Summer Sports

Nice hot day to play some softball...... Brittany is playing 1st base... that would be the girl with the green shirt near the dug out on the left. (We were sitting in the shade in outfield... It was HOT!)

This is one of my favorite things

This my beautiful coleus that I fell in love with. The top of the leaves are a bright lime green while the underside is burgundy. To top it off I put it in my splurge of a ceramic pot that is cobalt blue.

What a Beautiful day!

And I am not entirely certain I will get to enjoy it. LOL... figures right?

On tap today is Benji at preschool (which he is there now until 10:45), weeding out the front flower bed that I keep putting off... I really need to do it, Benji's physical therapy evaluation, and I think that is it. I pray it is at least.

I have to find my insurance cards, I have misplaced my black book with all of them in it. I do think I have copies of Benji's cards though so I should be okay. His PT evaluation is basically a repeat of the one in January... more of than on his blog though. (benjisbrokenheart.blogspot.com) The appointment is in Fairview, which I am not very familiar with so I will google the address and leave about 2pm.

The flower bed, we didn't put weed block down because we want what we planted to spread out. Unfortunately, grass, dandelions, and Lord only knows what else has decided they like the soil. Other than that I think when we get back from Benji's appointment I am gonna plant my
potatoes... (late I know.. but I think it will be okay.) I am going to till in some good black top soil into the potato bed and see if it helps... the squash and cucumbers are looking blah and the tomatoes aren't looking too hot. We forgot to amend the soil when we started.

I am praising God that there is no practice or games tonight! We need evenings where we can just sit at home and work or relax... Jeff did say he wanted to start on the fence to go around the pool this evening. It's just a 3 ft metal fence and it is within our fence that we will be putting it. We think it is best so the boys stay out of the pool when we aren't back there. Shouldn't be too hard to put up either.

Oh! 2 of the 3 grape vines I have planted have green on them! I think the third one might too. I am excited! I know we probably won't get grapes this year, but knowing that we will in the future and that we are growing them is just awesome! Isn't it awesome when we turn to the
land and work it as God intended? I hope we can get some apple trees either this fall or next spring.

I had better get, need to find the insurance cards and at least get started on the flower bed.

What is everybody planning on doing for the weekend?

--
Faith Johnson
www.ParentsForChrist.com ~ Christian Parenting
www.HeavenInOurHearts.com ~ Our Family Site

And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. Isaiah 54:13

Lemon Grass! Take that Mosquitoes!

So, in a last ditch effort last week I ran by the Plant Ranch in
Dickson, TN to see if they had any Lemon Grass. I have been told by
many that Lemon Grass is wonderful in chasing away the mosquitoes that
our blessed spring rains have brought us. Iwill not complain about the
rain given last year we had a significant drought. I just don't like
the may flies.

Anyhow. Plant Ranch had 5 lemon grass plants. I bought 4. Then
realized I didn't have a place to plant them considering they look
like grass and well... we let the girls cut the grass. We are so
blessed that they can help with the yard work. So after church Sunday
we ran to Lowe's and got some wood (and saved time by letting them cut
it.) and some top soil to build some planter boxes/beds.

Jeff did a WONDERFUL job and since we were planting them in Morning
sun/partial shade I threw in a Coleus too!.. Jeff made two boxes I got
one in the picture, but they are on either side of our patio. The
large pot on the corner of the patio has red vincas and spikes in it,
so that carries the grass theme a bit.

It's Friday... wow

It's Friday afternoon already... I didn't think today would ever get here this week.  It's been busy.

We have been working in the flower beds as we could, we have had alot of rain and family activities this week.

Monday Benji had his OT appointment. He did good... or at least as good as we can expect right now. I am losing hope in the medical services available to him. But I am trusting in the Lord that He is in control and things will work out for little one. He is FINALLY getting into a new PT. His PT had evaluated him insisted that he get new inserts (feet) and allegedly ordered them... then disappeared. We have an appointment on the 22nd for him. Thank you Jesus.

Monday night I took Brittany to her ball game in a neighboring town. In the 2nd inning the pitcher didn't like her being all up on the plate and hit her. Hit the inner wrist on her left arm. Resulted in a trip to the ER since her bones are fragile. (She's been on steriods since she was 4 for the asthma. I think it was 4 at least) No broken bones praise God. She is still sore, but that is to be expected.

Tuesday was the pre-K field trip to the Zoo. So I went with Micah. We had alot of fun. While on the trip I was informed that the kindergarten meeting was Tuesday night at 6. That would have been no problem but Kimmie had her band concert at a different school at 7:30. Thanks to the Lord things fell perfectly into place. One of Kimmie's friends had asked if Kimmie could go with her to the concert so I didn't have to be there until 7:30 where she had to be there at 6:30. The kindergarten meeting ended at 7 and I had plenty of time to get where needed.

Wednesday was just a tired day. After Benji was done with his preschool we were as lazy as possible until the big kids got home. Brittany had practice that was going to be 5-6:30 but they extended it to 8. I took Benji with in hopes to try out the new stroller I picked up from Toys R Us when I was in Nashville on Monday. Alas... it is too short for this momma. So I left Britt in the capable hands of her coaches and took Benji to Nana's until it was time to get Britt. She was able to pitch and bat and did good. The wrist is still sore, but she has function.

Thursday... We had our MOPs tea and it was wonderful. I am still stuffed! It was a hoot... and I can honestly say that I felt out of place... I am not a dress up and have tea kinda gal. It was fun though, one of the ladies is from the Russia area and she sang an opera song about love. It was a lovely time. Then got home and planted my grape tomato and cherry and roma tomato.... I had stopped by the nursery on the way into MOPs and they had lemon grass. It is classified as a perennial but another customer said it wasn't in this area. I figure I'll just bring some of it in in the fall.

Today... I am proud to say I am still in my pajamas... Me and Benji slept in after the big kids went to school. This evening we are going to watch E.T for the kiddos, it's on Nickelodeon, and me and Jeff are going to enjoy the new episode of Doctor Who.

For the weekend it will consist of weeding out flower beds and the garden, mowing the grass, hopefully getting the potatoes in the ground and building another bed... Gotta figure out if I can put oregano and parsley in a partial sun area. And Britt has a ball game at 2 on Saturday.

Have a good Weekend!


--
Faith Johnson
www.ParentsForChrist.com ~ Christian Parenting
www.HeavenInOurHearts.com ~ Our Family Site


And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. Isaiah 54:13

Because Broadband isn't available to everybody...

Are you one of the thousands of people that want to get online but the only service available to you is dial up? If you are I feel your pain.


After being on Comcast's cable internet for 8+ years we moved to an area that the only internet access available is either satellite or dial up. To be quite frank, the satellite internet charges WAY too much for my tastes. I have better things to do with $70-100 a month than get on the internet with alleged "high speed"

So, the penny pincher in me came out. I have never like AOL. Just don't like the service, no particular reason. I tried Netzero, because you can get online for free for 10 hours a month... or at least you could, not sure now. Then I found PeoplePC. My first thought was along the lines of you get what you pay for and after the special offer you are paying $11-12 a month. But I tried it anyway. I can't hep it, I am addicted to being online.

Well, I have been a customer with PeoplePC since September 2006. I really enjoy using it. 98% of the time I connect the first time at the top speed for dial up. It's a consistent connection. There are also several features available from the start page. You can get CallWave to see who is calling while you are online, internet security is available, and the email has spam filters. Ultimately I am very happy with PPC.

So... my question is to you... who do you use for your internet service? What are the pros and cons?

Day 1 of our 2008 Garden

This year is the first year of our garden. We didn't get to it last year because we were still getting settled in at the beginning of growing season. We are still not quite ready but were determined to grow at least some of our own food. So, we have planted tomatoes, bell peppers, potatoes, spinach, carrots, snap beans, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, squash, and one grape vine.

We also put up a net type fence around it hoping to keep the dog and kids out of it. Of course afterwards we found out mom and dad still have their 3 foot fence and posts. At least we have a back up plan now... LOL. We are hoping the dog behaves though because we would have to come up with a gate if we have to put up the metal fence.

Now I just need to weed out the flower beds and get that taken care of before this weekend so we can get the last bed mulched. I am thinking about talking Jeff into doing one more bed for a small herb/flower garden in the front yard. I may be asking too much though. :-)

Off for today though... Benji has his Echo today and then his OT appointment. This evening Allie has her track meet. It was postponed Friday due to the weather.

Hey Heaven in our Hearts, check this out...

Hi Heaven in our Hearts,

It's Faith Johnson,

This is life changing and free, and YOU were the first person I thought of when I saw it. Since I care about you deeply I wanted to get this in your hands, I just know you would gain some great

Life changing things from these videos... I was blown away, by the free gift as well, so check it out.

Here is the site:

http://12minutemakeover.com/

Talk soon,

Faith Johnson