Wow, Bright! What a great deal. I love those ornaments with the stripes--those are so neat. Now you need to go over to the crafts forum and locate Oddie's ornament wreaths that she made last year. They were so pretty, and these would sure make a nice one. I feel the same way as Jane and Betty about the crochet ones--I so admire anyone who can make things like that, but so often family members are just so used to them that they don't realize the talent and time that has gone into making them. Happy find for you though gal. Luvs

Hi Cari Jo, I came here because of my first Thanksgiving without my brother. I read your post and I would like you to know that I have many dreams of my brother too. Most times, I can only remember bits and pieces of it and I usually wake up both sad and angry...angry because I can't remember too much of the dream. Take care

I don't know if you will see this, as much time has passed since you posted this, but I could have written your post word for word. My Mom died on Oct 8/08 with the exact same scenarior yours did, including her last moments. The difference is, my mom was able to tell us what she saw, and I'm hoping by letting you know, it might help you. Mom's breast cancer spread to her lungs, liver and bones. She was 47 when she died and my son was 10 months old. They were so close and it kills me that she isn't around anymore to see him (at least physically). It makes me hurt every time I think of it. I was there was she took her last breath too and am haunted by the memories of her death and the day she died. However, she was able to describe to us what she saw and that has helped me, so will maybe help you. The Tuesday morning of the day that she died, she talked all day to people that we couldn't see. At first we thought she was just out of it, but she would have moments where she would open her eyes and say clearly and with intent "I love all of you so much". But mostly she was back and forth between here and the Other Side (for lack of a better word). She was very agitated, yet talked to people in my family who had passed and I swear to you when she said my grandpa was there, you could literally feel him in the room. At one point, she said she saw Jesus at the end of her bed and was happy he was there. She said to us "You should see it, its beautiful". When it came down to the last half an hour of her life, she started to describe a path that she was going down. It was treed and beautiful and at the end of it was a house. She kept saying that she wanted to go in but couldn't find a way in. We told her to look for a door and then about a minute before she died, she said "Ok, you can let me go, I'm in now". Those were the last words she said. At that point, her breathing became very rattled and she focused her eyes up and to the right corner of the room. She took a few more breaths and then cried one single tear and then stopped breathing. For me, it was a horrible, yet amazing experience. I still get very upset over the physical experiences her body went through, but I know in my heart that she felt barely any of that pain as she was mostly with God on the Other side. I am only 25 and miss my mom so much that it physically hurts sometimes. I have been having a hard time with it lately, but then last week, I got an email from my mom's best friend who said that she had a dream about my mom. She said she was younger (about 30) and just beautiful. She said she was at my mom's house (which made me so happy because that is where she said she was going when she died) and that it was beautiful She said there were rocks and trees and gardens everywhere and the house was modest an cozy. My mom showed her around her house but there was one dark room and her friend said "But that room is dark and I can't see anything" and she said "yes, that room is for my daughter, she is in the dark a lot right now but will be bright again very soon". I'm assuming this meant the fact that I have been really depressed lately and that I will start feeling better soon. It was really great to know she was OK and that she still knows me and loves me like she did before. I'm sorry this has been so long but I thought it might help you as we seem to have had almost identical experiences. I hope you can find comfort in my story and know that your mom is OK and still loves you from wherever she is, please don't feel left out, some people are just more open to visits from their loved ones and sometimes we are too clouded by pain and grief to open up. Take care and try to be happy. :)

I agree, it's none of his/our business about her getting married... however, she is the one that has pulled us aside and told us that she was marrying him last August and she is the one that called DH in November. She has discussed her plans, including the wedding theme (butterflies) with SD so that every time SD sees butterfly things, she starts talking about her mom's wedding. The more I think about it, maybe she is hoping we react to it but we haven't. DH could care less and yes, that is great for me. I've never had a doubt that he could care less what she does or that anything she does could make him remotely jealous. My concern has more to do with SD's other problems (everything she's gone through adjusting to her mom leaving) and her counselor is now leaving the state so she is losing her counselor too. I have some worry that SD will act out again when she realizes mom is lying about getting married. I agree that he probably hasn't asked her but then he also told his ex that they were getting married in Spring. I guess the biggest issue is how it affects the kids (on both sides) for them to be telling them and then it doesn't happen. I know that it is ultimately going to be on them to explain to the kids but usually, it comes back to BM blaming everyone else. SD was told it's DH's fault that her mom lost her job. BM finds a way to make it someone else's fault and we end up having to deal with the fallout or feel like we have to defend her accusations. Since SD's counselor is leaving, I was hoping she won't have to find a new one. She's with BM for summer anyway so she won't be here to see a counselor until school starts. If she doesn't have any meltdowns or acting out, we are probably not going to take her back to counseling. The weight thing, for her height, SD should weigh 85-90 lbs. She weighed 85 lbs when she was 5 and I considered her obese or very overweight. She's gotten taller and thinned out so she has been about average for her height.. she looks very healthy. But, with the added weight, it is all in her belly and her pants button pops off. She has broken two new pants (one zipper, one button) in the last few months. I think it's the amount of food she eats (we were having burritos and we give her one, she says she can eat three at her moms) and the type of foods (she says she eats donuts with Mountain Dew for breakfast and usually just fast food. Her mom doesn't cook) She eats a lot there and when she is here, she acts like she's always starving, even if we feed her more than a normal portion size. We'll give her more good snacks like fruit but she wants junk and sweets. I've given up with worrying about what her mom is doing. I told SD that if she overeats and gains a lot of weight, SHE is the one that has to deal with being teased at school (something she cries to us about) and that we have no control over what she eats at her moms so she has to take responsibility, even if her mom lets her eat anything. DH has mentioned it to BM a few times in the past, he always gets denials. SD is getting old enough to make choices about what and how much to eat and I told her that if she is going to eat everything she wants (because she brags to me that her mom lets her have this or have that and I don't) then I don't want to hear her crying later about kids teasing her.