It’s 103 degrees outside, and the sun is beating down from a cloudless sky. Humidity weighs heavily in the dense air around us, seemingly hotter for our sudden lack of air conditioning.

Today, my car broke down. Again.

As we were on our way home from church this afternoon, my car’s power steering gave out. Fortunately, Anthony was with me, and he immediately began calling out instructions. “Move over. Shift into neutral. Don’t go off the road, just put on your hazard lights. Shift back into drive. Get up to about 50. Watch the heat gage. Shift back into neutral…” And on and on it went, for about 2 miles as we limped off the interstate and into a nearby gas station. Turning the corner at the light just before it, Anthony had to help me turn the wheel, and the car’s heat gage topped out. Finally, we made it to the gas station and called our insurance’s road side assistance for a tow. And now we rest comfortably again, re-hydrated, showered (me), with the replacement serpentine belt purchased and fully expect to be able to repair my car tonight, when the heat index falls.

And this issue is but one of the multitude we have been dealing with since Anthony’s last job came to an end. Just in this past two weeks, Anthony’s main computer has crashed, he has had to send its hard drive for warranty replacement, Austin broke his toe (we thought), I cracked several ribs in a nasty fall, and we have been trying to juggle several financial issues that have required much time, evaluation, and effort. Austin has had some test results in requiring several trips to the doctor and new medication to adjust to. In the past two weeks, we have also had several joyous events: Anthony’s birthday, our 4th wedding anniversary, a visit from Richard’s parents, all three children have moved up a belt-level in karate, and Ali is now packing and preparing to leave for college next weekend.

Since the beginning of May when Anthony’s job has ended, we have

immediately lost $3600/mo. of income,

had 3 cars break down requiring $2000 of repairs,

had a limb fall on (and dent) the S10,

had another limb fall on the trampoline enclosure,

had $2150 of emergency dental work,

had to have the plumbers out 4 times to fix 3 leaks, replace the water well pump, replace the outside pump handle, and add a water tank, $2470… still making payments

had to replace our house’s water heater, $280 – self installed (Anthony, thankfully.)

had to pay off the remaining $874 balance of the CT scan we had for Ali last year,

had the children’s and my (Jennifer’s) health insurance increase to nearly $500,

lost Anthony’s health insurance,

had to pay out of pocket for Austin’s testing, $300,

had to pay a huge down payment for Austin’s karate,

had the karate place waive the kids’ monthly fees till we get back on our feet,

had income added - $1200/mo.,

lost $2000/mo. income because of overpayment error,

had timely side jobs for a bit of income,

spent through our emergency funds,

had expert help on Anthony’s resume and interview coaching,

made 2 trips to Arkansas to see/check on my family,

got to go to my family reunion (cancelled last year due to my mom’s cancer treatment),

visited with my two sisters, my two nieces, my nephew, my brother in law, my brother, my parents, my grandparents, several cousins, two aunts, one uncle, several great-aunts and great-uncles, and so many cousins – I – can’t – figure – out – how - many – times – removed,

celebrated with my family my mom’s medical prognosis – finally free of all cancer,

still dread her final treatment – iodine radiation – postponed till next June,

dealt with serious character issues with a child,

rejoice in child’s progress and improvement,

ask for and receive financial help,

never been in hunger, never worried about our next meal, always had a soft and comfortable place to lay our heads in peace,

always had clothing and shelter, and too many luxuries to list or comprehend,

been discouraged, disheartened, depressed,

been thankful, watched my husband step up every step that we needed him, seen more and more of his wisdom and strength,

been scared, frustrated, overwhelmed, exhausted, in pain,

been encouraged, lifted up, and still in awe of our relative wealth in spite of our concerns…

remembered to thank God, felt His love, seen His merciful blessings and provision, and watched ever astonished and awestruck as He changes our circumstances minute by minute, yet ALWAYS continues to care for us…


I will both lie down in peace, and sleep;
For You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8

Whenever I need to be reminded of the depth of the Lord’s care for us, I go here. Katie always inspires me:



Kisses From Katie VIDEO


Kisses From Katie BLOG



We don’t hunger, we don’t thirst, we don’t lack clothing or shelter. Many do. Many must suffer themselves, and then suffer more as they watch their children suffer for basic necessities. I don’t think we here in America have any idea of the true depth of most of the world’s suffering, nor do I think we have adequate understanding or thankfulness for our blessings.


Oh, Lord… what a journey you have us on…

...or No One Will Ever Believe Our Lives Right Now






Sunday, July 3rd:
Kids head to camp. (YEAH!) Miss them, but the house is clean and we're enjoying it. Ali drives the Honda for the first time in 2 months. It has been in the shop. The whole time. Because every time they say they've fixed it, when we go to pick it up, it messes up within a block of the repair shop. Ali makes it to camp (60 miles) with no incidents. Costs $1000 to fix car. Thinking it's not worth it...





Week of July 3rd at home:

Clean house and enjoy cleanliness all week. Yea!

Help Anthony revise cover letter specifically for a job he's found to apply for. Takes hours. Gives me a headache. Scrapbook time cures headache.




Anthony makes me a bow-tying thing. We contemplate mass production and sales on Etsy. Prototype tested and closer holes requested.

Anthony hangs huge clock for me in window overlooking back deck. Love it.

Anthony hangs up my kitchen sign, "The Queen Never Bargains". Love it.




I think we need a project. Suggest re-shingling the roof. Together. Anthony is not so thrilled with this idea. I suggest closing in the carport for a family room. We can do the work ourselves. Someone (not me) is a party pooper, because this idea is also vetoed. I suggest him moving his tool bench to his little workshop at the front of the carport. He says this will reduce the things he fixes. I am alright with this. Workbench is somehow still in the living room. I'll try again later...





Anthony makes a path of concrete rocks with Quickcrete. It rains that night.

Completely caught up on laundry. 'Till the kids get home, of course.

Our cat, Fred, falls OFF the roof. We think she is brain-damaged from spaying surgery at 6 months. Oh. And mostly blind.


Friday, July 8th:
Kids come dragging in about 10am. Slam in the house. The Honda is now over heating and SMOKING. Want my money back. Again. Anthony adds more oil. Thinks. Researches. Checks radiator. Replaces radiator hose after trip to Auto Zone. Car runs great. Goes back to Office Stuff. That night, Ali drives car to work. (5 miles) Calls on way home. Engine is smoking and engine is reading HOT. Anthony mutters adjectives and does more research.

Austin and Rebecca both sick. Sleep most of the day.

Austin "officially" diagnosed with ADHD. $300. Still waiting for "official" report to take him to doc for meds.


Saturday, July 9th:
Mom and kids have remedial training meeting about the courteous habit of Picking Up After Oneself. Dire consequences re-established. Chores assigned. Children think Mom has gone nuts, but begin to comply.

Anthony replaces thermometer on Honda. Adds more oil. Stupid car runs great. For now.

I clean and organize the laundry room (The Disaster Area).

Anthony cleans out stinky, smelly, icky, rotten smelling deep freezer, which has not been freezing. BLECH! Ali and I clean and repackage what is salvageable. Whole house is stinky, rotten, smelly.

Anthony and I try to re-work budget to allow for the money the SS Ad. decided they were keeping back from the children's benefits because of Their Own Error. Give up. We are cranky. I have headache. I cook... hamburgers, homemade oven fries, strawberry shortcake... Feel better. Exhausted and sore.


Sunday, July 10th:
Found out we can appeal SSA stuff. Spend HOURS Sunday afternoon trying to fill out paperwork more complicated than our taxes. (And that's SAYING something!) Develop splitting headache. Give up for now. Rest. Veg. Scrapbook. Only scrapbooking makes me feel better.



Confession: My craft table is ALSO in the living room.




Freezer finally Clean.

A tree limb falls on the little pickup. Sigh.



Monday, July 11
Must begin to pack and plan for trip to Marshall, AR for family reunion (Saturday). Leaving Wednesday.

Must plan school for Austin to take to Marshall.

Must begin to find 2nd set of schoolbooks for school next year. Must find out when THIS year's dvds must be returned. Must sell old school books to buy new school books. Um. Some of that might not get done.

Must balance check book. Pay bills. NOT freak out at bank balance. Work more on SS paperwork.

Vacuum. Dishes. Sweep.

Order supplements.

Mail SS forms for waiver.

Decide if I am going to the chiro today. Neck hurts. Back hurts. Trouble sleeping from hurting... but if I go, it will get Worse for a couple of days. But. Going to Marshall. If I DON'T go before, there will come a time where the pain gets Unbearable, even with Drugs. A quandary.

See holes developing again in tomato plant leaves. This is a precursor to another Hornworm attack. Contemplating bug poisons. Coinsidental that the leaves are just NOW starting to regrow? I think not.

12. To my two bickering children: You two quit talking to each other. (14 & 15, they're not capable of kind speech? ~Evidently not.)




Oh, ya’ll, you wouldn’t believe the day we’ve had. ~And all before noon.

We have been taking Austin for ADHD testing. I’ve already had my interview, Austin has taken his achievement test, and today he was to take an IQ test. Anthony has a home-repair job right now, so Ali was driving Austin in for his testing this morning. They left early because Ali needed to stop and get gas. She put a few dollars worth in at a gas station right by the house so she had enough to get to Costco, which is about 20 minutes away. The testing is another 20 minutes into town. When she got to Costco, Ali discovered her wallet missing. She left it on top of the truck after getting gas at the first gas station, and it was lost somewhere between there and Costco. She had so little gas in the tank, she couldn’t do anything but call home and wait for rescue.

Rebecca and I ran over to the first gas station as fast as we could, praying the whole way. We parked at the pumps and looked around and then I headed inside. I didn’t even get my whole sentence out before the cashier handed me Ali’s wallet. The man who brought it in left his business card as “security” that he hadn’t taken anything out. When Ali checked it, everything was there. Praise God for that rescue, huh?




And there’s more…

Anthony headed over to take Ali her wallet, and she and Austin drove the rest of the way into town. ~But by the time they got there, there wasn’t enough time for the test. And as Ali was parking, she bumped the bumper of another car. They scared her when they got out to look at it, but waved off her insurance and other information. And when she and Austin got ready to leave, she discovered she locked herself out of the truck. Anthony had to bring his key over to her so she could get home.

What a day, huh? What a day…




At the supper table tonight, I told the kids I was going to write a book about them, All The Things You Thought You'd NEVER Have to Say to Your Children

1. Don't eat anything that comes out of your body. (really???)

2. Mud Pies? Not really to eat. JUST PRETEND!

3. Don't dress your brother in a dress. It aggravates your daddy.

4. Do NOT take off your diaper and finger paint ON MY WALLS with your POO!!!

5. Do NOT take off your diaper and finger paint ON MY WALLS with your POO!!! (Yes. It took twice.)

6. We don't eat soap. No, I don't know why, but it's not good for you. SOAP DOES NOT TASTE GOOD!!!

7. Please stop eating the crayons. Neither end is pretty afterward.

8. Don't bite your sister's chest. (Guess who.)

9. Don't BITE your sister, your brother, random strangers off the street.

10. No karate in the house. (seriously???)

11. (from my mom) It's amazing what you find when you clean your room!!!


Have you got any good ones?? :o)

Father's Day, June 19th

I took all these pictures on Father's Day.

The guys are trying to save a huge tree branch that cracked in our last storm.
It shields much of the neighbor's yard from view, including a new tree house
he is building that has a great view onto our back deck. They ended up having
to cut a huge piece of it off. It was just too heavy to lift. The water heater is
kind of a joke. Ours died a few weeks ago, and Anthony replaced it. It's still
leaking water from somewhere, but I'm thinking he'll get it figured out or die
trying... I suggested Anthony use the water heater to hold up the tree limb and
paint flowers on it for decoration. His weird sense of humor in artistic stuff has
rubbed off on me. :o)

I went out tonight and picked a huge basket full of blackberries, most of them
bigger than my thumb. they are so yummy! I washed them and laid them out to
dry and every time a kid goes by, they pop one in their mouths... or 2 or 3 or...

I got a pie crust mixed up, just have to add water and then roll it out... and
measured the blackberries out for 2 blackberry pies. It will be YUMMY! 1/2 of one
we will take down to our neighbor, who just got back home from months in the
hospital and rehab and a nursing home. We are glad to have him back. (He is a
90 or so yr old widower, and a great neighbor.)

Fixed a huge supper tonight for me and the two guys... grilled BBQ pork chops,
boiled and buttered taters, green beans, locally grown corn on the cob, french
bread, watermelon, sliced onion and our sliced tomatoes. We didn't eat till
8:30 because we were all working outside, but it sure tasted good. Austin
helped me some, and then went back outside to haul branches and stuff with
Anthony.

My girls are gone today with other families. I'm trying not to be too
disappointed, cause I know my kids are 'their dad, too, as am I.
Praise our Lord Jesus for the hope of heaven, huh?



This Year's Garden

We decided not to plant a big garden this year. It always ended up too big
for us to take care of, and there were too many weeds to deal with.

I started an herb garden around my flower garden up front... lemon basil, sage,
mint, thyme, purple salvia (butterflies love this one).... I'm hoping they will
reseed and keep coming up each year, but I divided these plants and have them
inside, too, on my kitchen window sill. The sage doesn't like it, and the thyme
isn't very happy either, but I have lavender and rosemary and a vicks plant
growing and growing.

The rest of my garden is on my back deck in flower pots. The real garden took
too much weeding, and I didn't have time to get to it. But we have tomato
plants (including a cherry tomato plant), strawberries, green pepper plants,
watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, and zuchinni squash growing. So far, I have
eaten tons of tomatoes. Love 'em.

We also have blackberries and rasberries we started a couple of years ago. I'm
bad, I didn't prune or tie them up this year, and we are still getting pounds
and pounds of them. We also have grapevine that we've yet to get a crop from
(bugs, always) but this year they are making it so far, so maybe?

I also have lots of flowers on the back deck, and some herbs... purple salvia,
lemon balm, chives, verbena, petunias, marigolds, roses, gardenias, ferns, citronella plants to
keep the mosquitoes off... I know I'm forgetting some.

It's really pretty out there, and I love playing in my plants and flowers.


The guys are trying to save a huge tree branch that cracked in our last storm. It shields
much of the neighbor's yard from view, including a new tree house he is building that
has a great view onto our back deck.

The pies are the first of many blackberry pies this summer. YUMMY!!! :o)

Jennifer

This is the Mississippi a couple of weeks ago near Bealle Street in Memphis. There's a huge amount of land covered that's usually at the water's edge in a steep drop (50 feet or so), including a parking lot at the top. All of Riverside is covered, too. The bridge pictured usually has enough clearance under it do drive up that hill. It's a mess out there.





And here's some of my baby girl. ~Just for kicks. :o)