, and even though we took an additional 2-5 foster kids at a time over the years, we had lots of family fun and traveled all over the country in our VW bus camping along the way. Mom sure was the master ring leader/organizer; us girls were the support team... When I think back at all the good memories we've had together with our family and beyond, I feel truly blessed. We got to hike the High Sierras together with our family and the Methodist youth group when we were teenagers. Those were some of the most awesome years of our lives... We also got a chance to go to Scotland about 6 years ago for the world-wide McGregor family reunion; another highlight in our lives together. Here we are all dressed up in our fancy clothes because we are attending a dinner at the Stirling Castle. What a great thing to go with our Mom, the honorable Dorothy McGregor, who recently found out her DNA to be connected to famous Scottish folk hero, Rob Roy! We have fun together since it is in our genes to get fervent "gatherers" for whom the bumbersticker "Caution, we stop stops for garage sales" was made. When we were kids Mom would wake us up at 6:00 am on Sunday to go to the San Jose flea market so we could be back for the 10:00 church service. Now that was power shopping!!! I think that's how we kept in such good shape through our teen years... Our Mom's given us the gift of a discerning eye, and over the years we've all found some marvelous and lovely treasures, but most of all the habit of "hunting for teasure" gives me the fond memories of our times together... I thank God for my sister, Shell; it's fun to be so similar and enjoy a lot of the same things even though God has given us such different lives. But most of all, I thank God that she and her dear family had a major influence in my "returning to the fold" 13 years ago and has forever changed my life for eternity. For that, I will always be thankful...