Laughter doeth good like a medicine

This week I've been reading the book "Mama, Get the Hammer! There's a Fly on Papa's Head!" by Barbara Johnson. I know, the title sounds realllllyyyy far out there, but the book is fairly sane:-) Sometimes life just gets us. Really gets us. We get tired, sick, disappointed, hurt by those we think love us, worn down with financial cares, stuck in a rut, frustrated, unhappy with ourselves, unhappy with our mates, etc... and we just need a lift!

This book has been that lift for me! There is so much turmoil in this world today and although we know we have the surety of eternity with Christ as a believer, we still get bogged down with the cares of day to day life. I just needed to laugh:-) Do you ever just NEED to laugh? I miss my laughing buddies of days gone by, and sometimes I feel like I just need them around to have a good aching stomach-tears in your eyes-laugh!! LOL! Since I don't have them here with me anymore ***and you know who you are:-)***, this book helped me laugh like I haven't done in a while!

Christ reminded me this week that there is J.O.Y. in living! My Mom used to sing a song with us when we were little and I sing it with my children now, but the message sometimes slips by unnoticed. "Jesus, and others, and you! What a wonderful way to spell JOY! Jesus and others and you, in the life of each boy and each girl! J is for JESUS for HE has first place! O is for OTHERS you meet face to face! Y is for YOU and whatever you do, PUT YOURSELF LAST and spell J.O.Y.!!!!"

Jesus is the Joy of Living and this book reminded me of that this week. Instead of dwelling and focusing on the negative, I need to look more for the laughter, fun, and happy in life:-) I think I'm going to start a new tradition in our home this week. There are always serious things to talk about and discuss, but before those issues are discussed, we must first thing of something to say that is happy and will make the person we're talking to laugh! I mean, REALLY laugh:-) Laughter is such a good medicine and I think it can make a lot of ailments go away, just like the lack of laughter can bring on the ailments:-)

Here's a challenge for you **and for me**: This week, before we discuss work, politics, discipline issues, church matters, family problems, etc...Each person involved in the conversation must share something funny or very positive! There must be laughter and smiles (soul medicine) before there can be any dissection. I think we will find that many of the troubles of life will not be so "troubling" if we will FIRST put the words to these verses from Psalms and Proverbs to use.

Proverbs 11:22

"A MERRY heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones."

Psalms 16:9-11 *my favorite Psalm:-)*

"Therefore my heart is GLAD, and my glory REJOICETH: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of LIFE; in thy presence is fullness of JOY ; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. "

I want to close this with something funny that happened to me and my husband last night:-) He reads all my posts so I know he won't mind me sharing this:-) In most marriages *or maybe all of them?* the wife wants the husband to "read her mind" or "take her hints" and the husband wants his wife to "speak up and say what she wants"....SOUND FAMILIAR?? Well, it works this way in this house too!! Now, for the last almost 12 years I've been working on trying to be more clear in expressing my needs verbally instead of "hinting":-) My husband, after nearly 12 years of marriage, is still not getting the hang of hints. SO, last night I was in need of some help. I didn't hint, I didn't use my Fonderin-eyes( *Lay family joke* ) to try to relay my inner thoughts, I didn't use body language, I just came right out and said what I needed! I was SO proud of myself! Do you know what happened? My husband still didn't get it!!! He proceeded right on doing what he was doing and I was left standing with my mouth hanging open! L.O.L.!!!

WHAT??? Now I'm the one confused:-) lol!!! I thought I did it right this time and he STILL didn't get it. Boy, now mean ole' mister devil just jumped right in and you know what, I let him. I stewed in my frustration for a while and reaalllyyy got irritated:-) I was NOT happy:-) Yep, I let my joy get robbed and it didn't help anything! After the house was quiet and the kids were all in bed, I told my husband that I was sorry for being irritated at him. Poor man, he didn't even know I was upset with him!! hahaha! He had been in the garage all this time and had missed out on on the joy-robbing. I explained why I had gotten upset and told him that I thought I had did it right this time and do you know what he said??? this is the killer...hahahaha...he said, "I heard you say that, but I didn't think you really meant it!" AAAAAAHHHH!!!! *serious amounts of laughing at this point**

So, what is the point of sharing this...it's this: Don't let Satan rob you of your joy! Learn to laugh and look for the laughter that is in nearly every situation of life! Satan likes nothing better than to get you down and disappointed. He knows if he can do that, then he's got you right where he wants you...DEFEATED! So this week, let's let the J.O.Y. of Jesus put smiles on our faces, love in our words, and happiness in our hearts!

Family Day to the Mountains

Last weekend my husband surprised us all with a little announcement that he was taking us to the mountains for a day! We haven't been able to do much since Caleb was born because he's SUCH a homebody, so this was SO NICE! We took the kids to South Mountain State Park where we had a picnic lunch and hiked 3 miles to the lower waterfall and back. SOOO much fun and Caleb loved every minute of it:-) The girls enjoyed the hiking and had fun splashing around in the creek a bit too! The weather was gorgeous and we had a lot of fun just being together, enjoying God's beautiful Creation!

Food for thought...or may not???

http://faceonthefood.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/gross-things-were-eating/
This is why we do what we do. Not to make anyone feel inferior because they don't eat as "healthy" as we do, not to "one up" ourselves for what we do, but because we DON'T want to eat this!!! Seriously, what is wrong with saying "NO" to feeding our children and ourselves this??? It's not food. It's animal secretions, paint thinner, and ground up animal parts. It's time to say "YES!" to the farmers and to our own gardens. The only way to win the war is one family and one yard at a time! JUST SAY NO!


Don't forget! The Columbus Farmers Market is open now every Saturday from 8:00-11:30! Come early as you're not the only one who wants some good food:-) Some sellers are sold out by 10:00! Be the early bird and get something worth getting!

Happy Days then and now

Old Fashioned  Sunday '03

Dressed up in her fairy outfit from Uncle Dave and Aunt Debbie

My beautiful sister "Rosie"

Pastor and Mrs. Laurie

Tuckered out at Nana's

Christmas before Adalyn came

Sister meeting sister

My best friend, Mendy...miss her:-)

The three musketeers:-)

Daddy and Caleb

My special boy!

The high cost of "free" and "cheap"

http://healthimpactnews.com/2012/americans-eat-the-cheapest-food-in-the-world-but-what-is-it-really-costing/


What is your food Really costing you? It is now April of 2012 and our food budget has not increased one cent. Some weeks it even decreases! What's the key?? LOCAL FOOD. Period.

Oh, and we don't eat out. Well, once every other month or so we'll stop at a local restaurant that serves locally grown food for a family treat. That saves lots of money:-) It is amazing to me to see what people drive, the electronic gadgets they have, the shopping trips they can afford, the several vacations they can take each year, and then they have the nerve to say "how do you afford to eat healthy!!??" Hmmm...:-)   It's all in your perspective. Americans are such "have it now" people. They don't count costs, they don't prepare for the future, they don't invest in the little future's running around under their feet, they don't value their resources, and they think everything should be free!! 

Free ALWAYS has a price. History has always deemed it so. If it's free it's not worth having. Free means that someone other than yourself is paying the price, AND a high one at that. So the next time you complain about the rise in grocery store prices, fuss at yourself for being so greedy, lazy, and government -dependent.:-)

Change your thought processes and decide that paying for what you use and consume is a morally right and morally ethical way of doing things and that if you are a Christian, doing so will please God! He always blesses those who do right! We are a one income family and God has always made a way for us to eat healthy and to keep our family healthy! He always makes a way, but He doesn't always drop it right in our laps:-) He does expect us to get up and get going! So get up, get going, get out there and support your local food farmers and their endeavors to fight these corporate giants who are trying to kill, maime, and dumb down every human being alive. 
There is a great place to go to and get started on this adventure of paying for what you need....Columbus/Tryon Farmers Market! It's now open every Saturday from 8:00-11:30! Get there early because some farmers sell out by 10:00 -10:30! Lots of fresh food grown CLEAN just for YOU! Expect to buy a bag of lettuce for $3 and a delicious quart jar of truly raw and healthy honey for $8!! SOOOO much cheaper than the junk in the store and you're paying the flat rate! No subsidies!!! No hidden costs!!! No toxic chemicals that will give you cancer!!! Nothing is fertilized with human excrement and the meat didn't come from an animal that died insane!! 

Local sausage/bacon fresh ground wheat pizza!!

Fresh produce from a trip to the Columbus Farmers Market last year!

Here's another view of what will be at the market each week as well! http://piedmontlocalfood.com

Another day this week I hope to post a picture of my garden:-) It's a big one!! lol! So many new things will be growing out there this year and I'm so very excited about it! I'm trying companion planting this year with my vegetables and herbs and I'm even going to be beginning to grow a Carob Tree! Now that will be a longer project but it will be fun! There is nothing like doing all the work and then watch God breathe life into those dead little seeds and a beautiful plant pops up from the soil! Amazing!

Stay tuned!

Saturday Fishing Fun

Adalyn's First Fish!

Audrey's First Fish!

Pardon my fish ignorance, but I THINK that Adalyn caught a small mouth bass and Audrey caught either a perch or brim??? 
They are having so much fun that they don't want to stop and come home to eat homemade pizza! For my kids to eat late because they're busy doing something else is a phenomenon that happens VERY rarely:-) LOL!

So happy they have such a nice place to go and have fun. Maybe we'll be able to have a place like this of our own someday:-)

Resurrection Day 2012

We had a wonderful day together as  a family. The night before the girls made an Empty Tomb to remind us that our Savior is not dead, but alive! They had a lot of fun doing that and liked picking out the worms that got scooped up in the moss to put back in the garden:-) Caleb was asleep so he didn't get in on the fun:-) We had a nice day at Church and then came home to a yummy dinner. My parents live so far away now that we can't just hop over for dinner, so we had dinner with just us five and then enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. Caleb was NOT in a picture-taking-mood that morning, so we were happy with just getting him to look at the camera! lol! The kids are growing so fast and it's hard to believe that another summer is almost upon us.

Audrey is winding down her school and we're on the home stretch with that! (whew!) The garden planting is almost complete and we have a big one this year, Lord willing:-) It's been such a warm spring that most spring crops are almost finished. I've got seven 2 gallon planter pots full and ready for the pepper seeds and are waiting on the rest of my fall/winter/ and a few summer seeds to get here from Horizon Herbs.  Neat place to get really good seeds. If you have the chance, check them out at www.horizonherbs.com for a huge variety of vegetable and herb seeds.

We hope everyone had a special day and we look forwards to seeing some more of our family for another get together soon!

Family Fun

Homemade sausage/bacon pizza - all local and fresh!

My sleeping prince:-)

My happy boy!

First Iris's of the season

This is the way the girls do school....

This is what Caleb does while the girls do school...lol!