It has been an awesome busy month.

GOD is good.  

ALL THE TIME.

We went to 2 of our niece's college graduations!!

So proud of them.

We had birthdays, graduations, getting ready for VBS this month, doing research and getting stuff ready for a book club at my house, (because yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have no life so I add more.  :P ), finishing up school with kids who have MAJOR schoolitis, putting transcripts together, driving to activities, starting the garden, having people over for grill meals, dealing with a dryer that doesn't work, not training well for the triathlon, and of course, getting ready for a mission trip and all that that entails, in which preparations started 3 weeks ago.  

And though there is more, I rather not think about it anymore.  I may crawl back to bed.

I got to spend 2 days with my nephew.  I miss him, and I hope he enjoyed our time together.  I sure did.  

I hope we get to see him and his brother when we go on vacation.

I seriously miss those 2.

And look who got a haircut!!

Boo is SO happy with 'A FREE HEAD, MOMMY!"

It wasn't long enough to donate, or she could have cut it shorter, but her hair is one of the things I give in to her choice.

Did I mention my parents went back to the old country.  AGAIN??!!??

They did.  They hadn't been home for 3 months and they went back.

Granted they went for a wedding, so...fine.

But still, I am not crazy about them travelling at their age so much.

Not to mention I miss them.

I'll get over it.  But I will give my mom a hard time about it, because after all, she taught me how to master guilt. 

lol.

Moving on.

My son is trying to find himself.

I think that is fantastic.

The only thing is, I have been praying about a good mentor for him.  Not one that will feed him worldly garbage, but one that will give him a vision, where GOD is most important.  One that will pray for him and his heart.  One that will care enough about him, and teach him honor, grace, humility and most of all faith.

Though he is fighting me, at the end of the day, I am his parent, and that's that.  Who ever wants to fight me for him, will have a really bad and ugly fight ahead of them.  I love him too much.

That being the case, we signed up for a SAT/PSAT class this summer.  At his request!!  That funny part is, he has to be at the place at 9am.  The place is am hour away, so he has to wake up early ( for him) during the summer.

Excuse me for a minute.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Thank you.

I am excited for him.  

Still funny seeing as his brain start to really work at around 8pm and stays awake for hours.

OK.  Off to yet another graduation.  But this time it is high school.  

Life is good.

GOD is awesome.

JOYS!

Through the sorrows and hardships of life, and there are many, one must cling to all the joys HE gives.

I think people who are miserable, often forget to cling to them.  Hence the reason they are angry, miserable or lonely.

Life is pretty darn hard around here.  If I wanted to give in, I can pretty much go to bed 5 out of 7 days a week crying. Easy.

But as it turns out, that only happens maybe once or twice a month.

Because HE IS GOOD!!!! And as rotten as life could be...HE IS STILL GOOD!!!

We celebrated my mom's 70th birthday this past week.

My mom is awesome.  She can be the biggest nudge and the lectures never stop.  But I love her something awful.  And she is also funny as all get out.

We were over the other day, and our youngest son was crabby and mean.  She asked him a few questions about his hair, and I started crying from laughing.  They were not mean or snarky, or to annoy him, just good questions because she was curious.  Or maybe I should say, she asks those awkward questions older people ask youngens.  He was trying SO HARD not to laugh, failing miserably.  Which of course, made me laugh harder.  Which of course, made him try harder NOT to laugh.

He finally gave in.

She is awesome that way.

And I can never say it enough.  I am SO THANKFUL she lives so close.  My girls LOVE going to Nana's house.  And not just because she feeds them.  Funny thing, sometimes when we leave, I hear her accent in their talk.  :)  Who doesn't love that??!!??!  All my kids drop in.  Our oldest daughter drops in with the babies at least once a week.  Those boys are getting a treasure that they will not appreciate it until they are older.  Our oldest son will drop by their house at any given time.  After work, on the way to a friend's house, driving down the street.

We are thankful.

And of course, Samuel loves her and can't get enough.  I use it as a bride.  When he asks to go, I tell him finish your school work and we will leave as soon as you are done.  It's amazing how much work he can get done with incentive.  :P

Thankful.

Our first grandchild, Beautiful Boy #1 turns 3 today!!!

GOD is good.

He is coming into his own.  He is in a better place since he can now communicate.  And the things that come out of his mouth are so funny and precious and brilliant.  And I don't say that because he is my grandson.  It is more along the lines of...he is a first born.  lol.

Thankful.

Our oldest's first born is due any minute now!!  My daughter in law looks so beautiful.  I mean she is already beautiful, but she is radiantly beautiful.  She can't wait to hold that baby i her arms, and quite frankly, neither can I.  They are a good couple.  They accept each other's weaknesses and strengthen each other.  Their personalities are so different, it actually works.  And I am so grateful she loves my son as much as she does.  I tell her all the time, she is a joy.

Thankful.

18 years ago today, my brother in law passed away.  Though I am not thankful he is gone, I miss him continually and think about how different our lives would be if he was here, I am thankful he was in our lives for his season here.  He was awesome.  He is missed, still.  He allowed himself to be an instrument in the hands of his GOD.  And hence, here we are.  In HIS grace.

Thankful.


I put this on my blog often.  Christian saw this a while ago.  Her face lit up, the smile stretched off her face, and she started dancing just like in the video!!!

 

Because I have to remember.  To be thankful..  Always.

Other than the first and foremost important thing above everything, and that is Jesus, HIS Lordship and HIS role in their lives, the next thing I want my kids to leave my home knowing is...

your life is not about you.

Knowing Jesus and learning to be thankful for what you have and how abundantly you have been blessed is important.

This way, they can move on and live for HIM, for others, and in turn FIND LIFE!!!!  

Breath Deep

wHoA.  I forgot to stop by and write something!

How can that be??!!?  Maybe because I have to think through what has happened ( a lot) and then bring it down to a few points.  And then try to make it interesting.  hahahahahahahahahaha.

Moving on.

My first born is having his first born soon!!

Someone said last night, " Oh, so it's your 3rd grandson?"  um... NO  It is just as important and crazy exciting to await for this one!!!!

Is it the first grandson that will carry on the family name.

And no, I'm not 'that' kind of a person, but there is something special in thinking that my father in law's legacy and name will continue.

He was much loved.   And our first born was his first grandson.  It was a big deal to him.

And, then, like I said...my first born's first born.  <3

The baby shower is this weekend.  She is due in about 3 weeks or so.  I am fairly bursting in anticipation.

Elles is going to the eye doctor next week.  She goes often.  She has a crazy eye that has been tamed without surgery so far, thankfully.  This time we will see if she has to wear glasses.  :O  Preparing either way. Hoping she doesn't.

Her reading has gotten so much better.  Her eye doctor said it would take time.  It did, but/and I am so proud of her!

My mom will be 70 years old soon.  70!!  So awesome to watch her still conquering life.  So awesome to see her plugging away; to hear her laughter. ( and yes, still get her lectures, though I am not sure that is in the awesome column ) SO thankful she is only 8 minutes from the house.  The girls love her and she teaches them things that I never could.

Baby Boy #1 is going to be 3 soon!  May is just chock full of celebrations.  We have loads during that month.  My nephews' birthdays ( though they live far away so we don't get to celebrate ) my mom's, grandson's, new grandson's, parent's anniversary, Mother's Day... It is a beautiful month to live through, though busy.

Most of school is almost done and should be done by the end of May/beginning of June.  We will still be doing math most of the summer, though will take off when we are away.  lol.  This was a good year.  Learn so much and then so much more than book work.  As we walked through British Lit. this year, I, once again realized just how much there is to learn from good literature.  And lo and behold, the kids actually enjoyed it, too!  Well, for the most part.  ;)

How is triathlon training going?  Can we hit the rewind button and make believe that never existed?

Thank you.

We got our summer vacation home.  It is all but a few houses, walking distance from the beach.  The bummer part will be that our son, DIL and grandbaby will not be joining us this year.  :::sigh::: woe-to-me.  But everyone else will be there.  Every year, my hope is that the love-of-my-life-that-makes-me-700-kinds-of-crazy will be able to just relax and enjoy and not be harried for a week.  I'm not a fan of the beach, but it really is not about me.  The plan is to go to the beach, play games, do our huge puzzle, go out for ice cream, and maybe go into town for the day.  That is it.  And play with the kiddos and grandbabies.  That is always fun.

So, this is longer than necessary.  I am sure that by now, I lost 3 of the 4 people that read this blog.

OH!  Samuel started pugilism a while back.  It has been good for him and he loves it.  The other night during dinner, he was telling us about one of the guys.  Missy-girl asked him how come he knows every person's name.  His response was something to the effect of: 'it is just plain polite to know the name of the person you will punch in the face'.

He is getting more fit and sleeping slightly better.  When he comes home from the gym he smells...athletically. :P  I remember that from Hoop's ice hockey days.

Anyway...like I said, it's good for him.  I spoke with loads of coaches before deciding on a gym, and I really like his coach.

We will see what happens.  It is something he can do forever if he wants to.

I will get a picture on here one of these days.

OK, off ot finish school.  I think the quiet work part of their school is done... as evident by the laughter.

I leave you with this...
 Spring cleaning is definitely in the air. ( we dewinterized our chicken coop and the smell was...just wrong.  Our poor neighbors.  But now it is just fine.  :D  )

Spring fun.

Spring Fever.

Life is good.

GOD is always better,

North Carolina

SO, let it be known that though one of my biggest dreams is to move to the south, NC is not the place I wish to live.

Which is funny, because I find myself really liking NC music.

And this bothers me.

Immensely.

See, its folksy.

And it makes me think I should be a folksy hippie or something.

And if you know me, I am neither folksy nor hippie.

At all.

Ever.

Regardless, I so enjoy the Avett Brothers.  I got the cd for my oldest son, and ended up liking it more than he does.

They are in the city in 3 days, and I will not be there because there is no way I can make it, specially after I tell you where I will be tomorrow. Later.

I did not go to high school in the 60s or 70s when folk music was around, I was still in elementary school in the late 70s, and we all know just how much we don't care about music in elementary school.

When I got to high school, I was into bands like Tears for Fears and David Bowie and U2 before they became U2 and I had to go into the city to buy their albums because no one had them here in Jersey.

And now, how much do I LOVE JMM? 

Loads and loads.

I am discovering more NC bands, and...I can't believe how much I like them.

Not cool.

And no, I do not like them because of their beards.  duh.

Though, let's get real...I have always been a fan of beards.  

Speaking of, my husband, who has a fabulous beard,

( granted the long hair is not my cup of tea, but if it helps keep the beard...)



came home one night and told me he read that the razor companies and having record low sales lately.

They are stressing and trying to come up with advertising to reverse this trend.

All I can say is, I had begged my husband to grow a beard since we got married.  29 years ago.  I couldn't care less if the trend goes away.

I will always be a fan of beards.  Always have been.  Always will be.

 And I will ALWAYS hope he never shaves it.

Ever.

Disclaimer: Not a big fan of the long beard.  Though I enjoy DD, those beards are too much for my taste. lol. 

Back to the original topic.  :p

I need to find some other taste in music to offset this style.

Quick.

NOW, on to where I am going this week.  Tomorrow to be exact.

My husband got me tickets to go see ROCKY on Broadway!!!!

ROCKY!!!

I KNOW!!!!  RIGHT??!!??

Again, another one of my loves.

We have ringside seats!!!!

I think he loves me.  <3   :)  

Tikvah

When my daughter moved from VA Beach to Jersey, oh wait, maybe it was from her from her rental to her next location, or her next location to her home now...regardless, it was in one of her many moves ( with babies in tow) that happened in a year and a half, she had this book in a give away box.

I saw it and grabbed it.

I don't know why.

Being the minimalist that she is, she gave me a mini lecture as I was taking it, making sure I would really read it and not take it just because and now it will be in my home creating clutter.  ( she is her father's child to the core)

Well, I did want to read it.  I don't know why.  This guy never appealed to me, and I was not 'into' his music and really, I have about 8 books I have to read ( in my nook, no clutter), but for some reason, I took it anyway.

Despite her look, lecture and as well as my husband's right behind her, I bought it home.  It has been 'creating clutter' for more than a few months.

Well, last week, my nook spazzed out and I haven't had time to go to B&N to get it fixed.

So the old concept of reading a paper book came back into my life.

This book was front and center.  I still ignored it.  For a few days.

But then I grabbed it and walked around with it and put it down where I was and grabbed it again, but didn't really open it to read it until bed time.

Just didn't want to or thought it would be boring-ish, and like I said, I never really had an interested to begin with.

Now I chalk it up to...' Its a GOD thing'.

I have wept several times while reading this book.

And it has bought me back to the Throne.

HE is so good to me.  I hadn't realized how laxed I had become in my faith.  I hadn't realized I was wading the ocean flat on my back instead of working the waves.

The funny part is, I like this guy more and more with each page.  I did not expect that.  I was just interested to see ...what happened.  More of a gossipy heart than a searching heart.

He is so not my kind of 'hero', and oh how he would hate to be thought of that way.  Just read the book.  But now, I so wish I was more like him.  I am not finished, and I a reading it WAY more slowly, to savor the words as well as the faith.  Last night, I read some excerpts to Samuel out loud.  It humbled him, too.  He didn't want to hear it, but he was glad he did.

Anyway, I think this book it a keeper.  For me.

On another note.

I miss my mom.  She is  at the motherland visiting.  She visits for weeks on end.  The girls miss her, too.  When we go to the house to check up on it, they mope around and ask how much longer.  Samuel has a count down calendar, and he is 15.  He already has expressed she has to come over for dinner the day after she gets home. She is a good grandmother.  And she feeds them.  :)

Less than 3 months until Precious Grandson #3 is born, but he will be #1 from our firstborn. Have I mentioned being a grandmother is such a blessing?? There really is nothing like being a mom.  Except being a grandmom.  I love both roles and am thankful for the privilege.  Even being a mother in law is a delight.  I love my children in law dearly.  They are more than I could have hoped for for my children.  I had nothing to do with the pickin' and choosin' but I did have something to do with the raisin', so they would make good choices, and trusted that.  They did good.  <3  ( I know, I know, it should be 'they did well ', and the grammar lady in my is wanting to change it, but let's move on.)


HE is good.  ALL THE TIME.

Remember to always seek HIS face.

This Good Day, It Is A Gift From YOU.

Life is so very devastatingly hard.  

But GOD is so amazingly good.

And our hardships are often caused by our sin.  Or at the very least, sin in this world.  

But usually it's us.

And thankfully, HE is merciful anyway.

Well, it's February, which means it is about that time of the year that we put down the deposit on the summer house.

Specially since we are not going to Martha's Vineyard.  That would have required we do that at the beginning of January.

I miss going there.  I don't miss the whole ferry fiasco of getting there, but very much enjoy the island itself. I can't wait for Obama to get out of the White House so we can start going back!!  I was so sick and tired of being there the same week he was there.  :P ::: gag:::  No matter what week we would choose, whether it was the last week in July, the first week in August, the second week in August, there he was.

We vowed not to go back until he is gone.

I even know what house we will rent when we DO get to go back!  We rented it before and it was my favorite.

I can't wait.

Anyway...

Boo had her birthday. 

She is 7.

SEVEN!!!  

She is the age I was when I first came to America!  I was telling the girls about my journey here.  It fascinated their little minds, as much as they could comprehend, anyway.

Just family was here.

It was decided we would alternate birthday parties.  One year, one would get a friends birthday party and the other a family, and we alternate the next year.

Well, Boo had fun anyway, because family is awesome. 

In spite of our shortcomings.

The girls sure do love their daddy.

Rightfully so.

Every girls should have a daddy like him.

And PLEASE, let's add to our Frozen collection.  lol.

They seem to not mind.  AT ALL.

Speaking of Frozen.

Have I mentioned how much I hate winter?  Maybe hate is the wrong word.

Detest.

This is my grill on the first snowfall. ( Actually it was not the first, it was the first I took a picture of after the last one had melted) Which was followed 4 days later by another 7 or 8 inches.  Which was followed 2 days later by an ice storm.

It is cold.

We had a nice day in between.  It went up to 40 degrees!!!

It was so warm, when I went out to TSC to get the chicken feed, I didn't even wear a jacket!  And seeing everyone out and about, they, too either had sweatshirts, sweaters or even long sleeve shirts, WITHOUT A JACKET!!!

Woo-Hoo!! 

We felt like we were in Florida!!

It lasted one day.

Whatever.

When John walks out the door every morning, he has multiple layers on.  He actually looks normal.  He always looks like he needs to eat a sandwich, gain 10 or 15 pounds to look right.  Alas, he can't seem to.  What a problem to have.  :P

Anyway, I am back to reading Oswald Chambers.

Thankfully.

And the message he has for the day it painfully appropriate.

GOD is good.

ALL THE TIME.

Sometimes, I can't help but feel defeated.

I know one should not be ruled by feelings.  Rightfully so.

But sometimes the rejection is so painful...

Clinging to the Cross.

Because that's all I have.

And it will be enough.

In the midst of the pain and acceptance.  In the midst of the rejection and panic.

It will be enough.