The excitement just keeps building!

It seems that instead of things getting more quiet and organized, they are getting more out of control. Partly to blame, I suppose, is all the canning I've been doing. I spend hour after hour in the kitchen chopping and slicing and cooking and filling jar after jar with all kinds of goodies.

This year I am canning salsas, soups, and more beans. Our garden is producing well and I have a ton of veggies to process. On top of that, our neighbor is giving us the rest of their beans, a bunch of corn, and we are getting pickling cucumbers from our landlord and most likely apples. I am soooo blessed to have this abundance of food (even tho I live in the kitchen right now!)

My sis-in-law was here for a week and has just left a couple of days ago. We had such a good time talking and working together! The funny thing is that I have only seen her once before, but we talk almost every day on the phone! She is just so accepting of me and the kids into the family and is just thrilled about her brother getting married....FINALLY! Her daughter is a sweetie and paid attention to Mystery Girl. She really gave MG someone to talk to and to look up to. She even did some things that she had never done before! She got to pick and snap beans and hang out in the country far from any mall or shopping! My only regret was that there was so much work to do that I had little time to sit down and talk or to do fun things. We did go to my in-laws for overnight. We surprised them a lot. They knew that my family was coming, but not Sheila and Naomi. So, when they just walked in to the house, mom's jaw dropped open for a full 10 seconds. She couldn't believe her eyes! It was worth all the keeping a secret and having a million scares that she would find out! The day before we went to see them, mom called like, 5 times, and I had to keep telling people to be quiet and not talk, or she would find out.

Then, next weekend, MY mom is coming for 3 days. I am quite excited about that. It seems that I never see enough of Mom. For some reason, I like her a whole lot more than I did as a kid. She's the nicest Mom E-V-E-R! Can hardly wait!

Sometime in the middle somewhere, I also am planning to paint the LR so I can put my in-laws piano in it. I have the wall cleaned out for it and just trying to get organized to do the painting. From there, I'd like to do Calico Kid's room, my room, and the Mud Room. We shall see!

School officially starts in 2 1/2 weeks. I'd like to get all these projects done before school starts. I think we are ready this year, but as usual, my nerves are starting to kick in. So much depends on this years work. This will be the year that decides if we continue to HS or send MG back to public. It all depends on her attitude and her work ethic. We have a new plan and I'm going to be tough on her. She is old enough to decide if she will work or not. I don't need to be yelling at her all the time. This is really her "prove she is growing up "year. PRAY FOR US!

The job situation is still precarious. We are walking by faith that things will settle down and we will have some answers soon. When Dr. O took this last job, he knew that it was possible that it was only temporary. Now, we just need to know what's what. So, he is continuing to look for a permanent job. It puts a strain on daily living, because you just don't know what's ahead. Still, we are blessed that we have made it so far and that we are still relatively, debt free. God has a way of blessing us at just the right time and place and it all fits together perfectly. In some ways, I think this is Gog's way of cementing our marriage and making us stronger as a family. It makes us look to Him more and be conscious of the future but to enjoy the present.

Well, gotta take CK to Activity Week at Church, so gotta go. I'll post again later about that!