Well...well...well...

Here I am again! Don't know where to start...for the time would fail me to tell you about all that took place...school fields day...field trips...the last day of school...picnic...graduation.

And then the next week they youth went camping...they took 4 from our household this year. Its amazing how much less work there is when 4 of them are gone...and I know the story...but look how much they help when they are there...and yes they do...but they need to for the extra food they eat and clothes they wear! LOL! And then they got back and the stack of laundry...Ryan left the next morning to fly to ND to visit a BS buddy, who's mom had passed away...and the anxious day he spent in airports that he wasn't planning too...plane mechanical failures...thunder storms...and top that with a serious headache that he asked for prayer for...was so hoping he could have a nice flight home...but had a few more delays...he is sick of airports!! And then the other day, my eldest son turned 21...and it just seems like yesterday...that Sat when I was doing my cleaning and fretting about whether or not this was the real thing!! Ryan told us the other day that all his birthday pictures for the last 10 years are always the same...taken at lunchtime... in his work shirt...at the picnic table! Ha!

Last week I went to my garden and picked the last of the 'English' peas, some broccoli, some cukes, squash...and the first of my gr beans! That is unusual for the south to have peas and beans together...the hot weather usually dries out the peas way before the beans come on the scene! Don't know what I was thinking...but had picked the beans Thurs, then was hoping they would wait till Mon...sometime yesterday I remembered that I should go over the cukes...and groaned when I saw the beans...and then remembered the children are hoping to go to the zoo tomorrow...and knew the beans wouldn't wait till Tues! I needed some things at Walmart and was going to go right after lunch...but Ivan said he would take me later on...well...he called about 4:30 and said to go ahead and go. Andrea and I went...I told Maurita before we left if she felt ambitious that she could go out and at least pick the 2 short rows...the more I thought about it...I didn't like the thought, but knew the beans needed picked before bedtime! Surprise of surprises when we got home at 7...there were 3 baskets of beans on the front porch...I didn't know whether to be happy they were picked, or groan because there were so many at such a time Sat night!!! Maurita said she picked over them all...I didn't even go check to make sure she got them all...didn't really care if she did miss some of them! LOL! I really don't like to start projects like that after Sat noon! But many hands make light work. Gwynndon found the leftovers in the fridge and engineered the little boys supper, while the girls and I started snapping beans. Somehow Gendeva and Ryan missed out...they had gone shopping to Aiken after Geneva got off work...and Ivan was out working on his shop addition. We ended up with 21 qt of squashed down runnin' over qt jars...I debated about freezing some of them...but thanks to a pressure canner I turned the last burner off about 11:30! And yeah...sometime I was nostalgically remembering that once upon a time...42 pt of beans would have been a great portion or what we need for all year!!! But I am grateful for this stage in life right now...cause I am sure one day soon...we may be back there!!

So how is that for one big runon paragraph!! And then this morning we were blessed with a chorus from VA who shared in song...after which we shared lunch with them and the youth and sent them on their way with a packed supper. Once again...many hands make light work...we actually were leaving by 1:30 with a clean kitchen behind!! ...and then Friday Ryan leaves us again...this time headed for LA street meetings!...and the next week is summer Bible school...so looks like the trip is still on a roll! Hang on for the ride!!

Well, back again. I enjoy reading others posts, but thats about all the time I have on the computer. So will see if I can do a bit more today! We've been having a lovely spring. Because of the 'cold' winter that we had and you know they say that the yearly temp average about the same...I was afraid summer would hit with a vengeance...and it still may. But...so far we've been having a lovely spring. Cool nights, and pleasant days. Today after lunch, Ryan, Gwynndon and Kylan went for their first swim party of the summer. So they must think it is warming up!
We are enjoying fresh lettuce, and strawberries. Last Wed I came in with 2- 5 qt pails full, and Andrea wondered if I actually found them all in my garden! I planted radishes again this year, and if I was growing them for the tops...we could have had a lovely crop. But for some reason the ones that did grow bulbs were so piddly look'n that they weren't worth carrying to the house!
Thanks to Ivan last weekend he got the boys to help hill the potatoes, then we mulched till we ran out of straw bale. Then next day one was delivered to us, so they are in the 'laid by' stage! Yesterday we got the fence up for the 1/2 row of green beans and cukes to grow on, so need to mulch them next. I will let the bush style green beans grow another week before we need to mulch them. Jane B generously offered that I could plant some Zipper peas in some extra garden room that she had this year. She didn't need to plant to freeze, but does like to eat fresh. I usually wait for them till after I pick the 'English' peas, and dig pototoes. So maybe this year we can get our Z peas finished before school starts!! I seems I finally am feeling the cruch of a lot of 'eaters'! I think the beans, corn and Zipper peas will last till the fresh comes, but won't have extra to start from! Not sure if the pickles will last or not! Delvin is a big veggie eater...and that is good, except when it comes to putting them up!!
This week felt like another big party. Wed night our small group and one other one met at our ball diamond for an evening together, and finished up with supper after dark. We must have had some big appetites or something. There were about 43 people, so 3 of us were bringing sand wiches. I got out 24 hotdogs, one brought 32 ham/egg salad sandwiches, and the other had 2 big trays of sub type rolls...they all got wipped out, plus I went in and got more hotdogs out of the freezer! I overheard a comment that they didn't think they ever saw a pot luck get quite so wipped out before!
Fri morning was fields day at school till noon. Then Maurita invited the girls from her room at school for overnight. We thought they might enjoy helping to make doughnuts, but wasn't sure that would keep them all busy, so Geneva mixed up 2 batches of cookies too! This Mom doesn't do well with chaos around her, but Geneva thought she could oversee things, Andrea helped with the cookie part. So I, feeling a bit guilty, escaped to the shop after everything was mixed up! They got them all done, and the floor needed a good scrubbing later, but not too much other damage was done! Then we had hamburgers over the fire for supper. I told Geneva we might need some baked macaroni and cheese to go with, but she said she didn't think they needed any more starch after all the cookies and doughnuts they had sampled! We did have mountain pies for dessert. Sat morning I took them home, then went on to Aiken to do some shopping. Quinten and Thorton went with Maurita and I. Soon after we got to Aiken Quinten wondered what we were having for lunch...he thought he would like a mt pie! We laughed at him!
The school countdown is on....2 more weeks!
This morning our Sunday School lesson was on Waiting on the Lord. Are we truly waiting...but yet keeping busy...but not running ahead...while we wait!