Miracle

I have always wanted to make blankets for all of my kids. I have started many many times but always stop because I get disinterest.
David's grandmother made blankets for all her kids and all her grandkids. David's mom has now made blankets for each of our kids. So I begin to think again about making blankets for my kids. Something they can have even when I'm gone.
So tonight I started. My first blanket is going to be a sunburst granny square crocheted blanket. Tonight I watched a how to you tube video tons of tome and finished my first square.
Although not very pretty I'm hoping to get better after I make 88 of them.

My Testimony-His Testimony

You may not realize it, but you have a testimony.  A testimony is all about a story.  His story.  

This is a story that comes from the labors of life.  This is a story that came from ashes that He makes beautiful.  The toil of life the parts we would rather forget and never speak of again are the very parts of life which He wants us to use for His glory.This Testimony births HOPE.  Are we sharing that HOPE?  We were challenged in church this week to write down our testimony.  That very testimony is one thing that unbelievers can never argue with. 

          It's ours, it happened to us!

You may not think you story is important or worthy to tell but you are wrong.  It needs to be heard.  It needs to be told.   Our Testimony is the most powerful weapon we have against the enemy.   

Some do not share their testimony because of the things they did in the past.  Even though they are changed and have been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb they don't want anyone to know what they did or how they acted in the past due to judgement.

Others judgement is not what I want to be concerned with.  I need to use the tools I have to bring others to the Lord.  One tool is my testimony.  Satan would love to use our past against us, to have us be quiet.  

That which the enemy tried to use to defeat you becomes the very weapon with which you can use to defeat him.

Just relaxing

My girl is so funny. Saturday I let them watch cartoons while we cleaned and rearranged rooms. Cynthia made herself comfortable.

That time again!!

I am what you would consider a beginner canner. I started 2 years ago with jam and then last year moved to apple butter and apple sauce. I decided not to add to my list this year. I canned blackberry jam a couple of weeks ago and then after returning from vacation canned 14 quarts of applesauce. I still have a box to work up and I plan to make apple-butter and apple-pie mix.

Sunday Baking

While it has not been a typical Sunday I still managed to do my baking for the week. My hubby was very happy to know he would be having cinnamon rolls this week. I aim to please :)

Vacation stop

One of the places that we stopped while on vacation was a chocolate candy store. Our kids had never been to anything like this. They had free candy everywhere and my kids ate their share.
My favorite picture is of C's face after several pieces of candy.

The pictures in the trees were taken while we waited for the store to open. David, papa, and the kids played ball too.

On our way to the Grand Canon

We have been planning this trip to the Grand Canon for over a year. David and his dad have been wanting to hike it together for sometime. With Paul's age this would be the last year it could happen. We have never taken a vacation without the whole family. This would be different but we could not wait.
We left Sunday after church and the adventure began.

Summer Bowling

This year we got passes that let us get 2 free bowling games a day for free. It was really a great things for families. We did not get to go as much as we would have liked but we did have fun when we went. The girls even went and took their brother a couple of times too. I went with a group of friends but failed to take many pictures.

The Mom Song!

I totally loved this video.  I have seen Anita live and she is super funny.  Hope you enjoy a good laugh.

31 Days to Clean-Day 3

10 Ways to Give Life to Your Home: By Renee Behringer

1.  Retain our tongues to give words that encourage, comfort and edify others.

2.  Offer life-giving and grace-filled word to husband and children.

3.  Make our home a place of grace where mistakes and sins  are not met with anger but with love and hope.  

4.  Decorate our homes to make home a place of beauty.  Beauty raises life above mere existence.

5.  Develop necessary cleaning skills and habits; clutter causes stress.

6.  Face our anger, anxiety, fear and depression.  Our homes reflect our mental/ spiritual/ emotional health.  Ask the Lord to replace these emotions with faith and hope.

7.  Plan regular times away from home to rejuvenate and gain perspective.

8.  Persevere in planning fun activities for family on weekends or ordinary weekdays.

9.  Play praise or worship music to lift everyone's spirits.

10.  Ask the Lord: What areas of my home are causing stress or bringing spiritual/ emotional/-mental 'deadness'?  What can I do to bring life to those places instead to make them a place of refuge?  

There is nothing more important to me then giving life to my home.  They say if momma ain't happy no one is happy and this is very true.  I want to be happy, I want to give life to my home.  

My Challenge today was to have conversation with David about what make him feel the most loved when it comes to caring for our home.  We had a very good conversation of the things he likes that I do, most of the time.  It opened my eyes to what my husband sees as important and it is not necessary what I would have thought he would have said.  

I had to dust the tops of refrigerator, cabinets, and shelves.  I also cleaned and shined the outside of drawers and cabinets.  The kitchen is starting to look really good :)

Air Force Graduation

So I'm trying to catch up on all my pictures and all that we did and long and behold I did not post our air force graduation pictures....or at least I could not find them.  Since I was to make a book each year of my blog I need to make sure everything makes it in there :))

Anyway, I love taking the kids to see the planes we do it every year.  We go close to David's job and he comes out and has lunch with us.  Fun Fun Fun

Oh and if I did post this already sorry :(

31 Days to Clean Challenge-Day 2

Day 2

Today is day 2 of the 31 days to clean challenge.  Not my favorite day since today's challenge had me cleaning my refrigerator, and freezer.  Yes it needed to be clean but with 5 kids running around I did not want to do it today.  That's what accountability will do for you.  I told my husband about this challenge so there was no turning back.  In the end I have very clean refrigerator and freezer.  It all worked out :)

Day 2-Check

Church Camp Trip

MPC did a family camping trip this summer.  Last year only the men and boys went.  So we decided to give a try.  We have gone camping with other people before and it really never works out.  We like to do what we want to do when we go camping.  I like to relax and not go from one activity to another.

This camping trip was mostly the kind I like.  There were no planned activities except the guys all planned to shoot guns every waking minute.  There is nothing wrong with this unless you're the mother of a 4 year old boy whose only desire was to be with the big boys shooting.  This meant for his momma that she could not let him out of her sight the entire time.  This was not relaxing.  On one side of me I had the big boys shooting HUGE guns and on the other side of me I had the teens playing arrow-soft shooting.  My son was like a kid in a candy store except he was unable to get anywhere close to the candy....no touching, no looking close.

He was a sad little boy.

other than that it was perfect, oh wait the rain :((

We could hardly believe that we were up in the mountains in the middle of no where are up comes a school bus.  Needless to say he was lost.

This came to be known as the William's Estate.

We went for a walk that took us on a trail that had a bridge the kids could look over.  It was really nice, except that due to the rain the bugs were terrible.

There were so many guns it was a little weird.

No my son did not get to fire a real gun but he wanted  to so bad.