Finding Joy in the good times......

It seems like the past couple of months have been filled with finding Joy in trials, and praising God in the midst of storms. So today, I feel incredibly blessed to be able to have Joy in the good times. Today is Grace's 12th birthday. Did I not just post her 11th birthday?
I am not good at making cakes, or any kind of desserts. As I was putting on the frosting, and with every smear of the spatula, it kept getting worse. I was questioning whether or not to make a new cake, because I did not want Grace to be disappointed at her cake, and the icing turned out to be a pinkish color, and Grace does not like "girly" colors. Then as I was finishing up "hiding" the many mistakes, Grace walks over to me, and these are the words ~ "cool" & "awesome", that she used to describe the cake. And even as we ate it today, I thought it looks and tastes awful! So I was surprised to hear the kids tell me how good it tasted. At least they liked it!!!!!! :}

This is our attempt to hold on to our "not so" little girl.


Instead of birthday spankings, we gave her birthday chokes.

The meal that she chose for her birthday was BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes w/ gravy, broccoli, and mixed fruit.
She got the new GhostBusters Ds game for her birthday.

After lunch, we spent a couple of hours in the pool that the kids bought for Cleyo, for Fathers day. The pool was a great idea. Cleyo works long hours in the heat, and it has been great to be able to go out back to enjoy the pool, whenever we want to. Cleyo and I even went swimming at 10:30 last night. I never thought that I would like having a pool at our house, especially for the safety of kids, but as the kids get older, I seem to be getting more comfortable with my over-protective nature.
Daniel and Shiloh in the baby pool that I bought for them. We are trying to teach them that they can never go into the big pool without mom or dad, and I am thankful that I can remove the ladder when we are not using it.
Cleyo and I enjoying the first ten minutes together, before we let the kids take over.




The sky was a beautiful blue, and the field and trees around us are bright green in color. And soon, the corn will be tall, providing privacy for us. I love having corn around us, it makes me feel seclusive to the neighbors around us. I was telling Cleyo today of a long list of "nevers" that I have said, and how they are coming back, with different results. Like, I would never stay in Ohio, and now I can not imagine raising my kids somewhere else, and that I would never marry a farmer, well, guess what, I am. But, God's ways and His will, have always proven to be a bigger blessing than I could have ever imagined.





Lord, I love my family. Thank you for the blessing of Joy, in the good times and bad.
You are an Awesome God! And worthy of praise in the good times, and especailly in the the bad.

For Cleyo's eyes only..............

.....and maybe two other guys.

Like I have nothing better to do with my time! Today I decide to take some "risky" photos of myself for Cleyo's eyes only. Before I gross anyone out too much, my clothes were on! ;]
My patience was running on low, as the computer was taking forever to download the pics to Walmart photo. So, thinking that it would be much faster to go into the store directly, and taking a chance that everyone is outside on this beautiful day, and no one is using the digital photo machine, I leave with hopes of privacy. Uhhh, wishful thinking!!!!
As I approach the machine, I am thankful that I see no one around. I insert my memory card, and try to quickly pick and crop pictures. Within a few moments, two men pull up to the machine right next to me! Seriously! I almost can not believe this! I have never even seen a man use these machines, and just my luck, there is not just one, but two, and they were like a foot away from me!
Knowing that they can both see my screen, I pull out a large paper from my purse to try to cover my seductive self. Thinking that maybe this could work. Then I look behind me and see the lady from the photo center with a large, very large smile on her face. Ok, that was enough for me! I shut down that machine, and proceeded to do shopping from my list. As I shopped I felt as if everybody had seen my pictures, and how funny it was that I even tried to do that in public.
At this point, I am feeling like I needed to confess and tell someone how crazy I am.
And there she is..... Kati. I tell her my "funny" story, but I do not think that she found it funny, instead, I think I embarrassed her. Sorry Kati !

And NO! There will not be any photos on this post! They are for Cleyo's eyes only! LOL!

My first 5k

Today I ran my first 5k, and got 3rd place for my age group (30-39yrs). The weather was beautiful, and running with other people made time go by much faster. My legs are sore, and my foot is hurting, but it was fun and I am excited to run another.











This is the group of runners/walkers~ Sheldon, Charity, me, Amanda, Isaac, Isabel, and Kati.
Isaac, by the way got 2nd in his age group, he was a natural runner. His time was something like 22:30, he was amazing!












Some pictures of Celina lake. The weather was perfect for running.





















































The beginning, and the end.

















For some reason this bird did not like us.













We found out why when we were on our way back to the van, if you look closely, you will see some eggs.

Ham 'n' Potato Casserole

I am wanting to share this recipe that I made last night. It was really good, the kids all liked it, and it would be great as a carry-in, or a dish to stick in the oven while you are at church. I do not make many casseroles, even though with a large family, it would be wise, but I have been looking at different recipes, in hopes of adding something new to the dinner table.

I used two separate medium roasting pans, so if you are half the size of our family, and most likely you are, you could just make one pan, or combine it all in a large roasting pan.

Ingredients per medium pan;
1~ (32oz) pkg Southern hash browns
1~ (12oz) pkg cheddar cheese
1~ (16oz) pkg of small diced ham
1~ diced onion
1/2 qt of milk

*mix all ingredients in pan, bake at 400, for 1 hour, stir 1-2 times while baking. Enjoy!