Only two jars, but...

The plants in my garden have, for the most part, been growing heartily. (The beets sort of didn't happen, and I replanted them this week.) Anyway, the only things I have really been able to pick are squash, cucumbers, and jalepenos, and the only things we've really done anything with are the first two. I planted the jalepenos for my dearly beloved, but he won't eat them unless he's in the mood to eat them. Sooooo I accumulated quite a few of them and decided today that I needed to do some canning. I haven't canned anything since I was living at home, and then that was only as a helper to mom. Well, I have two nice little pint jars of jalepenos now, and I'm feeling rather proud of myself :) What we'll use them for in the future I don't know, but we have them!

Chris's co-workers think I'm Betty Crocker or something out of the pioneer days because I cook dinner every night. He likes to take leftovers and make everyone drool from the aromas. It really isn't anything special--I am not chef material like my dear friend in IL, and I make my bread in a bread machine. We are such a busy, driven people that for someone to take the time to be in the kitchen like I do just astounds people. Besides trying to be a good steward of our money, I feel like I am serving my husband and God as God would have me serve. I enjoy the time in the evening when we sit down to dinner, and we rehearse our days (many times he has much more to say than I do). No matter what job I have had, I have tried to fulfill the duties to the best of my ability. I have finally attained the position for which I have always longed, and I am happy to fulfill those duties in the same manner. Chris never fails to compliment me, but how much better can you get than to have your husband think so much of you that he likes to compliment you to his co-workers!

Early Anniversary Trip

As posted before, Chris and I are facing a deployment for him in September. If this is the case, and God does not see fit to keep him home, we will spend our first anniversary many, many miles apart. Soooooo, we are preparing to take a two-week vacation to California to sight-see the west! I have been quite a few times, but he has never made it passed Oklahoma. Well, he has, but he totally skipped the west when he flew to Hawaii. Anyway.....camping is a joy of his, and I have wanted to go camping for some time, so we plan to tent the whole way. What a way to enjoy all of the national parks along the way! We are actually headed to CA for a church youth camp where we plan to help the administration--no, not as counsellors, but in most any other way we can (kitchen, grounds, security). We're both looking forward to it all, and since technology is what it is now, I hope to post pics all along the way: Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, Hoover Dam, southern Utah, and whatever else we find. I'll be looking for a ghost town or two, and I think Chris will just be looking at it all :) I love the east coast and don't deny that I miss Virginia, but the west is in my blood (thanks to my mother). The mountains and the vastness and the ruggedness and even the barrenness has a beauty all it's own. Yes, I'm excited!!

Yard Work

I have intended to put up pics of the house, so I'll get one put up for now (left). To the far side of the yard (right) a good-sized pine tree has been dying, which we found out this past winter when trying to clean up the scrubby mess of vines and plants. Chris pulled away a thick vine and quite a lot of the base of the tree came with it --rotted. A couple weeks ago I decided to call the power company to see if they would cut it down, as it was right beside the power lines. They did, last week, and we have been cleaning up the remains. Poison Ivy!! We got good (?!) cases, and Chris actually had to go see the doc for some medicine. It is drying up, though there are occasional fits of itching. It was worth it, though, to have the tree gone. It really opened up the yard. The neighbor's son was doing some work in that yard and offered to use the trackhoe to dig up the stump. The thing turned out to be bigger and the root deeper than any of us thought.

Now to just get rid of the trunk pieces (we burned the pile of brush).

One Down, Two to Go

In preparation for his upcoming deployment in September, Chris was to attend a two-week training in Va, starting today, and a four-week training in August. He received a call this past Friday morning stating that the Va training had been completely cancelled. We feel that the Lord has answered our prayers, and if it takes praying each of them cancelled, one at a time, then so be it. God moves in mysterious ways sometimes, and if he wants to do things one at a time, then we can use the practice praying and exercising our faith if nothing else! Our summer started out with him being gone for its entirety, and now we have been given back two months. Thank you, Heavenly Father!