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.