About Me

   Hi! My name is Helen and I live in Ohio and was raised by a mother from the mountains of south west Virginia  (up in the hollers!)  This blog is my place to share my Heartland Heritage with a focus on crafts, cooking, and anything that relates to my life.  The majority of the blog will be dedicated to crafts as I intend to share tutorials and pictures of things I am working on and offer items I've made for sale.
   I'm wife to Greg who had a kidney transplant last year after about five years of dialysis and mom to the cutest and sweetest little boy on the planet named Evan who is autistic and the joy of my earthly life (you'll see and hear plenty about him no doubt), and a cute mini dachshund named Rudy. You can see more about me at my personal web site at http://www.shadesofsafhire.com.
    I'm a conversative evangelical Christian and I will use the Proverbs 31 woman as a guide to what a share and discuss.
   I'm one of two bloggers from Heartland Heritage Crafts and my partner in crime is Morado.  Morado is a long-time friend of mine who just happens to live in Virginia and as a sad coincidence is now also on dialysis herself after experiencing kidney failure.  We are both crafty girls who love to create and hope to make friends together through our online efforts while attempting to supplement our incomes (which as you can expect are packed full of medical bills).  My husband's anti-rejection medication expenses are astronomical!
   This is my first post and I'm in the midst of working out the graphics and template and whatnot, so bear with me while I move into my new cyber home :)
   This blog is called Shades of Safhire because I have been online since 1995 and started out on a local BBS by the name of Sapphire.  When I got on AOL (way back before it went unlimited and you had to pay by the minute!) the name and spelling of Sapphire was taken and my online identity became the spelling of Safhire and it's stuck.  When trying to decide on a name for my blog here, Shades of Safhire seemed to make sense as I am pretty eclectic and there are a lot of shades to my personality (and blue being my favorite color helps ;) )
   Any true crafter doesn't only crochet or only scrapbook, etc.  She (or he) dabbles in a variety of things --or shades of crafts.
   Morado and I share Heartland Heritage Crafts and we branch out to our own blogs and come back together at HHC together as well as our Facebook page here:  https://www.facebook.com/heartland.heritagecrafts .  We will each have our own Etsy shops (which we will be setting up shortly) but you'll be hearing plenty about Morado and her creations here as well.
   Say a prayer that I do this right and that God blesses my little corner of the web.

  

Hello World :)

This is my sister Bev and brother Danny and I.  Christmas 2006.  Danny was killed in an industrial accident at work last year (March 2011) so this is a picture I will always cherish. I miss you, Danny!  Bev is just as crafty as I am, so we have that in common.

Me a few years ago. (I'm normally the one behind the camera instead of in front!)

This is my family and I.  My husband Greg and our son Evan. This was at my husband's 50th birthday party last December.  He's a Christmas baby and born on Christmas Day!

Our mini doxie, Rudy. He's a such a sweet and fun dog (a big baby too!)

Evan, Rudy and I.  Easter 2012.

My great niece, Alexis and my sister (her grandmother), Bev.  They love being silly together.

My niece (and Alexis and Payton's mommy), Crissy.  She's super crafty too!

My other great niece, Payton. Crissy's daughter and Alexis' sister.  What a cutie!

Crissy and Alexis. Alexis had just won an award at school for one of the best students. She's four months older than my son, Evan so Crissy and I were pregnant at the same time :)

My son Evan with Safety Pup at Safety Town last month.

My wonderful awesome mom.  What a beautiful smile! My mom is the BEST. Not so crafty (I got that from my dad's mom, I think), but a more loving and giving mother you will never find.  She loves the Lord too!

Evan and I at his birthday party, March 2012

My Heartland Heritage

My Mom's Side

My mom's parents.  We just lost my grandma a few years ago. Grandpa died in 1975. I was only 12, but I remember him and how much I loved him.  I named my son's middle name after him.  Grandpa was a southern Baptist preacher -Freewill Baptist.  He built his church himself and it's still in operation today in North Central Ohio.

They raised my mom and her sisters and brother where they were raised in Russell County, Virginia.  Up in the hollers of south west Virginia -in the mountains.  Grandpa was a coal miner as was most of my family from that area.  Grandpa had a scare in a mine collapse and moved his family to Ohio where my grandma's brother had already moved and that's where I grew up.

As I've learned growing up, you can take the girl out of the mountains, but you can't take the mountain out of the girl.  My mom and her siblings all still have that accent like they are fresh from the hills although they moved here when my mom was 15. 

I may have grown up in Ohio, but I feel right at home when I visit family in Virginia.  I grew up with recipes from depression era Appalachia and strong Biblical family values that began there too.  I have researched my family tree way back to...well..that's a post for another topic, but I will get to it one day :)

Grandpa and Grandma when they were young.  My Grandma told me about meeting Grandpa and how he fell head over heels in love with her, but she told him she would not marry him unless he was a Christian.  Grandpa learned what he could about the whys and hows of Christianity and fell in love with Grandma's Jesus too.  They were truly soul mates.   Eventually God called Grandpa to be a preacher and he spent the rest of his life pastoring a little country church.

Grandpa and Grandma in the church Grandpa built and pastored till his death.

Them in front of the pulpit

Grandma playing the organ and singing in church

Grandpa baptizing in the creek near his church (he's on the right in both pictures)

Grandpa and Grandma (with my uncle Junior) while still in Virginia.  The car is someone else's.

That little girl Grandpa has his arm around is me :)  I cherish this picture.  My mom is in the red and my sister Bev is to her left next to Grandma.  My brother Danny is kneeling next to me.  I miss these days... This was Thanksgiving, I think.  I grew up in that house and my mom still lives there now.

My Dad's Side

My Dad.  He went to be with Jesus in February 1998. I miss you dad :(

Dad grew up in Nelsonville, Ohio - in the middle of Hocking National Forest. LOTS of high hills there.  It's in Southern Ohio near Athens.

Not far at all from the border of Ohio and West Virginia.

My dad's parents. This Grandpa was a preacher/pastor too! He was a lot older than my other Grandpa and I am the baby of my family, so I have no memories of hearing this Grandpa preach, sadly :(  My brother and sister did/do. I've heard many wonderful stories though.  Grandpa was born in 1886, so he's really old enough to be my great grandpa. He was 14 years older than grandma, but their love was deep.

This Grandpa was a pentecostal preacher.  One thing I'm very proud of when thinking about my heritage is that I'm told that both grandpas could get together and talk about the Bible together and never once argued. That's awesome with any Baptist and Pentecostal!

My Grandma is the one I think I got my crafty side from.  She did all sorts of crafts! I heard many stories of her knitting or crocheting and sewing.  She loved Jesus and I was blessed to just recently come across a magazine with an entry in it from her!!! It's so neat to see the actual words she wrote.  I lost both of them when I was very young just about a year apart.  Grandma went to Jesus before Grandpa did.

Grandma and Grandpa

Grandpa with my dad when my dad was a little boy.  This is the only picture I have of my dad when he was a child. He adored my Grandpa!

This was my Grandpa's Bible (my dad's dad).  I inherited it and I cherish it. It reminds me continually of the heritage I'm so thankful to have had.