Just one last post....

before it's August.

SCHOOL is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I not really excited about this.... hahahahahhahahaha!

I felt a load off my shoulders!

Now I'm planning a trip to Kentucky, Michigan and Indiana in one big circle. I'll post more later. I feel like summer just started today!

Look and see what we did yesterday...

We have been praying for the day when our children would one day accept Jesus as their personal savior. Jordan made the decision at camp this summer. We have been waiting for a time when we could all be home together. This weekend I talked to the girls about Jordan's decision. I gave the the opportunity to also make that decision. They both said yes. I almost had to stop the car I was crying so hard!
I wish you could have been there. I know that many of you have been praying along with us. I wanted to share this day with you too. Thank you for caring for my children. Please continue to pray that as parents we will continue to lead them and teach them in a way that is please to our Father.

Movie night....

I figured if my friend Chrissy could fit her family in an arm length shot we could too.Here's what Gerti did through that whole movie. She enjoyed having the whole bed to herself!
This is what we watched. It was a family friendly (some bad language but not bad) sweet movie. The kids really loved it. Now Leland felt the need to chime in and point out that yes there was an adult situation that create the child. But I really don't think the kids focused on that. But he likes to long version of every story. I should find out from Tammy if that is a yellow thing or not. It drives me nuts. I like the short version. Give m the Cliff notes!

Photofest....

It is doing this at our house tonight. It's kind of exciting. We haven't seen rain in way too long.
So the kids had to break out the games. We rented a movie too.

Hannah became a sidewalk preacher last month. All that time I didn't post because I didn't think I had any pictures. I forgot about these on my card still in the camera. It made me smile. If I remember right this was a memory verse she was working on. If that's the case these may actually be from May.


6The tongue is like a spark. It is an evil power that dirties the rest of the body and sets a person's entire life on fire with flames that come from hell itself. 7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures can be tamed and have been tamed. 8But our tongues get out of control. They are restless and evil, and always spreading deadly poison. James 3:6-8
Ouch! I just got an email similar to this. This God is trying to tell me something. Man he likes to reinforce his message!
Remember when I said I would take my camera and take pictures of the kids swimming? Well I actually did!

Well I'm off to watch a movie with the family.
Later

I've been playing...

I have been trying to organize myself for the next semester. I saw this idea for the plastic folder in an idea book. The one I saw was an album. But I made mine into a menu, shopping list, coupon holder. I have been working on compiling a list of over 30 meals that I know my family will eat. I'll put that list in one of the pages. I'll then have extra paper for grocery list. So if I am just setting around waiting on kids (which happens a lot) I can come up with a menu for the next week. From that menu I'll make my grocery list. I've also been working on a standard grocery list of things I buy each week. I've been comparing prices with Wal-Mart, Sam's, and Dollar General. I've been making a standard list for each store. My hope is that one week I can go to Wal-Mart and the next Sam's. Then Dollar General every other week. I've just found that my cleaning supplies and beauty supplies are cheaper there. I also don't shop around at Dollar General like I do at Wal-Mart or Target. The budget needs to stretch a little farther every week. These list will go in the other pocket pages:)
Then there is a pocket for my coupons. I've been trying to use them more. I also plan on using the sale ads in Wednesday's paper to plan my meals with the sale items for that week.
We are trying to not eat out. To make that happen I'm going to have to get better about meal planning. We have done a really good job this week about eating at home!
While I was at it I made myself a matching key ring.
And I made sure my new planner matched everything too:)

Words that made us genius....

Here are some words from our blog that made us a genius. I am as surprised by this as I'm sure most of you are! Want to make one of these for your own blog? Check this out. Now here's the disclaimer. I have not the foggiest idea about html code. It should have been a copy and paste job. But I ended up making a pdf file. Saving it to my computer. Opening it with photoshop. Cropping it and rotating it. I have no idea why this was so hard, but its pretty fun anyway! And you do get a feel for what I ramble on about most of the time:)

Got a joke for ya...

Hahaha tell me that this must be a joke!

TV Reviews

Productive day...

Scholarship papers turned in... check
loan papers turned in... check
got a job... check (It's only 10 hours a week, but the pay isn't bad and they will work around my schedule. I'll be tutoring kids at school)
project done (well my part anyway)... check
paper written (need to make some corrections but done)... check
homework assignment complete... check
weekly test.... give me a couple of hours....
I only have one more week left. I really was not sure I was going to make it through summer school... but I'm gonna make it... I've sure whined about it though!
So I have some reading for lit, present our group project in my education class, a couple of finals, and then I can breath again.
I'll leave you with some pictures from team camp. I'm taking my camera to mom's house right now. The kids are in the pool and I need some new pictures.
Later!
Only a group of 15 years old could find a way to make a closet fun!

Ran across some interesting thoughts...

That sum up the last year and a half of our lives, maybe even longer. It was in the last year or so that I became acutely aware of how unsure life is. Oh sure, the end in not a mystery. I know where I'll be going. But the rest of the ride is not what I was expecting. But that's OK. I'm learning to just try and enjoy the ride. Now for those of you who know that I am a red. Know how hard that is! (If you want to find out what color you are check out this site!)

"Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans." John Lennon


"I never had any plans and even those changed." Unknown


I have a busy week ahead. I should have studied more last week!

I have been playing a little bit...

I've had a little bit of time to play. My biggest problem is getting the creative juices flowing!

This is an 8.5in x 8.5in. album that I made of our trip to Destin last September. I feel pretty good about getting it done before September roles around again.










Have a great weekend. I'll post again soon!

Hello... tap... tap... tap... anyone still there?

You would think if I haven't posted in almost a month I would have a ton of pictures. But nope that's not the case. I've just been surviving life. Nothing big... just a ton of little things. Just like everyone else and their lives. All the kids have been to church camp. Jordan has decided to be baptized. So that is on the schedule ASAP. But we have not had a week since he has been back that we are all home! Jordan also had a week of Boy scout camp. We had a weekend at the lake for Fuller Family Fun. My cousin and her family came for a week. I had a birthday, my grandpa had a birthday, we had the forth, my dad had a birthday, Makayla was gone for a week of team camp for volleyball, and today is Leland's birthday. Did I get a single picture of any of this? No not really. Oh and I've completed 6 of the 8 weeks of summer school. So it's not like I've done nothing. But I just really have been doing more living life than trying to remember it. Maybe I don't really want to remember this summer. It's just kind of been blah. Here's one of the cute pictures that I did catch. This is my cousin Natalie. Her birthday was July 2nd. We celebrated while they were here for a visit.
And Hannah has been a real sweety to walk to dogs lately. I wonder what she is up to on these walks.
I have made some pages lately. I get some pictures and post again soon. We did get mom's house finished up. I'll get some pictures of that too.
I hope you are all enjoying your summer. School started here in 4 weeks. We have several things to finish up in the next couple of weeks. The kids have a couple of summer reading books to finish. I have 2 more weeks of school. And all the flurry of activities that involve getting ready for school.
I will be back soon!