Do you have any special items that you really treasure? Maybe you can describe them and why they are special to you!

I'll start: My grandfather made my Mom a small log cabin replica just before he dies. She spent a lot of time buying small furniture and making little curtains etc... when she moved recently she gave it to me, and I just really love it. I have a picture of my grandfather working on it (he died in 1987, and I would just love to have the chance to see him again) so this is a special treasure to me.

I have an old trunk that my grandfather bought as a gift for my aunt, (who died last Feb,) it is full of all my photo albumns. I love to take pictures of my family and have literally thousands of them in this trunk. If my house was on fire, and my family was safe (of course), I would drag this trunk out! It even sits very close to the door!!

I also have a box full of letters from old friends, cards, notes and pictures from my kids, and letters from Cale that I really treasure.

I am not much of one to value things, but I must say that these are my greatest "earthly" treasures!!!

OK, lets hear from everyone!!!!

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), November 01, 2001

Answers

The collar devices given to me by my best good friend. He is a retired Command Master Chief, USN. Love them, and him, muchly.

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), November 01, 2001.

I love the paintings and the pictures by best friend makes me. They are hung all over my office at work and my bedroom wall.

-- mindy (speciallady@countrylife.net), November 01, 2001.

One of my most treasured possessions was given to me by my oldest daughter, who was 5 when she gave it to me. My hubby and I were going through a very difficult time, and had separated. I tried not to cry too much in front of my daughter, but there were times when I just couldn't stop the tears. One evening, I saw my little girl drawing a picture of a heart. She then cut it out and then cut it in jagged pieces right up the middle. She picked up the two pieces and went into her room. I'm sitting there, having watched this, trying to decide how I'm going to talk to her about being strong, and that life has lessons that are sometimes difficult to learn, etc., when she came back into the room with her creation. She had taken the two pieces of the heart and taped them back together with a bandaid. She handed it to me and said, "Mommy. Broken hearts can get better."

She was so right! Hubby and I worked things out and have been back together ever since. Our marriage is stronger and more loving now than it ever was. I'm truly blessed!

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), November 01, 2001.

My GreatGrandmother passed away 2 years ago. She was an avid sewer and crafter. She instilled in me the belief that homemade is better (from the heart). 2Days before she passed she gave me a trunk of pictures and went through picture by picture giving names,dates,and places. She also gave me a quilt top that her grandmother had given her.Also she gave me her prized singer sissors.I was totally flabergasted with all this and she said the Good Lord was calling her name. 2 days later she passed in her chair reading her bible. I mended the quilt top and it is hanging on my wall, testament to the love that moves through families. I use her sissors when I am doing something that means alot to me.Kinda like sharing her love.! But the most important thing she left me, was the peace in knowing the Savior and knowing that I will spend eternity with Christ. This has given me a peace that I can't explain.God Bless

-- Micheale from SE Kansas (mbfrye@totelcsi.net), November 01, 2001.

My mother cross-stitched and framed Proverbs 31-A virtuous Woman and each little verse has a little "country" woman doing something that illustrates that verse, using her canning jars and quilts to feed and keep her family. I love it. I have lots of pictures that my kids have drawn. Some I have laminated and I keep them all over the house. I also have a poster that they made for me birthday when they were little and I know Daddy helped so its a reminder of all three of them.

-- Kelly in Ky (Ksaderholm@yahoo.com), November 01, 2001.

My favorite earthly treasure is an odd Mother's Day present my son made for me when he was about eight. I was divorced from the kids dad at that point in my life. They were spending the Mother's Day weekend with me which was according to the decree, even though it was my exhusband's weekend. My son hadn't remembered it was that holiday and didn't do anything for me as a gift. My little daughter had created a very gooey card of tidbits from the kitchen and yard and made me a barely cooked piece of toast for my Mother's Day breakfast. My son felt bad about forgetting and went outside to play. I had tried to assure him that gifts weren't the important part of the holiday and that I knew he loved me, but it still affected him. Later that afternoon, he came back in with the biggest grin on his face and asked me to pick which hand from behind his back that held a special surprise for me. Of course I picked the wrong one at first, which only made him more excited. Finally, he produced a rock that was shaped like a skull of some dinosaur or something. He had put 4 spots on it with magic marker, two for eyes and two for nostrils. Then he wrote "The Best Mom" across the forehead area of this created fossil. I've moved a few times since, but this special gift has always been within reach in my home. I love touching it and remembering his glowing face on that day. I don't see my grown son much these days, so it means more and more every day. I love the homemade gifts the most.

-- Iris (Sar_India@msn.com), November 01, 2001.

My great- grandmother is a full-blooded Cherokee Indian. Her mother (my great-great-grandmother) gave my Grandmother a pin her husband(my great-great-grandfather) made her when he courted her. It is all copper and beautiful. My grandmother gave it to me a few years back and instructed me to give it to my first-born granddaughter. So, it skips a generation, yet ties us all together. Jennifer

-- Jennifer (none@none.com), November 01, 2001.