August is almost here!!!!

No real purpose for this post except I'm sitting at McDonald's letting the kids play so thought I'd update you on all the excitement in our house. It's really quite boring so I won't blame you if you stop reading! ;-)

Hubby is in Oakland, CA and will be home tomorrow. Kids & I went to my friend Cami's today to see the fall line of Thirty-One products. The kids enjoyed playing with Garrett & Mason and I'm loving some of the new Thirty-One products & know how I'm spending some of my birthday money at end of September! Now we are at McDonald's. I'm so thankful my wonderful Hubby sets aside money for us to get out of the house & come here. It's a sanity saver during the summer when we don't have Word of Life or Bible study during the week.

I can't believe August is right around the corner. Next week is a big week for David. On Sunday, we take him to Springhill for his first week of summer camp. He is excited but I'm a little nervous. I know he will have a blast & my dad knows everyone down there so I know he will be safe. I'm praying he has a great time & that God gets ahold of his heart!

The girls will also be gone next week as they are going to Kokomo to Hubby's parents. Their church is having VBS & the girls love going to it. Hubby was supposed to have the week off, but a trainer shortage means he has to go to Denver for the week to teach. I would have loved having him to myself for a week, but that will have to wait. Instead, I will be working on homeschool planning all week.

The 2nd week of August finds Hubby home for a week of family time. Lots of Wii & evening movies at home are planned.

Then Hubby is off to California again. This time to Santa Ana for 2 weeks straight. The great part about this is that I get to join him for 10 of those days. So thankful for parents & in-laws who will watch our kids & neighbors/friends who watch our house! I'm so looking forward to time with Hubby (2 days of which he doesn't have to work!!!) alone!

So as you can see our August is full. So excited that it is almost here!

Dad's Garden

Last week I posted my garden pics. This week I spent time at my parents' & in my Dad's garden. So I thought I'd share about it. My Dad plants a large garden every year. As he plants, he prays that God will make it grow. Dad plants & then gives away what God produces. He says it is the least he can do. I love my Dad's servant heart! Dad's garden is about 1 acre in size. 

Here is some Watermelon. This was a later planting than most the garden.

One of the pumpkin plants. Should be ready right before Halloween.

This is the cantaloupe patch. It is loaded with melons.

Dad is trying celery this year.

Here is one of his first cabbage plants.

Dad's beets!

Yummy Green Onions!

2nd planting of cabbage.

Pepper plant. If you look close you can see a pepper!

Potato plants. White, red & yellow potatoes. 

The raised bed is full of rhubarb. Behind that is the sweet potatoes.

I believe this is some okra.

One of the sweet potato plants. I think they are absolutely beautiful.

Green beans! On this side of garden dad has 4 long rows, 1 half row & 6 short rows. At bottom of picture you can see a few purple kohlrabi plants.

Dad has lots of sweet corn. Some of it is regular & some of it is red sweet corn that David talked him into planting.

At the back of the garden is several more potato plants as well as 4-5 more rows of green beans.

One of the green bean rows that I helped dad pick this past week.

Each plant was loaded with beans.

One of the zucchini plants.

One of the yellow squash plants.

One of the cucumber plants. This past week mom & Jamie made sweet & dill pickles from them. They are yummy!

Kohlrabi! Dad planted this for my hubby.

We picked the first kohlrabi this week. Hubby said they were yummy.

As we were picking beans, we had company from one of my mom's many cats. She'd sneak in & lay under the plants & scare us!

Dad planted his tomato plants in front of the barn. They are actually as tall as the roof but they are weighed down with tomatoes!

Dad also planted tomatoes at the house in his flower bed.

Dad has orange cherry tomatoes ready! They are yummy!

Hope you enjoyed the tour of my Dad's garden. I enjoy spending time helping him as do my kids for a little while. We are all enjoying the fruits (well, really vegetables) of his labor. We are so thankful to God for the bounty He has produced so that we can share it with those in need.

Love Stinks!

My Hubby & I came to this agreement today! Love Stinks! Why? If we didn't Love each other this traveling thing would be so much easier. But we do love each other & miss each other terribly. So in this respect, love stinks.

If I didn't love my hubby so much:
-I wouldn't cry when he has to leave me & head to the airport.
-I wouldn't sit by the phone waiting to hear he has landed in some distant airport.
-I wouldn't lay awake at night because his cpap is quiet.
-I could just go about my day all normal like when he's gone.
-I would like him being gone 'cause I'd be free to do what I like.
-I wouldn't feel like part of me is missing when we're apart.
-I wouldn't check my email, twitter & phone constantly to see if I got a message from him just saying hi.
-I could walk by his computer desk without sighing because he's not there.
-I wouldn't spend every minute away from him thinking about him.
-I wouldn't listen to his podcasts over & over just so I could hear his voice.
-I wouldn't be reminded of him every time I hear an 80s song.
-I wouldn't see so much of him in each of my children.
-I wouldn't smile every time I get ketchup for my fries.
-I wouldn't know how to get to the airport in my sleep.
-I wouldn't know what Cerner or PointClick Care was or care.
-I wouldn't endure being a single mom during the week.
-I would be angry at having to carry the load of kids, school & house.
-I wouldn't feel that love stinks!

Yes, it may be a little painful to love him so much. But I wouldn't want it any other way. I love that he's my hubby, my lover, my best friend & my soulmate. I love that he misses me, talks about me to everyone he meets, makes me podcasts & loves me! I hate that he travels but am so thankful that he has a job & wants to provide for me & the kids. So, in some ways, love stinks. But in other ways, love is the best thing in the world! I'm so blessed to have found a hubby like mine! I'm so thankful for the almost 23 yrs I've know him & the 20 1/2 yrs I've had the privilege of being his wife, best friend, soulmate & lover! Love doesn't stink!

My Garden & Flowers

Thought I'd share some pictures of my garden & flowers with you.

This is my whole garden.

This is one of my cucumber plants. Jamie calls it Sam.

This cucumber plant is Amanda.

These cucumbers are growing from Sam.

This is one of our Zucchini plants & is named Ava.

Ava has a little zucchini....

...and a big zucchini.

 This little zucchini plant is named David. It is loaded with blooms but no zucchini yet.

Here is one of my green bean plants.

Here is another one. As far as I know, the kids haven't named the bean plants. The beans are blooming!!

This is a newer tomato plant from Dad's compost pile.

This tomato plant is also from Dad's compost pile.

This is one of my cherry tomato plants from Joyce.

Here are some of its tomatoes.

Another Cherry tomato plant from Joyce.

and its tomatoes.

This is the last of my Cherry tomatoes from Joyce. It is my biggest one.

It is loaded with cherry tomatoes & here are just a few.

This is my Big Boy tomato plant.

It has one big tomato so far but has several little ones coming on.

Here are a couple potato plants.

These came from Dad's compost pile also.

My garden tour ends with some Kohlrabi.

This is my biggest kohlrabi plant. I think it's doing so well because it likes being next to my tomato plant.

Here are some of my flowers. 

This Rose is from my Mamaw Beeker's yard. It was a very tiny bush. My aunts laughed when my mom said she was bringing it to me. This little plant blooms off & on all summer & has beautiful petite pink roses!

These purple cone flowers came from Joyce earlier this spring. They are so pretty.

These are some Lilies from Joyce.

I love the way they curl up. I had to get under them to get this picture.

This is my flowering rose bush. It usually blooms in early spring & is loaded with blooms.

Then in the summer, it surprises me with a few extra blooms.

This is the back corner of my yard. As you can see my Black-eyed Susan's are doing wonderful this year. I will probably need to transplant some next year to thin them out.

Hiding in the midst of my black-eyed susan's is a butterfly bush that Joyce gave me last year. It has 1 on it this year.

I will leave you with a close up of some of my black eyed susan's that I dearly love!