Good bye for this season, Mr. Met. It was good while it lasted...........






See you in April.

2 weekends ago, I went the Women of Faith with my daughter. This past weekend end I went to the Weekend to Remember with John. Last night, I went to the Maxwell's mini conference. (Titus2.com)

I have been seeking God in the darkness, but trusting and hoping. Not really in despair anymore, just waiting for HIM.

Or so I thought.

One of Chloe's friends sent this to her tonight, and I was weeping when I watched it, because now I get it!! I had actually watched this before, and thought WOW! thats good. But didn't have the eyes to see att he time. Now I get it.

I thought God was asking me " Where in the world are you?" Only to realize, HE knows exactly where I am, and He is waiting for me!! HE is fighting the battle for my soul.

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ee73e63418003b47d7d5&page=1&viewtype=&category=md


I hope you may have eyes to see........

So, we went to the weekend to remember, and it was pretty much what I expected. It was good. :)

Now, back in reality, I need a car. Well we need a car. It stinks having to shop for one. I am not a big ticket item shopper. My house is full of odds & end donated furniture, which actually manage to go well together, because I just can't seem to spend big money real good. And when someone mentions they want to get rid of soemthing thats still in good shape. There I am!! With John behind me rolling his eyes. :)

Target, now thats another issue all together.

Anyway, all of you out there who are of the praying persuation, you know, "God is way bigger then me and in control", well, if you think of it, pray for wisdom for us. Thank you.


PS I don't think Notre Dame can beat our local high school football team. Bummer

WTR

For my 40th birthday, I asked for 2 things. Actually, I thought I will ask for one, and if I don't get that one, I have a back-up!!

We women are nuts that way.

Well, sure enough, when I asked to go to the Steelers training camp. John said no. I was okay with that (not really, I really wanted to go, but...) because when he said, pick something else, thinking I didn't have anything and he could do or get whatever he wanted...

I asked to go to FamilyLife's Weekend to Remember. :)


I have been asking to go for about 10 years now, every time they came to town, and he always found an excuse.

We are going!!!

Not that he is thrilled or anything, but he is tolerating it. I am okay with that!

So this Friday, even though the older ones are self-sufficient, they also have plans! Hoops is going on a retreat in upstate NY, Chloe is counceling a week-end camp, and Samuel is going with my parents to his favorite place in the whole wide world. My sister's in PA. :)

And hopefully, John & I will have a weekend to remember. In a good way. lol!!!



AND did I mention John's work truck up & died? He is using my suburban. I am using Chloe's truck, having to drop her off @ school if she doesn't get a car pool. I miss my truck. But its okay. Now I am not going out if I don't have to, because then I have to wake up early to drive Chloe. So it makes me think " How much do I REALLY want to go to this place." I am amazed at how many things are not worth it, and I could do without.

So now we have to decide what to do. His old truck is gone. The mechanic said... move on buddy. Obviously we are getting a used something. Decisions decisions.....

This is what we spend our nights watching... Outside.

Samuel last year, in the middle of raking season.

ITS AUTUMN!!!!!

I love Autumn. I already have all my autumn decorations up both on the front porch, and in our house. The leaves are now just starting to turn color. Just a few trees. Soon though, OH!! the majesty of our Creator will be seen from corner to corner in the great outdoors. It is just breath taking to sit on our back yard swing a stare. In every direction is beauty.

And we don't even have to go anywhere!

Our sweaters came out this past week. Our demin, fleece & flannel, too.

Almost every night, John makes a fire in the outdoor fire pit, and we try to enjoy the warmth in the cold evening.

About the only thing I don't like about Autumn, is that winter is around the corner. And that stinks. My Reynauds is already welcomed in the new season, and boy it hurts.

And its only September.

Still, I plan on enjoying the "crisp" weather, and survive the pain.

budgeting

Today is the first day of our new life.



We started a budget!! Again.



We didn't have one when we first got married. No one gave us a clue. We pretty much learned by trial and tough errors. Then we got on a budget, payed off our debt, and were blessed by the freedom a budget brings.



Then 3 years ago, John started his own company. Which threw our budget out of whacked. No longer could we count on a weekly salary. It came down to whenever he got paid, whatever he got paid. ( not to mention, since he is a contractor some people don't pay AT ALL!! We have had to cough up so much money on equipment...ugh) I had no idea how to do that kind of budget. And so........



Now we are paying for it. Big time. Again.



But its time to put my big girl panties on, and fix it again.



And so, last night, with the help of my daughter, we layed out a life plan. A monthly budget, with monthly shopping ( I think I will do every 3 weeks, can't go a month without supplies, but a month is the goal eventually) , and hopefully, we will once again get out of debt, and live free.



And can I say, I am totally excited!! I am tired of being clueless and hoping for the best. It will take a few months to get back in shape, but here we go......

September

I know, I know...I love football.. It is my all time favorite sport. I mean, come now......No competition





But, you see, I married a baseball fan. Big time. And even though I held these children that we had, I nursed them, kissed their boo-boos, taught them, laugh with them, cried with them. STILL, they are bigger baseball fans then football fans.


I don't know where I went wrong.

So by default, from the simple fact that I live in the house, I too, am a baseball fan.


And all baseball fans know, this is a big month. Not the biggest one, thats next month, but it is like New Years Eve, getting ready for the real thing.



And.... is there any better team then the New York Mets?? Well, yes, but we won't say that in this house. As long as they are doing better then the Yankees(they are) then we are good to go.


And go they do.

Shea Stadium. As you walk down the subway plank, you can feel the electricity in the air. Shea is being torn down. Sad times. The new stadium is right next to it. Across the street is the US Open tennis courts. Way cool.




AAAAHHH, almost there.



And this is a picture of our sons and my nephew. Stephen is my sister's son. He is a functioning austistic young man. Much to Stephen's friends frustration who live in Philly, thanks to his cousins, he, too is a Mets fan.





We have more Met's stuff then is reasonable. Chloe's room is a Mets room. Her walls are the same brown as the baseline. Mets and/or baseball stuff just threw up in there. Posters, stand up guys, baseball curtains, calendars. She has her baseball encyclopidias all lined up. These things are the size of big dictionaries!!

......She has a Mets carpet. Enough said.......

When it was her turn to pick a vacation spot, I *hinted* that Prince Edward Island would be lovely. She loves Ann of Green Gables. PERFECT!! So, after a long consideration, she picked Cooperstown. COOPERSTOWN!!!!!! I almost cried, but John said it was her choice, so off to Coopestown we went for the week. It was......not Prince Edward Island.

PS for all of you non baseball fans, Cooperstown is where the baseball Hall of Fame is. Its a small town in upstate NY.

Yeah.


So, here is hoping the Mets do well this year. Or I will have to once again comfort a whole family, as I had to last year.

And the year before.

And the year before that.

And the one before that.......


And the one before that.......

look who is talking

So, I was talking to Maria in TN. She is one of my best friends. I wrote about her before.

ANYWAY, the point is, she was giggling at me when ever I said something funny. Which is not ha-ha funny, but duh funny. Meaning she thought it was funny.


She thought the way I spoke was funny.

LIKE, when I was talking about Boston, I said Boston. You know, Bo-as-ton. Like a good Jersey person would say it. Like a good american would say it. :) Or my dog. (do-ag) Or wo-ata. (water). Or to-alk. Such as in what on earth are you to-alking about??

Yeah, so I am trying to figure out when she became a non- Jerseyan. She has been gone from home WAY too long. Yous guys know what I mean?

PS

And we should remember our military, who are out there for OUR sake.

And we should rememebr to pray for them and their families.

911

Today is a day of remembering.....





I remember when we didn't own a TV, and I was on the phone with a homeschool mom who wanted to join our group. She then told me that her husband told her a plane had hit one of the towers. We both thought it was a small plane out of control or something as such. Then she sounded shocked and hung up.



I remember going to my neighbor's house, and asking her if she was watching tv. She said yes. I asked if I could watch with her. She laugh and said she was watching Barney with her little girl. I told her what little I knew, and we both ran to the tv.



I remember both us standing there, knowing that our world was changing. Not knowing how or why, but the fear gripping our hearts. She is a pastor's wife, so it was good to have been able to cry out together to our King.



I remember that we ( my 3 children and myself) were suppose to take a field trip, just the 4 of us to the Statue of Liberty that morning, and the morning just kept getting away from me. We were suppose to be out the door at 7:30 am. But one thing after another kept us home. I am thankful for the delay. We truly were all ready to walk out the door, but then things kept happening. We may have been stuck at the island for an ridiculous amount of time. Not to mention my children would have had a terribly terrifying view of the horror. And who knew where the next target was....



I remember instead, John & I driving to Washington' Rock , which is about 5 minutes from our house on the hill, where we usually go to see the NYC skyline . There were loads of people there, just shocked. The silence was deafening. We all just looked on. In unbelief. Words escaped us all.



I remember the day making us all numb. After all, we are but 45 minutes from NYC, and we all know someone who worked at the WTC. They are our neighbors, our friends, our fellow church memebers. Our family.



I remember when we finally went to the WTC almost a month later. We saw the pictures, the news clipping, the obituary pages in the paper everyday that were extra thick, for the paper rightly so, decided every name was worthy of remembering. We thought we knew what to expect.





We were wrong. The one thing they never mentioned was the smell. The quietness, the heartache in the air. Still, one month later.



We also saw the hope, the hope that came from all the local churches that sent out people to do everything. Everything imaginable. The Lord was there. The Lord's instuments were the beacons of light in a dark and what seemed to be hopeless world.



I rememeber this nation, standing up together, praying together, clinging together. And most importantly working together, with God at our side, without shame or fear. For our God was the only thing that would make sense of this. If only we clung to HIM.



Yes, we knew some of those who died. We also knew of those who survived miraculously. The stories were amazing.



Today marks that day.



http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/shattered/


And we all should remember.

And thank our Lord for HIS mercies. And HIS grace.

battle fields

Today, I was reminded that the greatest battle that we fight, is the battle of the soul.

It is so easy to blame someone else for....... whatever causes the battle. To fight the battle with our own "power" , to rip the situation to pieces, only to have the piece on the floor and a bigger mess then when we first started..

But in the end, our prostrate hearts before our Lord, our King, in humility and reverence, are more powerful then anything in this whole wide world.

And when we remember that, the battle is won.

Our Precious Jesus........

HE already won.

Glory be to God in the highest.

YIKES. Again

Reilly has hit an ALL TIME HIGH of 51 POUNDS!!!!!

51 POUNDS!!!!!!




I think he gave our dog sitter those puppy-dog eyes and she totally fell for it. ::::sigh::::::


He is average 40 pounds. He is a big beagle to begin with, but 51 POUNDS??!?!??! The vet is going to have a fit.

Mind you Daisy is 15 pounds.


Yeah.


Tomorrow he starts walking with me. Both of us are losing this extra person (me)/dog(Reilly) we are carrying around.

creative juice in overtime

So, I have been inspired!!!!

Thanks http://knittyinthesouth.blogspot.com/ Becky.

As I was watching the Colts/Saints game, I WAS KNITTING for goodness sakes.

Sheesh, I can' t remember the last time I did that.

What am I making? A good old scarf. I need the practice, so that when I make something for someone in this house ( I can't make something for someone out of this house yet....don't want them looking at it like...Gee thanks, what is it) They may actually wear it. HAHA . Well thats the plan anyway.

On another note, I had a meeting with my "mentor" today. Boy was that something to behold. She smacked me up one side of the head and down the other. Figuratively speaking of course. No good pastor's wife will actually DO that in real life. I hope. It was a good thing though. I am such a rebel, Lord Jesus forgive this wicked heart.

Humility is a beautiful thing.

AND!!! I decided I am going to start walking again next week. I use the word decide very liberally. I used to walk 3 miles in 30 minutes every day. Before you get all impressed on me, let me say it was all my neighbor's fault. I mean encouragement. I kept telling her if she doesn't force me to wake up by showing up at my door, I ain't walking. Well, she did. So, this little irish woman 10 years older then me made me get in shape. Yup. She ran circles around me and I couldn't stand her for it.



We are starting again. After a lovely year long break.

Dog-gone it.

I'm tired already.

contest

OH! and I signed up for yet another contest, which undoubtedly, I will not win. :) lol.

BUT do not fear, I am always optimistic.!!

http://hskubes.blogspot.com/

So go here and see what fun stuff she has to offer!!!

Random Pictures

So, here are some random pictures, because there are too many to post.

On Sunday night, we walked down the street from our house to go hear the vets do a summer concert. Way cool.



Of course, we had to have seafood, so off to the FishShack to have....what else?? Lobster. (Actually, I had shrimp & scammed some lobster off of John) ( I shared me shrimp with him too ) The scenery from the place was incredible. It was all big windows on 3 side and it was on the ocean.



John & Lance kayaked the Atlantic ocean. They were out there about 4 1/2 hours. I am glad I didn't have a clue how crazy it was out there until after the fact. I would have been worried the whole time. And according to the guys, it was mad cold to boot.



BOSTON!! On Chloe's 19th birthday. We love Boston. Enough said.....



I told Chloe to take a picture of us with the Navy ship behind us. Do you see the navy ship? I don't.....

this is Gloucester. The famous of all seaports. Amazing.





And of course, the memorial in Glouscester to honor the fishermen lost at sea. If you have seen The Perfect Storm, this is the town. We saw the dock where the Andrea Gail set off from, and the other interesting places from the movie.

And hiking.... Beautiful scenery

And last but not least, this kitten kept joining us for breakfast and/or dinner. We ate outside alot, since the house had an outdoor patio. This kitten meowed his/her way to my kids' heart. Who am I kidding, John's too. Samuel begged to take it home. All I could think was "heck to the NO". We already have 2 cats too many in my opinion. To my relief, it was not a stray. But I told Samuel he could take a picture with it.....

And today.....we started school!!!

My baby is a third grader!!! I blinked.

Rocky Beach

So, on to the beach. There is a good reason Rockport is called Rockport. See, its a port, made of ROCKS. Actually, the whole state is just rocks.

This is a view of the beach we spent an awful lot of time on. We were told is was crowded. Obviously, they have never been to the Jersey shore. Crowded means shoulder to shoulder people. Our rental guy apologized for it being so busy. We were waiting for the crowds, until we realized, this was it!!! Yeah........



2 miles down from our beach, we went to the coast. This was NOT a beach, though it was just down the street. This is Halibut State Park. There is no way anyone can swim here. It was rough and rocky. No shoreline anywhere. Getting your toes wet was about all the water you were going to experience at this place. I'm not sure what was on Chloe's mind when this picture was taken, but it doesn't look very sisterly.



Back to our beach. The water was crystal clear, and low-tide was amazing. You could go out forever. If you were brave enough to freeze to death. The water was "refreshing". But true enough, we all got out there.





We met people from all over. From Seattle to Italy, and of course, the locals, which were such nice people. I am used to the New Yorker. All those things you see in the movies about New Yorkers.....they are all true.

Salem

We went to Salem

We had no desire to tour the witch stuff, but last time we went to Boston, I wanted to see the House of Seven Gables, but we didn't have enough time.

The house is in Salem. Right before we went to MA, I watched The Crucible. It is an amazing movie though I don't know if I would recommend it freely. Anyway, we went and we basically did the House, and the (Henry) Derby Market. The Market was charming, though had entirely too many witch/magic shops. None of which we went into.



John & Chloe. I am wondering why on earth witches think Salem belongs to them. After all, most of the people killed during the witch trials were Christians. Duh. And truly none were probably were witches if you read history right.






John & I in front of the house. We took the tour. It was mad cool. Did you know, it started with 3 gables. then as the owner got wealthier, it went to 5, then 7. Then hard times caused it to go back to 5. And it stayed at 5, until it become a "museum". Then the new owner didn't think anyone wanted to go see the house with just 5 gables, so she added the other 2 again.




Lance & Samuel in front of the house. The location of the house was right on the water's edge. The original owner was a sea captain. It was so serene and lovely, and the view was stunning. Also, they dragged (though there is a good technical term for this project) Nathaneal Hawthorne's birth home to the same area. It was originally abour 7 or 8 blocks away.

Anyway, it was cool. We are glad we went.

Rockport was amazing!! Pictures to come.....

And I think we are all ready for school again.

This is our 17th year homeschooling. I think I got it covered. :) We start school on Wednesday. Lance & Chloe in college, Samuel is a third grader!!!

And the adoption is in the works.

God is fabulous, even when life gets hard, and it does get hard.....Our good Lord is fabulous!!