Fun Pictures

I decided to finally download the outrageous number of photos from my camera. I hope that you enjoy them. We have been having some very busy days with school, football practice and games, piano, and karate. It helps time to go by faster and it helps us when we are missing Daddy. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.

THANK YOU!!!

Thank you all for your prayers! Joe made it safely to where he is suppose to be. We appreciate your continued prayers.

Tears of Frustration

OK! This is a hard post for me as I have to tell you that my husband is leaving again tomorrow for another deployment after just getting home from the last one just six months ago. I know that there are lots of other Army wives who deal with this all of the time. This being the third deployment you think I would know how to, but, guess what, I DON'T!!!! Usually we have a few months to digest the fact that Joe would be leaving but in this case we have only had about 2 weeks. So, hence the Tears of Frustration. So, I guess I am asking you to pray for all of us and we deal with once again being separated for a lot of those special days that were missed last year, like my birthday, Isaac's bday and death anniversary, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Nathan's 1st birthday(which Joe missed his birth too!). Lord willing, I will get over my frustration and continue to know that God's grace is sufficient for me and His strength will be ever present. Even as a Christian sometimes it is hard for me not to focus on the circumstances and keep my eyes on things above as they are suppose to be. I guess I am only human and still have that sinful nature to be this way. We love all of you and thank you for always keeping us in your prayers. May God Bless all of you!!

Strawberry Picking & Camping Trip

On Memorial Day Weekend, Joe decided to take the boys camping with some of our friends from church but before they left I took the boys up to Maryland to go strawberry picking. It was a really nice farm and we met another homeschooling family there to pick beautiful strawberries. The boys did a great job at picking the right ones too. We ended up with 3 very full flats of strawberries. Then we went inside and had fresh homemade ice cream and donuts. It was delicious. The following week, I decided to make jam and strawberry sauce. I ended up with 21 quart jars of jam and 8 jars of Strawberry sauce. At least I won't have to buy any for a long time!! We had a great time together.

We went home and then proceeded to get Joe and the boys ready to leave for camping. The went to a local campground, only about 5 miles from the house, but still a beautiful place. Our church holds it's picnic's there on Memorial Day weekend which is one of the reasons that they choose to go there. Joe and the boys left that afternoon and I went out to meet them later on for dinner. I did not camp with Nathan this year but by God's grace maybe next year. I think for their first camping experience they had a good time with their Dad and some of their friends that were there as well. It was a beautiful weekend too. I was just warm enough during the day and not too cold at night. Most of all, there was wonderful fellowship between believers.

Enjoy the pictures and hopefully tomorrow I will have more to come.

Updates

Hi Everyone!!

Well, I know I have been a lot behind on blogging as of late but stay tuned for some updates. The life of living with three very active boys has caught up with me. So, my plan is to have a new blog for the next 5 days with updates from what has been happening for the past few months. I hope you enjoy them. Have a great day!!!

The Power of a Dollar

Today, the boys and I had to go out to pick up Aaron's new eyeglasses at the mall. We did that and then went on to canvassing the mall just to have some time out of the house. We ended up hitting the Dollar Store which honestly I haven't gone to in a really long time. I was cruising around just looking and found these really cool little sunglasses for Nathan. Christian exclaims to Nathan, "Don't let her put those silly things on you!" Well, I purchased them for a dollar and when we got home I decided to try them out. As soon as I put them on he started smiling and was so excited. These will last me all summer especially the many days at the swimming pool here on post and I will be protecting his eyes. So even though the economy may be in a slump at the moment, and even though they may only be "silly" sunglasses, that dollar will go a long way for me.

Piano Recital

Well, this past Saturday, the boys had their 2nd piano recital. This is the second year they have taken lessons with some time off in between to find a new piano teacher who is Mrs. Jan Z. from our church. She is a wonderful teacher and very patient with the boys. Christian actually ended up going first because the person before him was unexpectedly late. I thought that would make him more nervous but he handled it very well. Mrs. Jan was very pleased with their performances as they made no mistakes and played from memory. Joe and I were happy and proud of both of the boys and the good job they did. Hopefully, over this next year they will continue to improve. We hope you all enjoy hearing and seeing them play!!