Good Morning from Kansas!

    We are being blessed with a light drizzle this morning and it reminds me of Iowa when I was a little girl. We would go up to visit my Grandpa and Grandma Irene and they lived in a little town called Riverside. They also lived in a two-story house and I would love to be upstairs on a rainy day and just listen to it rain. It smelled wonderful too. I think my love for two-story homes started in Iowa. I live in one today and thankfully it's not in town but surrounded by wheat, corn and milo fields. Beautiful colors that show up in the summer.

    I'm on my Xanga again, compliments of my daughter that's out of country right now. Miss Jayna is now in the Bahamas, on the last leg of her mission trip. She'll will be home the end of June with all kinds of adventures to share. To open my e-mail this morning and see that she had left a post on my site was the best news to ever receive! She left on Saturday from Guyana, South America and this was the first time to hear from her since then. God has been so good to me; to sustain me during these times of waiting with His peace and to teach me more about prayer than I ever knew. Instead of fretting about Jayna, I could pray all kinds of things for her. She had been pretty sick the last week of Guyana up until the time the team got ready to fly out and I'm very grateful that her temp. broke and she was able to make the all day flight. (they went from Guyana, to Barbados, to Florida and then to the Bahamas)

    Her family has missed her in all different kinds of ways and I love the way her sisters, brother and her daddy have tried to deal with her being gone. We have little Jayna memories everywhere, from her favorite music being played on the radio, ("I Want to Fall in Love with You" from Jars of Clay) to smelling some of her perfume on Jessica or seeing Jacqui wear one of her shirts and her daddy playing one song over and over again because it reminds him of her. Jamie's ready to take her shopping, spend time scrap-booking and to see the new "Pirate" movie with her and of course, Jeremy always has his special hugs to make you feel like you've come to a peaceful place in this world. I have truly been blessed with a wonderful family.

April 25th

I can't believe that I'm posting two days in a row! What a record for me!

Thanks Mom for posting on my site, I needed to fix the color on my page to be able to read it. I received 2 postings from you, so the first one came through just fine.

YEAH, I just read a new e-mail from Jayna in Barbados. I love the Internet for this reason mainly, keeping in touch with loved ones where ever they are. Her team will leave on Saturday for Guyana and I don't know if we will be able to communicate as often. It sounds like Guyana and where the team is staying will be pretty remote.

My 13 year-old can bake a better batch of cookies than her mother. She did 5 dozen choc. chip cookies and they were great. I did 5 dozen peanut butter cookies and preceded to burn 2 dozen. Sometimes multi-tasking does not pay off!

God has provided more rain after a drought in Kansas this past year. It's wonderful to hear and smell the rain and our pond is finally starting to look good again. He is so good to us!

April 24, 2007

My poor neglected Xanga page! All I do is read others postings and then post on their sites!

It's been over a year and the past year has been very busy. Here are some quick updates:

With my folk's house fire, we have seen several work weeks but the progress is looking great. Hopefully they will be able to move back in within the next 6 months. They have both been patient and steadfast with the rebuilding of their home and it's starting to look like a home once again.

My youngest daughter, Jessica has had the chance to ride her horse Daisy again! What an answered prayer! Jessica doctored her horse for over a year and it was a long wait to see Daisy completely healed. Thank you Lord for answering the desire of my daughter's heart.

My oldest daughter, Jamie, and her husband Jeremy, will celebrate their 2nd anniversary on Memorial weekend and I'm very proud to say how much I've enjoyed my new son! They're still the cutest couple!

My second daughter has been gone on a Mission trip since January with YWAM. She's in Barbados with her team this month and will leave for Guyana this next week. We've had quite an adventure with this trip and Jayna getting ready to leave, but God has shown me just who really is in charge of all things. Thank goodness He is!

My third daughter, Jacqui, has found her "nitch" in her new job working with at-home-care grandparents. This job is peaceful and it's great to see the sparkle return to her eyes.

My husband and I are fine and trying to keep up with everyone! Life is good and there are always new adventures to go on.

To those of you who might read this:

"God bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;

the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."

Numbers 6:24-26

I am so thankful for good health. It took an allergic reaction to my antibiotic last week to have this blessing really sink in. I've never experienced anything like this before and I don't care to again. I feel for my son-in-law that works around fiberglass all day. The "itchies" are just horrible!

Today is beautiful, we're sitting at 83 degrees for Kansas. Tomorrow will be different but that's why I love it here (besides the great sunsets!)

The kids and I get to go see the folks this weekend and help out since they had their fire. I'm anxious to get some hugs and to actually see the damage to the house. The folks called today and they were taking a break for the day. It sounds like they have gotten quite a bit done already. A lot of people from church have been going over and helping them. We'll be going down with a pick-up and a car, so I hope we can haul some stuff off for them.

Our horse Daisy is still mending and Jessica is being very careful with her treatment. Faithful too, she goes out twice a day. She and her big sister have taken the afternoon off and have gone fishing! Both of them had sparkles in their eyes as they tried to dig up some worms! I hope they can get some bites!

Thank you for the several postings that I've received, especially concerning Mom and Dad since the fire. I appreciate your time in reading and your prayers.

God Bless, Julie

P.S. Lori, our adventures at Wal-Mart are getting unreal! I'm a little sore today from all the laughing we did last night!

Boy, what a week! It has felt like a roller coaster! I started off on Monday with a nice sinus cold and figured that I could wait it out without going to the doctor's! Valentine's day came and went with my 12 year old and myself sleeping in the living room. (Jessica was feeling puny too) By Thursday (my birthday) I was getting tired of having a "forever" slumber party with Jessica and so we both went to the doctor's. Thankfully we're both on the mend now and it's wonderful to sleep through most of the night and not in the recliner either! 

My husband was wonderful during this time; he cooked supper every night and cleaned up! I actually enjoyed him telling me what I could and couldn't do! He made Valentine's day special too, I've never had a "singing" balloon before. We postponed my birthday until Friday when we were all feeling better and the whole family could be here. I'm now the proud owner of a pretty red robe and the kids told me that they don't want to see the ratty one ever again.

My husband got me a CD player for the kitchen because my other one was dying a slow death. Besides, washing dishes is so much easier if you have some great music to listen too and Jessica is learning all kinds of different dances; from Swing and Scottish jigs to the Disco! She's not quite sure about the Disco stuff but she loves the jigs.

Update on our horse, Daisy; she will be going back to the vet on Monday for x-ray's on her left leg. We're still believing in the unseen and this walk of life really got tested on Friday.

My folks lost their home to a fire. They are fine but heart-sick and the house was not a complete loss. They have some big decisions to make now concerning their future and I'm just so very thankful that they're ok. Please keep us in your prayers as we begin to sort through their belongings and that my Dad will take it easy and not over do.

P.S. Lori-thank you so much for my birthday lunch on Friday and especially your friendship. I thank God for it everyday.        Julie