Good News :) Bad News:(

Mattie called this afternoon and said Mom I have good news and bad news not something I was wanting to hear. The first part yes that is really good the next part not so much.

Good News~ Thanks to all my faithful friends and their prayers, Mattie is NOT deploying with his troop.

Bad News~ Mattie is now considered a replacement for any person who gets injured etc. So even though he is a bradley mechanic he could be sent over as a Cav. scout or a hummer driver or anywhere they might need him.


So I just wanted to come and post this to send my heartfelt thanks out to all who prayed for Mattie and to ask to keep him in your prayers. He is still coming home at the end of July for 15 days and the party is still on!


Blessings,Joann

First stitchery almost finished!!!!

Well I am at the last part of the first stitchery I started quite a while ago. slow and steady and now it is almost finished. Just have that part on the bottom to go wich I will do in just a few minutes after I post this post.

Today was a busy day for me. I was thinking of changing the living room furniture around and after I did real

ized I didn't like it the new way so I moved it all back. The one good thing I was able to dust and damp mop all of the flooring under the furniture I moved. I try to dust mop daily in the open areas and also try and damp mop on Mon/Wed/Fri but that doesn't always happen and then damp mopping under the furniture is more like a weekly or monthly thing. I find it kind of strange that our short haired dog Molly sheds so much and Mandy who has lots of hair doesn't shed at all. I am always finding dog hair everywhere. I just love our new floors so much, they are so much cleaner after you clean them than carpet and I like the feel, it's kind of cool on my feet. Okay enough talk about the floor.

I got both a phone call and an email from 3/3 Armored Calvary Regiment about deployment. They sent out an email letter explaining things a little more. I of course won't say everything it says as I am sure they don't want everything passed around. One interesting thing was that they are now going to be sending a few less people than originally planned, I have been in prayer about this all day and please anyone out there who feels inclined please pray that My son Matthew will not be deploying. Thank you. He should find out pretty soon one way or another.

I am still in the process of planning a party for Mattie when he comes home on leave, we are planning it for August 7th I don't want to say it is a going away party because I just can't so I am calling it a We love you party!!

I have been kind of down this week I think it's just because the days are just going by way too fast for me right now seems like it was just mother's day and it's almost 4th of July. I am really hating the fact that August is coming and I am fighting it tooth and nail everyday.

Blessings,Joann

organized and inventoried pantry

Thanks to my wonderful husband Roger our pantry and big freezer are all organized and we have an inventory of what we have. I had mentioned to Roger that I was wanting to inventory the pantry and that it would take less time and be easier to have his help. All I was wanting to do was have him read off what we had on our shelves and I would write it down, but instead he totally reorganized the entire pantry!! I got the list made up and it turned out really nice

Organized pantry~

We also inventoried the big freezer in the garage but I don't have a picture of it :)

On Sunday we went to Walmart for a few items and came home with this large thermometer, to hang in our backyard. Roger put it up on Sunday and on Monday I took this picture~

As you can tell it was well over 100' and that is on the back patio in the shade! I really like it because I can see it out the back window. I don't like having the dogs out in the heat, yes they are a little spoiled but I figure if I am hot then I know they are hot and I don't want them out when it is so hot.

I also don't have any pictures of the stitchery I am working on. I am very much like a snail or slug when it comes to stitching,I love to do it but I am very slow at it plus I have carpel tunnel real bad in my right hand and it never fails after stitching for a little while my hand will go numb and I have to wait for the feeling to come back before I can continue. I will post a picture when I get it done. I started the one that says Share Faith, Offfer Prayer and Gather Hope, have finished almost all the words and then onto the outside where the outline is with twigs.

I am praying everyone is having a good week so far. I have also been reading a book about setting boundaries with adult children along with a book by Stomie Omartian called The power of Praying for your adult children. These are both really good books. Then after reading Courtney's blog I also dusted off my copy of The power of the praying wife and have been in prayer for my husband everytime I see my wedding ring on my hand. This is such a good suggestion.

Blessings,Joann

Crafting I did today...

Today I was busy all day, time even went by pretty fast. I wanted to get some stitcheries transfered onto some Kona fabric and I actually did it. I got 4 done today so tonight while watching tv I will have some hand work to work on. I am hoping this will curb my television eating habit.I have a bad habit of eating while watching tv so I need something in my hands to work on and this will be just perfect. I still need to put on some backing and then I will be ready to go.

Here are the 4 I got done today~






I had planned on putting up a post everyday this week on the subject of self control, I found a nice short Bible study on this subject about a week ago and was going to share it. I obviously didn't get it up for Monday so I will start with it tomorrow.

Have a great week!
Blessings,Joann



**Edited to add response to Salena**

You mentioned in your comment about how I did the transfering of the patterns. I actually do sometimes use iron on transfers but mostly I just use patterns and transfer them myself using a makeshift light box and a Pigma micron 005 pen. It is permanent and because of this I have to be real careful, sometimes it can take me up to an hour or so to transfer something. I always use 3 strands of floss and that seems to cover the fine line very nicely. I have tried using the type of pen that will wash out but for detailed things I found it didn't work very good. Hope that helps.

Father's day visit with Jennifer and Katie

today is Father's Day and Jennifer and Katie came over and we all went out to lunch. Had a nice visit as we always do when they visit. I am so happy to have Jennifer for a daughter, she always comes by and visits and brings the grandkids over for us to see. Of course most of the time it's because either Dylan or Katie says they want to see grandma or grandpa because they miss us.
Here are some pictures~

Jennifer and Roger~




Jennifer, Roger and Katie~



And here is one of Roger and Me~



Roger even mentioned how he really likes the fact that Jennifer takes the time to come by often even though they live an hour away.

I hope all the Fathers out there in blogland had a very wonderful and blessed day.

Blessings,joann


**Edited to add**

Don't know if you can actually see it or not but I am wearing the dog tag necklace Mattie gave me, On one side it has a yellow ribbon and says Proud Mother of a U. S. Military Son

and has the Bible Verse JOshua 1:9
"I will be strong and courageous. I will not be terrified, or discouraged;for the Lord my God is with me wherever I go."
On the other side is the prayer of salvation. I wear it everyday!

Friday was a grooming day....and grocery day!

On Friday morning after rounding them all up. All three of our animals went to the groomers.This is not an easy task for one person, but Roger set up the crate for the cat before he left for work so that made my job a lot easier. I went and picked up the cat to put him in his crate and he is a cat that does not like his crate at all. He starts to make a very loud meow to let you know he doesn't like it. Luckily he is declawed on his front paws or I would be in shreds right now. I finally got him into his crate and I took it to the van. That was the hard part, now to just go get the dogs. Molly gets very excited when she sees her harness and leash coming out and starts to bark and whine very loudly, Mandy seen her doing this and thought it looked like fun so she joined in with all the barking and such. I eventually got Molly's harness on and after running around the living room a couple of times also got Mandy corraled into her collar and leash. I took them out to the van and of course I put them in the back seat, by the time I had shut the van door and got the drivers door open they were both sitting there waiting for me. I eventually put one of them on the passenger side seat because I can't hold them both while driving. Got to the groomers and dropped them off. Roger and I both went to pick them up and they were all so nice smelling and cute I just had to take pictures of them.


THis is the first picture I took, they moved just as I snapped the picture~



Here is Molly and Mandy~




Here are some more pictures of Mandy, she doesnt' have all that scraggly looking hair anymore and looks so nice and cleaned up especially on her back and sides and her hair is so soft~



Here she is after we took out the cute little pink bow things~



Oreo I didn't take his picture until today, but we always get him shaved in the summer, he is a long hair cat and he is always shedding so much but after we have him shaved we won't see hair on the floor for quite a while.~




It cost a lot of money to have them all done but they come home so pretty and they smell so nice I just love it!

Friday is also my errand and grocery shopping day. I put some things from my shopping trip into the new freezer and thought I would share with you all what it looks like with actual food in it~




I have not done a freezer inventory yet but hope to this weekend sometime.

We rented a movie from Redbox last night and was very dissapointed with it, it is called Shutter Island, I am all for either horror or Mysteries etc. but this was just plain slow and boring. going to get another movie for tonight hoping it is better than that one.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Blessings,Joann

MY wonderful Godly Husband!!

My husband came home the other day and told me something that happened at work and I knew I just had to share it. He had a co-worker ask him "So Roger what's new under the sun?" My husband answered "Well according to Solomon there is nothing new under the sun" and his co-worker said "You are the first person to get that right" When Roger was telling me this I asked him is that right Solomon said that and he said yes it's in Ecclesiastes, it's a real good book you should read it. Well first I felt really dumb in the fact that I didn't know this probalby very simple fact.But secondly I felt very thankful that I am married to such a Godly Man. When in today's society Husbands can be many things mine is a Godly Man!! I am very happy and feel very blessed to have Roger in my life. I have a friend whose husband she told me many years ago was into internet porn, and not happy that she didn't look like the women in those pictures. Many men cheat on their wives, or drink or do drugs or do all of that. I have a man who knows Bible verses better than I do, not that we compete about that but obviously if I missed that verse I am sure I have missed many more.I have a man who works very hard at his job and commuting everyday to provide for his family. I appreciate him so much and I do tell him this on a regular basis. I feel for women who don't have such a good man in their life. I pray daily for my friend and her marriage. I just had to post about my husband and let everyone out there in blog land that I have the most Wonderful Godly husband in the whole wide world!!

Blessings,Joann

Some pics from this weekend

This weekend started out with Roger and I doing some errands, one of which was to find a new freezer. We had an old upright one for many years and got rid of it over a year ago. Even though it is just us two we did really miss it. so we went out looking for one on Saturday. We had wanted to get just a small chest type one and ended up with a 15 cubic feet chest one. I love all the baskets and dividers it has and even though it was wider than we were wanting it did fit with a little moving around of things. It is in the garage kind of where we had the old one. Right now it is pretty empty with just a little bit of chicken. I went out yesterday and bought foster farms chicken breasts on sale for 99 cents a pound. Packaged it all up into freezer bags and then put a use by date on them.

Here is what the inside of the freezer looks like~






ON Sunday we went over to my sisters house for a get together, my aunts and one cousin have been visiting from Minnesota for about a week and a half. They returned home Monday.

Here is my Mom(in the middle) and her two sisters Dar(on the left) and Donna(on the right)~




Katie with her princess swimming ring~



Dylan getting ready to jump into the pool~




And here is Chris, Katie and Dylan all playing in the pool~





Everyone had a nice time, but boy was it hot. Monday was even hotter. Used the airconditioning on Monday. I think the next few days it is supposed to be a little cooler, but not much so I think officially it is Airconditioner season so mine will be running pretty much every day. I am a very hot person and if I do anything around the house I like to have it cool so I don't get too hot.


Now on to another subject totally different than pictures of our weekend. I have for the longest time been going back and forth on a couple areas of my life. Most that have read my blog for some time know that I have had a real bad experience a few years ago with someone who I thought was my friend, no I am not saying anymore than that. ANyway the person uses a message board, forum and a few months ago I had asked to be reinstated (I was banned from posting by the person in charge of the board)because I had been missing some of the people on there. It has been about 3 or 4 months I think and so far I am still banned. But then I learned something amazing. I have been trying to work on my spiritual life(It needs lots of work) and I had read a verse about gossip, I am terrible about remembering what verse but I do know it said gossiping was bad and when I go to the home page of this board/forum it has the word gossip on it. Well I prayed about it for a while and even though I do miss some of the people there I just don't think it is the place for me. Really it is just a place where people post what they are doing everyday and somedays it seems almost like a contest who has the longest list and who is going somewhere so they can rub it in because not everyone can afford to go somewhere for a vacation. Well that was my great revalation!! For me it was very freeing, I do still miss some of the people there, but most know my blog and if they miss me at all they can find me here. I am done with that board/forum and I am finding my heart feels so much better. Another area in my life that I am currently working on is my speech, I always seem to say the wrong thing! I have started using a list of things to ask myself before I say something. The first two things are #1 Is it true, most things I say are true I don't make things up, but then comes #2 Is it kind, just because it is true does not neccesarily make it kind. I pretty much don't talk much anymore. I have lots of areas in my life I am working on and it may take some time but if in the end it will glorify God then it will be worth it.As Courtney over at Women living well says at the end of her posts Walk with the King, and that is what I am trying to do, Walk with the King and try my best to do everything in my life joyfully and start being a more happier person. Roger and I had a wonderful talk about my being a keeper at home and I am feeling so much more appreciated and I in turn appreciate so much what Roger does for us as a family.
Happy Week to everyone, Enjoy your week looking well to your households
Blessings,Joann

Please go visit Courtney, you will be glad you did...

Hello All, I have been real bad about posting regularly but I am here now.

My wonderful friend DeNieceintroduced me to another wonderful person named Courtney whose blog is just so great, I love all her videos and she is so real and such a Godly woman I just wanted to put her link to her blog so you could go visit and meet her for yourself. She has started a new series named "Completing him challenge. Come and join if you would like.

Have a great Friday!!

I myself have been starting my own challenge and that is I am trying very hard to learn self control. I am not doing all that good so far but with Christ in my heart I feel I can do anything!!

Blessings,Joann

A wonderful weekend!!

This past week went by very fast, at least the whole week did but on a daily basis my days seem to drag on. Roger is gone for so long each day I only get to see him awake about a half hour in the morning and about 2-3 hours in the evening. I hate him commuting but I am also thankful he has a job at all.

On Wednesday I went over to Brentwood to see a little play that Dylan and his kindergarten class put on. It was real cute they sang lots of songs and I enjoyed myself. We went out to eat after the program was over and did some visiting. I plan on going over again this coming Wednesday just to visit with Jennifer and the kids.





Thursday and Friday I spent doing the rest of the putting the living room back together. I had emptied all of the bookcases to do the flooring and now it was time to put it all back. I went through a lot of things and got rid of quite a lot of stuff. I kept all my books as I like books a lot!

this is the living room after getting things put back on the bookcases~



I also did the first damp mopping of the new flooring, I went with what the back of the box said to use on the flooring~part vinegar/part water in a spray bottle, this worked well. The spray bottle I have makes the liquid come out in a nice fine mist so not too much water got on the flooring. I used my new damp mop and just sprayed a small area working from the bedroom in the hallway out to where the living room meets the dining room

Spay bottle of water/vinegar~




Here is the hallway after damp mopping~



And here is the living room after damp mopping~



I had also purchased some new carpets to place around the room to try and keep as much dirt as possible from getting onto the new flooring.
This is what the carpets look like~





We also purchased a new small black bookcase for in the dining area, I like it because it holds things much better than the cabinet I had.I bought 2 nice baskets to hold things on the shelves. I was also able to relocate a lot of my small containers to the bookcase and it gives me a lot more room on my pantry shelves.

Here is the black bookcase in the dining area~



Also with the purchase of that new bookcase it means that I have now replaced everything in the home with black furniture except for the bedroom furniture.

The dining area, all done~



Saturday evening we had a get together at our home. My two aunts and one cousin from Minnesota were visiting so we had a nice dinner of A big chef salad,it was around 90' so we wanted something light to eat.

Saturday was also a very good day because I got a phone call from Matthew, my son has done some stupid things in his life and we have not always gotten along perfectly but as soon as I hear his voice on the phone all past things are forgotten! I hadn't talked to him for over 3 weeks, that's a long time for me and it wasn't easy. I told him I don't know what I will do when he is in Iraq for so long.

Sunday was so warm out that we used our air conditioner for the first time. I love air conditioning :)

Our backyard is looking real nice, our butterfly bush is blooming and is so pretty but I have yet to see a butterfly~


I had been working forever on a shower curtain I wanted to make and seemed to be going no where with it so I finally ordered one and I am so happy with it, it is real nice quality and I love the look of it.

New shower curtain~




This is what the top looks like~




Mandy got to have her cone thing taken off this weekend also, she was very happy.

Here she is all snuggled up~




I have made some decisions about crafting, while I love my sewing machine my true love with crafting is in hand work. I love to embroider, so I have done some evaluating of my crafts and am now going to concentrate on more embroidery and still throw in some sewing here and there but for me I just love to sit in the living room and use my hands to make something beautiful.

I have also been doing some quiet time questioning about my walk with the Lord and right now I don't know where I am in my walk but it seems like I am walking the wrong direction right now so I plan on working on that some each day. I don't want to get to the end of the day and realize like I have so often that I hadn't even spent a few minutes in the Word of God.I need to make it more of a priority in my life, this is hard for me I don't know why but it is. I have heard it said before that you should spend the same amount of time in the Bible as you do either reading ohter books or tv or computer time and I know I do not do that so that is something obviously I need to address.

I plan on having a wonderful week this week. I hope everyone else has a wonderful week too!!

Blessings,Joann