Random Christmas Break Photos

 

This is love in action.   I had spent the morning running in and out of the house helping Rick put siding up, and it was fun.  I enjoy helping my husband with these jobs even though I am VERY afraid of the nail-gun.  THe closer he gets to me as he nails down the siding I am holding up, the more I cringe!  WHen I cringe I close my eyes, when I close my eyes I am not looking to make sure the siding is exactly on the line…….  my Command man is ALL about straight lines.  I am getting better at keeping an eye on the line while cringing.  :)   Later in the morning, our dear friend and brother in the Lord came and took my place, helping Rick finish the front of the house.  It looks so great!  I am thankful for Mark and his willingness to bless us.

 

We taught Sammy to play Sequence and he really liked the game and caught on quick.  Here, he is trying to smile his way into Melody NOT blocking his sequence.  I do not remember if she went for it, I kind of doubt it as he is a decent player and as competitive as a Johnson!

This is Mia, looking like a nerd, brushing her teeth to a Justin Beeber singing tooth-brush.  So cute!

Games….. we love them, we play them, we enjoy having friends over to play and we like to represent!  My man says “why even play if you are not going to win!”   Yes SIR!

Annie got new head phones and took a nap with them on, clutching her blanket and guarded by her dog.  Looking precious!

 

What’s not  to  love about a girl who enjoys C.S. Lewis and stops and reads quotes to me!  She rocks!

 

This is what I miss now that Kristi is back at Liberty.  She loves to sit and play beautiful classical music and worship music as well.  I caught this picture with the sun shining in on her hair and the memory brings delight to my heart.  Beautiful woman of God praising her Lord.

 

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was unusual to us as we had our church service.  Christmas has not been on a Sunday in quite awhile and with no Christmas Eve service we were thrown off a little from our customary routine.  We had a nice breakfast and relaxed a bit, opening stockings and then headed to church.

Here are the children that were home, doing their Packer poses before we started opening presents.  It is obvious that there is a Packer game that evening.

Someone with a new camera snapped this picture of me, I never seem to get my apron off before pictures get taken!

Sometimes Matthew gets a little overwhelmed with all the blondes, and the dark haired one, but they sure do love him!

After dinner we opened gifts and the girls alway enjoy buying clothing for their brother.  Here he is opening as they all watch in anticipation!

One of the things that  Kristi asked for was that her father would take her to the Packer game on Christmas evening.  How can a Packer-loving father say no to that!   Despite cold temps they bundled up and headed out with Matthew to head to the game.

I just adore this picture of Matthew, he looks so good!

This is dear to my heart as well.  Kristi and her Uncle Randy!  SHe was in good company at this game.  :)

Well, three out of four is not bad!  Kristi and the guys! And doesn’t she look adorable??

This was earlier in the week, Kristi and Sammy doing cookies together.

 

I close with a little sister fun and their beautiful faces.

Christmas was blessed and wonderful.  The service in the morning had me in tears as we worshipped and adored out Savior, remembering His birth and all that He came to do for us.

We were so glad for having some of our children home and the joy of being together.  We laughed and talked and enjoyed each other.  It was a wonderful day.

December Fun

 

 

 

Our Christmas tree.  Annie had me go and buy extra lights as she thought we did not have enough after our first attempt at decorating.  It seems that many of our strands had given up the ghost!  She was correct, and with all the extra strands it turned out beautifully!

Melody had her Christmas recital and did a wonderful job.  We are always so proud of her beautiful music.

 

Mikey Ball married his love, Mary.  We joined with everyone in celebrating their marriage which was so beautiful.  They headed out the next day for Malaysia where Mikey has a job.  They have already started attending a Baptist church in their city and we are enjoying their updates on life in that part of the world.

 

THe whole family was invited to the wedding but the girls needed to work, and the dog needed someone to watch her, so…… Rick and I had to go all the way alone, spend the night together and enjoy a wonderful day together at the wedding.  It was hard to get away like that…… but we suffered through!   HA!  :)

 

Here I am with Cassidy, Mikey’s sister and dear friend.  It was good to get to be with her as well.  She lives in Indiana so we do not get to see her often.  :(

 

We Christmas caroled for all the shut ins at our local Nursing home and then went and caroled for Betty, who has been struggling with health issues this fall.  What a delight to bless and minister to those we love.

The girls did cake decorating for all the folks we enjoy giving cookies too for Christmas.

Mia turned 2 and we helped celebrate with her family.

 

The Johnsons love Mia and here are the girls helping her to put two fingers up for being two years old.

 

I wrapped the presents for the girls soon after I bought them and then used a basket and well………..  you can see what I did to it.  It’s not that I don’t trust our children………….  

Eating sushi for the first time at our delicious Japanese meal with Andrew and Lydia.

Cooking at church for the Thanksgiving dinner — everything is more fun when we work together.

Sushi — Japanese style

Just another awesome Packer party

My sweet husband is always happy when his children are home — his smile says it all!

Three funny girls on the couch — Rick enjoys his girls being home but he does have to put up with lots of extra noise!

Lovely Annie

 

Christmas shopping in Green Bay with our friends Karen and Gretel

Blurry picture…… but we are really sharp women!!!

Mandy and Melody in the mall — beautiful women

 

One Sunday before the game started, we had a sushi making demonstration and then we all got a turn at rolling and making it.  It was so much fun and we had learned to love sushi a few weeks before, thanks to our favorite international, Lydia!

Melody with our teacher Lydia.

A mother and son team learning the fine art…

Here I am in the learning process, and not to brag or anything….. but the teacher said mine were the best…. just saying!

Kristi came home for Thanksgiving and we were so delighted to see her!  Matthew was too!

We learned a new game called Dutch Blitz over Thanksgiving and here we are having it out — obviously Annie thinks someone is cheating, that is her evil eye look  

Family dinner –

Jason calling Annie out on something, love it.  He is such a great brother-in-law and we enjoy him so much.

 

Thanksgiving day during the game time –

 

The Johnson women, usually blonde but sometimes things change  

 

The men of the family — strong, handsome, hard-working men, who bless our lives.

Our family – 2011   These precious people are the greatest treasure we have on earth  and are so thankful for them all.

This is one of my favorite pictures of these two — so beautiful

Poor Jeni, the little sisters are always trying to make her share, and Jeni does NOT share her man!  The facial expressions always crack me up!

Poor Bailey,  she finds these family gatherings just EXHAUSTING!    That dog is pure drama, no wonder we like her so much  :)

Apple sauce 2011

These are some old pictures but they show the seasons of our lives.  Here is the apples-sauce making for 2011.  Gretel had stayed overnight so being one of our dark-haired daughters, she was called to this chore.  They did a great job and after a whole day of work se ended up with well over 50 quarts.  With Rick at the helm, not a pan scorched and the taste was delicious.

Kristi saw a picture of our working together in the kitchen and her comment was that Gretel had better not be taking her place….  one of the joys of a large family is the working together and producing our good organic food together.  Everyone is needed and learns early to be a part of the process as they will also reap the benefits of good food for the next year.  No one is replaceable and as the children are leaving the nest I do have concerns about doing all this work on my own!   That is a few years away so for now I will enjoy the work with my daughters and sweet husband.

 

Things that Crack me Up!

The Groupon Guide to: Siblings

Because it’s not polite to tell a child their age, many people don’t know whether they are the eldest, middle, or youngest sibling in the family. Take this quiz to find out which one you might be:

Your favorite way to influence the future is by:
a. Organizing your son’s social studies binder
b. Deconstructing Lego cities built by children to teach them to doubt the establishment
c. Chewing!

Your workout routine involves:
a. Bench-pressing smaller humans
b. Contemplating
c. Running on a metal wheel!

It’s dinnertime. You take your place:
a. At the head of the table. Everyone in the family will be excited to hear you regale them with the story of how you won today.
b. In your bedroom. Watching your family members chew makes you sick.
c. In the food bowl! Hopefully you’ll be able to pick out some of those delicious sunflower seeds!

If you could redecorate your home you would:
a. Expand. You need a home for all your cars and a garage for all your children. Oops! Other way around.
b. Burn the thing down
c. Add more tubes!

Answer key: If you picked mostly As: You’re the eldest sibling, congratulations! Your assertive type A personality makes you a leader in the family and a difficult person to watch television with.

If you picked mostly Bs: You’re the middle sibling. You’re artistic, emotional, and immune to romantic comedy.

If you picked mostly Cs: Your name is Oreo, you’re the fifth child in a litter of 14, and everyone here just wants you to come home.

Getting Ready……. for the day

Today is going to be one of “those” kinds of days, non-stop busy with so much to accomplish.

Rick and I were up early as I made him his lunch pail and we had coffee together and then he headed out the door for his work in Sturgeon Bay.  I always say an urgent prayer for his safety in driving as the deer are moving during these early morning hours and then again at dusk or later when he eventually makes his way home.  We discussed Thanksgiving and went over the time to eat due to there being a Packer game at noon which interferes with Thanksgiving dinner, or Rick may say that the Thanksgiving dinner interferes with the Packer game!  Either way, we are eating munchies during the game and eating the big meal at 4 ish.  That will make for a fun day!

I will go and check a caretaking home in a moment but first I will get the girls up to do a little cleaning up.  It is not too bad, but since we are having our home check for foster care re-licensing there are a few things that need to be picked up and plugs that need to be put in outlets and smoke alarms checked.  I worked on the paper work for relicensing last night for two hours!  I understand the need for it all, I just under estimated the time it would take to get it all done.  Our Social worker comes at 9 and when she leaves we will finish school, and chores, one of which for me is getting some bills paid.  I also need to get the meal plans done for next week so that I can do our shopping as Thursday is market day for our home.  Kristi gave me lots of ideas so I just need to make sure that I have all the ingredients, mostly the meat is what I will need to buy.  This is going to be a feast week with Rick’s birthday being celebrated on Saturday and Sunday and then lots of gatherings for the following days and Thanksgiving besides!

Melody has a violin lesson which we will leave and head to Sturgeon Bay for the shopping when she is through.  It will be a mad dash around the town due to needing some insurance signatures to verify insurances for our foster care license, then getting groceries.  I need to decide whether we should grab a bite to eat in Sturgeon Bay at a drive through to eat on the way home, or try and have something in the crock pot.  We will have little time to eat a meal when we get home before we need to head to Bible study, if we are even able to make it on time for study!

It is going to be a wild day!

Hoping all of you are having a calmer day, and are enjoying these beautiful fall days!

Choosing joy,

Joyce

Email from Kristi

Below is the email we received last week from Kristi.  It has been a number of years since we have had a college student so I had slightly forgotten the food cravings that our children develop while away from home.  So glad that we can feed her REAL food and give her the comforts of home while she is here for a WHOLE week!   WE are beside ourselves with joy!

Hey Mom,
I know you wanted my list of wants at the beginning of this week so I’ll list what I can think of.
Basically I’m starving, but I miss cooking so I want to do some of this myself

Cinnamon Rolls are a must. I have been dreaming about them recently I am so deprived.
Basil Pasta.
Quiche->preferably ham, onion, broccoli, and cheese.
Chicken Pot Pie
Tacos.
Steak/or chicken/or ribs/or pork chops/ basically any truly edible tasty meat
Jen’s Potato Fennel soup (this is one I would love to make for dinner one night like we did for your birthday)
Ham and Potato Soup or Sausage Corn Chowder
Aunt Laurel’s Garlic Bread
Matteo’s Pasta

Ok I think thats pretty much it. I am drooling just writing the list as I am about to leave to go eat at the Rot where they put laxatives in our food (true fact)
We frequently torture each other at dinner in discussing what our favorite foods are that our Moms make so that we can somehow make it through eating
the so-called “food” we get served daily. Many of my friends are from the south so Fried Chicken is always at the top of the list along with Sweet Tea lol.
Well I had better get ready to go, but I’ll call you tomorrow.
I miss and love you all!
Kristi

This week

What a wonderful and full week we have had. I would add pictures of it all but our internet is not doing pictures this morning!
On Monday we had our Foster Care training session which is now mandated for Wis. foster care parents. It is a three hour marathon of information, discussion and role playing over various scenarios that show up in foster care families. It was very interesting due to the fact that it makes us aware of actions expressed in children and the possible reasons. No home is a perfect home so it also was good for Rick and I to hear as we are still raising children and also mentoring young parents as well. I did have one moment of cringing when we were separated into groups and asked to role play a situation and I looked at my husband and his friend Zach, both strong Scandinavian types, and I wondered how they would handle it….. they were the strong silent part of that group! Glad we aren’t graded on participation!
Tuesday was little Andrew’s birthday party in Sister Bay. Lots of fun was had by us all. He even had his own little cake, which they call a “smash” cake. My children looked at me with an air of neglect as they announced to everyone that THEY had never had a smash cake! Most of the adults also said they had never had one so they were not alone. Andrew is a neat little boy and wasn’t sure what to do with sticky fingers but he quickly grabbed the whole cake and took a bite, so cute.
Thursday brought Gretel to our house to stay with us for four days while her mom is out of town. We did school, took Annie to the doctor for a finger that looked broken, and despite wrapping it, it was not getting better. Turned out to be a bad sprain and will hopefully get better in a few weeks. We ended up in Sturgeon Bay with a group from church to watch the movie Courageous. Our local theater was only keeping it a week and only showing it at five, how convenient! It was worth it and I can not say enough about the value and timeliness of this movie’s message. Yes, I cried, but I also laughed so hard and just rejoiced in the story of how God changes families.
Yesterday was an Andrew day. He comes mid morning so we try and get some school done before he arrives. We enjoyed watching the Elephant Room for some of our Bible time and it brought out some really good discussion about truth. Andrews being here changes the look of our home as he loves wooden spoons and buckets and all of my canning rings and the contents of my tupperware drawer! He also brings so many smiles to our faces as he goes from one to another of our family. I baked bread and spent time organizing photos and working on some memory albums which I am doing for each member of our family.
Today looks beautiful outside, the sun is shining brightly and I would love to take a walk if possible. That may happen, but first I have my list; dealing with school and cleaning up the school area, baking bread again, finishing applesauce and cleaning up a few areas. Friends are coming at two to visit and work on knitting, then Betty, Robyn, Tracey and Andrew are coming for supper and games. I am not sure about what to make for supper and so I need to nail that down soon. I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, got Gretel up and off to work and will get our girls up in a moment. Maybe more than a moment as Rick and I like to have some time alone in the morning before everyone is up and going.
Loving these days,
Choosing joy
Joyce

Feeling Thankful

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful  Col. 3:15

I am sitting by my huge window looking out into the back yard, the wind is roaring….. again!  There are golden and red leaves all over the yard despite Rick raking a few weeks ago and the white iron lawn furniture is still out there even though I know it is well past time to get that put away and secured behind the house. As I sit cozy here from the warmth of the fire I am contemplating this verse which keeps going over and over again in my mind.

Thankfulness so often flows from me when a need is met, prayed for or un-prayed for, like safety to the youth convention or a surprise of a bag of beef from dear friends in exchange for smoked fish.  One prayed for, the other not.  A sincere “praise the Lord” rolls of my tongue because I am indeed very thankful for these blessings.

What about thankfulness and the peace that the above scripture mentions?  Paul says to LET the peace of Christ rule in my heart.  The word LET gets me every time and so I went to Vines and this is what is said:

 

VINES

properly, “to act as an umpire” (brabeus), hence, generally, “to arbitrate, decide,” Col 3:15, “rule” (RV, marg., “arbitrate”), representing “the peace of Christ” (RV) as deciding all matters in the hearts of believers; some regard the meaning as that of simply directing, controlling, “ruling.” Cp. katabrabeuo; see ROB.

 

—- as deciding all matters in the hearts of believers —  That means that I am to let this powerful, mighty peace of Christ decide for me, control me and rule over my mind and all of my flesh.   This same peace that I rest in, because through Christ I am found in God’s favour and acceptance. This peace is to show up FIRST in my life in all situations as that would prove that it is in control of me.  Does it?  Well….. not always, but more and more.

This fall has provided ample opportunities to practice peace and thankfulness.  There have been some difficult relationships to deal with, the worst fishing in twenty years, our other businesses that have suffered in this economic low point of our country and friends who are suffering and need care.  Really, nothing new, as this has been life for Christians through the history of the world.  I am sure Peter in the Bible must have had off fishing, oh yes he did!  Remember how Christ came to the fishermen disciples and told them to out their nets out on the other side?  Must have been a less than perfect fishing moment for those men.  Christ gave them a miracle and I know that my sweet fishermen has often wanted Christ to tell him where to set the nets!

What I want to testify here for my family is that God has given peace.  I might still wonder how God is going to straighten out some relationships after love has been expressed to another with no response, or how He is going to supply our needs when our income is drastically changed, or how He will meet our friend’s needs…..  I wonder.   And then peace floods over me and I feel grounded in my faith that He is able, just as He was in the days of old, He is able and willing and faithful and the next thing out of my lips is thankfulness.

Thankfulness for:

Lots of wood for our woodstove, and that Annie did a huge haul the other days so we have not had to go out in this rainy cold weather for more supply.

Thankful that Rick was hired by a friend to work on fish that this dealer is bringing in from Lake Superior and for another friend to share the driving expenses with.  God loves to care about the details too!

Thankful for this time of LETTING the peace of Christ reign in me, over and over again.

For the winds, which can greatly affect a fisherman’s family, but also make my wind chimes sing beautifully which reminds me that God is near.

For a pantry full of canning

For friends to pray with on Tuesday and Wed. mornings where we gather in the early morning to lift our praises and requests up to our heavenly Father.

For Wednesdays with Sammy when I get to play with him and talk with him and feed him before taking him up to kids club at church

For music in our home and daughters who find great new worship songs to fill our homes with love for the Lord

Thankful for a young couple that came into our lives this summer and reminded me of newlywed love, enriched our home with their love of God and enhanced our worship with their gift in leading worship, taught us to love some Japanese food and how to play the piano with different and soothing sound, what a blessing!

Thankful for the fish that we did catch and for another season of safety for our precious men and also that the loss of nets due to gale winds was less than it could have been.

For children seeking the Lord and choosing to trust Him and go to His Word for their answers to life’s issues

Thankful for God’s Word which NEVER fails to uplift and encourage me every time I open it.

Thankful for the internet, and the great preaching we can watch together and learn from every week.

Thankful for skype which allows me to see my precious children when they are far away.

For the book of Colossians where God has me camping for these weeks, and for Paul who suffered much to bring me God’s Word.

For joy in the beauty of the fall leaves

For walks in the cool fresh air

For pink and blue fall sunsets

For work and the ability to do bookkeeping and cleaning jobs and have my children work with me.

For candles which make our homes glow when lit.

The list could go on and on.

 

I told my family recently that you can not complain if your heart is full of thanksgiving.

Choose to LET peace reign and control and then watch the thanks pour out!

Choosing peace and thankfulness today

Joyce

 

 

 

 

End of the Harvest….. Finally!

Today will be the end of the harvesting and I am ready for this year to be done.  I have carrots to dig and the last of the broccoli to cut and thenI will put the garden to bed for the winter.  I would be happy if I could get all of the perennials cut back as well today, but that might be more than this day will give me!

These are the carrots that we picked from our friend’s garden a week ago.  He said to go take what ever I wanted so I roped Melody and her friend Collin to help me and this was the reward for thirty minutes of work!  I have enjoyed using this table for cleaning vegetables as I can power wash from above and below and then they air-dry quickly afterward.

I may pressure can some of these carrots in the coming week, so I can make the harvest last longer.

We will can our applesauce next week as well.  I want to do it on Monday or Tuesday so that I can give some pints of sauce as a birthday present to a little one year old who’s birthday party is on Tuesday.  He likes my applesauce and his mother does not can so I thought this would be a neat idea for some of his present.

So far this week we have had Andrew for a day and Mia for a day as well as Robyn for supper.  It has gone well with these little folks and we enjoy loving them in our home.

We also had our Foster Care appreciation dinner on Tuesday night.  Rick was not able to attend but I picked up another mom and her two sons and we drove together to a very nice lodge in southern Door County where we enjoyed a fun evening.  There were door prizes and I won a dinner for two at a fancy eatery.  We also had an exchange where everyone brought items that were home made from our homes.  We brought a beaded bookmark, some grape jelly and one of Melody’s hair flowers that she makes.  We won a set of red-neck wine glasses as the lady who made them called them.  They are pint canning jars glued to glass candle sticks.  They come with lids so that you can fill the jar with wine and then put the lids on when you are walking around with them, cuz, you know how I spill my wine when I am drinking!  :)   That’s a joke folks!  They are very pretty and I will use them for candles and especially for outdoors when the wind is blowing, they will work perfectly.

We are starting school a little late due to Rick being off the lake. I wanted to make him a nice breakfast of eggs and bacon to celebrate being done with this season.  They pulled all the nets out of the water and will spend today and tomorrow cleaning them and sorting them to be repaired.  Although I still woke up at five this morning I was glad that Rick got to sleep in until a little after six.  He is exhausted and told me this morning that every muscle aches from all the pulling of these huge nets.  I wish he would take a hot soak to ease his muscles but that doesn’t fit his image of being a manly Scandinavian!   He will feel much better in a few days.

Today will be filled with finishing up paper work for the fishing licenses, school, violin lessons and preparing a meal for our dear friend Betty and her husband.  I received opinions from everyone on what I should make as we are one very opinionated family!   I will finish the garden and do some cleaning around the house later so that we will have less to clean tomorrow.  I have already heard from Mandy and Jeni and will talk to Kristi later, I do love that our family keeps in touch! The sun is shining and it looks lovely outside, a beautiful day for some outside work!

Choosing joy

Joyce

Romans 5

I am missing my dad.  I miss him very much, not all the time but in moments that surprise me.  There were three moments that overwhelmed my this past weekend.  One was when the suburban was full and we were heading down the road.  Why?, because my dad would fill our old station wagon with my friends and my sisters ( that was before all the insurance regulations about seat belts!)  and off we would go to Bill Gothard seminars, Kieth Green Concerts etc..  Much of the way my dad ministered has turned up in my life, over and over again, and driving down the road I remembered how my precious Dad blessed my life with trips like the one I was on.  The second was when Reggie Dabbs brought out his soprano sax and just about brought the house down with his playing, it was powerful, beautiful and worshipful.  It reminded me of my dad who loved a good sax.  I wonder if he is playing the sax in heaven, in the band where we all play perfectly to worship our King.  I kind of doubt my dad is off his knees yet…. he is probably still worshipping before the throne, seeing face to face what I long to see with all of my heart.  The third time was when the band was leading us in a song that I had never hear before, about how beautiful God is.  The last verse talks about when the wedding bells ring in heaven for when we are raptured to our God.  My chest tightened and my eyes filled with tears to think of my Father, already there enjoying his reward.  Beautiful thoughts and memories.

Two weeks ago Pastor preached on Romans 5 and these verses really struck me as something that my dad embodied in his life daily.

V.3 – 5 And not only that but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

My Dad’s tribulation was a disease called MS.  It hit him in the prime of life and for the last twenty years he was unable to walk and needed my mother’s constant care, in a way, these verses speak for both my parents as the disease greatly affected both of their lives.  My dad could have given up and not sought other treatments, therapy, you name it.. but he chose to persevere, every day!   This perseverance produced character in my Dad.  I do not know who my Dad was before the disease because I was young and not so aware of noticing the qualities in peoples characters.  But, the Word of God is true so I know that there were good qualities that showed up in my dad because of the disease.  I do know of a few — thankfulness, despite being wheel chair bound, he was thankful and he showed that to all who came in contact with him.  Joy, my Dad had a joyous way about him despite the daily tribulation that he dealt with, he was able to laugh and joke and smile because God was with him in this trial and that also was a great testimony to those around him.  Great faith,  my Dad had great faith and he went for healing prayers many times and although God saw that my Dad’s life would better serve him without the healing ( and my Dad did serve God well) my Dad never lost faith.  He loved the Word and spoke the Word and showed us all what true faith looked like in the good and difficult times of life.  My dad was a man of godly character, produced and refined by the trial of MS.  His godly character was most defined by his hope.  He knew that any day, at any time God could heal him and he kept his hope in that while at the same time clinging to the most beautiful of hopes which is “he that  overcomes shall be clothed in white garments and I will not blot out his name from the book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels Rev. 3:5″  His hope was sure His God who would meet him in the eternal life beyond the river.  Dad also put his hope strongly in another verse,

Titus 1:2 — In hope of eternal life, which God, Who CANNOT lie promised before time began

I know that there are more verses than just these as he loved to discuss the scriptures that he loved so much, but  what he clearly exemplified was hope, in His God and in God’s Word.

In this life we live away from face to face walking with Jesus, there are trials, every day and of every sort.  The choice we have is whether or not we allow these trials to do the work that God wants to produce in us through them.  James 1 makes it clear that there is a beautiful work that God wants to do in us through trials, and that each and every one serves a wonderful purpose in His plan to grow our faith in Him and ability to allow the fruits of the Spirit to work in us and the graces of God to be manifested in us.  The “perfect life” does not do any of this for us.  I love Acts 14:22.  These words show the work of every disciple, … strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue on the faith and saying ” we must through many tribulations  enter the Kingdom of God.  Matthew Henry says it this way —  That which they insisted most upon was that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Not only they must, but we must; it must be counted upon that all who will go to heaven must expect tribulation and persecution in their way thither.

What my Dad believed has greatly influenced my spiritual walk and many days the memory of my Father leaves me holding on to the scriptures that he loved, knowing that they too will produce in me these same attributes ending in glorious hope.

Romans 5 — reminding me of my Dad, reminding me of my Sovereign God

Blessed

Joyce

Youth convention 2011

Youth Convention 2011

God works in mysterious ways—

In August one of the youth at church was talking about the Assembly of God youth convention that I had taken the youth to for a number of years, we had not gone for two years so I thought that those conventions were done for our group.  We had started attending the EV Free conventions in Green Bay and they were ok and a lot closer than La Crosse.

Then  felt a little voice tell me that I should take the youth again.  I told the voice I did not want to drive that far.

The voice spoke to me again… you know how He does that!   Ok, I thought, I will try and get the information at least as I had not received any info in the mail which was usually sent in August. Searched the interned, even other churches websites for any info about the convention, found nothing.  Told voice that I had done my best but “oh well” couldn’t get any info.

The voice spoke to me again, I reminded voice I had done all I could do.

A week later, now mid- September, I received the whole packet about the convention with registration form in the mail.  That was when I knew that I was indeed going to that youth convention again!  Prayed about who to take and who to ask to chaperone the boys and within a couple days had our suburban full and all plans were made.

Since God told me to do His bidding, I went to Him for every detail and reminded Him a couple of times that I needed double the worth of every (few) hours of sleep I got, and walked in confidence the whole weekend that since God had asked me to do this then He would take care of the details, and strength and the clear mind that I would need.  God gave abundantly all of that to me and more.  We heard great teaching, heard God speak to all of us worshipped with 2000 other believers, and had FUN!  God is so good.

The speaker was Reggie Dabbs and that black brother can preach and he does not sugar coat the Gospel or the Christian walk.  He brought a coffin on stage each time he spoke and really addressed sin and hell and the Christian walk.  Our three jr. high boys who were along listened up well to this powerful man and the messages he gave.  What a blessing the whole weekend was to all of us.

Our Gang

Doing the Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews look!

Melody headed to the girls area and Jakob headed to the boys area–  cuz thats that way we like it!

Convention worship with the band Skyhook, they did a great job

That is Reggie in the striped shirt, teaching the boys to bring a little soul into the worship!  Love it, makes me anxious for heaven when we will worship with the beauty of all nations there!

An artist who painted while we worshipped drew that picture of Jesus and challenged the youth to re-paint Jesus to everyone they meet, meaning change the perception that the lost have of Jesus.  He then asked them to commit to witnessing to their lost friends and to put the name of at least one unsaved friend on the picture to remind them of their commitment.  It was beautiful to see the line of youth going up to the picture to write their friend’s name.

I was put on the boys team, my name was Jmony  which sounds kind of like a Chicago gangster kind of a name!  :)

This was the girls team, Melody was Uni and Annie was Beam — love the names!

The girls team!  Good thing that they are so beautiful even when they strike these ‘tough-guy” poses!

Gretel is such a good sport as she really doesn’t like bowling but goes along and has fun and really was doing well on this day!

She looks a little dubious as to the instructions they were giving her –

I could say that Annie instructed Alyssa and so she is high-fiving Alyssa’s good score…… but that girl can bowl and does not need any instruction at all!  Sorry Annie

Since we were the only ones bowling toward the end of the afternoon, we loaded up the juke box with good songs and did a little line dancing on the bowling alley.  The older gentlemen who ran the place really enjoyed our group as we had so much fun and yet cleaned up after ourselves and did not act rude with what we said or did.  These youth shined-bright!

Jakob — one cool kid!  :)

Playing a word game while waiting for pizza

It is clearly evident to Annie who had most of the covers all night!!!   Good thing she loves Gretel!

I do not know why Annie would accuse me of such a thing as stealing the covers — really!

The ride home –

You would think they would be tired — fall asleep, like other groups in other years of going to the convention –

Not this group!  There was not a dull moment as we drove the six hours homes.  Just lots of laughter, joking around, mid-seat wrestling and lots of music.

Great trip there and a great trip home.  God is SO good and most worthy of our praise!

Joyce

Full House!

Celebrating Gretel’s birthday, with a Packer party of course!

Is it fear or suspicion in her eyes???

These are three good friends and they are so much fun to be with.  Gretel did not have a jersey to that was her present from Karee and Annie.  Now they can show their undying love,  oops, I mean fan appreciation for their favorite quarterback together!

I am so glad that God gave us a large living room.  Every Packer game we have a normal group that attend due to not having cable at their home.  Our other friends know they are welcome to come to watch with us but I never know who may come or not.  By the half time of this game we had doubled in numbers and yet were not crowded at all.  What I thought would be an easy win turned into a stressful couple hours at the Minn. Vikings really put up a fight, a DIRTY one, I might add.  We still won which is what matter when it comes to sports, at least that is what Mr. Johnson says  :)

Last week we got a call from a friend telling us to head outside and see the Northern Lights.  Since our home is surrounded by trees we sometimes miss seeing activity in the heavens.  We ran out the door and headed down to the docks from where there is a clear view to the north.  The sights was like nothing I have seen in the last 10 years, simply stunning and radiating from a single point in the sky.  It was incredible.  We also went into out cottage yard and they were beautiful there as well.  God was really showing off to delight His children and we were DELIGHTED and gave Him the proper praise for His work!

The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork,

Day unto day utters speech and night unto night reveals knowledge

There is no speech nor language where there voice is not heart

There line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the earth!

Ps. 19

This is his tired look, still so cute.  Melody and I were getting ready to work on our flute/violin duets and I was warming up on the flute when Andrew looked at me and crinkled his face into tears and went running for Melody.  I guess I need to work on my pitch or something!

On Wednesdays Sammy comes over after school to play and eat supper and then go to club at church with our family.  We played battle ship last week and we had to end it in a “tie” lest there be tears, I am not saying who’s tears!

He is growing up and just turned nine.  Can’t believe it!  I am so glad for these times to be with him and to help him attend club so he is hearing about the God whom his mother loved and served so well.

The days are busy and fun as God weaves our lives with others from infants to older adults, young couples and singles, loving and serving them and enjoying blessing others and being blessed right back!  God is so great to make up this thing called relationship.  As iron sharpens iron or all hands on deck, or like floating on a lazy river, each relationship is different and yet beautiful.  We are thankful that our home can be used by God to minister to others and I have one happy husband when we head to bed at night after a full house of folks have been here.  Satisfying joy!

Blessed to be able to bless

Joyce

 

 

 

 

Happenings in Oct.

 

Jeni and Jason — Two years of marriage, God is so good.

Jason and Jeni came for the weekend and we had such a wonderful time.  Jason was recovering from an accident where he was rear-ended on the way to work.  Many prayed for him and he did not suffer nearly as badly as I have heard others suffer after whip lash.  God is so kind to answer our prayers on his behalf.  They left on Monday and you won’t believe this, but Jeni was rear-ended going into Milwaukee.  She was driving their other car while Jason was driving Matthew’s car which he loaned to Jason and Jeni until they purchased a new car.  Wild times!  We prayed again and Jeni was also covered by God’s healing hand and recovered quickly.

 

 

Love this bunch, love who they are and the joy they give us!

Beautiful, beautiful people

 

Matthew came up to fix a light on Kristi’s car and check out what was wrong with it.

He had lots of help and lots of blonde opinions, because we blondes love to share our thoughts when it come to car repair!

When he took it for a drive, Annie and Melody piled in and went with.  All they said when they got home was that “He went really fast”.  I DO NOT want to know those kind of things……. when will they learn that!

Precious brother, always quick to bless and help our family.

 

Melody was a help with Baley.  Baley is a city dog so we can’t let her loose or she might run away or run in the street.  We enjoy her.

Jazmin is a country dog so we can’t let her loose or she might run away or run in the street!  We enjoy her too!

We are doing a very focused year of Spanish.  We have signs around the house on objects to help us with associating the words to what they mean.  Jazmin has to wear this sign.  It makes her uncomfortable and sulky as she thought the sign should have read “human”.

Our dear friend Betty recently suffered from a serious illness.  Praise the Lord, she is being made well by prayers and medicine. We are taking care of her grandchildren to help the family.  Robyn has Mia and Betty’s son Eric and his wife have Andrew. When they are here they make the day very busy but so much fun.  I finally figured out how to get Andrew to nap so we are making progress at keeping his days in order.  He is such a sweety and we love both him and Mia.

This is Robyn.  She is the same age as Matthew and we have watched her grow up but only in the last five years have we really connected and spent lots of time together.  I love this young woman, our whole family does!  She is such a delight to be with and blesses our home with her kindness. God is doing a wonderful work in her life and we are blessed to know her.

Rick was home for lunch one day last week and we were trying to get a picture of Mia and her cousin Andrew together.  Mia would not leave Rick alone and wanted his applesauce which of course he freely shared with her.  He is such a softy with little ones!

Rick made sure that Andrew knew where to look on the internet to see the latest Packer news!  Aren’t his eyes just precious?  He loves sitting on “uncle Rick’s” lap.

We have enjoyed our October even though it has been the strangest for fishing on record.  I will have a separate post all about it soon.  We have done well with school and gardening and caring for these little ones.  We have had wonderful fellowship times in our homes with meals and watching great preaching, the Packer parties continue and Annie’s job has now ended for the season.  We have homes left to close down for our care-taking business and some cleaning to do but that is also winding down.  We celebrated Kristi’s birthday without her being with us and I survived.

Life is precious

Blessed

Joyce

 

 

 

 

 

Twenty years ago I went to my last Packer’s game, and then as our children got older I was replaced by them and learned to enjoy staying home to watch the game. It wasn’t like I attended every game, just one a year, but I missed going. So imagine my surprise when Rick invited me to go with him to the Rams game along with Annie and Melody. My first thought was that a flu must have wiped out everyone in the family and I was the only one left so they had to ask me! Not so, my husband just wanted to make me happy!

When Rick invited me to go to the game it was like we were going on a date…..   you know, the kind of date where you take the children and 70,000 other folks…  It doesn’t matter to me, I just love being with him…. and the other blondes  :)

Here are the other blondes.  It was a wild day at Lambeau, the wind was blowing at least 40 miles an hour so our hair was whipping around because we forgot clips or bands.  Not Rick’s hair of course as he crammed a Cummins hat on his head and that took care of that!

Things had changed since the last time I was at a game starting with the parking.  We parked not too far from the stadium on a family’s yard!  As we walked toward the stadium I noticed that this parking enterprise consumed the neighborhood and everyone had their signs out and every inch of lawn was covered with vehicles.  Some folks had speakers ( nice loud ones I might add) playing music and the party feel was in the air.  I was taking it all in when Annie gave me the warning that her father, my beloved, does not allow for strolling and that the walk to the stadium was to be done at a fast pace with all of us following behind in single file behind Rick.  I quickly shaped up and picked up my stride, good thing my pace is fast normally.

We walked into the stadium and I was immediately awed by all the changes they had made in the two decades since I had been to a game.  The sky boxes all around the edge gave the feeling of being in a coliseum and I had forgotten the sound of the excitement and the feeling of energy that is there at the game.  We followed our fearless leader closely, just as we had all the way through the masses and into our seats.  What fun!

As we stood for the national anthem my family pointed me to look right above the scoreboard, maybe 30 rows behind us, and I heard the man behind me comment that THEY ARE COMING! Within a second four or five air force jets went flying over us, so close that I could completely see the underside of the plane with every detail.  The sound reverberated around Lambeau and my heart pounded from the noise…… SO COOL!

So the game started, we cheered and yelled and high-fived with all around us.  I made friends with the ladies to my right and exchanged emails due to their interest in booking a cabin in Door County next year….  hey, a little business amidst the fun is not a bad thing!  The farmer and his son-in-law in front of me were friendly, more so as the beers went down.  I am a friendly person myself, although not so much with men, but my trying to remember how to draw the line with beer-drinking good ole’ boys got me a stern talking to from my husband at the half time.  I guess a few high fives and a couple responses to them was not pr0per conduct.  :)    I got to practice being a snob the second half  :)

Rick took us down for snacks and drinks just before the half and the girls and I made history!  Rick and I went off to the bathrooms, another huge change they have made as these were nice, and then we went to order snacks.  Although not too busy we did have to wait in line.  We ordered and then Annie went to another stand to get a juice as she does not drink soda.  We got our things and started to munch when I noticed Rick pacing…. and looking at the screen and pacing some more.  He looked at me and asked if I could make it back to the seats without him so he could get back into the game.  My blank look told him enough!   I could not remember which hall we came out of and he wanted me to find my way back!!!!!   he clearly forgot it had been 20 — yes TWENTY years since I had been there!   We waited a few more minutes, probably 10 minutes in all from the time we had left our seats, maybe 15, when Rick turned to me and stated emphatically, “This is the longest snack and potty break in the history of our family!”  I just about cracked up, really!!!   I wanted to remind him that in the winter when they all come in snowmobile suits which have to be removed to go to the bathroom ( at least the girls!) it MUST take longer then we had just taken.  But, I didn’t say anything, just smiled at my sweetheart and grabbed Annie to head back in.  I do love making history!

So much fun, being with our precious daughters,  history was made , I got to practice being anti-social and the Packers won!

It was a good day,

Blessed

Joyce

 

 

 

 

 

 

People are asking how Kristi is doing way off at college in a foreign land, VA! Here she is!

      Here she is, beautiful as ever and her smile says it all.  Yes she misses family and Jazmin but she is doing well.  She is enjoying the teaching and especially making such wonderful friendships with other young men and women.  God is good!

This is her roommate Cierra, they are beautiful women of God

They help each other find there way around campus!!!  :)  Aren’t their smiles beautiful!

This is Kristi planking…. new term for us.  She is mimicing the art form which is on top of the soda machines.  Crazy!

This is another figure made by the art department at Liberty.  It actually had a great message as You can read on the title in front of the picture.  The Trashy Heart is the name.  It symbolizes that what we take into our brains by reading, viewing and listening may trash our brain and our heart.  The figure was completely clear accept for the heart and the brain which were discolored.  Great reminder of a Biblical truth.  Reminds me of the Sunday school song, Oh Be Careful Little Eyes what You See!

This figure was so lovely — Kristi is lovely as well, as always.

Kristi usually saves this kind of a face for when she is watching the Packers and they are loosing!

I do love this look, mysterious and lovely at the same time!

First time trying on wigs… Red!  NO, NO, No, and again her father says NO!  He loves his blondes!

So, Kristi is growing in the Lord, and being challenged, she is having fun and enjoying new relationships

We are getting used to missing her and I have almost got the grocery change under control,  less milk, doritos and butter with her gone.

We love to talk on the phone with her, text and skype.

She comes home in 24 days, yes, we have a countdown as we cannot wait to see her, feed her good homecooking and hug her!

We love her and are proud of her.

Blessed

Joyce

Life of a Commercial Fisherman’s Wife

Three weeks ago when we had the wild wind storm (pictures below), I had the scary pleasure of helping my husband with the watch care of the boat.  The winds had started on a Thursday morning and by evening were gale strength.  We had Bible study up at our Pastor’s home and so Rick, Annie and I headed out leaving Melody in charge of the house.  We stopped by the boat and Rick watched and accessed the way the wind was blowing and went and through another line on the boat.  We headed to Bible study and into the second hour the lights started to blink.  I called Melody to see if we still had electricity and we did.  The strange thing about northern Door electricity is that within the three miles that we were from home there were at least 5-6 circuits, so from neighbor to neighbor there is no pattern for who will be out of electricity or who will have it!  If the lights went out at Pastor’s it might not mean that our would be out at all.  I mentioned to Rick that I did not want Melody to be alone if the power did go out so he decided that he would go home  while Annie and I stayed another 30 minutes before Pastor said we needed to just pray and get everyone home as the winds were picking up and roaring.  We got home and within a few minutes our power went out. 

I found the flashlights, of which only one worked well and the rest were weak lights at best.  If only I had stocked up on batteries like I normally do when I am at Fleet Farm!  We lit candles and grabbed blankets, making the living room our sleeping area for the night.  Rick and I went down and did another check on the boat, she was still there and rocking.  We dozed off after returning from that check, the girls on couches and Rick in his chair and I unfortunately in a somewhat comfortable, but not really J  chair covered in blankets for warmth.   Around midnight we went again to check the boat and this time Rick tied a line from a post across the harbor so that the boat was also being pulled away from the dock and hopefully suspended there so that the damage of being thrown against the dock would be minimal.   Again we went to sleep and awoke at three to go and check the boat again.  Actually I woke as Rick woke but he wanted me to stay and due to my being so groggy I agreed and he headed out.  I only half slept as the concern for my husband over-powered my desire for sleep and sure enough within moments he was back and I knew he needed me.   I threw on his work jacket and headed out, trying to clear my head to think clearly as I knew Rick would be shouting orders to me and needed me to respond quickly and correctly. 

We got down to the dock and two of the lines were broke so the Freitag was bouncing hard.  A huge tire that is attached to the dock to protect the boats was missing so I could hear the sickening sound of metal of our boat scraping against the dock. 

I went out on the dock praying each step of the way that I would not fall as I knew the boards were loose in places and some were broken.  I reached the boat and leaned over grabbing the rail to brace myself against the dock to keep the 42 foot steel boat from hitting the dock while at the same time bracing myself to not be pulled off the dock as the in the ebb of the wave the boat would pull away and might well have taken me with it! 

God is really good, He really does equip us to be helpmates for our husbands and to use His strength and wisdom which He gives freely when we call on Him, and I was calling on Him!  You see I have an issue with vertigo which is set off by darkness or small movements and I was in the middle of those two things out on the dock.  There is a light on the dock but it did not shine onto the dock and the wooden dock, peer, which I was standing on was shifting slightly with each wave.  It was wild, but I trust a God who does wild things and as I prayed I was calmed and able to do each thing that Rick needed me to do.  Well, except one.  I moved over onto the cement dock where he was going to throw me a line from the boat which I was to catch to pull the boat away from the dock  to secure it again to a post.  Rick threw the rope my way but the wind caught it and it fell not to far from the boat so her reeled it in to try once again.  Our docks have no railing around them to hang on to and I was far from a post to steady myself so I knew I could not lean over the water to grab the rope and although I hated the helpless feeling of not being able to reach the rope as Rick tossed it toward me again I knew that safety was more important.  This time the rope came within 6-8 feet of where I was before the wind again blew it down into the water.  Rick quickly came and improvised a tool from rope and a box hook which he tossed out to retrieve the rope before the waves took the rope to far away from us.  He caught it and grabbed it out while I messed with lines and moves things away from entangling his feet as he worked the rope around the post, pulling it tighter with each slack in the line as the waves rolled.  The wind blew through my jacket and my hair whipped around my face as I stood waiting for the next order to move the truck for more light from the headlights or to grab the flashlight and hold it for him. 

Rick soon had things under control and I headed to the truck to get out of the wind and try and get warm.  Rick re-checked lines and then came to the truck.  Upon shutting the door I looked at him and said “maybe it is time for you to get a desk job!”   Rick gave me half of a smile and then responded with “I don’t think that would suit me very well.”   As we drove toward the house with the winds swaying the truck I knew that he was correct, that would be a little too tame for this fisherman of mine.

Fall Family Pictures

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Winds over Door County

A few weeks ago, Door County was hit with  the fiercest wind storm in many many years.  The damage was extensive and some folks were without electricity for seven days.  We were fortunate to get electricity back within the day and then were able to bless another family with food and showers as they needed.

I have to admit that I do like it when it blows now and then as wind is one of the parts of nature that man cannot control.  As a fishing family we know that well.  We can pray and pray and sometimes God stills the winds and sometimes He knows better the plan for the day and the winds continue.  That is when I rest in the Sovereign God of the universe who is the one who is in charge, and knows best!

The damage has kept us busy with clean up and we won’t be done with that until into November.  Our days are filled with the end of the fishing season and it has been the windiest October in years.  Today it is supposed to start to blow again, and powerful winds that could really knock out our trap nets and end fishing for the season earlier than the closing day which has been extended to Oct. 30th.  We are praying that God will change the winds, we will see what God does!

John 3:8

The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound if it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.

Choosing joy

Joyce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THIS IS A SWEET MEMORY FROM OUR TRIP HOME FROM VA.  WE HAD PICNICS TO EAT OUR MEALS , JUST HOW MY FAMILY ALWAYS TRAVELED.  BEST OF ALL, RICK LIKED IT!  He is so cute!

Due to lack of time, loss of electricity and a constant issue with our internet provider, I have struggled to keep up with blogging.  My time to blog usually is in the early morning after having coffee with my sweetheart and quiet time with my Lord.  But, more often than not, for the last two months, the computer would tell me it could not connect to the internet.  Frustrating in so many ways as I also run our businesses and rental with the internet.  I had a talk with the man we get our service from and he says he is getting a part for us that will help, we will see!

Here are pictures to prove that we have indeed been busy and therefor with less time to blog, as if some of you may not believe me!

 

Jeni visited a garage sale in the posh neighborhood she works in and stumbled upon a box of old jars.  She bought some for herself and then for me as well.  They were beautiful and I have enjoyed canning special treats in them and using some for storing dry goods.  See the mug in the middle, the blue one?  That is my mug from West Virginia that I purchased at a wayside gas station etc..  It was very fancy inside and featured art from the local artists.  I bought a matching mug and bowl and a mug for Kristi.  Every time I drink from it I am reminded of that special trip to VA to take Kristi from home.  It always makes me pray for her.  It was at that gas station, while filling up with gas, that I saw a car pull in behind me with Illinois license plates.  The family got out of the car and I said hi and then commented that it was nice to see a car from a little closer to home.  The  couple was friendly and said the same back to me and then I could not help myself, I really couldn’t, I looked at the dad, smiled nicely, then said “Go Packers!”  The couple laughed and it was the wife who quickly replied, “Go Bears!”  In the middle of West Va we had a simple moment of normalcy despite being in a “foreign place”.

Speaking of normalcy, I am starting to get back in the swing of baking bread again, and on occasion, some cinnamon rolls.  My sweet husband is so glad as he loves home made bread.  Tonight on the phone, Kristi mentioned that on her list of food that I need to make for her at Thanksgiving are my cinnamon rolls.  Can’t wait to feed her and she can have everything on her list!

Melody made sure that Jazmin had her fall photo shoot!.  She is such an intense dog isn’t she?  Melody got some great pictures of our little pet.

Despite our friends cutting down most of their grape veins, I found other sources and put up a record amount of grape jelly and juice.  It tastes so wonderful and is so good for us.  I know that your are not supposed to stack canning like this, but I have a small kitchen and I always end up having to stack canning until I can get it washed, labeled and put away.  Please do not try this at home unless you  have canned for at least 20 years and have the excuse of a small kitchen!

 

This is our pasta sauce, over 40 qts!  We also canned peaches, and pears, cucumbers, cherries, tomato juice, green beans, corn, squash, sauerkrout  and salsa.  I still have applesauce and more pears to do as well.

SALSA!   It is so good and will be a treat to enjoy in the middle of winter.

 

We also have school fully up and running.  I never regret the decision Rick made to home educate our children.  It is a wonderful life to live alongside one’s children and enjoy them eery day.  What a blessing these beautiful girls are each day as we study and learn.

The days are getting shorter and we are able to light candles in the morning and at supper, my favorite time of the year is now upon us and we relish every day.  God paints our neck of the woods in reds, oranges and yellows against the evergreens and His handiwork in outstanding.  I tell Him that all the time!  :)

The nights are also getting cooler and although we have warmed the house a few times with the furnace, we have yet to get the woodstove going.  Looking at the forecast makes me think this week may be the week.

I have many more pictures and stories to capture here so if internet connections work I will be doing that in the coming days.

Blessed, loving fall, handling changes in life and choosing joy!

Joyce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pickles!

Although the deer have consumed most of our garden this year, they have left alone the cucumbers.  This is one of our favorite recipes for pickles, and they can even be frozen for winter enjoyment.  Yum!

Aunt Shirley’s Refrigerator Pickles

Cucumbers

I large onion

1/4 cup salt

3 cups sugar and 2 cups white vinegar

1/2 tsp. alum ( optional )

Slice enough cucumbers to fill an ice cream pail or 4qt. container.  My friend Ruby used to run the tines of the fork down the cucumbers to make them look fancy and sometimes I do that.

Slice one large onion into thin slices.

Layer cucumbers and onions into pail and cover with a sprinkling of salt over each layer.  Cover with very cold water.  I like to throw in some ice cubes to make sure it is really cold.  Put aside to soak for 4 hours.

Combine sugar and vinegar in pan and stir will while bringing it to a boil.  When sugar is completely dissolved turn off the heat and let is cool completely.

After 4 hours, strain the cucumbers and rinse to make sure they are not too salty.

Pack cucumbers and onions into jars.  This is a great time to use recycled jars in fancy shapes.  Let sit overnight in the fridge and then enjoy.  They do not last long in our fridge as they are great alongside supper and in sandwiches as well.

You can freeze them in jars as long as there is plenty of head space left in the jar for expansion.

Enjoy

Joyce

Beautiful August morning

I am loving these beautiful, cool mornings, with  breezes blowing through the windows.  The sky is so very dark at five in the morning and as Rick and I sat together this morning we saw the ominous pink in the sunrise that usually means we will see some sort of strong weather today.  They are predicting thunder storms and the rain would be a blessing.

We are missing Kristi, there is a noticeable difference in our home without her beyond setting the table for only four.  We talk to her every day and she is doing well, praise the Lord.  She has skyped with her siblings and I saw pictures of her room yesterday, that Mandy showed me.  Her classes are going well and she is busy.  She was in her bunk when the earth quake hit VA and she felt her bunk and dorm shake!  Another child going through earthquake tremors.  Today or tomorrow she will experience the bands from the tornado Irene which should bring rain and winds across the state from what I understand, not terrible, but the affects of that storm.  All this makes us feel that Door County is indeed a safe place!

Our days are busy too, I have cleaning to be catching  up on and have started that process.  I will finish the laundry at one of the houses today, and get the pressing and beds all made up again.  I also put together the music for Sunday which always takes longer than I think it should!  We practiced on Wed. night and it was sweet worship.  Yesterday Annie and Melody and I went to Appleton to be with Mandy and get some shopping done.  There were many great sales and the girls were able to get some much needed clothing.  I bought one shirt in a beautiful blue.  I had another shirt in the basket but the sale price was still over $20 dollars and I really do stick to a rule of never paying over $20 for any item of clothing unless for a special occasion.  And $10 is more my limit for a shirt, even a nice one.  I then left the girls shopping and went second-hand shopping and was able to find a cute skirt and some dresses and skirts for the girls.  So, we are doing well in being ready for fall as far as clothes.

Our first stop for shopping was Fleet Farm, same as Tactor supply stores in the south.  The girls insisted that they did not need to go in to that store…  I told them the reasons that I did not want them to be sitting out in a parking lot while I was inside, regardless of having a cell-phone.  They finally got out of the car and headed in.  I knew that they were trying to avoid a habit I have of pointing out the nice gentlemanly farm boys that are there as well as working the check-outs!  They just die when I choose a checkout where a farmboy is working!!!   Isn’t parenting just a blast?  :)   Since they had argued with me about coming in I told them they had to find coyote pee for the garden, did I mention I am having an outrageous problem with deer and that they have eaten a good portion of my garden despite the fact that I left lots and lots of weeds in the garden as a decoy?   Although I have never read an article on weed decoys I thought I would give it a try this year, as time for weeding has been limited.  So, back to the story.  I went about getting jeans for Rick and then into the canning supplies and never catching a sight of my girls.  I was wondering where they were when they rounded the corner and came my way, minus coyote pee.  I asked where it was and they said they could not find it and when I asked about there getting help from a store clerk, they said they didn’t ask, in other words, they did not want to say coyote pee to a clerk.  If I could have remembered Liquid Fencing I would have, but that would not have been as much fun as saying coyote pee!   So, I bought boxes and boxes of canning lids for half the price of what they are up north in our neck of the woods, Yeah!  We went to the gardening aisle and found the Liquid fencing.  I also bought a bag of those Pepto Bismal pink wintergreen mints, because I remember having those on my grandparents farm.  We left the store without seeing one farmboy, much to the girls relief!

Time with Mandy was wonderful and we laughed and even teared up as I told her of saying goodbye to Kristi.  She loves her family deeply and we miss seeing Mandy as her job keeps her so busy.  She is also fun for the girls to shop with because I am not a shopper, especially with malls.  I took the time while they were browsing to call my mother and visit with her and then to just sit and think and people watch, enjoying all the beautiful people that God has created.

Today will be catch up day.  I am about to fill the board with the list of jobs we need to accomplish then I will get to it.  It will be a full day.  We will have marinated pork chops and fresh corn on the cob for supper, easy meal and quick since the Packers play this evening.  We will also have two young men over for supper and the evening so their parents can have a date night.  The younger guy is a visitor to the family and just getting to know all of us so I am glad for the opportunity to play games with him and get to know this young man.

This is what I read in Daniel 6 this morning:

He is the living God and He is steadfast forever and His kingdom is the one that will not be destroyed.  He delivers and rescues and works signs and wonders in heaven and earth!

Love it,  that is the God I want overseeing my life today, that is the God that I can believe in and I am so thankful that I can be a part of His Kingdom.

Choosing joy today

Joyce

August means change for our family—

This is what I found on Kristi’s day off, I thought she was packing, instead she was having some last moment bonding.

Acts 17:26-28

And He made form one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God in the hope that they will make their way toward Him and find Him.  Yet, He is actually not far from each one of us for “In Him we live and move and have our being.”

LOVE this verse.  As I sit in Lynchburg VA, preparing to leave our beloved daughter here, this verse gives me such peace.  God knows her life, and although this turn of her leaving our home and going over 1000 miles away to attend Liberty U has caused struggles in her father’s and my heart we are at peace with this.  She is seeking God and following Him where she hears Him leading.   He even knows how long she needs to be in VA and where in VA she will go.  I can rest in my beloved Lord.

Hugging her brother goodbye!

It was last Sunday we left for this new adventure in our family’s history.  Kristi had worked all week at Charlies beside packing and getting herself ready for the trip.  It was a busy week.  I kept busy with cleaning jobs, preparing our house for my leaving, going over menu plans with Annie and Melody who were staying and caring for their dad and the house.  On top of all that, I was dealing with the emotions of being away from family, being away from Rick which always throws me for a loop emotionally and knowing Kristi would not be coming back with us.  As we stood in our family circle for prayer which we do whenever we are leaving each other, Rick prayed and I cried.  Kristi teared up at leaving the family, her home and her Jazmin.  But we gathered ourselves together and headed out on the road while the rest of the family headed to church.  Our first stop was in Milwaukee where Jeni and Jason made us a delicious lunch of veggies and salads and grilled chicken.  It was wonderful to visit with them and be blessed by their love, then off we went again.  Our first hotel was in Merriville Ind. where we stayed at the Red Roof Inn, a familiar stop for our family.  We had a list for Wal Mart of things she needed as we do not live very close to any stores, so off we went.  It was obvious that it was back to school shopping for school starting the next morning and panicked parents and fussing children surrounded us.  We were able to purchase most of what she needed but knew that some things would need to wait until Lynchburg.  After a good night sleep we headed for our next destination of Charleston West VA.  It was a long day but the sites were beautiful.  I have not been east since I was a young child and being the adventure lover that I am, I enjoyed seeing all the wonderful sites and scenery.  Another Red Roof Inn for sleep and then we really headed more mountains.  I really can not express enough the beauty of West Va and Va.  Seeing mountains instead of Lake Michigan was a beautiful change of God’s creation.  Kristi and I could not stop from saying “wow!” as we came over every mountain or around the curves looking into valleys.  What fun.  It was a wonderful trip, traveling with my beautiful daughter, listening to great teaching, watching Pastor James DVDs at night, worshipping and singing together as the miles passed and talking, listening to Kristi’s thoughts and ideas.  Loved every minute.

 

I wanted to title this picture  ”Things that make a mother cry”  but my heart was so big with love for this beautiful young woman that I think it would better be titled ” Things that make a mother proud!”

Here we are together — celebrating!

As we started the final 30 miles Kristi put in the Kutless worship cd and we sang harmonies together but I could not stop a tear from falling now and then as the pull of togetherness was being stretched to separateness and every cell in my body could feel it.  My mind was flooded with memories of other times just like this, when her three older siblings left home to follow their hearts, I remember all the feelings I felt then and also the remembrance that God has taken me through this before, met my heart where it was at, held me tight and walked me through it in His own sweet gentleness.  Doesn’t make it any easier, but gives me great hope.  We drove to the hotel and settled in before heading over to start the checking in process.  It was fun to see all the students and to see her dorm, her future home for the next nine months.  We met her RAs and talked with them.  We went for supper and then back to the hotel.  Kristi shared some verses from the Psalms with me that had blessed her recently and we talked while she check our last minute decisions that needed to be decided.  It was sweet.

We had a picnic in the stadium and these guys were the welcoming committee, even parents were welcomed this way!

Kristi’s room mate is in the marching band and we enjoyed watching her perform

Wednesday morning we had breakfast here and then packed up to head over to the college.  I love the fact that she was in no great hurry and was calm about heading out.  We both knew without saying that this was it and the time was precious.  We started the day standing in lines, and standing, and standing….  It was after lunch when we finally got her things to the dorm where she started un packing as I went back to dealing with book issues.  We met her roommates and visited and then headed out for  bite to eat before she went back to the dorms.  She shared her concerns and her feelings, always articulate and honest which I love about her.  I encouraged her and then dropped her off for the evening.

I would love to say that I shed a few tears and then was fine, but it was an evening of quite a few much needed to be let out tears, and prayer, and tears.  It was good and I now two days later am so thankful for that evening.  The worst of the emotions is dealt with, I talked it out with God and let Him know my mother’s heart, as if He did not know already!  :)   I went to sleep able to rest in whatever happens — in God’s holy sovereignty.   Praise the Lord for tears –

Kristi and her father outside of DeMoss–

Where it all began — Jerry Falwell

So the week has gone by with Kristi learning her way around campus, attending mandatory classes and sessions, runs to Wal mart to get more needed items and my watching this beautiful daughter adapt, pray and deal with situations that are less than perfect because it is college and things are the way they are.   She has made me so proud of her with choosing to love when it would be easier to ignore and being the one to go and greet others and introduce herself.  She shines so bright.  My sister reminded me that she comes by that genetically because all of my family have no problem meeting new people and enjoying the process.  This is true!

I wish I could have remembered what he said, he had us cracking up with his dry sense of humor

I begged Rick to sit in one of these seats so I could take a picture and he was not having it…  you see, we have a longstanding joke in our family about who has the most drama and recently the head of our home has been given that honor as he is funny!   I thought a picture of him in the theater seats would be a classic picture.  He said that he never went to drama class in school and I replied saying that he didn’t have to, he created a drama class with his six children!

Kristi leading her daddy down her dorm hall

Rick arrived last evening and I am enjoying driving him all around.  It was so good to see him.  We hugged and kissed at the airport and then when he pumped gas I got out and just hugged him again and again, he didn’t mind at all!  :)  We do so much better together than apart!   We connected with Kristi and took her out for ice-cream where she sat and told us everything that had been happening which was so much fun.

Bringing her Packer spirit with her

Kristi’s bed,bright and colorful and God’s Word used as decoration — Love It!

Today we toured the campus with Rick and Kristi took us all over, showing her daddy everything about the place.  He was a little tense at first as this is really hard for him.  Then, after a bit, he started to crack jokes and laugh with her and ask her lots of questions so I knew he was feeling better about everything.  I know my man well, and although there are many very nice and probably many godly young men here, he was giving so many of them a good looking over and I think he was thinking they are probably all punks — that is a protective Daddy’s assessment covering up the fact that he knows there are young men here who might catch his daughter’s eye, if the Lord wills.  It was so fun to be together showing him what will be his daughter’s new home.  He was a delight.

We are now waiting for Kristi to finish a test and then Rick wants to take her out for dinner.  We will say our goodbyes in the morning and then head out for the long drive home.  Tears will fall but all will be balanced with the peace of knowing that God loves our daughter more than we can ever imagine, He knows where she is and He will take care of her.

Blessed with peace, choosing joy

Joyce

Life in July –

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Here we are at Mandy’s job site in her office space —  Her screen saver is of her dad and her together — tricking a familiar facial expression.  We met her co-workers and enjoyed seeing her place of work.  She has an important job as she recruits folks to donate blood for the sake of saving the lives of others.  We are proud of her work and pray for her to be a blessing to all whom she comes in contact with every day.

I am catching up today on our lives.  It has been a wonderful couple of weeks, busy but good, stressful but accomplishing, wearying but peaceful at times…. isn’t that just how life is?   The mystery of days filled with a gamut of emotions and experiences all combining together to make up our days and ultimately our lives..

Jason and the girls, having dinner together in Milwaukee before seeing Hillsong United in concert.

Sometimes life is more overwhelming than other times, or maybe sometimes the work load wears us down and we get too tired to handle the daily stresses, we feel to sad to handle the pressures of everything that consumes our days.  That is when our faith becomes more real to us as we call on the name of the Lord for strength and joy and peace and patience.  We ask for wisdom, we cry out for His presence and His balm for our souls.  Our faith takes on new qualities as we experience anew His daily meeting of our needs, all of them!   Rejoicing and thankfulness is mingled together as we receive His grace and mercy for each hour and it causes us to worship, pure worship, raw and open and honest, welling out of the moment.

 

This is the secret to keeping our lives in order — the BOARD!

On this board we write phone messages, the chores for the day, appointments, etc..  I have to admit that it rarely gets completely accomplished and most days there is an item or two on the list that is rolled over onto the next days agenda.  I am still  glad to cross thing off the list and see work being accomplished.

 

 

Here is our Sammy, Rick’s race-car fan!  He was more than happy to have his picture taken with the race- car as he proudly supports Uncle Rick and recently came over just to get Uncle Rick’s autograph for his notebook.   

 

Big sister — little brother,  It is good for Sammy to be with us for the day, to experience being part of a family with a big sister to do things with and to interact with.  His father says that he enjoys his days here and I am glad that he can be with us.  It is a “little” bit like having his mother here, even though I know she is in heaven with her Lord, and I miss her so.

 

 

 

 

Sammy and Melody rescued this robin which had been outed of the nest but either had a birth defect with it’s legs or injured them in the fall.

Annie our resident animal rescuer and animal protector studied about the care of birds and went to great lengths to feed and help this little bird.  Despite her best efforts, the bird did not make it and after three days died.  It was sad, but at the same time rewarding to know that although we did our best to care for it and it fell asleep to die peacefully.   Life is fragile, for people and animals… 

 

 

Nick and Garrett Voight, friends of ours who we enjoy caring for now and then.  They remind me of our son Matthew with their tow-heads.

 

 

Melody and Lidia balancing cards–  a feat that I have never been able to accomplish at all.  Melody was struggling, hence the hidden face.  

 

 

The truth about Sammy — Sammy loves our family, every one in our family.  But, the truth is, he likes it best when he gets ALL of my attention.  His siblings are all much older as he was the surprise baby when his mother was 46!  With Donna’s death when he was 11 months old, it left him with only his father at home.  Being raised with just his father, in an adult world, he is an old soul in many ways.  He also has expressed to his father that he would like it if I went and lived at their house and was his mama.  His dad has explained to him that Uncle Rick would get really mad if that happened.  Sammy is just expressing his heart, which wants a mama, wants something of normalcy that others have but he does not.   So, this was his anniversary card to me on our 30th.  Notice that it is not to Uncle Rick, just me!  The picture is of he and I together, no mention of Rick!  Rick and I laughed when we saw this, so precious and a reminder that in the body of Christ we are family to others and that means for me mothering Sammy and giving him a sense of normal for the day — letting him know he is loved and cherished here.

 

Garden picture One

Annie made a delicious meal of Haitian food – 

Living and learning each beautiful day.   Our days are filled with work and chores to maintain our home, people coming and going, stopping in for visits and meals, Bible study and teaching — getting to the heart of the matter in all of our lives.  Times of prayer are beautiful whether out under the tree or at our table.  We replaced a chair in the cottage and the comfy chair was brought down to our house and place next to the couch, in front of the the woodstove.  This would never work come fall and the start of woodburning, but for now it is perfect as we gather in these chairs to visit and share lives, to relax for the moment before the work of life calls us to the next chore.  I do love gathering spots within my home!

This day –

We will have breakfast with a dear friend from Brazil and her children.  She wants to watch Jeni and Jason’s wedding DVD, what fun.  Annie and Kristi work at nine and Melody and I have work here in the gardens and house before we head out this afternoon to a cleaning job.  Full day — wonderful day!

Blessed in it all –

Joyce

 

 

 

Our 30th Wedding Anniversary! Celebration of Love!

Thirty-one years ago I was visiting the little village of Gills Rock while on vacation with my family.  At church on Sunday I met a local commercial fisherman name Rick Johnson.  He was fishing in Sheboygan at the time, 2.5 hours away.  Every night that week he would get off the boat in Sheboygan and drive north to take me out for ice-cream or miniature golfing, then drive the 2.5 hours back to Sheboygan to get on the boat and head out fishing once again only to repeat it again and again for the whole week.  I was a little naive to all of this going on behind the scenes…. I did not know where Sheboygan was after all!

My parents left for Ohio after the week was done, but I stayed in Gills Rock and started working as a waitress at a local place.  Rick and I saw each other every day and after ten weeks he told me he wanted to marry me.  I was young, just out of high school, so my answer was that I believed this to be God’s will but only with my parents complete approval.  In a way we started this courtship with the goal and intent of marriage and in Dec. my father did give his whole-hearted approval and we married five months later.

I was living with a local family who took me in and have been such a blessing in our lives all these years.  We also had a godly pastor who’s wife led me and taught me so although I was away from my parents I had godly influences in my life.

Now, 30 years later, we can see God’s hand in it all…. it is beautiful and thrilling to see how He orchestrated our lives together to help each other become the people God designed us to be and to give God glory in our lives and family.  It has not always been joyful, and there have been times where it has been very hard, but our love for God made the difference.

Our wedding announcement said:

Psalm 118 –

The Lord has done this and it is wonderful in our eyes!

Amen and Amen and Amen

Mandy designed this cake and it was beautiful, a before and 30 years later set of pictures.  Loved It!

Here we are, the family that God designed.  He blessed us so much, six children, when we were told I would be lucky to have any!   How precious are the gifts that God gives.  Unfortunately, Jason took this picture so he is not in it, and the one that he was in, well….  most of the back row were missing half their heads…  but he is part of our family in every way and we believe marriage makes him permanently one of ours which is why I am sad that there was not a good picture with him in it.  We are nine strong…….. so far!

Decorating the church

Memory table

I just loved it that they used clotheslines for the memory pictures.  i use clotheslines all the time so it fit well.

What a hoot to go down memory lane and see our lives in pictures.

I think the boys are commiserating  here about living with Johnson women….  I am sure they were worn out from doing the bidding of the five sisters in preparing for our party.  They did a beautiful job and it turned out so lovely.  Thanks guys..   Oh, and Annie was making sure she looked lovely as well….. and she did!

Day before preparations…. bake, bake, bake.  Our other daughter Ally joined the team of bakers and helped as well.

It was exhausting work for her —

The kitchen crew –

Our children worked so hard and it was a wonderful night of celebrating our lives and really our family.  They did a slide show which was precious beyond words and a little skit about our family. We laughed and we cried.  Most of all we rejoiced in God’s grace and mercy on Rick and I as we have chosen joy, chosen to obey God and chosen to trust God for over 30 years, in the good and hard, the better and the worse times.  Glorious life because of a glorious God!

He gets all the praise!

Blessed —

Joyce

Work with Team Johnson!

Our family has been called Team Johnson when we have shown up do work together, and it has nothing to do with racing!   While the cousins were here we had an opportunity to bless a family and do a job for them that needed to get done.  They needed their dock put together, so Rick took the crew over, Team Johnson PLUS….  and they did a great job heaping out and working together.   Annie was evidently in charge of holding the panels….

Here the strong guys are picking up the panels and hauling them to Annie

Sometimes Annie had to hold up two panels….. and tell the guys what to do…. that was probably her favorite part!

Here they are getting to the end of the dock…..  Annie is ready with the last panel.  They did a great job, but they forgot to throw Uncle Rick in the lake!!!

This was another day’s job.  Our cottage has needed to get painted for years and I was determined to get it done before the season started… so….. we recruited the guys to help the girls and the work began…. and the fun too!

They were so cute working together, what a team!

 

 

 

Annie and Tyler tackled some harder places and worked together well….  the wit was just rolling off the tongues!

 

Grandma came to check on the young adult workers, Annie looks as cute as ever!

Team Marchetti was there in full force!   Working hard and also providing entertainment  

This was the crew —  notice the paint on the face?   They worked very hard and accomplished a huge task which saved Rick and I hours of work.  They did a great job for never having painted a whole house before.  We are thankful for all their help… and just for the record….  I painted as well!    :)

Here is the end result —  our cottage looks beautiful and is headed back to it’s Scandinavian looks.

I am thrilled to have our little Summer House looking so lovely and I am sure this season’s vacationers will be happy with it as well.

Blessed by these hardworking young people.

Joyce

 

 

 

Oh those fighting cousins — they really look angry don’t they?

Fun around the fire, Matteo really worked to win Lacey’s attention and sugar won her heart as he helped her roast her marshmallow..

The older boys found Matthew’s old bow and decided to make their own arrows, so out came the pocket knives and the whittling and hardening with fire began.  Alex was very impressive with his efforts.

Apparently it was a cool night as Melody had on her Arctic Cat hat which is usually reserved for winter wear…

It is obvious that a certain Italian did not find it too cool for showing off some of his brawn while  practicing his archery skills.  I am not sure how the trike fits into the macho image  

Matteo and Kristi

Matteo, Kristi and Tyler — the three buds as they were all born within 15 months —  that was a busy year for my mom as she traveled to Wisconsin, Italy and then Tenn. to attend the births of these precious gifts from the Lord

8:30 Bible time —   Is there anything more beautiful than 14 Bibles being opened up and the Word of the Lord being read by all ages and then discussed?   Love it!

My friend Kari helped us make memory stones for Mom’s garden in Tenn..   The children all created their own designs and words and they were truly beautiful.

Levi with his stone

Matteo has made a tradition of cooking for us when he visits.   We enjoy Italian food so much and there is just nothing better than it being made by an authentic handsome Italian!   His tomato/basil sauce is so delicious and we enjoyed it so much.  This is what meal time looked like every night —  a table full of wonderful people who I love very much and some of the dearest children to my heart.

After supper nerf-gun war

Pitty the fool who dares to turn his nerf-gun on his beloved aunt! –   I actually did get shot by another young man — his name starts with J and has three letters —-,  he paid dearly and was tickled profusely until he said uncle — he should have said auntie, but I let him go anyway  

Another game of Spider at the park right next to our home

The guys were clinging to the equipment because in this game they cannot touch the ground or the person who is it can yell spider and if they are on the ground they are immediately it.  Levi, in yellow, is it and he has to tag someone by moving around the equipment with his eyes closed — not easy

Go-carting on our last night together

My mother and her precious Italians

What wonderful memories

Joyce

June Days

 

 

Togetherness under the tree –

 

Myself, Aunt Marge, my sister Laurel, cousins Ellie and Julie

My sweet cousin Mike, who wanted to visit some of the places dear to his heart from his childhood visits to Door County.

Because of him we went and visited Europe Bay, Europe Lake and the beach by Northport –what a sweet time!

Julie, Mike and Aunt Marge

Fun on the playground playing spider —-

 

The littlest Clark grand-daughter

Cruising with the cousins

Alex, Logan and Melody preparing for Bible —  they look a little sleepy  :)

Breakfast at the Brandts.  My precious friend Kari made breakfast for us, all of us, here is the “chow” line.

After breakfast we toured her gardens as my mother is an avid gardener.  Here we are by Kari’s pond where the bubbling sound was so peaceful.

Here is Kari with my mother—  two beautiful women

Celebrating Matteo’s birthday —  American style, with pizza and laughter

 

 

This was the gang, the beautiful group that shared lives together for eight days — what a blessed family we are

My mother and Matteo at the beach

One of the beautiful sunsets that we witnessed that week.  A daily reminder at the close of the day that life is beautiful because God is beautiful —  sunsets always bring my thoughts to how great God is.

Blessed

Joyce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memorial Service Fishboil

This is the sign one sees when entering Gills Rock

This little town is where my parents came as newlyweds and our church was my Father’s first head pastor position.

This place meant so much to my parents and my Dad always kidded that he wanted one of his daughters to marry so that he could come here for vacation.  In God’s perfect will, I was able to make that wish a reality for  my dear father as I married a local fisherman who I met on one of our family vacations.  God is good!

That is our son, Matthew with our good friend, and fellow fisherman Mark dropping the fish in for the fish boil.  Our dear friends, the Weborgs, and our friend Heather worked so hard to put together a fish boil for all of our extended family who came to Door County for my Dad’s memorial service.

This was, again, another time of being blessed by living in community.  Folks came and helped us every time we turned around, from bringing food to helping with work and offering their homes for my family to stay in.  It was precious and moved me to tears more than once.  This fish boil gave us time to be together and visit and relax before we headed to the service up at our church.  What a blessing!

Delicious white fish, ready for the boil.  My parents have always enjoyed eating the white fish boils that we would do when they visited —  this is the tradition of Door County and so fitting for Dad’s memorial Weekend.

We gathered in a circle and sang the Doxology, all 50+ of us who gathered together.  It was beautiful with all the harmonies blending together.

This picture is of the men of our family that were there —  Uncles, brothers, cousins, fathers and sons, all part of this large Heikes family, and given the responsibility to raise up their children for the kingdom of God.  I am glad they are all strong men as it is not for the faint of heart to be raising children in this day and age.

This was the family that was able to make it.

The Heikes clan is now well over 180 members strong, that is just my grandparents descendants!

I am so glad that so many could come.  Never underestimate the power from the love of family when hearts are sad and life is hard.  God knew what a gift He was giving us when he gave us families.

Choosing Love –even when remembering one who I love hurts a little.

Joyce

Dad’s Memorial Service

How do you honor someone the best?  How do you, in one short service, represent a man that you love so much and who has blessed your life in too many ways to share in one hour?

These were the thoughts that went over and over in my mind as I listened to my mother explaining how she wanted the service to be put together.  It was one of those times when I am so glad to be in the church that we attend as most of our funerals fit my mother’s ideas.  Worship, read the Word and share.  That was what I was accustomed too and so that is what I tried to put together.  Here are some pictures to show the service.

My sisters and I lead the worship along with our children.  It was our parents that encourage us to sing in three part harmony when we washed the dishes or were driving down the road, so how fitting for us to lift our voices to our Lord in honor of our dear father.

Our sixteen treasures — honoring their grandpa by singing his favorite ( well, at least of few of the hundreds he loved) songs together with beautiful harmonies.

In between the songs, the firstborn of the families read some of my father’s favorite scriptures.

Our Matthew and Jeni read.  Yes, Jeni cried, she was real and her pain at losing a man that she highly respected and admired and loved dearly caused her voice to tremble.  We like to keep it real in the Johnson house so this was precious to me.  Matthew read beautifully and strongly the beloved verses that he shared.

My sweet brother Billy, worshipping his Lord, choosing joy in the sadness

After the service there was a moment of time where were were just staying up front comforting each other.  My husband had been running the sound in the back so after he had shut the system down he came up to my sisters and I in the front.  As Jason comforted Jeni, and Guy and Billy hugged, my sweet husband took my sisters and I in his arms and hugged us close.  I am amazed that our dear friend caught this on his camera as it shows my husband in his truest element.  He is a rock and brings such peace and strength to people.  What a blessing he was right then to us.  What a precious faithful man he is!

The cousins (and friends) table.

The guys

My brother and sister, Billy and Laurel

Melody and her friends

My mother and her three brothers.   Precious men, precious family.

So we celebrated and reflected on Dad’s life –

fellowshipped together

hugged and cried

rejoiced in my Dad’s life here on earth

rejoiced in my Dad’s new body in heaven — walking!

Choosing joy

Joyce

Boat Trip in honor of Dad

 

 

 

 

 

Boarding the boat –

My dad loved the water.  It was from this very dock and in this very harbor that he would take my mom for cruises on his sailboat and later his jet boat, another treasure he acquired from Door County!

So it was only fitting that we, his family take one more ride together out on the water to honor our father and his love for all of God’s beautiful creation.  We read scripture and sang and wept, we paused in silence ( a rare moment for this very boisterous family), and smiled and prayed.  We made a memory that will bless us forever.

This one is for Jeni —

I really love this picture of my brother and my mother comforting each other — what a precious love they share.

My husband, who does everything correct according to my mother  :)…..  chose this beautiful spot for us to stop and have our time together.  He wanted us to see these white bluffs from Gills Rock and remember this beautiful time together.

You’re right Mom–   he really does know how to do things well!

A mother and her children –

Rick had Grayson steer the boat all the way home —  he thought that was pretty neat!

Some of the teens headed to the top for the ride home

Joe, looking mighty suave I might add!

My father’s brother, Bruce and his wife Marcia

Blessed by the beauty of God’s creation and the beauty of eternal life that we all have an opportunity to have by God’s grace.  Blessed to have a father who loved God, who served God and who desired to obey God’s Word.

Blessed to know that he is with his Lord and heavenly Father.

My Dad loved God, there is nothing more to say —-

Joyce

 

Father’s Day 2011

      It has been quite a few seeks since I have written here at our family blog.  Lots has happened and I will be working this week to update the events of the last month.  We have had celebrations and wonderful times with family and friends and there is much joy to write about.  There is also a gaping hole in my heart which occurred in the last month.  On May 24th, my precious Father was called home to be with our Lord.  Dad had been ill for years with different issues but because of my Mother’s tender care he lasted years beyond what was to be expected.  Although there is great joy when a saint goes home, and great joy in the fact that he is with God and walking once again….. there is also great loss.  My Dad was such an encourager and support.  He blessed me so many times by voicing his happiness in my family and how we have lived our lives in seeking to please God.  He never thought we were perfect in all that we did, but he blessed us all the same.   In many ways I am my Father’s daughter as much of my passions for life and God were modeled before me by my Father.  I will be eternally grateful for having so many years to learn from him and to love him and to grow in knowing him.  It was not enough time for this daughter’s heart but I trust my God who knows me best.  

This is Father’s Day, my first without a father on earth to call and talk to, my first to experience with a deep longing to hear the voice of the one I called Father.  It has been bitter sweet and precious all at the same time.  I am so glad for memories and so glad for tears which heal and calm and help me as I work through this time of grieving.

Heaven is more real to me then ever before…….

Choosing Joy,

Joyce

I really like this picture that Melody took last week.  We are blessed to have many white birch trees on our property and they are so beautiful.  As you can see, spring is so late this year.  The trees are just starting to leaf out and there are still plenty with only buds on the branches.  I was told yesterday that the cherry season may not start until end of July or around the first of August.  There have been no cherry blossoms as of yet.

It is looking like a beautiful day, the sun is shining and the sky is blue which is contrary to what the weather man is predicting.  The birds are at the feeder although one feeder is dominated by a grey squirrel and the red squirrel is perched on the grill making that odd purring sound that they make and anxiously waiting to take a jump at the feeders for it’s turn.  There is a humming-bird in the garden feasting off of a hyacinth flower and I would say it is peaceful here but the girls let Jazmin out of their room so they could sleep in and she is barking viciously at the squirrels,  the direct opposite of peace as her bark pierces to the middle brain.  Oh good, Kristi just came stumbling around the corner and took Jazmin off to somewhere else!

What a delightful week, and tragically sad week.  I will start with sad.  About three weeks ago we sat at the local Lutheran church for the funeral of the son of our dear friends Dale and Joan.  This week another son fell ill to pneumonia which went septic within 24 hours and he is not expected to live.  We sat with this family less then ten years ago at the death of their daughter.  They will have lost half their children by the end of this week if the Lord does not intervene.  This is pain, lives lost with no hope of heaven as far as we know.   Feeling our friend’s pain has cast a shadow in my heart.

I am glad that there has been beauty in this week as well.  God in His wonderful Sovereignty has ordered these weeks of work and we are nearing the close of the openings and we are on track for school to be almost completely done by the end of next week.  I DO NOT KNOW HOW HE DOES IT!    I know that part of this success is due to the girls all working with me which made the jobs go quickly.  They have been excellent in their work and I am so glad for such workers to be with on the job.  We have fun while we work!   I also focused on cleaning out the office/library/craft/sewing and guest room!!!!    Can you say multi-purpose room??   We have had a beautiful roll top desk for years that is just not working for us anymore so I moved that out of the office and put it by the front door.  I am going to take some pictures of it and put it on Craig’s list to sell.  I sorted through things in that room and although it will still be a multi-purpose room, it will be better organized, well, in a few days it will be!   We also received the exciting news that the Penrods will be coming our way and we will be caring for the five younger children for a week while G&A are on a cruise where he is performing.  So much fun…..  so motivating to get the spring cleaning done!   Another wonderful part of this week was meeting a young couple who are staying in our cottage as part of the ministry use of our cottage.  They were heading to Rome as part of a group of missionaries heading there to bring the Gospel to Italy.  But, God gave them a baby and so they are waiting another year for the baby to be born and to get their fundraising together.  It was a joy to hear their story and how God is using them and their hope for the future.  We shared hearts and encouraged each other as the family of God is so able to do!

Plans for the day–

I am going to head outside to work on my rock wall garden, pull weeds and replant some perennials.  I want to have Rick bring the rotatiller and help me add some gardening area in the front.  I need to pull boards off of a bed that has fallen apart and prepare the area for Jeff to come and rotatill with his tractor.  I also hope to spread some wood chips on our paths and plant some bulbs that I bought.  In the middle of this day I will need to clean up, dress up and then go to a funeral where I will play piano.  My girls will come for the luncheon to help with clean up, then I will come home and put on the work clothes and head back outside to continue gardening.  I will post a chore list on our white board so that the girls do not get confused and think it is the Sabbath and a work-free day.  They will help me outside as well but if they get a few things done IN the house I will not feel like the house is totally lost for the weekend.

I also need to get lunch together for tomorrow because we will not have long to eat before we need to get Melody down to her recital.  I am so excited and I will be playing piano for one of her pieces, a minuet by Bach.

Rick races this evening unless it rains.  I am hoping it does not rain as then I need to have “real” food for supper if Rick is home.  With just the girls and I we will grab a salad and veggies and call it supper, but that does not satisfy my man!    He needs to race, it de-stresses him and he has so much fun, well most of the time he does!

Off to the garden,

Choosing joy,

Joyce

Our Days

Last week I took my annual Mercedes trip to Appleton to have the car given it’s tune up.  I always take my good friend Kari and we enjoy our time together so much.  We are both busy moms with lots of children between us, so to get away and have hours to just visit and share life is a real treat.

Both of us have children who live in Appleton so we took the opportunity to spend time with them.  We took Mandy out for lunch and had a wonderful time with her.  She gave me the cutest Coach wrist purse in pink for my Mother’s Day gift.  I just love it!  We laughed and told stories and she was so much fun to be with.  I miss this girl as she has a demanding job working for a blood center and with living so far away from us it makes it difficult to see her.  I was so glad that we could connect and that I could hug her and tell her how much I love her face to face.

Here is one of my longest and dearest friends. We enjoy gardening and canning, music and Bible Study, having a house full of kids …..  the list goes on.   I love her children and she loves mine….  does it get any better?

After having lunch with Mandy we went to Kari’s son’s apartment and visited there for awhile before we headed out to have Chai together at a local coffee joint.  Danny, on the left, took us to this local spot on the main street and it was a beautiful place.  Patrick, on the right, is just graduating from High School this year and was down visiting his brother.  We all sipped each other’s flavored Chai and then sat and laughed as we told stories.  I have always loved these boys and it was fun to catch up on their lives.

 Speaking of catching up,  Matthew came home for Mother’s Day and spent the night.  Kristi likes to imitate Matthew in how he stands and sits and……   she is the only one who can pull it off perfectly!   Matthew put on the Motocross motorcycle racing on Saturday night and we watched for a while together.  I enjoy the testimony of some of the top racers who are also brothers in the Lord and are not ashamed to speak of their Lord openly and in front of the camera.  I did not watch the entire race as I was too tired so I was the first to head to bed.

Sorry this is so blurry,  Rick does not take may pictures in a year,  basically this annual Mother’s Day photo and that is about it!

My children blessed me so much on Mother’s Day with a delicious breakfast and gifts and a corsage from my husband.  I am so glad that although we were told we would probably never have children, God blessed us beyond our wildest dreams.   They are our greatest treasure and we are so thankful for each one of them.

We spent the afternoon visiting with friends and enjoying relaxing from the long work days that make up the month of May.

This has been the most wonderful year for bird watching that we have had in over twenty years.  We have had over twenty different types of birds at our feeders for the last few weeks.  This picture only shows one of the wood-peckers and the American goldfinch but some of the new and beautiful birds we have seen have been the bluebirds, Red-breasted grosbeak, Purple finches and House finites, Indigo Buntings, Rufus sided Towhee…  the list goes on.  We have three bird books laying on the table or near it at all times as we search out the identity of any new bird we see.  The only problem with bird watching is when you identify the bird in the “official” bird books and then the book says that they are only seen on the west coast!  Oh well!  Every morning as I do my quiet time with the Lord and the sky starts to lighten from the east, I watch the birds at the feeder and delight in God’s beautiful creation.  The always remind me that God cares for each and every sparrow and so I can know with confidence that He will take care of me.

What a comfort in these days when the morning news is saying that the terror threat against the U.S is high since the killing of Osama, where the Mississippi is flooding an untold numbers of homes and people are misplaced due to no cause of their own, just the mighty river waters.  Comforting to believe when a friend shares her heartache in the rebelliousness of her children or the pain the family is sharing due to consequences of a child’s actions.  How comforting to believe this when life is just a little more than unsettled as things are changing all around us and not all for the bad, but changes none the less and we are not sure of the outcome.  Since God cares so much for those sparrows, I know that He will care for my needs, all of them, and He does it  completely so I can trust in Him.   Where would we be without Jesus?

Today is looks like rain,  again!  This has been the weather for most of the last few weeks.  Although we have had glimpses of the sun and it does feel warm when we get a chance to feel it, for the most part is is cooler.  So cool that I had to start the wood stove yesterday afternoon to get the chill our of the house.  I am wearing three layers around the house and even when I am cleaning.  I know this will change eventually but I hope it is sooner than later!

We are down to just two houses left to deep clean and then I will need to do a 24 hour check on two houses before their owners arrive, to sweep up dead flies and clean a few outside windows.  I am so thrilled and the girls and I have proven to be a powerhouse team when we work together.  We finished our cottage yesterday as the first renters came in last evening.  It looked so nice and Kristi even went and put together a bouquet of flowers for the table.

This week has also been crunch time with school as Melody had a research paper due which she did on the Titanic, Annie is busy working hard to study for her geometry exam.  She announced last night at supper that her text book said at the end of the last chapter that there is no life use for the study of geometry!   Rick and I looked at each other and tried to think of a time when we have had to use geometry in any of our endeavors.   WE came up blank, even in all of the construction that we have done through the years.  That is really making me think about why the children do some of the high-school higher maths. Yesterday we were studying the Vietnam War and our neighbor walked in the door and I invited her to sit down with us and tell us her version of this time in our nation’s history.  She was living in Madison, as was I although she was a college student and I was a young child at the time.  It was wonderful to hear her thoughts and of her brother-in-law who served and how it had obviously changed him.  We are working hard to finish up school asap and we are doing well, for which I am thankful.  I should probably be thankful for the rain at this point because it does keep us from heading outside into the gardening and other less important chores that may otherwise tempt me to be skimpy on the school time.

Today we will do school, violin lessons, Life groups this evening.  I am going to clean in the office and empty a roll-top desk that I would like to sell this weekend in a neighbors garage sale.  I am also needing to get this office ready for company to use over the next few weeks as family come and go.  I am also out of bread so I will bake bread and work on laundry in-between working with the girls on their school.  I also need to grocery shop while I am in town today so I have to get a list together and some menu plans organized.  Thursdays are busy, very busy, but also very good.

Full days, hope of Summer eventually coming and the comfort that God loves me more than the sparrows

SOOOO  blessed!

Joyce

May Days, and remembering we were created for work!

The month of May is unique in our family calendar for the year.  It is the month where fishing is in full swing, our caretaking business is in full go as we prepare anywhere from eight to ten homes for their owner’s arrival, and it is the end of the school year, the last few weeks of studying and working hard to finish well, add to that preparing garden beds and expanding garden areas…..  let’s just say it is the hardest month for us physically.  We are tired already.  I was so glad when Rick told me that it was supposed to blow hard so he did not set back nets as that means that we get to sleep in…. until 5:45!

This busy time does not mean we shut down our life of fun and yesterday Mandy was able to come home for a few hours.  We went out for breakfast and had a great time, then the girls went to visit Mia and her mother at their home in Sister Bay.  I went home and baked bread and worked on some chores.  We hung out together and visited and the girls went through a basket of clothing that Mandy brought home to share with her sisters.  Since we had such a late breakfast we skipped lunch and had an early supper of roast beef, potatoes and gravy and fresh homemade french bread, warm from the oven and a tossed salad.  I made a meal for her to take to Matthew and gave her bread and rice crispy bars for her to take home.  It is always fun to feed my older children and care for their needs, I am always a mother to them!

It has been a rainy and cold week, so lengthy compared to our usual spring weather.  I have continued to work on mending and making some patterns from older garments to make some new clothes that I need.  I am never out of work to do around the house  :)    I was talking to another mom this past week and she was bemoaning the fact that as a wife there is never an end to the work load.  We laughed together about the way life is and then reminded each other that this is a God given and ordained role, to serve our husbands and our children, and let me tell you, this mother has served well, through very hard things. We left each other encouraged and light-hearted after sharing each other’s burdens as it says to do in Gal. 6:2.  God says to share and He is always correct in His teaching and in doing things His way we are blessed.

Today we are off to clean two homes with all hands on deck.  I am making a big breakfast of Pancakes and sausage and applesauce and then we will head out.  It will be cold where we are working and rainy by the way it looks at this time so it will be good to not get hungry too soon which always makes the cold seem worse.  Kristi is finishing her last test for her second year of college and then she is done and will join us on the job sites.  Annie will work with us cleaning and then head to her other job for the weekend where she will serve and clean up lunch at a local Christian camp, afterwards she will head back to work with us.  Rick has racing at the end of the day if the rain quits, so it will be a full day.

I am thankful that our children know how to work hard, are able to work hard and know how to crank up the worship music while we work so there is enjoyment in worshipping God while we work.

Choosing joy!

Joyce

Annie’s Birthday

Annie’s Birthday Supper

What is more fun than a table of beautiful girls?  It is a good thing that Rick can hold his own with all these females floating around for an overnight party.  Annie turned 17,  so hard to believe, so amazing to see her life and how God has cared for her and used her and continues to grow her into this wonderful woman of God.  She is precious and we love her so much.

The girls all arrived with their nerf- guns…  and you thought that only boys love war!   They went at it after supper, running from one end of our house to another fighting apposing teams.  THey then headed to the park where the war was not limited by space.  They had FUN!

Don’t be fooled—  these girls rock when it comes to be sweet and wonderful!  Their poses crack me up, cute girls trying to look tough.

Annie’s Cake and all her candles.  Annie has had a wonderful 17th year of life,  getting her license and learning to work hard and please her bosses well!   She has blessed her friends and been a listening ear, worshipped full out at concerts and best of all, obeyed Jesus in baptism.  It has been good.

This is Annie with her other “sister” Ally, who’s birthday was that very night and so we needed a picture of them together.  Annie and her friends had a blast going over to Ally’d house and filling her car with balloons, toilet paper and then saran wrapping the outside of the car.  What fun.  You need to watch out when the Johnson Blondes are out lose in Gills Rock!

   I was so glad to see that the girls put down their weapons when I brought out the cake!

Sweet time of celebrating the birthdays and that ends the round of birthdays until next October when we start all over again.

Melody’s Party

Melody’s Party with friends

Our sweet Melody turned 13….. WHAAAAA!   That is how I felt all day that day, mixed with shock and awe.  No longer do we have anyone who is not a young adult or adult.  Where has the time gone?  How is it our baby is 13?   We had a wonderful time with her tow friends joining us for games, food, movie and sleep over in our cottage.   Delightful time!  We played bananagrams as it is our new favorite and it looks like one of the sisters was not doing so well by the look on her face.  :)

This is the gift that Kristi made for Melody, a beautiful antique sewing box on which Kristi painted a tree and the Eiffel tower.  I am going to paint a scripture verse on the inside of the top and then varnish it for Melody.  What a beautiful gift. 

This has to be one my favorite pictures of Melody of all time!  She looks so lovely and even has a maturity in her precious smile.  She is a happy and delightful daughter and we love her so much.

Birthday breakfast consisted of crepes with fruit and whip cream, candles and flowers.  Breakfast for a princess because that is what Melody is to our family.  She has had a lot of fun in her thirteenth year,  the violin, attending a youth group with friends,  attending an on-line class for the first time, and the list goes on.  Most importantly, Melody followed Jesus in Baptism and is shining so bright in her walk with the Lord.  Yes, it is hard to see our sweet daughter growing up, only because it means she may be leaving us sooner then later at this point, but it is a joy to see her life unfolding……………….  beautifully.