The New Dog At Our House

In the last post I told you about a flea problem from a dog that has wandered up. Well we have tried to see if this dog belongs to anyone and no one is claiming her so we have decided to keep her. She is really good with the kids and they have named her Gracie. Gracie has been with us now for about 6 weeks and has not been a problem except for the fleas (which we hope are under control) and chewing everything in sight. The kids are learning not leave their plastic toys out in the yard because Gracie will chew, chew, chew. I don't think she likes staying in the backyard but I am afraid to let her out in the yard all the time for fear of her getting run over and then we would all be very upset, especially Morgan and Joseph. They love playing with her and she is very gentle with them. She even plays fetch, she sits, and she keeps guard on the two youngsters. We are truly blessed, why I don't know but I guess God wanted us to have her for some reason. You can tell how gentle she is with the kids by the picture below. They were playing as though they were mommy and daddy and they were going to the store with Gracie in tow.

Now for one of our other babies, MoJo. I hope that you can tell by the picture how big he has gotten and he is only 6 1/2 months old. He is our big baby. The kids are still getting used to him because he loves to jump. We've had another Saint in the past but he did not jump, so I am not used to this either. They are such lovable dogs, but this one does have a mind of his own. When I take him out for a walk somedays he does really well and others he tends to be stubborn and stop to sit in the middle of the road, which is very frustrating. Hopefully with time he will get better.

We have been pretty busy with the garden but that is now ending, thank goodness. Now don't get me wrong, it doesn't feel right if we don't have a garden then work ourselves to death putting it up. We did that one year and it just wasn't right. I just have to keep my eye on the prize and that is the wonderful food that we will have this winter, YUM! Now it is time to plant greens to put in the freezer and I love greens.

We had our monthly crop at the Vineyard Church this past Sat. and we had a blast! We had about 15 people to show up and some old friends came to crop, some that have been missed greatly, so we were all glad to see them. Teresa and Wanda hadn't been there in several months, so it was good to see them again. Kim, her daughter Casey, and Pam F. came and I hadn't got to crop with them since the scrapbook store in town closed. I accused them of getting mad and pouting, but they know I love them and I am so glad they came. There were also some new faces; Dianne O. has been to our Mission Crop but not our monthly one. Donna G. also came with Dianne and this was her first time there and I was thrilled to see them come. I love our monthly crops. I don't usually get a lot done; I am usually to busy running my mouth, but then again that is half the fun. I love going around talking to everyone and seeing what everyone is doing. It is so much fun and interesting to see what they are all doing and see the talent that God has given them. It makes you realize how special we all are in His eyes, without Him we would not have the ability or funds to do any of this.

Psalm 118:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

The Fair is Here!

Joseph and Brenlee
Joseph, Morgan, & Brenlee
Morgan & Brenlee
Catherine, Brenlee, Joseph, Morgan, & Caitlyn

Hello everyone,

Sorry that I have not posted in so long but we have been busy with our garden and with other things that I will explain later. Remember my post His bounty is good, well it has turned out to be GREAT! Thank you, God for bountiful blessings. We now have peas, green beans, okra, and pickles. Our corn will be ready soon and the okra and cucumbers are still coming. So here we go!

Last night we took the kids to the county fair and boy did they have a good time! Joseph wasn't going to ride anything until we met up with their cousin, Brenlee. Then Joseph changed his mind and wanted to ride what the girls were riding, I guess the macho thing starts early. They had a blast and so did we watching them. Their facial expressions on some of the rides was priceless. We stayed out late and Morgan still didn't want to come home and Brenlee didn't want to leave either, in fact the only one ready to go was Joseph. He was tired beyond belief, but didn't go to sleep on the way home like we thought. I guess he was too wound up. He and Morgan talked non-stop all the way home. Thank you, Lord for those little conversations that I get to hear.

Today I have been getting my house back together from having it sprayed for fleas from a dog that has wondered up and getting ready for a monthly crop as well as a mission team fund raising crop. We have actually had this dog for about a month but didn't notice any fleas until last weekend. We have been fighting this battle all week when we gave up and called the exterminator and they came out yesterday to spray inside and out, so maybe they are gone.

As for the crops, the monthly one pretty much takes care of itself. Thank you Lord for e-mail. But the fund raising crop for our foreign mission team at church is another story. If you ask anyone who is around me; I am tied up in knots until it is over, then I sleep for about a week. This one has been much harder, though. I am not having very good luck with my vendors this time. This has usually not been a problem but this time it is. I don't know if it is due to another crop going on the same day in another town or what. I know that everything will work out the way God wants it to; I just have to have faith and reassurance sometimes. What can I say, I am human. There is an excitement in the air throughout all of this and I can't wait to see what God is going to do next! Thank you God for Psalms, which helps get me up when I am down.

Psalm 107:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

I have won an award and finally got it on my blog

I received this award from http://www.boscraps.blogspot.com/ and http://www.praisemom.blogspot.com/

Here are the rules:
1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you have nominated.
The 7 people I am nominating are:



Judy at Piece of Mind

Brenda at Brenda's Blog

Regina at Bitten by the Bug

Dianne at Majestic Mountains Rolling Hills

Terrie at Scrapbooking the Scriptures

Dawn at Treasure Oiler Designz

Jayne at Feelin Scrappy

Sorry everyone that it has taken me so long to figure this out, but with lots of help from Beth O. and JoAnna G. I finally have it.

His Bounty is Good

Today has been really busy and it is early afternoon. I started off by walking one of our dogs which is a St. Bernard who is only 6 months old and weighs over 50 lbs. Anyway, I am trying to get a handle on him before he gets too big so I am trying to train him now. I have bought a new harness for him which is called the Gentle Leader and is supposed to help stop jumping up (which he does a lot), stop pulling, stop lunging toward other dogs, help him to learn to sit and lay down. I will let you know if it works.

After this it was off to picking peas out of the garden before it got too hot and then to shelling them. For something that my husband didn't think would make very much, God has proved us wrong. They have taken off and boy are we blessed! We have finished picking our green beans, I think that we will have enough to make it through the winter :0), since we have about 29 quarts put up.

You know this is the year where our garden was put in late, only 1 squash plant came up, and we didn't think that we were going to get that much out of the garden due to it being very hot and dry, but God surprised us once again with His power. But isn't that how God is; always keeping you on your toes? I think sometimes He does it just so we can't say we are bored and sometimes I think He just loves to watch our reaction and have a good laugh at us. He is such an amazing God! Not only has He provided us with enough to last all winter (and then some), but he has some how given my husband and I the time to pick it and put it up. He has also blessed us with a wonderful neighbor who has helped me shell peas on more than one occasion; love you Cookie. He tells us that all we have to do is ask and it shall be given (paraphrasing) and that is just what we did. We asked and He provided, not just enough to make it through the winter, but enough to allow our parents enjoy the bounty also. That's my God!!! He doesn't just provide, but he over provides. So thank you Lord for this wonderful bounty that you have given us to share with others, especially when prices are going through the roof and things don't seem to look so good. You are always there being gracious at exactly your precise time, which as you know happens to be perfect.

Psalm 65:11 You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.

Are you Jesus?

I received this e-mail today and it couldn't be more true. We not only need to spread the word with our mouth, but with our actions (lifestyle ministry) which sometimes speak louder than words can. I have posted this in hopes that you will read it then ask yourself, "Are you Jesus?" Thank you Pam for sending this, it couldn't have been more timely. You are a great friend to have.

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding.ALL BUT ONE !!! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.He was glad he did.The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, 'Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?' She nodded through her tears.. He continued on with, 'I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly.'As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, 'Mister....' He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, 'Are you Jesus?'
He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: 'Are you Jesus?' Do people mistake you for Jesus? That's our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace.If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

Getting Caught Up Week

Well, this week has been one of trying to get caught up with everything that was left undone for the 2 weeks that we had swimming lessons. By this I mean that the house had not gotten cleaned for 2 weeks, the laundry was done just enough to get by and the fridge had not been cleaned out in that time either. I now feel much better that all this stuff has gotten done and we now have a very clean house, the laundry needs to be tackled again ( I feel as though I could this every day and still not be caught up), and the fridge is now without anything that has something growing on it YEAH!!! It's amazing how you can feel so proud of your house, especially when it is clean. I love it!!!

Today while we were at church during worship, I was sitting there going through my bible for scripture that God has been giving to me lately; when my daughter came up to me and started to love and hug on me. I looked at her and her hair was a wreck! Her nice little headband that she had in was crooked on her head and her hair was no longer neat, but a mess. As I started to straighten her headband and fix her hair I felt that God was trying to tell me something. I stopped and just looked at her and felt God saying, even though you are not perfect and look a mess sometimes I love you just as much if not more than you love her. We all have this idea of what a christian is supposed to look like, you know, nice, neat, have it all together type of person; when in reality God doesn't care. He still loves us in the morning when our hair is all over our head, when we have been in the garden and stink to high heaven, he loves us when we look in the mirror and don't see anything beautiful; he sees nothing but beauty. God is a God of love, faithfulness, and of beauty. Yes, there are some bad times that we go through in life, but He has allowed this for some reason or purpose and sometimes we make the bad choice, but He is always there for us. He is always there with His arms wide open waiting for us to run into them so He can love us, the same way that we do our children. We must understand that no matter what we do or what we look like, He loves us. He is our Daddy, our Father, our Dad, our Pappa; call Him what you want but He's there, ALWAYS!

Ecc. 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of mean; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

So much to cover in so little time

Well it's been a hectic weekend but a fun one. Friday Joseph went with his daddy to work, which he thoroughly enjoys. This was his prize for doing so well at swimming lessons. He enjoyed it so much that he did not want to come home when I went to pick him up so he could take a nap. Morgan's prize was to go to Hobby Lobby to pick her out some stickers for her scrapbook. She was so excited that every time the cashier would ring something up she would say, "I am going to scrapbook with my mommy", of course the cashier just ignored her, but it sure brought joy to my heart. We all had a fun day, YEAH!

Saturday was a blast! This was our monthly crop at the church that I attend and boy did we have fun. I think there were 14 people to show up, which is great especially since it is summer time. I had one friend that brought her daughter who is 9 (I think) and she was wonderful. I would watch her and think one day I hope that is me and my daughter. So Anndrea you don't know how that blessed me to see your daughter scrapbooking with you. Which brings me to a point that was on my heart then and still is. I know that sometimes we all need time away from our children and spouses just to keep us sain, but sometimes our children need us to be with them just to keep them sain. When I would look at Anndrea's daughter scrapbooking you could see that she truly loved what she was doing. She could not have enjoyed it if her mother had not taken the time to show her what to do and to help her do it. This was a blessing to me and something that I hope to have with my daughter. I hope that one day when I am old and gray that my daughter will still want to scrapbook with me. Don't get me wrong we don't make a habit of bringing our children all the time because this is our time, but sometimes it just works that way and when it does we all understand and no one seems to mind. I think this is due in part to everyone's children being so well behaved and having a love for scrapbooking too.

Any way, getting back to the rest of the day. I know that I sometimes talk too much at these crops and only end up getting one page done, but when I come home I feel as though a weight has been lifted off of me. I feel like these people know who I am and accept me for who I am, so when I have had a bad week or I am just grouchy, I know that these women will listen (some probably ignore me-can't blame them) and just let me vent. And when I leave I feel that I am refreshed and ready to take on whatever God has in store. This is such a great thing to have, friends that have an unconditional love. I know that God has put these people in my life for a purpose, right now I think that it is not only the common bond of scrapbooking but also the uplifting that I need from time to time. So to all of you who come to the monthly crops at the Vineyard, thank you and may you be blessed the way that you bless me.

Sundays are usually very busy, but this Sun. was different. After we went to church, instead of going out to eat we came home and had fried bologna sandwiches and man were they goooood. Linda had brought bologna sandwiches to the crop Sat. and after I ate one, I was hungry for a fried one, so thank you Linda for the lunch idea. After that we all took a nap, which is unusual for Michael and I. We usually have so much to get caught up on that naps are out of the question, but like I said this Sun. was different. We had my dad and his girlfriend over for supper, which is becoming the normal Sun. dinner, but this Sun. our next door neighbor had her daughter and granddaughter here, so they all came over. The best thing about this was our next door neighbor cooked supper. Yes, we do know how blessed we are to have someone next door to us like Cookie. She has been a blessing to us ever since we moved in (I will tell that story another time). After everyone left, Morgan and I put her scrapbooking stuff in a bag that I don't use anymore and boy was she tickled to death. I don't think that I could have done anything else to make her any happier. I told you this Sun. was different but it was the best.

Now for today, Mon., we all loaded up this morning and took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese and spent the whole morning and some of the afternoon there. Michael met us for lunch, which surprised the kids. It ended being me, Cookie, Lisa, Lauren, Morgan, and Joseph a truck full, but a fun bunch. I don't know who had the most fun the kids or me and Lisa. It has been so long since we went to Chuck E Cheese that I didn't remember to take some of the token receipts that Lauren had brought with her, I felt really bad, even though she said it was o.k. I had a memory lapse, oops.:( We all still seemed to have a great time.

This weekend and today, God has been teaching me to let go of things that I worry about so much that mean nothing. I feel as though he has been teaching me how be a kid again and have fun out of life instead of worrying about it. I am by nature a worrier and God is really dealing with me on that. I have stopped having fun with life and started having everything so planned out that my hubby tells me that I am borderline OCD, this is not good. I have been one that if it is not planned to the "t" then I become very anxious and started going into a frenzy of sorts. So I am learning to deal with life as it is thrown to me and trust God that he really does know what He is doing. This is really taking me out of my comfort zone, but don't kids and God do that to you sometimes?

Matthew 6:25-27

25Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet you heavenly Father feeds them. Are you no much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Last Day of Swimming Lessons

Joseph, Mr. Jimmy, and Morgan

Well today was it, the last day of swimming lessons. Joseph has made tremendous progress. He is now going under water, jumping off the side of the pool, going down the slide, and going through the hula hoops (you have to put your face in the water to go through them). This is such an improvement from where we started, with him not wanting to put his face in the water at all. Yesterday he told me he didn't want to go under water because he was afraid, so before we went through the gate we repeated our bible verse and man did God work. All of the sudden Joseph was ready to slide, he was ready to jump off the side of the pool, and he was ready to go under the hula hoops. God worked a major miracle in him, yesterday. Today when we got there he was ready to take on the world (as long as it was in the pool). Thank you God for showing up and showing out.

Now, for Morgan. She has made major improvements also. She could already put her face in the water but now we love showing everyone how we can go under water. She is trying her best at holding her breath and gliding underwater, but she has to work on how long she stays under. She can go a tiny bit, but they want her to go longer. She has overcome her fear of the slide and she will jump off the side of the pool also. Each time she gets ready to go down the slide you can see her saying her bible verse, which I know pleases God that she depends on him so much. We will have to work on her straightening her legs when she swims, she wants to pull them under her like a frog. But she has tried to do everything that has been asked of her and tried her best. To this I say "Kudos", Morgan.

It's amazing when we as adults overcome a fear, we all feel so relieved and feel the freedom that God gives us. But I believe when you see a child overcome a fear, you know that God is not only smiling because of what you taught the child, but He is rejoicing because of what the child has learned and will not forget. This faith has been instilled deep within the heart and as we get to be adults we sometimes forget that it is ours for the choosing. We let so much of life get in the way. We think and analyze things way too much, instead of just taking God's word as it is. We can learn so much from a child if we will on let ourselves be a child once in a while.

Psalm 23:4 I will not be afraid for you are right beside me. (NLT)