Family Recipes for Life

December 29, 2011 in Art, Deserts, Family, Recipes with 0 Comments

Does your family have a favorite dessert recipe or two, or three or many?  Our family does and for years I have promised to put together a family collection of our favorites as a Christmas gift. Just one problem, that task always kept getting pushed to bottom of the to do list.  October of this year rolled around and things were no different, I had started a new full time job in August, family and church responsibilities, trying to stay on top of three residences and not doing too good at job at any of them, there was excuse after excuse I could make.  Somehow I had waited long enough and I decided on November 1, 2011 to complete the project I had started 4 years prior.

Originally it was to be cookbook of all the family favorites, including Granny Gibson’s chicken and dressing, Granny Hoover’s tasty slaw dressing along with favorites of Mom’s and Sue Vada’s which all the children grew up eating.  However, once I rolled up my sleeves and got into the thick of compiling and laying out the book, I quickly realized in order to meet my December 25th deadline it was going to be a book of favorite dessert recipes this year.

In the past I’ve created a few self published coffee table style books, one for Nibby’s parents Norris and Mary Elizabeth Priests 5oth wedding anniversary, and one for my father, Elmer Gibson’s 75th birthday as gifts.  For these I used mypublisher.com and they turned out to be very nice and beautiful books.  This time however after some online research I stumbled across blurb.com website and found they have easy to use recipe templates which makes organizing and editing a cookbook a breeze.  So after many hours of reviewing family recipes and photographs I got started.  Some 40 or so hours later the book in the cloud was ready to be uploaded to the blurb.com website and my family’s Christmas presents were ordered.  Five days after that they were delivered to my doorstep in two different formats, a hardback version, complete with dustcover and a lesser priced softbound paperback version.  Blurb.com also offered a ebook version for your ipad, so when your baking in the kitchen you can just pull out the ipad and pull up the recipe.

If you’ve ever thought of producing a family compilation of recipes for yourself or as a gift I would encourage you to do so.  It’s a wise investment of time and resources to create a treasured momento you and your family will have forever.  Not to mention all the family favorites in one place.

Have you thought of producing a family cookbook? If you choose to do so  you and your family will cherish your labor of love forever.

A New Agency Opens in Henderson with BIG Plans for Children

September 10, 2011 in Children, Henderson KY with 0 Comments

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has been around for well over 100 years and is known as the nation’s largest youth mentoring organization.  Locally here in the tri-state area Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ohio Valley which serves a handfull of counties including Henderson, Kentucky has been in existence for more than 20 years.  This service to Henderson has been limited due to lack of funding and required resources to make and monitor each match.  However, just 4 weeks ago, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Henderson County opened it’s doors at 111 South Adams Street (located within the Housing Authority of Henderson).

This community opportunity was made possible by persons like; Judge Rob Weiderstien, who saw a need from increased numbers of youth appearing in the court system and chose to do something to change those statistics, and women like Darlene Marshall-Ware who gives of herself selflessly to help children in our community succeed, she started something with a passion, Becky Durham who’s heart for children overflows with love, compassion and caring with big results.  There are more, many more persons in our community that have stepped up to Start Something BIG for the children of Henderson by providing guidance, experience and passion by donating their time to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Henderson County Advisory Board.  This group of committed community volunteers began meeting almost 12 months ago, continues to meet monthly and have launched a new satellite office here in Henderson County to better serve our youth, which will have its ribbon cutting and open house next Friday, September 16th, 12:30 pm.  In addition the group has not only raised community awareness, funding, donations and volunteers, the Advisory Board has established a goal of 30 matches in the first 12 months, which records indicated most likely will be surpassed within the first 3-6 months of operations.

A strong, passionate team of like-minded community volunteers wanting to Start Something Big for the youth of Henderson have done just that. But our works only begun, we need your help.  To help make Big changes for children of Henderson, KY by donating, volunteering or advocating contact me, Greg Gibson at ggibson@bbbshenderson.org or 270 631 0738 and together we can change the life of a Henderson child.

Who do you look up to?

May 12, 2011 in Art, Children, Church, Community, Family, Friends, Henderson KY with 0 Comments

How far back into your childhood can you remember…… 6, 4, or even 2 years of age?  Now what are some of your earliest memories and who influenced your life?  Was it a teacher, family member, friend, church leader or just a stranger who came to your aid?  Chances are it may have been a number of the above or some combination of individuals who were involved with influencing your life.

In my life there are six individuals that come to mind.  They are;
1.  Parents
2.  Grandparents
3. 5th Grade teacher
4.  Youth director
5.  Art teacher
6.  Pastor

The lessons learned from these individuals range from manners to major life decision making choices.  Invaluable life lessons from people who invested in my future. Thank God these people were around for me.

So who influenced you during your childhood?  Who continues to influence you?  The bigger question is who are you influencing?  Maybe it’s your children, a niece or nephew, a brother or sister, a neighbor or a student of yours.  If your answer is, I don’t know here’s a few suggestions for you;

1.  Become a big brother or big sister and mentor a needy child (there’s a local chapter in the grass roots phase right here in Henderson, you can get in on the ground floor)

2.  Volunteer at your church to teach a class, help with the children or youth ministries.

3.  Spend time with a child and read a book, listen to them talk, take them to a park, etc.

4.  Become a child advocate and help fight for children’s rights.

5.  Volunteer at an after school program and help children in a variety of capacities.

6.  Get involved with a local school where’s there’s a variety of opportunities to work one-on-one with children.

The list is endless.  The payoff is priceless and the long term effect is life-changing.  I can’t think of a better way to leave a legacy!

So who do you look up to?

 

Lasting Memories from 10 Powerful Everlasting Moms

May 6, 2011 in Family, Friends with 0 Comments

Lessons learned from mom are sometimes too numerous to count, at least the moms in my life are.  Here are some memorable moms and lessons I’ve learned from them.

1.  Pauline Gibson-Family is everything and life around the table is important.

2.  Adell Martin-Compassion in life is to be used generously.

3.  Nancy Gibson-Always, always have hope and faith.

4. Ernestine Seitz-Dignity and grace are qualities we can all exhibit in life, even to the end.

5. Regina Gregory-Hard work and family go hand in hand.

6. Virgie Hoover-Everything is sweeter in life with desert.

7.  Paulette (PJ) Mohler-Smile, humor and hard work always pay off.

8.  Meg Clark-Faith and kindness are keys that unlock many of life’s mysteries.

9.  Cindy White-Spiritual gifts are to be shared.

10. Martha Gibson-Caregiving is something we train for all of our life, and selflessness is a something our Lord and Savior practiced.

May the memories of the moms in your world warm your heart and prepare you to better serve others this Mother’s Day weekend.

A Smiles a Lasting Memory

May 4, 2011 in Church, Community, Family, Friends with 1 Comment

margaretedwards

Some people just have it…..a great smile! You know one of those ear to ear heart-warming grins.  One of those that is permanently plastered below their twinkling eyes.  My friend Margaret Edwards had one of those smiles.

Of all the many times we visited together she always answered the door with a big, warm smile.  It just made you feel welcome, loved and that she cared.  Our visits were sometimes only a couple of minutes but sometimes would last hours.  She was a lady who at 94 was younger in mind and spirit than many 30-year-olds I know.  A prayer warrior, devoted family mother, grandmother, great-grandmother……sister, aunt you know the lady in the family and in church whom everyone loved.  She was forever during our visits talking about her sisters, grandsons and grand-daughters and how much they meant to her. An angel of a lady.  A God loving example of how we are to live, in peace and harmony with one another.

We lost an angel this week.  Margaret at 94, the eldest senior member of Community Baptist Church family completed her work here on this earth and has moved onto more heavenly surroundings.  We’ll miss her laughs.  We’ll miss her stories.  We’ll miss her compassion.  But most of all I’ll miss those warm, wonderful smiles.

 

Nine days No Notebook

April 22, 2011 in Technology with 0 Comments

You’d think a week without a computer wouldn’t be a big deal, right?  Think again.  During the past week I’ve needed a computer multiple times each day only to find myself saying, “You’ll have to wait to mark that item off your todo list until the new MacBook Pro arrives”.  Didn’t realize just how much I depend on technology.  Being so closely affiliated with Nibby Priest the “Techno King“, to whom I’m frequently saying,”If you didn’t spend so much time on your computer, fb, twitter, watching internet church services and googling, maybe you’d get some real work done”.  Well, I found out this week in order to get real work done you need a notebook.

The new 15″ MacBook Pro finally arrived on Tuesday this week (six days after the previous one died) and today Saturday it was unpackaged, set up and now in full service.  It’s faster, sleeker, lighter and the image quality is much better and brighter.  All the way around Greg’s Apple is a much sexier machine.  Included with the shipment was Apple’s Magic Mouse and it’s truly amazing!  Those Apple industrial designers sure create some awesome Apples!

Well now that my work load has truly stacked and backed up, hopefully this latest and greatest personal notebook computer will assist and enable me to reduce the queue line list of todo’s even faster.  Writing two proposals and grants, a press release, 15 emails, an employment application, updating 2 websites and blogs will hopefully be made easier and more expedient.

Boy I didn’t realize how much I depend on my Apple!  Nine days, No Notebook……No Fun!

Learning WordPress at the Henderson Public Library

April 18, 2011 in Technology with 1 Comment

Tonight’s a special night at the Henderson Public Library. Nibby Priest and Mary Biever are leading a training class on WordPress the latest and greatest free cloud software for websites and blogs. Both Nibby and Mary are proficient WordPress architects. The basics are being covered this evening in this free class offered to the the Henderson public. Learning how to create a new presence on WordPress is simple and did I mention it’s free! Check out WordPress.com for more details and information. To check out a new WordPress site and blog visit Housing Authority of Henderson.
WordPress is almost as special as these two folks are!

Wonderful Children bring life to “Alice in Wonderland, Jr.”

April 1, 2011 in Children with 0 Comments

See latest blog post about this on Housing Authority of Henderson website.

City Garden Workday

May 27, 2010 in Flowers-Garden, Friends, Plants with 0 Comments


A close group of friends decided to create a community garden this year. Working together, Janet & Steve Hayden joined Ron & Peg Graul, Debbie Dunaway and Greg Gibson who began tending to the soil at Bill Shields farm located at Hwy. 60 E, in Henderson, KY. Each Tuesday evening the City Slicker team meets at the City Community Garden for a work night in the fertile soil. Each farmhand has his/her own nickname. Ron aka “JGG” (Jolly Green Giant) is the farm superintendent, Janet & Steve better known on the farm as “Sprout 1 & 2″ recruited Deb “DDD” (Triple D Debbie) and Greg, “Green Acres Greg” to the team this season. Both the Grauls and Haydens have joined forces in the community garden the past few years. It’s great working together with old and new friends digging in the dirt and growing your own vegetables and flowers. Plantation owner, Bill Shields is the county garden manager while our team represents the city slicker city community garden team. Great fun and growing your own produce, what could be a better combination?

Runway Red Fashion Show 2010

March 28, 2010 in Art, Community, Fashion, Henderson KY with 0 Comments

Photos taken at March 20, 2010 Runway Red Fashion Show, a benefit for Matthew 25 held at Community Baptist Church in Henderson, KY.

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